Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 1107 Jie Di has lost weight
New Year's Day in 1960 arrived as scheduled. Due to the lack of supplies in the market, there was no festive atmosphere this New Year's Day. Everyone was worried about their own food supply.

Yan Jiekuang brought his sister to Wang Zhan's house. Yan Jiekuang hadn't been here for a month. In his opinion, people should always rely on themselves and not always go to Wang Zhan for a treat or to supplement their nutrition.

Wang Zhan didn't really have any particular thoughts, but he felt that letting Yan Jiekuang think he could freeload at any time was a bad sign for Yan Jiekuang. Getting something for nothing is also a problem, and when Yan Jiekuang took it for granted, that would be the starting point for his moral decline.

But recently, Yan Jiekuang couldn't stand his father's stinginess anymore. The cornmeal porridge was getting thinner and thinner, the cornbread was getting smaller and smaller, and even the pickled vegetables were counted by the piece. Until yesterday, when Yan Jiedi ran to Yan Jiekuang crying and shouting that she was hungry, Yan Jiekuang's heart was broken. He overestimated his abilities. He had no money and no food, and no one in the yard paid any attention to his family.

After finishing the porridge at home in the morning, Yan Jiekuang got dressed, helped Yan Jiedi put on her cotton-padded coat, scarf, and cotton hat, said goodbye to Yang Ruihua, and went out.

Now Yan Bugui no longer guards the gate. When he has nothing to do, he goes out fishing even in the freezing cold. He is trying to catch more fish and then use them to exchange with purchasing agents from some factories for some coarse grains or sweet potatoes.

Yan Jiekuang knew his father had a hard life, so he couldn't bring himself to hate his father for being stingy. But seeing his obviously thinner sister, he could only go to Wang Zhan, believing that Wang Zhan would still have food.

After finishing his breakfast, Wang Zhan sat in the main room, smoking and lost in thought. He was thinking about Wang Laoqi's visit. Although Wang Laoqi and Liu Weiguo left without saying anything, he felt that things weren't so simple.

When Wang Zhan went out the day before yesterday, he felt something was wrong. He felt that someone was watching and following him. To confirm this, Wang Zhan rode his bicycle straight to Nanchizi Street, heading south and circling the square three times. Finally, he confirmed that someone was following him, and there was more than one person.

Wang Zhan decided not to go out. Except for going to the grain station to buy grain at the beginning of the month, the front door of his house would be kept tightly closed. It would only be opened once when Zhang Erya came over and once when she came home. No matter who knocked on the door, he would not open it.

Wang Zhan was lost in thought because he was wondering why he was so prone to getting into trouble. Every now and then, all sorts of weird things would happen to him. Was he just unlucky? Should he go out for a walk again?

Wang Zhan thought about it again and realized that this wouldn't work. If he asked Brother Wang for a letter of introduction, he probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference, and it would easily implicate Brother Wang and affect his career. Without Uncle Li's protection, Brother Wang would be just like him, without any foundation here.

If I can't go out, then I'll just keep a low profile. Oh well, I'll take it one step at a time. Unless I'm allowed to go abroad to the Southeast, I'll consider it. As for the rest, I'll just let nature take its course.

As Wang Zhan was thinking, someone knocked on the front gate, and it was clearly a banging sound. However, the person banging on the gate didn't seem very strong, so Wang Zhan didn't want to respond. But then he suddenly heard a little girl's voice calling out, "Brother Zhan, open the door! It's me, Jie Di."

Wang Zhan was taken aback, then stood up and walked out of the main room to the front yard. He walked very fast and opened the gate when he reached it. As soon as the gate opened, he saw Yan Jiekuang and Yan Jiedi standing at the door. The two children were shivering from the cold, and their little faces were red.

"Why are you here? It's so cold. Come on, come inside and warm up by the fire. As your brother, aren't you worried about your sister getting sick from the cold?" Wang Zhan pointed towards the backyard, complaining to Yan Jiekuang as he ushered the siblings into the yard. Then he closed the gate and bolted it shut.

When the Yan siblings started drinking the brown sugar water, Wang Zhan noticed that the siblings had changed a lot since he last saw them a month ago, especially Jie Di, who had obviously lost a lot of weight. Yan Jie Kuang had also lost weight, but not as noticeably.

Wang Zhan frowned and asked, "Does your family not have enough food?"

"Sigh, Brother Zhan, who has enough food to eat? I had no choice but to bring my sister here, hoping she could get some good food and some nutrition," Yan Jiekuang said, tears streaming down his face. "Logically speaking, your family shouldn't be in such dire straits. Your father isn't poor. Besides, according to the rationing system, your father, brother, sister-in-law, and mother all have adult rations, even the lowest level, which is still quite a lot," Wang Zhan asked, puzzled.

"Don't even mention my older brother. He cooked for himself, and he had a ration for two people. My brother is a worker, and his ration is four jin more than my dad's. Besides, I've always suspected that my older brother isn't even a first-class worker. I'd guess he's at least a second-class worker, maybe even a third-class worker. Otherwise, he could have bought his wife a watch." Yan Jiekuang said with a lot of complaints.

Wang Zhan thought for a moment and said, "Are your brother's living expenses and rent, as well as your father's pension, all paid monthly?"

Yan Jiekuang nodded and said, "They pay monthly, without fail."

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about that. You can’t blame your older brother. I guess your dad is plotting against him again. I guess your older brother can’t take it anymore. After all, he’s married now. The problem is probably still with your dad. Jie Di, are you hungry? What do you want to eat?” Wang Zhan said, then turned his gaze to the little girl.

Yan Jiedi put the cup on the table and said, "Eat meat, eat rice, Brother Zhan. My dad only gives me one small cornbread a day, half for lunch and half for dinner. I'm still not full."

After listening, Wang Zhan turned around and said, "Jie Kuang, your dad is really something. How much can such a small child eat? Why isn't he full?"

“You don’t know my dad, he’s always so fair and just. He’s dividing the food into portions according to our own rations at home, but by the time it gets to Jie Di, there’s only this much. There’s nothing I can do about it, I can’t make the decision,” Yan Jie Kuang said helplessly.

Wang Zhan stood up and said, "Alright, we happen to have some meat at home. Let's have noodles today. Jie Di, go and play with your sister Lili. Jie Kuang, come on, help me out. I'll make sure you guys have a good meal today."

Wang Zhan, wearing a cotton-padded coat, led Yan Jiekuang to the kitchen. Yan Jiedi, with her short legs, ran towards Wang Li's room. Wang Zhan was quite curious; with such a commotion in the outer room, why didn't Wang Li and Zhang Erya react at all?

Wang Zhan moved very quickly, and in no time the dough was rising. He started frying meat sauce and preparing vegetable toppings. Yan Jiekuang ran to the greenhouse in the small garden, picked some cilantro, scallions and cucumbers, washed them and handed them to Wang Zhan.

It wasn't even noon yet, but Wang Zhan started eating right away for the sake of the Yan siblings.

Wang Li came out holding Yan Jiedi's little hand. It was clear that the girl cared about Yan Jiedi, as Yan Jiedi's pockets were stuffed full of snacks.

Without anyone even having to say anything, the aroma of the meat sauce filled the entire main room, and everyone was getting impatient. Wang Zhan brought over several large bowls and placed them on the table, and finally brought over a whole basin of cold noodles.

Wang Zhan said, "Don't be shy, everyone. Help yourselves and start eating."

(End of this chapter)