Siheyuan: I earned foreign exchange in the heyday

With still a few days left before the Spring Festival, the secretary of the street office took Nan Yi's family to live in the courtyard.

Chen Changan’s real neighbors, the Lin family, with whom he had never spoken much, moved to Tianjin because of work transfer.

The vacant house was arranged by the street office for Nan Yi's family.

That's right, I don't know how Liu Binghui did it, Nan Yi and Liang Ladi got married. The two of them, along with their four children, were arranged by the street office to live in the east hall between the front and middle courtyards of the quadrangle.

This can be considered as becoming a real neighbor with Chen Changan.

When Chen Changan got home from get off work in the evening, he was still thinking about what to eat tonight.

Liang Ladi came and knocked on Chen Changan's door. Chen Changan was still wondering who was knocking on the door.

I was afraid that he would ask me to introduce a job again, but after opening the door, I didn’t recognize the person.

He said in surprise, "Hello, comrade, who are you looking for?"

Liang Ladi said, "Hello, I am the new resident of the living room next door. My name is Liang Ladi."

Chen Changan was stunned. Could it be that the subdistrict office arranged Nan Yi's family to live in his courtyard?

Old Liu is really amazing. He brought a royal chef and a welder directly to his factory.

After Chen Changan realized what was happening, he said, "Hello, what's the matter?"

Liang Ladi said, "It's like this. We were arranged here by the street office just as we were about to get off work in the afternoon. I heard that this family left in the morning. I just bought a stove, and I'm afraid it will be too late to cook if we light it now.

I'll use a new coal and your burning coal, will that work?"

This is a small matter. There is more than one stove in Chen Changan's family, and it is normal for neighbors to exchange coal.

After the coal was changed and Liang Ladi left, Chen Changan hadn't finished his meal yet when there was a knock on the door and He Yushui's voice said, "Brother Changan, the uncle just informed us that after dinner, each family should arrange for someone to go to the Intermediate Court for a general meeting."

Chen Changan agreed and continued to eat. But he was thinking, is this meeting held because there are new people in the courtyard?

It had been a long time since the whole courtyard had held a meeting, and Chen Changan was inexplicably looking forward to it. He wondered if these monsters in the courtyard would do anything to the Nan Yi family today.

It was too cold, so Chen Changan put on an extra coat. He wanted to put his hands in his sleeves, but it was inconvenient to smoke, so he simply lit a cigarette with one hand and held the stool with the other. He walked slowly towards the middle courtyard.

Chen Changan hadn't gossiped in the yard for a long time, and he didn't know what was going on. Why didn't the third uncle Yan Fugui sit at the table as usual?

Instead, like Chen Changan, he sat on a small stool and hid in a corner to hold a meeting.

Behind the table were only the second uncle Liu Haizhong and the first uncle Yi Zhonghai.

Was it because Yan Fugui's title of "third uncle" was removed by the street office? Or did he feel ashamed to be the third uncle?

This uncle, who usually likes to quibble over words in meetings and compares himself to a literati, didn't even come to the table today.

Chen Changan shook his head. If it were Chen Changan, he would have to transfer his job, right? Not to mention going to another place, he could always find a school in another district to continue teaching, right?

If all else fails, you can always find someone to change houses. It would be better to have different neighbors than to face these neighbors who know you well every day.

But considering Yan Fugui's personality, if he were to change houses and take advantage of other people's yards, he would probably be kicked out in no time.

It is because the people in charge of this quadrangle have their own thoughts that they can condone such a thing to happen.

However, after the incident in Yan Fugui's family, he never took advantage of others again.

Chen Changan guessed that Yan Fugui's family should be relatively wealthy, even richer than the Jia family. Otherwise, with the salary he claimed, he might not even be able to support his own children.

Chinese people like to be particular and not to reveal their true intentions. The Jia family is not short of money. Chen Changan doesn't know how much compensation Old Jia received for his work-related injuries, but it must be a lot. Chen Changan doesn't know what Yan Fugui did before liberation, but he must have earned more than he claimed to be able to support such a large family.

As for the families of the first and second uncles, there is no need to explain. Even a fool knows that both families are rich.

After all, if Chen Changan only relied on salary, he would not be as good as them. That is to say, when he was a buyer, he made some money.

When Chen Changan was wondering which family had the most money, the second uncle said, "The old Lin family from the east hall has moved away."

Just after saying this, Chen Changan heard Jia Zhang's muttering not far away, "The Lin family just moved away quietly. We have been neighbors for so many years, but they didn't tell us in advance. Our house is not big enough. If they had known to put up a lock, they could have occupied an ear room."

Jia Zhang's voice was not too small, and Chen Changan smiled after hearing it.

I thought that your house was not big enough to accommodate you, as Jia Dongxu was the only one with a city hukou in the whole family.

There is not enough room for your whole family. Nan Yi and Liang Ladi also have four children. They are both working.

You don’t have the final say in allocating houses. Just lock it and it’s yours? Do you still think it’s the old society? That’s a nice thought.

Then I heard the second uncle continue to say, "Let's ask the new neighbors to introduce themselves and where they work. We will all live in the same yard in the future, so get to know each other first."

Liang Ladi was able to pursue Nan Yi, who was already in a relationship, even though she had four children with her, which shows that she is not a coward.

He directly pulled the whole family up and introduced, "My name is Liang Ladi, a level 5 welder at the Sijiucheng Motorcycle Factory."

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd, which had been noisy at first, suddenly became quiet, and everyone looked at Chen Changan.

The second uncle was even more surprised and doubtful, could this be arranged by Chen Changan?

This is the amount of money given, not only for the transfer, but also for the house to be prepared.

There are many people who have the same idea. Liang Ladi was also a little surprised. After I introduced myself, you didn't even look at me, but looked at my young neighbor in the corner. What was he doing?

However, Liang Ladi didn't think too much about it and thought that Chen Changan was also from the motorcycle factory.

So she continued to introduce him, "This is my man, Nan Yi, the chef of the cafeteria at the Sijiucheng Motorcycle Factory."

"Oh my, nowadays anyone dares to become a chef. Where did you learn the skills? Who is your master? What dishes are you good at? Tell me about it." Except for Sha Zhu, no one would talk like this on the first day someone moved into the yard.

Nan Yi was not annoyed. It went without saying that someone who asked this question must be from the same industry.

If Nan Yi were asked to tell everyone about other things, it would be a bit difficult for him, but when it comes to cooking, he is not afraid of anyone.

He looked at Sha Zhu and said, "I learned from the imperial chef. I specialize in royal court cuisine and state banquets."

Nan Yi's words stunned Sha Zhu. Not only Sha Zhu, but everyone else in the yard except Nan Yi's family and Chen Changan was dumbfounded.

Imperial chef, even though there are many old people from the city in the courtyard, if you say you have heard of the imperial chef, then everyone has heard of him.

If you say that you have seen the imperial chef and eaten the food cooked by him, then none of the people in Siheyuan have ever said that.