Siheyuan: Breaking up with Shazhu at the beginning

48

Taking out the flashlight from the space, he explored the surroundings of the open space and roughly estimated the capacity. Then he turned off the flashlight and disappeared into the space in an instant.

This time, he only wanted to release grain and had no intention of disclosing the inventory of non-staple food.

Because these are not necessities in people's daily lives, and the wide variety of supplies may attract unnecessary attention.

When Yang Jun emerged from the space again, the empty area was filled with a mountain of grain, including kilograms of corn, wheat, rice, soybeans, sorghum and other grains.

After delivering the supplies, Yang Jun quickly returned to the car and drove back to the city.

He was not worried that the food would be taken away by others without permission. During this period, most people were still simple in nature.

If people accidentally discovered so much food in the wild, they would definitely report it to their superiors. Even if one or two people had malicious intentions, how many people could move it?

The return journey was shorter, and Yang Jun reached the city in less than an hour. However, he did not go home directly. Instead, he wandered around the city aimlessly before driving back.

When they arrived at the courtyard, the gate was closed, so Yang Jun walked up and knocked hard on the door.

After a while, a slightly impatient voice sounded in the house: "Oh, it turns out to be you, Junzi. I thought it was this guy Xu Damao. That guy often stays out all night recently."

The third grandfather was wearing a cotton gown. He raised his glasses and shook them at Yang Jun's face, and asked, "Junzi, I'm so sorry to come to me so late at night." Then he added, "I was out with my girlfriend and forgot about myself for a while."

It was not that Yang Jun intentionally reported his whereabouts to his third grandfather.

Everything that happened in the yard was sensed by him. If he didn't explain it, he was afraid that Third Uncle would spread nonsense about it the next day.

Yang Damao became notorious, half due to Zhu Zhu's slander and the other half due to the influence of his third uncle.

Since Yang Damao often came home late at night, his uncle even had to struggle in bed to open the door for him on cold winter days.

As time went by, Uncle San became dissatisfied and often spread negative comments about Yang Damao among his neighbors.

Of course, Uncle San didn’t open the door for free. Every year, every family would pay him a symbolic fifty cents as a fee for his work.

Although the amount is not large, this income is enough for him to earn an extra ten yuan per month, which is almost equivalent to half a month's salary.

“Hey, young guys are really energetic.

"Uncle San talked to himself, and then he said to Yang Jun: "It's so cold, go home and rest early."

When he saw the half pack of cigarettes handed to him by Yang Jun, the chrysanthemum wrinkles on Uncle San's face suddenly spread out, his usual irritability disappeared, and he even took the initiative to care about Yang Jun.

"Okay, Uncle San, you should go to bed early too.

"Yang Jun responded, then tightened his military coat and went to the backyard.

Arriving at the backyard, he took a bottle of boiled water from the kitchen and returned to the living room, ready to soak his feet to relieve his tired body from the night.

After all the trouble, his injured leg began to ache again. He knew that the pain in his leg was as accurate as the weather forecast: the weather would change as soon as God said it would.

After washing my feet, I poured out the dirty water and went upstairs to my room to rest.

The next morning, as expected, the sky turned gloomy.

It was not until 12 a.m. that the sky began to lighten slightly. Because of his leg injury, Yang Jun canceled his run.

The pain seemed to be worse than last night.

After washing up, he hastily ate breakfast in the old house with the leftovers from last night and the banquet - brown rice porridge and steamed corn bread.

Yangmei served him a bowl of rice porridge and placed it on the table, and handed him a steamed corn bread.

Looking at these two foods, Yang Jun's mouth twitched. He really didn't like these two things, especially the brown rice porridge. He was always reluctant to add alkali, which made his throat sore and unbearable; and the steamed corn bread, it was acceptable when it was freshly steamed, especially the leftover ones, it was full of crumbs when you took a bite, and he couldn't swallow it at all if it wasn't paired with rice porridge.

Yang Jun sighed, grabbed a steamed bun and took a bite angrily, then looked at Wang Yuying unhappily, as if expressing his dissatisfaction with the meal.

(He had secretly given Wang Yuying 1,000 yuan, saying it was from the share of pork sold by his comrades, so that she could stop making matchboxes to earn a meager living, and that the dining table at home also needed some improvements.

Moreover, his salary was collected by Yang Mei and then handed over to Wang Yuying, which could reduce her financial pressure and avoid her having to live on steamed buns, brown rice porridge, and some pickled vegetables in the future.

Hearing this conversation, before Yang Jun could answer, he saw that the fourth brother's eyes lit up and asked eagerly: "Can I have dinner with my eldest brother in the future?"

This inquiry was ostensibly directed at Yang Jun, but in reality it was seeking Wang Yuying's permission.

Yang Jun established a new daily pattern for the family: breakfast was varied, with big meat buns, soy milk and fried dough sticks or pancakes, and occasionally various stir-fries cooked by Zhu Zhu, which formed a sharp contrast with his brown rice porridge and steamed corn bread.

As soon as the fourth brother finished speaking, Yang Liu timidly raised her hand and asked in a weak voice, "Can I eat with you, big brother?"

Wang Yuying rolled her eyes and looked at the two of them sharply: "A bunch of ungrateful things. I worked hard to raise them!" She knocked on the edge of the bowl and added, "My eldest brother is getting married and living alone. Why are you joining in the fun?" At this point, Wang Yuying's resentment towards Yang Jun was evident.

In fact, she should be delighted about her son's marriage, but she felt as if she was watching the fat pig she had carefully raised for decades being slaughtered, and she could not hide the reluctance in her heart.

Wang Yuying deliberately cooked only brown rice porridge and steamed corn bread, all in order to oppose Yang Jun, so as to use this as an opportunity to talk more with her eldest son every day.

The eldest son whom she had missed for so long finally came back, but before he could enjoy full love and care, he was taken away by another woman, which made her feel indescribable bitterness in her heart.

Yang Jun took a bite of the rough rice porridge, then picked up a piece of pickled radish and chewed it carefully, then spoke to the other brothers and sisters:

"What are you thinking? Can't you see that I can cook well?"

Yang Jun naturally objected to eating separately.

The first reason was that neither he nor Yi Qiu Shui were good at cooking, and secondly, he was not willing to spend every day separated from his family.

If they had to live separately right after getting married, Yang Jun would undoubtedly be criticized for putting women before friends and ignoring the feelings of his mother and younger siblings.

Others may not speak openly in front of him, but they will gossip about him behind his back.

Those married people in the courtyard would not live separately. For example, Yan Jiecheng, although he had to pay for food every month, would still sit at the same table with his grandfather and eat together.

This is a tradition passed down from generation to generation: as long as parents are alive, children will not separate, even if they have many brothers and sisters.

This custom has been passed down for thousands of years and is difficult to change immediately.

The power of the long river of history is great, and no one dares to challenge the rules easily, otherwise they will only ask for trouble.

"Want to eat separately? Oh, I advise you to give up this idea." Yang Jun drank the brown rice porridge in one breath, then stuffed the remaining steamed bread into his mouth and said to Wang Yuying vaguely:

"Not only will I come here every day to eat, but I will also bring my wife along, until you've had enough."

Seeing that Yang Jun was deliberately provoking her, Wang Yuying couldn't help but smile, and then patted him lightly.

Yang Jun took advantage of the situation and turned around, showing her his back.

Wang Yuying patted him gently, scolding and laughing: "Go and start the car when you are full, don't let it freeze in the middle of the night."

"Got it!" After responding, Yang Jun wiped his mouth and left the courtyard.

The temperature was exceptionally low this morning, and as usual, the car would have been likely to freeze.

He got into the car and tried to insert the key and turn it, but the key only hummed and the engine was too frozen to work.

After getting off the car and arriving at Third Uncle's house, I found that he was eating, so I put a cigarette next to Third Uncle and borrowed some firewood from them.

Lighting a wood fire, he placed it under the engine to keep it warm.

After the flames were out, attempts to start the car again failed.

Yang Jun then added some more firewood. Considering the flammable nature of gasoline, he had to operate carefully to avoid causing a fire.

After the flame went out, I tried several more times, but it still didn't work.

After thinking for a moment, he took a pack of Qianmen brand cigarettes from the car and put it on the back seat, then turned and walked towards the yard to call for help.

It's New Year's Eve, and most people are still lying in bed and don't want to get up.

Yang Jun woke up the women in the front, middle and back courtyards one by one, but did not find many helpers.

Men can rest as much as they want, but women cannot.

During the short vacation of their husbands and children, all the housework falls on their shoulders.

So he told his female companions: "You push the car for a while, and as soon as the car can start, stop it immediately."

After brief instructions, he got on the bus and waited.

Lou Xiao'e, Yu Li, Qin Huairu, as well as Er Niang and Dada Ma and others came to the back of the car, bent over and started pushing.

After shifting into neutral, Yang Jun shouted, and everyone strove to move forward together.

The car moved slowly and gradually accelerated. When it reached the ideal speed, Yang Jun decisively changed gears and tried to start the vehicle.

As a result, the car body suddenly stalled after a muffled sound, and the attempt ended in vain.

Yang Jun waved at them and signaled them to continue pushing the cart.

After trying five or six times, the vehicle finally started.

I put the car in neutral and left it there, letting the engine roar for a few minutes.

Looking at the sweat on their foreheads, Yang Jun felt a little guilty and glanced at the box of "Da Qianmen" cigarettes.

She had originally planned to find some men to help, but handing them cigarettes seemed inappropriate now, so she turned around and took out some packages of spiced peanuts from the back seat - actually from the space - then got out of the car and personally handed them to them.

“Ladies, thank you for your hard work.

These are the peanuts given by my comrades. Take them home and let your children satisfy their cravings.

"

Yang Jun handed the bag of peanuts directly to Dasanma.

He knew that the third uncle and his wife were both in the habit of haggling over every penny, and if she was in charge of the distribution, everyone would get an equal share.

If it was given to Qin Huairu, she might deliberately omit the parts for Lou Xiao'e and Yu Li because they don't have children yet.

Although Uncle Third and Aunt Third are good at calculating money, they are fair and will not take an extra share easily.

--

"Junzi, don't be so solemn. We are just pushing a cart together..." Aunt San took a step back and did not accept the peanuts handed to her by Yang Jun.

She has always been considerate and often got free meals because she helped Yang Jun buy a car. Now that he gave Peanut away so easily, she felt embarrassed.

Second Mother continued, "Junzi, you know there are many people in your family, so you should leave it to your brothers and sisters."

Qin Huairu, who was standing by, saw that everyone was too embarrassed to take the peanuts, so she stepped forward, took them directly from Yang Jun, put them into the hands of the third mother, and then frowned and said reproachfully:

"Auntie Dasan, why are you like this? Even if it's just a few peanuts, it's Junzi's gift. Why refuse it? Besides, Junzi is a promising man. Why would he care about eating it? Isn't that right, Junzi?"

After she finished speaking, she turned to Yang Jun to confirm her statement.

"Mrs. Jia is right, we have other snacks at home, so the children won't be lacking these.

I feel bad that you guys came to help me in such a cold weather."

Yang Jun explained to Auntie Dasan: "Auntie Dasan, you're welcome. I'm sorry to cause you trouble.

Could you please help me divide it up?"

Yang Jun did not give away the spiced peanuts out of kindness.

His car might be damaged by the cold in the future, and he would need their help more often.

Even if someone helps them once or twice, they may not be willing to help again in the future. Although his contribution is small at this moment, they will feel that it is a huge favor.

Observing the expectant looks from Dasanma and others, she said shyly:

"In that case, I'll... share some of it."

For them, the five-spice peanuts are rarely available all year round, and even all the peanut coupons from the New Year's goods are not enough to fill their stomachs.

Now, a big bag is full, at least three or four pounds, and it is no problem for each person to get half a pound.

With these peanuts, you don’t have to bother buying snacks during the Chinese New Year.

Auntie Dasan was particularly happy because in the past she had only been given a few peanuts during the Chinese New Year.

At this time, a big bag full of food is placed in front of you. If each family member gets a little, there will be enough for a long time.

After a few brief words of thanks, everyone went to Aunt Dasan's house together.