Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 421 Elderly Gathering
Yan Jiecheng is worried. Now Yu Li doesn't pay him any salary. She only gives him twenty or thirty dollars when he needs money. A few days ago, several co-workers made an appointment to have a meal together, but he was embarrassed to agree to go immediately because he had no money in his pocket.

This time, Yan Jiecheng set his sights on Yan Bugui again. He came to his parents' house for one thing today, to borrow money.

Yan Bugui knew his intention, and smiled, pointing at his nose, and said, "Boss, have you ever seen anyone take money from me since you were a child?"

Yan Jiecheng said with a bitter face, "Isn't it the only way I can do? If I continue like this, I will die a miserable death sooner or later."

Yan Bugui patted his shoulder and said, "You should just give up on this idea."

Yang Ruiping was watching from the side. She felt a little sorry for the eldest brother, but since Yan Bugui had spoken, she didn't know what to say.

Yan Jiecheng ran to the door to smoke. The only people he could think of were his parents. If you take money from others, you have to pay it back. He came here and said he was borrowing money, but in fact he just wanted some money. At least he couldn't lose face in front of his friends.

Yan Jiekuang came over and said with a smile: "Brother, what are you doing? Why are you smoking here by yourself? Come into the yard."

"The third child is here. Come to see our parents. They are at home. Come in quickly. I'll go in after I finish smoking." Yan Jiecheng said when he looked up and saw that it was the third child.

"Then you smoke it, I'm going in." Yan Jiekuang walked into the yard carrying the fish.

Yan Bugui and Yang Ruiping were both in the front yard. When they saw Yan Jiekuang coming in with fish, Yan Bugui said, "Look, how can there be such a big difference between these two sons? Look at our third son, he always has to bring something every time he comes back, and look at the eldest son, he doesn't even bring anything and still wants money."

Yang Ruiping was a little unhappy and said, "Come on, the boss is being bullied by his wife. You have to say a few words to her."

Yan Bugui stopped talking when he heard this. Yan Jiekuang handed the fish to his father, and Yan Bugui carried the fish into the kitchen. Yang Ruiping complained, "Don't bring anything next time. We can't finish it."

"Then eat slowly. What's wrong with brother? He looks very sad." Yan Jiekuang asked.

Yang Ruiping told the story of Yan Jiecheng borrowing money, and Yan Jiekuang said, "It seems that the eldest brother is really in trouble this time, but my sister-in-law is a bit too much. It's not like his family is short of money."

Yang Ruiping said awkwardly: "Third brother, I want to help the eldest brother, but I'm afraid your father won't be happy."

Yan Jiekuang was amused and whispered, "Just give it to him secretly without letting the old man know."

Yang Ruiping thought so too and turned to walk towards the backyard. After a while, she came out of the backyard and ran straight outside.

Yan Jiekuang made himself a cup of tea and brought it to the front yard. Yan Bugui asked, "What have you been busy with these days?"

"Oh, don't mention it. I received a pair of wedding jars in Guanyuan and caused a lot of trouble." Yan Jiekuang said.

Yan Bugui stared at Yan Jiekuang with his eyes wide open and his mouth wide open, which frightened Yan Jiekuang. He said, "Dad, do you want to eat me?"

"Are you the one who received the Jun kiln Xuande happy jar? This story has gone viral. Now it's being spread in Liulichang and Dazhalan, saying that a person spent 200,000 yuan to buy a jar worth 20 million yuan. By the way, where is the jar?" Yan Bugui asked.

"I'm at home. I'll take you to see it when I have time." Yan Jiekuang said.

"What time do you mean? I don't want to wait even a moment. Let's go, hurry up and go to your place." Yan Bugui said.

Yan Jiekuang was helpless. He had only been there for less than half an hour when Yan Bugui dragged Yan Jiekuang out of the yard and went straight to Yan Jiekuang's home.

Yan Jiekuang took Yan Bugui to the study, made a cup of tea, went to the basement to get a jar and put it on the desk.

At this time, the wedding pot had been cleaned by Yan Jiekuang. Yan Bugui looked at the exquisite red gold-stamped wedding pot and couldn't let it go. He kept muttering, "This is so beautiful. Do you know what it is called?"

Yan Jiekuang found a chair and sat down and said, "This is the first time I've seen this. According to convention, it should be called 'Ming Xuande Underglaze Red Gilded Figure Cover Wedding Jar'. Look at the pattern, it's really exquisite."

Yan Bugui looked at the pattern on the jar and said, "Third brother, these two are Romance of the West Chamber and Moon Worship Pavilion, right? They are for weddings, and they are made by the royal family. They are made in the palace during the Xuande reign, so they must be from Emperor Xuande or Zhu Qizhen."

"Okay, Dad, it's quite good, but I guess it should be Zhu Qizhen's." Yan Jiekuang said.

"Third brother, this is a priceless treasure. Twenty million is not enough," said Yan Bugui.

Yan Jiekuang listened and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I don't want to sell it, I just like it."

After looking at it for a while, he put it down and said, "Third brother, can I go out with your father next time? I am completely convinced by you."

"Okay, okay, I'll accompany you often, okay?" Yan Jiekuang said.

Yan Bugui then smiled and nodded, saying, "Put it away and I'll come back to see it when I want to."

Yan Jiekuang went out with the jar and came back after a while, following Yan Bugui back to the west wing.

On the way, Yan Bugui asked Yan Jiekuang, "Have you seen the things in my study? Is there anything special?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "I've seen them, there's nothing special, but most of them are from the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and their value is not low. Of course, they are not comparable to the ones I have." Yan Bugui said, "That's fine, I bought many of them at very low prices."

When the two returned to the west wing, Yan Jiecheng was gone. Yang Ruiping was picking vegetables at the kitchen door. When he saw the father and son coming back, he asked, "Where have you been?"

Yan Bugui said, "Strolling around, the boss is gone?"

Yang Ruiping said, "Let's go. I didn't see him. Are we having fish tonight?"

Yan Jiekuang said, "Let me do it. Let's make boiled fish. It goes really well with rice."

Yan Bugui and Yang Ruiping both nodded. The third brother's cooking skills had never disappointed them.

In the evening, Yan Jiekuang went to the kitchen to get busy. Yang Ruiping cooked rice and helped his son.

The two were busy when they heard the sound of several people talking in the front yard. Yang Ruiping walked out of the kitchen curiously, and came back after a while and said, "Old Three, make a few more dishes. There are many people eating today. Yi Zhonghai and his wife and Liu Haizhong and his wife are here, and they brought wine."

Yan Jiekuang was very puzzled and asked, "What day is today? Why are you all here?"

"Old Liu has recovered, and he wants to find a few old guys to get together." Yang Ruiping said.

Yan Jiekuang said, "Okay, most of them are home-cooked dishes, and they will be ready quickly."

Yan Jiekuang had originally planned to cook only one fish, but when he saw this situation, he killed the other one and started to get busy.

After a while, Yang Ruiping followed Yan Jiekuang to start serving the dishes. There were ten dishes, including boiled fish, fish fillet in fermented rice, twice-cooked pork, mapo tofu, stir-fried Chinese cabbage, pork ribs stewed with beans, spicy and sour shredded potatoes, braised pork, fried peanuts and cold cucumber salad, and a hot and sour soup.

Several old men put the table in the middle of the yard. The weather was very good today, and there was a ray of red glow in the sky, which was very beautiful.

When Yan Jiekuang walked to the middle of the yard with the hot and sour soup, the six old men had already started drinking. Yan Jiekuang had just put the bowl of soup on the table when Jia Zhang's voice came from the door, "You guys had a dinner party but didn't invite me. I heard it all. Forget it, I'm here uninvited."

Yang Ruiping chuckled and said, "Okay, hurry up and sit down. Who's watching over the teahouse?"

"What are you looking at? Turn off the light and eat. It's more important to eat." Jia Zhang said and everyone laughed.

Yi Zhonghai picked up his glass and said, "Come on, old neighbors, let's celebrate Comrade Liu Haizhong's successful recovery. Let's have a drink."

"Cheers!" The old men clinked their glasses happily, took a sip, and began to eat. After a few bites, Jia Zhang said, "The cooking skills of this old man are, to use today's words, top-notch."

Others also praised him, and Yan Jiekuang kept saying, "Thank you, thank you."

Several old people were chatting while eating, and they talked most about the past, such as the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, the ups and downs of the courtyard, the deaf old lady, and the Xu and He families.

Jia Zhang suddenly interrupted and said, "Do you know that He Yuzhu drove He Yushui to Baoding?"

Everyone at the table was stunned. Yan Bugui asked, "How did you know that?"

"That's what the beggar from Shajing Hutong said. He happened to run into me when I was leaving, and later he came to my place for tea and told me that." Jia Zhang said.

Yi Zhonghai said: "It seems that He Daqing is coming back."

The others nodded in agreement. Liu Haizhong said, "Doesn't Zhuzi hate He Daqing the most? Why has he changed his mind now?"

Yi Zhonghai said: "It is probably related to the letter from the deaf old lady. In fact, you don't know that He Daqing was forced away by the old lady. At that time, I heard the old lady threatening He Daqing, but I didn't dare to say it."

Yan Bugui suddenly realized and said, "I was wondering why He Daqing didn't even want to be the canteen director and said he wanted to leave no matter what."

Li Cuilan said: "It's good to come back. After all, fallen leaves return to their roots."

Jia Zhang took a sip of wine and asked Liu Haizhong, "By the way, wasn't the Guihua from your alley kidnapped by Xu Damao?"

Yang Yue'e sighed and said, "It's almost the same that she wasn't kidnapped. Xu Damao is really good at coaxing people. I had already reminded Guihua, but I didn't expect that."

Jia Zhang was anxious and asked, "Tell me, what didn't you expect?"

Liu Haizhong said, "Ever since Xu Wude went back and told Xu Damao about it, Xu Damao went to see Guihua once, and at that first glance, he fell in love with Guihua. After that, he went to Guihua's restaurant every day to help out, running around. Plus, Xu Damao's talkative mouth, now the girl named Guihua has loosened up a little, and it looks like it's going to work out."

After hearing this, Jia Zhang shook her head and said, "There's nothing we can do about it. Xu Damao is good at coaxing women, and he can even make the dead look alive. I don't think any woman can stand it."

Everyone was amused by Jia Zhang's words. The sky gradually darkened. In the west wing of Courtyard 95, several old men were drinking and chatting, reminiscing about the past. However, these past events were really like clouds and smoke, drifting away.

(End of this chapter)