Li Long rode his bicycle to the Department Store again and bought some school supplies.
Children tended to lose things and forget things at school. Bigger items like exercise books and textbooks would, at worst, get torn or lose a few pages, but pencils and erasers were far too easy to lose.
Or get dismembered.
So Li Long bought some more, planning to take them to the schoolchildren tomorrow.
By the time he rode back to the Big Courtyard, Sister Yang and Han Fang had returned. Han Fang was cleaning the utensils Sister Yang used to sell meals, while Sister Yang was preparing dinner.
Seeing Li Long return, Han Fang smiled and greeted him. Li Long handed her one set of stationery.
"Xiao Fang, these are for you. Pencils, a ruler, an eraser, and exercise books. Your mother said you did well on your final exams. Good, very good."
A little shy, Han Fang wiped her hands on her apron and accepted the stationery with great care.
Although Sister Yang had money now, Han Fang was still frugal. Perhaps the days she had spent wandering homeless had left too deep an impression on her.
"You're back, Uncle." Sister Yang poked her head out of the kitchen. "We're having noodle-flake soup tonight. Anything you'd like?"
"Just make the pieces a little thinner," Li Long said. "Xiaoxia's father has a weak stomach. Thick ones are hard for him to digest."
"All right," Sister Yang answered, then went back to her preparations.
The people who had come here in the early days to help build the region had more or less all developed stomach problems. The main reason was that they had usually gone hungry back in their hometowns and seldom eaten their fill. Once they came here, the work was heavy, but