Siheyuan: Five mouths waiting for food at the beginning

end of august

Zhao Shanhe brought his younger brother and sister, his wife, children, and Aunt Chen to visit his father Zhao Jin.

His father's grave is in a martyrs' cemetery on the outskirts of Beijing, and was originally buried by the state.

Zhao Shanhe came here in 58, and now it is 83, exactly years have passed. It has also been years since Zhao Jin passed away. The photo on the tombstone has been blurred by wind and sun, but Zhao Shanhe is very sure that this is Zhao Jin's tomb.

Zhao Shanhe placed the offerings he brought in front of the tomb and said to his father, "Dad, your son has brought his brothers and sisters to see you. Today I came to tell you the good news. Your eldest grandson and second grandson have both been admitted to university."

"Antong, Amber, come and stand in front of us and show your grandfather."

Zhao Antong and Amber stood in front of the tombstone obediently. Zhao Shanhe said, "Dad, take a good look at your grandchildren. They have brought honor to our Zhao family."

"Dad, life at home is pretty good. My brothers and sisters are doing well and have married and have children. Don't worry. Are you okay over there?"

Everyone else was very calm, only Aunt Chen knelt beside the tombstone and cried. No one else cared, it wasn't the first time she came in the past few years, every time Aunt Chen would cry for a while, Zhao Shanhe would say the same few words every time, no one knew what to say.

Aunt Chen was still mumbling those words, "Brother, I have to thank you for saving my daughter and me. If it weren't for you, we would have been dead.

My sons are all well, they treat me as their own mother. Look, I have so many grandchildren now. It's a pity that you left too early, and I didn't even have anyone to talk to.

Life is getting better and better now. I heard from Bai Xue that the company has an income of hundreds of thousands or even millions every month. Can you imagine?

Not only can we have enough food to eat, we also have everything we need, and our sons and daughters are all capable, but it’s a pity that you can’t enjoy it…”

Aunt Chen was muttering incoherently. After Zhao Shanhe and his group burned the paper, they kowtowed three times, then asked Daya and Erya to look after Aunt Chen and went back to Sihai Restaurant.

The three brothers took their wives and children to another place to pay homage. The other place was their mother. Zhao Jin and his wife were not buried together. His mother died too early, and his father found a deserted mountain to bury her.

His father was a martyr and was buried in the Martyrs' Cemetery, so the old couple were not in the same place. After arriving at the place, the three brothers first cleared the weeds around the grave.

The barren mountain does not want anyone to take care of the martyrs' cemetery. The graves are overgrown with weeds. At the beginning, there was not even a tombstone. This tombstone was erected a few years ago.

Originally, Zhao Shanhe planned to move the grave and move the old couple to one side. Later, he asked someone to take a look and decided that it was better to keep quiet than to move. Her mother's place was surrounded by mountains and water, and was also a good place for Feng Shui, so he just erected a tombstone.

Zhao Shanhe felt that this was the downside of living in a big city. When someone died, you had to buy a place to live, and the family would be scattered all over the place, which would make it troublesome for future generations to worship them.

It's not like in the countryside, where there are ancestral tombs. Anyone who dies of natural causes will be buried in the tomb, and several generations of the family will be together, making sacrifices and other things convenient.

After going through the same process again, Zhao Shanhe and his group hurried back to Sihai Hotel because they had a graduation banquet to attend and they had to visit relatives when they returned.

It was almost twelve o'clock when they hurried back to Sihai Hotel. When Zhao Shanhe and his friends came back, all the relatives had already arrived.

Zhao Shanhe didn't invite many people, just his second uncle, third uncle's families, and the child's uncles, Sha Zhu, Xu Damao, and Qin Huairu.

Because his son was admitted to university, Sha Zhu held a graduation banquet a few days ago and invited Zhao Shanhe. It was just a matter of reciprocity.

In addition, I also invited several good classmates of An Tong, and invited the teacher individually, and we made an appointment to have dinner together in the evening.

Shanhu is similar, it’s just Amber’s uncles, grandparents, and Amber’s classmates.

Originally I thought there weren't many people, but there were seven or eight tables of people, big and small. The main reason was that there were too many children. Their children, big and small, sat at one table, the children of my third uncle were at another table, and there was also Zhao Shanhe's nephew, and the children of my uncles An Tong and An Bai were at another table.

The banquet was held in the Zhuangyuan Hall. A few days ago, the top students had their graduation banquets held here, for good luck and to let the children who have not yet taken the college entrance examination share in the good fortune.

"An Tong, your father is so generous. He held a graduation banquet for you at Sihai Hotel, and my father cooked a meal of meat for me."

"That's right, An Tong, I envy you so much. I've never even seen so many of these dishes, let alone eaten them."

"An Tong, what did your family grow up eating? They are all so tall. Your brother is taller than us."

"An Tong, I thought my family was well off, but it's far worse than yours. What does your family do?"

"Yeah, An Tong, you hid it too well, what does your family do?"

Before Zhao Antong could answer, a careful friend said, "Did you see that? The tall guy at the table is the owner of Sihai Restaurant, and the pretty aunt is the manager of Huameng Clothing, and the uncle with the horse face is the deputy manager of Huameng Clothing. They are all introduced in the newspaper."

"An Tong, are those your parents? Is that the pretty auntie from Huameng Clothing?"

"It shouldn't be the horse-faced uncle. He doesn't look like him. It should be the majestic one at the main table."

"Okay, okay, stop guessing. The beautiful auntie at Huameng Clothing you are talking about is my second aunt. She is my brother Amber's mother at the next table. The owner of Sihai Restaurant is my third uncle. The uncle with the horse face is my uncle Damao. His son Xu Sheng is sitting at the table with my brother and sister."

"My father is the one at the main table, and my mother is the one next to the beautiful aunt at Huameng Clothing you mentioned."

"An Tong, your uncle and aunt are so powerful, so what do your parents do?"

"Is there any need to ask? It must be the big boss."

"That's not the case. My mother doesn't have a job. She takes care of my younger siblings and my father at home. My father is an engineer."

Amber's question at the next table was similar to that of this table, but no one made a fuss about it.

The two brothers were not in the same school. An Tong's high school was average, and most of the students were children of ordinary people.

Amber's high school is much better, and the parents in her class are basically of prestigious status.

After eating some dishes, Zhao Shanhe took the wine and started to toast. Today's event was his son's and he had to take care of it. Qin Jingru followed behind and poured wine.

The same thing happened on Zhao Shanhu's side. Zhao Shanhu toasted and Zhang Baixue poured the wine.

First came the second uncle and third uncle at the main table, his father-in-law and Shanhu's father-in-law, all of whom were elders, and then came Xu Damao and Sha Zhu of their generation, as well as their brothers' uncles and the children's uncles.

After that, he went to the female relatives and toasted Aunt Chen first, followed by the rest, until he had toasted his peers.

Zhao Shanhe went to his classmate's table and sat in An Tong's seat and chatted with several classmates while drinking.

The two brothers An Tong and An Bai also took wine and went to each table to toast. They said they were toasting, but in fact they went to collect red envelopes.

We invited the teachers to dinner in the evening, and the graduation banquet ended successfully.