Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 266: Deep Talk on Individuals
The drinking party did not end until late at night. Everyone was drunk. Yan Jiekuang did not dare to go to his mother's house. He went straight back to the north room of the west wing, washed his face and went to bed.

The next day, Yan Jiekuang got up with a splitting headache. He didn't want to get up, but his mother was standing by his bed with a feather duster. Yang Ruiping scolded Yan Jiekuang and said, "Why did you drink so much? You are an adult. Several children have been asking where you went all morning. Can you be more careful?"

Yan Jiekuang was powerless to refute, and after getting up, he said, "No, Mom, I'm going to the bathhouse to take a bath. I smell like alcohol all over."

Yang Ruiping said, "I'll bring you some porridge and buns. Yongqing bought them this morning. Eat them first and then go."

Yang Ruiping turned and left the north room. Yan Jiekuang was still a little dazed. He picked up the kettle and made himself a cup of scented tea. As he was drinking it, Yang Ruiping came in with breakfast. Yan Jiekuang said, "It's my mother who loves me."

Yang Ruiping rolled his eyes at him and asked, "It's the weekend, why haven't Ji Lian and Jie Di come back yet?"

Yan Jiekuang said: "I am preparing for the thesis and taking exams. I am busy all the time. I said I will be back after the exams and the holiday."

Yang Ruiping nodded, and she complained, "The eldest couple is busy running the store now, and they don't come back often. The second child doesn't send any messages at all, and the children live with you, and the old and young are also busy. If you don't come back, I will be the only one at home."

Yan Jiekuang comforted his mother and said, "When I come back from Hong Kong Island, I will take you to live with me. You can come back here during the day if you want to. You can take care of the children when you have nothing to do. Besides, don't we still have my father?"

"Don't mention that old guy. Ever since he opened the shop, he has not been in a hurry to go home. Sometimes he doesn't even come back at night, saying that he is watching the shop." Yang Ruiping complained.

Yan Jiekuang said while eating buns: "Mom, you don't know, there are too many idle people in society now, it's a bit uneasy, the store needs to be watched at night, you have to understand my dad."

Yang Ruiping tapped Yan Jiekuang's head and said, "You always have a reason. I understand, isn't it enough? I just grumbled to you, what are you doing after taking a shower?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "I'll leave the child at your place. I guess someone will come home to look for me soon. Okay, I'm going to take a shower." Yan Jiekuang quickly finished his porridge, ate the last bun, packed up his things, and went out.

Yang Ruiping was cleaning up the dishes and smiled at Yan Jiekuang's back. She had always believed that Yan Jiekuang was the one who was closest to her in the family.

Yan Jiekuang took the bathing basket and went straight to the bathhouse. Just as he walked to the counter to pay for the bath ticket and get a number, he saw Liu Guangfu and Sun Xiaolong walking in together.

Liu Guangfu said, "What a coincidence." Yan Jiekuang said, "Yes." Yan Jiekuang thought to himself, what coincidence? It must be that Sun Xiaolong saw Liu Guangfu, whom he had specially gone to see.

The three of them went to the bathhouse to take a bath. Liu Guangfu ordered tea. While soaking in the bathhouse, they just talked about each other's experiences in the past year. Liu Guangfu also kept asking Jie Kuang about his second brother. Yan Jie Kuang didn't say much, but just said that his second brother had a particularly heavy training task after he was promoted to company commander.

At this time, Sun Xiaolong suddenly said, "Is Jiefang going to the South? I heard the situation there is very tense."

Liu Guangfu turned his head and glared at Yan Jiekuang. His sharp eyes seemed to want to kill someone. Yan Jiekuang sighed and said, "There was a battle before. My brother went there too, but he came back later. I don't know what the situation is now."

Sun Xiaolong and Liu Guangfu had a very good relationship with his second brother. Yan Jiekuang felt it was difficult to lie, so he told them directly. Suddenly, no one spoke. After a long while, Liu Guangfu said, "Let's go and have a rest and drink some tea."

The resting place was two wooden beds facing each other, one on each side, covered with bath towels. Sun Xiaolong did not go to his own seat, but sat directly with Liu Guangfu. Yan Jiekuang sat opposite them, and the three of them drank tea.

Liu Guangfu spoke first, saying, "Old Third, I heard about your situation. You have always been the smartest person in our hospital and you have a very accurate grasp of the direction. I came back this time because I really don't want to sail anymore. Can you help me think about what I should do?"

Sun Xiaolong did not interrupt and just drank tea silently. Yan Jiekuang thought for a while and asked, "Brother Guangfu, I don't know how you want to live. Do you want a stable life? Or do you want to fight? So it depends on your own ideas. If you want a stable life, I think it's better to transfer to this unit. Even if you don't want to go to work one day, your son can take over."

Liu Guangfu and Sun Xiaolong listened carefully. Yan Jiekuang took a sip of tea and said, "If you want to work hard, you can actually be an individual now, but now everyone is struggling to survive. We are the same and have difficulties. For example, our restaurant only accepts money now, not tickets. In fact, this means that we have to buy some unplanned food and meat ourselves. But if we accept tickets, the number of tickets will be too large, and we simply cannot exchange for enough food and meat. We are still exploring this, but no matter what we do, we just need to abide by the law."

Liu Guangfu nodded and said, "Nowadays, people who work look down on being an individual because it has a bad reputation. But from Xu Damao, He Yuzhu and you, we can feel that you are making a lot of money."

Sun Xiaolong also echoed, "It's not just the people who work here who look down on me. You don't know, if I say anything about your business, my mom and grandpa will lecture me. They tell me every day that I should work hard, and that's how to make a living."

Yan Jiekuang knew that Sun Xiaolong was talking about Widow Wang and Grandpa Sun. Liu Guangfu asked, "That's not right. I remember Aunt Wang made a lot of money in the 1960s. Why doesn't she care about it now?"

Sun Xiaolong sighed and said, "My mother meant that at that time, we made money for ourselves and that was it. Now, we work to contribute to the country. It's different."

Yan Jiekuang asked Liu Guangfu: "Your father really wants to do business. If you want to do it yourself, just ask your father."

Liu Guangfu said, "Forget it. He just wanted to be a boss. He is not cut out for business. He spent all the money he earned recklessly. In the end, we brothers had to pay for the losses. He only had his pension money left." Sun Xiaolong nodded and said, "Your father was very cocky in the first two days after he made money. He showed off everywhere."

Yan Jiekuang said: "In fact, what your father did was against some regulations, but he stopped it in time, otherwise it would have been trouble sooner or later."

Liu Guangfu and Sun Xiaolong agreed deeply. Liu Guangfu said, "Let me think about it again. If I want to do business, who do you think I should learn from?"

Yan Jiekuang said: "You are not suitable for the catering industry. If you have time, go to Xiushui Street and look for my brother and sister-in-law."

Liu Guangfu nodded. It was not that Yan Jiekuang did not want to teach Liu Guangfu some business skills. It was mainly because his business skills were based on strong financial support. To put it bluntly, the starting point was different. Even if he told Liu Guangfu, he would not be able to do it.

The three of them chatted about everything under the sun for a while, then packed up and left the bathhouse. This time, Yan Jiekuang went straight back to his parents' house. Yang Ruiping saw the energetic Yan Jiekuang and nodded, saying, "What do you want to eat for lunch? I'll make it for you."

Yan Jiekuang thought for a moment and said, "There's still some meat in the refrigerator. I'll chop some meat and we can have some noodles with soybean paste. The weather is hot and that's just right."

"Great!" Before Yang Ruiping could say anything, Big Fat and Little Fat started shouting first.

Yang Ruiping said, "Okay, let's have some noodles with soybean paste. I'll go get some cucumbers." After that, he ran out of the yard.

Yan Jiekuang took out the remaining meat and started chopping it. After a while, Yang Ruiping came back with cucumbers and tomatoes and handed him another piece of meat. Yan Jiekuang looked at his mother in confusion. Yang Ruiping said, "It's your dad who asked you to make more. The guys in the store and the purchasing station will also eat it."

"You said my life is miserable, it's my life of cooking." Yan Jiekuang said jokingly.

Yang Ruiping laughed and asked, "Hurry up and do it. I'll go with the children."

As soon as Yang Ruiping left, Yan Yongqing stuck his head out of the door and said, "Uncle San, I heard we're having noodles with soybean paste for lunch. You can't forget my share."

Yan Jiekuang said unhappily, "Got it!"

Yan Jiekuang was busy in the kitchen alone. He had just finished making the noodles when he saw Sun Xiaolong wandering over. Yan Jiekuang asked, "What's up?"

Sun Xiaolong said embarrassedly: "Well, I heard you made some sauce. Please serve it to me later. My grandfather likes it very much. I will cook it myself when I get home."

Yan Jiekuang rolled his eyes and said, "How do you know all this? How much do I have to do? Okay, I got it."

Yan Jiekuang thought that he should make less noodles here in the future, as soon everyone who did not go out would come here to beg for money, such as Jia Zhangshi.

Speaking of Cao Chao, Cao Chao arrived. Yan Jiekuang had just finished making the sauce when Jia Zhang came with Jia Xiaobao. As soon as she entered the room, she smiled and said to Yang Ruiping, "My son and daughter-in-law are out today. You see, it's just Xiaobao and I at home. Your sauce is all over the yard. Let me decorate it. I'll make some noodles and use the leftovers for cooking."

Yang Ruiping looked at Jia Zhang and said, "Okay, I was just thinking about it. Why haven't you come yet? I guess you're on time."

Yan Jiekuang heard the conversation between the two people, but didn't say anything. He put the sauce on her, and then served Sun Xiaolong's separately, asking Yan Yongqing to send it over. Then he started to make noodles, saying that the first pot was for his own children and mother.

Later, a lot more was made and most of them were sent to the west wing. Yan Jiekuang was busy for a while and was finally exhausted. He made an extra-large bowl for himself, filled it with noodles with sauce and vegetables, squatted at the door of his house, and began to eat with big mouthfuls.

Yan Yongqing came over when he saw this and handed Yan Jiekuang two heads of garlic. While eating, he said, "Uncle San, even if you don't open a restaurant, you can still have a prosperous business by opening a noodle shop."

Yan Jiekuang took a mouthful of noodles and then a bite of garlic, and said, "Okay, I'll teach you the recipe for fried bean paste, and then you can find a noodle chef, and that's it."

Yan Yongqing was tempted and said while eating noodles: "Maybe, it really works."

Yan Jiekuang laughed and said, "Nowadays, people in society look down on those who run their own business. If you go, it will be hard to find a wife, haha."

Yan Jiekuang and Yan Yongqing were squatting at the door of their house eating noodles. The fat boy and the little fat boy looked at their father in the house. They thought that their father's way of eating noodles was correct, so they picked up their bowls and ran to the door.

(End of this chapter)