Siheyuan: Yan Jiekuang's carefree life

As the three aunts began to lock the doors, by noon, except for a few families with no one at home, the deaf old lady, and the Jia family, everyone else had locked their doors. A little after five o'clock in the afternoon, Yi Zhonghai came back from get off work. As soon as he entered the yard, Yi Zhonghai saw that there was a lock on the door frame of each household in the front yard. Yi Zhonghai frowned unconsciously and thought to himself: "It was fine yesterday, why are they all locked today?!" Yi Zhonghai didn't think much about it and went home directly.

"Old Yi, you're back?!" Liu Guiying made a cup of tea for Yi Zhonghai and placed it in front of him. Yi Zhonghai took the cup, opened the lid, blew away the broken leaves floating on it, and when he was about to drink the tea, he suddenly thought of the front yard and asked, "Guiying, when did the front yard start to lock the door?!"

Liu Guiying said, "Today, not only the front yard is locked. Our middle yard and back yard are also locked. In recent years, you have been the head of the yard and asked people not to lock the door. People in the yard did not say anything because the street office gives out some gifts during the Spring Festival every year. This year, the street office will definitely lose the chance to get into the yard, and the things given by the street office will be gone. If people don't lock the door and lose some more things, won't they lose a lot?!"

Yi Zhonghai was stunned for a moment and asked, "You mean, there has always been something missing in our courtyard?!"

Liu Guiying looked at Yi Zhonghai as if he were a fool and said, "You just found out?! And everyone knows who took it! It's just that everyone didn't care about it before because of your face. Now, your face is useless."

Yi Zhonghai immediately showed an embarrassed expression on his face and said, "In the past, Jia Dongxu was my apprentice. His family, young and old, relied on Jia Dongxu alone. Now that Jia Dongxu is no longer my apprentice, I have no obligation to take care of him."

Liu Guiying sighed and said, "This Jia family! They are a bunch of disasters. Whoever gets involved with them will be unlucky. You sit for a while, I'll bring in the food." After that, Liu Guiying left the house.

Yi Zhonghai looked at Liu Guiying's back and couldn't help but smile bitterly, muttering: "This Yan Bugui, I really underestimated him!"

In a blink of an eye, it was another Saturday. After school in the afternoon, Yan Jiekuang declined his classmates' invitation to play together and walked alone into a dead end. Seeing that there was no one around, Yan Jiekuang changed his clothes, took out his makeup, and made a face change. After packing up, Yan Jiekuang carried a retro military green shoulder bag found in the space and walked out of the alley at a leisurely pace.

After about half an hour, Yan Jiekuang arrived at an alley. Two strong men came out from behind a tree not far away. Without waiting for the two strong men to speak, Yan Jiekuang said first: "I sell things!"

The two strong men looked at each other, and one of them said, "Sell it, one cent!"

Yan Jiekuang took out a dime and handed it over. The strong man on the left took the money and asked, "Little brother, what are you selling?!"

Yan Jiekuang replied, "A watch!" After that, Yan Jiekuang rolled up his sleeves and revealed the watch on his arm. The two strong men saw the watch and looked at each other. The strong man who collected the money asked, "Little brother, how much is your watch?!"

Yan Jiekuang replied, "Eighty-one dollars. No bargaining."

Another sturdy man asked: "Little brother, how many watches do you have?!"

Yan Jiekuang replied, "About thirty yuan." Then he asked, "What's the matter? Can't I sell it here?!"

The sturdy man who collected the money said, "Little brother, wait here for a moment. I'll go ask our big brother if he wants it." After that, the sturdy man turned and left.

After about ten minutes, the strong man who collected the money came to Yan Jiekuang with a middle-aged man. The middle-aged man looked at Yan Jiekuang and said, "My friends on the road respect me and call me Seventh Master. How about my name, little brother?!"

Yan Jiekuang replied: "Just call me little devil!"

"Little ghost?!" Master Qi muttered, then laughed unconsciously, and then asked: "My brother told me that you have a watch to sell?!"

Yan Jiekuang nodded and rolled up his sleeves. Qi Ye saw the watch on Yan Jiekuang's arm and asked, "Little brother, can I ask where these watches came from?!"

Yan Jiekuang replied, "I saved a man some time ago. He gave me these watches as a reward. No matter how many watches I have, I can only wear one. I can't eat the rest. Don't you agree?!"

Qiye continued, "Little brother, if you trust me, let's talk somewhere else."

"Okay!" Yan Jiekuang responded and left with Qi Ye.

Not long after, Yan Jiekuang followed Qiye into a courtyard. After entering the house, Yan Jiekuang did not worry that Qiye would cheat him, so he took off all the watches on his arm and put them on the table, saying, "There are a total of 30 watches here. If Qiye likes them, just name your price!"

Qiye picked up a watch and looked at it, then put it to his ear and listened for a while. He heard the sound of the mechanical gears turning in the watch, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "I want all these watches. I won't take advantage of you. I'll give you a flat price of 70 yuan each. What do you think?"

Yan Jiekuang calculated in his mind and said, "Sure! But I only need 1,800 yuan in cash. You can exchange the rest for tickets I can use."

Qiye thought about it and nodded, "No problem!" Then Qiye said a few words to the people beside him, looked at Yan Jiekuang, and said, "Little brother, judging from your posture, you have more than just a watch on your hand, right?!"

Yan Jiekuang replied: "At present, there is only a watch. I can't say what will be there in the future."

Qiye laughed and said, "Little brother, don't forget me when you get something good in the future. Just go to the locust tree at the edge of the alley. No matter who you see, tell him you are looking for Qiye. He will take you to me."

"Okay!" Yan Jiekuang responded with a smile.

Not long after, Qiye's men came in with two envelopes. Qiye handed the envelopes directly to Yan Jiekuang and said, "Little brother, everything you want is in these two envelopes. Take a look!"

Yan Jiekuang took the envelope, and in front of Qi Ye, he took out the money from one envelope and counted it. Then he took out the ticket from another envelope, looked at the date on the ticket, and said, "Thank you, Qi Ye! See you later!" After that, Yan Jiekuang put the things back into the envelope and put it into his shoulder bag.

After Yan Jiekuang left the house, the people around Qiye walked up to him and asked, "Qiye, should we follow him and take a look?!"

Qi Ye said, "Forget it! No need to follow. The person who can take out so many watches at once must have someone extraordinary. There is no need to offend the person behind him for a few petty gains."

Yan Jiekuang left the courtyard, walked for a while, turned his head and looked back, and saw that there was no one behind him. Yan Jiekuang immediately breathed a sigh of relief and unconsciously quickened his pace. After walking around twice outside and making sure that no one was following him, Yan Jiekuang found a deserted place, removed his makeup, and changed back into his original clothes. Then he took out a piece of pork weighing about five pounds from the space, put it in a sack, and then carried the sack home.