Siheyuan: Rebirth of a comfortable life starts with Shazhu

Yang Ruihua's anger towards the third son wasn't something she'd been holding back for just a day or two.

A grown man makes a mistake, and as his mother, she can understand.

But when faced with problems, instead of trying to solve them, she becomes so颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it implies a state of being listless, dispirited, or demoralized) every day, which is something she cannot accept.

After Yan Jiekuang returned to Beijing, he could forget about finding a proper job.

But the Yan family wasn't without arrangements this time.

After all, everyone knew that even if Yan Jiekuang had made mistakes, it was still a valid point.

If a grown man can't earn money, his family certainly won't be able to support itself.

Yan Jiecheng and Yan Jiedi did not stand idly by.

For example, Yan Jiedi pointed out a good way for Yan Jiekuang to make a living.

Their food factory has recently made some reforms.

Unemployed people at home can go to the factory to buy some pastries wholesale and sell them on the street.

This is the same method used for those old-fashioned ice cream dispensers on the street.

These are retail stalls organized under the name of a street.

There are still many tourists from other places in the old city of Beijing.

Stalls like these would be incredibly rare and highly sought after in later generations.

But now, apart from families struggling to survive, very few are willing to do it.

It certainly wasn't like the stalls of later generations where you could sell anything.

Instead, there are restrictions. For example, if it's made by a food factory, then it can only sell products produced by that food factory.

Of course, some clever people might do it, and others might do it as well, but basically nobody cares.

For Yan Jiekuang at this time, this business should be a good career.

But he refused to go.

There was also a breakfast stall. Yan Jiecheng suggested that he invest money and let Yan Jiekuang go out and show his face, with the income split in half, but Yan Jiekuang refused to go.

Yan Jiekuang couldn't take off the long gown he was wearing, no matter what he did.

In fact, even now, Yan Jiekuang doesn't think he was wrong.

For scholars, indulging in romantic pursuits is perfectly normal, isn't it?
Before liberation, which of those intellectuals didn't have a few romantic entanglements and a few female confidantes?

At least he felt that he was right in front of Zhang Chunhua.

He had actually considered backing down when it came to work.

But he's always a bit sentimental, only seriously considering it if his older brother and younger sister visit him three times.

Unexpectedly, Yan Jiecheng and Yan Jiedi only mentioned it casually, and after being rejected, they never brought it up again.

For a moment, Yan Jiekuang was caught off guard.

"Where's my father?" Yan Jiekuang couldn't say anything after being scolded, after all, this was his own mother.

“Your father, your father went out to collect garbage to earn food for you.” Yang Ruihua still spoke with a hint of resentment.

In fact, Yan Bugui has been picking up trash for a long time.

This is one of Yan Bugui's hobbies.

It's a business with no initial investment; whatever you find is yours. The sense of satisfaction Yan Bugui gets from collecting trash is something others simply cannot understand.

But these past few days, Yan Bugui really hasn't been picking up trash.

Even if he disliked his third son, he was still his own son.

As people get older, they tend to have more ideas.

Yan Bugui's thoughts are different now than before.

He wanted his children to be well and to be surrounded by him.

The eldest son's family doesn't need him to bother them. In fact, Yan Jiecheng and his wife have already cut ties with the old house.

Yan Jiecheng never intended to open a restaurant in his life, so he didn't need to borrow money from Yan Bugui. He was living a comfortable life and didn't want to deal with the mess at the old house for the time being.

He used to think that the third brother would be successful, so he was willing to be friendly to Yan Jiekuang.

But now Yan Jiekuang has fallen into a cesspool. If it weren't for his wife persuading him to put on a good show for others, Yan Jiecheng wouldn't have come over a couple of days ago to persuade Yan Jiekuang to open a breakfast stall.

On days when the Yan family was busy, he wished he could stay far away.

Ultimately, Yan Bugui's selfishness and stinginess were probably for the sake of survival and supporting his family. However, his four children surpassed him in this regard.

Everyone has their share of petty schemes.

The problem lies with the second son himself; the key issue is whether Yan Jiefang can bear to leave the area in northern Hebei.

In Yan Bugui's mind, if his second son came back, he would surely be able to find a way to survive.

The elderly couple had always been prepared for this.

Only his foolish and brainless third brother was the one who bothered him the most.

Although Zhang Chunhua has never given the elderly couple a kind look since she entered the family.

Any complaints are voiced on the spot.

But Yan Bugui still felt that this daughter-in-law was the best.

This is yet another strange perception.

Logically speaking, the eldest son's wife, Lan Hua, is good at maintaining appearances and handling affairs, and has a very good reputation among outsiders.

But didn't the eldest son's wife fail to produce a grandson to carry on the Yan family line?

Therefore, Zhang Chunhua, who was vulgar and straightforward, became the one Yan Bugui liked best.

Who told Zhang Chunhua to have a son?
This is the perception of most people in their generation.

No matter how good a person is, it's useless.

Passing on the family line is the most important thing.

During this period, Yan Bugui visited many former colleagues and friends.

His first thought was to ask someone to erase the matter from Yan Jiekuang's file.

But it's obvious that things are different now than before liberation; those kinds of underhanded practices no longer exist.

It's out of reach for ordinary families.

Since that path was blocked, Yan Bugui wondered if he could find Yan Jiekuang a reliable job.

Let him go to work in peace, and Zhang Chunhua can come back after she's had enough of being angry.

The elderly couple both believed that Zhang Chunhua could change her mind.

Otherwise, the Zhang family would have already filed for divorce from the Yan family.

Yan Bugui sought help from many people in order to find a job for his third son.

He also went to see He Yuzhu.

Although Yan Bugui was also apprehensive about the old-fashioned conflicts, he was still somewhat fearful of them.

But in his opinion, as long as He Yuzhu was willing to help, he would even kneel down to He Yuzhu without any problem.

But reality is cruel; he didn't even have the right to see He Yuzhu.

They were stopped at the gate.

So, as a second choice, Yan Bugui approached Xu Damao.

As for why not go find Gou Dan from the food factory?
Isn't that his daughter working for someone else?
If Gou Dan doesn't help and instead becomes annoyed with his family, it will affect his daughter.

The father-daughter relationship that had been painstakingly repaired would crack again.

It's irrelevant to contact old neighbors like He Yuzhu and Xu Damao.

Even if it doesn't succeed, there won't be much to lose.

Maybe I can even get a few cigarettes or a meal at one of the two places.

However, he did not go into He Yuzhu's house.

At Xu Damao's house, however, there were no security guards stopping him.

When Jiu'er opened the door, she paused for a moment, her bulky body blocking the doorway.

He looked a little awkward, but still said politely, "Teacher Yan, what brings you here?"

"Looking for Da Mao? He's not home."

To be honest, Jiu'er knew what kind of person Yan Bugui was and didn't want to entertain him.

Besides, the two families weren't really friends, so she couldn't be bothered with any pretense or politeness.

But since Yan Bugui came to the Xu family, he must have been prepared. (End of Chapter)