Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

Seeing Xingbao's straightforwardness, even the girl who hadn't looked up couldn't help but turn around and glance at him, her icy expression softening considerably. Then, the girl who had spoken said, "There's one more thing. We'd also like to move into this room so it's easier to take care of our two companions in bed. Could you ask your parents to move a bed over? If that's really inconvenient, then we..."

"No problem, sister!" Xingbao quickly interrupted her, his tone crisp and confident. "I'll go talk to my dad right now, and he'll definitely be able to get you a bed." With that, he turned and walked out, knowing exactly why they wanted to stay in this room—of the guest rooms in the house, only the one facing the street had a window. Most guests traveling lacked a sense of security and preferred rooms without windows, so the other guest rooms didn't have windows. As for the rooms they stayed in, except for the one for his parents, which was designed like a lion's mouth and didn't have a window, the rest all had windows. They were well-lit and quieter than the guest rooms, making them more suitable for recuperation and rest. He could understand their thoughts.

As soon as Xingbao entered the main room, he saw that a large number of children had already arrived to learn to read and write. They were making a lot of noise, and his older brothers were busy setting up tables and chairs and tidying up the space. Judging from the crowd, there were more people than expected, and the wooden planks and benches in the main room were clearly insufficient. Xingbao understood that his father must have gone to borrow planks and benches from the villagers—with so many people, they simply couldn't manage with their own resources, so asking the villagers for help was only natural.

He quickly walked to his older brother's side, gently tugged at his sleeve, and whispered during a lull in the children's noise, "Big brother, the older sisters have agreed to lend us books! But they have two requests. First, they want us to help look after that sick boy, which I've already agreed to. I'll watch over him during the day, and second brother will watch over him at night. Second, they want to move into my room so they can take better care of their friend. They want us to move a bed over there."

Upon hearing this, the eldest brother's face immediately lit up with joy. He patted Xingbao on the shoulder and said, "Well done, Xingbao! We'll arrange it as you suggested. I'll talk to Dad about the bed; there won't be any problem. It's just that I'm too busy to move the bed this morning. I'll move it this afternoon when I have some free time."

Seeing that his older brother had accepted the task, Xingbao was overjoyed. He thought of going to find Guixiang to read in the room together and share the good news—the two of them had been talking about borrowing books yesterday, and now that their wish had come true, they naturally wanted to be happy together. However, he searched the shop, looking through the main room, the backyard, and the kitchen, but couldn't find Guixiang. He asked his mother, who was busy in the kitchen, and learned that Guixiang had been called away by Xiaohua early in the morning. The two of them were playing in the snow in the backyard with Xueqiu, having a great time.

Xingbao had no choice but to turn around and go back to his room to reply to his sisters. Seeing that he was efficient, kept his word, and didn't procrastinate at all, the girls were quite agreeable and generously allowed him to choose freely from the books he had brought. They repeatedly reminded him, "You can read, but please don't mess them up or get them dirty, and return them promptly after you're done." However, they deliberately kept a set of *Dream of the Red Chamber* and a few illustrated novels, saying softly, "We'll keep these for ourselves; we can use them to pass the time while we're recovering."

Xingbao nodded quickly in agreement, carefully picking out a few books he wanted to read from the pile and holding them in his arms, his heart filled with joy. He thanked the older sisters profusely. Remembering his promise to look after the boy next door, he carried the books without delay and went straight to his older brother's room—that was where the sick boy was staying. There, he could read in peace and also keep his promise to take care of the patient, killing two birds with one stone.

Xingbao found a small stool by the window and sat down. He carefully opened the book and quickly became engrossed in its contents, gradually losing track of the noise outside. But not long after, a rich aroma of lard wafted in through the crack in the door, instantly whetting his appetite, and his stomach began to rumble. He glanced discreetly at his male classmate on the bed, seeing that the other was sleeping soundly and breathing evenly, then quietly got up, held his breath, closed the door, and followed the aroma towards the kitchen.

As soon as I reached the kitchen door, I saw my mother standing by the stove, gently stirring the oil in the wok with a spatula. The enticing aroma of lard wafted from the wok. Hearing footsteps, my mother turned around and saw Xingbao. She quickly waved her hand with a smile, "Xingbao, don't come over. I'm rendering oil. Oil splattering might burn you. Go and find Guixiang. That girl has been playing outside for too long. It's so cold; if she keeps playing, her hands and feet will get chilblains. The oil will be ready soon. I'll make some cracklings for you two to enjoy."

"Yes, Mother!" Xingbao quickly replied and turned to leave. In those chaotic times, life was hard for everyone, and everyone was short of oil and fat. Although his family ran a small restaurant, making them slightly better off than the rest of the village, they weren't much better off. Most of the oil in the house was reserved for guests. His father often went hunting in the mountains, mostly hunting rabbits. Rabbit meat wasn't very oily and consumed a lot of oil, so they couldn't eat it often. Occasionally, they would catch a few pheasants, which was a small extra source of oil for the family, and the siblings always ate it with great relish.

As Xingbao passed through the main room, he found it almost full, with only a narrow passageway on the left. A rough count revealed sixty or seventy people, all children from the village's breeding base—those who couldn't read normally were there for the mini-class. Looking at the sandboxes in front of them, their edges still covered in fresh sawdust, they were clearly made just a few days ago, perfect for practicing calligraphy. Afraid of disturbing his older brother's teaching, Xingbao didn't linger, keeping his head down and quickly passing through the room, his steps extremely light.

Gui Xiang hadn't gone far; she was playing in the snow with five or six friends on the threshing ground behind the shop. Several small, unformed snowdrifts lay on the ground, whether they intended to build snowmen or use them as "fortresses" was unclear. The children were having a blast, heads down, grabbing handfuls of snow and rolling them into snowballs, yelling and throwing them around, not caring if they hit anyone; their hands were red with cold, their heads and bodies covered in snowflakes, even their noses were red from the cold. The snowballs weren't to be outdone, bouncing around the children, kicking up puffs of snow that enveloped themselves completely; you wouldn't even notice it was one causing all the trouble unless you looked closely—the scene was lively and intense.