Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Lin Huyang is an old smoker. As his family was well off, he started stealing his father’s cigarettes when he was in junior high school. At first he only stole one or two cigarettes, but later he stole so many that he was discovered and almost beaten to death, but he still stole.

So even though Lin Huyang is young, he has been smoking for a long time.

"Wangcai, this cigarette..."

"Just smoke. Why are you asking so many questions? Don't you have good cigarettes at home? Stop talking nonsense." Zeng Wangcai also took out a cigarette and lit it. Damn, after smoking one cigarette, he couldn't stop craving for cigarettes.

Lin Huyang stopped asking and started smoking.

Just as Zeng Wangcai said, pork sellers, tailors and other jobs that ordinary people need to find are very popular, and it is normal for people who come to you for work to give you some good cigarettes and good wine.

But these days you can collect them, but don't be so stupid as to show them off all day long. You can do it once or twice to satisfy your hunger, but if you do it every day even a fool would know there is something wrong.

After walking for more than ten minutes, Lin Huyang complained of being hot. Seeing Zeng Xiaoqiang and the others sweating profusely, he spent 1.5 cents to buy five popsicles, one for each of them.

Zeng Xiaoqiang was quite polite. He said thank you and took his younger brother and sister to eat one each slowly.

Seeing that the three children ate the popsicles slowly and leisurely, unlike other children, Lin Huyang said with a smile: "Hey, you can hold them well. If it were other children, they would have licked them with big mouthfuls. Did you buy them when you came?"

Then he thought again, even if he had eaten just now, he would not be able to eat so steadily, as if he was full. How could he possibly imagine what the three children had just eaten.

After eating the popsicles, Zeng Wangcai chatted with Lin Huyang about another classmate who didn't come to college last night. They also talked about the injury on Zeng Wangcai's head. He asked who did it and expressed his willingness to stand up for Zeng Wangcai.

Lin Huyang is not Zeng Youhuo. If Zeng Wangcai had said at that time that he suspected Liu Guangtian did it, his second uncle might have gone to the backyard to block the door. But Lin Huyang would not do that. They were used to solving problems on their own.

"Is it the second son of the second uncle in your backyard? That grandson has disliked him for a long time. Call Liangzi to beat him up in the evening." Lin Huyang said.

"No need for that. I guarantee he'll roll on the ground in less than two days." Zeng Wangcai already had an idea.

Considering Liu Haizhong’s family education, does he have to beat Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu himself?

Grandma!

As we were talking, we were about to reach the slaughterhouse when a 28-inch bicycle came by on the road. A net bag was hung on the handlebars of the bicycle, and inside the bag were pig intestines, hearts, lungs, etc.

"Why are you here? It's so hot." The man who came was Lin Huyang's father, the burly Lin Haitao.

"Uncle Lin, I have something to talk to you about." Zeng Wangcai took out a cigarette and offered it to him with both hands.

Lin Haitao parked the car, took it and scolded with a smile: "Good job, Wangcai, you took out your father's good cigarettes, and even changed the cigarette box, you are as cunning as a yellow-skinned man."

Zeng Wangcai smiled and said nothing.

Lin Haitao turned around and taught his son a lesson: "Learn from Wangcai. No one is as good at studying as others. Learn how to be a good person. Don't always act like you are the best in the world..."

Lin Huyang felt a headache. He knew his father's temper and knew that if he refuted, he would just get beaten.

After scolding his son a few words, Lin Haitao was considerate of his son's face and did not say much. He asked Zeng Wangcai what was the matter. Zeng Wangcai said that some relatives came to the house and wanted to buy a pig bone.

"It's better to come at the right time than to come early. There just happens to be a group of people who need meat. The slaughterhouse is killing pigs. Do you want some offal? I have some here. Take some back."

"No thanks, uncle. Pork bones will do."

"Okay then, you guys wait here. It's not good to have too many people go in."

Zeng Wangcai hurriedly took out a dollar and handed it over. Lin Haitao didn't act pretentiously. He took the money and took the bag from Zeng Wangcai's hand. After a few minutes, he came back with the bag.

"Next time you want bones, tell me earlier so I can tell the butcher and leave some meat for you." Lin Haitao returned the pocket to Zeng Wangcai and got back the fifty cents.

Zeng Wangcai was also not pretentious. He took the money and put it in his pocket. Business is business, and personal relationships are personal relationships. He couldn't mix them up.

After talking for a few more words, it was too hot to stand, so Lin Huyang took his father's car back. Before leaving, they made an appointment to watch the open-air movie "The Eternal Wave" in the evening.

On the way back, Zeng Xiaoqiang insisted on going to the movies with his elder brother in the evening. Zeng Wangcai couldn't resist, and he also wanted to take Xiaohuan to watch the movie, so he agreed.

He didn't see what the pig bones looked like. He bought them just for show. The bones he actually wanted to make were already prepared and placed in the space.

There were no white pigs yet, so he spent some time looking for black pigs in the warehouse. He used his mind to remove the skin around the bones and some of the fat, leaving the rest to form the tubular bones. Whether it was used to stew soup or make sauced bones, the taste was delicious...

Back in the alley, the streets were quiet and there were not many people. The courtyards were also quiet. People were at work, and people at home were trying to make a living. It would not be lively until the evening when people were cooking.

As expected, no one was at home. Zeng Wangcai opened the window of the middle room with ease, reached in, and found the key hanging on the iron nail under the window.

After sending the second child, the third child and Xiaohuan to their own rooms in the north room to play, Zeng Wangcai began to prepare to cook. In his previous life, he could feed the whole family with one person's food, which made him a good cook. He didn't plan to make anything else but one dish, braised pork ribs, so that the whole family could eat meat today.

There was not enough water in the water tank, so Zeng Wangcai took a bucket to the pool in the middle courtyard and fetched two buckets of water to fill the water tank. He didn't see anyone in the middle courtyard, so he deliberately glanced at the Jia family, to see if there was any difference between Qin Huairu, who had bewitched Sha Zhu, and the one on TV, but there was no one at the Jia family.

At this time, Jia Dongxu was not dead yet, so perhaps Qin Huairu and her family had gone out to find food.

Once the water is available, the stove is lit. His family uses a coal briquette stove. At that time, most families in the courtyard used coal briquettes. Each family mixed loose coal with loess to make it into a mud-like state. Then, adults and children who had nothing to do at home would come out, fill a bowl or something with water, and pinch coal balls with their bare hands. They would pinch one, dip it in water, and then pinch the next one. The pinched coal balls would be placed on the ground and put away after they were dried.

The whole process is very stress-relieving. Many children like this chore, and every time they finish the work, they become exhausted.

After lighting the stove, Zeng Wangcai went into the house, turned over the big pot and cleaned it. Before his mother and uncle came back, he got out the condiments that were not available at home, such as soybean paste, sweet bean paste, and soy sauce, and put them in a basin, then added water.

Zeng Wangcai was busy until four in the afternoon when he finally rinsed nearly twenty pounds of large bones with meat, drained them and set them aside.

It's just a matter of boiling water, but the taste is different from what ordinary people cook.

At this time, the courtyard began to become lively. Some people went out to dig wild vegetables, or carried baskets and scolded their children, or came back with bags. Because of the location of Zeng Wangcai's house, most people in the courtyard would pass by his door.

The school where the third uncle Yan Bugui worked was on holiday and there were no classes. As long as he had nothing important to do every day, he would take his tin bucket and fishing rod to the moat to fish. If he was lucky enough to catch a big fish, he could take it to places like the canteen of the steel mill to sell it for money.

Yan Bugui was unlucky today, and only caught a carp weighing more than half a pound, which was still hot. Thinking that his family had not seen meat for half a year, Yan Bugui made up his mind and ate it himself. He could not finish it all in one meal, so he stewed the fish head and tail into soup, marinated the fish meat with some salt, dried it and ate it slowly...

Whenever he met acquaintances along the way, some of them would notice the fish in Yan Bugui's bucket and would inevitably compliment him, which made him feel proud.

When Yan Bugui got back home, he put down his fishing rod and was about to go into the house when his nose suddenly twitched...