Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 354 The Eve of School Opening

The day before school started, the children did not go out. They first cleaned up the study together, and then cleaned up their own rooms and school supplies. When the children finished cleaning up, Yan Jiekuang's noodles with soybean paste were ready. The couple and Tian Guixiang ate the noodles with the children. Ji Lian reminded the children from time to time what they should bring.

Yan Jiekuang said, "Kids, what do you want to eat? I'll make it for you tonight to celebrate your successful start of school."

Xiaopang said with a bitter face: "Dad, what do you mean? Are you celebrating for yourself?"

Yan Jiekuang laughed and said, "School has finally started. If it hadn't started, I would have died of exhaustion."

At this time, Xixi said: "It's okay, Dad, don't be too happy, Xiaohai and Xixi are here to accompany you."

"Okay, school is about to start, so just focus on your studies," Yan Jiekuang said.

Tian Guixiang said: "Shi Lei is going to school by himself now. I will pick up and drop off the three children so that I don't have to stay idle at home."

Yan Jiekuang nodded and said, "Lian'er has to go to work, and I will be busy next month too. I really don't know when to find the time."

Xiao Hai said suddenly: "Then what should we do?"

"Don't worry, little one. I won't lose you. By the way, Lian'er, don't forget to bring their tuition and book fees. They have to be paid tomorrow." Yan Jiekuang said with a smile. Ji Lian said, "I won't forget. Don't worry."

After dinner, Yan Jiekuang stopped letting them study and took them to eat fruit and take a nap, telling them that he would take them to their grandparents' house when they woke up.

Seeing that the children had gone to take a nap, Yan Jiekuang and Ji Lian cleaned up the warehouse. After searching around, Yan Jiekuang actually found a box of dried sea cucumbers. Yan Jiekuang also took out two bottles of Fenjiu, which were all brought back from Shanxi.

Ji Lian asked: "I didn't realize that you bought so many things along the way."

Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "You have to bring something back from your trip. Oh, I also brought some Shanxi vinegar. Would you like to take a box to the company and share it with the people in the office?"

Ji Lian nodded and said, "Okay, I'm still thinking about what to bring to Wang Qing and the others, and a few more bottles of wine, vinegar alone is a bit stingy."

After packing up their things, Ji Lian and Yan Jiekuang returned to the backyard. They sat under the grape vines and drank tea. Yan Jiekuang looked up at the vines full of grapes and felt a little worried. How could he eat all the grapes in the house?

Ji Lian saw at a glance why Yan Jiekuang was frowning, and said, "Don't frown, there's not enough to go around. Tomorrow morning, the children will bring some and share some with the classmates. I'll take some from the company, and you can take some from your parents. I don't think there will be much left."

Yan Jiekuang stood up and said, "I'll go get the tools and ladder and take them down first."

After a while, Yan Jiekuang brought over a ladder, a bamboo basket and scissors, and started picking the fruits. Ji Lian caught them from below and put them in the boxes.

When Yan Jiekuang had picked almost half of the grapes, Shi Lei woke up and joined the work team. The grapes filled two large bamboo baskets.

Ji Lian said to Shi Lei, "Tomorrow is the first day of school. You and your brothers and sisters should bring some and share them with your classmates."

Shi Lei said: "This is good, my classmates are in for a treat."

The children woke up one after another. The couple asked them to wake up and then took the children and their things to their grandparents' house.

As soon as they entered the west wing, they saw Yang Ruiping chatting with his two sisters-in-law while preparing dishes. Ji Lian put the things in the middle hall, rolled up her sleeves and went up to help. Yan Jiekuang greeted a few people, and the children greeted them one after another. When they heard that Yongchang and others were in the backyard, they swarmed towards the back garden, especially Shi Li who took the lead, while Shi Lei walked slowly at the end.

Yan Jiekuang put the things in the middle hall. Yang Ruiping came in, wiping his hands with his apron, and said, "What did you bring again? Don't bring anything in the future. We don't lack anything at home."

Yan Jiekuang said, "I brought these back from Shanxi. I found them when I was cleaning the storeroom today. Oh, mom, these are our grapes. Please help wash them and give them to everyone."

Yang Ruiping nodded and went out carrying the grapes. The grape vines at his father's house were not yet ready to bear fruit, but they would probably be ready next year. Yan Bugui took good care of them.

Yan Jiekuang sent the sea cucumber to the kitchen and soaked it directly, then made some tea and ran to the backyard. As soon as he entered the backyard, the whole yard was filled with the fragrance of flowers. Yan Bugui was squatting and watering the flowers carefully. He walked over and said, "Dad, the flowers in this yard are so fragrant. All it needs is a few birds to hang there. That would make it a garden full of birdsong and flowers."

Yan Bugui said proudly: "In the morning, there were not only a few birds but also orioles. Now there are too many people in the yard, so the birds don't come."

Yan Jiekuang put the teacup on the stone table in the pavilion, went to the study, picked up today's newspaper, and went to the pavilion, where he sat on the stone bench, drinking tea and reading the newspaper.

Yan Bugui said, "How was your trip to Shaanxi this time?"

Yan Jiekuang said: "It's just 'poor', but it's not really poor. It's completely different from the old city."

"Alas, it took us a few years to recover. It's the same for everyone, and it will get better slowly." Yan Bugui said.

"Yes, by the way, Dad, how much did you exchange it at that store?" Yan Jiekuang asked.

Yan Bugui thought for a moment and said, "In the end, it was sold for 3,500 yuan." Yan Jiekuang said, "It won't go down until it's 20,000 yuan now. You sold it too early."

The kettle in Yan Bugui's hand fell to the ground with a clatter, and he said, "Has it increased so much? It's only been one or two years."

"So, think about our house and don't sell it too cheaply." After saying this, Yan Jiekuang went back to reading his newspaper.

In the afternoon, Yan Jiefang came back early. He had asked for leave today because his child had to go to school tomorrow. He was still worried, so he went to see if the child needed anything and bought it quickly. But everyone knew that he was doing it in vain. Shi Xiaoya's attentiveness to the child was obvious to all.

The children were playing in the backyard. The older ones took out their grandfather's chess sets, and the younger ones followed him around and helped water the flowers, especially Xixi, who always wanted to take the flowers home.

Xiao Hai still has a special liking for the fish raised by his grandfather, but he did not go fishing. Instead, he got some fish food that his grandfather caught in the moat and kept putting it into the creek.

Yan Jiefang had nothing to do, so he went to Yan Jiekuang and told him about Manager Tian, ​​saying that Manager Tian had been arrested. This Tian Zhong was an antique dealer who was engaged in tomb robbing, smuggling, and reselling antiques, doing all kinds of evil things.

Shopkeeper Tian was not wronged this time. In addition to reselling, he was also charged with illegally excavating a cultural relic. He would not be able to get out of prison for at least ten or eight years. However, the Henan man who provided the information was criticized and educated and then released.

Yan Jiekuang said: "In fact, this is just a small smuggling incident. You have no way to investigate many large tomb robberies. Many national treasures have been lost overseas, especially in Hong Kong Island. This kind of thing is rampant."

Yan Jiefang lit a cigarette, took a deep puff, and said, "There's nothing we can do. The technology hasn't reached a certain level yet. It's very difficult for us to solve the case with just our two legs and our mouths."

"It will get better, second brother. Have you ever thought about further studies? You have joined the police force after leaving the army, so you should have accumulated some experience. I think you should take further studies so that you can be more proficient in it." Yan Jiekuang said.

Yan Jiefang looked at Yan Jiekuang in surprise and said, "How did you know I was going to study? Are you the worm in my stomach?"

"What are you talking about? You don't want to get promoted. I just think it's good to learn some technology systematically." Yan Jiekuang rolled his eyes and said.

Yan Jiefang laughed and said, "Haha, I plan to go to school after the New Year. I will go to the Public Security University and major in criminal investigation. I also feel that sometimes I feel powerless, so I need to study systematically."

Yan Jiekuang said, "I'm going to make sea cucumber with scallions tonight. Would you like some to drink?"

"Okay, that's exactly what I meant. Wait a moment, brother. I think he will be back soon." Yan Jiefang said.

The two of them were sitting in the pavilion, chatting, drinking tea and smoking.

After a while, Yan Bugui also joined in. Now they talked most about the things in the courtyard next door. Now Yi Zhonghai and his wife have a very close relationship with He Yuzhu. Yi Zhonghai finally figured out that only He Yuzhu can take care of them in this courtyard. And He Yuzhu is becoming more and more like a gentleman in old city. He doesn't go to work much. He just takes a walk, drinks, chats, plays chess, and runs around in the alleys when he has nothing to do.

Xu Damao disappeared after the Qin Jingru incident, and with him also disappeared Liu Guangqi's two sons. Liu Guangqi is no longer as high-spirited as before, and has suddenly aged a lot. His unit allocated him a two-bedroom apartment, so he moved out. This way, Liu Haizhong was finally free, and returned to playing chess, drinking tea and chatting with Yi Zhonghai.

The Jia family is making all-out preparations for Jia Dang's wedding, and will later be the wedding of Jia Xiaobao. The betrothal gifts have been paid by both parties, and they will just wait for his aunt to get married before getting married. There won't be any accidents at Jia Dang's wedding, but Huaihua's situation has suddenly become serious. Now Jia Zhang has set her eyes on Huaihua, and after confirming that Huaihua has no marriage partner, she has been posting heroic notices at Qianmen, promoting her little granddaughter everywhere. Huaihua was fed up with it, and moved directly to the dormitory in Fangshan and never came back.

In the evening, Yan Jiekuang went to the kitchen to cook. First, he cooked home-cooked dishes, including home-cooked tofu, eggplant with minced meat, stir-fried pork with green peppers, and stewed knife fish. Then, he cooked two main dishes, one was sea cucumber with green onions, and the other was crispy chicken. A few side dishes were also served, and when all the dishes were served, Yan Jiecheng had just arrived home.

The family was happily having a reunion dinner, chatting with each other about their daily lives and some interesting stories they had heard. Yan Jiecheng told a story that caught Yan Jiekuang's attention.

An old man who used to be a janitor at a textile factory retired, and his ancestral home, which was located in Yangjiaao not far from Shijia Village, was confiscated. The old man's ancestor was a landlord, but he had never done anything harmful to the world. However, his property was eventually confiscated. Now that the policy has changed, the ancestral home has been returned to him, but he is filled with fear of the place, so he plans to sell it and move to another place.

But unfortunately, the entire ancestral house is nearly 1,500 square meters, such a large courtyard, no one can afford it. The old man thought about it and decided to give it up and hand it over to the public. Unexpectedly, the people in the Yangjiaao Village Committee were unanimous in opposing it, saying that they didn't want it because it was of no use and would cost manpower and resources to maintain.

Yan Jiekuang asked his eldest brother, "How much does the old man plan to spend?"

Yan Jiecheng said, "It seems to be 10,000 yuan, but that place is remote and not many people go there. There is no use for you to have that yard."

Yan Jiekuang thought for a moment and said, "Please help me contact him. I want it. I need it. Take me to see it some other day."

Yan Jiecheng agreed, and Yan Bugui said, "It's too far, so there's no need. We're not going to live there anyway."

Yan Jiekuang smiled mysteriously and said, "Being far away now doesn't mean it will be far away in the future. Besides, I am indeed useful."

When it was past eight o'clock, Yan Jiekuang stopped drinking and said, "The children have to go to school tomorrow. You guys continue. I have to take the children back to rest."

Yan Bugui glared at Yan Jiekuang and said, "Whose child doesn't go to school? Okay, let's stop here today. We'll have a good drink some other day."

The drinking party ended like this, and Yan Jiekuang and his wife took their children home.

(End of this chapter)