Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 815: New Year's Eve Party
He Yushui chatted with Sha Zhu for a while and asked him how he was. Sha Zhu was a man who cared about his reputation and said that he was good in every way. He Yushui knew that what he said was a bit nonsense and did not expose him.

It took He Yushui more than an hour to clean up Sha Zhu's house and wash his dirty clothes. Sha Zhu still had a conscience, so he took the kettle and helped He Yushui.

After finishing everything, He Yushui said goodbye to her brother and left. When she returned to Wang Zhan's yard, He Yushui didn't want to move anymore. She was really tired this time.

Wang Zhan looked at He Yushui lying on the recliner in the main hall and made her a cup of hot tea. He Yushui complained, "My brother is a careless person, heartless. I worked so hard for a long time, but he didn't even give me a cup of hot water."

Then He Yushui told Wang Zhan about the trip to the courtyard. Wang Zhan said, "You have done what you should do to the best of your ability. You don't have to worry about the rest. Your brother has shortcomings, but it's not your place to point them out. After all, you are his sister. If he is really unreliable, we can just treat it as a visit to a relative."

"Yeah, I can feel that he's not doing well. He probably hasn't saved a penny. This silly guy is really worrying." He Yushui said.

"By the way, how old is your brother? Why hasn't he gotten married yet?" Wang Zhan asked.

"He is ten years older than me. He is twenty-two this year. I don't know. Maybe no one likes him."

"No way. Your brother's conditions are excellent. He has three main rooms, a chef in the kitchen, a good salary, and he is in his prime age. It shouldn't be difficult for him to find a wife, right?" Wang Zhan asked.

He Yushui thought about it and realized that it was true, but he still said, "I don't know why. Maybe he has high standards and his requirements are high."

Wang Zhan said, "Then there's nothing we can do. It all depends on your brother's opinion. By the way, tomorrow is the Little New Year. I guess Master and Director Li will be here. I'm going to the supply and marketing cooperative tomorrow morning to take another look and buy some vegetables. Do you want to go?"

He Yushui said, "I'll go with you, take Xiao Lili with you, and we'll go together."

The next day, Wang Li got up early in the morning. Wang Zhan had just finished practicing martial arts. When he saw his sister running towards He Yushui's room, he smiled and shook his head. It seemed that his sister could not wait any longer.

After a while, He Yushui brought Wang Li to fetch water. When the weather got cold, they would go back to the house to wash after fetching water. Wang Zhan smiled and asked Wang Li, "Hey, you lazy cat who usually stays in bed, why are you up so early today?"

Wang Li rolled her eyes and said, "Bad brother, I'm not going to pay attention to you anymore."

Wang Zhan smiled and asked, "Okay, I wonder if you have completed the task that the master asked you to do. If you ignore me, I won't care about you."

"Ah? Good brother, I was wrong. When are we going? Are we going to the big market?" Wang Li looked at Wang Zhan with her cute eyes twinkling.

Wang Zhan said, "Tomorrow, today is the Little New Year. Let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some things. We have to prepare the ingredients. Okay, go wash up quickly. I'll make breakfast."

Early in the morning, everyone was busy with their own things. After finishing breakfast and cleaning up, it was already past eight o'clock. Wang Zhan thought about it and went next door to ask Aunt Sun if she wanted to go together. Aunt Sun said that the two children were not awake yet. She didn't know what they had eaten last night and they had been tossing and turning for half the night.

Wang Zhan said, "That's fine, Auntie Sun, don't cook tonight, come to my place and eat."

Aunt Sun said, "Okay, I'll go over in the afternoon and make dumplings with you." So Wang Zhan took He Yushui and Wang Li to the supply and marketing cooperative. It was not the one next to their home but a large supply and marketing cooperative near Dongjiaomin Lane, where there were more things and a better complete range.

As soon as he entered the door, Wang Zhan was attracted by a pile of bamboo baskets placed at the door. He Yushui and Wang Li also saw them and knew they were crabs, but they didn't know what kind of crabs they were. Wang Zhan said, "This is a good thing. It's a river crab, also called a hairy crab. It looks quite fat."

Wang Zhan walked over and asked, "Comrade, how much are these hairy crabs?"

The crab salesperson was depressed all morning. Many people asked about the price, but no one bought it. People nowadays think that it is not worth buying and eating this thing, there is not much meat, and it is so expensive. But Wang Zhan knew that the high price was due to the shipping cost. This crab was sent from Shanghai in response to the call to ensure the supply of materials in the former capital.

The salesperson looked at Wang Zhan and said, "You don't need a ticket for this. It's one yuan per pound. This is the lowest price."

The salesperson even emphasized the word "lowest price". Wang Zhan looked at it and said, "Okay, weigh forty of them for me and I'll give you the price."

The salesperson's face lit up with joy, thinking this was a good start, and immediately started to let Wang Zhan choose by himself. Wang Zhan chose very quickly, and when he weighed it, it was 32 kilograms, which was about 8 ounces. Wang Zhan paid happily and said to the salesperson, "I'll leave this with you first. We need to go in and buy some things, and we'll come back to get it when we come out." The salesperson agreed happily.

Wang Zhan then led the two girls inside. As they walked, Wang Li asked, "Brother, is that hairy crab delicious?"

Wang Zhan scratched her nose and said, "Have you forgotten the crab roe soup dumplings I made for you when I first came back? They were full of crab roe."

Wang Li recalled it carefully and soon her saliva was flowing. That was the first time she had eaten delicious soup dumplings, and it was only that time. After that, Wang Zhan never saw crabs for sale again.

There were actually leeks for sale at the vegetable market, but our family didn't have any. The vegetables Qi Dasheng brought back from Yuquan didn't include leeks either. Although they looked a little wilted, they were still usable for making dumplings. Wang Zhan went to queue up, and he asked He Yushui to take Wang Li to buy hairbands, firecrackers, and candies.

When He Yushui came back with a bunch of things, there were still a dozen people in front of Wang Zhan. He Yushui waited there. After a while, Wang Zhan bought four pounds of leeks. Wang Zhan vowed never to queue again. Then they went to buy pork and ribs, and finally corn and some seasonings. Then they went out, got the crabs, and rode their tricycles directly home.

When they got home, they were all exhausted. After a simple bowl of noodles at noon, the three of them went to rest.

Wang Zhan woke up at around two o'clock in the afternoon. He washed his face and went to the kitchen. There were many ingredients to prepare. Wang Zhan planned to prepare three kinds of fillings: pork and cabbage filling, three-fresh filling, and beef and green onion filling.

While Wang Zhan was busy in the kitchen, Aunt Sun came over with her two grandchildren. He Yushui teased the two little girls. Aunt Sun rolled up her sleeves and went into the kitchen. With her joining, the kneading of the dough was handed over to her. There were only two kitchen knives in the house, so Wang Zhan had to prepare the filling, and He Yushui helped.

Several people were busy until four o'clock in the afternoon when they finally finished wrapping and freezing all the dumplings.

Just when a few people were drinking tea and taking a break, Qi Dasheng came back with Captain Li, who was carrying four bottles of wine. Qi Dasheng briefly asked about dinner and what was at home, then went to the kitchen. Wang Zhan knew that he would not be needed there.

(End of this chapter)