Years: Salted fish life since going to the countryside.

Chapter 1715 Not Enough Seats at One Table
After Han Li returned from practicing boxing outside and washed up, he realized that he seemed to have nowhere to go.

Because it was too early, the wives and children in the north wing were still sleeping, and Qi Xiaomei and the others in the east wing were also still asleep.

Han Li could only brew tea in the west wing and take out his books to begin his morning study.

Not long after, Qi Xiaomei and the other two got up. Sanming and Erliang, having had a good sleep, also started to make a fuss, and the courtyard immediately became lively.

Under these circumstances, Han Li could no longer continue reading. He could only get up and watch over the two children, making them wash up, tidy up the room, and cook.

Children are hard to judge; once they open their eyes, they don't want to stay in the room and don't care whether it's cold or hot outside.

Han Li watched the children inside for a while before he had to carry them from indoors to outdoors.

Unexpectedly, the two little ones were not satisfied with their greed and stretched out their little arms to go into the street.

Han Li just happened to want to go and greet his parents, and on the way, he would buy some fried dough sticks, fried dough rings, and sugar-coated sesame cakes.

So Han Li placed the two boys face to face on the stroller, wrapped them in a blanket, and then pushed them out.

Han Li hadn't even reached the breakfast stall at the alley entrance when he saw his parents in the distance. His second and third sisters were buying fried dough sticks with his eldest son, Xiao Ming, and Xiao Liang. The three children were each holding a fried dough stick and munching on it, so he shouted loudly.

"Mom, buy more fried dough rings, I'm into this."

Han's mother: "Do you think I don't know you? You ordered a lot of fried dough rings and they're frying in the oil right now."

Han Li hadn't even reached the breakfast stall with his cart when his mother told his father to stay and wait for the fried dough rings to be ready. She then led her two daughters and three grandsons over.

As soon as they met, Han's mother said that the two children were too small and not wrapped up properly. She took the stroller and asked Han Li to stay with his father. She then took her second sister, third sister, and several children home.

Han Li walked over to his father and offered cigarettes to the familiar neighbors around him, chatting idly while waiting for the fried dough rings to be ready.

To be honest, even with the resumption of exams, the teaching profession is still not viewed favorably by the public.

Even though Han Li teaches at Yanda University and is currently the deputy director, he is not particularly eye-catching among the many residents in this area, and he is even less so than when he was sent to the countryside in Heilongjiang Province.

Besides the impact of previous years, the main reason is that teachers' salaries are low, their benefits are not as good as those of factory workers, and their treatment and their "usefulness" to their families are not as good as those of people in government agencies.

Of course, these are just the opinions of ordinary people who don't know the inside story, but this is the most common opinion, just like how they don't know that Han Li is still teaching at Hong Kong University.

This is the information barrier of this era, even if these people are all from Beijing.

Moreover, most people's understanding is basically confined to their own circles.

Workers are very familiar with the wages and benefits in most factories, and people in government agencies are well aware of administrative ranks and the value of most positions.

However, most of them only have a superficial understanding of the situation within the relatively closed circle of universities.

The people living in Mianhua Hutong are all old neighbors. Those who are close to them know what they should know, but they won't easily tell outsiders. Those who shouldn't know remain unaware.

However, in Haizi, Han Li's home is not connected to these people's, and he himself rarely shows his face more than a few times a year.

The Yun sisters and He Mi work every day and have to take care of several children, so they don't have much free time to build relationships with the neighbors. The Han family members are also quite tight-lipped, so most of the neighbors don't know much about them.

Furthermore, for most of the neighbors, Han Li, a university professor, is not even as useful to their families as a primary or secondary school teacher.

So, the relationship was just that of exchanging a few polite words when we met, and sitting together to chat while enjoying the cool air.

Since the men in Han Li's family rarely show their faces, do the neighbors never come to cause trouble?
Looking for trouble?
This is not the "Qinman Courtyard" from the novel, which has been drastically altered; this is a detached courtyard house by Houhai Lake in Beijing.

Han Ma, the director of the neighborhood office, is no pushover; her two wolves and two police dogs with license plates are not just for show.

Han Li's junior brothers and Tong Shaoxin from the sports school often bring their students over to check if there's anything they can help with.

Every year, they helped Han Li's family bring back winter vegetables, coal briquettes, and coal blocks from both of their courtyards. The two groups even had a conflict over who got to do the work.

Because they were all young and impetuous martial artists, neither of them would back down, and it was common for them to find an excuse to fight each other when they met.

A group of people were fighting in front of Han Li's house, and the surrounding neighbors all heard it.

These people are Han Li's junior classmates and friends from the sports school. They got into a fight because they were vying to help with the work. Who wouldn't be confused after hearing this reason?

In this situation, no one who isn't mentally ill would come looking for trouble.

Getting back to the main point, after Han Li and his son had fried all the fried dough sticks and jiaoquan they wanted, they carried them home.

When I got home, the millet porridge was already cooked. Two plates of pickled vegetable shreds, kimchi, stir-fried cabbage with cured pork, and hot and sour shredded potatoes were placed on two separate tables.

There was no other way; Han Li's family had too many people eating there—a total of sixteen, young and old. If Han's eldest sister and her family of three came, that would be nineteen people, and one table simply wouldn't be enough to seat them all.

Breakfast was eaten quickly, and after finishing, Han's mother handed Han Li a large stack of receipts.

Although Han Li didn't need it, he still accepted it with a smile, ignoring the stares of others, and said a lot of nice things about his mother, just like when he was a child.

Next, Mr. Han, Mrs. Han, the Han sisters, the Yun sisters, and Qi Xiaomei still had to go to work.

After seeing his family off to work, Han Li spent a while at home playing with his three older sons.

Around ten o'clock, Han Li, carrying the gifts his family had prepared, rode his bicycle to his master's house.

However, Han Li drove into an empty alley on the road and took out a lot of fresh meat he bought from Hong Kong, as well as some foreign wine and gifts for his junior brothers from his decomposition space.

Master's house is still the same as before, but since today is the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, every household is busy cleaning up and rushing to the market to buy New Year's goods.

Therefore, there are not many junior disciples practicing boxing here today, only Hao Guangchun, who has no family, is here.

Han Liren hadn't even entered the room yet when his excited voice came through.

"Master, I'm back."

Upon hearing this sound, both the tea master and Hao Guangchun, who was practicing martial arts, stopped what they were doing.
(End of this chapter)