Siheyuan: Yan Jiekuang's carefree life

Yan Jiefang looked at Yan Jiecheng's back and muttered to himself, "What a petty person. Not worthy of being on the stage. How can you be so happy about just a bicycle?!"

If Yan Jiecheng heard what Yan Jiefang said, he would definitely point at Yan Jiefang's nose and say, "You are talking without feeling any pain in your waist. A full man does not know the hunger of a hungry man."

"Jiefang, can you help me assemble a bicycle too?!" Sun Jianguo, who lived next door to the Jia family, couldn't help but ask when he saw Yan Jiefang packing up his things and coming out of Yan Jiecheng's house.

Yan Jiefang said, "We are all neighbors. If I don't help you, it will be embarrassing for everyone. I will help you the same way I helped my brother fix his bicycle. As usual, you should provide the parts by yourselves, and then just give me ten yuan as a reward."

Sun Jianguo glanced into Yan Jiecheng's room and asked, "Don't your brother have some remaining parts in his room?!"

Yan Jiefang understood what Sun Jianguo meant and said, "Sun Jianguo, you just said it. The things are in my brother's room. You know the situation of our family. After my brother got married, we separated. I have no say over his things. If you want them, go and talk to him yourself. Besides, the remaining parts are not enough to assemble a bicycle. If you want to assemble a bicycle with the parts inside, you will need a lot of parts."

When Sun Jianguo heard that he would need to add a lot of parts, he immediately backed out. Yan Jiefang saw that Sun Jianguo didn't respond, so he didn't stay any longer and went back to his house with his tools. The neighbors saw that there was no more excitement to watch, so they all went back to their homes.

"It's time to eat!" After about 20 minutes, the third auntie called out. Yan Jiefang, Yan Jiekuang and Yan Jiedi ran out of their rooms and helped the third auntie bring the food into the main room. After everyone sat down, Yan Bugui asked, "Jiefang, did you help your brother assemble the bicycle today?!"

"Yeah!" Yan Jiefang responded, and said, "He is still secretly learning from the side!"

"Learning secretly?!" Yan Jiekuang and Yan Bugui looked at each other. Yan Bugui asked, "With your brother's brain, can he learn it?!"

Yan Jiefang replied: "I don't know if he can learn it, but he has done a lot of handwriting, so he should be able to learn it."

Yan Bugui said, "This is not like studying. You can't just take notes. You also need hands-on skills. With your brother's qualities, I think you should just forget it!"

Yan Jiekuang said, "Dad, my sister-in-law is not a pushover. It was probably my sister-in-law's idea that my eldest brother learned to assemble bicycles. She was hoping to make money by assembling bicycles!"

The third aunt quickly said, "Old Yan, this is speculation. If you get caught, you'll go to jail."

Yan Bugui glanced at his wife and asked, "Do you think they will listen to us? Let's just take it one step at a time! I hope they have good luck! Okay! No more talking! Let's eat!"

The winter in Beijing was very cold. At about 10:30 p.m., the alarm clock on the bedside rang. Yan Jiecheng reluctantly crawled out of bed, put on his clothes, wiped his face, put on the thick cotton-padded jacket issued by the company, took a small quilt, and pushed his bicycle out.

Just after midnight, Yu Li and her co-workers came out of the factory. Yan Jiecheng hurriedly called out, "Yu Li! Over here!"

Yu Li heard the shout and looked at Yan Jiecheng, then walked over, glanced at the bicycle parked next to Yan Jiecheng, and asked, "Has Jiefang fixed the bike?!"

Yan Jiecheng replied, "If you don't do it, how can I come to pick you up after get off work?" Then he urged, "Wrap yourself in the quilt quickly." Yan Jiecheng stuffed the quilt in Yu Li's hand and got on the bicycle. Yu Li wrapped the quilt around herself and sat on the back seat of the bicycle.

After Yan Jiecheng and Yu Li sat down, they rode their bicycles slowly towards home. After a while, Yu Li asked, "Jiecheng, have you learned how to assemble a bicycle?"

Yan Jiecheng replied: "I understand it, but I'm not familiar with it yet. It will take some time for me to assemble the bicycle myself, until I'm familiar with it. Besides, I'm still short of tools. I saw Yan Jiefang's tool bag today. There are quite a few tools in it. It may not be easy to get all these tools together."

Yu Li said: "If you can't get the tools yourself, why don't you ask Jiefang to borrow some?!"

"Borrow?!" Yan Jiecheng was stunned and said, "How could he lend me the tools?!"

Yu Li then asked: "How much did it cost us to assemble this bicycle?!"

Yan Jiecheng replied: "It cost about 80 yuan in total."

Yu Li asked in surprise: "Why does it cost so much money?!"

Yan Jiecheng said: "Jiefang asked me for 10 yuan as wages. The front and rear tires and frame were all second-hand parts bought from a bicycle repair shop. The frame didn't cost much. Tires are expensive, and old ones cost 15 yuan each, plus two inner tubes. I bargained with the repairman for a while before he agreed to a total of 45 yuan for the tires and frame."

Yu Li thought about it and said, "This is not worth it!"

Yan Jiecheng said: "In our family, the one with the best bicycle assembly skills is Yan Jiekuang. He can not only assemble bicycles, but also repair damaged parts. The second is my father, and the last is Yan Jiefang. Yan Jiefang's skills are at best the level of a bicycle repairman at the alley."

At this moment, Yu Li sighed inwardly and thought to herself, "It would be great if Yan Jiekuang could agree to partner with me in the bicycle business."

Seeing Yu Li suddenly stop talking, Yan Jiecheng asked, "Wife, are you okay?!"

Yu Li came to her senses and replied, "It's okay!"

Yan Jiecheng asked: "What should we do with the remaining bicycle parts at home?!"

Yu Li replied: "What else can I do? Of course I'll send it to a recycling station. I can't just leave it at home forever."

Yan Bugui and others thought that Yu Li and Yan Jiecheng would do second-hand bicycle business. But after waiting for a few days, Yan Jiecheng did not take any action. This morning, Yan Jiecheng put the broken parts at home into sacks one by one, and then dragged them out of the house. Yan Bugui, who was cleaning the bike in the yard, heard the noise, looked at Yan Jiecheng and asked, "Jiecheng, what are you doing?!"

Yan Jiecheng replied: "Look, Jiefang helped me assemble the bicycle. Now there are still so many useless parts. These parts are useless and they are piled up at home and take up space. I want to take advantage of my rest today to send these parts to the recycling station."

Yan Bugui raised his wrist to check the time on his watch and said, "Don't bother. Today is Thursday, and the junk collector will pass by our front door soon. You can just sell the stuff to him directly."

"Junk collectors!" Before Yan Bugui finished speaking, a voice of junk collectors was heard outside the courtyard gate. Yan Jiecheng immediately ran out and shouted, "Junk collectors! Come over here!"

The junk collector immediately rode his broken tricycle, which made all the noise except the bell, up to Yan Jiecheng and asked, "Brother, what do you want to sell?!"

Yan Jiecheng asked: "Do you accept used bicycle parts?!"

The scrap collector replied, "Yes, of course! But I can only sell it as scrap metal."

"Okay! Come with me!" Yan Jiecheng turned and walked into the courtyard. The scrap collector immediately took the scale and followed Yan Jiecheng into the courtyard.

Yan Jiecheng brought the man to the bicycle and said, "Everything in the sack is for sale."