Two days later.
The morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year.
Dong Xuebin got up early, opening his eyes at barely six. Knowing that colleagues would be coming to pay New Year's calls today, he got up right away, brushed his teeth and washed up by the pool in the Courtyard House by Houhai, then went back inside and changed into clean clothes.
He casually fried an egg for breakfast. It did not taste particularly good, but it would do. He rarely made his own breakfast anyway, usually eating out. When he was alone, he tended to be lazy, and cooking for himself did not seem worthwhile. But it was New Year's, and all the breakfast stalls on the streets had packed up and gone home for the holiday. Finding something to eat outside was not realistic. Forget breakfast stalls—even many restaurants in the Capital City rarely opened around the Lunar New Year. That was one of the Capital City's distinctive traits.
Wipe the windows.
Sweep the floor.
Tidy up the house.
Dong Xuebin worked for two hours before he finally finished. The Courtyard House was huge and spacious to live in, but the downside was that it was a pain to clean. It would take at least a couple of hours, not to mention putting up Spring Festival couplets and red paper decorations.
Around nine o'clock.
Just as Dong Xuebin had more or less finished preparing, people began to arrive. He did not know whether Luo Haiting and Zhang Lili had arranged to come together or happened to meet at the entrance, but they knocked and came in together, each carrying some fruit, milk, and the like. A glance told him there was nothing expensive.
"Didn't I say not to bring anything?" Dong Xuebin said with