A few days later.
The Lantern Festival had passed.
One morning, a little after eight.
At the Houhai Courtyard House, Dong Xuebin climbed out of bed and immediately dismantled the stove in the West Room. He put out the fire and removed the chimney. He would be leaving in the next day or two anyway, so there was no need for heat in this room anymore. There was no rush to dismantle the stove in the north room; that could wait until tomorrow. But everything else had to be dealt with beforehand, since he definitely would not be returning to live here anytime soon. There was also plenty of luggage and other belongings to sort through. The courtyard was so large and there was so much stuff that, after making a rough calculation, Dong Xuebin realized he had quite a workload ahead of him today.
He stuffed the chimney with old newspapers.
He covered the stove with plastic sheeting.
Then he tidied up the ashes and dirt on the floor.
Just dealing with the stove took Dong Xuebin more than an hour. It could not be helped; it was troublesome, especially since he had to wait for the recently extinguished stove to cool down.
But Dong Xuebin was in no hurry and could take his time. In the days before the fifteenth, he had already handed over everything at work that needed handing over. The new director of the Second Office had not yet been decided, so the position remained vacant, with Luo Haiting serving as acting director for the time being. Of course, she truly was only acting; with Sister Luo's qualifications, the job certainly would not be hers. But Dong Xuebin no longer concerned himself with that, nor could he. In any case, everything at the office had