Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 274: Investigating Shi Village
A large round table was placed in the central hall of my grandpa's house. Lele, Xiaohu and Nannan were constantly serving dishes. All the ingredients were common in my grandpa's house, so Yan Jiekuang also cooked home-cooked dishes, mainly Beijing-style Sichuan cuisine and Shandong cuisine. My grandma and grandpa still prefer Shandong cuisine.

Grandma specifically asked Yan Jiekuang to put each dish on a small plate, as she planned to eat with the children on the kang.

The family sang and laughed, and talked to each other about what had happened in the past few years. Yang Ruiping became different when he came back here. He chatted excitedly with his brother and sister-in-law. Yan Jiekuang also told his friends who were trapping rabbits about what had happened in the past few years. When Xiaohu heard that Jiefang had gone to the south, he drank a glass of wine by himself.

Grandpa Yang Yiqing looked at Yang Ruiping and said, "Your second son is great. You really raised a good son."

Yang Ruiping was silent for a moment, and said to his father: "I only told the third child about his affairs, but I can guess a little bit. But I just pretend I don't know. His wife is at home, so I have to pretend to be ignorant."

Yang Yiqing touched Yang Ruiping's head and said, "My daughter, you did the right thing. If he comes back someday, you must bring your whole family back so that we can celebrate properly."

Yang Ruiping wiped away his tears and said, "Dad, my son is very lucky, don't worry."

After a dull period of time, Yan Jiekuang brought the topic to the greenhouse. Yang Ruian still trusted his nephew very much and kept asking him questions. Yan Jiekuang slowly told them the story and finally said that he would take them to see it tomorrow.

The family dinner lasted until three or four o'clock. The children woke up from their nap and the grandma said, "Jie Kuang, you were the most naughty when you were little. Take the children to the back mountain for a walk."

Yan Jiekuang agreed and took Nan Nan and the children to the back mountain. Xiaohu and Lele had already returned to their hometown as they had other things to do. However, Yan Jiekuang told them to bring their families over when they came back in the evening. Xiaohu and Lele both agreed. Xiaohu could also drive, so he borrowed the car and would come back together in the evening.

Yan Jiekuang took the children on a crazy trip. They went up the mountain to catch rabbits and went down to the river to fish. The children had a lot of fun. When the sun was about to set, Yan Jiekuang and Nan Nan took the six little mud monkeys home. Grandma and several women including Yang Ruiping were picking vegetables in the yard. When they saw the six children, they burst into laughter. Grandma hurriedly took the children to wash and change their clothes.

In the evening, Yang Ruiping didn't let Yan Jiekuang cook, saying that he wanted to eat his mother's cooking. Grandma happily took her two daughters-in-law to cook. When Xiaohu's family and Lele and his wife arrived, the yard became lively. Xiaohu's son Huzi was still a very outgoing person. Soon the children started playing together. Huzi wanted to take them out to play, but Xiaohu stopped her and told the children to go out to play after dinner.

At noon, no one drank much, but it was different in the evening. Yang Ruian and Yang Ruijun took out a whole barrel of homemade wine, and everyone started drinking in the house. Even Yang Ruiping poured himself a glass.

After dinner, the children ran to the village. Hu Zi took them to play with other children in the village.

The adults drank and chatted together. Grandpa made the room warm, and they drank some wine. It was so comfortable.

Yan Jiekuang got up and wanted to go to the bathroom, so he walked out of the house and came to the toilet in the yard. All the toilets in the countryside were dry toilets, but his grandfather kept them very clean. After he finished his work and came out of the toilet, he glanced at the side inadvertently. Yan Jiekuang was stunned. He saw a square jar thrown aside, and the bottom seemed to be buried in the soil. Yan Jiekuang walked forward and tried to pull the jar out of the soil, but the jar did not move at all.

Yan Jiekuang was quite strong. After failing to pull the object out this time, he became interested. He looked around in the yard and saw a shovel at the door of the utility room. He took it and started digging. In a few digs, he had dug half a meter deep and still hadn't reached the bottom.

At this time, Xiaohu came out and patted Yan Jiekuang on the shoulder. Yan Jiekuang was startled and turned around to see that it was Xiaohu. Xiaohu said, "I saw that you didn't come in for a long time, and I thought you fell into the toilet. What are you doing?"

Yan Jiekuang said: "Help me get this out first."

Xiaohu looked at the ground in confusion and said, "I thought it was just a useless jar that has been buried here for so many years."

Although he said that, he also took action and carried the jar out with Yan Jiekuang. Although this square jar was rusty, Yan Jiekuang knew at a glance that it was a bronze ware, and it looked like it was either a ritual vessel or used for sacrificial ceremonies.

Two people carried it to the door of the main house and placed it next to the door. Xiaohu asked, "What is this? We always thought it was just an iron kettle."

Yan Jiekuang rolled his eyes and said, "This is a bronze ware. Although I can't tell which dynasty it came from, it is also a cultural relic. Where did it come from?"

Xiaohu said: "How would I know? You have to ask my grandfather."

The two men ignored the jar and went into the house. Yan Jiekuang and Xiao Hutou washed their hands. Yan Jiekuang couldn't wait to ask his grandfather about the jar.

Yang Yiqing smiled and said, "This happened a long time ago. It was after the liberation when the landlords were being beaten and the land was distributed. At that time, there was a big landlord here named Liu Wenyuan. His family was so big. Your grandma and I didn't want anything, but they forced it on us. I thought it was useless, so I buried it next to the toilet and planted a pot of flowers. Later, the flower died, so I pulled it out and never touched it again."

"Have all his belongings been divided? Where is his yard?" Yan Jiekuang asked.

Yang Yiqing said, "Every household has one. Now the village party committee is his front yard, and the middle and back yards have been demolished and turned into vegetable fields." Yan Jiekuang had some ideas, and Xiaohu asked, "How valuable are cultural relics?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "It's not worth much now, but it has historical value and will become more and more valuable in the future. I'll come back from Shijia Village tomorrow and ask Nan Nan to take me around."

The few people stopped talking about this matter and continued drinking while talking about going to Shijia Village.

At night, Yan Jiekuang was drunk. These two uncles, Xiaohu and Nannan were really good drinkers. Anyway, no one knew how Yan Jiekuang got into bed. But when he woke up the next day, he didn't feel uncomfortable at all. This shows that the wine at grandpa's house is really good.

In the morning, after Yan Jiekuang washed up and had his grandmother's breakfast, he took his two uncles, Xiaohu and Nannan and headed straight to Shijia Village.

Sanyuan Village and Shijia Village are not too far away. Although they belong to two different townships, it took only an hour and a half drive for Yan Jiekuang and his party to reach Shijia Village. They were received by Shi Jianguo, the village chief of Shijia Village. Shijia Village had benefited a lot from the Yan family, so when they saw Yan Jiekuang bringing people, they warmly entertained them.

The group visited the greenhouse in Shijia Village. Actually, the scale of the greenhouse in Shijia Village is still small, mainly because the villagers are always afraid that they will have no place to sell the crops if they produce too much. However, the crops in the greenhouse shocked the two uncles, Xiaohu and Nannan. They are all farmers, and it is winter now. They are not afraid of having trouble selling these crops.

Several people humbly asked Village Chief Shi about the vegetable greenhouse, and Village Chief Shi also imparted his experience in the greenhouse without reservation. Several people chatted until noon. Village Chief Shi also enthusiastically invited several people to stay for dinner. Yang Ruian was a little embarrassed and kept refusing. Finally, Yan Jiekuang said, "This is one of us. Don't be shy. It's just a meal. You can invite Village Chief Shi to visit your village in the future."

Yang Ruian and his companions then stayed. At the village branch office, the village chief, the village branch secretary, the accountant, the militia captain, and several elderly people were all there. As soon as they sat down, they heard the sound of a car horn outside. Yan Jiekuang was a little nervous. Could it be his father who drove to Shijia Village to purchase goods?

As luck would have it, after a while Yan Bugui and Wang Qing walked in. Yan Bugui was furious when he saw Yan Jiekuang. After he came, he greeted his two brothers-in-law first and ignored Yan Jiekuang.

Wang Qing approached Yan Jiekuang and said, "What's going on? This is your uncle."

Yan Jiekuang sighed and said, "Why are you here?"

Wang Qing said helplessly, "You don't know how difficult your dad is. He came to me yesterday and said he wanted to buy mutton. I had to buy vegetables for the restaurant yesterday, and I wanted to refuse, but your dad sat in the store and refused to leave. I really had no choice but to bring him the mutton back. At dawn today, your dad found my house and said he wanted to buy vegetables today. When my mom heard it was your dad, she immediately urged me to go quickly. Your dad is really good at doing things. I really have no choice."

Upon hearing this, Yan Jiekuang said angrily, "Go back and ask him for gas money."

"I dare not, please forgive me." Wang Qing said.

Yan Jiekuang looked at his father without saying anything, and invited Wang Qing to eat. After dinner, Yan Bugui walked over to Yan Jiekuang and said, "You have two cars, why can't you use one for your family? Why are you so selfish?"

This made Yan feel relieved. He pointed to the Crown car in the distance and said, "Dad, does this look like a truck for transporting goods? Do you know how much it costs?"

It was then that Yan Bugui noticed the car in the distance and was speechless. Yan Jiekuang said, "My two restaurants need to purchase goods. You use them every day. What should I do? How about I sell the car to you and you just give me 54,000 yuan. I won't ask you for the customs clearance fee."

Yan Bugui glared and said, "I can't afford it. Okay, okay, I'll use it less in the future. Let's go to your grandma's house together." After saying that, he turned around and got into the van.

Yan Jiekuang looked at this stingy and calculating old father and had no idea what to do. He turned around and drove his own car. His uncles and Xiaohu were already waiting in the car.

The two cars drove straight to Sanyuan Village. Along the way, the two uncles were discussing the construction of the greenhouse. Xiaohu and Nannan also gave suggestions from time to time. Now everything was easy to handle, except for the procurement of plastic film, which they didn't know where to find.

Yan Jiekuang said, "Well, I don't know if there are any in Beijing right now. If you really can't find any, I'll ask my classmates in Shanghai to bring some back. There must be some there."

When several people heard this, they became happy and continued to discuss how each household could cooperate in building the structure.

At around two o'clock in the afternoon, two cars drove into Sanyuan Village. Yang Ruiping was in the yard, getting some firewood. He turned around and looked at the two cars at the door in confusion. Why did both cars come?

(End of this chapter)