Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

The central courtyard of a quadrangle.

Jia Zhang was sitting at the door of her house, cursing and swearing, in a very bad mood.

There was a banquet held in the courtyard at noon today. Although there was a row of houses between the front yard and the middle yard, Jia Zhang could still smell the aroma of meat coming from the front yard.

She had been expecting to have a good meal at noon today, but she didn't expect that the Jia family was not invited at all. Jia Zhangshi felt so frustrated that she couldn't express it in words. The more she smelled the aroma of meat in the air, the more frustrated she felt.

"Taozi, what dish do you most want to eat for lunch..." a child playing in the yard asked his companion.

"Stewed chicken..." the child named Taozi answered blurt out.

"I heard Uncle Tang from the front yard say that Uncle Wang bought ten chickens in total and used them all to stew potatoes. There was a big plate on the table. I haven't had stewed chicken for a long time, so I must eat a lot at noon today."

"And you……"

"I like braised pork the most...my mouth is full of oil after one bite..." The companion thought for a moment and answered, and he couldn't help drooling as he spoke.

"Uncle Tang said that there will be a pot of braised pork on each table at noon, and we will be guaranteed to eat our fill. I must eat at least five pieces of braised pork at noon today..."

Hearing the two children discussing whether to have braised pork or stewed chicken for lunch, Jia Zhang was so angry that her eyes turned red. She couldn't help but scolded, "Stay away from my house, you little bastards. I'm annoyed by you. Get out of here now."

"Wang Dong and Sha Zhu are two bastards. They held a banquet at noon and didn't even invite me to eat. They have no respect for the elderly at all. God, why don't you strike them to death with thunder..."

"Mom...speak a little more quietly, don't let anyone hear us..." Hearing that Jia Zhang was swallowing the fragrance again, Qin Huairu hurried out of the kitchen to remind her.

"What are you afraid of..." Jia Zhang shouted as if she was afraid that others couldn't hear her.

"I am an elder in the courtyard... Wang Dong and Sha Zhu invited others to dinner but didn't invite me. This is disrespectful to me..."

"What did I say wrong..."

Seeing that Jia Zhang was getting more and more outrageous in order to eat meat, Qin Huairu could only continue to remind her patiently: "Mom..."

"If you don't think about yourself, you should think about Bangteng."

"Wang Dong is now the acting director of the logistics department of the steel mill. With just one sentence, he can make the workshop director target Bang Geng..."

"If you piss him off, Bang Geng will be the one who suffers in the end..."

"Besides, you know the relationship between us, Wang Dong and Sha Zhu. It's considered good if we don't curse each other when we meet. How could they invite us to dinner..."

"I advise you to give up this idea as soon as possible."

"No matter how good the food is today, it's not for our Jia family..."

"Where's Lao Yi?"

"Why don't you come over and help us paste the matchboxes?"

Jia Zhang snorted coldly and replied, "Yi Zhonghai is so angry that he is almost dying. How can he be in the mood to paste matchboxes with us?"

"In addition to Chen Li and Sanmao from our courtyard who were admitted to university, Zhang Linbao from the backyard was also admitted."

"Back then, Yi Zhonghai kicked Aunt Zhang away without hesitation and married you."

"At that time, everyone thought that Aunt Zhang would be very sad without Yi Zhonghai, and she might not be able to live in Beijing anymore."

"As a result, their lives became better and better, and the adopted child was admitted to university."

"When Zhang Linbao graduates from university and starts working, Aunt Zhang's life will definitely get better and better." "Yi Zhonghai's life is getting worse and worse. Now he doesn't even have money for his retirement."

"Now many neighbors in the courtyard are waiting to see Yi Zhonghai make a fool of himself."

Hearing this, Qin Huairu also fell silent.

At the beginning, I was attracted by Yi Zhonghai's work and the pension money he had, so I plotted against Yi Zhonghai, forced Yi Zhonghai to divorce Aunt Zhang, and finally married me as his wife.

Now Aunt Zhang's life is getting better and better, but she and Yi Zhonghai's life is a mess, and their life is becoming more and more difficult. Even eating meat has become a luxury.

If Yi Zhonghai became a joke in the eyes of the neighbors in the courtyard, then Qin Huairu, as Yi Zhonghai's wife and the culprit who forced Yi Zhonghai to divorce, would be another joke.

…………

The banquet officially started at twelve noon.

Oily braised pork, a large pot of chicken stewed with potatoes, cold pork head, braised pork intestines, stir-fried pork lungs, minced meat with mapo tofu, twice-cooked pork with green peppers, and stewed radish in bone soup...

There were eight dishes in total, all of them were meat.

The neighbors sat together, drinking grain wine, eating braised pork and chatting. It was very lively.

Smelling the aroma of food in the air and listening to the laughter and cheers coming from the front and back yards, Yi Zhonghai, Jia Zhangshi, Qin Huairu, Bang Geng... who were also eating, all had gloomy faces.

Chewing the steamed buns made of two grains of flour and the boiled cabbage in my mouth, it felt like something stuck in my throat and I had no appetite at all.

"I'm full..." Yi Zhonghai had just finished half a steamed bun and put down his bowl and chopsticks. Listening to the laughter in the front and back yards, he really couldn't eat anymore.

My heart is filled with regret.

I remember that he was a prominent figure in the courtyard back then. No matter where he went, people would respectfully call him "Uncle".

If someone holds a banquet in the yard, not only will I be invited to sit at the main seat by the host, but I will also be asked to help manage the affairs.

Ever since Wang Dong, the boy from the front yard, started working at the steel rolling mill, his status in the yard began to be affected.

He gradually changed from a respected uncle to an old man that everyone despised.

In the past, he always thought that Wang Dong was the culprit for his current situation.

If he hadn't overturned my prestige in Siheyuan, disrupted my retirement plan, and targeted me everywhere, I would definitely not be like this now.

Ever since hearing the news that the child adopted by his ex-wife was admitted to university, Yi Zhonghai finally began to reflect on his own actions.

After Aunt Zhang from the backyard divorced herself, all those messy calculations disappeared from her life. She started to treat people sincerely and raised her adopted children with her heart. Although her life was very hard at the beginning, she gained family love.

Not only did she raise the adopted child into a college student, but she also raised him into a very filial child.

Looking at myself, even though I have divorced Aunt Zhang from the backyard, my life is still full of calculations.

Even with his current wife, Qin Huairu, the relationship between the two is full of calculations.

You scheme against me, I scheme against you, you guard against me, I guard against you, and there has never been any honesty between the two of us.

Over the past ten years, not only did he lose his job, but even his pension money was almost completely taken away.

More importantly, I am almost unable to work anymore, and I have no plan for retirement. Compared with my ex-wife, there is a huge gap between us. (End of this chapter)