Siheyuan: Walking the Path of Qin Huairu

After listening to the children's plan, Xu Huizhen suggested, "What Hou Kui said makes sense. Although both of our families are not short of that little money, if you don't charge any money, others will take your efforts for granted, and the house will be overcrowded, which will also affect learning efficiency. Why not let He Shuyao collect the money at the door, ten cents per person per day. He Jiankun will escort them from behind, and Jiankun will deal with those who are unreasonable and want to take advantage. If someone reports it, put the blame on the children, saying that Shuyao is an ignorant child who was just playing around. Divide the money among you and keep it as pocket money."

So, the next morning, He Shuyao became the door god. You had to pay to enter the door, otherwise you would not be allowed in. Someone asked him, "Shuyao, why do you charge money?"

He Shuyao pinched his waist and stiffened his neck and said, "You study in my house, don't you need to drink tea? Don't you need to light the stove to keep warm? Don't you need my brothers and sisters to prepare review materials for you and spend a lot of time giving you lessons? Isn't it right to charge a little money for the tea?"

The people crowded at the door looked at each other in bewilderment. Some people happily paid and were allowed to pass. Some did not bring money and went home to get it. Of course, some people did not want to pay and tricked the child by saying, "Shuyao, how about this? I did not bring money today, can I pay it back next time?"

He Shuyao said simply: "Not good!"

There were also people who tried to squeeze forward from the back, hoping to get away with it. Anyway, even a child could not stop these adults.

He Jiankun coughed twice, walked out of the house and said, "You all should go back. The room is full today. Too many people chattering will affect the learning effect, and the house can't accommodate them. Let's go."

Those who didn't want to spend money had to leave dejectedly. He Shuyao quickly closed the door and bolted it from the inside. Then he covered his pocket, smiled so hard that his teeth were exposed, ran quickly into his room, waved to his eldest brother, and said in a low voice: "Brother, let's count how much money we collected."

He Jiankun curled his lips and said disdainfully: "Look at how little you can do. You usually don't eat or drink enough, but you look like you are greedy for money." But his feet followed him involuntarily. This is a typical case of a dead duck talking stubbornly.

Shuyao argued: "How can it be the same? This is the money we earned ourselves, not for mom and dad, hehe."

Xu Jingli cleaned up a room and used it as a makeshift classroom. The benches and tables discarded from the tavern were put to use. The ages of the students varied, ranging from sixteen to thirty.

When three people walk together, there must be one person who can teach me something. Everyone was not embarrassed, and they all looked eager to learn. There was nothing they could do, because he was a top student who was admitted to Tsinghua University and Peking University.

I won’t talk about specific courses on the first day. I will first share my review experience.

Teacher Hou Kuihou first shared the key points of learning mathematics. He talked endlessly: "For mathematics class, we will review based on this set of self-study books on mathematics, physics and chemistry. This book can be said to be a magical book for the college entrance examination. Many types of questions in this exam are in this book. All of us have reviewed according to this book and have achieved excellent results. In the coming days, until the start of school, I will lead everyone to study all types of questions..."

The students were so surprised that their mouths opened wide: "Ah? So that's how it is? We have never seen this set of books before, and we are like headless flies when reviewing. Teacher Hou, can you sell this book to me?"

Another person also said anxiously: "I want to buy one too."

Hou Kui said, "There are only two sets of this book. You can take turns reading it. If you don't understand something, you can ask me."

The students nodded frantically to express their gratitude to Teacher Xiao Hou, Teacher Xiao Xu, and Teacher Xiao He. The dime was well spent and it was worth it.

Then Xu Huizhen, Xu Jingping, and He Shuyan shared their learning experiences of other courses in turn. They prepared all of them overnight, which can be said to be conscientious and responsible.

Time quickly came to New Year's Eve of 1977. The cram school was closed for the day. It was the New Year. Adults and children alike needed to spend the New Year in a relaxed manner after a year of hard work.

He Daqing, He Yuzhu and He Jiankun, three generations of grandparents and grandchildren, were frying, stir-frying and cooking in the kitchen and soon prepared a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner.

Now that the difficult times have passed, food supplies are more sufficient than before, and people's living standards have improved a lot. In addition, Xu Huizhen and He Yuzhu both have purchasing channels, so the New Year's goods prepared are very rich.

The He family father and son have superb cooking skills, and the food on the table can be said to be delicious in color, aroma and taste.

He Daqing is good at Shandong cuisine. He makes nine-turn large intestine, sweet and sour carp, Kung Pao chicken, stir-fried kidney, braised prawns, dry-fried yellow croaker, and scallion-fried sea cucumber.

He Yuzhu is good at Sichuan cuisine. He makes fish-flavored pork shreds, twice-cooked pork, Dongpo pork elbow, steamed spareribs, mouth-watering chicken, etc. How rich it is! I am drooling just writing about it, haha.

The family sat around the table, and the adults poured wine. Those who couldn't drink had tea instead. He Yuzhu suggested, "Dad, you are the head of the family, so give us an opening speech."

He Daqing picked up the wine glass and said, "This year is the happiest year in my life. The ancestors of the He family were all cooks. Although they didn't starve, in the old society, being a cook was considered a servant's job and was considered low class and looked down upon. Now our He family has four college students, all of whom are from prestigious universities. This is a great thing that brings honor to the family. From today on, our family has changed its status and will become a family of scholars in the future. Come, let's drink to the good days ahead!"

"Cheers!" Everyone echoed happily, and then everyone clinked their glasses together, even Shuyao stuck his little butt out to join in the fun.

After putting down the wine glasses, Xu Huizhen called out to everyone, "Eat the food while it's hot. This is the result of your grandfather and father's hard work for half a day." Then everyone began to feast on the food.

Then, Han Qingqiu also spoke. She said, "I am very happy today. Although I have no blood relationship with you, after so many years of getting along with you, I feel that you are all my closest family. I am very happy from the bottom of my heart that the children are doing well. Here, I will drink this glass of wine to wish the children a bright future."

"Thank you, grandma!" The children cheered in unison, and a joyful and harmonious atmosphere filled the courtyard. Xu Huizhen saw it all and was delighted.

It has been twenty years since she came into this world. She now has many children. She has finally survived the turbulent times and ushered in a new starting point.

Next, He Yuzhu spoke. He said generously: "I wish Dad and Aunt Han good health, I wish Huizhen and I good work, I wish the children a bright future, and I wish Xiao Shuyao to study hard and make progress every day."

"Thank you, Dad!" There was another round of toasts.