Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 1082 Conversation at the Drinking Party
Yi Zhonghai looked down on Yan Bugui from the bottom of his heart. His wine was all mixed up, and who would dare to drink it? But Yi Zhonghai remained calm and said with a smile, "I said I'm treating you to drinks, how can I drink yours? This is Lianhua Bai, how about that? It's good enough, right? Drink this first, and we'll talk about it if it's not enough."

Yi Zhonghai placed the wine on the table and called from the kitchen, "Zhu Zi, how's it going?"

"Get the bowls and chopsticks set out right away, we're about to start cooking." Sha Zhu's voice came from the kitchen.

A moment later, Li Cuilan began setting the table. Soon after, Qin Huairu came over carrying two dishes. Yi Zhonghai was a little surprised. When did Qin Huairu arrive? He looked at his wife, Li Cuilan, who was watching Qin Huairu walk into the kitchen. She said, "This girl was called here by Shazhu to help out. I offered to help, but he said he was too busy, so I didn't say anything more."

Yi Zhonghai frowned slightly but didn't say anything. He turned to Li Cuilan and said, "Don't forget to set some aside for the old lady. You can send it over later."

Liu Haizhong didn't notice anything amiss and was just smoking and bragging to Yan Bugui about his eldest son becoming a cadre. Yan Bugui, however, noticed something unusual. He wondered if this silly Zhu had taken a liking to Qin Huairu, but then he thought it was impossible. They couldn't get past Jia Zhangshi alone. Anyway, he couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it, since the dishes were starting to arrive.

In the end, Qin Huairu was seen carrying a large bowl home. Li Cuilan was a little angry and took her own food back to her bedroom. Yi Zhonghai was also a little annoyed. "You took the food without even saying hello to me, the host, and then took a large bowl of food."

Just then, Sha Zhu came over carrying a large bowl of soup and called out, "Bok choy and meatball soup, all ready, Grandpa, let's eat!"

Yi Zhonghai rolled his eyes at him, then opened the bottle and filled everyone's glasses, saying, "It's not easy for us to get together and drink together again. Without further ado, let's drink until we're drunk. Come on, have a sip first."

The four of them started drinking in the main room. After finishing a bottle of Lotus White wine, Yi Zhonghai stood up, opened another bottle, and filled everyone's glasses before sitting down.

"Come on, let's keep drinking! Our compound is peaceful and prosperous now, and life is getting better and better. Cheers!" They said "cheers" but they only took a sip. After a few people finished their drinks, they put down their glasses.

Yan Bugui lowered his head and ate voraciously, heading straight for the braised pork and twice-cooked pork. He didn't even touch the fish. Yan Bugui often went fishing, and his family often ate mixed fish hot pot and fish soup, so he felt like vomiting just from the smell of fish.

At this moment, Yi Zhonghai lit a cigarette and looked at Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui, saying, "Second Uncle, Third Uncle, you see, although there are usually some minor frictions between neighbors in our compound, the families generally get along quite well. But in the past two years, our compound has not been selected as an outstanding compound. Do you know why?"

Liu Haizhong was stunned. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head. Yan Bugui also put down his chopsticks. He had heard that this compound, which was rated as an excellent compound, would not only receive welfare benefits during the New Year, but also receive a bonus as the manager. As soon as he heard Yi Zhonghai mention the excellent compound, he took it to heart.

Even Sha Zhu was stunned. He hadn't thought about this question before. He was simply attracted by Yi Zhonghai's words and kept thinking about why his courtyard hadn't been rated as an excellent courtyard. It shouldn't be like this. The neighbors in this courtyard are so harmonious. There are very few arguments.

Yi Zhonghai saw that the two men had figured things out, so he said, "Look, the No. 69 courtyard in Sesame Alley is also a three-courtyard house. They were rated as an outstanding courtyard last year, right? The reason is that this courtyard worked together to help the police catch an enemy spy. You've heard about it, haven't you?"

Liu Haizhong nodded sharply and said, "Yes, that's right. It was all over the news at the time. I heard that a retired soldier and his brother in the compound were injured and went to the hospital."

Yan Bugui knew about this, but all he knew was that the neighborhood committee and the police station had given the two brothers a reward of nearly a thousand yuan. He had been envious for a while and even went to that courtyard to try and build a relationship with the brothers, hoping to get some benefits out of them, but the gatekeeper chased him away. Yi Zhonghai took a puff of his cigarette and continued, "Look at the 80th courtyard in Qinlao Hutong, which was also an outstanding courtyard last year. Why were they rated as an outstanding courtyard? It's because they produced two college students and two vocational school graduates. So what's the difference between our courtyard and theirs?"

Liu Haizhong took a sip of wine, pondering the question. Yan Bugui also lowered his head in thought. After a moment, Yan Bugui had an idea and said, "Outstanding contributions. These two courtyards have made outstanding contributions in some aspects, which has become an important factor for them to participate in the evaluation, so they were selected."

Upon hearing this, Liu Haizhong nodded in agreement, and even Sha Zhu, who had been listening silently, nodded in agreement as well.

Yi Zhonghai said, "Yes, what the Third Uncle said is right, but there is another point, reputation, reputation in Nanluoguxiang."

Liu Haizhong asked, "Then what should we do to be like them? We can't let the people in our compound go out to catch enemy spies, can we? We won't be able to catch any."

Sha Zhu, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly chuckled and said, "Second Uncle, with your size, even if you saw an enemy agent, you wouldn't be able to catch him."

"Silly Zhu, what are you doing?" Liu Haizhong was annoyed. Yi Zhonghai quickly came to his rescue, saying, "Zhuzi, how dare you talk to your second uncle like that? Just drink your wine." Silly Zhu smiled and continued eating his peanuts with his wine, then fell silent again.

Yi Zhonghai then said, "I've thought about this for a long time, and I think we should pick up the basic rules of the hospital that we initially advocated: respecting the elderly and caring for the young, and helping each other. However, we need to take a big step to let the neighbors know about it."

Yan Bugui sighed and said, "Most of the people in our compound are employees of the steel mill. There are no families of martyrs. There are only old Yang, the gatekeeper, who is still in good health. There are only families in difficulty, like Grandma Yang in the front yard. But that old lady is stubborn and won't accept anything from anyone. I think this is going to be difficult."

Sha Zhu chimed in at this moment, saying, "Have you forgotten about Sister Qin's family? They're considered a poor family now, right? They ran out of food a while ago, and I had to get them some food from the cafeteria."

The reason Yi Zhonghai invited Sha Zhu to drink with him was because of Sha Zhu's words. Yi Zhonghai was overjoyed. Donating money to the Jia family was something he couldn't say himself, since it was his apprentice's family. But if Sha Zhu said it, he could easily agree to it.

Yi Zhonghai said, "We'll hold a big meeting to help families in need, but we can't do good deeds wrong. We still need to follow the proper procedures. But before that, we can let the older women and young wives in the courtyard spread the word first. Then we'll pick two of the most needy families and do a donation event. Wouldn't that be a success?"

Liu Haizhong slammed his hand on the table and said, "Great idea! This is a good deed and it will also help us build a good reputation. I agree."

Yan Bugui suddenly began to doubt Yi Zhonghai's motives for inviting them to drinks, but he couldn't say anything now because he couldn't figure out whether Yi Zhonghai was trying to get into the top college or had ulterior motives. Yan Bugui had always thought that Yi Zhonghai was very self-serving. After several encounters, he was the one who suffered. If Yan Jiecheng hadn't gotten a formal job, he didn't know when his family would have been able to recover.

Since Yan Bugui hadn't figured it out and there was no need to offend Yi Zhonghai, he simply nodded in agreement.

(End of this chapter)