Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 57 Undercurrent
Nanluoguxiang, January 1957

The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and every household is preparing for the New Year.

The Yan family is no exception. The eldest brother Yan is responsible for the purchasing task. Yan Bugui has been going to school more frequently recently, so Yang Ruiping is in charge of taking care of the household.

The younger sister no longer sticks to her brother, but starts to stick to her mother, because after the New Year's Eve, Yang Ruiping starts to fry New Year's goods.

Yan Jiekuang went to Shichahai with his classmates to break the ice and catch fish. They caught a lot, but not much was left, as most of them were sent to the military compound.

When he was carrying the fish home, he met Liu Guangtian. He and a group of people were heading towards the front gate. Yan Jiekuang was a little confused because he recognized one of them, he should be the Buddha of the front gate. How did Liu Guangtian get together with them?

At the gate, I saw Yan Bugui walking towards me, with a roll of red characters on his arm and a cart in one hand.

"Dad, isn't it vacation time? Do you still have things to do at school?" Yan Jiekuang asked.

The father and son entered the compound, and Yan Bugui said, "The higher-ups insisted on copying some instructions, so they even called the Chinese teacher over."

Yan Jiekuang suddenly woke up, stared at Yan Bugui and said, "Dad, the upper level is the upper level, you better keep your mouth shut, even in the compound, so as not to cause trouble for your family."

Yan Bugui didn't know what the third brother said, so he replied vaguely, "Yes, I don't talk much. I don't talk much anyway."

Yan Jiekuang rolled his eyes and said, "My mother is the one who talks the least in my family."

"Are you going to your grandma's house this year? If not, you can stay at home and take care of your sister, while your mother and I will take the eldest brother out." Yan Bugui said.

Yan Jiekuang didn't ask and said he would follow his father's arrangements.

The two people entered the west wing.

The eldest brother came in carrying a basket of meat and complained as he walked, "There are too many people. I can't compete with these women comrades."

"This meat is not very good. There is too little fat. How did the butcher cut it?" Yan Bugui took the meat and looked at it from beginning to end.

The eldest brother said: "I jumped in line to grab this. Those behind me didn't get one."

Yan Bugui asked, "How can this be possible? What else did you buy?"

"I also bought some dried black fungus and mushrooms. We have cabbage in our cellar. There are people selling leeks and cucumbers outside, but I couldn't get them." Yan Jiecheng said after taking a sip of water.

"Tomorrow, Jiefang and I will go to Shijia Village for a visit." Yan Bugui said.

Yan Jiekuang said quickly, "Forget it. Everything in the village is collectively produced. You won't be able to sell anything even if you try. I'll go to my classmate's place tomorrow. His father works in a department store."

Yan Jiekuang was talking about Li Chenggang, but he planned to prepare the things himself, and saying that he was a classmate was just an excuse.

Since going to school, Yan Jiekuang has tried to keep a low profile, not showing off his abilities or taking things out casually. This is mainly because he is afraid of something going wrong, as he has a large family to support.

Front yard of the Siheyuan

Wen Jun was taking Li Juan to distribute wedding candies to every household. Li Juan was pregnant.

Widow Wang and Yang Ruiping took Li Juan by the hand and told her what to pay attention to. After Wen Jun finished delivering the message in the front yard, he took Li Juan into the middle yard.

An Lingling and Zhou Nianping don’t play with Sun Xiaolong and Yan Jiefang much anymore. Instead, they play skipping rope with a few girls from the neighboring rooms when they have nothing to do.

Doctor An made it using a discarded blood pressure cuff. When An Lingling received it, she jumped for joy. From then on, the little girls and boys in the hospital became strangers.

With the help of Stationmaster Du, Grandpa Sun found a temporary job and was busy all day going to and from get off work.

Sun Xiaolong and Yan Jiefang were really liberated, and they were rarely seen during the holidays.

When Wen Jun and Li Juan came back, they looked unhappy. Everyone in the front yard saw them. Widow Wang pulled Li Juan aside and asked what happened. Li Juan told them about going to the middle yard.

It turned out that there were not many households in the Central Courtyard. Xu Delin congratulated them with candy and then said that he was also going to get married and would invite Wen Jun and his wife to have a drink.

Zhang Erzhu was standing opposite the door and suddenly felt jealous. He also wanted to get married, but no one was interested in him.

Zhang Erzhu suddenly said, "This is a double blessing, we have to celebrate it in a big way."

Wen Jun and his wife were not familiar with Xu Delin, so how could this be a double happiness?

Xu Delin was a smooth-talking man, so he said, "Brother Wen's business is Brother Wen's business, I will definitely do what I should do."

At this time, Sha Zhu appeared out of nowhere and said, "Marriage and having children are big things, and they should be done." Wen Jun and his wife's faces suddenly turned cold, "What does my family's wedding have to do with you? What are you talking about?"

At this point, Wen Jun and Sha Zhu started arguing.

Yi Zhonghai and He Daqing also came out and took sides. He Daqing said to Wen Jun, "How come you don't understand human nature?"

Wen Jun got angry and picked up Xu Delin's shovel, ready to hit He Daqing. The father and son were also stunned. They didn't expect Wen Jun to be so fierce.

Yi Zhonghai and Xu Delin hugged Wen Jun, and Wen Jun said without hesitation: "He Daqing, today either you lie down or I lie down."

He Daqing was scared, but Sha Zhu didn't care at all and kept fanning the flames, shouting, "Come on, come on."

Yi Zhonghai yelled, "It's not the New Year yet, why are you arguing? If you don't want to do it, then don't do it. Why can't you talk it out nicely?"

Li Juan shouted at Yi Zhonghai: "Yi Zhonghai, if you can persuade, then persuade well. If you can't persuade, then get out of here. Who is not speaking well?"

Xu Delin forcibly dragged Wen Jun and his wife into the house, and the courtyard finally quieted down.

Sha Zhu was done with it, but where was Zhang Erzhu? He was the one who caused the trouble. He Daqing realized that it was not his family's fault, but Zhang Erzhu's fault. So the father and son went to find Zhang Erzhu.

Yi Zhonghai didn't care, but when he was about to take action, he spoke up for Zhang Erzhu.

When Wen Jun and his wife came back, they looked unhappy.

Widow Wang and Yang Ruiping consoled the couple, wondering why the Intermediate Court had so many things to do. Stationmaster Du said, "They are just too full."

Yan Jiekuang deeply agreed with this and felt that the current life made them too idle.

Front yard of the Siheyuan

Yan Jie Di went further and further down the road of foodie, and her body became fatter and fatter.

Yang Ruiping intended to control her diet and strictly prohibited Yan Jiekuang from feeding her, and Yan Jiekuang agreed.

The little girl didn't care, because the New Year was coming soon and there wouldn't be much delicious food.

Yan Jiekuang also went out today. He prepared four gifts, each containing a chicken and five kilograms of vegetables, including beans, celery, eggplant, cucumber and pepper, one kilogram of each. These were for Sister Huizhen and his three good friends.

It was already noon when he finished the walk, so he hurried home. However, he saw the scene he least wanted to see: Liu Guangtian and a Buddhist monk were doing something.

When Yan Jiekuang was about to return home, he took out two chickens and a few pounds of vegetables, put them in a large sack, and carried them back home.

As soon as he entered the west wing, his father rushed over, looked through it and said, "There's no shortage of food this year. Your second brother caught some river clams in Shichahai. They're pretty big."

Yan Jiekuang was absent-minded and poured himself a glass of water. Yan Bugui frowned and asked, "What's the matter?"

Yan Jiekuang told his father what he saw. Yan Bugui became serious and said, "This won't do. This child is going astray. I'll go find Liu Haizhong right away."

Yan Jiekuang quickly stopped him and said, "Liu Haizhong is very dissatisfied with you. He may believe what you said. Even if he believes it, he will think you are talking nonsense and slandering his family."

"What should we do then?" Yan Bugui said dejectedly.

"Report it to the police station and Director Wang. This matter is not something we can handle," said Yan Jiekuang.

Yan Bugui thought about it carefully, turned around, took the car keys and went out.

Within a few days, Director Wang and a police officer brought Liu Guangtian into the compound and went straight to Liu Haizhong's house in the backyard.

That night, the Liu family was in chaos and Liu Guangfu ran away.

Liu Haizhong beat Liu Guangtian so hard that he screamed like a ghost. In the end, he was persuaded by the deaf old lady and Yi Zhonghai.

The most interesting thing was Section Chief Peng, who was squatting on the steps in front of his house, smoking and watching the fun.

Pang also said: "Old Peng, why don't you do anything about it? You are from the security department."

Section Chief Peng said: "The child really deserves a beating. I am just learning how Liu Haizhong beats his children."

"Brother, I didn't cause any trouble." Peng Weijun, who is the same age as Liu Guangtian, stood at the door and shivered.

(End of this chapter)