Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Yi Zhonghai and Yan Bugui were indeed planning to close Zeng Wangcai's shop, but they never thought that the shop would be closed immediately after the sign saying "open today" was posted the night before?

"No, why is the door closed?" Yi Zhonghai jumped up.

"This shouldn't be the case..." Yan Bugui muttered in a frown, "I said I'd go see their home and see how miserable it is, but now there's no chance?"

"I don't know." Sha Zhu sat carelessly on Yi Zhonghai's bed. "When I went to check, it was indeed closed. There was no one there. The door was indeed closed. Besides, it's normal to close the door on New Year's Day."

"You know nothing!" Yan Bugui said unhappily, "That guy is very shady. He has ulterior motives for opening this store. Opening it on the first day of the new year is no big deal for him."

"There is indeed a problem. Shazhu, don't interrupt. Go and ask the people in the yard if anyone has seen the situation of the shop guarding the door." Yi Zhonghai said.

"Wait a minute, no hurry!" Yan Bugui said something that warmed Yi Zhonghai's heart, "Silly Zhu, your uncle is not feeling well, he caught a cold, and he had a fever just now. You should go to the infirmary first and get some medicine to reduce the fever."

"Oh, the old man is sick? Why didn't you tell me earlier? Then you wait, I'll be there soon."

"Go, go, I'm in charge here."

Yan Bugui drove Sha Zhu out and ran to the outer house to check out Yi Zhonghai's honeycomb coal stove.

"Old Yi, your stove is not working." Yan Bugui, who found the stove was cold, shouted from outside, "You can't block the fire. Not only is it a waste of coal, it's also a waste of firewood. You're already paid well, so why don't you change it?

"Wait a minute, I'll go light up your broken stove..."

Yi Zhonghai was lying on the bed, his mind not on the stove but on Sha Zhu who had gone out. At this moment he really treated Sha Zhu as his son.

After a while, Yan Bugui brought in the stove and said, "It's so cold, we can't live without a stove. I'll put some water on the stove for you, so that Shazhu can drink his medicine when he comes back, and he can also have some hot food when he gets up. It's not like New Year's Day at all."

Yi Zhonghai was almost moved to tears.

Why is he so obsessed with his identity as the eldest uncle in the courtyard? Why does he refuse to live somewhere else when he has the chance?

It was because he was afraid of being lonely. It was okay when Auntie was around, but after she passed away, Yi Zhonghai ate and slept alone.

If he left this yard and didn't even have any neighbors to visit, Yi Zhonghai felt that he might as well die.

"Oh, Third Uncle is a good man and does good things." Sha Zhu came in with a weather-beaten face and a small white paper bag in his hand. This was the thing that was used to hold the pills at that time. Patients would not buy them in bottles or boxes.

"Stop talking nonsense and let your uncle drink the medicine quickly."

"have to......"

Sha Zhu helped Yi Zhonghai drink the medicine, then started to prepare lunch. He said, "Uncle One and Uncle Three, something is wrong in the yard. It seems to be related to the shop. It's not right in the alley either. When I go out, there are always people pointing at me. When I ask him, he won't tell me. He just keeps asking me when the shop at the door will open."

Nonsense, I won’t tell anyone who takes advantage.

Zeng Wangcai’s shop became popular for an hour, but strangely, the news only spread among people who had bought things in Nanluoguxiang.

This is just like when someone took advantage of the pigeon market or the black market in the past, they kept silent.

They are worried that Zeng Wangcai's operation is illegal and will be closed down after a period of time or if the matter becomes a big deal, so they are unwilling to share the benefits with others.

This is human nature.

"There's a ghost, there's a ghost!" Yan Bugui slapped his thigh, a little anxious, "Why don't you ask clearly."

"Don't ask, it's useless!" The medicine seemed to work quickly, or maybe he felt better after being warmed. "The only way to solve this problem is to find someone close to Zeng Wangcai."

"Who are you going to find? The Zeng family's door is locked and there's no one there." Sha Zhu shook his head and said, "Besides, you guys are so naughty and you still have the nerve to find Wangcai? If it were me, I would slap you hard..."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Yan Bugui's face turned red. "Aren't we all doing this for the good of our neighbors? If we ask for more money, everyone's life will be better. Don't you know how rich Zeng Wangcai is? What does this little money mean to him?"

"Uh...that's right!" The brainwashed Sha Zhu agreed with what Yan Bugui said. If it were a few years ago, he might not agree.

In fact, he has been kidnapped by these few words in the past few years: you have plenty of food to talk about, so what's wrong with helping me? And so on. Over time, Shazhu became really stupid.

"Well, I have an idea, let's find Xu Damao..." Sha Zhu started to think about tricking Xu Damao and asking Xu Damao for information.

Yan Bugui said that Xu Damao and Zeng Wangcai are now in cahoots and he probably won’t tell anyone.

Sha Zhu smiled confidently and said, "I have a plan, just wait."

After saying that, he ran out and brought back a bottle of good wine.

After a busy day until noon, Sha Zhu had prepared the meal. The Yi Zhonghai family was very popular, and in order to find out the truth, Yan Bugui also ate here.

At this time, Yi Zhonghai no longer cared much about the expenses of one or two meals, and he really enjoyed the popularity of the meal on the first day of the new year.

"It's rare, you treat me to a drink." Xu Damao came in with a bottle of wine under his arm. He went back to see his father in the morning, but he and his father parted unhappily and he came back again. "I won't drink for nothing, I'll join in. Look what this is? Vodka..."

"This is the Russians' wine. It's been around for years." Yan Bugui was a little disappointed. "Since the fallout with the Russians, it's hard to find this stuff in Beijing. The alcohol content of this stuff is higher than our Niulanshan. It's really strong."

"Uncle, you are very knowledgeable..." Xu Damao successfully joined the group.

There were four people at the table, and they drank vodka first.

Yi Zhonghai and the other two had ulterior motives and kept urging Xu Damao to drink. However, Xu Damao was a heavy drinker and his eyes became dazed after a few rounds.

"Silly Zhu..." Yi Zhonghai realized that the time had come.

"Oh, by the way, Mr. Xu..." Sha Zhu was good at dealing with Xu Damao. He made Xu Damao angry as soon as he opened his mouth. "You are fine now. You are a manager with Wangcai. What do you say about the house?"

"Trick me?" Xu Damao tried hard to stay awake.

"Okay, let's not talk about this." Sha Zhu made a feint to dispel Xu Damao's vigilance, "By the way, Mr. Xu, today I said I would go to Wangcai's shop to buy something and give him a happy opening, but I didn't expect it to be closed."

"Hey, what's the store closed? You don't know, the items are sold out!"

???

Is the item sold out?

Yan Bugui was shocked, with a black question mark on his face: "Impossible, absolutely impossible, there is still time to sell vegetables, is he giving it away for free?"

"What's impossible?" Xu Damao said drunkenly, "I just want to ask you if it's good without tickets? Nothing in the shop requires tickets."