Siheyuan: Happy Life of Jia Zhang Family

"How much? Comrade, I didn't hear it clearly?" Feng Chunliu was a little confused.

"Three hundred yuan. It's written very clearly. This is lowercase and this is uppercase. It's your dowry. Is the dowry so high in Beijing?" the postman had doubts.

"We can get 300 yuan by opening the letter and taking this receipt?" Feng Chunliu asked again.

"Of course, it's a lot of money. It's not safe for a woman like you to withdraw money," the postman gave another instruction and then left.

"Uncle Wu, please write me a letter," Feng Chunliu said to Feng Laowu.

"Okay, Chunliu is going to marry in the capital, you are so lucky, second sister-in-law," said Feng Laowu.

"I tell Chunliu to go to the capital every day, but she just won't go. I didn't expect Xiaonanchen to be no longer angry. Great, that's great. Chunliu, you and Laowu go to open the letter. Xiaosi, call your second and third brothers back. It's not safe for your sister to go to withdraw the money by herself, so let them go with him and bring machetes," said Feng's mother.

The two brothers of the Feng family returned home, one carrying a machete and the other holding a sickle, and accompanied Feng Chunliu to get the money back.

"So much money?" The two brothers of the Feng family had never seen ten yuan before. When so much money suddenly appeared in front of them, their mouths opened wide and never closed.

"Mom, I've arrived in the capital, and I don't know when I'll be back. Divide the money into five parts. You take one hundred and keep it in the bottom of the box. Give fifty to the second and third daughters each to get married. Give fifty to the fourth daughter so that she can go to school. The fourth daughter is still young, and it's okay for her to go to school now. If a girl doesn't study, her life will be doomed. I'll use fifty as travel expenses to the capital," Feng Chunliu said to his mother.

"Chunliu, please bring more with you. We don't even have a new set of clothes at home. I'm afraid Xiaonan will laugh at you," said the mother.

"No need. Brother Nan is a chef. There is no shortage of food at home. I can do some cleaning or something and earn some food. Don't worry about me. I'll leave tomorrow." Feng Chunliu started crying at the end.

There were five people in my family, an orphan and a widow, and we were worried about what to do this winter. Brother Nan sent me some money. We had nothing to eat, but with the money we could buy some food, and we felt relieved.

The Feng family stayed up all night and talked with Feng Chunliu until dawn. After dawn, the mother and daughter hugged each other and cried bitterly. The second child accompanied Feng Chunliu to open the letter and sent her to the car. The two siblings said goodbye in tears.

After two days of train ride, Feng Chunliu arrived in Beijing. He asked for directions along the way and finally arrived at the gate of the machine repair factory on Saturday afternoon. He saw Nan Yi squatting at the door. As soon as he said "Brother Nan Yi", tears flowed down his cheeks.

"Chunliu, you're here." Nan Yi had been waiting for a whole day and finally waited for Feng Chunliu. He was very happy. The two went to Nan Yi's dormitory. That night Feng Chunliu mistakenly stayed at Liang Ladi's house.

The courtyard at No. 10 Chunfeng Hutong was extremely lively on Saturday. Ten women, plus Kang Qingquan and Jia Dongxu, a total of twelve people, sat around a large table. Jia Dongxu used all he had learned in his life to carefully prepare dishes that won everyone's praise.

"Sister Hua, is this really the dish cooked by your son? Just like the one cooked by a professional chef," Qian Ying asked.

"If not him, who else could it be? He is the only one in the kitchen today. Dongxu is not good at locksmithing, but he has some talent in cooking. My brother-in-law He Yuzhu has taught him several times, especially my younger brother Dabao, who has taught Dongxu once or twice. Dongxu can cook quite well. It's amazing." This was a rare time when Jia Dongxu was able to win face for Zhang Cuihua. Of course, Zhang Cuihua was very proud.

"If I had learned cooking earlier, I might have become a master chef," Kang Qingquan also praised.

"Don't let Dongxu be busy, let's eat together," said Liu Mei.

"It's okay. We've finally gotten together. Let him cook a few more dishes. Before we drink the first glass, let me tell you something." Zhang Cuihua took out two hundred yuan from her pocket.

No one understood what she meant and put down their chopsticks.

"This was given by Da Biao. He said this is to supplement everyone's nutrition. Today he and a group of kids in the yard were working on his piece of land across the yard. They agreed on it on Tuesday night, so he couldn't come over today and entrusted me to distribute it to everyone. He will ask you for help in the future, and I won't pay you in the future. It just so happens that he just went up the mountain to hunt a few wild boars, and the factory just settled the bill for him, so please accept it." Zhang Cuihua distributed the food to everyone, and did not leave out any for Liu Mei, because he knew that Liu Mei would definitely return it to her afterwards.

"Sister Hua, I heard that the man is a big embezzler?" Sister Chen asked.

"Our case was just the trigger. He asked to compensate Liu Mei and me, 1,000 yuan. Director Guan became suspicious and checked. He found only two boxes of cash, opium and a box of gold bars in the house. Of course, we couldn't ask for the compensation because it was stolen money and he had confiscated it all," said Zhang Cuihua.

"Two boxes of money and one box of gold, damn it, he should be shot," said Sister Chen.

"Did he run away? Da Biao discovered the problem a long time ago, otherwise why would he arrange us to do this? Director Guan is his friend and he will come to our house for dinner tomorrow night. People like them don't care much about money," Zhang Cuihua explained again.

Everyone seemed to understand, but now everyone knows that this Xu is a bad guy and will definitely be shot; Zhang Dabao is rich and righteous, so he treated everyone to a good meal and said something politely, saying that he would ask for everyone's help in the future.

Everyone expressed that they were ready to follow the arrangements made by Deputy Director Zhang and Sister Hua at any time.

After Jia Dongxu finished cooking, Kang Qingquan pulled him to the table. Jia Dongxu actually didn't want to eat with these people. They were all his mother's friends, and he either called him aunt or uncle. The key point was that most of them were women, and he felt a little uncomfortable letting go.

Of course, these are not a problem for a drunkard. The reason he can't let go is because he hasn't drunk enough. After two glasses of wine, he naturally let go. So Jia Dongxu and a group of aunts drank too much, and Zhang Cuihua was so angry that she slapped him several times.

Courtyard 95 was also bustling with activity. How could it not be lively when a group of children were eating? After turning the fields for an entire afternoon, they were already tired. They ate quickly and in large quantities, until they were all stuffed.

"Tomorrow morning, we will get up early. The five of us, Zhuzi, Dongxu, Jie Kuang, and Guangfu, will put up the plastic sheeting, and they will help us from below. In the morning, Banggeng and Jie Di will go to the snack bar to buy buns. They must go early. If they go late, there may not be enough." Zhang Dabao divided the work among them.

"Seventh Uncle, I'll go as soon as it gets light," Banggeng said quickly.

"That's too early. When they come, you and Jie Di can just go with the baskets. Second sister will cook a pot of porridge and cut some pickles," said Zhang Dabao.

Zhang Lianhua also nodded.

"Second sister, are you not feeling well?" Zhang Dabao saw that Zhang Lianhua was not in good spirits and had no good appetite.

"No, I'm pregnant," said Zhang Lianhua.

"Really?" He Yuzhu jumped up.

"Is there any fake one of these?" Zhang Lianhua said with a smile.

"That's great, haha..." He Yuzhu laughed out loud.