The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 653 Life in the Back Courtyard!!!
Yi Xiaojun turned the steering wheel carefully and finally found an open space at the end of the alley that was barely big enough for parking.

As he was backing into the garage, he complained to his wife, Lin Xiaomei, who was sitting in the passenger seat: "The street office doesn't care about this, and now the whole alley is full of small vendors.

Look at this alley, even pedestrians have to walk sideways, let alone driving a car. "

Lin Xiaomei sighed and agreed, "That's right! In the past two years, the neighbors have set up stalls as if they had agreed to do so."

Yi Xiaojun turned off the engine and took out the car key, shaking his head helplessly: "Many companies are in recession, and everyone has to find a way to make a living. These days, it's not easy for anyone."

The two got out of the car in silence and walked through the bustling alley.

The sun was so scorching at around two o'clock in the afternoon that it was hard to open your eyes.

Soon, the couple arrived at the gate of No. 95 Courtyard.

The newly painted red wooden door was wide open, and the old locust tree at the entrance cast a cool shade.

I saw Mr. Yan, who was over 80 years old, lying on a rattan chair under the shade of a tree, slowly waving a palm-leaf fan to cool off.

Yi Xiaojun quickly pulled his wife to take a few quick steps, with a smile on his face: "Grandpa Yan, you are here to enjoy the cool air! It's been really hot these days!"

Looking at the young couple in front of him, Yan Bugui squinted his eyes and studied them carefully for a long time. Suddenly, a look of sudden enlightenment appeared on his wrinkled face: "Oh! You are the grandson of the old Yi family, right? Your name is Yi Xiaojun, right?"

"That's right! Grandpa Yan, you have a really good memory!" Yi Xiaojun smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits, and quickly pulled his wife over to introduce her, "This is my wife, Lin Xiaomei. Do you remember? You came specially to attend our wedding last spring!"

Lin Xiaomei stepped forward gently and called out sweetly, "Hello, Grandpa Yan!"

"Okay, okay!" Yan Bugui nodded repeatedly, smiling from ear to ear, and patted Yi Xiaojun on the shoulder and joked, "Xiaojun, you are so lucky to marry such a beautiful and sensible wife!"

When Lin Xiaomei heard the old man's praise, she unconsciously raised a smug smile. She raised her chin slightly, glanced at her husband Yi Xiaojun with a bit of pride, but said modestly: "Oh, Grandpa Yan, you are too kind. I am not as good as you say!"

Seeing this, Yi Xiaojun couldn't help but laugh and joked: "That's right, she is just an ordinary person." Before he finished speaking, he felt a sharp pain in his waist.

"Ouch!" Yi Xiaojun gasped in pain and almost jumped up.

Yan Bugui asked with concern: "Xiaojun, what's wrong with you?"

Yi Xiaojun rubbed his lower back, rolled his eyes, and said nonsense: "It's okay, I was just bitten by a female mosquito."

"Oh!" Yan Bugui was amused when he heard this, stroking his beard and laughing, "You can even tell the difference between male and female mosquitoes after being bitten by a mosquito. You are really a talent!"

"Hehehe..." Yi Xiaojun touched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.

Although Yan Bugui is old, his eyes, which have seen the world, are still as bright as torches.

The old man took in the whole scene, but just smiled kindly, enjoying this rare warmth.

"Xiaojun, I haven't seen you come back to visit me in these years. What have you been busy with outside?" Yan Bugui was leaning on a cane, his tone revealing the concern unique to an elder.

"Grandpa Yan, I work at Jingxi Pharmaceutical Group," Yi Xiaojun straightened his back slightly, with a bit of pride in his tone, "Our department is specifically responsible for market development, and we often travel around the country, and sometimes even go abroad."

"So that's it!" The old man patted his knees as if he had suddenly realized something. "This 'Jingxi Pharmaceutical' you are talking about, is it the one in Liujiazhuang?" He narrowed his eyes and asked thoughtfully.

"That's right," Yi Xiaojun nodded, a hint of excitement flashing in his eyes, "It's the original 'Liujiazhuang Pharmaceutical'.

In recent years, our group has developed very rapidly. Not only has it integrated a number of well-known domestic pharmaceutical companies, but it has also acquired several European pharmaceutical companies with a century-old history.

In order to adapt to international development, it was officially renamed "Jingxi Pharmaceutical Group" last year. His voice unconsciously rose a few notes, revealing the youthful vigor.

"Good, good, that's amazing! You are really promising now, much better than Jia Wenming from the old Jia family." Yan Bugui patted Yi Xiaojun on the shoulder, his eyes full of satisfaction and admiration.

Yi Xiaojun naturally knew who Yan Bugui was talking about.

Jia Wenming is Aunt Qin Huairu's eldest grandson. He has been a troublemaker since he was young and is well-known for his naughtiness among the neighbors.

Speaking of which, among their generation, Yi Xiaojun and Jia Wenming are the only ones of similar age.

But their situations are very different - Yi Xiaojun is diligent and motivated, while Jia Wenming took after his father Jia Banggeng's temperament and after graduating from high school he became a "street urchin" who spent the whole day idling around.

This incident made his highly respected grandfather, a university professor, very angry. In a fit of rage, the old man refused to allow this unfilial grandson to enter the house and even refused to let him in.

Yi Xiaojun smiled shyly, lowered his head and rubbed his hands and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Uncle. I'm just lucky and caught up with the right time."

As he spoke, Yi Xiaojun recalled the time when he met Jia Wenming at the entrance of this alley one year when he was still a student at the China University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The kid was wearing a wrinkled floral shirt and was squatting against the wall smoking with a bunch of street urchins. When they saw him, they called him "college student" in a sarcastic tone.

Yan Bugui sighed, took out his reading glasses from his pocket and put them on: "Speaking of this child, he also lived in this courtyard for a period of time.

He is just too naughty and can get into more trouble than his father Banggeng when he was a child.

Do you remember?
That winter, the two of you were skating in the lake, and that brat Wenming deliberately pushed Xiaojuan from the next yard down, and you rushed over to help her without saying a word.

As he was speaking, a shrill roar of a motorcycle came from deep in the alley.

Jia Wenming was seen roaring over on a modified motorcycle, with a heavily made-up girl sitting on the back seat.

When passing by them, Jia Wenming deliberately stepped on the accelerator, and the black smoke from the exhaust pipe made Yan Bugui cough.

"This bastard!" Yan Bugui stamped his feet in anger, "Last month, his grandmother was so angry that she was hospitalized, and now..."

Yi Xiaojun hurriedly supported the old man and looked at the taillights of the motorcycle going away, feeling mixed emotions.

He recalled that Jia Wenming was actually very smart when he was a child, and once helped him solve a math problem. Unfortunately,
"Grandpa Yan, is my Aunt Qin in the hospital?" Yi Xiaojun asked softly. This kid has been sensible since he was a child. His personality is like his father Yi Yuanchao. He is always considerate in what he says and does.

Yan Bugui leaned on a cane and sighed deeply: "Yes, your Aunt Qin is almost 60 this year. Alas, time is unforgiving!" A trace of heartache flashed in the old man's turbid eyes, "She never enjoyed a single day of happiness when she was young. She finally reached the age when she should enjoy a peaceful life, but now she has to deal with this kind of thing."

Old Yan shook his head tremblingly and tapped the ground twice with his crutch: "But she can't just ignore it. She can't even rely on her own son, and her grandson has gone astray. What a sin! " His voice was full of helplessness and sadness for Qin Huairu.

"..."

"That's fine, Grandpa Yan, you stay here for a while to cool off. I'll go to the East Courtyard to visit Grandpa and Grandma, and then come back to chat with you!"

"Go, kid. Your grandparents miss you so much. They keep complaining to us old neighbors these days, asking why their grandson hasn't come back to visit them yet."

After chatting with old man Yan Bugui for a while, Yi Xiaojun took his wife's hand, and the two walked briskly towards the east wing.

As you enter the east courtyard, you will see an old pomegranate tree with lush branches and leaves.

A pergola was built in the yard, with a few bamboo chairs placed under it. Two old men were fanning themselves with cattail leaves to enjoy the cool air.

Yi Xiaojun saw his grandparents sitting from afar. The old people's silver hair shone with a soft luster in the sunlight.

"Grandpa! Grandma!" Yi Xiaojun ran forward in two steps, his voice full of joy. The aunt looked up at the sound, her cloudy eyes instantly lit up, and she stood up tremblingly: "Oh, my dear grandson is back!"

Yi Zhonghai put down the palm-leaf fan in his hand and smiled until the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were squeezed together: "Finally, I've been waiting for you to come back. Yesterday, I told your grandmother that Xiaojun should be back from his business trip, right?" He patted the empty seat next to him and said, "Hurry up and sit down and have a rest. It's so hot."

Yi Xiaojun helped his grandmother sit down, and his wife Lin Xiaomei had already taken out two boxes of cakes from her bag: "Grandma, this is the new Poria cake from Daoxiangcun. I know you like it, so I brought it specially for you two.

Grandpa brought you this 'Taihang 1965'. You can drink it but don't drink too much..."

The aunt took the cake with a smile, but held Lin Xiaomei's hand tightly and said, "Good child, your heart is sweeter than the cake."

Yi Zhonghai nodded happily and said, "Listen to my granddaughter-in-law, drink as much as she says, hehe!"

The morning glories on the courtyard wall were in full bloom, and a few sparrows were chirping under the eaves.

Yi Xiaojun looked at the satisfied smiles of his grandparents and suddenly felt that this ordinary afternoon was more precious than anything else. It is known that Yi Xiaojun has loved eating dumplings since he was a child.

Yi Zhonghai stood up and said that he would go to the nearby RT-Mart Supermarket to buy some beef to chop and make dumplings.

Yi Xiaojun quickly stopped his grandfather and said, "You sit down and take a rest, I'll go buy it!" Then he was about to walk out.

But an old lady grabbed his clothes and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? Have some tea to cool down first."

Lin Xiaomei next to her had already skillfully poured two cups of tea. The tea soup was clear and transparent, with a few jasmine petals floating in it.

Cicadas chirped in the yard, and the branches and leaves of the pomegranate tree rustled in the breeze.

Yi Xiaojun was sipping tea when he suddenly spotted a few red pomegranates hanging from the treetops, looming among the green leaves. "Wow! This tree has produced a lot of fruit this year!" he said in surprise.

The lady squinted her eyes and smiled: "That's right, when they are ripe in a while, you can come back and pick them.

You loved climbing this tree when you were a kid, and once you fell down and broke your front teeth, hehe..."

As they were talking, the third aunt came in with a basin of freshly picked cucumbers: "I heard Xiaojun is back? Just right, freshly picked tender cucumbers are perfect for mixing into a cold dish with dumplings!"

"Oh, thank you, Third Grandma!" Lin Xiaomei quickly took it. The cucumber was really fresh and had a pleasant fragrance.

The third aunt smiled and said, "Why are you being so polite to grandma, kid?"

Everyone chatted about family matters for a while, and then the third aunt said goodbye and went home.

"Don't bother cooking tonight. Tell Old Yan to come over and eat dumplings with you!"

"Know it!"

The three aunts just left.

Yi Zhonghai suddenly remembered something and stood up to go back to the house: "Yesterday your grandfather Liu had someone send you the Liujiazhuang golden silk dates. I'll go get them for you to try."

As he said that, he went back to the house and took out an insulated box from the refrigerator. When he opened it, he saw that the dates inside were plump and bright red.

Yi Xiaojun picked up one and put it in his mouth. The sweet and sticky taste reminded him of the time when his grandfather always hid snacks in his pocket for him when he was a child.

The sound of boiling water came from the west wing, and the aunt stood up and said, "The water is boiling, I'll go and knead the dough.

Lin Xiaomei rolled up her sleeves and followed them. The mother and daughter were busy in the kitchen and chatting. Their laughter filled the entire courtyard.

The grandfather and grandson were not idle either. After leaving the courtyard, they went straight to the "RT-Mart Supermarket" in Jiaodaokou.

Along the way, the grandfather walked slowly with a cane, and the grandson supported him carefully, fearing that something might happen to the old man.

As soon as they stepped into the supermarket door, the cold air made the grandfather and grandson shiver at the same time.

Taking the escalator down to the basement level, Yi Xiaojun couldn't help but widen his eyes at the scene in front of him - the cold and fresh food area was crowded with people, customers were pushing shopping carts between the shelves, and the sounds of hawking and talking were heard one after another.

"Grandpa, is this supermarket usually so busy?" Yi Xiaojun helped the old man avoid the oncoming shopping cart, his tone revealing a hint of surprise.

As a young man who seldom goes to the supermarket to shop in person, the bustling scene before him really surprised him.

"It is true! RT-Mart's products are not only of good quality and low price, and the service is thoughtful, but also the management standards are extremely strict. Whether it is fresh food or daily necessities, the quality and quantity are guaranteed, which makes us ordinary people feel very confident when buying!"

"Now our family basically chooses RT-Mart for daily shopping. Unless it is really inconvenient to go out, we will consider going to nearby small shops or roadside stalls." Yi Zhonghai explained in detail.

"I see. No wonder RT-Mart has developed so rapidly in recent years." Yi Xiaojun nodded thoughtfully, with a hint of surprise in his eyes. "I have seen their eye-catching signs in international metropolises such as Hong Kong and Macau, and even in financial centers like Lijiaopo."

Yi Zhonghai looked at his grandson meaningfully, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised: "How come you don't even know this, kid? Just like your 'Jingxi Pharmaceutical Group', RT-Mart is also an industry under Liujiazhuang."

"Of course I know this," Yi Xiaojun scratched his head and explained awkwardly, "It's just that Liujiazhuang's industrial territory is too huge.

Take our pharmaceutical group for example. Our business divisions include Greater China, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and each region has an independent operating system, not to mention other industries.”

"grandfather!"

"Ok?"

"I heard that these industries are basically owned by Uncle Liu's family. Is this true?" Yi Xiaojun knew very well that his family had a deep connection with the Liu family, and couldn't help but ask curiously.

Yi Zhonghai nodded slightly, a look of reminiscence flashing in his eyes: "Indeed. Liujiazhuang can be prosperous today, all thanks to the Liu family.

Forty years ago, this place was still a poor mountain valley isolated from the outside world. All the people in the village had the surname Liu, and there was not even a single family with a surname other than Liu.

At that time, the entire village had only about 2,000 people, and they lived by the weather."

Yi Xiaojun's eyes widened in surprise: "This development speed is too amazing! From a small mountain village with 2,000 people, it has transformed into a modern metropolis with a population of more than one million. This is just like a dream!"

"I think that in our country, only Baoxian Special Economic Zone can develop so fast, but it was achieved with the efforts of the whole country. This Liujiazhuang..."

Yi Zhonghai smiled meaningfully: "Want to know the legendary story of Liujiazhuang? Go visit your Grandpa Liu some other day and let him tell you about that magnificent entrepreneurial history in person."

……

In the bright fresh produce area of ​​RT-Mart supermarket, Yi Xiaojun carefully selected five kilograms of fresh beef with a rosy color and distinct texture. He also picked up a dozen lively and waving "Shengfang crabs" from the aquatic area, and finally asked the clerk to weigh a golden and translucent sea yellow croaker.

Just as he was still not satisfied and wanted to continue shopping, his grandfather Yi Zhonghai's gentle but firm voice came from behind him: "Xiaojun, just enough to eat!" The old man gently held down his grandson's shopping cart and said earnestly: "Ingredients must be fresh. If you buy too much, the flavor will be lost.

Besides, supermarkets are so convenient nowadays, you can buy whatever you want anytime, so why bother to stock up so much at once?"

After all, Yi Xiaojun is not someone who goes shopping for groceries often and has little life experience.

He looked down at the mountain of ingredients in the shopping cart and suddenly realized that he had indeed made some impulse purchases.

"Grandpa is right," Yi Xiaojun scratched his head, "I don't go shopping for groceries very often, and everything looks fresh. I want Xiaomei to cook a few more of her signature dishes for you."

Yi Zhonghai smiled and said softly: "Life is like cooking, the heat must be just right.

Buy just the right amount and enjoy the most delicious meal.

Too much is too little! "

The grandfather and grandson returned to the courtyard in the afterglow of the setting sun. They happened to meet Yan Bugui watering the flowers in the yard, so they greeted him warmly: "Old Yan, stop your busy work!" They also went around to the west yard and invited Liu Haizhong, who was practicing calligraphy, to come over.

Yi Zhonghai shook the bamboo basket in his hand with a flushed face: "Old Liu, you finally caught up today! My grandson specially bought the 'Shengfang crabs' from 'RT-Mart'. Look at the size, each one is plump and yellow.

How about you share your treasured bottle of Taihang old wine? How about the three of us have a crab wine party tonight?"

Liu Haizhong was stunned at first, then he clapped his hands and laughed, "Good fellow! I knew you have been thinking about my bottle of treasure for a long time.

Well, it seems that this wine won’t be available until my 90th birthday!” He turned and walked into the house, then turned back and added: “Tonight I’ll let you open your eyes to what is an aged wine!”

"That's right!" Yan Bugui had been rubbing his hands with greed for a long time. Hearing this, his eyes narrowed into slits with joy. "Old Liu is really nice! Tonight we must taste the flavor of this crab roe and old wine."

"Oh, it's just that Shazhu and his wife are not at home. They are out traveling."

"Oh, where did they go?"

"I heard him mention it once. Something like Dave the Horse!"

(End of this chapter)