Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 368 Another Choice
After returning home, Tian Guixiang opened the door and looked at Yan Jiekuang who had returned, wanting to say something but stopping herself. Yan Jiekuang let the children in first, then turned around and looked at Tian Guixiang in confusion, saying, "What's wrong? Is it about your second child?"

Tian Guixiang shook her head and said a little embarrassedly: "Well, Jie Kuang, I lent out the pancake-making car without your consent. You won't blame me, right?"

Yan Jiekuang looked at the place where he had put the tricycle, and found that it was gone. However, he did not take it seriously and said, "Just lend it out. It's nothing. Don't take it to heart."

Tian Guixiang said: "My eldest brother's child had a hard time in the village, so he came to Sijiucheng to work. I thought it would be better to set up a stall than to work, so I lent my eldest nephew the car."

Yan Jiekuang said, "That's fine. When I'm home, you can go help him. I'm fine here."

Tian Guixiang smiled and said, "I thought so too. Thank you, Lao San."

"What are you thanking me for? We are all family. By the way, I asked Brother Daming to buy your courtyard house some time ago. Has he done it?" Yan Jiekuang said.

Tian Guixiang said: "I bought it. Now the only family left in the second courtyard is the one at the front door. They said they will move out after watching the Asian Games."

Yan Jiekuang said, "Okay, then I'll go in." Tian Guixiang nodded when she heard it.

Yan Jiekuang took three bottles of soda from the refrigerator in the front yard, then went to the backyard. When he arrived at the study, he saw that the two children were not there. Yan Jiekuang knew that the two had gone to the back garden to visit Da Wang and Xiao Wang.

When Yan Jiekuang got there, he saw that the two children were indeed pestering Da Wang and Xiao Wang. Yan Jiekuang shouted, "I put the soda in the pavilion. Come and get it if you want some." Then he took a bottle and drank it while running to the study in the middle courtyard.

Yan Jiekuang had just finished drinking soda and felt refreshed and comfortable. He picked up a cigarette, lit it, and just took a puff when Tian Guixiang came in with someone. Yan Jiekuang saw that it was Liu Tong and was very surprised why he came at this time.

Yan Jiekuang said, "Why are you here? It's working hours now."

Liu Tong said embarrassedly: "I have asked for leave. If you don't believe me, ask President Ji. My old man asked me to come here."

"Sit down and smoke." Yan Jiekuang said with a smile. At this time, Tian Guixiang brought over the tea.

Liu Tong sat on the armchair next to him, took a sip of tea, and then said, "My dad asked me to come here to ask you something. The main reason he left our company was that he had been hired as a cultural relic restoration expert and entered the Palace Museum. The leaders there have been asking who restored the wooden and lacquerware. Because my dad knows your personality, you definitely don't want to go back and be restricted, but he still asked me to come here to ask for your opinion."

Yan Jiekuang thought for a moment and said, "Forget it. I guess not many people know me. Your father, Old Liu, is one of them. Another one is Old Jin, but he has passed away. I'd better do my own thing. Go back and thank your father for me."

Liu Tong nodded, and then continued, "By the way, Third Brother, the design institute has also come up with a plan for the Ritan site. Because there are some key units here, the height is limited. The podium is designed to be four stories high and the tower is fifteen stories high. This is the maximum that can be designed."

Yan Jiekuang said, "Okay, I agree. Let them continue, produce the plan drawings, and go directly to the approval department."

Liu Tong nodded, and the two discussed for a while, then Liu Tong said goodbye. Yan Jiekuang pondered for a while, and Xiao Hai and Xi Xi ran in. Xiao Hai said, "Dad, are the brothers coming back soon?"

Yan Jiekuang looked at the clock on the wall and said, "He should be back soon. What? Are you looking for your brother?"

Xiao Hai said, "My sister and I want to borrow the picture books that our third brother has hidden away. We are tired of playing with the toys here."

Yan Jiekuang said, "I'll take you to visit the Forbidden City tomorrow, okay?"

Xixi almost jumped up and said, "Okay, Dad, let's go to the Forbidden City. None of us have been there before."

Yan Jiekuang sighed. Except for Shi Lei who had been there with his classmates, the rest of the children had never been there. The main reason was that Yan Jiekuang didn't want to go. He felt bad whenever he went to that institute and always thought of the past, whether it was the rejection by his university classmates or the struggles in the former archaeological institute, they were all sad memories.

Yan Jiekuang said, "I'll take you there tomorrow to see what the emperor's residence looks like."

Xiaohai and Xixi suddenly became happy and ran out skipping. Yan Jiekuang looked at the children's backs and felt that he had to forget about the past and should always focus on the children's upbringing.

In the evening, the children came back one after another. Shi Lei would not be back until tomorrow. As soon as Ji Lian came back, she asked Yan Jiekuang, "You took Xiaohai and Xixi out today. Did you ask for leave from the preschool teacher?"

Yan Jiekuang was stunned for a moment, then he remembered that he had forgotten to ask for leave. Ji Lian said, "The preschool teachers called me. I'll have to let them go to school on time in the future. They'll be in elementary school next year, so let them behave themselves."

"I was wrong, it's not okay for me to be wrong, I really forgot about it. It's over. I promised the two children that we would go to the Forbidden City tomorrow." Yan Jiekuang said in a panic.

When Ji Lian heard this, she said, "That won't do. I promised the teacher that I would let them go to school tomorrow. You caused this trouble, so you have to solve it yourself."

Yan Jiekuang smiled bitterly, thinking about how to tell this to the children, then turned and went to the kitchen. Tian Guixiang had prepared dinner today, so Yan Jiekuang helped serve the dishes.

When it was time to have dinner, Yan Jiekuang smiled and said to Xiaohai and Xixi, "Xiaohai, Xixi, let's go to school tomorrow, okay? Your teachers miss you."

Ji Lian just took a sip of soup and suddenly turned her head and spat it out. Yan Jiekuang glared at Ji Lian.

Xiao Hai said, "Dad, didn't you promise to take us to see the emperor's house?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "Xiao Hai, it would be great if we waited for our brothers and sisters to have a holiday and went together. If we go alone, wouldn't it be unfair to them?"

At this time, Xiaopang was chewing something and mumbling, "It's not unfair, it's very unfair." Shi Li continued, "It's called eating alone, it will cause corns."

Xiaohai and Xixi were scared when they heard this. Xixi shouted, "I don't want to get corns. I'll wait for my brothers and sisters to go together." Xiaohai also nodded continuously.

Yan Jiekuang said to Shi Li in a bad mood: "Speak properly, who taught you to speak so weirdly?"

Shi Li stuck out her tongue, lowered her head to eat, and stopped talking.

Ji Lian said, "Okay, let's eat well. We will go together as a family on Sunday."

The table finally quieted down. Tian Guixiang, who had been holding back for a long time, stood up and said, "No, I have to go out for a while."

As soon as Tian Guixiang left the house, the family at the dining table heard Tian Guixiang's loud laughter outside the door, and the whole family was stunned.

The next day, after the children finished their breakfast early in the morning, Yan Jiekuang took Xiaohai and Xixi to school, one holding each hand.

At the school gate, the children's teacher was greeting the students at the door. Yan Jiekuang walked up to the teacher, admitted his mistake, and said that he had something urgent to do yesterday, so he took the children away. The teacher waved his hand and said it was okay.

Yan Jiekuang left the school and strolled in the alley. There were more and more small businesses in the alley, doing all kinds of things, including those selling cooked food, barbers, mutton soup restaurants, and even Xi'an's roujiamo. There were all kinds of things, but the alley seemed noisy and less quiet, and it had a deeper sense of fireworks.

When Yan Jiekuang returned to Yuer Hutong, he immediately felt its tranquility. There were few shanty towns and no shops here, so when the adults went to work and the children went to school, the place suddenly became quiet.

When he returned home and saw that the door was locked, Yan Jiekuang knew that Tian Guixiang had gone to help her eldest nephew.

He opened the door, returned to the middle courtyard, washed his hands, and went to the basement. He hadn't packed up his things for a long time, and hadn't come to the basement to see his treasures for a long time.

Yan Jiekuang picked up a small Yuan Dynasty blue and white dragon-patterned jar and admired it carefully. He felt unsatisfied, so he started looking again. As he was looking, he remembered the box of calligraphy and paintings that had not been moved. Yan Jiekuang took a look and thought that it was not a good idea to keep them wrapped in oil paper in the box like this. However, it would be too risky to take them back and ask someone to sort them out.

After thinking it over, Yan Jiekuang decided to learn the mounting and calligraphy and painting restoration techniques by himself. When he had mastered them well, he would deal with the box of things himself. Thinking of this, Yan Jiekuang stood up and left the basement.

He went to the study, made himself a cup of tea, then picked up the phone and called Old Liu. Fortunately, Old Liu was actually at home. Yan Jiekuang told Old Liu that he wanted to learn mounting and restoration of calligraphy and paintings.

Lao Liu was silent for a while on the other end of the phone, then said, "This matter is both simple and difficult."

"What do you think?" Yan Jiekuang said with a frown.

"Well, I went to the restoration courtyard of the Palace Museum these two days. It's a large courtyard outside the Forbidden City. There are many groups there, one of which is the calligraphy and painting restoration group. The famous mounters and calligraphy and painting restoration masters in the city are all there. If you go to work there, I estimate that with your intelligence, you can learn it in a year or two." Old Liu said slowly on the other end of the phone.

Yan Jiekuang thought for a moment and said, "I don't want to enter the system anymore, and the business I'm doing now is not suitable for entering the system."

Old Liu said, "No problem. You can become a specially hired professional. It won't be a problem to work with such a status. Can you do it? Give me a definite answer. The vice president is asking about you, and I have been pretending to be confused."

Yan Jiekuang said, "I'll think about it and call you tonight."

After hanging up the phone, Yan Jiekuang sat there thinking for a long time, but still hadn't made a final decision. At this time, the doorbell at the front gate rang. Tian Guixiang asked someone to press the doorbell so that he would not miss the noise in the front yard from the backyard.

Yan Jiekuang stood up and opened the door. Seeing that it was Wang Qiang, he asked happily, "Why are you here? I heard that you went to Shenzhen to organize a security company. Come on, come in and talk."

Yan Jiekuang led Wang Qiang to the main hall in the middle courtyard, poured him a cup of tea and handed him a cigarette.

After the two of them lit up, Wang Qiang said, "I'm back for vacation. Everything is going well over there, and I've also won security contracts for several projects. I'm here to give you something. Miss Lou asked someone to send it to you."

As he spoke, he took out two boxes from his bag and handed them to Yan Jiekuang. Yan Jiekuang took them and saw the images on the surface. He knew that Lou Xiaoe had given him a mobile phone and a Chinese pager. Wang Qiang continued, "This pager needs to be registered with the network here. The phone number is already written on the box."

Yan Jiekuang opened the box, took out his mobile phone, turned it on and saw that it was too heavy. He saw the number "9005621", which was not a special number. Yan Jiekuang took a look at it and put it aside. He then started chatting with Wang Qiang. Before they knew it, it was noon. Yan Jiekuang wanted to invite Wang Qiang to dinner, but Wang Qiang refused, saying that he had a dinner party.

Yan Jiekuang saw Wang Qiang off. He was alone and didn't plan to do much, so he made himself a bowl of noodles. After eating, he went out with his pager and mobile phone. Yan Jiekuang didn't want to attract attention, so he put them in his bag and went straight to the Post and Telecommunications Building.

After logging into the network, Yan Jiekuang took out his mobile phone and called Ji Lian. He told Ji Lian his pager number and phone number. Ji Lian said, "OK. OK, you can also remember mine. My phone number is 9005622, one number different from yours."

Yan Jiekuang asked in surprise: "You have it too."

Ji Lian said sarcastically, "Do you think you are the only one who has it? Xiao'e is my best friend."

Yan Jiekuang laughed, hung up the phone, and walked home.

(End of this chapter)