Stella wasn’t sure if Dolores believed her. The latter took over the insulation pail, “Leave it to me. You can go upstairs and take a nap.”
After that, she entered the kitchen.
Stella didn’t sleep well last night, so she felt a bit sleepy now. Yawning, she went upstairs.
She didn’t wake up until six o’clock in the evening.
When she woke up, she saw the evening glow all over the sky.
Stella went downstairs, only to find that Dolores wasn’t in the kitchen. She checked on her next door and found Evelyn wasn’t in either.
Besides them, it was time for preparing dinner, but the few houses in the neighborhood were all silent. She couldn’t hear anything.
As the last trace of the evening glow disappeared, the street lamps were turned on one after another, shimmering the whole river.
It was way too difficult to find such a long and peaceful street with a long history.
When Stella was lost in thought, Evelyn showed up behind her. She patted Stella on the shoulder, “Hey, Stella, you are awake.”
Stella returned to her senses, “Hi, Ms. Beckham.”
Evelyn said, “Let’s go.”
Stella was confused, “Where to?”
“Oh, you don’t know yet.” Evelyn patted herself on the forehead and continued, “The hotel resort was almost decided, so all of us are moving soon. We don’t know when we’ll reunite in the future, so we decided to have a gathering together. I asked Ms. Anderson for help this afternoon. Now almost everyone has arrived. I came back to take you over.”
Hence, Evelyn dragged Stella to the ancestral hall.
It was a public ancestral hall. Whenever it was a holiday or there was a gathering, the neighbor would use this ancestral hall. In the past, the whole community didn’t have a gathering because of various reasons. It was probably the last time that they could gather together, so almost all of the neighbors had attended.
On Anqiao Street lived mostly the aged men and women who were not willing to stay with their children, such as Dolores and Evelyn. Besides, that there were also some young tenants such as Alexander and Stella.
All of them got along very well. They were beyond landlords or landladies and tenants. They were like regrouping new homes.
For the dinner tonight, all the mid-aged men and women showed their cooking skills. Each of them cooked a dish that they were best at. With the dozens of dishes on a big round table, the dinner looked like a feast.
Evelyn took Stella to a seat, “Come on, Stella. Sit here.”
There were neighbors that Stella was quite familiar with at this table.
Both Evelyn and Dolores were sitting at the table. However, there was an empty seat next to Stella.
...
The acquisition meeting of Anqiao Street was held for a whole afternoon. It didn’t end until it was getting dark outside.
After others were gone, Clarence sat in his chair, rubbing his temples with strength.
Nathan walked up and said, “Mr. Conrad, would you like to take the migraine pills?”
Clarence put down his hands, stood up, and said, “Forget it. Let’s go grab something for dinner.”
In front of the elevator, Alexander and the executives of his company were still waiting for the elevator.
A manager said, “It’s dinner time now. Let’s go home after dinner.”
Others echoed him. Alexander said in embarrassment, “I’m sorry, but I might not join you tonight.”
He told them about the community gathering briefly.
The rebuilt ofAnqiao Street into a hotel resort was a huge project, so it was also important to Alexander’s company. Upon hearing it, they agreed immediately, “I see. Then we can’t hold you up for so long, Alex. Please do ahead.”
“Alex, after going back, please send our wishes to your neighbors as well.”
“By the way, Alex, will Stella join your gathering tonight?”
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