Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 396 Cultivating Shi Lei
On the morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year, Yang Ruiping drove to Sanyuan Village with Yan Jiekuang and his wife. They did not bring the children because there was no need. Yan Jiekuang stopped the car in front of a roadside incense and candle shop, got out and bought incense, candles, and paper money. Yang Ruiping had already prepared the offerings in advance.

When he arrived at Sanyuan Village, he did not disturb his uncle's family. He went straight to the hillside where the ancestral tomb was located. When he arrived at his grandparents' grave and saw the ashes of burned paper, Yan Jiekuang knew that his uncle's family had already paid their respects.

The three of them began to place offerings, and then burned incense, burned paper, and knelt down. After everything was done, Yang Ruiping stood in front of the grave for a long time.

Yan Jiekuang went to the side to smoke, and Ji Lian accompanied Yang Ruiping not far away. When Yan Jiekuang smoked his third cigarette, Yang Ruiping turned around and said, "Old Three, let's go back."

The three of them returned to Sijiu City. When they returned to the courtyard, it was not yet noon. When Yan Jiekuang just arrived home, Yan Jiecheng shouted, "I've been waiting for you. Delin is inviting me to dinner today. My father and second brother are already there. If I hadn't been waiting for you, I would have gone there a long time ago."

Yan Jiekuang had just returned from visiting his grandmother's grave, so he was in no mood to go out for a drink. He said, "Brother, please go quickly. I'm a little tired so I won't go. Please apologize to Delin for me."

Yan Jiecheng then realized that Yan Jiekuang was in a bad mood, so he stopped talking and said, "Okay, I'll go then. You should have a good rest."

Shi Lei was playing with a few other kids, a game called hopscotch. Actually, it was a few other people playing with Xiao Hai and Xi Xi. When he saw their parents coming back, he stepped forward to greet them. Yan Jie Kuang asked, "Didn't you say you were going to Shichahai to skate? Why didn't you go?"

Shi Lei said: "We went there, but there were too many people and we couldn't rent a sled or skates. We just looked around for a while and then came back."

Yan Jiekuang thought for a moment and said, "Come on, I'll take you to Wangfujing."

Ji Lian looked at Yan Jiekuang suspiciously and asked, "It's almost time for dinner, why are you going there?"

Yan Jiekuang quickly said, “Buy ice skates for the children, so they don’t have to go to Shichahai and not be able to skate.”

Yang Ruiping said beside him: "Go, go, go early and come back early, come back to eat, and then go play in the afternoon."

The children cheered for a while, and Yan Jiekuang took the children to Wangfujing. Today was not bad, unlike before the Chinese New Year. At that time, there were so many people that it was difficult to get in, let alone buy things.

They arrived at Lisheng Sports on the third floor of Wangfujing and started choosing. After a while, the children had chosen their favorite ice skates. Yan Jiekuang also bought a pair for Ji Lian and himself before going home.

The children were chattering all the way. In fact, among their family, only Yan Jiekuang and Shi Lei knew how to skate. Maybe Xiaopang could too. Yan Jiekuang was not sure because Xiaopang was not at home all day, so who knew where he went to play.

After returning home, Xiaohai and Xixi took their ice skates to show off to their mother. When Yan Jiekuang handed Ji Lian the ice skates he had chosen for her, Ji Lian smiled like a flower.

The simple meal at noon was mostly leftovers from the previous day. In the past two days, the guys had been visiting other people and not eating at home, so all the leftovers at home were eaten by Yan Jiekuang's family.

In the afternoon, Yan Jiekuang took his family to Shichahai to go ice skating. When they got there, they saw that there were still the same number of people, but there were fewer old-timers and gangsters like in previous years. Most of them were older men and some elementary school students.

Yan Jiekuang spent half a day teaching Ji Lian that afternoon, and then he took Xiaohai and Xixi to learn ice skating, which was more tiring than skating by himself. It was not until a golden color appeared on the horizon that the family put away their ice skates and headed home. When they got home, Yan Jiekuang was not idle either. He said hello to his mother and went back to Yuer Hutong.

There was no one at home during the Chinese New Year, so Yan Jiekuang put the food for Big Wang and Little Wang on the morning of New Year's Eve. Although he put a lot, he was worried that Big Wang and Little Wang would be hungry. These two have very big appetites. When he got home, he found that they hadn't eaten it all, which proved that they were not hungry.

Yan Jiekuang hurried to the cellar to get the meat, then chopped it into small pieces. He chopped it into two large basins and placed them in the small shed in the back garden. When the king and the little king saw that Yan Jiekuang had prepared food for them, they followed him around happily.

Yan Jiekuang stayed with Da Wang and Xiao Wang until after eight o'clock, and then he made himself a bowl of noodles. After eating, he locked the door and returned to the courtyard.

After the fifth day of the New Year, Yan Jiekuang went to visit Minister Wang and Principal Chen at their homes with gifts. Both of them had retired and were at home. Yan Jiekuang went to wish them a happy new year. Firstly, these were the only two people who had ever helped him, and secondly, he wanted to see these two upright old men with a sincere heart.

Yan Jiekuang also drove to Qianmen and took a stroll. He parked the car opposite the tavern and quietly looked at the tavern and the people coming in and out. Yan Jiekuang lit a cigarette and felt something blocking his heart. But after finishing the cigarette, he stopped thinking about miscellaneous things and drove straight home.

The spring of 1992 was destined to be extraordinary. Joint ventures and foreign-funded enterprises sprang up like mushrooms after a rain. Kodak Group itself was a foreign-funded company. Although Ruier was a little unfocused now, he still listened to Yan Jiekuang's words. Yan Jiekuang didn't care about him and just entrusted him to help buy some stocks of small and medium-sized technology companies with development potential in Silicon Valley.

In May, the first meeting of all middle and senior management was held at the conference center of Keda Technology Building in Tongzhou. Yan Jiekuang also attended the meeting and specially brought Yan Jiedi and Shi Lei with him. The first purpose was to let them learn and the second was to let them have an understanding of themselves and have a clear direction. Living a life of muddling through was unacceptable.

The meeting was mainly presided over by Ji Lian. Ji Lian's work report was discussed with Yan Jiekuang. The theme was the direction of the company, which was still committed to real estate development, followed by office leasing and expansion of commercial plazas. This year, Yan Jiekuang injected another 100 million US dollars into Kodak Company for the auction of land. Now Kodak Group is well-funded and strong.

When he returned home, Shi Lei was fine. He studied history and had no interest in business. But he was still shocked. He didn't expect his parents' company to be so big. There were more than a hundred middle-level leaders alone, and how many people were there under them?

On the contrary, Yan Jie Di has been silent since she got on the car. She has also worked in the Commercial Bureau for many years, and later transferred to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau. She knows a lot about commercial enterprises, but today, seeing Ji Lian and Jia Dang sitting on the rostrum in high spirits, she became a little uneasy. She was reflecting and recalling the road she had walked from college to now. Yan Jie Kuang saw it at a glance, and he was not in a hurry. It would be better to let Yan Jie Di choose her own life path. Maybe she likes a plain life, and it is useless for him to say more.

After this meeting, the Kodak Group's office will be moved to the Kodak Building. There is also an office for Yan Jiekuang on the top floor of the Kodak Building. Although everyone knows that Yan Jiekuang will not go there, the top management still prepared an office for him after discussion.

After returning home, Yan Jiekuang chatted with Shi Lei about Shi Lei's college life. Yan Jiekuang still said a few words to Shi Lei, "Shi Lei, I know you don't want to be unique, but you don't have to be too hard on yourself. Why don't you buy meat and vegetables when your classmates are reluctant to do so? You must have leftover canteen meal tickets every month, why do you give them all to your classmates?"

Shi Lei thought for a while and said, "I'm not trying to save money. I just thought about what you said, 'A little bit of kindness is worth a lot of hatred.' I want to help those poor students, but I want them to think that I'm saving money to give to them, not that I have a lot myself."

"Oh, then are you full?" Yan Jiekuang asked.

Shi Lei chuckled and said, "It's just that the food isn't that good, not that the rice is less. Dad, don't worry about it."

Yan Jiekuang sighed and said, "I always compare you now with me then. I always feel like you don't eat well or rest well. Do you think it's because I'm too old?"

Shi Lei said: "You are just over 40, how can I feel embarrassed if you say this?"

Yan Jiekuang was also amused and said, "Actually, you may not know that although I opened this company, deep down I still like to mingle in the market. A life without the atmosphere of fireworks always feels ordinary."

"Haha, I'm the same as you. When I have nothing to do, I often go to Liulichang and Dazhalan for a stroll." Shi Lei said.

Yan Jiekuang said disdainfully: "What good things can there be? The local ones are not allowed to be sold, and the ones that have been passed down in an orderly manner are not for sale. What's the point?"

Shi Lei said: "Yes, I just want to broaden my horizons, walk more and see more."

"Wait for me in the study for a moment. I'll show you a painting so you can take a look at it." Yan Jiekuang said mysteriously.

Shi Lei knew that his father had a lot of good things, so he obediently went to the study and cleaned up the desk in the study. After a while, Yan Jiekuang came to the table with a scroll. Yan Jiekuang carefully untied the rope, slowly opened it, and spread it flat on the desk.

Shi Lei took a closer look and was shocked. He asked, "Dad, is this a pornographic picture?"

"Bah, you're still studying history? Take a good look, whose painting is this?" After saying this, Yan Jiekuang handed the magnifying glass to Shi Lei, who then began to look at it carefully.

After a long while, he raised his head and asked, "Dad, is this an authentic painting? Is it really Tang Bohu's 'Smiling Painting with Flowers'?"

Yan Jiekuang nodded proudly and said, "I restored and reframed this a few years ago. Alas, you didn't see it when I took it out. It was so damaged that it looked terrible."

"Dad, your restoration skills are so advanced now. I didn't realize it. Your stay in the restoration institute is not in vain. Your skills are quite good." Shi Lei said.

Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "See? These are all treasures left to us by our ancestors. I have acquired multiple skills and a new way to collect things. You can't limit yourself to the things in books."

Shi Lei knew that his father worked without even asking for salary in order to learn these things, and would just leave after learning them and never go back.

Shi Lei's eyes were still fixed on the painting. As he looked at it, he said, "Dad, do we have many paintings like this that have been passed down in an orderly manner? How come I have never seen them? I've been to the basement quite often."

"I have more than one basement. How many things have you seen? You were still young at that time. If I showed you too many treasures like these, you would be lost. What I showed you at that time were all ordinary ones." Yan Jiekuang said while drinking tea.

Shi Lei asked happily: "Can I watch it now?"

"No, let's talk about it after you graduate. There are many things that don't quite match the history you studied, and some are even contrary to it, which will affect your studies." Yan Jiekuang said.

Shi Lei was a little surprised after hearing this, and more of a little dejected, but he still listened to Yan Jiekuang's words and made up his mind to study history well.

(End of this chapter)