Siheyuan: The road to counterattack for the little transparent

Yu Li told Yan Jiecheng her idea, but Yan Jiecheng jumped up immediately after hearing it: "No, no, absolutely not."

"That little bit of money was saved by the two of us after a long period of frugality. I don't agree to use it to buy candy and melon seeds."

In fact, Yu Li only told him to take out two or three yuan from his savings and buy some melon seeds and candies in advance.

If Yan Bugui didn't prepare anything for them to take back to her parents' home, the couple would not have to go back empty-handed.

She is the eldest sister in the family. She returned to her parents' home empty-handed during the Chinese New Year. How would her parents and younger brothers and sisters look at her?

Yan Jiecheng's refusal made Yu Li feel very uncomfortable. She remembered this feeling of helplessness in her heart from that moment on.

The Chinese New Year is getting closer, but the house is still the same as usual, with no signs of preparing New Year's goods.

Yan Bugui's school holidays started early, so these days he would go fishing early in the morning after breakfast, and often would not come back until noon.

After a lot of hard work, sometimes I'm lucky enough to catch a medium-sized fish, and sometimes I don't catch any.

Even in this situation, he was not afraid of the cold and happily went out with his fishing rod every day.

Yu Li saw it all and was worried. When she saw Yan Bugui walking towards the gate of the courtyard, she immediately walked up to the third aunt and asked:

"Mom, the New Year is coming soon. We haven't prepared the New Year's goods yet, right? When do you plan to buy them?"

The third aunt looked up at Yu Li, sighed slightly and said, "Alas, your father has to decide on the New Year's goods. The old man only knows how to fish all day and doesn't think about the family affairs."

"The expenses for the New Year are not small. Every day when you open your eyes, there are so many mouths to feed. I guess your father can hardly come up with any tricks."

Yu Li frowned and said anxiously, "Mom, this won't do. We need something nice to celebrate the New Year, otherwise it will be too lonely."

"Besides, when relatives and friends come, we have to entertain them, right?"

"Also, Mom, I have to reconcile and go back to my parents' home on the second day of the New Year. How can I go back empty-handed?"

The third aunt shook her head helplessly: "Then what do you say we should do? You know your father's temper. If he doesn't want to do something, no matter what anyone says, it's useless."

Yu Li couldn't let her mother-in-law brush her off with just two words. After a moment of silence, she mustered up the courage to say:

"Mom, why don't you wait for Dad to come back from fishing and start talking about this first, and then I'll help you say a few words. Together we can't beat him."

After hearing what Yu Li said, the third aunt looked embarrassed. She hesitated for a while before saying, "This... I'm afraid your father will get angry and scold us again."

"But you're right. We have to celebrate the New Year like it's the New Year. For the sake of the New Year, we can only give it a try."

Time passed quickly. As usual, Yan Bugui came back slowly at noon, carrying a bucket in one hand and a fishing rod in the other.

I was lucky today. I caught a fish just by digging a hole in the ice. It was not a small fish, weighing at least two kilograms.

Yan Bugui was in a surprisingly good mood, with all the previous gloom swept away. He walked back humming a song and smiling all the way.

The moment he stepped into the courtyard, he saw the third aunt and Yu Li standing there quietly, and both of them looked a little unnatural.

Yan Bugui smiled as he picked up the bucket in his hand and said, "My dear, we are really in sync. Come and see what I have harvested today."

He held the bucket proudly, and the fish in the bucket seemed to feel his joy, flapping their wings from time to time.

"Come and have a look! I'm so lucky today. I just dug a hole in the ice and caught such a big fish."

Yan Bugui's voice was full of excitement, as if he had won the jackpot, and his eyebrows were beaming with joy.

As he spoke, he moved the bucket closer to the three aunts. The fish swam in the bucket, splashing water, and the sunlight shone on the water, making it sparkle.

Yan Bugui smiled from ear to ear, and the wrinkles on his face smoothed out: "Look, this fish must weigh at least two kilograms. Now we have something for the New Year."

The third aunt walked over and looked at the fish in the bucket. She was also very happy and said with great joy:

"Old man, you are really amazing. You are right. With this fish, we will have something to spend during the New Year."

Yan Bugui received praise from the three aunts, raised his chin slightly, and his face was full of pride:

"That's right. Our luck is unstoppable. We can keep this fish for now. I'll see if I can catch a few more. Then our New Year's goods will be even richer."

The three aunts nodded and began to think:

"We can make this fish into braised fish, which will definitely be delicious. Then we can buy some pork and make some dumplings."

"And those melon seeds, candies and so on are also indispensable. It's Chinese New Year, and the house needs to be festive."

Unexpectedly, when Yan Bugui heard her say this, the pride on his face instantly disappeared, replaced by a trace of worry, and he frowned and said:

"Old lady, it's easy for you to say that. How much does pork cost? And those melon seeds and candies, which one doesn't cost money? How can we have so much spare money to buy these?"

There was a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice, as if what the third aunt had just proposed was so unrealistic.

After hearing what Yan Bugui said, the smile on Auntie's face froze. She opened her mouth and wanted to refute, but she didn't know what to say.

After a while, she whispered, "We can't just buy nothing. We have to have something nice for the New Year."

Yan Bugui sighed and said helplessly: "I know that we have to celebrate the New Year in a proper way, but we are short of money, so we have to spend it wisely."

The third aunt was at a loss for words to respond and lowered her head in deep thought.

Yu Li watched her mother-in-law lose the battle and became extremely anxious. She knew that this matter could not be allowed to pass like this.

She cleared her throat and said, "Dad, what Mom said makes sense. It's the New Year, and even if money is tight, we can't be too shabby."

"We can think of some ways to save money when buying New Year's goods. For example, we don't have to buy a lot of pork. We can buy less and just make some dumplings as a token of our appreciation."

"We can buy a little more melon seeds and candies, just enough to entertain the guests, or we can make some New Year's goods ourselves, such as fried dough twists or cakes."

Yu Li thought about it and decided that she would rather make the New Year's goods by herself so that she could bring some back to her parents' home on the second day of the New Year.

After hearing what Yu Li said, Yan Bugui's brows were still slightly furrowed, but his expression was obviously relaxed.

He pondered for a moment and said, "Making New Year's goods by yourself is an idea, but it's not easy to do. It takes a lot of time and energy."

After finally waiting for Yan Bugui to give in, she decided to strike while the iron was hot...