At the North Pool Courtyard, after Mr. Cheng and his son returned from dinner at Elder Ye's, they found that Mr. Shi, who had stubbornly refused to go out with them that evening, was already asleep.
Although it wasn't even nine o'clock, their old brother had probably not slept well the previous night and had already gone to bed early. So, Mr. Cheng suggested they not go over to the smaller courtyard.
Xu Qiguang naturally had no objections. Never mind that the old man was asleep; even if he were awake, Xu Qiguang would have been worried about him catching a chill from the wind and snow outside.
However, when Mr. Cheng asked Mr. Gu to drive over to the school courtyard to drop some things off and let the children know they wouldn't be coming back tonight, he didn't object to that either.
