Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 690: Taking My Sister Out for Fun
Early in the morning on the third day of the Lunar New Year, Wang Zhan looked at his sister and said, "My dear sister, there is a temple fair today. Do you want to go to the temple fair?"

Wang Li asked: "Is there anything delicious there? If so, let's go. If not, let's just stay at home. Our home is so beautiful."

Wang Zhan smiled and said to his sister, "Of course there are. There are many people selling snacks and performing acrobatics. It's fun."

Wang Li turned and ran. Wang Zhan was stunned and shouted, "Where are you running to?"

"I'll go put on my cotton-padded jacket, hurry up, brother." Wang Li walked into her bedroom without looking back.

"Wait a moment, don't worry, I'll put out the fire first." After Wang Zhan shouted, he went to the iron stove to put out the fire, and then went to put on his coat.

"Brother, does my red scarf look good on me?" Wang Li asked.

Wang Zhan smiled and said, "My sister is the prettiest. Let's go?"

"Let's go!" Wang Li shouted.

The brother and sister locked the yard and rushed to Baita Temple. Today happened to be the Baita Temple Fair, so Wang Zhan also wanted to take his sister out to play for a day to avoid her being bored at home.

Before they reached the White Horse Temple, they could hear the noise of people coming to the temple from all directions. Wang Li looked at the crowd and said, "Brother, there are so many people here."

"Have you been here in the past two years? Hold my hand tightly, or you won't run away." Wang Zhan said.

Wang Li held her brother's hand tightly and said, "I have never been here. The only time I went to a market was when I went to Changdian with you."

The brother and sister followed the crowd inside. Just as they arrived at the mountain gate, they saw stalls and tents everywhere. There were also people walking among the crowd and selling their wares. Wang Zhan saw several people selling candied haws alone. Wang Zhan bought one for Wang Li. Wang Li held the candied haws in one hand and held her brother's hand tightly with the other hand, eating as they walked.

Wang Li couldn't keep up with the sight. She hadn't even finished her candied haws yet, but she already had her eyes on the rice cake seller. Wang Zhan said, "Eat first. There's more for sale inside. I'll buy it for you later."

Wang Li then walked inside with her brother, looking around as they walked, and unknowingly they walked into the mountain gate. "Brother, which way should we go?" Wang Li asked.

Wang Zhan didn't know either. He looked to the left, then to the right, and said, "Let's go in the middle. There are too many people on either side."

The brother and sister walked along the middle aisle. There were all kinds of stalls on both sides of the road, selling toys like rattles, wooden items, and opera instruments. There was a wide variety of goods, and there were also stalls selling snacks in the middle. Wang Zhan found an old lady selling pea yellow, so he took his sister to buy four. Wang Li's eyes narrowed as she ate the food.

Wang Li pointed to a man selling wooden bowls and said, "Brother, that one is so beautiful."

"Let's go and have a look." The brother and sister walked over. A man was selling all kinds of wooden bowls at the stall. The wooden bowls were really beautiful, with various patterns carved on the outside, flowers, birds, fish, insects, people, animals and allusions. Wang Zhan picked two. The man saw that they were still children buying, so he didn't bargain and gave them two carved wooden spoons as a gift.

Wang Zhan took his sister and they walked around, ate and shopped.

When they reached the second hall, Wang Zhan found that he could no longer carry the things in his hands, so he went to a stall selling cloth bags and bought a large sack. He put all the things in it and then continued to move forward with Wang Li.

There was a crowd of people gathered on the platform inside the second hall. The brother and sister squeezed in and saw that it was a storyteller. Wang Zhan and his sister stood there and listened for a while. Wang Li shook her brother's arm and said, "Brother, I don't understand." The two of them got out of the crowd.

Entering the pagoda courtyard, they heard waves of cheers coming from the west courtyard. Wang Li pulled Wang Zhan and ran over there. Wang Zhan said from behind, "Slow down, you have short legs but you're moving around so fast." When the brother and sister entered the west courtyard, they saw circles of people. They watched one by one. There were jugglers, magicians, qigong practitioners, flag bearers, selling powerful pills, acrobatics, opera singers, miscellaneous songs, and double-act performers. It was very lively and Wang Li cheered when she saw it. Wang Zhan followed behind and gave them tips, but the most he gave was only one thousand yuan.

At this time, Wang Li noticed a black shed in the northwest corner, and the children were running there, so she asked Wang Zhan what it was used for.

Wang Zhan didn't know either, so he simply took Wang Li, paid the money and went in. They saw that it was a movie theater, so the brother and sister watched a movie inside. Unfortunately, there was no sound at all, but Wang Li was still very interested in watching the movie.

After leaving the shed, Wang Li was attracted by the stall renting comic books. Wang Zhan quickly pulled her away and said, "It's already afternoon, and we haven't eaten yet. I'll buy you a few comic books in the future. Don't waste your time here."

Wang Li nodded and continued walking inside with her brother. They walked into the west courtyard and found a stall selling fried tripe. The brother and sister were both hungry, so they sat down and ordered several plates of tripe, scattered pills, and bean curd sheets. Neither of them spoke a word, they just lowered their heads and ate voraciously. When they had almost finished eating, they looked at each other and laughed. Wang Zhan paid the bill and took his sister out of the back door of the temple.

The alley at the back door is a bird market, where most of the vendors sell flowers, birds, fish and insects. Wang Zhan and Wang Li walked and looked. Wang Zhan bought some flowers, especially a few orchids and a few katydids. Mainly, Wang Zhan liked the katydid gourds, the carvings on them were very vivid and beautiful.

Both the brother and sister were a little tired, so they walked slowly towards home. This trip lasted from morning to afternoon, and their large backpacks were full, and they still had some things in their hands.

After returning to Ke Garden and locking the gate, the two went to the main hall in the backyard and placed their things on the eight-immortal table. They both sat back in their chairs, neither of them wanting to move. Wang Zhan asked Wang Li, "Do you want to go to sleep for a while? I'll call you later."

Wang Li nodded and went into the bedroom. Wang Zhan went to the east room to light the fire in the stove and added some coal. He then went to pack up the things he had bought and put those for Wang Li in the west room and the rest in the warehouse in the front yard. He picked out a few flower pots from the warehouse and fetched soil from the small river in the small garden. Then he transplanted the bought flowers into the pots and placed them in the east and west bedrooms and the main hall. He also placed a pot of orchid in the lounge in the front yard.

I returned to the main room, poured myself a glass of water, sat there drinking the water and looking at the katydid gourd.

After about an hour, Wang Zhan stood up and called Wang Li to get up. He told her not to let her sleep any longer, otherwise she would not be able to sleep at night.

Wang Li got up dazedly and said with her eyes closed: "Brother, I'm thirsty."

Wang Zhan went to the outer room and handed his water to Wang Li. Wang Li drank it in big gulps until it was finished.

Wang Li slowly came to her senses and asked, "Brother, where is my katydid?"

"It's in the main room. Let's go and take a look." Wang Zhan said and left the east room. Wang Li followed him out. Seeing her katydid placed on the eight-immortals table, she climbed onto a stool and started fiddling with it.

"What do you want to eat tonight?" Wang Zhan asked.

Wang Li said, "Anything is fine. Don't we have rice cakes and pea yellow?"

"I put those in your room. They're just snacks. I'm talking about dinner." Wang Zhan said as he was lighting the fire and adding coal.

"Anything is fine. I like to eat it as long as it is made by my brother." Wang Li said.

"As the old saying goes, you have to eat dumplings on the third day of the Chinese New Year. How about I make dumplings for you in the evening? I happen to have a bunch of leeks at home, which I guess the chef must have snatched from somewhere." Wang Zhan said.

Wang Li nodded and went back to fiddling with her katydid.

(End of this chapter)