Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 407 The Return of the Two Elders

Jia Zhang found Jia Dongxu and his wife and told them that Jia Geng had asked her to borrow money. Jia Dongxu was stunned and said, "He also came to me to borrow money. Is he short of money now?"

Qin Huairu was also confused. Jia Zhang told her guess. She suspected that Jia Geng was addicted to gambling. He kept half of his salary and paid the other half. It was only the beginning of the month, so how could he spend it so quickly? Where did he spend it? He even borrowed money.

Qin Huairu was shocked. She felt that Jia Zhang's guess was almost right. Only Jia Dongxu was a little skeptical and said, "Jia Geng is gambling, right?"

Qin Huairu said, "Whether it's true or not, you go to your son and daughter's house first and tell them not to lend money to Jia Geng. I'll follow him. No matter what's going on, we must find out."

When Jia Dongxu heard this, he nodded and rode away on his bicycle. Qin Huairu said, "Mom, are you here to help me look after the store, or should you go and take a look?"

"How can I keep up with him? You ask Jia Xiaobao to go. I have to go back to look after my teahouse." After saying that, he turned and left without waiting for Qin Huairu to reply.

Qin Huairu didn't care and waited for Jia Dongxu to come back in the store.

A few days later, Jia Geng was blocked in the game hall by Jia Dongxu and his wife. Jia Dongxu went up to him and slapped him in the face, saying, "Come home with me, you prodigal son, and you're playing poker machines."

As soon as Jia Geng saw his parents, he knew something was wrong. He quickly placed his order, took the money and went back to the hotel with his parents.

When they returned to the hotel, Qin Huairu started to scold Jia Dongxu, and he was so angry that he was shaking.

Jia Geng lowered his head and said nothing. Qin Huairu finally spoke tearfully about Jia Geng's disappointment. Jia Dongxu asked unhappily, "How much money did you lose?"

Jia Geng said, "About two or three thousand. I haven't calculated it carefully."

"Who did you borrow the money from this time?" Jia Dongxu asked.

Jia Geng said, "I didn't get the loan, so I pawned my watch at a pawn shop?"

Qin Huairu was shocked and asked, "Your elder sister gave you that watch? How much money did you pay for it?"

"Three, three thousand. I will redeem it if I win." Jia Geng said.

Qin Huairu yelled angrily: "Do you know how much your elder sister spent on buying you that watch? It was 20,000, and you only bet 3,000. Where did you bet? How much money do you have left?"

Jia Geng was stunned for a moment, he didn't know that the watch was so valuable, he must have been cheated, he quickly took out the mortgage receipt and the money, Jia Geng only had more than 1,500 yuan left in his hand, he lost half of it in just half a day.

Qin Huairu was so angry that she kept hitting him. Jia Dongxu said, "Calm down first and get the watch back quickly."

Qin Huairu went back to the house to get the money and went out with Jia Geng. She came back after a long time. Fortunately, the pawnshop was trustworthy and returned the watch to Jia Geng after charging some interest. Jia Geng wanted to take it back, but Qin Huairu put it directly into his pocket.

After returning, Jia Geng promised not to go to the game hall again and wrote a letter of guarantee. Only then did Jia Dongxu and his wife let him go.

Jia Geng learned his lesson and never went there again. He went back to work.

After Jia Zhang learned about Jia Geng from Jia Dongxu, she said, "Well, son, you see, the older you are, the wiser you are."

Jia Dongxu now admires his mother very much. Just by borrowing money, she was able to infer that Jia Geng was gambling on video games.

In mid-November 1994, after studying at Kodak Company for three months, Xu Delin left with his newly formed team and went directly to Shanghai. Before leaving, he told Yi Zhonghai the purpose of his trip and assured Yi Zhonghai and his wife that he would come back as soon as possible. Even if he didn't come back, Yi Zhonghai and his wife could go there to find him after he settled down.

Yan Jiekuang guessed that it would take at least a new year for Xu Delin's company to be established and complete recruitment and qualification certification, so he was not in a hurry to arrange plans in Shanghai.

Yan Jiekuang finally had some free time. Apart from picking up and dropping off Xiaohai and Xixi every day, he would read books, drink tea, and stroll around the streets.

Sijiu City has changed a lot this year, and many projects have started construction. It is no exaggeration to say that it is changing with each passing day. However, the only things that remain unchanged are the old alleys and the people in them. The number of people from outside is constantly increasing, and they all come here to seek development and livelihood.

As more people came, the courtyards in the alleys began to become messy and disorganized, with temporary small houses everywhere, all built by the owners to increase their income. In some courtyards, even Yan Jiekuang had to take a long time to walk around before getting out.

But because the original residents kept moving out and new tenants moved in, many courtyard houses had to deal with a lot of old things, which allowed Yan Jiekuang to pick up a lot of bargains.

When he turned to the front door, Yan Jiekuang found that the tavern had been renovated. He looked at the door for a while before going in. It was still the same old customers. He even saw Chen Xueru, followed by Fan Jinyou. Yan Jiekuang did not disturb them. He left directly to Wangfujing Street, walked around the plot of his company, looked at the surrounding environment, and then went home.

After returning home, he packed up and went to the school to pick up his child. While waiting at the school gate, Yan Jiekuang actually saw Yu Haitang. Many years had passed since her divorce from Xu Damao, and Yu Haitang also saw Yan Jiekuang.

Yu Haitang greeted Yan Jiekuang, who smiled and said, "I didn't expect to see you here. Are you here to pick up the child?"

"Yes, my son is in the fourth grade now," said Yu Haitang.

Yan Jiekuang asked, "Have you seen my sister-in-law?"

Yu Haitang shook her head and said sadly, "I ran away secretly at that time. How can I face her now that I am back? I don't know what to say when I see her. I have never been to my parents' house. You have to keep it a secret for me."

"So are you coming back with your husband this time?" Yan Jiekuang asked.

Yu Haitang nodded and said, "Yes, my husband runs a small business and opened a building materials store here, so I came back with him. Does my sister still live in that yard?"

Yan Jiekuang shook his head and gave Yu Haitang the address of his eldest brother's house, saying that his eldest brother and his wife opened a restaurant in Haidian and that the business was doing well.

At this time, Xiaohai and Xixi came out of the school gate. Yan Jiekuang said, "That's my youngest son and daughter. Come on, Xiaohai, Xixi, come and call aunt."

The two children called out "Hello, Auntie" and then Yan Jiekuang said hello to Yu Haitang and turned away. He and Yu Haitang didn't have much in common, so there was not much topic to talk about. The only person they could talk about was Xu Damao, and she probably didn't want to listen.

After returning home and thinking about it, I decided to call my sister-in-law and tell her about Yu Haitang's situation in Sijiu City.

Yu Li was very surprised and didn't say anything on the phone for a long time. Yan Jiekuang told her that he had given her home address to Yu Haitang. Yu Li said thank you and hung up the phone.

Days passed one by one, and when it was almost the end of the year, his parents returned home exhausted. Yan Jiekuang went to the airport to pick them up. Although the old couple looked a little tired, they were still in good spirits. Yan Jiekuang sent them back to the west wing.

Yan Jiekuang prepared dinner for the old couple before returning to Yuer Hutong, as there were people waiting for him to eat at home.

Early the next morning, after sending the child to school, Yan Jiekuang went to his parents' place, mainly to ask about the old couple's arrangements.

Yan Bugui said, "The school in Bijie is not finished yet, so An Ran didn't come back. It's almost the New Year, and there's not much we can do over there. They think we are too old and don't let us do anything. I think it's better to come back early, so they don't have to send people to take care of us."

Yan Jiekuang nodded and said, "Dad, you just need to take care of the general direction. There's no need to do everything yourself. You and my mom are old, and if you keep running around like this, we, as your children, will be worried."

Yang Ruiping said, "We know. I have discussed with your father that we will not go out anymore and leave the matter to An Ran and An Rui. We can't stand the weather there and your father has rheumatism."

Yan Jiekuang finally felt relieved and started talking about what had happened at home recently. Of course, he still kept his eldest brother's affairs secret.

The old couple wanted to clean up the house, so Yan Jiekuang stayed to help them. The land in the back garden was vacant. Since the old couple passed away, only a few fruit trees were left in the glass house, and the rest of the land was empty. Yan Jiekuang was still feeding the fish in the creek.

After cleaning up for the whole morning, at noon, Yan Jiekuang cooked noodles and made them into noodles with soybean paste. The old couple ate them with gusto and said that they were not used to the diet there, which only ate rice noodles every day.

After dinner, the old couple went to the teahouse. Yan Jiekuang stayed with them for a while and then went home. He was a little tired and wanted to take a rest, so he went to pick up the children.

After picking up the children, I told them that their grandparents were back and asked if they wanted to go and see them. Both children clamored to go, saying that they hadn't seen them for a long time.

Yan Jiekuang took the two children to the teahouse. When they arrived at the teahouse, they saw Jia Zhang holding Yang Ruiping's hand and talking excitedly about the recent events in Nanluoguxiang. Yang Ruiping was also happy to listen and would interject a few words from time to time.

Yan Bugui was sitting there watching Liu Haizhong and Grandpa Yang playing chess. Xiao Hai and Xixi had already run to their grandmother, shouting, "Grandma, I missed you so much. Why did you come back just now?"

Yang Ruiping then stopped chatting with Jia Zhang and talked to the two children. Yan Bugui also came over and asked about the children's recent situation. The children surrounded their grandparents, chattering.

Yan Jiekuang was still the one who cooked in the evening. He took the children to have dinner with Yan Bugui and his wife. After cleaning up the kitchen, he took the children home. When he got home, Ji Lian had not returned yet.

The two children went to do their homework, and Yan Jiekuang went into the kitchen to cook two dishes and simmer the rice. He didn't know whether Ji Lian had eaten or not, so he prepared them first. If she didn't eat, he would put them in the refrigerator and eat them tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)