"Qiangqiang, come out and play spinning tops!" several children called from outside the courtyard.
"I'm not going. You guys have fun." Li Qiang came to the gate and told his friends, "I'm not playing again before New Year. I've got things to do these next few days."
"All right." His friends left, looking rather disappointed.
Li Qiang had been particularly excited during his first two days back, sharing what he had seen in Yanjing and having a great time with his friends and the toys he had brought home. Starting on the third day, however, he stopped going out.
Li Juan had stopped going out on the second day. When friends from the village came over to play, they found her doing homework or reading.
At first, Li Qiang had thought nothing of it, but later, somehow, he began studying alongside his sister.
Liang Yuemei was rather surprised by this and asked Li Jianguo that evening:
"The two of them... they've changed quite a bit. Did that trip to Yanjing really do so much good?"
"More or less," Li Jianguo said with feeling. "Universities-there really wasn't much to see during the holidays. But Mingming's aunt went to university in Yanjing, didn't she? When we toured the universities, she told Juan and Qiangqiang about university life, and that got them interested."
Hearing the two children still reading over there, Li Jianguo nodded. "Whether they keep it up or only work in fits and starts, just looking at their enthusiasm now, it helped."
"Looking at it that way, buying a courtyard house might really come in useful," Liang Yuemei said happily. Then she gave Li Jianguo a pat. "Xiao Long paid for it, so when he comes back, you need to give him the money.
"That courtyard house cost no small sum.