Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Even though the grandmother has just met her eldest grandson, for the old woman, every time she sees the person she wants to see, it’s one less time, and it’s never enough.

"Why did you come back just now..." Grandma saw her grandson and greeted him from afar.

"Grandma!" Zeng Wangcai waved, handed the bicycle to Zhang Xiuzhi, and ran a few steps to help grandma. "What are you doing outside in such a cold weather? Come inside and warm yourself by the fire."

"It's not cold, grandma. There's firewood burning outside. We know you don't like to be bored. Your uncle has burned firewood outside today. Come quickly, Xiuzhi, warm yourself by the fire..."

When the weather is cold, there is no shortage of firewood in the countryside, so most people have a fire burning at home.

But the weather is good today, so Zeng Youhuo carefully built a temporary grass wall in the direction of the wind in the yard, and built a bonfire in the yard, using old tree roots as the base.

"Wangcai is back, come and sit down, you must be hungry." Second Aunt Ma Ping came out of the house wearing an apron.

Huang Liang and Xiaohu, who came to celebrate the New Year, were busy with something and were not seen. Zeng Youqian and his wife were not idle either and were helping in the kitchen.

The Zeng family celebrated the New Year in a complete manner. Except for Xiaobao, everyone was together.

After a simple lunch, the Zeng family courtyard became lively in the afternoon. Young people from the village came to see Zeng Wangcai, the platoon leader. Zeng Wangcai had become their idol.

After being praised for the entire afternoon, when it was time to eat the New Year’s Eve dinner in the evening, Zeng Wangcai took out the red envelopes he had prepared and gave them to his younger brothers and sisters.

The whole family stayed up around the fire to celebrate the New Year, but the elderly grandmother couldn't bear it anymore and went to sleep.

Amid the sound of opera on the radio, Zeng Wangcai said, "Second Uncle, Xiuzhi will not go to the army next year. She will go to work in the steel mill. Do you think we can take Xiaohu with us?"

When he came back this time, Zeng Wangcai found that Xiaohu was in a very low mood.

Later, Ma Ping found an opportunity to talk to Zeng Wangcai alone, saying that the family actually did not need Xiaohu's care, and that if there was a chance, he could go out and try his luck.

Zeng Wangcai thought so too. Since Xiaobao was going to the army and leaving Xiaohu at home, he would inevitably have some thoughts.

When Xiaohu heard this, he immediately perked up and looked at his father expectantly.

"Have you finished Xiuzhi's work?" Zeng Youhuo said while smoking a cigarette, "How come it's so fast? Didn't you say you would do it after the New Year?"

"There's something going on in the hospital, so we've dealt with it in advance!" Zeng Wangcai said.

"Yes, there is something going on in the hospital!" Zeng Youhuo's face suddenly darkened. "You can go, but it won't be until the day after tomorrow. Xiaohu and I have something to do tomorrow, so you go back to the army first."

"What's the matter? It would be great if we could go together in a car!" Zeng Wangcai was puzzled.

"Don't worry about it. We will be there the day after tomorrow." Zeng You angrily threw the cigarette butt that was about to burn his hand into the fire.

Zeng Youqian knew what his younger brother was going to do, and said, "Second brother, I've told you several times that Wangcai has already dealt with this matter, so don't worry about it. Liu Haizhong's family has been beaten up, so don't cause any more trouble..."

Zeng Wangcai suddenly realized why his second uncle was angry. It must be because of the trouble in the yard.

As expected, Zeng Youhuo shook his head stubbornly: "What can happen? Big brother, I'm not saying anything bad about you, you are just too soft-hearted, so people bully us. All the planning is bullshit. I like revenge. If I didn't know it was over, I would have gone to your yard the day I came back."

"Uncle, I support my dad in this matter!" Xiaohu echoed, "Don't worry about it. My dad told me that we will celebrate the New Year in the morning, beat him up in the afternoon, and beat him up again in the evening."

Ma Ping said quietly: "Eat enough. I will prepare some white steamed buns for you to take with you tomorrow..."

I can't persuade him. I can't persuade him at all.

However, Zeng Wangcai felt that they were a fucking family. He found that he had missed his target. Although he had beaten Liu Haizhong and dealt with Yi Zhonghai, he missed the accomplices found by Liu Guangqi's brothers.

"I agree. Beat him again!" Zeng Wangcai raised his hand, then went into the house to get two hats and two white masks, "You guys..."

Therefore, staying up all night to celebrate the New Year became a meeting place for discussing plans to beat people up.

The next morning, Zeng Youqian and his brothers, Zeng Wangcai and Xiaobao, went out early to visit the village to wish everyone a happy new year. When they came back, they had countless cigarettes in their hands.

Chinese people are like this. No matter how difficult the situation is, they have to maintain their face and appearance.

It is just like the New Year celebrations in rural areas in later generations. Although people make a living by doing odd jobs, food prices are extremely low, and they don’t make much money all year round, the cigarettes they serve to guests at home are either Huanghelou 1916 or Softheilou.

The ancestral house at home is leaking everywhere, leaking rain everywhere and is about to fall apart, but they still spend hundreds of thousands to buy a BBA, and then burn two tanks of oil a year and park it in the fields...

(Okay, I'm Southern Silver...)

We have digressed. Zeng Wangcai had finished his work in the village and was about to return home in the afternoon. He and Zhang Xiuzhi immediately returned to Sijiu City and the courtyard on behalf of the Zeng family.

The Siheyuan has changed a lot now, but the custom of New Year's greetings still exists.

Zeng Wangcai learned that Yi Zhonghai had no relatives to leave, and the same went for Sha Zhu. Liu Haizhong had relatives to leave, but they would not leave so early. He had to wait for people who came to wish him a happy new year before he could leave.

So when Zeng Wangcai returned to the courtyard, he saw that there were quite a few people in the courtyard.

"Hey, uncle, Happy New Year!" Zeng Wangcai walked into the middle courtyard with a cigarette in his pocket and greeted the newly appointed Sha Zhu.

"Same same, Wangcai, you are going back to the army today, right?" Sha Zhu responded in a good mood.

"Yes, we'll leave after paying New Year's greetings." Zeng Wangcai deliberately moved back home earlier.

After walking around the central courtyard, in fact, only Sha Zhu's family, Yi Zhonghai's family and Jia's Zeng Wangcai will not pay attention to them, so he just needs to put them in the central courtyard.

Yi Zhonghai saw Zeng Wangcai was in high spirits and fighting passionately with Sha Zhu. He felt aggrieved and walked out, thinking out of sight, out of mind.

Zeng Wangcai naturally ignored Yi Zhonghai and went to the backyard by himself. There were Xu Damao and the deaf old lady in the backyard, so he needed to save face.

A few minutes later, Yan Bugui ran in in a panic: "Shazhu, Shazhu, come quickly, Lao Yi was beaten up..."

Being beaten on the first day of the Lunar New Year is quite new.

Those who were not visiting relatives in the courtyard saw Yi Zhonghai limping in with a big bump on his forehead.

"Master Yi, who hit you? Tell me and I'll remember it. I'll report to the street office after the New Year." Sha Zhu has already gotten into the role and changed the way he addresses Yi Zhonghai.

Yi Zhonghai was beaten for no reason, and cursed angrily: "Villains, they are all villains, wearing hats and covering their faces, I can't see clearly..."

The ones who beat people were naturally Zeng Youhuo and his son. They were wearing the hats that were everywhere on the street. They let the two ears of the hats down and tied them on their chins, then put on masks. Suddenly, they attacked, beat people, and then ran away. No one knew who beat them.

"Old Yi, you have offended someone." Liu Haizhong, who was driven out, said angrily.

His meaning was very clear. Beating someone up on New Year's Day must mean he has a grudge against someone. And Yi Zhonghai currently has only one enemy, Zeng Wangcai.

"Second uncle, don't talk nonsense!" Sha Zhu said with a straight face, "Zeng Wangcai is visiting in the backyard. We need to rely on evidence when managing the yard."

Liu Haizhong's face turned red. Zeng Wangcai went to the backyard but didn't look for him, and he didn't see him either. He didn't know that Zeng Wangcai had evidence of his alibi.

"I won't talk to you anymore. I have to visit my relatives!" Liu Haizhong waved his hands, walked out with a stern face, followed by his three sons.

The excitement in the courtyard had not yet passed when Liu Guangfu, the third son of the Liu family, came running back in a panic: "Oh no, oh no, my dad was beaten..."