Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 585 New Year’s Day
Early in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Wang Wenyuan locked the moon gate between the two courtyards. He took his sister back to his own courtyard. After midnight last night, the brother and sister paid New Year's greetings to several elders. The reason they returned to this courtyard today was because he knew that many people would come to pay New Year's greetings to Grandma Jinhua and Blind Zhang.

As Wang Wenyuan expected, the brother and sister were awakened by the noise from next door early in the morning. It is said that three women make a drama, and if it were a group of old women, the young ones would probably run away.

The little girl woke up dazedly, lay on her brother's chest, and asked, "Brother, why are you so noisy?"

"Oh, a group of ducks have come. Okay, let's get up. If you feel sleepy, you can take a nap at noon and eat something. I will take you out for a walk and visit each family to wish them a happy new year." Wang Wenyuan said, and then patted the little girl's butt.

The little girl acted coquettishly and asked him to help her put on her clothes. Then the brother and sister washed up in sync. Wang Wenyuan asked the little girl to stay in the room by herself. He went to the kitchen to make a bowl of porridge, fried a plate of dumplings, and a few poached eggs, and brought them directly to the bedroom.

The brother and sister had their first breakfast of the year. After breakfast, Wang Wenyuan didn't clean up, but started to pack his things. He also gave the little girl her small leather bag, which contained candies and chocolates.

Wang Wenyuan rode his rickshaw and went out with the little girl. When he went out, he happened to see Yan Bugui again. It was New Year's Day, so he smiled at him and then stared at the bicycle as it drove out of the alley.

Yan Bugui was stunned for a moment, thinking, who is this, how did he get out of here? He looked up at the gate of the courtyard, and ran to the gate of No. 91 to take a look. He was surprised to find that these were two identical independent courtyards, one with No. 91 and the other with No. 93. Their courtyard was No. 95.

Yan Bugui concluded that the people in these two courtyards were not simple. He came out early this morning and was attracted by the noise from Courtyard No. 91. The noise could even be heard in their courtyard.

Wang Wenyuan didn't care about Yan Bugui at all. He took his sister to visit new year's greetings everywhere for the whole morning, visiting one house for a while and another house for a while. Finally, Master Tie kept him in the Gongjian courtyard at noon and had lunch together. Wang Wenyuan refused to drink on the grounds that he had to ride his bike, so Master Tie slapped him in the face and he immediately behaved himself.

Grandma Tie took her great-grandson and the little girl to her room and never came out again. No one knew what they were playing with and they had even forgotten about their brother.

In the afternoon, Wang Wenyuan took the little girl for a stroll back home. At this time, Grandma Jinhua's courtyard was still noisy as it was in the morning. Wang Wenyuan even heard the sound of mahjong from more than one table.

Wang Wenyuan did not go there, but directly opened the gate of his own house. When he entered the yard, he saw that the light in his room was on. When he entered the room, he saw Blind Zhang sleeping with his eyes squinted on the recliner in the middle hall. There was a pot of tea next to him, and steam was coming out of the spout. Before he fell asleep for long, Wang Wenyuan went to his room, took out a wolfskin mattress, and gently covered him with it.

Wang Wenyuan took the little girl to the bedroom and asked, "Are you hungry? Do you want to sleep for a while?"

The little girl was a little confused. She nodded and said, "I want to go to bed. I'm sleepy."

Wang Wenyuan carried the little girl to the kang, took off her clothes and tucked her into the quilt. The little girl fell asleep before Wang Wenyuan got off the kang.

Wang Wenyuan quietly left the east room, thinking of pouring himself a cup of tea. Just as he picked up the teapot on the square table next to Blind Zhang, Blind Zhang woke up, raised his head and said, "When did Yuanzi come back?"

"I just got back. I was late because I drank some wine at Master Tie's house at noon. You can take a nap. You stayed up late last night and had a busy day." Wang Wenyuan said while pouring tea.

Blind Zhang nodded and said, "Don't call me too late, I'll take a nap." Then he wrapped the mattress around himself.

Wang Wenyuan took the tea and went to the stove next to him to check the fire, added some coal, and then rushed to the study. When he arrived at the study, he lit the charcoal stove, sat behind the desk, and was in a daze. After a while, the temperature in the study rose, and he took off his coat, leaned back in the chair and read a book. In an instant, the noise outside disappeared in the study.

"Kang Cangzi has lived in Yan of Yu Mountain for three years. The people are free of disease and the crops are still harvested. The people there secretly said to each other: 'When Kang Cangzi first came, we didn't think much of him. But now our daily income is insufficient, and our annual income is more than enough. Is he a saint? Why don't we pray to him and offer sacrifices to the gods?' Kang Cangzi was very upset when he heard this."

As night slowly fell, Wang Wenyuan came back to his senses from his scriptures. He looked at the time on the clock, then slowly stood up, thinking of going to the kitchen to prepare some dishes. Blind Zhang and the little girl should wake up soon. But as soon as he reached the kitchen, he heard some movement coming from the moon door. Turning back, he saw Mother Hua coming in with two food boxes.

"Mom Hua, are you bringing us food?" Wang Wenyuan asked.

"Yes, we are really busy today. That's why the old lady specifically asked me to send you a portion of the just-prepared banquet so that you don't have to cook again." Mother Hua said with a smile.

"Come on, let me have it. From the sounds over there, the banquet has just started, right? Grandpa Zhang and the little girl are sleeping. You don't have to worry about us here." Wang Wenyuan said.

Mother Hua handed him the lunch box and said, "By the way, go over there after they leave. I have something to tell you."

"Okay, go ahead and get busy." Wang Wenyuan took the food box and went to the main room. He put the food box on the eight-immortals table, then woke up Blind Zhang, and then went to the east room. It took him a long time to wake up the little girl.

An old man, a young man and a child gathered around the eight-immortal table and started eating. Today, blind Zhang was not given white wine, but some yellow wine, which was warmed by a small stove and drunk slowly.

The three of them were eating and chatting, and Wang Wenyuan asked, "Grandpa Zhang, do you know which mountain my master's mountain gate is on?"

Blind Zhang shook his head, ate the food Wang Wenyuan had prepared for him, and said, "I really don't know. Besides, he didn't say he was going back to his original mountain gate when he left. But Taoist Master Yuxu of Baiyun Temple once said he should be in the Zhongnan Mountain area. What? Do you miss your master?"

"It's not a lie. He raised me from the age of three until I was twelve. Alas, I caused a lot of trouble for my master and have not yet fulfilled my filial duty." Wang Wenyuan said.

Blind Zhang said, "Okay, don't think about it. Don't you believe in following the laws of nature? We will meet one day."

The little girl pulled Wang Wenyuan's sleeve and pointed to the plate of scallion-fried sea cucumber in the distance. Wang Wenyuan understood and quickly picked one up and put it in her bowl, saying, "Okay, you still know how to eat."

After dinner, Blind Zhang told a story to the little girl. Wang Wenyuan was smoking and drinking tea beside him, listening too. After a while, sporadic sounds of firecrackers were heard outside. Seeing the little girl's eager eyes, Wang Wenyuan was happy. He said hello to Blind Zhang and took the little girl to the yard to set off firecrackers.

A little later, the courtyard next door gradually became quiet. At around nine o'clock, Mother Hua and Mother Feng came to this courtyard. They sat cross-legged on the official hat chairs in the main hall, eating melon seeds and talking about the interesting things that happened that day, of course not including their sisters. They also talked about the three uninvited guests who had rashly come to pay New Year's greetings to the old lady.

(End of this chapter)