Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 910: Li Family
In January 1957, the back house of No. 95 Courtyard

Originally, this year was going to be the happiest year for Mr. Li. His son passed the first level of the assessment at the end of last year. Now, Li's son is already a fourth-level fitter, which makes him a leader among the younger generation.

Even the apprentice of a grandfather in the Intermediate Court is not as good as him. Although Jia Dongxu was promoted to the same level as Li's son many years ago for his contribution in supporting the machinery factory, he was not awarded with real talent after all.

Later, the daughter-in-law became pregnant again, and everything was developing for the better. The Li family began to live a better life. The son told me that he had also applied for another back house, and once it was approved, the family would occupy three back houses, which was not a small area.

Mr. Li also started preparing New Year's goods early this year, so that he can have a happy new year after his son gets his salary.

Ever since the last conflict with Jia Zhang, Mr. Li basically stopped going into the yard. He just stayed at the gate. If he couldn't stand it any longer, he would go out for a walk. The peaceful days passed one after another. After the Little New Year, the house began to be decorated.

The Yan family in the front yard were extremely envious of Grandpa Li. There were only three people in Grandpa Li's family. His son earned 51 yuan, and Grandpa Li helped out in the street office, earning 10 yuan a month. There were 60 yuan for three people to spend. The key point was that the street office also subsidized Grandpa Li with food coupons. How could people not be envious?

Grandpa Li knew the nature of the people in the courtyard very well, so he kept his distance from some people, especially the third uncle Yan Bugui. This guy would come to Grandpa Li's place every now and then. When he first moved in, Grandpa Li didn't care. Those few gifts wouldn't make him rich, so he just gave them to the third uncle. But over the years, Grandpa Li was no longer happy. Why did he always come to his house to take advantage of him?

Yan Bugui is a strange person. If he sees that he can't take advantage of someone, he will stay away for a while. But as long as Mr. Li gives him a smile, he will come back immediately, and he will persevere again and again.

Until later on, he simply stopped paying attention to Yan Bugui. This was also the reason why Yan Bugui hid behind when Mr. Li and Jia Zhang had a conflict. Since he could not take advantage of Mr. Li, he was unwilling to help his neighbor Mr. Li.

These incidents, which happened over the years, made many residents in the front yard dislike Yan Bugui. They would just smile at him on the surface but actually keep their distance from him. This caused the Yan family to have extremely bad popularity in the front yard. This was also one of the reasons why no one in the front yard came forward to help when the Yan family's child falsely reported being lost last time.

After the Little New Year, Grandpa Li started to wander around, mainly to buy some New Year's goods for the festival. Just as he walked in with a cloth bag, Yan Bugui came out from behind the screen wall. When he saw Grandpa Li, he greeted him with a smile. But unexpectedly, Grandpa Li turned a corner and went into the small courtyard where he lived alone, without even paying attention to Yan Bugui.

Yan Bugui's face suddenly turned gloomy. Looking at the gate of Mr. Li's yard closed, he was so angry that his teeth were itching. He thought to himself, this Mr. Li doesn't take him, the third uncle, seriously. Yan Bugui's eyes rolled around, thinking about how to make things difficult for Old Master Li and let him know who is in charge in the front yard.

This opportunity really came at any time. As the manager of the front yard, Yan Bugui was the only person who had the key to the gate padlock. He would open the door early every day and lock it around nine o'clock in the evening. This was also clearly stated by the street office.

These days are the due date of Li's daughter-in-law. Giving birth before the New Year is a double happiness for the Li family who are about to celebrate the New Year. It is such a good thing. However, the father and son of the Li family have no experience and did not contact the hospital in advance.

Just two days after the Little New Year, in the middle of the night, Old Li's daughter-in-law began to feel uncomfortable. Even if Mr. Li had no experience, he knew that his daughter-in-law might be about to give birth. In this icy and snowy weather, she had to be sent to the hospital early. Mr. Li asked his son to call Yan Bugui to open the door. Yan Bugui smiled sinisterly, turned off the lights in the house and pretended to be asleep, and refused to come out no matter what. Outside, Old Li's daughter-in-law screamed louder and louder, attracting neighbors in the front yard to come to help, but Yan Bugui refused to come out. In fact, Third Aunt Yang Ruiping also looked at her excessive husband and felt a little uncomfortable. She thought about finding the key and sending it out. The birth of a woman is a big deal, and it may cost lives.

But Yan Bugui just lay on the bed and ignored everyone. He refused to go out to open the door. Yan Bugui was the only one in the Yan family who knew where the key was. Yan Bugui didn't come out, and the Li family stared at the door. On the other side, Shi Guangde also came to help. Looking at the painful daughter-in-law of the Li family, Shi Guangde knew that he couldn't wait any longer. If he was not careful, someone might die. So he said to the son of the Li family: "Break the lock open. I'll do it. I'll take responsibility if anything happens."

The son of the Li family took one look and said, "No, this is our family's business, I'll do it." The son of the Li family had quite a bit of strength as a fitter, and he quickly broke the lock and opened the door. Grandpa Li ran to the next door to borrow a cart, and the neighbors in the front yard who were on good terms with the Li family helped carry the daughter-in-law of the Li family out of the door.

Yan Bugui had been lying on the bed, and listening to the chaos outside, he felt a lot better. He just wanted to teach the Li family a lesson, but soon there was no sound outside. Yan Bugui sat up all of a sudden and looked out through the window first.

Yang Ruihua looked at Yan Bugui and said, "Alright, stop looking. The door lock has been broken and the person has gone to the hospital. What did you do? It's so immoral. If there are two lives lost, I wonder what you will do."

Yan Bugui was frightened at first, then he jumped up and shouted, "That's the lock of the street office. Whoever dares to break it must be very brave. I will go to the street office and sue them."

Looking at the helpless and furious Yan Bugui, Yang Ruihua turned and went into the bedroom to sleep. Before leaving, he turned off the lights in the living room and said, "Save some electricity."

There was chaos all night, and the next day the whole yard knew what had happened. After hearing about it, Yi Zhonghai sneered at Yan Bugui's behavior, but he knew that Yan Bugui was in trouble. The neighbors in the front yard all came out last night, and they were all angry at Yan Bugui's behavior.

But Yan Bugui really has no self-awareness. On the second day of Chinese New Year, he actually went to the neighborhood office and sued the Li family. Of course, he only mentioned the incident of Li's son breaking the lock, and did not mention a word about Li's daughter-in-law giving birth.

When the people from the street office heard this, they were also angry. The regulations were issued by the street office, and the locks were distributed by the street office. They didn't expect that someone would dare to do such a thing. Secretary Yu and two other people rushed to the No. 95 courtyard in anger. As soon as they entered the door, they saw the broken lock.

Secretary Yu went straight to the room of Li's eldest son, but after looking around, there was no one in the Li family. Secretary Yu asked Grandma Yan next door. Grandma Yan really didn't know about the lock-breaking incident that night, but she knew about Li's daughter-in-law giving birth, so she told Secretary Yu about the thrilling incident that night.

The more Secretary Yu listened, the more he felt something was wrong. He went around the front yard, every household, and found that every household was cursing Yan Bugui. Secretary Yu knew that he had to report the matter to Director Wang, as it was a very serious matter.

(End of this chapter)