Someone soon knocked on the courtyard gate again.
At first, Song Ning thought Jiang Chengshi had come back.
Then a clear male voice called from outside, "Happy New Year! Is anyone home?"
Song Ning paused. Although the first lunar month wasn't over yet, the festive atmosphere had faded after the fifteenth.
Very few people still came calling with New Year greetings at this point.
As she got up and headed outside, Han Xiao had already opened the courtyard gate and let two young men in.
Song Ning took a look. They really were two people she hadn't seen in ages.
"Li Yanzhou! Liang Lichuan! They finally let you out!"
Liang Lichuan walked in ahead of his friend, smiling. "Listen to you! You make it sound like we were locked up in prison!"
Song Ning welcomed them into the living room and busied herself making tea.
Liang Lichuan looked around. "Song Ning! This is my first time inside your courtyard! Honestly, it's the best-preserved siheyuan courtyard I've ever seen!"
Song Ning smiled. "I have my elders to thank for that! Have some tea first!"
Li Yanzhou accepted his cup. "Song Ning! We spent months shut away with the Project Group, and meanwhile, you were quietly doing big things out here! My dad told me you not only led the people from De Country through the challenges of developing new-generation CT equipment, but also took over running a hospital!"
Song Ning smiled. "Time waits for no one! I wanted to test the waters in this wave of reform too!"
"How is that testing the waters? You're a trailblazer leading the wave!"
Liang Lichuan laughed. "All right, you two! One top scorer and one Second-Place Graduate! Neither of you earned those places for nothing! You just keep outdoing each other! I thought joining