Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 288 Jie Di Returns Home
Yan Jiekuang did not disturb them. He chose another path and walked around slowly. He first went to find a vendor selling cold noodles and bought two kilograms of each of three kinds of cold noodles. Then he bought cucumbers and garlic, dried chilies and sesame paste, and peanut butter. As the tomatoes looked good, he bought some too. He put these things in the trunk of his car and then walked into the market with the empty basket.

What he didn't know was that when Xu Damao and Yu Haitang walked out of the market, Xu Damao saw Yan Jiekuang's car at a glance. The license plate was so familiar, he knew that Yan Jiekuang was also in the market.

Seeing Xu Damao staring at the luxury car in a daze, Yu Haitang pushed him and asked, "Why do you like cars so much that you can't take your eyes off them?"

"What do you know? This is the car of Yan Laosan from our hospital. I think he may have seen us." Xu Damao said.

Yu Haitang's eyes widened as he asked, "Is it the Third Brother Yan from the Yan family? Is he that awesome?"

Xu Damao hated to see others better than him, and said sarcastically: "What's so great about it? It was given by the Lou family in Hong Kong Island. He just found a good godmother."

Yu Haitang nodded and said, "I only make more than 50 yuan a month. I thought he couldn't be that rich. But this car is really not cheap. It must be tens of thousands, right?"

Xu Damao said, "Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands is about right. Yan Lao San is hanging around right under our noses, and he has never worked. How much money can he have? It's all given to him by his godmother."

Yu Haitang felt that what Xu Damao said made sense, so he said, "Let's go, let's go back quickly, the weather is so hot."

The two of them went to the house rented by Yu Haitang. Today was their date day. Ever since Xu Damao's wallet became fatter, Yu Haitang has been sticking to him again. No one in the Yu family knew anything about this, including Yu Li.

Here, Yan Jiekuang bought some grapes and a big watermelon, then left the market and drove straight home.

In the evening, the temperature dropped and there was a slight cool breeze. Yan Jiekuang set up the table under the grape vines, rolled out some corn flour, rinsed it with well water, and put it aside. He also cut three kinds of cold noodles and put them in a basin. After preparing the chili oil and Erba sauce, he started to make the mixed vegetables. He made some peanuts with aged vinegar, some smashed cucumbers, a plate of braised beef, and some pickled cucumbers.

He moved everything to the dining table, walked to the front yard, shouted that it was time for dinner, then went down to the cellar to get some beer, and brought up a few bottles of soda.

When the children saw the table full of food, they all became happy and mixed their own dishes. Especially Shi Lei, he even put a spoonful of chili oil on it. Yan Jiekuang joked, "How can you be from Henan? You must be from Sichuan."

Shi Lei smiled innocently and started to eat. Seeing how delicious Shi Lei's food was, Da Pang wanted to try it too. Ji Lian quickly stopped him and said, "You can't finish it. If you don't believe me, try your brother Shi Lei's first."

Dapang really didn't believe it, so he added a spoonful of chili to Shi Lei's bowl, put it in his mouth, chewed it for a few times, and then spit it out. It was so spicy that he stuck out his tongue. Ji Lian quickly handed over a bottle of water. Yan Jiekuang and the other children were so happy that they couldn't stand it. Dapang drank half a bottle of soda, then he calmed down and ate his own cold noodles without even looking at the chili oil.

Everyone was eating when there was a knock on the door. Yan Jiekuang stood up and told them to continue eating while he went out to take a look. Yan Jiekuang opened the door and saw a dishevelled man standing at the door with a large bag on his back. Yan Jiekuang asked, "Who are you looking for?"

When the man opposite saw Yan Jiekuang, he shouted "Third brother!", burst into tears, and threw himself into Yan Jiekuang's arms. Yan Jiekuang took a closer look and recognized that it was his sister who went out to teach. How did this happen? She was robbed. When she left, Yan Jiekuang gave her a lot of money.

Yan Jiekuang patted Yan Jiedi on the back and consoled her: "Don't cry, you're back now, come in first, and talk inside."

After letting Yan Jie Di in and closing the door, the brother and sister went straight to the backyard. Ji Lian took a look but didn't recognize them either, so she asked, "Who is this?"

Yan Jiedi said sheepishly, "Third sister-in-law, I'm back."

Ji Lianteng stood up and said, "You are Jie Di, how did you become like this? How did you get back?"

Yan Jiekuang waved his hand and said, "Don't ask any more questions. Take her to take a shower and change clothes, and then come out to eat first."

Ji Lian took Yan Jie Di to the bathroom in the east room. Shi Lei asked, "That's my aunt. How come she doesn't look like me at all? Is she really my aunt?"

Yan Jiekuang nodded at him and said, "Eat, you will know in a moment."

After eating, the children didn't go anywhere. They just waited there to see if it was their aunt.

About an hour later, Ji Lian came out of the east room with a brand new Yan Jie Di. Several children immediately surrounded them, shouting "Aunt! Aunt!"

Ji Lian complained, "Why did you go to teach? Look at how thin you have become."

Yan Jiekuang asked, "Why didn't you go home?"

Yan Jiedi rolled her eyes and said, "I'm in such a bad state now. How dare I go home? My mother will kick me out."

Ji Lian stopped Yan Jiekuang and said, "Jie Di's stomach was growling while she was taking a bath. She is so hungry. Let her eat first."

Yan Jiedi was not polite either. She took the largest bowl and filled it with food. Then she put a layer of vegetables on it, added the 28-spice sauce, and a large spoonful of chili oil. After mixing everything, she started to eat it ravenously. Ji Lian said beside her, "Eat slowly. No one is going to snatch it from you. There's still a lot left."

Yan Jiekuang and the children just watched Yan Jiedi eat noodles quietly. When Yan Jiedi was about to get a third bowl, Yan Jiekuang stopped her and said, "Slow down, don't eat too much, drink some soda."

Yan Jiedi then stopped and looked up. Several children were staring at her. She felt a little embarrassed. Shi Lei said, "Aunt, your appetite has obviously increased."

Ji Lian said, "Go, take your brothers and sisters out to play. How dare you say that to your aunt?" Shi Lei stuck out his tongue and took his brothers and sisters to the main hall.

Yan Jiekuang asked, "Are you hungry over there? Didn't I bring you a lot of money?"

Yan Jie Di said aggrievedly: "How would I know it was so poor over there? The road is still far, and it's a mountain road. It takes a whole day to walk along the mountain road to buy things, and I don't even know the way." "But you won't be unable to buy anything when you come back, right?" Yan Jie Kuang said.

Yan Jiedi said in a low voice: "It's too poor over there. A family only earns a dozen yuan a year. I couldn't bear it when I left, so I left all the money to the needy family."

Yan Jiekuang asked in surprise: "You didn't keep any?"

Yan Jiedi said embarrassedly: "No, I left money for a train ticket."

"Then how did you eat along the way?" Ji Lian asked in surprise.

"When I left, my fellow villagers gave me two cakes, and I walked all the way to the train station," said Yan Jiedi.

Ji Lian said, "You have suffered so much." Then she hugged Yan Jiedi.

Yan Jiekuang said nothing more and asked, "Do you want to eat more?"

Yan Jiedi said: "I think I can have another bowl, mainly because my brother made it so delicious."

"Eat it. I'll go cut some watermelon for you." After saying that, Yan Jiekuang went to the well, fished out the watermelon that he had put in to calm it down, and went straight to the kitchen.

Ji Lian said to Yan Jie Di: "Stay here today and go back with your brother tomorrow."

Yan Jie Di, who was eating cold noodles, nodded. After cleaning up after the meal, Yan Jie Kuang called the children and they gathered together with Ji Lian and Jie Di to eat watermelon. Yan Jie Di talked excitedly about the beautiful scenery of Yunnan.

Yan Jiekuang said to Yan Jiedi unhappily, "How about I buy you a train ticket tomorrow and you go back?"

Yan Jiedi was stunned and shook her head like a rattle, making everyone laugh.

The next morning, Ji Lian got up early and made breakfast. When Yan Jiekuang woke up, Ji Lian told him that she was going to have a graduation ceremony today. Yan Jiekuang suddenly changed from being sleepy to being energetic. Ji Lian's next sentence was, "It's an internal school activity, and outsiders are not invited."

Yan Jiekuang suddenly lost interest. After watching Ji Lian go out, he went to wake up the children and also woke up Jie Di.

After everyone finished breakfast together, Yan Jiekuang went to get the car. Yan Jiedi really didn't know that her brother already had a car, and thought he was going to borrow a tricycle.

When Yan Jiekuang drove back, Yan Jiedi walked to the side of the car, widened her eyes and asked, "Whose car is this? It's a Crown."

"Mine, it's been open for how long, don't you know?" Yan Jiekuang said while wondering whether he had told Yan Jiedi about this.

"Third brother, you hid it so well. When did you tell me? How would I know?" Yan Jiedi said complainingly.

"Didn't your parents tell you that they have all sat on it, including your eldest brother and second brother." Yan Jiekuang explained, but he regretted it right after he said it, because Yan Jiedi had never sat on it.

Seeing Yan Jiedi's resentful eyes, Yan Jiekuang hurriedly urged the children to get in the car, and then asked Yan Jiedi to get in the car before driving to Yard No. 95.

When Yan Jie Di arrived home, Yang Ruiping was picking vegetables with Widow Wang in the front yard. When he looked up, he saw his emaciated daughter. Yang Ruiping stood up, walked quickly to Yan Jie Di, slapped her on the back, and said, "You stupid girl, you still remember to come back?"

Then she hugged Yan Jie Di and started crying. Yan Jie Kuang looked at her for a long time and quickly advised her, "My little sister just came back. Ask her to put her things back first."

Only then did Yang Ruiping let go of Yan Jiedi. Yan Jiedi felt relieved. She secretly glanced at her third brother and went back to her room.

Yan Jiekuang asked, "Did my dad go to buy goods again?"

Yang Ruiping said angrily: "What kind of goods did they import? They bought a bunch of junk. The study is full of them. He won't listen to me. If you go and see, he is almost using the house as a garbage dump. There is a musty smell everywhere."

Yan Jiekuang frowned. Didn’t his father teach him a lesson last time? How come he didn’t learn his lesson at all? He didn’t have the ability, but he still insisted on joining the antique circle.

Yan Jiekuang entered Yan Bugui's study. Half of the space was filled with some tattered furniture, and the other half was filled with a pile of porcelain on the table and floor.

Yan Jiekuang took a quick look and could not say that they were fakes. Most of them were from the late Qing Dynasty, and there were two porcelains that were treasures from the folk kilns during the Qianlong period. Most of the furniture was from the late Qing Dynasty, and all were made of northern craftsmanship. They were imitations of Ming Dynasty furniture, mostly made of beech and birch. The paint on the surface was very exquisite, but not very valuable.

Yan Jiekuang was just watching, when Yan Bugui came in. Seeing Yan Jiekuang, he asked Yan Jiekuang proudly, "Are you jealous? These were all bought by your father who worked hard in the countryside."

Yan Jiekuang laughed and asked, "Dad, are you planning to open a folk museum? These are all folk things and are not valuable."

Yan Bugui was stunned for a moment and stood there for a long time without coming to his senses.

(End of this chapter)