With a new goal to look forward to, Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia about it when they went to bed that night. He was in a very good mood, so they made rather more noise than usual.
When Sister Yang got up to use the toilet in the middle of the night, she could still faintly hear them. Blushing, she grumbled to herself. At this hour... they really had some stamina!
By morning, Gu Xiaoxia's throat felt a little sore, so Li Long brought her some Quick-Acting Cold Capsules.
Mainly, they had gone straight to sleep afterward the night before and forgotten to add coal to the stove, so they had gotten chilled in the second half of the night.
"It's all your fault." Gu Xiaoxia took the medicine and gave Li Long a thump, scolding him coyly. "You just wouldn't stop..."
Li Long merely chuckled and offered no defense.
The two scatterbrains, Mingming and Haohao, got up early, dressed, and ran outside. They had originally thought of clearing out the stove when they got up, then helping Li Long get the fire going.
But Gu Xiaoxia would not let them do it, saying it would easily dirty their clothes and that they should wait until they were older.
So after climbing out of bed, the children washed up first, then ran outside to play.
The advantage of a big yard was that, from the children's perspective, there were fun things to find everywhere. They were warmly dressed and did not feel the cold just after getting up, and the whole yard immediately came alive.
Sister Yang made breakfast, with Gu Xiaoxia helping her. Sister Yang deliberately asked, "Auntie, your throat sounds sore. Have you caught a cold?"
Gu Xiaoxia blushed and said she had not kept the quilt over