Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 62 Re-election of the Master

When August came, many people flocked into the city.

Director Wang came to the compound to look for Yan Bugui and said, "This mission is very difficult. These are refugees. We need to do a good job of stabilizing them."

Yan Bugui gave an idea that if they are a family, they can be arranged nearby, and the rest can be placed in a centralized location.

Upon hearing this, Director Wang said, "I knew that you students have a lot of tricks up your sleeve."

Director Wang left happily, and soon all the empty rooms in the courtyard were occupied by refugees.

Those who are capable will go to nearby factories, and those who are not capable will be assigned jobs or tasks by the streets.

A couple lived in the house next to Li Juan's house. The man was named Wu Gang and the woman was named Li Li. They had a daughter named Wu Jiao.

The two back rooms were allocated to a large family, including the old man Zhao Wenxuan, his two sons, Zhao Yigang and Zhao Yiqiang, Zhao Yigang's wife Jin Yu, and his grandson Zhao Yuanyuan.

It turned out that Mrs. Zhang's house was divided among two sisters, Chang Lirong and Chang Lijuan, who were twin sisters, both eighteen years old.

The ear room of Xu Delin in the Central Courtyard was also divided out and given to a man named Yi Jun, a sixteen-year-old orphan. Yi Jun had already joined the steel rolling mill as an apprentice fitter.

At this point, the courtyard was full and there were no empty rooms.

Now the problem arises. There are too many people, and bumps and bumps are inevitable. Director Han cannot handle it all by himself.

Finally, the subdistrict office decided to re-implement the courtyard management system.

The whole institute meeting will be held again. Yan Bugui first expressed that he would not participate in the election, and Director Wang’s persuasion was in vain.

There was an undercurrent in the courtyard, and even Yan Jiekuang could feel it, because he also wanted to know who would be elected in the end.

The two people nominated by the backyard are Liu Haizhong and Peng Weiguo.

The two nominated by the Intermediate Court, Yi Zhonghai and Xu Delin

The two people nominated by the front yard, Du Pingyi and Grandpa Sun
On the last weekend of August, Director Wang used a quick and decisive approach, allowing each college to vote for its own department, and the one with the most votes would be elected.

There was no suspense in the backyard, Peng Weiguo was elected, but Liu Haizhong got two votes.

Yi Zhonghai was elected as the Intermediate Court President, and Xu Delin got one vote. Xu Delin was a little confused. He voted for Yi Zhonghai, so how come he still had one vote? Yi Zhonghai gave Xu Delin a meaningful look.

There was no suspense in the front yard either, as Du Pingyi was elected with unanimous votes.

Zhang Erzhu was secretly happy because he was the one who cast the vote for Xu Delin. When Yi Zhonghai was elected, Zhang Erzhu was the first to stand up and congratulate him enthusiastically.

Liu Haizhong's three votes belong to his own family and a deaf old lady, who is very upset about the back room being occupied.

There was a temporary calm in the courtyard.

Front yard of the Siheyuan

Yan Bugui doesn't come to the courtyard often. Today, it was the third brother who came to see him and said he had something important to tell him.

As soon as Yan Bugui sat down, the third brother brought a plate of braised beef and a glass of good wine.

Yan Bugui was amused and asked, "This is a bribe to me, tell me what it is?"

"I want you to accompany me to see Principal Duan. I want to study on my own."

"Why did you think of studying on your own?" Yan Bugui asked.

Yan Jiekuang said seriously: "Yes, in fact, I can directly take the junior high school entrance examination. My second brother knows this. I was the one who helped him review."

"Okay, I'll use my connections as well. Your teacher Zhang must be sad." Yan Bugui said while eating beef.

After taking a sip of wine, he asked Yan Jiekuang to prepare two bottles of this wine.

"Moutai." Yan Jiekuang said.

The next day, the father and son went to see Principal Duan. Principal Duan was straightforward and took out the junior high school entrance examination paper for Yan Jiekuang to take.

The test paper was graded by Principal Duan himself, and after that Yan Jiekuang no longer went to school.

When the friends found out about this, they were all shocked. Yan Jiekuang said that he was capable of going to junior high school and didn't want to spend too much time in school.

The brothers also understood him, but they said that they should not refuse anything they didn't know in the future. Yan Jiekuang readily agreed.

The last month of 1959
Yan Jiekuang saw people starving to death from afar on his way to school. He was very sad. He didn't expect it to be so serious now. He always thought that most people were in a situation where they didn't have enough to eat but would not starve to death.

He suddenly thought of this: at home, he would have steamed bread every day, one in the morning, one at noon, and one in the evening.

But he remembered that he had never seen his mother eat steamed bread. He wondered if the family was running out of food.

Yan Jiekuang returned home, Yan Jiefang lived in the school dormitory, and Yan Jiecheng lived in the factory dormitory. There were only the couple, him, and his sister at home.

When eating dinner at night, he noticed that his mother didn't eat the steamed bread, and his little sister only ate half of it.

"Mom and Dad, how much food do we have left?" Yan Jiekuang suddenly asked.

"Not much." The couple was stunned. This unanimous answer exposed them.

"Dad, tell me, I have a lot of food. But I haven't told you that it's in the cellar of my yard." Yan Jiekuang said with a sigh.

Yan Bugui said in surprise: "You have a cellar? How come I didn't know about it?"

"I'll take you there after dinner."

"What are you eating? Let's go and take a look now." Yan Bugui said anxiously.

The family of four went to the courtyard and entered the house. Yan Jiekuang opened the cellar and turned on the light, and Yan Bugui and his wife went downstairs.

"Don't you want to go down and take a look?" Yan Jiekuang asked his younger sister.

"What are you looking at? They are all mine." said the younger sister proudly.

A cry of surprise came from the cellar. After a while, two people came up, Yan Bugui brought a bottle of wine and a piece of bacon, and Yang Ruiping carried a bag of corn flour.

"Mom, why don't you take the white flour?" Yan Jiekuang asked in confusion.

Yang Ruiping rolled his eyes at him and asked, "Who dares to eat white flour now?"

"Mom, I mean you can mix them together," Yan Jiekuang said.

"That's obvious at a glance. We can eat it this way during the Chinese New Year," Yang Ruiping said firmly.

Yan Bugui said, "Your cellar is too big. It crosses the street, right?"

Yan Jiekuang said seriously: "Later, it was expanded little by little. Things were saved. Come and take them when you need them. Don't be reluctant to eat them."

"I understand. Now I feel more confident." Yan Bugui was very happy.

Yan Jiekuang was also relieved, but there was one more thing he had to do. He planned to take out all the food in the Japanese warehouse that shouldn't belong to him, but he didn't know where to put it.

No matter what, that night he went to Jingshan Park and emptied out all the food in his space and warehouse. The next day, Jingshan Park was under martial law.

During the Spring Festival in the 1960s, every household was not doing well, but no matter how difficult it was, they still found ways to find some meat for their children.

Yan Jiekuang sent a piece of bacon weighing about half a pound each to Widow Wang's family, Grandpa Sun, and Doctor An's family.

After hearing this, Yan Bugui said that Yan Jiekuang was incompetent, and finally every family in the front yard was given half a pound of bacon.

The Du family sent back some Northeast mushrooms and the wine given by Wen Jun. Yan Bugui did not accept any gifts from other families.

The old Jia family had chickens again, and they didn't know how rich Qinjia Village was. Zhang Erzhu also had one, but he didn't dare to eat it and kept it for laying eggs because Qin Yuru was pregnant.

People working in the steel mill all have benefits. They were given meat before the Chinese New Year. Four ounces of meat is not a lot, but you really won’t see it in the market.

Secretary Han went back to his own home to celebrate the New Year instead of staying in the Siheyuan. This year, the big show in the Central Courtyard is still the Yi family, the He family, the deaf old lady's family, and Yi Jun, who all celebrate the New Year together.

The small courtyard in front of the Siheyuan
There are special guests today, Lou's mother and Lou Xiao'e.

My little sister was so happy. Today was the 30th. Mother Lou was thinking about the Yan brothers and sisters, so she sent some food over, also because she was afraid that Yan Jiekuang had nothing to eat.

After staying for a short while, Yan Jiekuang sent the two of them out the door. After the car left, he turned around and found a person standing at the door.

"Third brother, whose car is that?" This was the first time Xu Damao spoke to Yan Jiekuang.

Yan Jiekuang did not hide anything and said generously: "This is Chairman Lou's car, come and have a look."

Xu Damao repeated, "Chairman Lou."

(End of this chapter)