Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

He Yuzhu glared at the other person and replied, "I've taught you all the skills I was supposed to teach you. If you still can't learn them well, don't call yourself my apprentice at the Chengnan branch..."

"Since you're so confident, you can make both the chicken stew with mushrooms and the braised pork ribs later."

"I'll cook the remaining six dishes..."

"The children must be hungry... Let's finish making the New Year's Eve dinner as soon as possible so they can eat it."

Er Mao, afraid of missing his chance to shine, immediately chimed in: "It's just four dishes... I cook at restaurants all the time, I guarantee you'll be satisfied."

After saying that, he took the materials and rushed to the Intermediate People's Court.

A kitchen with only one stove is clearly not enough for two chefs.

Fortunately, the old house where Liang Lati of the Central Courtyard lived still had a kitchen; otherwise, there really wouldn't have been a place for the two cooks to put their skills to good use.

…………

The house in the backyard belongs to Aunt Zhang, who is also Yi Zhonghai's ex-wife.

Although they are no longer working, the mother and son are still living a comfortable life, as they have saved a lot of money from selling their steel rolling workshop. While their lives are not as good as He Yuzhu's, they are still quite well-off.

More importantly, his son Zhang Linbao has already been in university for two years and will be able to start working in another two years.

With current salary levels, Zhang Linbao's monthly income after graduation will be at least over one hundred yuan, enough for the mother and son to live a very comfortable life.

So Aunt Zhang also prepared a lot of New Year's goods for her son, Zhang Linbao.

I bought almost every kind of meat and vegetable available at the market, including stewed chicken, braised pork, and braised fish.

…………

Compared to the New Year's Eve dinners of these residents, the New Year's Eve dinner of the Yan family in the front yard was obviously much more meager.

There wasn't even a single old hen on the kitchen cutting board; the only thing they had to offer was three or four pounds of pork.

Moreover, Yan Fugui divided the pork into three pieces, intending to use two jin of the best pork to make braised pork, and the remaining jin of pork to stew dried vegetables and radishes.

Although there were fish on the cutting board, they were all small fish that Yan Fugui usually caught himself, weighing less than half a pound each, and had already been dried into dried fish, ready to be steamed and eaten.

Nevertheless, the third and fourth sons of the Yan family stood at the kitchen door, drooling.

Although this New Year's Eve dinner was somewhat meager compared to the neighbors in the courtyard, it was still many times better than the meals the Yan family usually ate. For the third and fourth sons, who had hardly any oil in their stomachs, it was hard not to drool.

Around 4 p.m., footsteps suddenly sounded in front of the Yan family's house.

Then, the voices of Yan Jiecheng and Yan Jiefang were heard at the door: "Mom and Dad...we're back to celebrate the New Year with you..."

Yan Fugui merely nodded, not even bothering to speak to his two sons, clearly very dissatisfied with their current behavior.

Seeing that each of his two daughters-in-law was carrying a chicken and two or three pounds of pork belly, the stiff expression on his face finally relaxed.

But his furrowed brows didn't relax; with a hint of displeasure, he said, "Take the things to the kitchen, get ready for dinner..."

But not long after, the two sons returned to the main room with dissatisfaction: "Dad... today is New Year's Day, and we're only having braised pork for our New Year's Eve dinner. Even the fish is dried at home. You didn't buy chicken or carp. You're too stingy."

Although the two daughters-in-law did not speak, their furrowed brows revealed their dissatisfaction.

Even the younger brothers were pouting, very dissatisfied with the New Year's Eve dinner prepared by their grandparents. "It's enough to have something to eat, why are you being so picky... I only have that little salary, where am I going to get so much money to buy you chickens and fish..." Yan Fugui started cursing as soon as he opened his mouth, the implied meaning of which was very clear: the eldest and second eldest brothers were unfilial and the family didn't have money to buy chickens and fish.

Yan Jiecheng was displeased after hearing this and retorted loudly, "Father..."

"That's going too far..."

“My second son and I give you ten yuan a month for retirement, which adds up to twenty yuan. You also have a salary of thirty or forty yuan a month, so you have fifty or sixty yuan a month in total.”

“If I’m not mistaken, you and Mom have saved at least four thousand yuan over the years, how could you not have any money…”

"Don't think that just because we've separated, I don't know what's going on at home..."

"We finally get to go home for the Chinese New Year, and this is what you're feeding us? That's too much."

"To put it bluntly, the food your grandson eats at the restaurant's after-school care center is better than your New Year's Eve dinner tonight."

"If this continues, they might not even recognize their grandparents in the future."

When Yan Fugui heard that his grandson did not recognize his grandparents, a trace of pity flashed across his face, but it quickly disappeared.

His purpose in doing this today is to make his two sons bow down and compromise with him.

As long as the goal is achieved, it's okay if the grandsons suffer a little grievance. At worst, we can find a way to ease the tension when they move back in.

Meeting the angry glares of her two sons, she replied, "You're right, your mother and I have indeed saved three thousand yuan over the years..."

"But we invested all three thousand yuan in business..."

"Xu Damao, a student from the Central Court, is doing foreign trade business outside."

“A few months ago I invested 3,000 yuan, and in less than half a year, Xu Damao gave me a dividend of 1,500 yuan.”

“I think this business is very profitable, and since your third brother is also working with Xu Damao, nothing unexpected will happen.”

"I put the 1,500 yuan that Xu Damao had given me a few days ago into the money, and I also put in all the remaining 500 yuan from my home, making it a total of 5,000 yuan."

“Xu Damao assured me that the five thousand yuan would turn into ten thousand yuan in one year.”

"That's why we're broke at home."

"If you want to stay home for the New Year's Eve dinner, then stay. If you think the New Year's Eve dinner at home is too meager and don't want to stay, you can go back now."

Yan Jiecheng and Yan Jiefang immediately widened their eyes, looking at Yan Fugui with disbelief.

The two daughters-in-law wore expressions of shock and disbelief.

Although they didn't have much contact with Xu Damao, they knew a little about him from their neighbors and felt from the bottom of their hearts that Xu Damao was not a good person.

Now Yan Fugui is telling them that Xu Damao is leading them to make a lot of money outside, and that they can double their investment in a year. How is that possible?

Regardless of whether Xu Damao is reliable or not, in their understanding, it seems that no business can double all investments in just one year.

Besides, with someone as unreliable as Xu Damao, isn't Yan Fugui afraid that investing several thousand yuan in him will result in his money going down the drain? (End of Chapter)