Xu Damao's Thirty-Six Stratagems in Siheyuan

Xu Damao was tired yesterday and forgot to get up to make breakfast. But to his surprise, he could smell the aroma of millet porridge in bed.

I touched around and found that Lou Xiao'e was not there.

"Moth, have you made breakfast?"

Lou Xiao'e went into the inner room, "Da Mao, are you awake? Why don't you get up and have breakfast before going to sleep? It's rare for you to take a day off."

"I was thinking, I smell the scent of millet porridge. Ezi, thank you for your hard work, it's my turn to get up and cook."

"It's very simple to make breakfast. Just boil some porridge, boil an egg, steam some buns, cut some pickled vegetables and mix them together. I'm not very good at cooking. But I'm learning. I found that cooking is actually quite interesting. Eating the food I made myself gives me a sense of accomplishment."

"Then I'll get up and try the millet porridge my wife cooked."

The two of them had a warm breakfast.

"Ezi, how about I take you to the park, and then we can go buy some astragalus together, and come back in the afternoon to make chicken soup."

"Okay, okay, I haven't been to the park for a long time." Lou Xiao'e still wanted to go out with Xu Damao. She often recalled the time when she and Xu Damao went to Beihai Park and sang "Let's Row the Boats".

There is construction going on everywhere in Kyoto, old buildings are being demolished and roads are being repaired. It is actually quite gray outside and the wind is quite strong in the summer.

Xu Damao took Lou Xiao'e on a bicycle and passed through many small alleys to avoid some road dust.

There is water in Kyoto, which originates from the Baifu Spring, flows into the Wengshan Lake, passes through the old Gaoliang Road, and the accumulated water pool is the Shichahai.

Some people always say that Shichahai came first, then Kyoto. Xu Damao thinks it makes sense. It is no wonder that many celebrities live and settle near Shichahai.

Shichahai has unique beauty in spring, summer, autumn and winter. The catalpa trees, Chinese pagoda trees, ginkgo trees and Chinese pine trees on both sides of the street provide a lot of shade for people. Xu Damao parked his bicycle and walked with Lou Xiaoe on the streets of Shichahai. They bought ice cream and ate it. Xu Damao also temporarily acted as a tour guide, explaining to Lou Xiaoe as they walked and ate. They had a luxurious lunch at the nearby time-honored Tongheju.

It was about time, so I went to Tong Ren Tang Pharmacy on Xinglong Street to buy some Codonopsis pilosula, Astragalus membranaceus, and some Wu Ji Bai Feng Pills.

Back at Yard No. 95, Xu Damao boiled water to simmer the chicken and make soup. He indulged himself again by using the only half a pound of rice in the house to cook rice, stir-fried some beans and winter melon, and made a big pot of whole chicken soup.

Wow, today is really luxurious.

"Ezi, if we could live like this every day, that would be great. Today I finally had a good meal. There was mullet soup at noon, old hen soup at night, and a little wine. It's a great life."

"Da Mao, we spent almost one-third of your salary this day, don't you feel bad?"

"Why feel bad? Money is earned to be spent. If you don't eat now when you can, you will have to eat when you are old and can't chew anymore. Just earn money after you spend it. I will try to show dozens more movies, and then I will make it back. Do you know? Every time I show a movie in the countryside, in addition to the subsidy for going to the countryside, I also get a publicity subsidy of 30 cents per show. Look at this old hen, it was earned from showing movies this week. Eat, Ezi, eat as much as you can, don't be afraid. Your man has a job, his salary is not low, he can support you. Don't worry."

Actually, Xu Damao actually made some money before he got married last year. Before he got his ticket, he stocked up on brown sugar, fruit candies, and salt, brought them to the countryside, exchanged them for food, and secretly brought them back to Kyoto to sell to people in need, making a lot of money.

It's just that the price of antiques is still too high now, so he didn't think about buying them. Otherwise, he would have exchanged them for better things long ago.

This meal was very enjoyable. What Xu Damao and his wife didn't know was that when they closed the door to stew the chicken, the deaf old lady in the main house in the backyard almost knocked on Xu Damao's door.

The stewed old hen was so delicious that even the four eggs fried by Liu Haizhong at home seemed tasteless. He even cursed Xu Damao while drinking: "Damn Xu Damao, why is he stewing the old hen during the wrong season?"

After eating and drinking, Xu Damao and Lou Xiao'e drank tea and chatted in the patio, leisurely.

He Yuzhu and He Yushui from the middle courtyard smelled Xu Damao's stewed chicken, and the siblings had a good meal today. He Yuzhu bought some pork liver today, and in the evening, he fried the liver tip, stir-fried spinach, and made cucumber and tomato egg soup. He Yuzhu was happy today. After finishing his work in the kitchen at noon, he asked for leave and went to his master's house. According to Xu Damao's suggestion, he and his master's wife agreed to go to the park outside on Sunday for a blind date. The location was arranged at the ticket office of Beihai Park at nine in the morning. The signal for the meeting was to hold a popular movie magazine.

As He Yushui's summer vacation is almost over, it's time to have a good meal.

In fact, the person who is living the most miserable life in the entire No. 95 Courtyard is Qin Huairu of the Jia family.

Jia Dongxu didn't feel that he was anything wrong. Although he had a pay cut and lost money, he still got 50 yuan from his mother for daily expenses. He still ate, drank and bought cigarettes as usual.

Jia Zhang mainly took out her anger on Qin Huairu. Every day she either scolded her or asked Qin Huairu to do this and that all the time.

However, Qin Huairu can be said to be liberated today.

During dinner, Qin Huairu felt a little nauseous and wanted to vomit, but she didn't want to wash the dishes because she felt too tired.

"Mom. I'm feeling a little uncomfortable today. Can you wash the dishes tonight?"

"Wow, Qin Huairu, you are a country girl who wants to go to heaven, and you even asked me to wash the dishes. Believe it or not, I will let Dongxu divorce you."

"Mom, you saw it just now. I feel a little nauseous. I thought about it and realized that I didn't have my period this month. I might be pregnant."

Jia Dongxu was beside him and was overjoyed when he heard that his wife was pregnant. He was going to be a father again.

"Huairu, is this true?"

"Dongxu, this is not a lie. As for whether there is any strange thing, we will know after going to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow."

"Mom, you wash the dishes tonight. There aren't many dishes. Huairu has been a little tired recently. Now that she's pregnant, she has to be careful."

Jia Zhang also felt sorry for her little grandson in her belly, so she had to let herself play with the bowl tonight, but she didn't say anything:

"Qin Huairu, forget it today. I'll do the dishes. You'll have to do the dishes tomorrow. When I was pregnant with Dongxu, I had to do heavy work in the fields. What's so great about being pregnant? You're not a lady or a wife. You're not that precious."

The same thing happened at Yan Fugui's house in the front yard.

Auntie Yang Ruihua had prepared the meal and was about to call for people to eat, when she suddenly felt dizzy, nauseous, and wanted to vomit. Yan Fugui, who was arranging a few flower pots at the door not far away, was so frightened that he felt nervous, "Ruihua, what's wrong? What's the situation? Are you exhausted?"

"Old Yan, I wanted to tell you a few days ago that I'm afraid we're really in trouble this time!"

"What's wrong, Ruihua, please don't scare me. The children and I can't live without you."

"What are you talking about? Old Yan, maybe, just maybe, I'm pregnant again." Yang Ruihua was really worried, but she was still happy in her heart because she wanted a daughter.

"What's the matter? Don't breathe too loudly when you speak. I'm too small to be scared."

"You're a fool, don't you know what you've done?" Yang Ruihua suddenly raised his voice and yelled at Yan Fugui. Yan Jiefang, who had just come over, was so scared that he shrank back, thinking his parents were arguing.

"Old Yan, maybe I'm pregnant again."

"Ah?" Yan Fugui was really scared this time: Oh my God, our family is already living in poverty, and now we have one more mouth to feed, what should we do?