Siheyuan: Starting from the driver

Chapter 787 Trivialities
Two days later, it was another Sunday.

"Xiao Dang! Xiao Dang! Where are you?" Qin Huairu's voice came from the central courtyard.

"Mom! I'm here!"

Xiao Dang, who was playing with Yan Jiedi in the front yard, shouted in the direction of the house and then ignored it.

"You silly child!" Qin Huairu muttered, taking a towel in her hand and walking towards the front yard.

Xiao Dang and Yan Jiedi were swinging on a swing, pushed by Li Kailang from behind. The two were having a great time, and their silvery laughter echoed.

"mom."

Upon seeing Qin Huairu, Xiao Dang immediately got off the swing and ran straight to her.

"Look at you, you're all sweaty from playing. It's getting cold, you have to be careful," Qin Huairu said affectionately, wiping Xiao Dang's slightly sweaty back with a towel.

"Mmm!" Little Dang nodded with a baby-like smile.

The couple's affectionate manner couldn't help but bring a smile to one's face.

As Qin Huairu was wiping, she suddenly heard Xiao Dang making a soft chewing sound, accompanied by a faint sweet fragrance.

She looked down and asked, "Xiao Dang, what are you eating? Your mouth is bulging."

"sugar!"

Little Dang opened her mouth wide and stuck out her little tongue, releasing a rich, milky aroma that became even more pronounced.
A small piece of White Rabbit milk candy, glistening with saliva, was stuck to the tip of my tongue; it had clearly been bitten off more than halfway.

“My brother gave it to me,” she mumbled, then added, “That’s all, just this one.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Huairu blushed and looked at Li Kailang with affection in her eyes.

"Thank you so much, Xiao Li. You've gone to so much trouble again, and you're still taking such good care of our Xiao Dang."

The look and tone in his eyes sent a chill down Li Kailang's spine. He felt a coldness rise from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and goosebumps rose all over his body.

"It's nothing, Xiao Dang is very well-behaved. You guys play, I have something to do, I'll head back now."

After saying that, he ignored Qin Huairu and turned to go home.

"Bad luck! Bad luck!" Li Kailang patted his clothes, as if he could shake off the bad luck.

During this period, Qin Huairu was like a persistent ghost, always hanging around in front of him for no reason.
They either make an excuse to say something, or like today, they use the pretext of looking for their child to sneak over.

Li Kailang saw right through her!

I don't know how Qin Huairu could be so shameless. They've already broken off all ties, yet she still dares to come back to him.

Fortunately, it was in the courtyard, where there were many people watching, and Qin Huairu knew she had to be careful not to act too blatantly.
But she always manages to find an opportunity. Just like today, by taking advantage of the opportunity to have Xiao Dang come to play with Yan Jiedi, she herself naturally "coincidentally" appeared in the front yard, wandered around in front of Li Kailang, and made her presence known.

This sticky, ambiguous entanglement bothered him more than anything openly.

Seeing Li Kailang go back into the house, Qin Huairu's smile also faded.

"Xiao Dang, go back to playing with Jie Di. Be careful and don't fall."

"Mmm." Xiao Dang obediently responded and turned to run back to the swing.

Although the little girl is young, she is much more sensitive and perceptive than her peers.

She could sense the strange atmosphere between her mother and her cheerful brother.

'I wish Mom could be with my brother.'

One person took care of her, and the other gave her delicious food. Both of them were good to her, but she also knew that this was impossible.

"Xiao Dang, come on up! Let's keep playing!" Yan Jiedi, sitting on the swing, couldn't wait any longer and called out loudly to Xiao Dang.

"Coming!" Xiao Dang immediately sat on the swing.

"Brother, come and push!" Yan Jiedi called out crisply to Yan Jiecheng, who was leaning against the wall not far away.

'coming! ’

Yan Jiecheng was in a good mood today and played with the two children for a while.

He walked behind the swing, placed his hands on the edge of the wooden board, and began to push rhythmically.

The swing started again, and Xiao Dang and Yan Jiedi's laughter filled the front yard once more.

As Yan Jiecheng pushed, he let his thoughts drift away.

He silently counted the days: there were only three and a half months left until the end of the year.

boil!
As long as you can grit your teeth and get through these last hundred days or so, the days that follow will truly be a time of happiness after hardship, and a bright future awaits!

Thinking of this, a surge of heroic spirit welled up in his chest.

Actually, this 'sweetness' could come even earlier, right now.

His last four payments were 15 yuan each month, totaling 60 yuan.

This amount of money is more than enough for him to have in his current savings.

But he didn't plan to hand over the 60 yuan to his father, Yan Bugui, right now.

The reason is simple: we've endured more than a dozen months of hardship, and we're almost at the end, so why rush things now?

If he hands over the money now, and his shrewd father comes up with some new excuse to deduct money, then things will be in big trouble.

Such exorbitant fees, which seem unbelievable to ordinary people, are not surprising at all in the Yan family; in fact, they are Yan Bugui's specialty!

Yan Jiecheng knows his father all too well.

His fear was that by handing over the 60 yuan that would save his life, he would not only fail to be relieved of his burden, but would instead find himself at the starting point of a new "debt".

If these last few payments aren't made, the monthly "fixed amount" of 15 yuan might already include various "potential expenses" reserved by Yan Bugui.

Therefore, he decided to remain inactive.

"A bell rings~ jingle jingle~"

Yan Jiecheng unconsciously hummed an off-key tune, and as his mood improved, he increased the force of his grip, making the swing swing even higher.

"The Lunar New Year holiday lasts for two months, so I might be able to save a hundred yuan or so by then, or at least eighty or ninety yuan."

'That's quite a lot of money, how should we spend it?'

The thought of having so much money filled Yan Jiecheng with excitement.

'Get a wife? Buy a house? Or get a bicycle?' Several ideas popped into my head.

The first thing to rule out is housing; even the cheapest house costs several hundred dollars, which is beyond his means.

'Getting married? This amount of money isn't quite enough, but it's such a big deal, my family can definitely support me.'

Yan Jiecheng couldn't stop thinking about getting married.

His contemporaries, Jia Dongxu, Shazhu, and Xu Damao, are all married, some for several years, and some even have children.

Yan Jiecheng hasn't even caught a glimpse of a wife!

It's impossible to say he's not in a hurry.

"Getting a wife is such a big deal, you can't act impulsively. This amount of money is definitely not enough. There's the bride price, the banquet, and all the other things to buy—everything costs money."
'But this is such a big deal, surely your family can support you, right? You'll have to spend some money, won't you?'

Yan Jiecheng wasn't entirely sure about this either.

Yan Jiecheng couldn't help but think of Cui Yuan.

He bought a house, renovated it, and then married his wife. Yan Jiecheng was self-aware; given his family's circumstances, being able to buy a house was already quite good. As for renovations, he could at most paint the walls and smooth the floor; he shouldn't expect anything more.

Installing a bathroom like Cui Yuan did is obviously impossible; the cost would be too high.

Regardless of whether Yan Bugui would agree or not, he certainly wouldn't. He owes too much money and can't pay it back.

Unconsciously, Yan Jiecheng thought about many things.

"Hey, why think so far ahead? It's not even a hint yet, we don't even have a partner. What's the point of thinking so much? Let's take it one step at a time, pay off the debt first!"

With the goal within reach, Yan Jiecheng became more grounded.

'I haven't found a partner yet, but I might want to think about this bicycle.'

Buying a new one is obviously out of the question, but like my dad, we could chip in to buy one.

"Go find Bai Xiuwen later; he works at the scrap yard. Ask him to help you collect some items."

After making up his mind, Yan Jiecheng felt a surge of excitement and pushed the swing even harder, causing the two little girls to scream loudly.

"Bro! Higher! Higher!"

"Brother Jiecheng, higher!"

The two children shouted excitedly.

Yan Jiecheng laughed heartily and pushed with all his might: "Alright! Hold on tight!"

at the same time.

The Cui family's house in the rear-facing section presents a completely different scene.

Cui Yuan sat on the repair table in the living room, scribbling in a small notebook.

"What about that debt of yours now?"

"Let's take stock of this month's income and expenses." Cui Yuan's face was full of satisfaction. "We've been lucky these past two months. We made some extra money at the repair shop, and after deducting expenses, we were able to save this much."

He held up one finger to indicate.

"Ten yuan? That's a lot? Our family will be much richer now." Liu An's eyes lit up.

Ten yuan isn't a lot, but the family's expenses all depend on Cui Yuan. It's truly remarkable that he could save so much while ensuring his basic needs were met.

"Yes." Cui Yuan nodded.

Since marrying Liu An and truly starting to manage this little family, and experiencing the pressure of needing money for all seven necessities of life, Cui Yuan has developed the habit of keeping accounts.

He has a lot of responsibilities, and he's the only one earning money for his family of four.

Grandma is old and has no work to do, my younger brother Cui Gang is still studying, and my wife Liu An has graduated but hasn't been able to find a job.

He works at a repair shop and also has to buy materials to cover expenses.

With the expenses of both families falling on his shoulders, he naturally became conscious of keeping accounts and calculating income and expenditure.

"Yes, it's been scraped clean, there are at least 10 pieces left." Cui Yuan nodded affirmatively and carefully closed the small notebook that recorded the income and expenditure details.

"How do you plan to save this money? Or will you keep it in the usual place?" She knew that Cui Yuan had a small iron box for hiding money, which he kept in the most secret corner under the bed.

"Okay, I'll save it for now." Cui Yuan picked up his water glass and took a sip. He pointed to the somewhat empty corner of the wall.

"When spring comes, I'll see if I can add a small cabinet to the house; it's quite empty."

Liu An felt a sweet warmth in her heart. "You can make the decision, but shouldn't we also think about... um... the future?"

She touched her stomach a little shyly.

Cui Yuan immediately understood, his eyes lighting up even more: "You mean... you want a child?"

He put down his bowl, took his wife's hand, and said, "It's time to think about it! How about we have a baby next spring?"

"Don't worry, honey. I'll take on more work and work hard at the factory. Things will definitely get better and better!"

"I'll do whatever you say!" Liu An replied, blushing.

She secretly resolved that since she didn't have a job and couldn't be of much help, she should take better care of the family so that her husband wouldn't have any worries.

Laughter from the front yard, whispers from the back room.

None of them could compare to the atmosphere at Yi Zhonghai's house in the Intermediate People's Court, which was serious yet carried an indescribable, suppressed excitement.

Yi Zhonghai paced back and forth in the room, his brows furrowed, seemingly lost in thought.

He would occasionally stop and look at the small door leading to the backyard, his expression complex and unreadable, as if he were deep in thought.

An elderly woman sat on the windowsill mending clothes. In the bright light from outside, she held an old work uniform by Yi Zhonghai that had been patched up, and she was carefully sewing it stitch by stitch.

This pacing continued for quite a while until she finally couldn't resist putting down her needlework.

"Old Yi, you're pacing around like that, it's making me dizzy. What's up?"

Yi Zhonghai suppressed his joy: "It's all because of the old lady in the backyard. She hasn't been in good spirits these past two days, and she's been coughing a lot."

"I went to check on her and heard her coughing terribly inside the room, one cough after another. It was heartbreaking to hear. It seems her health is really failing. I'm afraid..."

"Huh? How could this be? She was perfectly fine when I brought her the food, and she even chatted with me for a bit." The middle-aged woman put down her needlework. "No, I have to go and see what's wrong with her."

The older woman was kind-hearted and didn't think too much about it.

"Sigh!" Yi Zhonghai stopped him abruptly.

"You're there at the perfect time! Take a good look at what's wrong with the old lady. Ask her where she feels unwell. If it's really serious, let's not delay, we need to get her to the hospital right away! This is no small matter!"

He spoke very quickly, as if he were assigning an extremely important and urgent task.

An older woman was stopped by him, extremely anxious: "I know, I know! I'll go find out right away! Is there anything else you need to tell me? If not, I'm coming right now!"

She just wanted to go see the old lady as soon as possible.

"That's all. Go quickly and ask carefully."

Yi Zhonghai slowly released his grip, his face still showing concern. "If anything happens, come back and tell me immediately."

"Okay!" the woman replied, then quickly walked towards the backyard, her back view showing a worried expression.

As he watched his wife's figure disappear behind the small gate leading to the backyard, the deliberate heaviness on Yi Zhonghai's face quickly crumbled like a mask.

He didn't sit down immediately, but stood there, his eyes becoming deep and calculating.

He walked to the window, looked through the glass towards the small house in the backyard where the deaf old lady lived, and unconsciously twirled his fingers.

"This old lady," Yi Zhonghai muttered to himself, as if asking himself, or perhaps the air, "is she really failing, or... is she setting a trap for me again?"

His brows furrowed again.

Yi Zhonghai had experienced firsthand the shrewdness and difficulty of the deaf old lady.

The old lady's health condition had always been a worry for him.

The old lady's life is a living testament to Yi Zhonghai's "respect for the elderly".

But once the old lady passed away, the courtyard was finally without an "Empress Dowager".

Now that the old lady has suddenly become "seriously ill," the timing is so delicate that Yi Zhonghai can't help but wonder: could this be yet another test from the old lady?

"Real illness or fake illness?" Yi Zhonghai slowly sat back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the table as he fell into deeper thought.

(End of this chapter)