Siheyuan: Happy Life of Jia Zhang Family

It took the two of them half an hour to put all the things in the car. In order to thank Village Chief Wang for his help, Zhang Dabao took two bottles of Erguotou from the passenger seat and gave them to Village Chief Wang.

"Secretary Zhang, is it inappropriate? You are helping our village, so I should show some appreciation." Village Chief Wang refused.

"Let's put things first. Take the wine and do me a favor. Arrange two people to dig some wild yam for me. An elder of mine likes to eat it. It's 30 cents per pound. I must leave around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, otherwise I won't be able to leave," Zhang Dabao stated his request.

"This is easy. My nephew knows where it is and will be back soon." Village Chief Wang walked away quickly with the wine.

Zhang Dabiao walked into the village office and saw Xu Damao, who looked pale. "Brother Damao, are you sick?"

"I'm not sick, I'm just injured. Dabiao, after eating, I need to relax a little. Can I leave later? I didn't sleep well last night." Xu Damao spoke in a low voice.

"Okay, let's go at four o'clock. I asked Village Chief Wang to get people to dig wild yam for me. He said it must be four o'clock at the latest. If it's later, we won't be able to go back today as the road is too difficult to travel on," said Zhang Dabao.

"Okay, as long as you can lie down for a while," said Xu Damao.

"Let's eat." Village chief Wang came back and was very enthusiastic. He insisted on opening a bottle of wine. Zhang Dabao didn't like to drink it and Xu Damao was not feeling well, so Village chief Wang drank a glass himself.

After dinner, Xu Damao lay down on the bed in the village office again, and Zhang Dabao also rested for a while on a chair in the village office.

No one asked Xu Damao why he was injured, nor did they ask where the injury was, because if Xu Damao wanted to say something, he would have said it long ago. If he didn't say it, he must have been hiding something.

Village chief Wang’s nephew is also a reliable person. He seems to go into the mountains often. At around 3:30 in the afternoon, three middle-aged men came to the village office with two baskets of wild yams.

"Secretary Zhang, Huaiguang and the others have returned from the mountain," Village Chief Wang came into the house and called out to Zhang Dabao.

"Not bad." Zhang Dabao came out to take a look. There were some very thick ones. After weighing them, they were more than 10 kilograms. Zhang Dabao directly gave yuan to the middle-aged man who was in the lead. "Brother Wang, you have worked hard. I estimate that you may come again in half a month. Then you can dig more. I will still charge cents per kilogram."

"Thank you so much, Director Zhang. Don't worry, I will dig some more in a few days. But this thing can't be kept after the Qingming Festival. It will sprout when the weather gets warmer," said Wang Huaiguang.

"It's okay. Our unit has a cold storage." Zhang Dabao lit cigarettes for the three people. After chatting for a while, Village Chief Wang let the three people leave.

"Brother Damao, it's four o'clock. Can we leave now?" Zhang Dabao looked at the time. It was almost four o'clock, so he had to leave, so he went into the house and called Xu Damao.

"Let's go. Are all the equipment put away?" Xu Damao clamped his legs together and got into the car with difficulty.

"Put it all away. You're seriously injured," Zhang Dabao said when he saw Xu Damao's walking posture.

"Yes, we hit a rock. Village Chief Wang, we are leaving." Xu Damao lowered the window and said goodbye to the village chief. Zhang Dabao honked the horn and the car drove towards Beijing.

As it was getting darker, the two did not rest. After more than three hours, they returned to Yard 95 at almost eight o'clock. Zhang Dabao locked the car at the gate of the yard, and made an appointment to go to the factory together at eight o'clock the next morning. He then helped Xu Damao back home.

"Da Biao, you just came back? There are steamed buns in the pot. I'll fry an egg for you." Zhang Lianhua heard the voice and came out to see that it was her brother who came back.

"Second sister, stop cooking. There is food in the car. Just have a bite. I'll wash up and take a rest. I'm very tired," Zhang Dabao said to his second sister.

"Then I'll boil some water for you. Soaking your feet in hot water can help you relieve fatigue." Zhang Lianhua went to the kitchen, lit a fire, and boiled half a pot of hot water.

"Uncle, did you bring me anything delicious?" Jia Jingshu came out of the house after hearing the conversation between her mother and uncle.

"Of course I brought it, but you have to eat it tomorrow. It's all locked in the car. Eating late at night is bad for your teeth." Zhang Dabao picked up his niece.

"But I want to eat a little bit," said Jia Jingshu.

"Okay." Zhang Dabao was defeated by his cute niece. Who could resist the soft voice of a three-year-old girl? Second, Zhang Dabao carried her out of the yard and took two walnuts and a handful of big red dates from the car.

"Uncle, this one is too hard. I can't bite it." Jia Jingshu picked up the walnut and started to bite it.

"The skin cannot be eaten. It has to be smashed open and the flesh inside should be eaten. Eat the dates first. I'll go smash the walnuts." Zhang Dabao put the red dates in front of Jia Jingshu.

"Dabao, just spoil her. It's already this late and you're still giving her food to eat?" Zhang Lianhua came in and said to Zhang Dabao.

"Second sister, girls need to be pampered. Isn't there a saying from the ancients that goes, 'Raise sons in poverty and raise daughters in wealth'" said Zhang Dabao.

"The ancients said something like this, Dabiao, you are really good at talking nonsense." Zhang Lianhua laughed out loud when she heard what Zhang Dabiao said. However, the girls in the Zhang family were all spoiled because there were few girls. Zhang Cuihua was spoiled, Zhang Lianhua was spoiled, and Zhang Lanfang of Zhang Shoucheng's generation was spoiled. He scolded and beat boys when he opened his mouth, but he was patient and meticulous in educating girls. Fortunately, except for Zhang Cuihua, the others did not grow up badly.

Jingshu finished eating and the water boiled. Zhang Lianhua took her daughter back to the house to sleep.

Zhang Dabao took a bath in a large basin. His body was sticky and uncomfortable after the breakthrough last night. After taking a bath, he felt much better.

Zhang Dabao slept very well tonight. He had been busy all day, rode a motorcycle for more than three hours on the road, and took a shower, so he rested well. However, Xu Damao, who was also in the backyard, was not so lucky. He couldn't fall asleep at all.

Xu Damao had a lover in Wangjiaqiao Village. After the movie, Xu Damao brought some cooked food to his lover Zhu Xiaotao's house. Zhu Xiaotao naturally knew that there was a movie showing in the village today and it was Xu Damao who was going to show the movie. Xu Damao would come here to spend the night after the movie, so she waited for him.

What would a young man and woman talk about when they meet in the middle of the night? Of course, they would fight with real swords and guns, bayonets. Although the fight was not very intense, being interrupted would definitely affect the two of them.

Just as the two were fighting, Zhu Xiaotao's husband Wang Huaizheng, a temporary coal mine worker who only came back two or three times a year, came back.

"Xiaotao, open the door, I'm back." Wang Huaizheng's voice came from outside the yard, and Xu Damao was stunned at that time.

Zhu Xiaotao slapped him and said, "You are stupid. Go, climb over the wall first. I will throw my clothes and shoes to you. Hurry up, we will be dead if he comes in."

After listening to Zhu Xiaotao's words, Xu Damao climbed up the wall naked and jumped down.

People are most likely to go wrong when they are in a panic. Xu Damao did not see clearly the pile of rocks under the wall and climbed directly on top of them. A protruding stone hit Xu Damao's vital point. The pain was like he bit his arm. His body immediately curled up, and he endured the severe pain without crying out. At this time, Zhu Xiaotao threw clothes to him across the wall.

Xu Damao endured the severe pain in his body, put on his clothes, and moved step by step back to the room prepared for him in the village.

That night, Xu Damao rolled back and forth on the bed in pain and did not sleep at all. At dawn, Xu Damao asked Village Chief Wang to get some painkillers from the village clinic. Only then did he feel a little better. He was in a daze for the whole morning and did not even hear Zhang Dabao receiving the goods outside.