Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 500: The tide of layoffs
July of 1997 was a turbulent month. Any Chinese person could feel the tense atmosphere. Even Jia Zhang took action. She appeared in Widow Wang's tavern for several days in a row and discussed with several old ladies around her how they could help Hong Kong Island.

Yan Jiekuang thought that apart from the construction of his own villa, he really had nothing to do recently, so he took his three children to travel around the city, going to all the places they should and shouldn't go. What were the places they shouldn't go to? Those were the places where Yan Jiekuang had worked. After all, Yan Jiekuang was one of the first workers in the restoration of the old Forbidden City and had some privileges.

When Yan Jiekuang took the children to some dilapidated places that had not yet been opened to the public, the children were very surprised and kept asking Yan Jiekuang various questions, and Yan Jiekuang patiently answered them.

Yan Jiekuang patiently explained the rise and fall and history of this place, allowing the children to understand that time has changed everything materially. They were once glorious, but that was only in the past.

When he reached the door, a young man came over. Seeing him, he quickly ran over and said, "Mr. Yan, do you want to come back to work? I heard from my master that you are a rare genius, right?"

Yan Jiekuang looked at the young man and asked, "Who is your master? Many people here don't welcome me. By the way, do you know why?"

The young man was stunned. He just thought that someone who even the curator respected must be a master, so he came over to see if there was any chance to contact him.

Seeing the young man was stunned, Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "What's the name of this line? Let me think, right, the apprentice dies of overeating and the master dies of starvation. Haha, you are too naive."

Yan Jiekuang took the children out. The reason why Yan Jiekuang was unwilling to come here to work was, one, the problem of restraint, and the most important thing was that the people here were all craftsmen, and craftsmen made a living by their skills. If Yan Jiekuang really came, they would really have no food to eat. At least in the gold and silver ware, porcelain, calligraphy and painting, and carpentry trades, no one could surpass Yan Jiekuang. This was also the reason why masters always kept some skills for their apprentices for thousands of years.

One day in mid-July, the children were in low spirits. Although the yard was cooler than outside, it was still very hot. Yan Jiekuang asked them if they wanted to go to their grandparents' house. Xiaohai and Xixi immediately shook their heads. Then Liangzi and Fangfang looked at their brother and sister and shook their heads too. Yan Jiekuang could see that these children were just waiting for the watermelons in the well to cool down and then cut them and eat them. He had just bought them that morning.

Yan Jiekuang pushed the stroller, lowered the awning roof, and took Xiao Jin to Courtyard No. 95. When he reached the entrance of the alley, he saw several policemen with a very familiar person walking past them. Yan Jiekuang frowned and entered the alley. He felt that the person was very familiar, but he just couldn't remember who he was.

When he arrived at the door of his house, Zhou Nianping and Sun Xiaolong were busy there. Sun Xiaolong was moving goods, and Zhou Nianping was busy serving side dishes and wine to the guests.

Yan Jiekuang called out to Sun Xiaolong. He hadn't seen him for a long time. Sun Xiaolong looked up and saw Yan Jiekuang. He put down his work and walked over to him. He asked, "Oh, is this a dead tree coming back to life? Is the old tree sprouting new branches?"

Yan Jiekuang knew he had misunderstood when he heard it, and scolded him with a smile: "How old are you? This is my new adopted child. Can you speak?"

Sun Xiaolong gave him a thumbs up and said, "I really admire you. You are addicted to adoption. Why are you here on such a hot day? Aren't you afraid that the children will get hot?"

As Sun Xiaolong spoke, he reached out and touched the child's face to tease him. Yan Jiekuang said, "It's because it's too hot that I came back to see the elderly. By the way, why aren't you at work?"

Sun Xiaolong raised his head and said bitterly, "What kind of work is this? I'm completely laid off this time. Not only me, but more than half of the people in this company are laid off. The factory is in chaos now. I saw that I should just give up and respond to the call, so I went through the formalities completely."

Yan Jiekuang felt heartbroken when he looked at this man who had been obedient all his life. Sun Xiaolong had wanted to do business with him at first, but his grandfather and Widow Wang strongly opposed it, which made him give up the idea.

Yan Jiekuang handed him a cigarette and asked, "What are your plans for the future? Do you want to start your own business or find another class?"

Sun Xiaolong lit up a cigarette, took a puff and said, "At my age, who would want me? Besides, I've been dealing with machinery and parts all my life, and I don't know how to do anything else. I'll try to help out in this store first, and then see what happens in the future."

"Where is Nian'en? Is he okay?" Yan Jiekuang asked.

When Sun Xiaolong heard what Yan Jiekuang said, he squatted down and stopped talking. Yan Jiekuang knew that Nian En was not having a good time either.

Yan Jiekuang squatted down and patted Sun Xiaolong on the shoulder, saying, "Is Nian En going to be laid off too? What about his wife?" Sun Xiaolong still didn't say anything. Yan Jiekuang got a little anxious and said, "Are you a man at all? Just answer whatever I ask. I'm here, what are you afraid of?"

Sun Xiaolong was stunned for a moment, stood up, and asked, "Why, Third Brother, do you want to help me?"

"We're neighbors. How could I ever see you get into trouble after all these years?" Yan Jiekuang glared at him and said.

Sun Xiaolong suddenly felt like he had won a lottery. He grabbed Yan Jiekuang's arm and said, "Really, Third Brother, don't tease me. I take this seriously."

"Let me go first. It's so hot now. Come on and tell me. I watched Nian'en grow up. Your family is ruined because of Aunt Wang's conservative thinking." Yan Jiekuang pushed his hand away and said.

Sun Xiaolong said: "You can't say that. By the way, Nian En and his wife were also laid off. It just happened in the past two days. They kept it a secret from us, but the technicians from their factory live near my home and told us directly."

Yan Jiekuang thought for a moment and said, "You can go to work in my wife's building. You can earn a lot a month, about 1,000 yuan. As for Nian'en, you can ask him if he wants to start his own business or continue working. I also have a coffee shop, and I think I'm going to open a new store next year. They can go there to work and study at the same time, and open their own store in the future. What do you think, Brother Xiaolong?"

After Sun Xiaolong heard this, tears suddenly fell from his eyes. Yan Jiekuang was stunned for a moment and quickly advised him, "What are you doing? You are a grown man, why are you crying?"

Sun Xiaolong then realized that they were outside. He wiped his tears and said, "Third brother, I know my mother has been worried about me. In order to help me, she specifically asked you to take over this store. Your family didn't even ask for rent. This time you help me so much, I don't know how to thank you."

Yan Jiekuang said, "There's no need to thank me so much. Our two families have been together for many years. Besides, Grandpa Sun has been very good to me. Besides, forget it, don't thank me. That's it. Don't hesitate. I'm going back."

Yan Jiekuang ignored Sun Xiaolong and turned around to push the stroller into the west wing. In fact, Yan Jiekuang thought of what Grandpa Sun said to him before he left. At that time, he promised Grandpa Sun that he would take care of the whole family. He couldn't forget his promise, and it was a dying trust.

When they returned to the west wing, Yang Ruiping was picking vegetables from the back garden and bringing them to the kitchen. When she saw the baby carriage, she stuffed the basket in her hand into Yan Jiekuang's arms and happily pushed the carriage to the backyard. Yan Jiekuang was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. This mother became more domineering as she got older.

Yan Jiekuang saw the vegetables in the basket and there were quite a lot of them, including tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, celery, and a handful of leeks.

Yan Jiekuang wondered if he should take some home. He took the basket to the kitchen, picked up another unused basket, and headed straight for the back garden. As soon as he reached the door of the glass house, he heard Yang Ruiping shouting, "Don't pick them all. Leave some, or your dad will come to your house."

Yan Jiekuang agreed and went into the glass house. This glass house was well taken care of by Yan Bugui. As soon as you entered the door, there were various flowers planted on the left, various vegetables on the right, and further in, there were more than a dozen trees. Although they were not big, they really bore fruit. All of this was taken care of by his father and mother.

Yan Jiekuang put down the basket and started picking vegetables. He picked more lettuces and also picked quite a few tomatoes. He picked the rest as well. The most important thing was the strawberries that the children loved to eat. Yan Jiekuang picked so many that the big basket could not hold them all, so he stopped.

Yan Jiekuang came out of the glass house in high spirits, and saw Yan Bugui with a gloomy face. He said to him directly: "You came back to sweep the area, and you picked so many fruits, but you didn't help with any work, and you just eat them?"

Yan Jiekuang smiled awkwardly and said, "Dad, I picked these for your grandchildren. They will eat them when we get home. I can't eat much."

After hearing what Yan Jiekuang said, Yan Bugui's expression improved a little. He snorted, then took the teacup and went to the pavilion to find his partner.

(End of this chapter)