Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 300 Happy Events after the New Year
In the evening of Sanyuan Village, smoke from cooking fires rose up, and every household was still enjoying the Spring Festival. Yang Yiqing's family was no exception. The old couple was particularly happy today. Their three children had all returned, as well as the third and fourth generations. The whole family gathered together, and Yan Jiekuang was the chef today.

There were two large tables in the main hall, with ten dishes including squirrel mandarin fish, braised prawns, fried double crispy dishes, fried mullet flowers, fairy duck, three kinds of dishes, cherry pork, Dongpo pork, beef tenderloin with oyster sauce, and Kung Pao chicken. The last dish was a soup, ginseng chicken soup. The ginseng was brought by Yan Jiekuang himself, and he had started to cook it before lunch.

The women kept shuttling between the kitchen and the central hall. After Yan Jiekuang served out the last piece of soup, everyone gathered together. The box of wine that Yan Jiekuang had brought was still there. Everyone drank the white wine brewed by his grandfather. Yan Jiekuang had drunk this wine before. It was very refreshing and not intoxicating.

Yang Ruiping said: "Dad, you won't say a few words today."

Yang Yiqing laughed and said, "Today our family is the most complete, and my sister's third child even cooked for us personally, making such delicious dishes. We will all enjoy the food and drink well. Next year, every household will be even better. Come, have a drink."

Everybody cheered together, drank a glass of wine, and then started to eat happily. The whole family was having a great time. The only flaw was that Yang Ruiping's family members were not all there, but grandpa and grandpa knew what kind of person Yan Bugui was, so they simply didn't mention it or ask.

During the meal, the family became happier the more they ate, and the happier they were, the more they drank. Yan Jiekuang's aunts kept asking him about cooking methods, and he patiently answered them one by one.

It was not until Xiaohu took Yan Jiekuang out for a drink that the women stopped asking questions and just kept praising their nephew's cooking skills, which were comparable to those of a master.

The party ended when all the men were drunk. Yan Jiekuang didn't know how he got back to his room. When he woke up in the morning, Ji Lian looked at him strangely. Yan Jiekuang asked Ji Lian in confusion: "I didn't do anything excessive yesterday, did I?"

"No, you just sang a song, something like 'The Sky Is Blue And Waiting For The Clouds,' and 'I'm Waiting For You.' After singing a few lines, you fell asleep. I was wondering, who were you waiting for?" Ji Lian looked at him seriously and asked.

"Ah, it's just a song, I wrote it casually. Who can I be waiting for at home every day?" Yan Jiekuang said guiltily.

Ji Lian still didn't believe it and said, "But it sounds pretty good."

Yan Jiekuang didn't answer out of guilt, but just kept saying that he forgot, and Ji Lian didn't ask any more questions.

"Where is my mother?" Yan Jiekuang asked.

Ji Lian said, "Grandma pulled her to sleep with her, so she must have woken up by now. By the way, are you going back today?"

Yan Jiekuang said: "It depends on what my mother says. If she says to go back, then we can go back."

Yan Jiekuang got up, dressed, and washed his face in the outer room. At this time, Yang Ruiping came and brought breakfast, which was made by his grandmother, including corn porridge, scrambled eggs, and meat buns.

Ji Lian immediately went over to take it, and Yan Jiekuang said, "Mom, do you want to eat together?"

"No, I'll eat with my mother." Yang Ruiping said and left.

Ji Lian laughed and said, "I didn't expect my mother to have this side."

Yan Jiekuang picked up a bun, took a bite and said, "Yes, grandpa and grandma are old, and mom cherishes every minute with them."

While Yan Jiekuang was eating, he was thinking about why he wanted to sing this song. How did he think of this song? Just as he was thinking, Nan Nan came in with a box and said, "I'm eating."

Yan Jiekuang said, "Let's eat together?"

Nan Nan said, "I've eaten. I've brought you food. Eat quickly."

"What is it?" Yan Jiekuang asked.

Nan Nan stared at Yan Jiekuang with eyes wide open and said, "Are you really drunk? Forgot that I told you yesterday that I had a piece of Tang Ying's porcelain for you, and you sang a song. Did you forget it?"

Yan Jiekuang really didn't remember anything, but he knew why he sang that song. He quickly put down the buns in his hand and went to pick up the box.

Nan Nan said: "Why are you in such a hurry? It's given to you and you can't run away."

Yan Jiekuang didn't listen to him at all. He opened the box, picked it up and looked at it carefully. It was indeed a work of Tang Ying from the Yongzheng period, an imitation of a Ru kiln peach blossom vase. It had no flaws at all, was very beautiful, and in perfect condition.

Yan Jiekuang couldn't let it go, and then turned to Ji Lian and said, "This is the sky blue color. Although there is still a gap with the Ru kiln, it is very small. Look, it's perfect."

Ji Lian was watching from the side. She was also shocked by the azure color and said, "The ancestors were really amazing. I guess it would be difficult to imitate them now."

Yan Jiekuang nodded and asked Nan Nan, "I'll order it. How much is it? I'll give it to you."

Nan Nan said embarrassedly: "Please don't give me money. I only charged ten yuan when I went to the countryside to do business. I knew you liked it, so I bought it."

Yan Jiekuang put down the bottle, hugged Nan Nan and gave her a kiss, "Thank you very much, brother."

Nan Nan wiped his face in disgust and said, "Okay, you continue eating, I'm going back."

After Nan Nan left, Yan Jiekuang ate his meal while admiring the peach blossom vase, which made Ji Lian urge him to eat faster.

Just after dinner, Xiaohu came and said to Yan Jiekuang when he saw him, "The children want to go to the greenhouse to play. Do you want to go?"

"Go, I'll also take a look at your greenhouse. Ji Lian, are you going?" Yan Jiekuang said.

Ji Lian said, "I'll go too, and ask my second sister-in-law to go."

After a while, everyone followed Xiaohu to the greenhouse. There were five greenhouses in total, each covering about two acres. Xiaohu took them to one near the village road. Once inside, the greenhouse was full of green. There were mainly three kinds of vegetables in this greenhouse: cucumbers, peppers and leeks.

The children were very excited to see the green fields in the middle of winter. They walked around in the vegetable fields. When they came back, Huzi gave them a cucumber each. Xiaohu introduced: "Almost every greenhouse has three kinds of vegetables, all of which are common vegetables. Only these five greenhouses are emptied every month."

Yan Jiekuang said: "In fact, you don't have to grow only vegetables, you can also build some to grow some fruits, such as strawberries, tomatoes, cherries and so on."

Xiaohu's eyes lit up and he said, "Really? I only thought about vegetables. Fruits will make more profit. But now that the output is contracted to each household, every family wants to build their own greenhouse."

Yan Jiekuang shook his head and said, "Don't worry. The demand in this city is huge, especially in the past two years. Every family has money in their pockets. You don't have to worry about not being able to sell them. You just have to unify the price, otherwise it will be a mess."

Xiaohu said, "Okay, I understand. Our village committee will hold a meeting to study it."

A few people took their children, picked some vegetables, and went home. When they got home, grandma came out and said she would cook today.

Yan Jiekuang found a time and secretly asked Yang Ruiping if he wanted to go back today. Yang Ruiping thought for a moment and said, "I'll go back tomorrow. I have to spend more time with my mom and dad."

In the evening, grandma took Yang Ruiping to cook two tables of delicious dishes, most of which were vegetables. They ate a lot of meat yesterday, so today they wanted to eat something lighter. But grandma still made twice-cooked pork and braised pork, as she was afraid that the children would not be used to it.

Tonight, we didn't drink like we did yesterday. We just had one glass each. That's what grandpa said.

After dinner, the men smoked, drank tea and chatted in the main hall. After the women cleaned up, they went to another room to chat. Only the children were full of energy. Hu Zi took firecrackers and led them out of the yard again.

The next day, Yang Ruiping took Yan Jiekuang to say goodbye to grandma and grandpa, saying that they would come back to see them as soon as they had time. The two old people accompanied them all the way to the village entrance, and only then did Yang Ruiping get on the car, wiping his tears.

After the car drove for a while, Yan Jiekuang saw in the rearview mirror that the old couple was standing there looking in the direction of the car. In an instant, Yan Jiekuang burst into tears. He decided in his heart that he must bring his mother back once a month.

At about noon, the car stopped at the entrance of the alley of No. 95 Courtyard. Yang Ruiping, Shi Xiaoya, and Yongchang Yongxin got out of the car. Yang Ruiping asked, "You're not going in?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "No, I have a lot of things to do at home. I'll come to see you when I have time."

Yang Ruiping shook his head helplessly and took a few people home. Yang Ruiping knew that the third brother was very disappointed with the people in this yard, so disappointed that he didn't want to go to the yard at all.

Yan Jiekuang drove away without looking back and headed straight for his home.

After parking the car, he led his family into the alley. From a distance, he saw something squatting in front of his house. Da Pang ran a few steps and called out, "Dad, Tiantian is back. It's Tiantian."

He came to Yan Jiekuang every day, and as if he had suffered some injustice, he would stand up and pounce on Yan Jiekuang.

Yan Jiekuang was also very happy. He hugged Tiantian and said, "Look, I have blocked the entrance to the cave. You can't get in even if you come back. Who told you to run away without making a sound?"

Tiantian’s tail was about to be shaken off, and he kept barking. Yan Jiekuang said with disgust: "Okay, let’s go home first." At this time, the children also surrounded Tiantian and hugged each of them for a while.

Yan Jiekuang opened the door and the family went in. The big cat was lying on a chair on the corridor in the middle hall. It heard Tiantian's calling but was too lazy to pay attention to it. As soon as Tiantian came in, it ran to the big cat and kept calling. The big cat called lazily, as a greeting to Tiantian.

Shi Lei asked Yan Jiekuang: "Dad, where do you take those cats and dogs every day?"

Yan Jiekuang said: "I don't know either, but I guess they went to that mountain. There are too many of them, and it's hard for us to keep them."

Shi Lei said regretfully: "The main thing is that those wolfhounds are all very obedient."

Yan Jiekuang thought for a moment and said, "It's possible that those few are with their mother."

After listening to this, Shi Lei nodded in agreement and said, "That's good."

Yan Jiekuang let the children play by themselves and he went to the kitchen to have fried noodles with soybean sauce for lunch. He had eaten too much meat and fish in the past few days.

Ji Lian looked at Grandpa Ji, then tidied the room. The children went directly to the study. Only Da Pang kept pestering Tiantian, asking him where Erhei to Liuhei were. Those were the names that Da Pang had given to the dogs privately. Tiantian was annoyed by the questions and lay down under Da Mao's chair pretending to be dead.

At noon, the children ate noodles with soybean sauce with relish. Ji Lian ate two bowls. After eating, Yan Jiekuang went to the study to play chess with Grandpa Ji, and left the rest to Ji Lian.

This Spring Festival, except for this trip to grandma's house, the family stayed at home, eating, drinking and playing. The children were not bored. There was no guest at home and no one came to visit, but Yan Jiekuang didn't care at all.

He knew that he was unwelcome at this time, as everyone was afraid that he would ask them for money. It was his request that his employees did not come to pay New Year's greetings, saying that he did not care about this and that they should all celebrate the New Year at home and that they were not allowed to visit him during the New Year period.

The Spring Festival of 1984 passed peacefully. Yan Jiekuang prepared delicious food for the old man and the children. Everyone gained weight, especially Ji Lian. Until one day, Ji Lian vomited everything she ate. When old man Ji saw Yan Jiekuang busy taking care of Ji Lian, he thought for a while and said, "Jiekuang, is Lian'er pregnant?"

Yan Jiekuang was stunned at first, then he looked at Ji Lian, suddenly realized what was going on, and started spinning around while holding Ji Lian.

Mr. Ji quickly stopped him and said, "Slow down, slow down, go to the hospital for a check-up."

Yan Jiekuang put Ji Lian down in a panic and said, "Yes, yes, Lian'er, let's go to the hospital."

After that, he took Ji Lian and put on his coat and hurried out the door. The children looked at their parents' backs, and Xiao Pang asked, "Grandpa, is Mom sick?"

Mr. Ji said with a smile: "You are going to have a brother or sister."

Shi Lei understood immediately and jumped up. Several children were also very excited, especially Shi Li, who said, "I am finally not the youngest."

(End of this chapter)