Break out of the courtyard

After viewing the two buildings in Zhongguancun, the group took a car to the Capital Hotel. While having dinner, they also took a look at the wedding banquet hall for the day after tomorrow.

However, when Zhang Heping told the manager of the Capital Hotel that he wanted to add six tables, prepare two more tables, and change the dishes, Zhang Pandi walked up to Zhang Heping and raised objections.

"Brother, it's not suitable to hold lavish celebrations in the capital. It's easy to be reported for extravagance and waste!" Zhang Pandi's tone was serious and her attitude was firm.

Zhang Heping thought for a moment and said, "Why not adopt a Western-style buffet style, where people can take as much as they eat, and the leftover food and drinks can be packed up for people to take away or give away."

Zhang Pandi hesitated for a moment, and the restaurant manager next to her smiled and said, "We can provide Western buffets, as well as mixed Chinese and Western buffets to meet everyone's needs."

"Then we'll have a mixed Chinese and Western buffet!" Zhang Heping made the final decision. "Please have someone bring the menu so we can confirm the dishes and drinks for the day after tomorrow."

After the hotel manager left temporarily, Zhang Pandi said again: "Brother, you said before that my sister and I can't accept money from anyone and must follow the path of honesty and diligence, but you are doing this now. How can I explain it in the future?"

"I didn't give you any money!" Zhang Heping picked up the teacup on the table and said with a smile: "Instead of worrying about the trivial matter of me paying for my nephew's wedding banquet, you might as well think about whether you should accept the gifts from the guests the day after tomorrow!"

"This..." Just as Zhang Pandi was hesitating, the hotel manager came back quickly.

"Mr. Zhang, please have a look!" The restaurant manager handed over a red-covered menu with both hands.

While looking through the menu, Zhang Heping said to the restaurant manager, "Prepare some more lunch boxes and handbags for those who need to pack up after the meal."

Seeing that her second sister Zhang Pandi was hesitant and undecided, Chen Shuting smiled and reminded her, "Second sister, Mr. Hua and Aunt Wang will also come the day after tomorrow. What are you still worried about?"

Hearing that Mr. Hua was also coming, Zhang Pandi felt relieved.

Then, Zhang Pandi thought of the storefront on the ground floor that her third brother's family gave to her son, and compared it with the meal expenses of the Capital Hotel. Because there was no comparability, Zhang Pandi simply didn't worry about who paid for the wedding banquet.

"That's it, all expenses will be settled from my account!" Zhang Heping said, then he closed the menu and returned it to the restaurant manager.

Because the Peace Group had rented a floor at the Capital Hotel for a long time and had become a major customer over the years, bookkeeping was a small matter, not to mention that the Peace Group had no precedent of owing debts.

Therefore, Zhang Heping's family has such a good reputation at the Capital Hotel that they can pay the bill directly by scanning their faces.

After the hotel manager left, Zhang Heping glanced at his second sister who remained silent, then looked at his eldest nephew Zhang Yi who was sitting at the last table, and said, "Although it is customary to give gifts at weddings, some old comrades will come uninvited the day after tomorrow, and it is not appropriate for you to accept their gifts."

Zhang Yi smiled and said, "Don't worry, Third Uncle, we won't accept any gifts the day after tomorrow! You guys have given me enough wedding gifts, and I'm still dizzy now!"

Zhang Heping nodded slightly, smiled and changed the subject: "Have you sent the betrothal gift to the woman?"

Zhang Yi responded: "It was delivered the day before yesterday, and they only asked for 99 yuan as a gift!"

Zhang Heping looked at his mother Ma Xiuzhen again and asked, "Are the candies, red dates, peanuts, longans, melon seeds, and small red envelopes ready? Who should I look for for the elderly and children who are pressing on the bed?"

"Everything is ready! Your Aunt Chen will make a new bed for Xiao Yi tomorrow!" Ma Xiuzhen said halfway, then looked at the little grandson Zhang Hao held in Old Zhang's arms and said with a smile: "Our Xiao Hao is just the right person to be the bed for our eldest cousin. Why do we need to find one?"

Aunt Chen from the Zhou family has a happy marriage. Her husband is still supporting construction in western Xinjiang after retirement. She has two sons, a daughter, three grandsons, a granddaughter, and a grandson. It is a perfect family for Zhang Yi to make a new bed.

In this regard, even Director Wang, whose ex-husband died, cannot compare to her.

As for the bed-sitter, Zhang Jiaxing has the groom sleep with a bed-sitter the night before the wedding chamber, which is meant to drive away bad luck.

The custom in some places is to find a boy and a girl and have them roll from the head to the foot of a newly made bed, which means wishing for both a son and a daughter.

Unfortunately, with family planning now in place, having both a son and a daughter is a luxury, unless they are twins, a boy and a girl.

Everyone chatted for a while and after dinner, Zhang Heping left most of the bodyguards at the Capital Hotel and only took four bodyguards, two men and two women, to the north bank of Houhai.

However, as soon as they arrived at the door of their house, they saw a group of relatives from Zhang Bing's hometown squatting outside smoking and eating melon seeds.

Zhang Heping's first reaction was that there were not enough bodyguards.

Ma Xiuzhen saw Zhang Heping stop and frowned at the group of relatives in front of him. She hurriedly explained: "Your two sisters have been in your hometown for many years. We can't refuse them to come and congratulate us."

"However, I have asked your father to arrange for them to stay in a nearby guesthouse, and asked your father's two apprentices to take them around the city so that they won't come here during the day to be an eyesore."

Those poor relatives didn't come during the day because the two apprentices from Lao Zhang's shoe shop took them outside.

It's night time now, and the two apprentices have already gone home, so there's no way to divert the attention of these poor relatives!
Lao Zhang and his two sisters quickly walked forward and asked the relatives from their hometown what they were doing there.

Zhang Heping took another step and led his wife and children straight to the gate of the courtyard, ignoring the poor relatives from his hometown, even though they were not from the line of his late uncle Zhang Cheng.

After Zhang Heping went upstairs, he asked four bodyguards to take turns guarding the entrance to the third floor to prevent outsiders from disturbing him.

"Uncle, was that Brother Heping just now?" Li Cuihua, the fourth child of Zhang Bing's second sister, said with some hope and loneliness: "After so many years, he must not recognize me!"

Li Cuihua and Zhang Cuicui, the fifth child of her uncle's family, once lived in the Zhang family in the capital for a period of time with Zhang Zhaodi and Zhang Pandi, who returned to their hometown to transfer their household registration, because they did not have enough food.

Today, she also brought her parents, brother and sister-in-law to the front yard of No. 95 Nanluoguxiang and took a look at the east wing where they used to live.

Zhang Bing was a little embarrassed and didn't know how to answer.

He admitted that his son was among the people who just passed by, so why didn’t his son come to say hello to these relatives?
Is it because his son has become rich and looks down on these poor relatives?

Although this is the fact, Zhang Bing is unwilling to admit it to the outside world.

"It's too late!" Ma Xiuzhen came over and said indifferently: "Lao Zhang, send the relatives back to the guesthouse and rest early. We still have a lot of things to prepare tomorrow, so we should rest early today too!"

Ma Xiuzhen ordered them to leave and called the two old girls directly into the yard.

There was no way. This group of relatives was called by Lao Zhang. He had anticipated this situation a long time ago, and his wife Ma Xiuzhen had also given him some eye drops in advance, so he knew what to do at this time.

So, Lao Zhang asked these relatives where they had been for sightseeing today while he sent them away.

~
"This is hanging in the balance!" Yan Jiecheng, who was hiding on the south bank of Houhai Lake and observing the movements outside the Zhang family's door with a telescope, said to the people next to him who were also holding telescopes, "Zhang Heping doesn't even care about his poor relatives, so how could he care about us!" Yan Bugui put down the telescope, looked at the red lanterns on the other side, and sighed, "Zhang Bing and Ma Xiuzhen didn't accept the wedding gift we sent to Zhang Yi, and Zhang Heping didn't even think highly of the little things we sent!"

He Yuzhu leaned against a tree nearby, eating melon seeds while jokingly saying, "I've said it before, given Zhang Heping's ruthlessness towards his eldest cousin's family, it's impossible for him to give you the medicine! You insist on listening to Dasha Mao, and you won't give up until you hit the wall!"

Xu Damao held up the telescope, still looking in the direction of the Zhang family, but he still insisted, "People like Sha Zhu and Yi Zhonghai who have offended the Zhang family so much have no chance at all, but we may not!"

After saying this, Xu Damao put down the telescope, asked everyone else in the yard to leave, and prepared to find a place to discuss.

After receiving instructions from Yi Zhonghai, Sha Zhu had no choice but to follow Xu Damao and the others, openly listening to their plans.

……

The next morning, Director Wang came to Zhang's house and invited Zhang Heping and Chen Shuting to the Ministry of Industry to discuss the reorganization of state-owned factories along the coast by attracting investment from the Heping Group.

As for Zhang Yi's marriage, there will be other people to help.

Zhang Bei gave Zhang Yi a black suit and a mechanical watch as groom's attire.

Zhang Nan gave the bride Roy a white wedding dress, white high heels, and some pearl jewelry.

Because Roy lived near Shuimu University, Zhang Nan asked his brothers and sisters to leave the groom Zhang Yi behind and drive to Shuimu University together.

Roy is Zhang Bei's classmate. She had worked in Zhang Bei's Capital Technology Company for a period of time, which gave her the opportunity to meet, know and fall in love with Zhang Yi.

Therefore, Roy has known Zhang Bei, Zhang Nan, Zhang Ting and others for a long time.

Zhang Yi and Roy's plan to hold a Western-style wedding was actually discussed by this group of friends, except that they omitted the priest and other aspects and added some aspects designed by themselves.

After Roy tried on the wedding dress and jewelry, the group of friends drove to the Capital Airport to pick up the third girl Zhang Nian who flew in from Shanghai.

Zhang Nian is in the preparatory group of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. She has not had any weekends off in recent months because they are working very tight.

To put it bluntly, their preparatory group has not even carried out a trial run of the securities trading system, and no one knows how much follow-up work will be!

Zhang Nian had worked as a financial manager at Capital Technology Company for a while, so he naturally knew the bride, Roy, so the gift he gave was not bad, a set of three gold sets from Lao Fengxiang.
A group of friends sent the bride Roy back home and then went back home.

When Zhang Bei, Zhang Nan and others drove back, the Zhang family's bodyguards had already followed a group of middle-aged women with red sleeves, using banknotes to clear the way and drove the wedding car convoy to the north bank road of Houhai to wait.

As for the stall owners in the surrounding area who received red envelopes, they all agreed to take a break today and tomorrow and not set up stalls here.

Once the road here is cleared, stall owners from other places will naturally want to come and take up space.

But the original stall owner was not stupid. He simply moved his gear to both sides of the road so as not to affect the passage of vehicles and the stall still occupied the spot.

In addition, there are middle-aged women with red sleeves and bodyguards guarding the intersection, which makes the roads on the north bank of Houhai and the east bank of Qianhai a lot quieter.

Although the Zhang family's actions made it easier to pick up the bride, they also had many disadvantages.

Firstly, the gossip on the street was not pleasant to hear, and secondly, there were quite a lot of people waiting on the road the next morning to ask for red envelopes!
Just look, early in the morning on the 26th, as soon as the Zhang family took out the heart-shaped flower ball and prepared to stick it on the hood of the first car, people who were waiting outside for red envelopes came up to them and said auspicious words to ask for red envelopes.

Ma Xiuzhen and Zhang Pandi were worried that there wouldn't be enough red envelopes later, so they were very conservative at first, giving only one red envelope to each person.

When Zhang Heping and others went downstairs and saw that there were too many people surrounding outside, they asked the bodyguard to take a bag of red envelopes and lead people to Yinding Bridge to distribute them.

There are also some rules to follow when it comes to bridgehead!
Those who received the red envelopes must all go to the south side of the bridge and are not allowed to return from Yinding Bridge.

In other words, even if these people want to receive the red envelope a second time, they have to go around Houhai or Qianhai and come back!
"Drive the convoy to the main road first. We can tie up the red ribbons, balloons and other things after we get out!" Zhang Heping gave a casual instruction and asked the driver to lead the young people who were welcoming the bride to drive to the neighborhood committee first.

"Brother Heping!" Biaozi, who opened an Internet cafe in Nanguan Hutong, came over and smiled embarrassedly: "I wanted to ask my brothers to disperse those people, but there were too many of them, and the people from the street office were also there, so we couldn't help. Please forgive me!"

"It's okay! We're all here to congratulate you, so don't get violent!" Zhang Heping said casually, then looked at his second sister Zhang Pandi next to him and asked, "Have you sent Biaozi's invitation?"

"It's delivered! It's delivered!" Biaozi replied hurriedly, and his back bent even more.

Zhang Heping stepped forward and patted the famous street kid on the back, smiling and saying, "You are all bosses now, you have to be able to stand firm, and then your subordinates will obey you!"

After Biaozi's back was straightened by the pat, he replied with a "hmm" with some emotion!
"I should have called your little brothers here today to thank them for helping me look after this place..." Before Zhang Heping could finish his words, Biaozi hurriedly said he was not worthy of it.

Zhang Heping waved to the dozen or so hooligans beside the lake, then stretched out his right hand to wave to the captain of the bodyguards, then looked at the hooligans approaching nervously, and said with a smile: "There will be an old comrade attending the banquet later, so I won't invite you little brothers to come over. Please help me explain it when you go back."

"Brother Heping, you're too polite. We are already very grateful for your advice. How can we ask you to explain anything to us!" While Biaozi was speaking, Zhang Heping had already taken a stack of red envelopes from the bodyguard captain and gave them to these gangsters.

"Wow! It's magnesium gold!" An ignorant gangster actually opened the red envelope in front of him, and then was kicked in the butt by the angry Biaozi, which made the other gangsters laugh.

Just as Zhang Heping was about to turn around and discuss with his family who should go to the Capital Hotel first, a gangster suddenly said, "Boss, you just came back today. We have something about the richest man Zhang's family that we haven't had time to tell you yet."

The hooligans nearby heard this, and with the red envelopes in their hands and the pile of red envelopes in the bodyguard's bag, they quickly interrupted and said, "Recently, there are a few people on the other side of the river who have been using binoculars to spy on Zhang Shoufu's house!"

"We quietly followed them and saw that they were from No. 95 Nanluoguxiang Courtyard." Another gangster rushed to say, "We didn't find out what they were going to do, so we didn't alarm them."

Hearing the people from Yard 95, Zhang Heping nodded slightly, stretched out his right hand to the captain of the bodyguards, blocked the stack of red envelopes handed over by the captain of the bodyguards, and directly took the shoulder bag containing the red envelopes.

"Biaozi, take this and share it with them. If something like this happens again in the future, just call me directly!" Zhang Heping said, and handed the shoulder bag containing the red envelopes to the gang leader.

"Brother Heping, do you want me to arrange someone..." Biaozi didn't finish his words, but the subtext contained a fierceness.

"You are already a father, don't do anything illegal!" Zhang Heping patted Biaozi on the shoulder and said calmly: "Let's wait and see what happens. They are just small ants and can't cause any trouble."

"Okay, go and give them the red envelopes first, and then go to the restaurant by yourself. I have a lot of things to do here!"

...(End of chapter)