Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 389 Sad Past

The dinner had already begun, but Yan Jiekuang did not go. Most of the guests invited by Yi Zhonghai were elderly people, so it would not be appropriate for him to go. He just went to the front desk to say a few words and then returned to Yuer Hutong with his wife and children.

The whole family was very tired after a day of traveling and working in the restaurant. When they got home, Yan Jiekuang made a simple meal and everyone washed up and rested.

There was a large table of people sitting in the main room of the Yan's Restaurant. In addition to the three families, Liu Haizhong and his wife, Widow Wang, Chang Cun and his wife, and Xu Wude and his wife were all there.

This was the most complete gathering except for the Yan family's graduation banquet. Yi Zhonghai just said some superficial words and talked about the good things in the past. He never mentioned any conflicts or contradictions. Everyone was experienced and the gathering seemed to be very enjoyable.

Just when everyone thought that this gathering would be filled with joy and laughter, a word from Jia Zhang changed the atmosphere.

While eating, Jia Zhang saw Xu Wude chatting and laughing with Yi Zhonghai. She didn't know why she thought of Qin Jingru, so she said, "Old Xu, I heard that Qin Jingru is dating your boy again? Xu Delin is back, it will be awkward then."

Everyone at the table was stunned. Qin Huairu's heart skipped a beat when she heard what Jia Zhang said. She thought to herself, "Why is this old lady talking about something irrelevant?"

Everyone knew that what she said was the truth, but it was enough to just know it, why did she have to say it out loud? But who was Xu Wood? He was cunning and replied, "Why didn't you tell us about the child? The child is grown up and has his own opinions."

Xu Wude's meaning was very clear. He was talking about Qin Jingru. She is an adult and has her own ideas. That is her business and has nothing to do with others.

Jia Zhang curled her lips and said, "It takes two hands to clap for this kind of thing. Isn't there an old saying that birds of a feather flock together?"

Jia Zhang was so cruel that she directly said that Xu Damao and Qin Jingru were birds of a feather and that they were from the same family.

Jia Dongxu became anxious. Seeing that the atmosphere had become so bad, he thought that this would disrupt Yi Zhonghai's plan, so he quickly pulled his mother's clothes.

Jia Zhang glanced at Jia Dongxu, lowered her head to eat and didn't say anything. Yi Zhonghai also reacted at this time and quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "Everyone, please eat. This scallion-fried sea cucumber was specially added by Yan Laosan. And that one, this one, Yan Laosan is really considerate."

Everyone then recovered a little and started chatting enthusiastically again. Yi Zhonghai also looked at Xu Wude deeply at this time. What Xu Wude probably didn't know was that the place where Yi Zhonghai was going to live was Xu Delin's home.

Apart from that little episode, the old neighbors still had a lot to talk about during the party. At the end, Yan Bugui was afraid that they were not full, so he went to the kitchen and asked for a bowl of noodles for each of them.

When the music ended and everyone left, Jia Zhang looked at Yi Zhonghai and said, "Old Yi, thank you. I didn't expect you would invite me. But I'm a person who, as you know, can't control my words. I'm sorry. We are both over seventy years old. We should let go of some things."

Yi Zhonghai was shocked. He had already given up on Jia Dongxu, but from what Jia Zhang said today, he knew that he would no longer have any thoughts about Jia Dongxu. He said, "Don't worry, sister-in-law. I have let it go. Okay, I won't see you off."

Jia Dongxu and his wife, one holding Jia Zhang's side, walked outside. Yi Zhonghai kept watching their backs. He now felt a little regretful. Why did he fall for Jia Dongxu in the first place?

Liu Haizhong and Yang Yue'e had already left, but Yan Bugui had not left. Yi Zhonghai knew that he had booked a banquet for 1,880 yuan, but Qi Li was determined not to charge that much. She said, "Uncle Yi, please don't make it difficult for me. The boss only asked me to charge 500 yuan. If I charge more, I won't be able to explain myself. You can't make me lose my job, right?"

Yan Bugui said, "Lao Yi, that's what our third son wanted. Just do as she said. Okay? Next time, we'll go to your house to eat alone with him. Okay?"

Yi Zhonghai had no choice but to pay 500 yuan, then he and his wife said goodbye and left. As soon as he walked out of the yard, Yan Bugui stopped him and asked him to wait for a while. Yan Bugui trotted back home, took out two bottles of Kongfujia wine, handed them to Yi Zhonghai and said, "I see you like this wine. Take it back and drink some when you get home. I have a box of it."

Yi Zhonghai was no longer polite. He took it, said thank you, and then left with his wife.

Yan Bugui went home humming a little tune. He had been traveling in the morning, chatting and drinking tea in the afternoon, and drinking heavily in the evening. He was tired, so he locked the door as soon as he got home, washed up, and went to bed.

As they walked, Yi Zhonghai said, "I didn't expect to find out at the end that the most friendly family turned out to be the Yan family. I was wrong."

Li Cuilan said: "When they sent me the medicine, I knew that his family was the most friendly people. Didn't you hear them say that De Lin was also helped by Yan Lao San to overcome difficulties?"

Yi Zhonghai really didn't know about this, and asked Li Cuilan in surprise, "Who told you this? Is it true?"

"It's Yang Ruiping. De Lin went to the Soviet Union to do trade, and he did it in partnership with Yan Lao San. He has already made a fortune. De Lin didn't come to see you some time ago. He must have been cheated by someone. Guess who it was?" Li Cuilan said.

When Yi Zhonghai heard that Xu Delin was cheated, he got a little angry and asked, "Who cheated Delin?"

Li Cuilan sighed and said, "Calm down. Why are you still so angry? I shouldn't have told you earlier. I heard it was Xu Damao. Wait for De Lin to come back and ask him about this. He will be back soon." Yi Zhonghai calmed down and made up his mind to wait for De Lin to come back and have a heart-to-heart talk with him.

After returning from the trip, Ji Lian quickly threw herself into her work and left the household chores to Yan Jiekuang. Tian Guixiang knew that they had gone on a trip, so she went home to live with her second son. She also came back the day after Yan Jiekuang returned.

Shi Lei delivered the prepared gifts to Tian Guixiang's house. Everyone in the Yan family prepared gifts for her. Even Xixi bought a jade Buddha on the top of Mount Tai and gave it to Aunt Tian who had always taken care of her. This touched Tian Guixiang very much.

The children had completed their summer homework, so Yan Jiekuang no longer constrained them and let them arrange their own time and activities, and did not restrict them from going out. This made Xiaopang completely active and he was rarely seen all day.

It was not until a few days before school started that Xiaopang returned to his original state and stayed at home obediently.

Xiaohai and Xixi envied their older brothers and sisters very much. They could go out at will, but they couldn’t. Yan Jiekuang even asked them, “Your older brothers and sisters go out to play with their classmates, where are you going when you go out alone?”

Xiao Hai said stubbornly: "Let's go find some classmates to play with as well."

Xixi was so angry that she hit him and said, "Are you stupid? Do you know where your classmates live?"

When Xiao Hai heard this, he was stunned and shook his head in confusion. Yan Jiekuang touched his head and said, "That's right, just stay at home and be obedient. When you are as old as your brothers and sisters, I will not care about you anymore."

Xiao Hai calmed down and followed Xixi to the back garden to see Da Wang and Xiao Wang. Yan Jiekuang looked at the two children, skipping towards the backyard, and smiled.

After August, Yan Jiekuang was busiest. First, he took Xiaohai and Xixi to the school to register, then took a large group of children to buy necessary stationery and books. Next, he sent the children to school. Finally, he checked the things Shi Lei was going to bring to college and prepared money and food coupons for him.

After all this, Yan Jiekuang was basically more tired than working. Fortunately, he asked for a month's leave, otherwise he really didn't know what to do. On September 9, Yan Jiekuang finally sent Shi Lei to college. When they arrived at the school gate, Shi Lei said that he would not let Yan Jiekuang send him off no matter what, saying that he had to learn to grow up and do his own things.

Yan Jiekuang was standing outside the door, looking at the place where he had studied, feeling filled with emotion. Time passed so quickly, and in the blink of an eye, his son also went to this university and studied the same major as him. Yan Jiekuang leaned against the door of his Grand Cherokee, lit a cigarette for himself, and stood there quietly.

Suddenly, a man came over and circled around Yan Jiekuang several times before walking forward and asking, "Excuse me, are you Yan Jiekuang?"

Yan Jiekuang had noticed him a long time ago and thought he looked familiar, but he just couldn't remember who he was. He looked at the man in front of him, took a closer look, and said, "Are you Li Weiguo?"

"It's really you. I couldn't recognize you. I am Li Weiguo." Li Weiguo said with a little surprise.

Yan Jiekuang looked at his former roommate and was also surprised. He asked, "Do you work here?"

Li Weiguo said: "Yes, I stayed at the school as a teaching assistant after I graduated from graduate school. Now I am an associate professor in the Chinese Department."

"That's great, very good, you have the potential to be a teacher, congratulations." Yan Jiekuang said calmly.

Looking at the calm Yan Jiekuang, Li Weiguo smiled bitterly and said, "Jiekuang, we were also forced to do that at that time. Don't blame us. Why did you come here?"

Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "I have long forgotten that incident. I just came here for a stroll. By the way, where is Jin Jing, the man behind the scenes, now? Do you know?"

Li Weiguo was stunned. He now regretted greeting Yan Jiekuang and said, "He also came to the last roommate party. He said he was doing construction work. Jiekuang, it's all in the past. There's no need."

Yan Jiekuang threw the cigarette butt on the ground, interrupted Li Weiguo and said, "Don't worry, I won't cause trouble for him. Oh, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first. We'll get together another day."

After saying that, he got into the Grand Cherokee, without even looking at Li Weiguo who was standing there in a daze, started the car, stepped on the accelerator and drove away.

Li Weiguo shook his head with a wry smile, knowing that Yan Jiekuang didn't want to talk to him any more. What a gathering, what a gathering, he didn't even leave an address or phone number.

Yan Jiekuang was driving with the window open, his thoughts drifting back to his college days. Because he was young at that time, not many people paid attention to him. In the end, his roommates also excluded him, making his college life extremely regrettable.

He thought that he did not feel resentment in his heart, but rather felt strong disgust towards those people who indiscriminately believed rumors rather than the truth. This resulted in him wanting to stay away from them. Everything had passed a long time ago, but his heart still ached when he thought about it.

(End of this chapter)