Siheyuan: Struggle in the Red Era

On New Year’s Eve, Lin Baoyan ate alone.

Three days ago, Zhou Kangzhan hurriedly stuffed a handful of money into her hands, told her to take care of herself, and left the house, not sure when he would be back.

He Yushui wanted to live with Lin Baoyan, but she drove him back.

"No matter what, your brother is still your brother, and you haven't split up. How can you not spend New Year's Eve with him? If you do this, people will poke him in the back, and you will also be in trouble."

He Yushui was very unhappy.

Lin Baoyan had no choice but to persuade her again: "You are about to take the high school entrance examination. Whether it is a high school entrance examination or a technical secondary school entrance examination, it must be reviewed by the street. If your relationship with your brother is strained, what will you do if you fail the review? Do you want to go to work early?"

He Yushui then went back reluctantly.

He Yushui has been having a very difficult time since returning from vacation.

He Sanmei was not at peace during her confinement. As soon as the holiday came, she asked her for holiday living expenses. In addition to this, she also gave her a list of New Year's goods and a stack of tickets, asking her to hurry up and buy the New Year's goods. Of course, she gave the tickets and He Yushui paid for it. In addition, she asked He Yushui for another sum of money in the name of her son.

Originally, He Sanmei was in confinement after childbirth, and it was normal for He Yushui, as her sister-in-law, to contribute money and effort. However, He's mother-in-law also came. After she came, not only did she eat more than anyone else, but she also took care of her daughter by cooking lunch for the mother and son and cleaning the adults and children. She did not do anything else. All the clothes of the adults and children were thrown to He Yushui to wash.

At night, when Sha Zhu came back from work, He's mother-in-law stopped doing any work and just lay down to sleep after eating. Even a pig would be more diligent than her. In addition to taking care of his wife and children, He Yuzhu had to get up late at night to change the child's pee and poop. After a few days of this, he had big dark bags under his eyes. He was only 22 years old, but he looked almost the same as He Daqing.

He Yushui swallowed her anger and silently washed the endless diapers and clothes for adults and children every day.

Lin Baoyan was watching from the side. Apart from boiling more hot water for He Yushui to wash clothes and preparing some frostbite medicine for her, there was nothing else she could do. That was why she agreed so readily when He Yushui suggested listening to the radio that day.

This year, she is celebrating the Chinese New Year alone again. Lin Baoyan prepared four dishes and a soup: a roast chicken with chestnuts, a roast pork with mountain tapioca balls, a braised hairtail, a stir-fried lotus root slices, and a seaweed, shrimp and egg drop soup.

I followed the crowd and set off a string of small firecrackers, then went to the bedroom, took out the tablet for my parents that I had made from the space, and lit a stick of incense.

It has been more than two years since she was reborn into this world. She doesn't know whether her original body found her parents in the other world after she passed away. As for her, she is destined to have no parents to rely on in both lives.

When she grows up, gets married, and has children, she must not be like her irresponsible parents in her previous life, who abandoned their children in their hometown and left them there without caring about them. She must also not be like her original parents, who were ignorant of people and harmed themselves and their children.

After the prayers were over and the incense had burned out, Lin Baoyan cleaned up the mess and put the tablet back into its space before leaving the bedroom and starting the New Year's Eve dinner.

Two sets of bowls and chopsticks were placed on the table. Lin Baoyan took two cups, poured half a cup of watermelon juice into each, held a cup in each hand, and clinked the cups to congratulate: "I wish the country prosperity, I wish me a smooth life, and I wish Zhou Kangzhan a smooth work, good health, and peace."

After gulping down two glasses of watermelon juice, Lin Baoyan sat down and started eating.

"Deng deng deng"

There was a knock at the door.

Lin Baoyan was stunned. Who is this person? What does it mean to go to someone else's house and knock on the door during the New Year's Eve dinner?

She sat still and raised her voice to shout, "Who is it?"

"I'm Wang Fuguan from the west wing." A male voice whispered from outside the door.

Lin Baoyan was puzzled. Why did Wang Fuguan come knocking on the door at this time when he was fine? Moreover, he was the person Zhou Kangzhan had specifically told her to pay attention to.

So he still sat there and called out, "Hello, Brother Wang, what can I do for you?"

"It's the New Year now. I'm alone at home. Zhou Gongan hasn't come back yet. I thought you were also spending the New Year alone, so I wanted to ask you if you want to stay with me. We can spend the New Year together and it will be more lively." The person outside the door was still whispering.

Lin Baoyan rolled her eyes. Was this an excuse that a pig brain came up with? Or was he trying to test Zhou Kangzhan's whereabouts?

She refused immediately: "Thank you, Brother Wang, for thinking of me, but my brother Zhou will be back to celebrate the New Year with me in a while, so I won't bother you. Thank you for thinking of me."

"Really? Public Security Zhou will be back soon?"

"Yes, my brother Zhou said that he would stay with me during the New Year, and asked me to leave more food. If I leave less, I'm afraid there won't be enough to eat." Lin Baoyan's eyebrows slowly frowned. Why did Wang Fuguan want to confirm whether Zhou Kangzhan would come back?

"Okay, since Zhou Gongan is coming back, I won't bother you two siblings anymore. I'll just wish you a happy new year here."

"Thank you for thinking of me, and Happy New Year to you too."

There were footsteps outside the door, and the sound gradually faded away.

Lin Baoyan stood up, walked to the door, opened it and looked out, and saw the second aunt next door standing at the door looking at her house.

The second aunt chuckled and asked, "Baoyan, how come you heard that little Wang coming to see you?"

Lin Baoyan acted puzzled and said sullenly, "I don't know either. He came knocking on the door and scared me. It's New Year's Eve dinner time. Who would come to my house without saying hello? He also said that he saw that I was lonely and invited me to dinner. My brother just didn't come back a little late. He will be back soon. How can I be lonely?"

The second aunt nodded and said, "Yes, whose family has no rules? Going to someone else's house for the New Year's Eve dinner will cause dislike. What dishes did you cook for the New Year's Eve dinner?" As she spoke, she stretched her head towards Lin Baoyan's house.

Lin Baoyan was helpless. Why did this second aunt want to know everything? She had to fool around and said, "I didn't buy much meat. I just made some mountain starch balls and roasted meat. Didn't they serve hairtail before? I roasted some hairtail."

The second aunt curled her lips. There was not even any braised pork. How could mountain starch dumplings be used to braise meat? This was a lie.

So he didn't ask any more questions, just chatted for a few words and went back, and said to the second uncle: "This girl is still too young, she actually used mountain starch to make dumplings for roasting meat, I don't know what it tastes like."

The second uncle heard the conversation between the two and said in surprise, "Why would Wang Fuguan go to the Lin family to invite her to dinner when he is fine? No, it's not true that he doesn't want to invite Lin Baoyan to dinner, but it's true that he wants to invite Zhou Kangzhan to dinner!"

He slammed the table and said angrily, "This kid is too cunning. He wanted to curry favor with Captain Zhou but failed, so he tried to use the back door and curry favor with Lin Baoyan first. He is so shameless."

The second aunt was also annoyed: "Yes, he is a newcomer, how can he have the face to curry favor with others? Is it possible for him to curry favor with Captain Zhou?"

The two looked at each other. Yes, they wanted to curry favor with the captain but haven't succeeded yet. Why should a new boy who moved in want to take the back door and try to curry favor with the captain first?

The second uncle stood up suddenly: "No, I'm going to go see Lin Baoyan to see if she's missing anything. I can't wait for Captain Zhou to come back and find out that she's missing everything."