Siheyuan: A Family of Loyal and Brave People

After being married for many years, their family is broken apart when they divorce.

Yan Bugui looked at the empty room and felt like crying but had no tears.

However, no matter how sad or helpless he was, he had to face reality.

Carrying the burden of life, living frugally every day, and squeezing out money to pay off debts.

The longer the debt is delayed, the more interest one has to pay, and Yan Bugui is reluctant to pay this money.

Just a few months of frugality have made Yan Jiecheng and his friends complain bitterly.

The four children were filled with despair at the thought that this kind of life would continue for several more years.

I even regretted not leaving with Auntie.

The third aunt has a few hundred dollars in her hands, so she is relatively well off for the time being. If you follow her, you won't have to suffer in the short term.

However, the third aunt disappeared after leaving the courtyard, and even if Yan Jiecheng and others wanted to seek refuge, they didn't know where to find their mother.

There was no other way, Yan Jiecheng and his children could only continue to suffer in the courtyard.

Human endurance has its limits.

Not long after, Yan Jiecheng, unable to bear the hard life any longer, returned to his old ways with his brothers and sisters and started stealing.

This time, Yan Jiecheng and his friends were not as lucky as last time. They were caught red-handed by the neighbors in the yard.

In order to redeem his child, Yan Bugui had to borrow money again to avoid disaster.

Instead of decreasing, Yan Bugui's debt kept piling up.

The more debts he owed, the more Yan Bugui saved. The more he saved, the more problems his children caused, further increasing the amount of debt, forming a vicious cycle that would never end.

……

Time flies, the sun and the moon flies.

Twenty-five years passed in the blink of an eye.

After three years of natural disasters and ten years of political turmoil, No. 95 Luoguxiang remains the same as before, with little change.

But the residents inside have undergone tremendous changes.

No one can resist the power of time. Everyone living in the courtyard will inevitably grow, age, and even die.

Some people also move into or out of the Siheyuan for various reasons.

Fortunately, at this time, there are still many people living in this courtyard house with a history of hundreds of years, so it is not completely abandoned.

When the first ray of morning sunlight shone on the bluestone slabs that were full of marks of time, a noise was heard in the front yard.

"Yan Bugui, pay back the money, pay back the money!"

Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong, who are over 60 years old and have gray hair, stood at the door of Yan Bugui's house with one hand on his waist and shouted.

After calling a few times, the door of the Yan family's house, which had several large holes in it, slowly opened. A thin, hunchbacked old man with a pair of single-frame glasses on his ear leaned out and shouted at the two people outside, "What are you arguing about? What are you arguing about?

You are yelling so loudly in the early morning, disturbing the peace and quiet. Be careful or I will sue you for disturbing the public."

"Yan Bugui, stop talking nonsense, it's already the end of the month.

How long do you plan to delay paying this month's debt?"

Liu Haizhong pointed at Yan Bugui and asked seriously.

Speaking of debt, the old and frail Yan Bugui was embarrassed for a moment. He turned his head, looked at the bare house, and said awkwardly: "Why are you in such a hurry? It's not that I won't pay you back. It's just that I'm short of money recently. Can I give it a few days and pay it back when the pension is paid next month?"

At the beginning, Yan Bugui borrowed money from three managers to get a divorce, but due to various reasons, he was unable to pay it back until his retirement.

However, Yan Bugui is a man of integrity. Even after retirement, he stopped paying off his debts and had no intention of defaulting on his debts.

In addition to his pension, Yan Bugui would go out to pick up waste and sell it for money when he had free time in order to pay off his debts as soon as possible.

"Oh, you still have time, how long have you been restricted?"

Liu Haizhong said unhappily.

"Not long, maybe about twenty years."

Yi Zhonghai said with a smile.

"Listen, it's been more than 20 years. It's been more than 20 years.

Yan Bugui, when do you plan to pay it back?

I won’t wait until you are buried before I finish paying it back.”

Liu Haizhong's expression changed and he sighed.

"No, absolutely not.

I won't be able to rest in peace until I pay off my debts, so don't worry."

Yan Bugui coughed a few times and assured seriously.

"You can wait, but we two may not be able to wait.

What if we go down first?"

Liu Haizhong asked.

"Then...then I'll go work down there and continue to pay off my debts."

Yan Bugui felt a little embarrassed and almost retreated back into the house.

"Okay, let's talk about paying off the debt later.

I brought you two fried dough cakes. Let's go outside and eat them while playing a game of chess."

Yi Zhonghai took out two fried dough cakes from his pocket and shook them in front of Yan Bugui.

So much time has passed that Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong no longer care about the debt.

They came to Yan Bugui under the pretext of collecting a debt, just to invite him out to play.

"Hey, I didn't ask you to bring oil cakes, so you can't blame me for this. Otherwise, I'll just go back and eat steamed bread."

Yan Bugui said with a vigilant look on his face.

The previous debts have not been paid off yet, and Yan Bugui doesn't want to owe more debts.

"Look at what you said, isn't it just two pancakes?

It's my treat.

Come out quickly and play chess with you guys.

As you get older, you should exercise more to ensure good health.

You have to live longer. If you die before paying off your debts, we will both lose out."

Yi Zhonghai stepped forward and stuffed the oil cake into Yan Bugui's hand, then patted him on the shoulder.

Yan Bugui was holding the fried pancake when his nose suddenly felt sore and he burst into tears.

"You're such a grown-up, and you're still crying. Aren't you ashamed?"

Liu Haizhong shook his head and said something like, "Tsk."

"Those four little bastards in my family never came back to see me after they were separated.

My wife is gone, my four children are gone, and now there are only two old brothers left in the courtyard."

Yan Bugui sighed deeply.

Yan Bugui's life over the past twenty years has been extremely hard.

If he hadn't had the determination to pay off his debts, and if he hadn't had the company of his two old brothers, he would have collapsed long ago.

"Okay, man, why are you being so pretentious?

Come to my house for a few drinks in the evening.

The day before yesterday, my husband Cunxiao just brought me two bottles of Moutai. Let’s try it out.”

Yi Zhonghai raised his head and said proudly.

"Moutai, Cunxiao has really made it big, now he drinks Moutai.

Unlike my two brats, none of them are good enough."

Among the three, only Yi Zhonghai's son had a successful career and was considerate and filial, while the other two were not doing well.

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore.

I'm retired now, why bother talking so much, playing chess is more important, playing chess is more important."

Yi Zhonghai was about to walk out with his two old brothers. When they were about to reach the door, they suddenly heard a car horn.

"Who is back?"

The three of them looked at each other, and before they could react, a middle-aged man and woman in leather coats, looking elegant and graceful, strode into the yard.

"Hey, three gentlemen, good morning."

"You are……"

Yi Zhonghai squinted his eyes and looked carefully at the noble man in front of him, carefully recalling the other party's information.

Before he could recall, the other party spoke first: "I'm Cheng Hao, why, don't you remember?"

"Director Cheng?!"

Yi Zhonghai and the other two exclaimed in unison, with expressions as if they had seen a ghost on their faces.

"You...you're not..."

"When the storm started a few years ago, I took my whole family to the northeast for refuge. Today, we are finally back in Beijing."

Cheng Hao explained calmly.

Cheng Hao was a man of integrity, who would rather break than bend. During the political turmoil, he was attacked by some people with ulterior motives and was almost imprisoned and shot.

Fortunately, Cheng Hao saw the opportunity and escaped quickly, taking his family out of the city and escaping the disaster.

Not only that, he also resumed his old business in the northeastern border and started re-export trade, making a fortune.

Now I have returned home in glory and am in high spirits.

"I see.

You disappeared suddenly and we thought you were gone."

The three managers breathed a sigh of relief and finally digested the information.

"By the way, Yan Bugui, you still owe me money, remember?"

Cheng Hao looked at Yan Bugui and said with a smile.

"what?"

Yan Bugui showed a look of astonishment. He really couldn't remember when he owed Cheng Hao money.

"When you divorced Auntie San, you borrowed fifty cents from me. Do you remember?"

Yan Bugui suddenly realized what was going on and a look of embarrassment appeared on his face.

"Remember, remember...

I’m really sorry…”

The old debt has not been paid off, and new debts have come. It seems that Yan Bugui will never be able to pay off his debts in this lifetime.

……