Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 19 A false alarm

Siheyuan (West Cross Courtyard) on June 3, 1952

When the children from the compound entered the west wing, they were all very happy. There was a large open space in the center of the west wing.

As soon as Yan Jiekuang entered the door, he turned right and went into the flower bed. After the flower bed, there was a long corridor on the right side, next to the courtyard wall.

Walking along the road and observing the west wing, the back is invisible, but there is nothing in sight, and the two sides should be the original galleries. Following the long corridor, Yan Jiekuang walked with his short legs and accurately found the southwest corner of the middle courtyard.

After looking for a while, I still didn't understand it, so I climbed down the corridor, walked to the base of the wall, knocked here and there, but still didn't understand.

Yan Jiecheng turned around and saw his brother. He wondered what his brother was doing there, and suddenly shouted, "Third brother, what are you doing?"

Yan Jiekuang didn't notice it just now, but there was a hole just one meter away from the wall, a tree hole with a diameter of half a meter, but the tree was blown down and the surface was covered with weeds, so it could not be found at all.

When his older brother shouted, the little guy was startled, and he tripped over the tree roots out of nervousness and fell into the hole.

At this time, Yan Jiecheng saw Yan Jiekuang disappear, and thought he was playing hide-and-seek with him, so he went to look for him, but couldn't find him after searching for a while, and called for a while but there was no response. Yan Jiecheng thought he had gone back, so he didn't pay any attention and went back to playing with his friends.

Yan Jiekuang said that he fell into a cave, but in fact he fell onto a stone slide, and then slid downward in a large arc all the way to the bottom.

Yan Jiekuang was sitting on the ground, his butt hurting. He stood up, and the lights on both sides suddenly lit up, and the corridor was instantly bright, and he was startled.

Yan Jiekuang walked forward and reached the end. There was no complicated mechanism as he had imagined. There was a warehouse on each side of the end.

Entering to the left, there are rows and rows of antique shelves filled with bookshelves arranged in intervals, a bit like a library in later generations.

There were all kinds of things on the antique display shelf. He saw jade, which he understood, and then he saw gold crowns, gold wares, silver wares, jade wares, wooden wares, lacquer wares, and so on.

He doesn't understand antiques and can't understand it. It's okay. I'll keep it for now and study it when I understand it.

Soon, an empty warehouse was created. The clever Yan Jiekuang walked to the right room and looked around. He saw boxes filled with black lacquer and gold-plated dragon patterns. He didn't want to waste time looking at them, so he put them away.

Then he began to look for an exit. According to his previous idea, there should be an exit in the central courtyard of the quadrangle, which is the interlayer wall.

There were only two rooms and a long corridor in the entire underground. After wandering around for a long time, I found nothing. The four walls were made of huge stones, which was clear at a glance.

At this time Yan Jiekuang was also anxious. He couldn't find the exit and couldn't get out. The more anxious Yan Jiekuang became, the harder it was to find. The more he couldn't find it, the more anxious he became.

West Wing of the Front Courtyard of Siheyuan
After a day of playing, Yan Jiecheng came back with Yan Jiefang. There was no one at home, so they both drank water in big gulps and then leaned comfortably on the chairs.

Yan Jiecheng thought of his younger brother, so he asked the second brother, "Did you see my younger brother?"

"No, is he in the inner room?" Yan Jiefang replied.

Yan Jiecheng ran to the inner room and saw that there was no one there. His confusion turned into panic.

No, I saw my younger brother, but I couldn’t find him. With a "wow" sound, Yan Jiecheng burst into tears and ran out.

The party in the front yard was over and no one was around anymore. Yan Jiecheng ran to the middle yard, shouting, "Dad, Dad!"

Yan Bugui was sitting at the main table. When he heard the shouting, he looked over and saw his eldest son running towards him, crying.

Yan Bugui's heart skipped a beat and he stood up suddenly. He was drunk and staggering.

Yang Ruiping, who was standing next to the stove, felt a pang in his heart and quickly stood up and ran towards Yan Jiecheng.

Old Man Li also saw the flustered Yan Jiecheng, and he stood up as well, and quickly supported the boss, "Tell me slowly what happened?"

"I saw my younger brother in the west wing, but I couldn't find him. I thought he had come back, but now I still can't find him." Yan Jiecheng was panicked and spoke incoherently.

Before he could finish his words, Yang Ruiping rushed out, followed closely by Yan Bugui and Old Man Li, and Yan Jiecheng also running behind him.

Everyone understood that the Yan family's old and young were lost in the west wing.

Yi Zhonghai looked at Captain Zhang, who said loudly, "Don't worry, let's all go to the west wing and look for it together."

The neighbors of the courtyard and the people from the Military Control Commission walked quickly towards the west wing.

As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the west wing, everyone was stunned to see Yan Jiekuang sitting on the steps at the entrance of the west wing, sitting obediently with a popsicle in his hand. Yang Ruiping burst into laughter, Yan Bugui stared at his youngest son, and old man Li was also happy. How many people could be fooled by the obedient appearance of the old and the young?

Only Yan Jiecheng rushed to Lao Xiao, still crying, "Little brother, are you okay? Where have you been? I was so worried about you."

Yan Jiekuang smiled sweetly at his eldest brother and said, "Brother, I'm fine. Sister will treat me to a popsicle." He pointed his hand into the distance.

No one saw anyone, so they thought that the youngest member of the Yan family went out to play with a strange girl for a while, ate some popsicles, and then sat obediently at the door waiting for his family.

Since everything was fine, no one took it seriously and went back to the courtyard one after another. Captain Zhang and Clerk Wang also said goodbye to everyone.

The Yan family of four also returned home happily.

Back in time (I am the dividing line)

How did Yan Jiekuang get out? Yan Jiekuang had no other choice but to go back the same way and look at the corridor with a sad face.

I turned around to look at the slide. Wow, it’s not too slippery and the slope is not too steep. In my previous life, I climbed up from the bottom of the slide many times.

After trying it, it worked. Step by step, the gecko skill reappeared and he climbed up. When he reached the cave entrance, he saw the tree roots. He held the tree roots and climbed up a few times, and then he flipped out.

As soon as he came out, he heard Yan Jiecheng's shouting from next door. He was worried and ran quickly to the gate of the west wing. As soon as he walked out of the gate, he bumped into a little girl's arms.

The little girl supported him and saw that he was a cute little boy. "Little boy, are you okay?"

"Sister, I'm fine. I live in the courtyard next door." Yan Jiekuang saw that she was a beautiful sister, so he answered obediently.

The little girl smiled and said, "Be good, sister will treat you to a popsicle, let's go home quickly." As she said that, the little girl took out a popsicle from her bag and handed it to Yan Jiekuang.

"Thank you, sister." The little girl smiled at him and turned away.

Yan Jiekuang heard hurried footsteps coming from next door again. Well, stop running around, turn around and sit down on the steps, eating a popsicle.

The front yard of the Siheyuan, the west wing (The story continues, guess who is the popsicle sister?)
Yang Ruiping hugged Yan Jiekuang, seemingly still angry. Yan Jiekuang felt that his mother's hand was still shaking as she touched him.

Yan Jiekuang felt very guilty and whispered, "I will never go with a little girl again." Then he snuggled into his mother's arms.

Yang Ruiping's hand brushed Xiao San's head, "In the future, tell mom first before anything else. You can go only if mom agrees."

"Yeah," Yan Jiekuang said obediently.

"Is the popsicle delicious?" Yan Jiekuang looked down, and Yan Jiefang came over and looked up and asked his younger brother.

Yang Ruiping turned his head and looked at the second brother, "Did you see it?"

"Well, the young lady is very beautiful." Yan Jiefang replied in a buzzing voice.

Yan Bugui also heard it and said unhappily, "Why don't you come back and tell us?"

"The young lady just left and you came here." Yan Jiefang muttered softly.

Yan Bugui was helpless and realized it was just a false alarm. He felt relieved and turned around to do his own thing.

In fact, when Yan Jiefang ran out crying, he was so frightened that he wondered how his younger brother would be lost. He didn't hear anything, but heard the west wing, and ran out of the courtyard.

Before I reached the gate of the west wing, I saw my younger brother talking to a little girl and he even got a popsicle.

Just when he was about to go up to see what was going on, a large group of people from the courtyard came running hurriedly and he was pushed aside.

Yan Jiekuang looked at his frightened mother and tears fell. "I'm sorry, I won't leave the courtyard anymore."

Yang Ruiping had calmed down, knowing it was just a false alarm, and said gently to the brothers, "You are still young, so just have an adult accompany you from now on, and don't run around by yourself."

The brothers nodded quickly.

(End of this chapter)