Siheyuan: The Counterattack of Passerby

Yan Bugui didn't explain, he just laughed and hurriedly took the things home, telling his wife to pack them up. When his wife saw how many things Yan Bugui bought, her eyes almost fell to the ground, and she exclaimed: "I said, are you going to marry me? How dare you buy so many things in our poor family?"

Yan Bugui frowned and said, "You are not knowledgeable, but you know nothing! Now we are the ones begging Xiaolin to reconcile with him, not Xiaolin begging us! We were the ones who schemed against him in the first place, and now we want to repair the relationship. If we are still as stingy as before, do you think he can reconcile with me? You are so ignorant!

Hurry up, kill the chicken and stew it, make the pork belly into braised pork, and make two vegetarian dishes, it should be almost done! Stop talking nonsense! "

Yan Bugui's wife looked at the meat and the chicken and felt so distressed that she could hardly breathe. However, she did not dare to disobey Yan Bugui. She felt that what Yan Bugui said made sense, so she could only kill the chicken with a sad face and started to go to the kitchen to cook.

Yan Bugui asked his wife whether Lin Geng had gone out today. His wife said that she had not seen Lin Geng go out, and he should still be at home today.

So Yan Bugui strolled to the central courtyard and knocked on Lin Geng's door.

Lin Geng was reading a book at home. Today he decided to be lazy and not report to the factory. Anyway, he just delivered a pig and a sheep to the factory, so it would be okay if he didn't go this week. Besides, Qian San just restocked his stock the day before yesterday. It's hot now and meat can't be stored well, so the shipment is less in summer. He can just go and restock his stock tomorrow night. Today he might as well stay at home and be lazy and read a book.

After hearing the knock on the door, Lin Geng asked, "Who is it?"

Even though Yan Bugui saw that the door of Lin Geng's house was not closed, but there was a bamboo curtain hanging on it, he did not dare to lift the curtain and walked in by himself. He smiled and said outside the door: "Xiao Lin is at home! It's me!"

Lin Geng heard that it was Yan Bugui's voice. Since he had promised Xu Damao yesterday that he could talk to Yan Bugui, he thought that Xu Damao should have told Yan Bugui when he went out early in the morning. So he did not stand up in the room and said to Yan Bugui outside the door: "Teacher Yan! Come in!"

After Yan Bugui got Lin Geng's permission, he dared to lift the door curtain and peek into the room with a smile. After seeing Lin Geng, he smiled and said, "Xiao Lin! Are you reading at home?"

Lin Geng then put down the book and waved to Dahuang and Erhei who were staring at Yan Bugui hungrily. Dahuang and Erhei immediately relaxed and lay down in their nest in the corner of the room.

Lin Geng stood up, greeted Yan Bugui and asked Yan Bugui to sit down.

Yan Bugui waved his hand and said, "No, no, I just came here to tell you that you don't have to cook at noon. Ask Yu Li to come to my house for dinner! I just bought a chicken and a piece of pork belly and asked your aunt to cook it. At noon, please invite you two to my place for a drink!"

When Lin Geng heard this, he raised his eyebrows slightly, then looked at Yan Bugui with a half-smile, and said to Yan Bugui in a teasing tone: "Hey! Teacher Yan, has the sun risen from the west? You are willing to treat me to a meal?"

Yan Bugui's old face turned red, and he quickly smiled and said, "Xiao Lin, please don't play the cymbals with me! I have figured it out during this period of time. I was wrong this time. I always wanted to take advantage of you! I apologize to you! Please give me some face! Okay?"

Lin Geng looked at Yan Bugui's expression and felt that he seemed to be telling the truth, so he calmed down a lot. He pulled out a chair next to the table and said to Yan Bugui, "Okay! Sit down first. Let's have a good chat today while there's no one at home or anyone else around! As for whether to eat or not, it's a small matter. You know, I don't care about your meal!"

Yan Bugui heaved a sigh of relief when he heard Lin Geng say this. As long as Lin Geng was willing to sit down and talk to him, it meant that Lin Geng was willing to reconcile with him and did not want to quarrel with him to the same extent as he, Lao Yi and Lao Liu had in the past.

So Yan Bugui sat down with a wry smile, rummaged in his pocket for a while, took out half a pack of Daqianmen, and wanted to give Lin Geng a cigarette.

But Lin Geng took a step ahead of him and took out a box of Peony cigarettes from a drawer and threw it on the table. It was not that he could not afford Huazi cigarettes. When he was at home, he actually smoked Huazi cigarettes. It was just that Huazi cigarettes were a bit too ostentatious if he took them out and scattered them around.

So Lin Gengsan usually smokes Daqianmen, Mudan, or Hongshuangxi. These cigarettes are actually cigarettes that only leaders can smoke. They give you face without being ostentatious.

"Don't smoke yours, smoke mine!" Lin Geng made another cup of Gaosui for Yan Bugui, put it in front of Yan Bugui, sat down and said to Yan Bugui.

Yan Bugui looked at the half-pack of wrinkled Daqianmen cigarettes in his hand with some embarrassment. He didn't know how long he had kept it. To be honest, he got this half-pack of Daqianmen from Lin Geng some time ago. He had been reluctant to smoke it and only took it out yesterday to give one to Xu Damao. In fact, the cigarettes were a bit moldy.

So he sighed, fiddling with the half-pack of Daqianmen in his hand, and said to Lin Geng with a wry smile: "Xiao Lin! I won't hide it from you. This half pack of cigarettes was given to me by you when we were drinking here two months ago. I have never been willing to smoke it! I have kept it until now!"

Lin Geng handed Yan Bugui a Mudan cigarette, lit one for himself, and said while smoking, "Teacher Yan, to be honest, I have nothing against you, but I really can't stand the way you two act!

In fact, you know yourself what people in the yard call you behind your back. They either call you Yan Laokou or you are the smart one. You know why. It is because you are too good at calculating!

I know that you had a low salary in the past and it was not easy to support a family of six. If you didn't live frugally, you really couldn't make ends meet. During those three years in 1959, if you hadn't lived frugally, I guess someone in your family would have starved to death!

There is nothing wrong with living frugally. Whose family is not living frugally these days? Except for me, Zhuzi and Mao, we are now living a light life and living lavishly. Who else is not living a frugally life by spending every penny carefully?

Therefore, there is nothing wrong with living frugally; instead, it is a good style of thrift and diligence in housekeeping!

But everything has a limit. Once it exceeds the limit, it will not be a good thing. I will not hide anything when I speak today, because I have wanted to talk to you for a long time!

You are a teacher, you teach and educate people, and you should set an example for others! Do you think it is glorious for you two to block the door every day and try to take advantage of the neighbors in the yard?

I always thought that as a scholar, one should have some integrity! But you have obviously thrown away all the integrity of a scholar for a little bit of profit!"