Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 234 Officially Moved In

Xiao Wei said, "It's no longer of any use. You can take it if you need it."

Master Gong said, "Then I'll take it in a bit. I think it's great. I'll use it to fix up my house when I get home. It'll be just the right amount."

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, if you need anything else, just pay for it from our side. We won't need much anyway."

Chen Hui crawled out of the house and asked, "Xiao Wei, which room do you live in?"

Xiao Wei pointed to the house and said, "The room next to the kitchen and dining room is for my parents, the one next door is for me, Lao Xia is in the third room, you are in the fourth room, and the last one can be left empty for now, in case people come over later. The living room at the very end is for everyone, and the TV and game console are in this room."

Xia Maosheng also came out and asked, "Which one? This one's mine? Okay. You've already set it up?" He peeked through the window, asked a question, opened the door, went inside, looked around, and came out saying, "Let's go to the mall."

Xiao Wei asked, "What's up?"

Xia Maosheng said, "Buying things, you know? Towels, toothbrushes, basins, buckets—aren't we going to buy those? And slippers, pajamas, a few more duvet covers, that's a lot of stuff." Chen Hui ran out of the room and said, "And brooms, ashtrays, soap, and all that stuff! Haven't you ever been frugal before?"

Xia Maosheng said, "Let's see if we can buy a few more blankets. Oh, and linoleum too. We need to cover the exposed cement areas; they look so ugly."

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, let's go then. Let's get everything ready today, and we'll stay here tonight. Do we need to return the other place?"

Chen Hui ran to back up the car and said, "I'll just say hello later."

Xia Maosheng said, "Just do it, it's just a matter of one motor, it won't take much effort."

The car pulled out, Xia Maosheng closed the gate, the two got in, and headed straight for the mall.

At that time, the commercial city hadn't been built yet; the area was still a large grocery store, and the largest shopping mall was Longcheng Department Store. It was a four-story red brick building with several three-story annex buildings on both sides, right next to the Zhujiang Square roundabout.

They parked the car and the three of them got out and went into the department store.

Although state-owned department stores were declining in those days, they were still the mainstream. They outperformed private stores in terms of both product variety and business scale, and their prices were also more affordable. For example, the Montblanc brand, which was popular in the 90s, cost more than a thousand yuan in private stores, while state-owned department stores only sold it for three or four hundred yuan. Back then, it was quite common for private individuals to collect money and then go to the state-owned department store to buy something and take it home.

However, in general, it is true that state-run department stores tend to have conservative products and are always out of touch with trends.

Blankets, winter and summer slippers, brooms, dustpans, towels, toothbrushes, washbasins, buckets, toothpaste, soap, laundry detergent, clothes hangers—basically anything they could think of, they just grabbed and carried to the car four times in half an hour.

Then I ran to the grocery store and bought a bunch of flour, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and other groceries. I ran back to the yard and divided them among the rooms. I put the flour, rice, oil, and other groceries into the kitchen. Now I really felt like I was living a normal life.

After tidying up their own rooms, cutting and laying down the linoleum, and organizing Xiaowei's parents' room, the three of them went around again to see if there was anything they had missed. Half a day had passed in the blink of an eye.

Xiao Wei rubbed his stomach and asked, "Are you two still going to eat?"

Chen Hui rubbed his stomach and laughed at Xia Maosheng, saying, "I really forgot, now that you mention it, I'm hungry. What am I doing this for? I'm not even staying for a few days. Ugh, all this effort is pointless."

Xiao Wei and Xia Maosheng ignored him. The three of them didn't even drive their car; they went out to find a place to eat. The restaurant was busy at noon, so they didn't want to cause any trouble.

They randomly picked a small casserole shop by the roadside and the three of them went inside.

Casserole tofu, casserole blood sausage and pork belly, casserole stewed chicken, casserole seafood—Chen Hui ate steamed buns, while Xiao Wei and Xia Maosheng ordered rice, eating until they were sweating profusely. In Northeast China, casserole dishes are for stews, quite different from those in the South, where casserole dishes generally refer to staple foods like rice noodles or rice vermicelli.

After finishing their meal, Xiaowei paid the bill, and the three of them left the hot pot restaurant. Chen Hui asked, "Where to? Back to the restaurant?"

Xiao Wei thought for a moment and said, "Forget it, let's go back to the yard and stay here. The machine will be brought over soon, and we'll mainly need to unload this end. After we finish unloading here, we can go to the restaurant and eat there." The three of them drove back to the yard.

After cleaning the two rooms in the main building where the pastry and dessert equipment was placed, Xiaowei went to the old building to take a look around and discuss the placement of the equipment. Xiaowei asked Chen Hui to call the power company and ask them to send two people over to help install the machines, as there were some cables that needed to be laid inside.

Xiao Wei called Master Chang.

"Master Chang, are you free right now? I'll have to trouble you to come over to the yard again. Um, my machine will arrive this afternoon, and I still need to weld some things. I can't explain it clearly, so it would be best if you could watch over the machine when it arrives. Um, I still need to do two big projects at the old building, and I also need some for the restaurant."

Master Chang asked, "What are we using to make it?"

Xiao Wei said, "We can weld a frame using angle iron and then cover it with a whole sheet of galvanized steel or a thin steel sheet."

Master Chang thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll send someone over to take a look. I'll go over after the materials are delivered; I still have some work to do."

Xiao Wei said, "Master Chang, just pay me for this job this time. This is for my shop."

Master Chang said, "Okay, I'll settle the payment with you when it's done."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Hui checked the time. It was only a little past three in the afternoon. He estimated that Han San and the others wouldn't arrive until four or five o'clock. Chen Hui said, "Let's go to the guesthouse, pack our clothes and things, and check out of the hotel."

The three of them went to the power company's guesthouse, packed their things, checked out, and took their belongings back to the courtyard to put them in their respective rooms. That was how they checked in.

After they finished, the three of them went to the living room to sit and talk.

Xia Maosheng looked around and said, "I forgot to buy a thermos and teacups. There's nothing here."

Xiao Wei laughed. The three of them had spent most of the day making a fuss, but they still forgot a lot of things. They hadn't bought a gas cylinder, and there wasn't a single trash can in the house.

He drove to the department store again and bought twenty thermos flasks, which the staff would need when the school reopened. He also bought twenty trash cans, two gas cylinders, two exhaust fans, and all sorts of other things like teacups, water cups, and kettles. Xiao Wei sighed, "Life is really tough. Look how much stuff I have to buy."

Chen Hui laughed and said, "This is nothing. Wait until my uncle and his family come and stay here for a while, then you can see for yourself."

Xia Maosheng said, "Anyway, when you move in the future, I estimate you'll need a bigger car."

Xiao Wei said, "Are you two stupid? Where are you going to move to? Once the factory is up and running, why would we need to move? In a couple of years, let's try to buy this place first."

Xia Maosheng was stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh and said, "Idiot, I didn't think of that. We really have to buy this house, or we might suffer losses in the future."

(End of this chapter)