Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 1108 The unexpected person
On January 10, 1960, just one week before the Lunar New Year, Xiao Si suddenly came over last night and told Wang Zhan that Fei Qing was treating everyone to dinner at Fengzeyuan the next night. The reason was that Fei Qing was leaving to join the army.

Xiao Si left after getting a free meal, but Wang Zhan was a bit confused. Fei Qing was a very good student, one of the best. He had always thought Fei Qing would take the college entrance examination and then go to a military university. Why did he suddenly join the army? He was only half a year away from the college entrance examination. Why did he suddenly give it up?

When Xiao Wu and Da Lao Tie left, Fei Qing said he wanted to take the entrance exam for the Military Command Academy. Fei Qing was very confident at the time. Wang Zhan felt that something must have happened in the past six months, most likely that Fei Qing's family had a problem.

The morning in Beijing was still cold, and even Wang Zhan's martial arts-trained body couldn't take it. He put on a cotton-padded coat and quickly washed his face in the main room. Luckily, he had filled several thermos flasks yesterday, and when he poured them out this morning, they were just the right temperature for washing up.

While Wang Zhan was washing his face, he heard noises coming from his sister's room. He guessed that Wang Li had also gotten up. Wang Zhan called out to Wang Li, reminding her to put on her cotton-padded coat, as it was a bit cold outside.

Wang Zhan started stirring the coal in the stove and added new coal. He figured it would take a while for the house to warm up. So, Wang Zhan opened the door to the main room, lifted the curtain, and, ignoring the cold wind blowing on his face, went straight to the kitchen.

Wang Li got dressed in the room. Turning her head, she saw a military green coat at the bottom of her closet. She scratched her head, completely forgetting she had such a coat. If she had known, she would have put it on long ago. The cold of this winter was getting to her, but Wang Li didn't care. She pulled out the military coat from the bottom of the closet, put it on, and went to the dressing table to look in the mirror. She was very satisfied with her reflection. Wearing it, she happily left her room.

When Wang Li arrived at the main room, she was stunned. Well, she couldn't listen to her brother anymore. How was she supposed to wash up with all these clothes on? Wang Li had no choice but to start taking off her coat and cotton-padded jacket one by one before she could pour water to wash up.

The main room had warmed up. On the square table were two small dishes of pickled vegetables, a plate of scrambled eggs, and a plate of stir-fried bok choy. The porridge was rice porridge, and in the small winnowing basket next to it were several steamed buns made with a mixture of wheat flour and corn flour in a 7:3 ratio, which Wang Zhan had specially prepared.

Wang Li sipped her porridge slowly, pausing occasionally because it was a little hot. She asked, "Brother, did Brother Fei Qing go to find Brother Xiao Wu and Brother Tie?"

"Yes, they are going, but they haven't left yet. Otherwise, why would they invite us to dinner? I just don't know if they can be together." Wang Zhan ate his steamed buns in large bites, occasionally picking up a few bites of vegetables.

Wang Li thought for a moment and said, "Brother, do you think we should bring Fei Qing a gift? It wouldn't be good to go empty-handed, would it?"

Wang Zhan was taken aback. He really hadn't thought of that. It seemed that girls were more thoughtful. Wang Zhan smiled and said, "Thanks for reminding me. After we finish eating, let's go to the basement and pick out a gift for your brother Fei Qing."

"Brother, you're so stingy! You know all the good stuff is in the Jade Void, so why did you go to the basement to pick out a gift for him?" Wang Li rolled her eyes at her brother.

Wang Zhan laughed so hard he almost fell over, and said, "Alright, alright, let's pick some things out. There are some things he can't take to the troops at all. Let's go take a look later. Let's eat first."

After finishing their meal, Wang Zhan and his sister Wang Li entered the Jade Void Space. They searched for over two hours in the main house's treasure room, the east and west wing rooms' storage rooms, and the warehouse Wang Zhan had built in the back mountain. They couldn't find anything suitable, so after much deliberation, they finally picked out a Swiss Army knife.

This military knife was a collection Wang Zhan had kept when he was in Hong Kong. It had been stored in a warehouse he rented until Blind Chen brought it back to him on a freight trip. Wang Zhan had long forgotten that he even had this thing.

This bayonet was characterized by its leather belt pouch, but the Swiss manufacturer later adopted the same vinyl belt pouch as the M90. The Swiss K57 double-edged bayonet is renowned for its exquisite craftsmanship and superior steel performance, making it one of the world's most famous bayonets.

Wang Li also said that this was a perfect gift, and most importantly, there was no need to prepare a separate box, as it came with a cedar wood gift box that was exquisitely crafted and beautiful. Wang Zhan simply stuffed it into his military satchel and casually added a pack of Peony brand cigarettes.

The two checked the time and saw it was already ten o'clock. Wang Zhan hurriedly took Wang Li and rode their bicycles out. As they passed the alley entrance, Wang Li went to say goodbye to Zhang Erya, telling her they might be back late in the afternoon. When the siblings appeared at the entrance of Fengzeyuan, a girl of about twelve or thirteen years old walked towards them, smiling and waving from afar, calling out, "Over here, over here!" Wang Zhan was taken aback. Wang Li looked at her brother and asked, "Do you know her?"

Wang Zhan shook his head. The girl ran over and said, "You must be Brother Wang Zhan. My name is Fei Lanlan, and I'm Fei Qing's sister. They've already started drinking, so they told me to come down and wait for you."

"Hello, I'm Wang Zhan, and this is my younger sister, Wang Li. She's ten years old, so she'll probably call you 'older sister'," Wang Zhan said with a smile.

Fei Lanlan took Wang Li's hand and said, "Yes, Lili, you'll come with me today, and I'll take you to eat something delicious."

"Hello, sister!" Wang Li also felt that Fei Lanlan was very friendly and greeted her with a smile.

Wang Zhan also felt that this little girl, despite her young age, had a unique temperament, which he guessed was common among children raised in the military. However, Fei Qing was a bit different from his sister; he had a very down-to-earth, street-smart vibe. What kind of temperament could someone have who could squat in the toilet with Wang Zhan and Xiao Si and Xiao Wu, smoking and chatting?

Fei Lanlan led the siblings directly up to the second floor, explaining the situation as they walked.

Wang Zhan only found out from Fei Lanlan that they were the last to arrive. Fei Qing had booked two single rooms upstairs. One room was for his good friends from junior high school, and the other room was for his childhood friends from the compound.

When Wang Zhan entered their room, he immediately saw Xiao Si. Fei Qing was not in the room, and there were two empty seats next to Xiao Si.

Wang Zhan walked straight over. Wang Li originally wanted to sit down next to her brother, but unexpectedly, Fei Lanlan pulled Wang Li to sit opposite her. There was a little girl there whom Wang Zhan had never seen before.

Just as Wang Zhan was about to speak to Xiao Si, Xiao Si gestured with his chin towards the person opposite him, indicating that Wang Zhan should look in that direction. Wang Zhan turned his head in confusion and saw Yu Fei sitting opposite him. That damned little lecher, he hadn't seen him for more than a year.

What surprised Wang Zhan even more was that sitting next to Yu Fei was Xu Damao from courtyard number 95. The fact that the two of them were together surprised Wang Zhan. But then he thought about it and realized that the two of them were really birds of a feather, because they had one thing in common: they couldn't resist beautiful women.

Of course, Wang Zhan learned about Xu Damao's problem from Yan Jiekuang. Yan Jiekuang told him that every time Xu Damao went home and ran into Qin Huairu from the Central Court, his eyes were lecherous, and he was practically drooling.

Wang Zhan took out a cigarette, gave one to Xiao Si, lit it, and then, without going up to greet them, just watched the two men with great interest. At this moment, Xu Damao and Yu Fei were chatting happily with their heads down, occasionally letting out lewd laughter.

After a while, Yu Fei felt that someone was watching him, so he looked up and looked at that gaze. "Wow, Brother Zhan, when did you get here?"

Xu Damao was startled by Yu Fei and looked in the direction Yu Fei was looking. He saw an ordinary-looking young man with a cigarette in his mouth, smiling at them. Xu Damao frowned. He felt that the man looked familiar, but he just couldn't remember who he was. So Xu Damao sat there without saying anything and watched Yu Fei stand up and run over.

(End of this chapter)