My Courtyard Refuge

: Empty Joy

After get off work, Xu Dong followed Lao Jin to the well-known barbecue restaurant, and spent another 100 yuan to find scalpers to avoid the pain of queuing.

“This shop is the most authentic. It uses voles, unlike other restaurants that use rats from the sewer. No matter how much seasoning you put in, it won’t cover the sour smell.”

Xu Dong echoed: “It’s better to be a field mouse, with fewer bacteria on it.”

In fact, after being smoked and roasted at high temperature, no bacteria can survive, and the rats in the sewer can still eat it.

Lao Jin gave a thumbs up: “Expert!”

Xu Dong ate two roasted mice in a row, and then he stopped talking.

If it wasn’t for Mama Xu’s birthday, he would have to eat enough today.

Due to the rat infestation, this roast mouse is not expensive to sell. The big one is 100 yuan, and the small one is only 30 yuan. Compared with pork, the price is very affordable.

“Xiao Xu, I’ve cost you money tonight.”

“We’re all colleagues, so there’s no need to treat people like this.” Xu Dong said politely.

“Okay, I will treat you next time.”

Driving home, Yang Lina’s cake was ready, soft and looking pretty good.

Xu Dong praised: “It’s ok, it’s not worse than the cake I bought last time!”

“Honey, what did you eat? Why does it smell like barbecue?” Yang Lina complained, covering her nose.

“I was a little hungry on the way, so I ate some potato chips, maybe they just taste like barbecue!”

Xu Dong didn’t dare to tell the truth, otherwise, with Yang Lina’s temper, he probably wouldn’t be able to kiss for a month.

I miscalculated this time, next time I should bring some chewing gum with me.

At this time, Lele said angrily with a puffy face: “Dad doesn’t like Lele anymore, and he secretly eats potato chips by himself.”

Yang Lina is very strict with the children’s snacks, usually relying on Xu Dong to secretly give them a little bit.

“Uh, why doesn’t daddy like Lele? Dad steals it when he’s really hungry. Can Lele forgive dad once?” Xu XuDong pulled his little daughter to coax her.

“Okay!” Lele turned and whispered into Dad’s ear: “Dad, I want to eat potato chips too. Can you sneak me a bag tomorrow morning?”

Xu Dong immediately made an OK gesture.

After dismissing his little daughter, Xu Dong hurried to the bathroom to brush his teeth. The smell of roasted rat meat is indeed a bit strong, so it’s better to be careful.

After dinner, while Xu Ma was washing the dishes, Xu Dong turned off the lights, and the kitchen was completely dark.

“Why is there a power outage?”

Mama Xu wiped the water off her hands, and was about to come out to see what was going on.

As soon as I walked into the restaurant, I suddenly heard the singing of the Coco sisters:

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!”

Lele walked in front carrying the cake.

Everyone else followed, the twins were the lead singers, the adults chimed in softly, and even the triplets babbled and babbled.

Madam Xu’s eyes turned red all of a sudden, she laughed and cursed:

“If you celebrate your birthday, let’s celebrate your birthday, and there are so many new tricks!”

Having said that, the old lady was still so moved that she secretly wiped her tears with her sleeves.

Lele said crisply: “Grandma, hurry up and make a wish, and then blow out the candles.”

Mama Xu secretly made a wish, then blew out the candles in one breath, and the lights in the restaurant turned on again in the next second.

“Mom, what wish did you make?” Xu Dong asked with a smile.

“It won’t work if you say it.”

Coco took the opportunity to hand over a fruit knife: “Grandma, cut the cake quickly. My mother and I made the cake together.”

“And me.” Lele added hastily.

“Okay, they are all good granddaughters of grandma.”

Mama Xu took the fruit knife and cut the chicken cake into six portions. The first portion was given to the triplets. Chicken cake is not a fruit, so it doesn’t matter if you eat more.

Holding up the chicken cake, Yang Lina coaxed: “Dabao, Erbao, Xiaobao, please say happy birthday to grandma.”

“Birth… Li… Lose… Happy…”

It’s a pity that only Dabao spoke, Erbao and Xiaobao didn’t cooperate very much, and kept reaching out to grab the chicken cake.

Xu’s mother was so happy that she hugged the triplets and kissed them one by one.

…

Early the next morning, after the family got up, they found that something was wrong with the weather. The sky was gloomy and it seemed that it was going to rain.

At the dinner table, Mother Xu happily said:

“Okay, it’s been almost a year of drought, and it’s finally going to rain, so don’t worry about it now.”

“Husband, let’s see what the weather forecast says?” Yang Lina urged while holding Erbao.

Xu Dong took out his mobile phone, clicked on the weather information, and read according to the above: “Yanjing, heavy rain turns to heavy snow, the highest temperature is 28 degrees, and the lowest temperature is minus 15 degrees.”

“It’s snowing, it’s going to snow…” the twins booed.

“It seems that the drought is really coming to an end.” Yang Lina sighed sincerely.

Seeing the excited expressions of his family members, Xu Dong couldn’t help pouring cold water on them:

“It’s still early. The drought is so severe now that one or two heavy rains can’t solve the problem at all.”

Moreover, whether this heavy rain will be able to fall is another matter. In his previous life, he had never heard of any place in the country where it rained heavily.

Not to mention heavy rain, there has never been a moderate rain, at most it is a light rain, and it doesn’t even fall once a month.

“Son, what are you talking about, wouldn’t the drought end sooner?” Mama Xu said angrily.

Xu Dong explained with a wry smile: “Aren’t I afraid that you will have a good time?”

“Empty joy is better than no hope.” Father Xu snorted.

“Honey, you…”

Unable to resist, Xu Dong quickly put down his chopsticks and prepared to “run away”: “Coco, Lele, hurry up and get your schoolbag, it’s time for school.”

After sending the twins to school, Xu Dong stepped on the accelerator and went straight to the company.

Along the way, the streets were full of cheering crowds, it was even more lively than during the Chinese New Year.

When we arrived at the office, it was still early, Xu Dong swiped his phone for a while, and the Internet was also full of joy, and the word “rain” was the number one most searched for the scarf.

Xu Dong shook his head unconsciously, as much as he hopes now, he will be as disappointed as he is next.

Near nine o’clock, colleagues from the security department came to work one after another, and everyone’s faces were relaxed and joyful.

Only Xiang Xin was crying.

Xu Dong asked curiously, “Xiao Xiang, what’s wrong with you?”

“My father-in-law just bought 800 catties of corn yesterday and spent more than 100,000 yuan. Now it’s all in vain.”

Xu Dong directly brought up the set of rhetoric he made in the morning.

Xiang Xin was dubious: “Is it true?”

“Really, if you think about it, the big river has stopped flowing. Can it be recovered after a rain? It may not even be enough to plug the gap between the teeth.” Xu Dong comforted.

“What if it continues to rain tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?”

“There are not so many contingencies. Let’s talk about tomorrow’s matter tomorrow.” Xu Dong said shamelessly.

Throughout the morning, everyone in Yanjing was probably waiting for the rain, but unfortunately the ground was still dry until noon.

At one o’clock in the afternoon, the sky is goodIt’s not easy to have raindrops, but the raindrops are too small, and the patter is better than nothing.

After two o’clock, the rain finally became heavier.

Then, there is no more.

The light rain stopped completely after half an hour, the sun reappeared in the sky, and the temperature suddenly rose to more than 30 degrees.