After locking the door and leaving the courtyard, Li Long waited briefly at the agreed spot before seeing Gu Xiaoyu hurry over with a cloth bag slung over her shoulder.
Gu Xiaoyu smiled when she saw Li Long. She quickened her steps, came up to him, and said:
"Brother-in-law, congratulations! This is a national honor. That's really impressive!"
As she spoke, she held out both hands. Li Long was a little slow to catch on, then shook hands with her and quickly let go.
"You haven't eaten yet, have you? Come on, let me buy you dinner, and we can catch up," Li Long said. "You know this neighborhood better. Where should we eat?"
"There's a Wang Family Dumpling Restaurant over that way," Gu Xiaoyu said. "Shandong dumplings. They're very good. My colleagues eat there often."
"Sure." Li Long headed that way. After a few brisk steps, he remembered that Gu Xiaoyu, being a girl, walked more slowly. He slowed down, waited for her to catch up, then kept a meter between them as he asked about her everyday life.
"It's been all right, pretty fulfilling. There isn't too much work at our school, so whenever I'm free, I go over to the courtyards... Don't worry, Brother-in-law, it's not just those three courtyards. There's my own little courtyard too. Honestly, now that I have a place of my own, I want to buy practically everything I see."
Perhaps Gu Xiaoyu rarely chatted with her colleagues at work and had even fewer people to talk to at home, because once she saw Li Long, she barely stopped talking. From buying the courtyard to shopping and arranging the things inside, she had put a great deal of care into it all.
"You've already moved into your courtyard?" Li Long looked up and