Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 369 Back to work
In the evening, Shi Lei came back. Yan Jiekuang was very happy and cooked a table full of delicious dishes. The children ate happily and Ji Lian kept praising him.

After dinner, the children went out to play. Today was Saturday, so they let the children take a break. Ji Lian and Yan Jiekuang sat under the grape vines in the backyard drinking tea.

Ji Lian asked, "Where did Sister Tian go?"

"Her nephew came here and wanted to find a job, but Sister Tian didn't let him and let him go out to make pancakes. Now it has just started, so Sister Tian has to help out for a few days." Yan Jiekuang said.

Ji Lian said, "That's great. A while ago, Sister Tian kept saying that she could earn more than 10,000 yuan a year just by selling pancakes."

Yan Jiekuang nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then told Ji Lian what he had said to Old Liu today, wanting to ask for her opinion.

Ji Lian chuckled and said, "I think you're overthinking it. There are many people doing business within the system now, and you are not the only one. Besides, it's a different era now. If you are happy with the work, just do it. If you are not happy with the work, just leave. That's all."

Yan Jiekuang thought about Ji Lian's words and felt that they made sense. He was frightened by his experience at the archaeological institute.

Yan Jiekuang stood up and said, "I'll give Old Liu a call," and then he walked towards the study.

On Sunday, the family got up early, washed up, and started to eat breakfast. Today's breakfast was bought by Yan Jiekuang. After eating, they let the children play by themselves for a while when they looked at the time. Yan Jiekuang went out to buy bread, soda, and some snacks, brought them back, distributed them to the children, and asked them to put them in their own small schoolbags.

It was almost eight o'clock, and the family set off. Yan Jiekuang did not drive, but the family strolled towards the Forbidden City. A ticket cost 3 yuan. Yan Jiekuang bought the tickets and lined up with the children. After a while, the family entered the gate.

Yan Jiekuang explained to the children and Ji Lian as he walked. After all, he had been here for a few years and was very familiar with the buildings here. There were a lot of individual tourists following him, but Yan Jiekuang didn't mind at all and took them on a tour along the route he was familiar with.

In the morning, the family only walked to the Qianqing Gate. Yan Jiekuang said, "We have visited the office area in front this morning. Let's take a break and eat something. The back is the entire harem. Let's rest and then visit it."

Then he turned to the tourists behind him and said, "I'm sorry, we have to have lunch now. Please feel free to go ahead. The harem is just a little further ahead. There are not many open areas, and many of them have not been repaired yet. I'm sorry, everyone."

The people behind him laughed. Some said they would eat with him, while others who were in a hurry went straight to the Cining Palace.

Yan Jiekuang found a place under a big tree next to the palace wall and spread a plastic sheet. The children put the food in their bags on the place. To Yan Jiekuang's surprise, Xiao Hai actually brought some pickles from Liubiju, which he hadn't even thought of.

When Xiao Hai saw his father looking at him, he said, "I still like salty food."

Yan Jiekuang laughed and said, "I like it too."

The family was chatting about the Forbidden City, mainly the children asking questions, and Yan Jiekuang answered them one by one. After a while, many individual visitors who followed them gave some of the food they brought with them to Yan Jiekuang's family. Yan Jiekuang tried to refuse again and again, but he didn't refuse it, so he accepted it calmly.

In the afternoon, the family packed up and headed towards the harem. Every time they arrived at a courtyard, Yan Jiekuang would introduce the famous queen or concubine who had lived there. He really knew them all by heart.

When they arrived in front of a courtyard, Yan Jiekuang stopped, and Ji Lian and the children also stopped. Ji Lian asked, "What's wrong? This courtyard is locked, and we can't see anything."

Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "This is Concubine Lan's courtyard."

Ji Lian was stunned, she knew that this was the hiding place of the jade pendant. Yan Jiekuang said, "It's a pity it's locked." Before he finished speaking, Ji Lian was already lying on the gap between the two doors looking inside.

The children were also curious and looked at it. Ji Lian asked, "Which one?"

"The second room on the east side." Yan Jiekuang said.

"That room is full of lotus paintings. I don't know why, but I feel a sense of familiarity with it," said Ji Lian.

"Let's go and don't cause unnecessary trouble." Yan Jiekuang persuaded.

The family continued to walk to the back. When it was almost three o'clock, they arrived at the Imperial Garden and stayed there for a while. The children walked around by themselves. When the children came back, Yan Jiekuang said, "Okay, the next stop is 'Shenwu Gate'."

After leaving the Imperial Garden, they arrived at the Shenwu Gate. Yan Jiekuang introduced: "There are bells and drums on top, which are used to tell the time. This is also the passage for selecting concubines. Do you know who named the Shenwu Gate?"

Several children shook their heads. Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "Emperor Qianlong changed the name. It was originally called Xuanwu Gate. Okay, let's go out."

At this time, the people who followed behind also dispersed, each looking for the place they wanted to know. Yan Jiekuang and his family went out of Shenwu Gate, bypassed Jingshan Park, and went straight to Di'anmen Street and walked home. Yan Jiekuang knew that the children were a little tired.

When they got home, Tian Guixiang still hadn't come back. Ji Lian took the children to wash up and asked them to go back to the room to rest for a while. She would call them for dinner. Yan Jiekuang also drank a pot of tea and smoked a few cigarettes, while Ji Lian went back to the bedroom to fiddle with the jade pendant.

Yan Jiekuang felt that it was almost time, so he went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. The children had not finished their homework yet, so they had to hurry to eat. After dinner, the children went to do their homework. Xiaohai and Xixi were dragged by Ji Lian to the backyard to watch TV. Ji Lian was afraid that they would disturb their brothers and sisters. Yan Jiekuang also went to the study to review the woodworking books and the rubbings of the gold foil book.

On May 20, Old Liu brought two people to visit Yan Jiekuang. Yan Jiekuang knew that this was a formal interview, so he led the three people to his study. Old Liu had been there before so he was not surprised, but the other two were shocked. Old Liu said, "This is just the beginning. He has a separate library in the backyard. Those are all rare ancient books, many of which are unique."

Upon hearing this, the two immediately asked for a visit, and Yan Jiekuang took them to the library in the backyard. Yan Jiekuang was very grateful that he did not put the half set of Yongle Encyclopedia here.

The two of them stayed in the library for more than an hour. If Old Liu hadn't coughed twice, the two of them would have remembered that they had important business today. They reluctantly put down the books in their hands and returned to the study. After sitting down, Old Liu introduced two people to Yan Jiekuang. One was the deputy director Ouyang who was in charge of restoration, and the other was Chang Wenyuan, the head of the calligraphy and painting group.

Director Ouyang briefly introduced the content and specific work of the restoration. He also knew Yan Jiekuang, a top student in the history department who had worked at the Institute of Archaeology for many years. Soon, the few of them had reached an agreement.

The main reason was that Yan Jiekuang didn't care about the salary and benefits, and said that he could be responsible for the repair of wooden and lacquerware, but when he was free, he hoped to be in the calligraphy and painting group and learn. The two parties hit it off and decided that he would officially start work next Monday, and his work permit would be sent to him in a few days.

After seeing off a few people, Yan Jiekuang shook his head. He didn't expect that he hadn't been to work for such a long time. Why did he go back again?

When Tian Guixiang heard that Yan Jiekuang had to go to work again, she stopped helping her nephew and focused on picking up Xiaohai and Xixi from home.

On the last Monday of May, Yan Jiekuang pushed out his 28-inch bicycle, hung a briefcase on it, and rode to work.

When they arrived at a large courtyard near the Forbidden City, Yan Jiekuang was inspected by the security guard. The guard looked at his work ID, smiled and said, "This is your first day at work. Welcome," and then let him pass.

Yan Jiekuang first reported to Team Leader Chang. What a coincidence! The courtyard where the wood and lacquerware restoration team was located was next to the calligraphy and painting team. The team leader of the wood group was a man in his sixties named Qi. After Yan Jiekuang reported to Team Leader Qi, he was arranged to a separate studio.

On his first day at work, Yan Jiekuang spent the morning repairing wooden objects. He knew that this was also a test.

Yan Jiekuang completed the work smoothly and was recognized by Team Leader Qi. Yan Jiekuang also breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he hadn't worked like this for many years.

At noon, Yan Jiekuang put his lunch box on the iron stove by the door to warm it up. After a while, Old Liu came and had lunch with Yan Jiekuang. In the afternoon, Yan Jiekuang went to the next room and greeted everyone respectfully, calling everyone "Teacher".

After all, Yan Jiekuang had a certain level of skills, and he became familiar with the people in the calligraphy and painting group in just one afternoon. Yan Jiekuang's learning career officially began.

When it was time to get off work, Yan Jiekuang packed up, said hello to his team leader, and went home.

When they got home, the children, Ji Lian and Tian Guixiang were eating. Yan Jiekuang washed his hands and sat down to eat.

Ji Lian smiled and asked, "How do you feel?"

Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "I am more suitable to be a cook."

Ji Lian and Tian Guixiang laughed out loud. Yan Jiekuang officially handed over the private restaurant to Wei Xiaobao, and Chunfenglou was taken over by Xiaobao's apprentice. He no longer went there, but his apprentices took turns to come to the private restaurant.

A month passed in a flash, and the weather was getting hotter and hotter. Yan Jiekuang asked Lou Xiao'e to bring over several air conditioners, which were installed in the dining room, kitchen, study rooms, and living room. However, no one had one in the bedroom, but all were equipped with fans.

This is the first time that the freezer at home is full, mainly because there are so many children and they eat a lot.

On this day off, Yan Jiekuang had no plans to go out, but Yan Bugui and his wife came back. They first went back to the west wing, looked at the clean and tidy house, smiled and nodded, indicating that Yan Jiekuang often hired someone to clean.

But when they went to the private restaurant to ask, they found out that Yan Jiekuang had not been here for more than a month, and the two courtyards were managed by his apprentice Wei Xiaobao. The old couple was very puzzled, what happened, and they could not sit still after thinking about it, and went straight to Yuer Hutong.

When Yan Jiekuang opened the door, he was also surprised and said, "Mom and Dad, why are you back? Why didn't you call me and let me pick you up?" Then he let the two elders into the hall.

As soon as Yan Bugui entered the room, he felt very cool. He turned around and saw the air conditioner on the wall. He pointed at it and said, "Do you have any more? Install one for me."

Yan Jiekuang thought to himself, you are really rude. You didn’t even ask how much money it is. Otherwise, how can you be a father?

"Yes, I will bring one for you when you leave and ask Li Dong to find someone to help you install it." Yan Jiekuang said.

Yang Ruiping frowned and asked, "Why, do you really not like going to Fangshan?"

Yan Jiekuang knew his mother had misunderstood, so he took out his work permit, handed it over, and said, "Oh my god, your son is working again, from nine to five, how can he have time to go to Fangshan?"

(End of this chapter)