Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 321 Delin's Departure
After Xu Delin finished his meal at Yi Zhonghai's house today, he returned to his own home, lay on the bed alone, looked at the roof, and thought about the past. He felt a little confused. He did not go to yesterday's party because of Xu Damao, but thinking about the current living conditions of other people, he felt that his own life was really a failure.

It only took Xu Delin four years to go from a technician to an unemployed person. Although there were special reasons, it was ultimately because he could not resist the temptation and was more eager for quick success. Xu Delin urgently wanted to change his life and did not want to continue sinking into this state.

On New Year's Eve, Xu Delin couldn't sleep all night. After thinking all night, he made up his mind to go south to try his luck. He must not let Xu Damao and Qin Jingru laugh at him.

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, before dawn, Xu Delin simply packed his luggage, left a letter for Yi Zhonghai, and quietly walked out of the courtyard with his luggage, disappearing into the hazy night.

Yi Zhonghai still cares about Xu Delin. Jia Dongxu is now out of his control. He also cared about He Yuzhu, but He Yuzhu's pretending to be confused made him very angry.

In the morning, after Li Cuilan prepared breakfast, Yi Zhonghai went to call Xu Delin. He knocked on the door for a long time, but there was no movement from inside. Yi Zhonghai pushed the door and it opened all of a sudden. He felt a little strange. When he entered the room, he saw that there was no one in the room. The quilt was neatly folded, and there was a letter on the square table at the door.

Yi Zhonghai had a bad feeling. He picked up the letter and saw "Uncle Yi" written on it. Yi Zhonghai felt panicked but still opened the letter. The letter was written to him by Xu Delin. The few short sentences in the letter meant that Xu Delin saw no hope for his present and he could not live like this forever. He wanted to change his life and planned to fight in the south. He assured Yi Zhonghai that he would not come back until he made something of himself. He asked Yi Zhonghai to rest assured that he would not come back until he made something of himself. He asked Yi Zhonghai to take care of the house and the things in it. If he did not come back, he would give them to Yi Zhonghai as a reward for his care for him during this period.

After reading the letter, Yi Zhonghai sat down on the stool, stunned. He wanted to cry but had no tears. He had the ability to help Xu Delin find a job or a way to make a living, but he didn't do it. He felt that Xu Delin, who had little money, was easier to control than the stable Xu Delin. As long as Xu Delin didn't have a proper job, he could live with the old couple. But he didn't expect that Xu Delin was provoked by Xu Damao and made a desperate move.

Yi Zhonghai sat in Xu Delin's room. Li Cuilan waited for a long time at home, but not only did Xu Delin not come, Yi Zhonghai did not come back either. She felt a little strange, so she stood up and went to the next room. When she entered the room, she saw Yi Zhonghai standing there in a daze, so she asked, "Old Yi, what are you doing here? Where's Delin?"

Yi Zhonghai showed a painful expression and handed the letter to Li Cuilan. Li Cuilan was also shocked when she picked up the letter, but she thought it would be good for Xu Delin to go out and try his luck. She didn't have Yi Zhonghai's idea, so she said, "Well, if the child wants to go out and try his luck, let him go. Maybe he can make a name for himself. Don't worry, Old Yi."

Yi Zhonghai stood up and shouted, "I'm not worried at all. If he runs away, who will take care of me in my old age?"

Li Cuilai was so frightened that she couldn't speak. She turned around and went home. Yi Zhonghai was so angry that he sat in Xu Delin's house smoking and slowly calmed down.

People in the courtyard woke up one after another. Yan Bugui was very excited and asked Yan Jiefang and Yan Jiekuang to move the square table to the courtyard. When Grandpa Sun saw it, he said, "Oh, Teacher Yan is back in business. Is he charging a fee or collecting goods?"

Yan Bugui said proudly, "It's free. I'm making a contribution to the people in the compound."

Grandpa Sun gave a thumbs up and said, "I admire you. Come, give us two first."

Yan Bugui was grinding ink and said, "I can't forget yours. I'll write it on the gate first, so that our courtyard will also be festive."

People in the middle courtyard and the back courtyard also heard the noise from the front courtyard and gathered around. When they heard that it was Yan Bugui who was writing Spring Festival couplets for everyone for free, they were all very happy.

Yan Jiekuang and his second brother put up the Spring Festival couplets at the gate. Then they turned around and saw Yan Bugui patiently writing couplets for every household. Even the neighbors came to ask for couplets. Yan Bugui was not in a hurry and wrote them one by one. When he finished, he asked Yang Ruiping, "Have all the couplets in our courtyard been pasted?"

Yang Ruiping said: "I didn't see Yi Zhonghai and Xu Delin coming over, otherwise you can write it and ask Jiefang to deliver it."

Yan Bugui was also very puzzled as to why neither of their families came, but he still wrote two couplets and handed them to Yan Jiefang, who then took them to the central courtyard.

Yan Bugui packed up his things and went home with Yan Jiekuang. Not long after they got home, they saw Yan Jiefang coming back trying to hold back his laughter. As soon as he got home, he burst into laughter. Everyone looked at him strangely.

Yan Bugui said, "What are you laughing at? I asked you to deliver a couplet, but you are still laughing when you come back."

Yan Jiefang smiled and said, "Dad, you don't know, Xu Delin ran away, Yi Zhonghai was sitting in Xu Delin's house in a daze, and the newly trained old man ran away again."

When Yan Bugui heard this, he was stunned for a moment. Old Yi's plan had failed again, so he also laughed.

Yang Ruiping said: "You think this old Yi, who is just a pensioner, has to go through so much hardship?"

Yan Jiekuang shook his head and said, "He was wrong. It shouldn't be like this. Look, the deaf old lady is not doing well. He is obsessed with it."

Yan Bugui nodded in agreement and said, "Just like me before, I was obsessed with making money. Fortunately, I woke up early."

Before noon, the news that Xu Delin was gone spread throughout the courtyard. Some were surprised, some were disdainful, some were curious, and some were gloating. However, no one missed him except Qin Jingru. However, Qin Jingru had already returned to the countryside to celebrate the New Year and did not know the news.

Yan Jiekuang took the children to the west wing, where most of the things had been moved away, leaving only an office, because everything in that office was bought by Yan Jiekuang. Passing through the office, Yan Jiekuang took the children to the backyard, which had been idle for a long time, with weeds growing again. There was only a circle of corridors, which were also dilapidated. The children had never been there before and were full of curiosity.

Yan Jiekuang told them that he loved this place the most when he was a child. There were small animals here and you could occasionally see hedgehogs.

The children looked everywhere. It was winter, so what kind of animals could be found? What's more, they actually found two little rabbits, but they couldn't catch them. For these two little rabbits, the children conducted a carpet search.

Yan Jiekuang was sitting on the corridor, smoking a cigarette and watching the children playing wildly. Shi Lei ran over and whispered, "Dad, I found a mysterious place."

Yan Jiekuang smiled and asked, "What place is it? How mysterious is it?"

Shi Lei said: "I haven't gone in yet. It's a tree hole. It looks like a slide underneath."

Yan Jiekuang already knew where Shi Lei was talking about, but he pretended not to know. The children immediately surrounded Yan Jiekuang, with expressions full of desire to explore.

Yan Jiekuang said, "Then let's go and take a look." Shi Lei walked in front, and Yan Jiekuang followed behind, holding Shi Li's hand. Behind them were Yongchang, Yongxin, Yongfang, Dapang and Xiaopang.

Walking to the tree hole, Shi Lei pointed and said, "It's over there."

The children immediately surrounded the tree hole and looked down curiously. There was an arc-shaped slide underneath, which Yan Jiekuang knew.

Yan Jiekuang asked, "Why? Want to go down?" All the children, except Shi Li, nodded continuously.

Yan Jiekuang said, "Okay, go ahead and go home to get two flashlights."

When Shi Lei and Yong Chang heard this, they ran out of the yard. Shi Li said beside them, "Dad, is there any monster in there?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "Where are the monsters? If there were any, they would have been discovered long ago." After a while, Shi Lei and Yongchang came running back. Yan Jiekuang took Shi Lei's flashlight and said, "I'll take Shi Li downstairs and meet you guys."

Yan Jiekuang hugged Shi Li and said to her, "Don't be afraid, Daddy is here." Shi Li hugged Yan Jiekuang's neck and said with a smile, "With Daddy here, I'm not afraid of anything."

Yan Jiekuang carried Shi Li and went down with a flashlight. When they got downstairs, they looked at the familiar scene and felt very close to it.

Yan Jiekuang handed the flashlight to Shi Li, walked to the distribution box, and pushed up the switch. In an instant, the entire basement was lit up. Shi Li felt very magical and looked around.

Yan Jiekuang stood under the slide. After a while, Shi Lei came down first. Yan Jiekuang caught him, and then the children came down one by one. The last one to come down was Xiaopang, apparently for Yongxin and Yongfang. If he was left at the end for the two girls, they probably wouldn't dare to go down.

The children looked around. Yan Jiekuang knew that there were things belonging to their father in the secret room, but as long as they were not touched, Yan Bugui probably would not say anything.

Yan Jiekuang led the children to the secret room. When they reached the secret room, he turned on the light. The children rushed in and exclaimed. Yan Jiekuang also walked in. Shi Lei said, "Dad, is this an antique?"

Yan Jiekuang took a look and frowned, because a lot of Yan Bugui's things had gone missing. He had the impression that Yan Bugui had collected no less than forty pieces, but now there were only a dozen or so. Yan Jiekuang had seen all of Yan Bugui's collection, so he knew it very well.

Yan Jiekuang said: "These are antiques, but they have owners. I saw your grandfather took these items."

Yongchang said: "Ah, so this is grandpa's secret base, grandpa is really awesome."

Yan Jiekuang said, "Okay, let's find where the door is. Since your grandfather knows this place, there must be a door."

Several children searched everywhere, and soon, Big Fatty found it first, shouting excitedly, "Here it is, here it is."

Everyone gathered around. The children were still too weak, so Yan Jiekuang pushed the stone door open. When they got out, they were right at the wall of the central courtyard of the quadrangle. Yan Jiekuang asked the children to go out while he turned off the lights. Then he came out and restored the door to its original state.

At this time, Yang Ruiping's voice was heard from the front yard, "Old Third, Old Third, take the children home for dinner."

Yan Jiekuang quickly agreed and took the children back to the courtyard. Yang Ruiping felt relieved to see that the children had returned and started to serve the dumplings.

The children were still in the mood of exploration and were chattering about something. As soon as Yan Bugui sat down, the children stopped talking and looked at their grandfather, which made Yan Bugui feel creepy. He asked, "What's wrong?"

Xiaopang ran to Yan Bugui and whispered to him, "Grandpa, we found your secret base."

Yan Bugui was startled, and he looked around one by one, and finally looked at Yan Jiekuang. Yan Jiekuang said, "It wasn't me who found it, it was indeed the children who found it, so I went down to take a look. But, Dad, why are there so many things missing from you?"

Yan Bugui sighed and recounted the whole story of how he started selling the shop and borrowed money to buy antiques. He sold a few pieces to raise money for Liu Haizhong and Yi Zhonghai, and there were still a dozen pieces displayed in the shop as a display.

Yan Jiekuang reminded Yan Bugui, "Take it back quickly before the store is sold out."

Yan Bugui nodded, but also reminded the children that this was a family secret and they must not tell anyone else. The children patted their chests and agreed.

The family started to eat lunch. Shi Xiaoya and Yu Li helped to serve the dumplings, while Yan Jiecheng was wrapping garlic on the side.

When Yan Jiekuang saw that his second brother was not there, he asked Shi Xiaoya, "Second sister-in-law, where is my second brother?"

"Don't worry about him, he was called away by his colleagues." Shi Xiaoya said.

Yan Jiekuang thought it was a dinner party for colleagues, so he didn't pay much attention to it. He ate dumplings with the children. After the meal, he went to change Ji Lian, who was still in the north room looking after the two children.

Yan Jiekuang now likes to teach the two little ones to speak. The children's babbling is very cute. Yan Jiekuang plans to make two walkers after the Chinese New Year, as the previous one has been given away.

Yan Jiekuang was playing with the child. The door outside opened. Yan Jiekuang looked at the door in confusion. Even his own child knew to knock on the door to come in. Who was this? He saw that it was Jia Zhang who came in. As she walked in, she said, "I just saw you go back to the north room. I have something to talk to you about, Third Brother."

Yan Jiekuang quickly offered his seat and asked, "Aunt Jia, you are a rare guest. You never come in here normally."

After Jia Zhang sat down, she said, "This is it. You know about Yi Zhonghai and Xu Delin, right?"

Yan Jiekuang nodded and poured a glass of water for Jia Zhang. Jia Zhang said, "Didn't Xu Delin escape yesterday? This morning, Old Yi came to my house and asked Jia Dongxu to go out. He said it was a gathering of fellow apprentices at the steel mill."

Yan Jiekuang nodded and said, "It's possible. Is there something wrong with Aunt Jia?"

"I feel uneasy. After they opened the processing plant, our family and the Yi family have had no contact. Now out of the blue, Yi Zhonghai has found my son. Do you think he is targeting Jia Dongxu again?" asked Jia Zhang.

Yan Jiekuang was delighted and asked Jia Zhang, "Why did you ask me this?"

Jia Zhang said, "You are the only one in the whole courtyard who can see things clearly. I just want to ask you how to make Yi Zhonghai stop targeting my son."

Yan Jiekuang said, "Since Aunt Jia thinks highly of me, I will give you an idea. Do your Xiaodang and Huaihua want to buy a courtyard house?"

"Yes, how did you know?" asked Jia Zhang.

Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "I heard from my second brother that when your granddaughter buys a house, you can let your son and daughter-in-law live there for a while. When Yi Zhonghai finds another target, you can move back."

When Jia Zhang heard this, she smiled and said, "It has to be the third son who understands the situation. Okay, you take care of the child, I'm going back." After that, she turned around and left.

(End of this chapter)