Siheyuan: Starting from Building a Village

After New Year’s Eve comes the annual Spring Festival. The arrangements for Hope Village this year are the same as last year. There will be family worship in the morning, which will gradually become a tradition of Hope Village.

In the afternoon, we will have a table tennis match, but this year a new event has been added, which is badminton. The reason for choosing these two types of sports is that they are suitable for all ages and the requirements for the venue are relatively simple.

However, this year's competition was not completed in one afternoon. After a year of practice, everyone's skills were much stronger than last year, and the competition lasted until the second day of the Chinese New Year.

The rest of the days are up to you to arrange. If you want to go shopping in the city, you can go with others. If you don’t want to go, you can play chess or cards at home and find activities that you like.

If you don't want to go out or play cards, you can choose to sleep, as long as you can fall asleep.

The new year also brought some surprises, Lou Xiao'e, Chen Xiaolan, and Wenxiu were all pregnant. Especially Wenxiu, this was something no one had expected, she was almost 40 years old, and she was still thinking about giving birth to a child for Gu Nian.

Whether in the 21s or in the st century when medicine is highly developed, it is very dangerous for mothers to give birth at an advanced age.

Although it has only been two months, these three people have already become the focus of protection of their respective families, and someone usually brings them water personally.

Time flies, especially during holidays.

On the afternoon of the seventh day, Liu Guozheng, Erlang, Li Xiangdong, Lao San, and Gu Nian went to Sijiu City half a day in advance. Li Dabao was getting married on the eighth day, so a lot of things needed to be prepared the day before, especially some bowls, glutinous rice, and desserts on the table, which needed to be steamed in advance, otherwise they would be too busy on the wedding day.

When someone gets married in the courtyard, it stands to reason that all the neighbors will give a gift. However, the people in Courtyard No. 95 are different. Not many people give gifts. It can be said that there are very few. In addition to the more familiar Xu family, there are two other people, Wang Sigen and Liu Guangtian.

In this era, the amount of money that ordinary people give as gifts is not high, the most is one or two yuan, the least is a few cents, or even a few cents.

Li Dabao didn't care either, since they weren't familiar with each other. These things were all about favors. If you didn't come to give gifts, then when something happened in your family, no one would go.

"Four roots, Guangtian, how many did you two follow?"

"Five cents."

"You're really willing to spend that much. Can you two earn fifty cents a day doing odd jobs?"

"What you said is true. No matter how much you earn, this is a favor. Besides, we all live in the backyard, so we'll see each other sooner or later."

"You two are so generous. We are not familiar with Li Dabao, so no one can find fault if we don't give gifts."

"That's right. Didn't you see Yi Zhonghai and his family? None of them gave gifts."

"That's pointless. People are just as they please. If you don't come, then they won't go if something happens at home."

"You can follow whoever you want, but I won't."

"Okay, you guys can chat. Guangtian and I need to go out and look for work."

Wang Sigen and Liu Guangtian dare not compare themselves with these old women in the hospital. Their husbands work in the factory. If they don't work for a day, they will have no food to eat.

Wang Sigen is still okay, as if one person is well fed the whole family will not be hungry. But Liu Guangtian is different. He has to pay living expenses to his family every day, otherwise he will go hungry and not have food to eat.

"Pah, two odd-jobbers, pretending to be so."

"That's right. Wang Sigen is still okay, but Liu Guangtian hasn't been beaten in a few days, right?"

"Hehe, we'll know when Liu Haizhong, the official-obsessed man, comes back tonight."

"Liu Guangtian followed Wu Mao, is Wu Airong willing to do that?"

"You don't know this, right? Wu Airong went to visit relatives, and Liu Haizhong went to work."

"That's what I said. Do you think there will be trouble when Liu Haizhong comes back?"

"What happened? Making trouble at someone's wedding? Isn't that asking for a beating?"

"Did you see those people helping in the backyard? They don't look like they are easy to mess with. Except for Gu Nian who is a little thin, the others are very strong, especially the one with a full beard. He is tall and strong. Who would dare to mess with him?"

"Forget it, it's none of our business anyway, let's just watch the fun."

"You're right."

“…”

The old ladies in the courtyard were chatting in the front yard, while the backyard was bustling with activity.

"Old Li, put the jar here on the stove so it's convenient for using water."

"Da Mao, get out your small water tank and prepare a tank of hot water first."

"Lao San, Er Leng, the two of you go to the middle courtyard and fetch some water and fill up the jar first."

"Aunt Xu, watch over the fire."

"Yushui, Sister Zhang, please pick the vegetables and clean them up. You can sit by the coal stove. It's warm there."

Liu Guozheng was directing everyone to do their work. Gu Nian and Li Dabao were not idle either. They went to the office to pull tables and stools. Of course, pots, pans, and spoons were also needed. After borrowing those from Xu Damao's house, they were basically enough.

"Guozheng, what's the situation with Sister Zhang?"

Taking advantage of the free time now, Nan Yi came to Liu Guozheng and asked.

"Lao Nan, what do you mean? Are you attracted to Sister Zhang?"

Liu Guozheng was also shocked. Could it be that Nan Yi also has the attributes of Cao Ze?

"Hey, I'm just asking casually."

"Haha, Lao Nan, I'm really sorry to disappoint you. Sister Zhang already has two children, and there's also a problem with one of her legs."

"That's it, it's a pity."

"Lao Nan, didn't you say you wanted to pursue your factory doctor?"

"Guozheng, our factory doctor is too aloof. I'm ready to give up. I think what Master Yuan said is right. When looking for a wife, you should look for someone who is passionate and enthusiastic. You can't have a cold face all day long. No one can stand it after a long time."

"Master Yuan is an experienced person after all, so what he said makes sense."

“So I’m going to change my target.”

"Don't you have any suitable ones in your factory?"

"No, but there is a young widow. She is pretty, but too aggressive. I don't like her either. She has four children. It's scary to think about it."

"Lao Nan, you better take it easy. Having four or five children is a lot of pressure. If you don't mean it, don't provoke them."

"I know."

"Okay, as long as you know."

"Guozheng, why is it so difficult for me to find a wife?"

Nan Yi is a little worried now. Erlang and Liu Guozheng are two or three years younger than Nan Yi. Erlang already has a son, and Liu Guozheng is about to become a father. Now Li Dabao is also getting married, so he, Nan Yi, is the only one left.

"Maybe it's not fate yet."

"Fate? Guozheng, do you believe in fate?"

"Believe."

"Maybe meeting Zhang Qingfang today is fate?"

"this....."

Liu Guozheng was dumbfounded. To be honest, Zhang Qingfang was not ugly, but her conditions were there: a pair of children and one of her legs was disabled. Normal people would not consider someone like Zhang Qingfang.

I don’t know what happened to Nan Yi today?

Is it really destined?

"Lao Nan, today is not the time to talk about this."

"Yes, yes, yes, I was inspired by this. I was inspired by this. We should not delay the wedding banquet tomorrow."

"As long as you know."