Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 307: Post-New Year Arrangements
On the eve of the Chinese New Year, Yan Jiekuang brought his family back to Courtyard No. 95. Yang Ruiping did not let Yan Jiekuang cook today. She and Shi Xiaoya cooked. Yesterday, Yang Ruiping asked Shi Xiaoya to make dumplings and froze them, waiting for today.

Yan Jiekuang brought in some fresh seafood, mainly squid, shrimps and crabs. Yin Liguo did not inform the suppliers in Hong Kong Island about the holiday, so as per the usual practice, a batch of seafood was shipped in on the day of the dinner. Ji Lian did not say anything. A batch was used for the employee dinner, and another batch was distributed to the employees when they left. These were for Ji Lian, and Yan Jiekuang took them here directly.

Yan Jiekuang told Yang Ruiping, "This is a benefit for your daughter-in-law, do it today.

Yang Ruiping said with a smile: "Are you trying to embarrass me? I can't do it either."

Yan Jiekuang said, "I'll go clean up the squid. Just boil the shrimps. When they turn red, they're cooked. Steam the crabs. They'll turn red when they're cooked, just like the shrimps."

Yang Ruiping said suspiciously: "So simple?"

"You still don't believe what I say, but I'm a master chef." Yan Jiekuang said, patting his chest.

Yang Ruiping went to cook, while Yan Jiekuang took a basin and a pair of scissors and went to the sink to clean the squids. Yan Jiefang squatted beside them, smoking and chatting with Yan Jiekuang.

"Third brother, what is this?" Yan Jiefang asked.

Yan Jiekuang said: "This is squid, from the South China Sea. It has a sweet taste and is delicious when fried with chili peppers."

Yan Jiefang swallowed and said, "Then I must have a drink."

"By the way, third brother, you are quite smart, so I want to ask you something," Yan Jiefang said.

Yan Jiekuang said, "You talk, I'll listen."

Yan Jiefang said, "You say, if an accountant, who has a husband and a child at home, who is just two years old, works hard and has a good reputation, withdraws her salary from the factory at the bank that day, and suddenly disappears in the blink of an eye, is it possible that she could run away with the money?"

Yan Jiekuang thought about it and said, "It's hard to say for people nowadays."

"What about twenty years ago?" Yan Jiefang asked.

Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "What do you think? Was it possible in those days? Without a letter of introduction, you couldn't take a single step."

Yan Jiefang thought for a moment and nodded, then said, "Then how do you think this person disappeared?"

Yan Jiekuang said: "He was killed. How else could he disappear? And the person who killed him must be someone she knew and knew that she was collecting her salary that day."

Yan Jiefang was stunned and asked, "How do you know?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "You are stupid. You must have gone to the factory after leaving the bank. The person who made her change her schedule must be someone she knows, and she must be a woman."

Yan Jiefang seemed to be thinking about something, and asked, "Then how can we find her and know who killed her?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "Since you didn't find the person or the body, it proves that the body was disposed of on the spot. If you know who was closely related to her and cleaned up the house afterwards, you will definitely find it if you go to that house."

Yan Jiefang thought about it carefully, then slapped his thigh, jumped up and ran out. Yan Jiekuang shouted from behind: "You don't want to eat?"

Yan Jiefang said: "Solving the case is important, tell my mother."

Yan Jiekuang said to himself: "Why am I telling him this?"

Yan Jiekuang returned to the kitchen with the cleaned squid and asked Yang Ruiping, "Mom, are you going to fry it or me?"

"You fry it, I'm afraid I won't do it well. By the way, what did your second brother shout?" Yang Ruiping asked.

Yan Jiekuang didn't dare to say more, and said directly: "Oh, he said he has something to do at work, so he won't be home for dinner tonight."

Yang Ruiping complained: "It's the New Year's Eve, why are you going to work?"

Yan Jiekuang cut the squid into cross-shaped slices, chopped the chili peppers, and even added some soybean paste.

After being fired, Yan Jiekuang was kicked out of the kitchen. Yan Jiekuang had nothing to do, so he went outside to smoke.

Yan Jiekuang squatted in the corner. After a while, he saw Qin Huairu, who was wearing makeup and a red coat, but she was holding a basket in her hand, which did not match her outfit at all. She came back from outside in a very happy mood. It's no wonder that she was fifty years old, but with this outfit, people would believe she was thirty. However, there was a Xu Damao following behind her, grinning and talking about something non-stop.

Qin Huairu said, "Da Mao, you are a big businessman. Your industry has nothing to do with my daughter. Don't bother with it."

Xu Damao didn't mind what Qin Huairu said at all, and said shamelessly: "Jia Dongxu and I are buddies. How about this, I'll take two bottles of good wine and go to your place for dinner in the evening. My parents are going to my sister's house soon, so it's a deal." After that, he quickly ran to the backyard.

Qin Huairu wanted to call him, but he was gone. Qin Huairu sighed and went home with the vegetables.

Yan Jiekuang chuckled. This Xu Damao was truly a talent. Seeing that Xiao Dang Huaihua was doing well, he wanted to see if there was any money to be made. Yan Jiekuang didn't care. He went home after smoking. He was not worried at all because when he was in the company, Yan Jiekuang required all employees to sign a confidentiality agreement and a reward and punishment system. Even if they were given a hundred guts, they would not say a word about him.

There were two tables again in the evening. This time Yan Yongqing sat directly at the adults' table, and the children's table became Yongchang's world. Yongchang took care of his younger brothers and sisters while they were eating like a little adult.

Yan Bugui was in a very good mood today. He was happily preparing the meal. Yang Ruiping did not sit at the table to eat until the last dumpling was served.

Everyone was very surprised, because since Yan Bugui's store closed, he had never been so happy. In fact, Yan Bugui went to the Friendship Mall yesterday and saw the same foreign wine that Yan Jiekuang gave him. When he asked, he found out that one bottle cost 2,300 yuan. Yan Jiekuang directly gave him four bottles, which was nearly 10,000 yuan. How could he not be happy? Everyone was very happy during the meal. Yang Ruiping left the table early after the meal to take care of the two children.

Yan Bugui was drinking with his son and grandson. Yan Bugui asked Yan Jiekuang, "Where did you get so much money to buy gifts?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "I went to the south to do business and made some money. I have no problem giving it to you."

Yan Bugui asked, "Is business good in the south? Can I go there?"

"Dad, how old are you? Can't you stand these three days and two nights on the train? Besides, the size of your business depends on how much capital you have. Even though Xu Damao says he is doing bulk business, do you think he earns much? I guess he earns less than ten thousand a year. Why? He has little capital. How much can he earn?" Yan Jiekuang said.

Yu Li said, "That's true. My leather shoe business is the same. If I buy less, I earn less. If I buy more, I'm afraid I won't be able to sell them. So I only earn a hard-earned income a year."

When Yan Bugui heard this, he lost interest. His savings were not enough to make the fuss, and he had lost some money some time ago.

Yan Jiecheng asked, "Old Third, how do you think we can expand our business?"

Yan Jiekuang looked at the boss and said, "Or, you can build a factory, produce and wholesale the products yourself, but you must have design skills, or you can buy in bulk and become a wholesaler directly in Xiushui Street."

Yu Li really took Yan Jiekuang's words to heart, but Yan Jiecheng shook his head and said, "This is too risky. What if we lose money?"

Yan Jiekuang said: "Then there is nothing we can do. Isn't there a slogan that goes, 'The bolder the people, the more productive the land.' Although it's not true, it's suitable for doing business."

A family dinner ended with Yan Bugui drunk. Yan Jiekuang said goodbye to his mother and took Ji Lian and the children home.

Years ago, Yan Jiekuang had a meal with his apprentices. The other two apprentices were very envious of Yang Liwei's current status. Yan Jiekuang encouraged them to study management well, especially catering management, so that they would have opportunities in the future.

On the 30th, Yan Jiekuang's family returned home again. Yan Jiefang finally came back and pulled Yan Jiekuang aside, whispering, "Old Third, you are really amazing. You guessed it all. We solved a case from 20 years ago, and it's exactly the same as what you said."

Yan Jiekuang said disdainfully: "Second brother, if you read more books on logical thinking and psychology, you will be able to guess it."

After listening to this, Yan Jiefang nodded heavily and said, "I must learn it again. I still don't believe it."

The Spring Festival passed uneventfully. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, He Yuzhu and Yan Jiefang organized another gathering of their generation. Yan Jiekuang also went and listened to their conversation, but did not talk much about his own affairs.

During the Spring Festival, Yan Jiekuang did not have many friends and elders to visit, so he only visited Chef Yu's home, Director Chen's home, Minister Wang's home, and Liu Zheng's home.

The rest of the time he spent at home with his wife and children, never leaving the house. The children were very happy and surrounded Yan Jiekuang all day long.

When he has nothing to do, Yan Jiekuang goes to pet the big cat. Now, as soon as the big cat sees Yan Jiekuang, it jumps onto the roof.

Ji Lian studies every day. She has read all the books that Yan Jiekuang had read before. She also taught herself accounting and plans to apply for the business management class at Tsinghua University this year.

Yan Jiekuang was very supportive of Ji Lian's studies and explained relevant issues to her from time to time. Yan Jiekuang also told Ji Lian that they could merge several restaurants this year and register a catering company, which would be useful when they were doing the Sijiucheng project.

Yan Jiekuang's two little babies had completely different expressions when they saw him. By the way, Yan Jiekuang gave both children nicknames. The third child was called Xiaohai and the girl was called Xixi. When Xiaohai was held in Yan Jiekuang's arms, his eyes were always rolling around and his brows were frowning, while Xixi was always smiling.

Yan Jiekuang liked Xixi more and more. He believed that a daughter should be raised in wealth. Didn’t you see that Shi Li’s clothes and things were better than her brothers’?

The three boys never cared, but now they started to learn martial arts from Sun Daming. Although Sun Daming was honest, he was still very strict with the three boys. The three boys were also stubborn and never complained. They always kept the saying "Only those who endure hardship can become the best!" on their lips.

The biggest change among the three children is that their appetite has increased, but their height has also obviously changed.

Yan Jiekuang is very satisfied with everything at home, so when he is at home, he enjoys family life and he feels that this is a holiday.

After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, only Tian Guixiang came back, and Sun Daming went to Shijiazhuang. Sun Daming always kept Yan Jiekuang's matter in mind. Now both of their salaries have increased, one hundred yuan a month each. Before the New Year, Ji Lian also prepared a bonus of one thousand yuan and New Year's goods for them.

On the 16th, all the employees who were going back to Shenzhen gathered in Yuer Hutong. Yan Jiekuang held a brief meeting for them in the large study room. Ji Lian also attended. Yan Jiekuang stated the goals for this year. The office building should be topped out in May, and all decoration, including exterior decoration, should be completed in October. The office building will be officially opened for leasing and investment in October. The shopping mall is scheduled to open on November 1st, and the office building will be opened at the same time.

Yan Jiekuang said, "I know this year is a critical year for us, but I am very optimistic. Wang Qing needs to complete the preparation of the sales plan as soon as possible. Xiaodang also needs to do the cost accounting as soon as possible. Huaihua has the heaviest task. In addition to the security department, recruitment work will be carried out one after another, and time must be set aside for training. Okay, I won't say more. Come on, and strive for the final victory."

Everyone shouted together: "Come on!"

After the meeting, Yan Jiekuang kept Wang Xuan alone and explained to him in detail the development process of the future community. He also asked him to get ahead of some procedures and not to miss any of them. Wang Xuan patted his chest and said that he would complete the task.

After everyone left, Ji Lian said, "Isn't it too fast?"

Yan Jiekuang took a deep breath and said, "We have to hurry up. I have already agreed with Minister Wang that we will acquire two plots of land this year. One is in Chaoyang District, which is the land of the current winery, and the other is in Fangshan, which will be used as a high-end residential area and the new site of the winery."

Ji Lian said: "The investment amount is not very large, is it okay?"

"Don't worry, I'm very confident that the income in Shenzhen will not be low. My office building is prepared for foreign companies. It has first-class service, first-class hardware, first-class security, and of course first-class prices." Yan Jiekuang said confidently.

At this moment, Ji Lian felt that the gap between herself and Yan Jiekuang was not small. No, she had to study. She stood up and went to the study. Yan Jiekuang looked at Ji Lian's back, feeling confused.

(End of this chapter)