In the little courtyard south of Wuyi Highway, Sister Yang and Han Fang cleared away the snow. Han Fang went to light the stove, while Sister Yang held two letters, hesitating over whether to open them.
Compared with the Big Courtyard north of town, Sister Yang and Han Fang still preferred to think of this little courtyard as home.
Of course, they knew the little courtyard did not belong to them either.
It was simply that they had lived here ever since the hardest times had passed, so every so often, they came over to clean the place and light the stove.
Sister Yang felt they would come back to live here someday.
She had collected these two letters from the post and telecommunications office. When they had lived in this little courtyard, she had used its address when sending telegrams back home.
After moving to the Big Courtyard, she had worried about being unable to collect letters or telegrams from home, so she had specifically told the postman to leave anything addressed to this courtyard at the office. She would collect it herself.
Sister Yang had taken an extra precaution then and had not left the Big Courtyard's address, lest she bring Li Long and the others any trouble.
After lighting the stove, Han Fang sat quietly at the desk to read.
Although mother and daughter had lived in this courtyard for quite some time, they had always stayed in the East Room, the guest room. They only cleaned the main room in the West Room and never stayed there.
Mother and daughter had been reluctant to throw away the various books and magazines they had found while cleaning the house, so they had kept them all. Whenever Han Fang had time, she read them.
The two letters were