Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 361 The song ends and everyone disperses
After Yan Bugui and Yang Ruiping came back, they focused all their attention on the little white horse and even gave it a name, "Little White Dragon".

The first thing Yongchang, Yongxin and Yongfang do after school now is to go to the backyard to see the little white dragon. The rest of the children run to the west across the yard whenever they have time.

Liu Haizhong had been hesitating whether to move before or after the New Year. While he was hesitating, he went to the west courtyard with a big teacup. When he entered the front yard, he felt very puzzled. Why was there no one there? He went straight to the backyard and heard the chirping voices of children coming from the back garden.

Liu Haizhong walked into the back garden and took a closer look. The children of the Yan family were playing around a pony, with Yan Bugui and Yang Ruiping watching beside them.

Yan Bugui felt someone coming in, turned around and saw it was Liu Haizhong, and said, "Oh, Uncle Liu, you haven't been here for a few days. Come in and sit. It's cold outside."

After saying that, he wanted to lead Liu Haizhong to the backyard hall. Liu Haizhong waved his hand and said, "Wait a minute, this is such a new thing, I have to take a good look at it."

Liu Haizhong put the teacup on the stone table in the pavilion and ran to the side of the little white horse. The little white horse ignored him and hid behind Yang Ruiping, sticking its head out to look at this stranger.

Liu Haizhong laughed and said, "Old Yan, when did you get this pony? It's quite smart."

Yan Bugui said proudly, "Where else could it be? The farm in Fangshan. You know what, the environment there is really a good place for retirement. Oh, and there is a canteen and a horse farm there. If it weren't for our children here, my wife and I would have wanted to move there."

Liu Haizhong looked at Yan Bugui in surprise and said, "Really? That's really good."

Yan Bugui said: "Just be happy, not only can you get money, but you will definitely like it if you go there."

Liu Haizhong took back his big teacup and said to Yan Bugui, "Hurry up and tell me everything."

Liu Haizhong took Yan Bugui to the main room to drink tea and chat.

Within two days, Liu Haizhong informed Yan Jiekuang that he would move there before the New Year and celebrate the New Year there.

Yan Jiekuang was happy to see this happen, and thoughtfully arranged a building near the store for him to choose a room of his choice. Liu Haizhong and his wife liked this place as soon as they arrived. Looking at the first floor with a small courtyard, they said, "Let's choose the first floor. It's convenient for access, and we can keep something there."

Yan Jiekuang said, "Uncle Liu, this building is mostly populated by elderly people. I specially arranged for you to be here. This building is called the Elderly Care Building. Please take a look at the rooms first."

After that, he asked a staff member to take them to a two-bedroom, one-living room room on the first floor. Although it was called a two-bedroom, one-living room room, it actually also had a small study, bathroom and kitchen. The stove used a unified biogas pipeline, and there was also heating, so the temperature in the room was very high.

The floor is tiled, the walls are snow-white, the windows are bright, and the lamps, sockets, and telephone lines are all available.

Liu Haizhong and his wife fell in love with this house at once, and Liu Haizhong decided to live in this house without any hesitation.

The staff took them to the farm to handle the formalities, and then to the village committee to handle the property certificate. On the way back, Yan Jiekuang introduced: "You can go to the farm when you have nothing to do. If you don't want to cook, you can go to the place where you just handled the formalities to buy some meal tickets, and you can go to the canteen to get meals every day. The canteen provides three meals a day. There is a store at the entrance of your community, which also belongs to the farm. It sells daily necessities, firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, etc. As for vegetables, fruits, and meat, you can buy them directly in the farm canteen. It's cheaper."

Liu Haizhong smiled and said, "Third brother, this is really convenient. Okay, I have to buy some furniture and appliances, and then I will move. When the time comes, I will give the key directly to your father."

Yan Jiekuang nodded and drove the old couple back to the courtyard.

Within three days, Liu Haizhong moved to Fangshan. Yang Ruiping secretly told Yan Bugui, "Old Liu didn't even say hello to his three sons."

Yan Bugui sighed and said, "Maybe he was hurt and wanted to live a quieter life."

On January 12, 1988, Wang Xuan's ancient architecture team moved into the courtyard. Except for the east wing of the central courtyard and the exterior wall painting work, which were temporarily suspended, construction of other works began.

The first thing was to restore the original state and demolish all the simple sheds and temporary buildings, including the brick walls built by Yan Jiekuang and Yan Jiecheng at that time. Then, it was my roof project and reinforcement project. The pipeline project in the yard has also started. This time, we need to connect the heating pipes and gas pipes, as well as the water supply and drainage renovation projects.

Just when Yan Jiekuang was busy here, good news came from Yang Liwei. He found Xu Delin, and Xu Delin was worried about a batch of goods at that time. Unexpectedly, Yang Liwei became his timely help. In the end, his house was bought for 20,000 yuan. Xu Delin issued a letter of authorization, a power of attorney and the original property deed.

Yang Liwei didn't delay for a moment and directly mailed the message back to Yan Jiekuang. Now, only Yi Zhonghai's family was left.

Yan Jiekuang found some time, found the people from the street office and the court, and of course, asked his second brother for help, and went directly to find Qin Jingru. At this time, Qin Jingru had actually moved to her boyfriend's home, and was very surprised to see Yan Jiekuang and his group.

Yan Jiekuang got straight to the point and said, "Sister Jingru, we haven't dealt with each other much, so I'll be frank. Xu Delin has sold the house to me, so I came to you. Here are the house deeds and land titles. Please take a look and decide when to move in."

Qin Jingru chuckled and said, "That's it. Is it worth it for you to find so many people? I don't have anything in that house. Wait, I'll get you the key."

This made Yan Jiekuang confused. She and Yi Zhonghai had fought each other for this house, so how could he agree so smoothly this time? Yan Jiekuang was stunned for a moment, and he didn't react until he took the key from Qin Jingru.

Qin Jingru smiled and said, "I don't lack houses now. My husband has several houses. That one should be returned to Xu Delin. Oh, by the way, when you have time, give Xu Delin a message and tell him that I'm pregnant."

Yan Jiekuang finally understood and said with a smile: "Of course, of course, congratulations, congratulations, I won't bother you anymore."

Yan Jiekuang and his group went downstairs. Yan Jiekuang sent several people back to their respective units. Before leaving, he kept thanking them.

Before the February Little New Year, the renovation of the courtyard was completed. Except for Yi Zhonghai's house, all other parts had been repaired. Except for the gate and the courtyard wall, the inner house, the corridor and the courtyard wall were also repainted. Wang Xuan also specially replaced the eaves and the stone drum step door frame at the gate with new ones.

After the renovation was completed, Yan Jiekuang locked the gate. The Yan family celebrated the New Year happily in the west wing, hanging red lanterns, pasting door gods and window decorations. The courtyard was full of joy and the New Year atmosphere. Of course, Yan Jiekuang did not forget the quadrangle courtyard and decorated it as well.

Yan Jiekuang prepared a lot of ingredients, and the vegetables brought from the farm were also used. Abalone, shark fin, lobster and grouper were the main dishes. This was the first time that the Yan family had eaten lobster, and Yan Jiekuang was afraid that there would not be enough, so he specially transported four lobsters from Hong Kong Island, and also four groupers.

The main dishes for the New Year’s Eve dinner are Ayi abalone, Shangtang shark’s fin, salt and pepper lobster, and steamed grouper. The meat dishes are crispy duck, Hangzhou pepper beef tenderloin, salt-baked chicken, and crab meat lion’s head. There are four vegetarian dishes: stir-fried kale, garlic lettuce, and celery and lily stir-fried cashews. The last dish is Adenophora odoratum and pork bone soup.

When the Yan family saw the feast, Yan Jiekuang explained, "Today, most of the dishes are Cantonese, so you can have a taste."

The Yan family members were seated, but Yan Jiecheng did not sit down. He took out a string of firecrackers from the box beside him and handed it to Shi Lei, saying, "Go and set them off at the gate."

Shi Lei took it, and the children swarmed out the door. Yan Jiecheng smiled and poured wine for everyone. The wine was Wuliangye, which Yan Jiecheng bought specially.

There were sounds of firecrackers and children shouting outside.

When the children came back, Yan Bugui stood up and said, "This year is a year of harvest for our Yan family. The family is harmonious and the children are healthy. Next year we will go to a higher level. Come, cheers, happy new year."

Everyone shouted "Happy New Year!"

The Yan family enjoyed the meal and kept praising Yan Jiekuang's cooking skills. Yan Jiefang asked, "Third brother, is there any cuisine you don't know how to cook?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "That's too many. I don't know Jianghu cuisine, and I'm not so good at Hunan cuisine either. There are many more. We have a vast territory and abundant resources here, so there are countless dishes."

Yan Jiefang nodded and said, "Old Third, I'll toast you a glass. Let's live and learn together until we're old, and I'll eat until we're old."

Yan Jiekuang laughed and clinked glasses with his second brother.

Yan Bugui asked, "What are you going to do in the courtyard next door?"

Yan Jiekuang said: "I plan to open a private restaurant and turn the backyard into a guest room, so that when the children grow up, they will have a place to stay."

Yan Bugui asked doubtfully, "Isn't this west wing big enough for our family to live in?"

"What if the children grow up and bring their partners back? Will your house still be big enough for them?" Yan Jiekuang asked.

Yan Bugui looked at the table where the children were, sighed and said, "Time flies so fast. They have grown up in the blink of an eye."

Yan Jiekuang said: "Another reason is to provide a place for our friends, clients, and old neighbors to entertain. After all, the old neighbors have lived here for decades and they will probably come back to visit."

Yan Bugui looked at Yan Jiekuang with admiration and clinked glasses with him.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, the children swarmed into the alley to set off firecrackers. The sound of firecrackers outside scared the little white dragon so much that it followed Yang Ruiping, wherever Yang Ruiping went, it followed him.

Da Wang and Xiao Wang had already crawled under Xixi's bed and would not come out no matter who called them.

After the New Year, after the fifth day of the first lunar month, Yi Zhonghai and his wife came back. When they got back, they went straight to Yan Bugui's house. Yan Bugui looked at Yi Zhonghai and asked, "I thought you wouldn't be back until after the fifteenth. Why are you back so early?"

Yi Zhonghai's face was now red, and he smiled and said, "I have something to ask you. I plan to move to Tianjin, and I plan to sell the house here."

When Yan Bugui heard this, he thought it was like someone sending him a pillow when he was dozing off, so he smiled and said, "Okay, Lao Yi, I have already bought all the other houses, including Xu Delin's, and I was waiting for you to come back to discuss it with you."

Yi Zhonghai was stunned when he heard this and asked, "How is Xu Delin? Where is he?"

Yan Bugui looked at Yi Zhonghai and said, "Old Yi, do you know how long it took Xu Delin to sell the house? Twenty minutes. He has no intention of returning to Sijiu City. Don't worry about him."

Yi Zhonghai sighed and said, "I know. My nephew has already promised to take care of me until the end of my life. I plan to buy a big house over there for my family to live in together. So I plan to sell the house here."

Yan Bugui did not beat around the bush and directly agreed on a price with Yi Zhonghai, and the price Yan Bugui offered was 20% higher than the market price.

Yi Zhonghai was very happy. The couple had lunch in the west wing, packed their things in the afternoon, and then went with Ji Lian to do the transfer procedures. When Yan Bugui got a truck for Yi Zhonghai, Yi Zhonghai was very grateful and said, "I will definitely come back to see and get together with my brothers when I have time."

Li Cuilan also said goodbye to Yang Ruiping. Before the couple got into the car, they turned around and took a deep look at the place where they had lived for decades. There were memories, sadness and reluctance in their eyes. Yi Zhonghai pulled Li Cuilan's arm for the last time and turned to get into the car.

Yan Bugui and his wife stood at the gate of the courtyard, quietly watching the back of the truck going away.

Yan Bugui sighed and said, "This is the end of the song and the people are going their separate ways."

The old couple locked the gate of the courtyard and turned back to the west courtyard. The afterglow of the setting sun shone on the gate of the courtyard, and the gate, which had lost its color, looked even more old and simple.

(End of this chapter)