Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

With everything going smoothly at work and life at home getting better and better, Guo Lin was completely free of worries.

With Wang Dong's financial support, Guo Lin directly bought a two-courtyard siheyuan (traditional courtyard house) in Beijing. Although it cost nearly 10,000 yuan, the place was spacious enough.

My wife also successfully entered Dongjun Hotel as an intern supervisor, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, she will be promoted to a full-time position in three months.

Besides his own wife, Wang Dong also arranged for the wives of several of his apprentices to work as intern supervisors and intern team leaders at Dongjun Hotel.

The worst of his apprentices was a vocational school graduate, and several others were college graduates. Without exception, their wives all had a certain level of education.

To ensure they had no worries and worked diligently for him, Wang Dong recruited them all to work at Dongjun Hotel.

At this point, someone might ask...

Dongjun Hotel only has a few branches. Isn't it a waste of money to recruit so many intern supervisors and intern team leaders all at once?

actually not……

The reason Wang Dong put them in the hotel as intern supervisors was not to have them work there in the future, but to let them accumulate experience in running a hotel.

The first batch of white-feathered chickens has arrived at the farm, and all the breeding chickens have also arrived. They will be ready for market in just over a month.

This means that he can start planning to open his long-planned fried chicken chain store.

Those intern supervisors and intern team leaders were all prepared for these fried chicken shops.

Fried chicken chains differ from restaurants because they operate in smaller spaces and primarily serve fast food; dozens can be opened in a single district.

Even if each fried chicken shop only needs one experienced manager, dozens or hundreds of fried chicken shops together will still require dozens or hundreds of managers.

To avoid being caught off guard and unable to find anyone in a hurry, Wang Dong decided to use Dongjun Hotel as a platform to train some people in advance.

…………

The front yard is Yan Fugui's house.

Today is payday again.

Because he often worked overtime, Yan Jiekuang received a total of eighty-six yuan in wages this month.

He hid the thirty-one yuan in his office and kept the remaining fifty-five yuan in his pocket, intending to give it to Yan Fugui later.

As usual, Yan Jiekuang did not stay at the factory to work overtime on payday. He went home after get off work, intending to hand over his wages to Yan Fugui as soon as possible, so as not to give Yan Fugui a chance to scheme against him.

For the past few months, on this day every month, Yan Fugui would go to the market to buy a pound of pork, and have his mother cook the dishes in advance so that he could have a good meal when he got home.

I don't know what's wrong with me today.

Yan Fugui, who usually guarded the gate of the courtyard all day long, had disappeared.

I pushed open the door and walked into the room. The table was empty; my mother hadn't cooked any dishes for me beforehand.

The elderly couple sat in their chairs with somber faces, not uttering a word, which made the atmosphere in the room oppressive.

Yan Jiekuang looked completely bewildered, but still readily placed the fifty-five yuan he had prepared beforehand on the table, casually introducing Yan Fugui as, "Dad..."

"This is my salary for this month, a total of fifty-five yuan..."

"If you're sure there's nothing wrong, then put it away... By the way, what are we having for dinner tonight? I don't see any dishes on the table. Mom, didn't you cook?"

Yan Fugui didn't take the fifty-five yuan that Yan Jiefang had placed on the table. Instead, he frowned and asked with a displeased expression, "Jie Kuang..."

"Tell me the truth... is your monthly salary really only fifty-five yuan?" Yan Jiekuang didn't know why his father would suddenly ask such a question, but he still gritted his teeth and answered readily, "Didn't you ask our supervisor about this?"

"The factory isn't doing well right now, so getting 55 yuan a month is already pretty good..."

"Many workers in our factory only earn thirty or forty yuan a month, which is twenty or thirty yuan less than my salary. It's already considered very good to be able to earn this much."

"Bullshit..." Seeing that Yan Jiekuang had no intention of telling him the truth, Yan Fugui felt that he had been made a fool of and was very angry. His whole face was filled with rage.

He slammed his fist on the table and yelled, "Even at a time like this, you're still lying to me? Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"I was wondering why you'd been so honest with me these past few months, handing over your salary without keeping a single penny of your own money. Turns out you'd been hiding some money, and quite a lot of it. You didn't care about the little bit of money I gave you."

“If it weren’t for this incident, I wouldn’t have suspected you of hiding money, let alone asked your colleagues.”

Upon hearing that Yan Fugui had gone to see his colleagues, Yan Jiekuang's face quickly showed a hint of worry, fearing that Yan Fugui might find out his true salary from them.

But within seconds, the worried expression on his face was replaced by seriousness.

After a few months, he had saved up a considerable amount of his own money, if not more than a hundred.

Even if I leave this house, this secret stash of money is enough for me to rent a place outside.

Then you won't have to send money home anymore, and your salary will increase significantly. Maybe in two or three years you'll be able to buy your own house.

Then I can find a wife, and my life will be complete.

Compared to his own worries, his father Yan Fugui's face was full of anger, but he was also very uneasy inside.

The eldest and second eldest have already been sentenced and will not be released for three years. The only one they can rely on now is the third eldest.

If the third son has a falling out with us because of this matter and moves out, the family will lose a major source of income.

Although when he rescued Lao San from the detention center, Lao San repeatedly promised him that he would hand over all his wages to him for his own use.

But words are no guarantee, and if he refuses to keep his promise, Yan Fugui can't do anything about it.

Even if we take a step back and assume that an agreement was signed when Yan Fugui was rescued, it wouldn't matter. After all, Yan Jiekuang is his own son. It's impossible to send the third son back to prison and bring back the second or eldest son. That's obviously impossible.

But as the head of the family, even though Yan Fugui felt very guilty, he still wouldn't allow Yan Fugui to lie to him or secretly save money behind his back.

She stared at Yan Jiekuang with angry eyes, hoping he would give her an explanation and hand over the savings she had accumulated.

However, Yan Jiekuang, who had already figured out the subtle relationship between himself and Yan Fugui, was not frightened by his father's words. After a brief moment of worry, his expression returned to calm, and he answered Yan Fugui's angry gaze.

"father……"

"I don't know who you asked..."

"Anyway, my monthly salary is only fifty-five yuan..."

"The reason we don't ask you for money is because our factory provides meals..."

"I'm not dating right now, and I don't spend much money..."

"Is there anything else...?"

"If you have nothing else to do, hurry up and cook some food, I'm starving..."

"If you don't go cook, I'm going back to the factory to work overtime... If I work overtime, I get free meals." (End of Chapter)