Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 981 Reporting to Vocational School
The return of Jia Zhangshi made the people in the courtyard realize that there was no more grain stored in the countryside. This made everyone prioritize buying grain. They were all people who had come from the old society and had a strong sense of crisis about life, especially the old guys, like Yi Zhonghai who came to Beijing to escape famine.

Everyone has experienced hunger, so each household started to use their own methods to exchange grain, going to pigeon markets and rural areas to exchange grain.

Jia Dongxu is now very worried. His mother and wife's food supply in the countryside has completely failed. Here, he is the only one in the family with an urban household registration, and he is rationed 28 jin per month. If he wants more grain, he has to buy grain at a negotiated price, but half of his salary of more than 40 yuan has to be spent on this. As for meat and eggs, forget about it.

But his mother and child were still greedy, always wanting to eat white flour buns, and would occasionally nag to buy meat, which worried him terribly.

Yi Zhonghai can now occasionally help him out each month, but it's just a drop in the bucket.

Yi Zhonghai was drinking alone at home. On the table was a plate of braised pig's head and a plate of peanuts. His eyes kept glancing at the Jia family across the street. After paying back the money Jia Dongxu owed him, he never mentioned retirement again, which annoyed Yi Zhonghai. But on the surface, he still acted like he cared about his apprentice. But this was not what Yi Zhonghai wanted.

Seeing the Jia family's predicament, Yi Zhonghai had a feeling that he couldn't let the Jia family live too well. If they did, he felt that they would slip out of his control. He was plotting how to make things even worse for the Jia family.

In the front courtyard of a traditional courtyard house, at Yan Bugui's home.

A few months ago, Yan Jiecheng suddenly said that he had been assigned a dormitory and planned to move out. Yan Bugui didn't pay much attention at first, but Yan Jiecheng hadn't appeared at home for the past few months, which made Yan Bugui more vigilant.

Yan Bugui realized that the boss had probably been promoted and was trying to run away. How could Yan Bugui let him go? He had finally made money and needed to recoup some of his investment.

Yan Bugui had been to the textile factory once, but he hadn't even seen Yan Jiecheng. He asked the guards at the gate about Yan Jiecheng, but they all said they didn't know him.

Little did Yan Bugui know that his eldest son had given prior notice. Since his last lesson, Yan Jiecheng had been determined to escape. He was currently living in the textile factory's dormitory, but he was working hard to save money so that he could propose to Yu Li as soon as possible.

Yan Bugui's attitude last time scared Yan Jiecheng away. In the end, Yan Jiecheng did not dare to let his father meet Yu Li's parents again. However, Yan Jiecheng also promised Yu Li that he would get a permanent position as soon as possible and save money to propose marriage. Now Yan Jiecheng earns 27.5 yuan a month, but he eats and lives in the factory, so he spends very little money.

Afterwards, Yan Bugui went to the gate of the textile factory to block Yan Jiecheng. He didn't want Yan Jiecheng to go back to live there; he just wanted living expenses and pension money, but he couldn't catch him once.

Yan Bugui was very puzzled. He hadn't been back for several months, so where did Yan Jiecheng's food coupons come from? What he didn't know was that these were given to Yan Jiecheng by Yu Li's parents. After Yan Jiecheng became a formally employed son-in-law, Yu Li's parents had already decided on him and wanted to see how things went. If things didn't work out, they would let the two of them get married after the New Year. The bride price wasn't important.

Yan Bugui sat in the main room, lit an economical cigarette, his brows furrowed, and thought about Yan Jiecheng's matter while smoking.

When Yang Ruihua saw this, she made him a cup of tea and placed it on the square table. Yan Bugui looked up at his wife, and Yang Ruihua asked, "What are you worried about all day?"

"What are you worried about? You're worried about the eldest son. He's gotten too big for his britches and doesn't even come home anymore."

“This kid’s all grown up. If he doesn’t want to come back, he doesn’t have to. Are you going to keep him tied up at home?” “If he doesn’t come back, who am I supposed to ask for living expenses and pension from?” Yan Bugui said irritably.

Yang Ruihua rolled her eyes. She thought her husband was after their eldest son, but it turned out he was after their son's money.

Yang Ruihua said, "It will be given to you sooner or later. His household registration is still here, so it will come back sooner or later."

Yan Bugui thought about it and realized it made sense, so he calmed down and said, "You don't know, Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu have both come back from the countryside. I guess there's no food left in the countryside. That's why I'm a little worried. Think about it, if there's no food left in the countryside, the supply in the market will definitely decrease after a while. I'm thinking of stockpiling some food now. There are so many people in this family, I really don't want them to go hungry."

Yang Ruihua then realized that this was what her husband was worried about. After thinking for a moment, Yang Ruihua said, "How about I go back to my parents' home and take Jiefang with me? If there's any grain, whether we buy it or exchange it, we should buy as much as possible."

Yan Bugui thought about it and agreed with his wife's idea, thinking that he would let Yan Jiefang go back to Yang Ruihua's parents' home with her tomorrow.

No. 47 Yu'er Hutong
Wang Zhan is still not aware of the situation outside. Perhaps the abundance of the Jade Void Space has blinded him. Even though Aunt Sun mentioned it to him a few times, he didn't really understand. However, he bought a bicycle for 220 yuan and also replaced his radio, giving the old one to Aunt Sun.

September 1st was the day Wang Zhan was to report for duty. Time was tight, so the task of taking Wang Li to school was entrusted to Aunt Sun. The family also prepared some ingredients, waiting for Wang Li to come back at noon so Aunt Sun could cook for her.

It took Wang Zhan more than an hour to ride his bicycle to the school gate. Wang Zhan was different from the other students. He didn't bring any luggage because he didn't plan to live at the school at all. Wang Zhan only carried a shoulder bag, which attracted the attention of the students who were registering. It wasn't Wang Zhan who was attractive, but Wang Zhan's bicycle that was too attractive.

Wudaokou Mechanical Engineering College is actually a secondary vocational school under Tsinghua University, mainly to provide technical talents for industrial development. Most of the students who apply to this school are male, and there are very few female students.

After parking his bicycle, Wang Zhan went to the registration office, showed his ID and admission notice, and the teacher who received him told him that he had been assigned to the Mechanical Repair Class 2. Then he told him the location of the classroom and pointed out the office where he could check into the dormitory.

The campus is very large. The closest building to the main gate is the three-story administration building. Wang Zhan could tell at a glance that it was a Soviet-style building with a granite main structure that looked very heavy. The dormitory check-in was done on the first floor there.

Wang Zhan walked around the building from the left. Behind him was a playground, and behind the playground was a two-story red brick building. His classroom was on the first floor of that building.

Wang Zhan carried his bag and walked over to the classroom. There were already some students in the classroom, but not many. Wang Zhan guessed that the students were busy with their dormitory registration. Wang Zhan found a seat at the very back, put his bag on the table, and looked out the window.

A new journey has begun, and Wang Zhan asked himself, "Are you ready?"

(End of this chapter)