Living in a Siheyuan

After the New Year's Day show, Li Pingan lived a stable life again. He accompanied Yu Li every day and completed his tasks. The rest of the time was spent practicing in the space.

The days passed quickly, and it was already the twelfth lunar month. The weather was getting colder and colder.

During this period, Li Pingan also went to the black market several times. He exchanged the products of the space with Wu Ye and his friends for a lot of good things. He exchanged several boxes of gold alone. There were also many other kinds of antique jewelry.

Recently, everyone's tasks have become increasingly difficult to complete. Li Pingan has also followed the trend and reduced the amount of supplies he delivers. Occasionally, he even pretends that he can't get anything and can't complete the task.

Zhou Changming also knew that it was difficult to get supplies now, but the end of the year was the peak period for entertaining guests. He was also in a difficult situation now.

That day, Li Pingan was chatting with Yu Li in the office when Zhou Changming called him into the office.

After entering the office, Zhou Changming gave him a cigarette and said directly, "Ping An, can you still go to the mountains during this period? It's the end of the year, and the factory wants to give some benefits to the workers, but the supplies are too poor."

Li Pingan thought about it and decided to do it again. He also wanted to make something to give as a gift. This way he would have an excuse in the future. So he agreed.

Zhou Changming was also very happy when he saw that he agreed.

After coming out of Zhou Changming's office, Li Ping'an told Yu Li that he was going into the mountains and might not be back for two or three days.

Although Li Ping'an was safe and sound several times when he went into the mountains, Yu Li was always worried.

After promising Yu Li to be careful, Li Pingan went home.

In the afternoon, Li Pingan rode his bike to the mountains. He didn't plan to go into the mountains this time. There were many wild boars, deer, roe deer, pheasants and rabbits in his space. There were even five or six tigers.

When he reached the foot of the mountain, Li Pingan went straight into the space to practice.

On the third morning, Li Ping'an appeared in the woods at the foot of the mountain.

It's really cold in the morning now.

This time he prepared more than 20 wild boars of different sizes for the factory, as well as a number of hares and pheasants. He only needed to take out a dozen deer and roe deer. All together, this amounted to more than 5,000 kilograms of meat.

As usual, we returned to the factory and called a truck, and just after noon these things were delivered to the steel rolling mill.

Everyone was very happy to see so much game on the truck. Now the factory workers will have a guaranteed New Year's Eve.

In the afternoon, Li Ping'an sent Yu Li home and brought her a roe deer and two pheasants.

Then he went to Director Wang's house. Although he was busy dating Yu Li and practicing recently, he would come over every once in a while.

With the enthusiastic invitation of Director Wang's family, Li Ping'an left the silly roe deer and went home.

It's uncomfortable to eat at someone else's house.

After a few days, everyone received New Year's goods and wages and prepared for the New Year.

The 29th day of the twelfth lunar month is the last working day. The workers stopped working and just cleaned up. There is basically nothing to do in the afternoon.

Li Pingan and his colleagues in the purchasing department received an extra pound of meat each because he got half of the meat distributed this year. In addition, there were many other rewards. This made everyone very enthusiastic.

Knowing that Li Ping'an was a great contributor, they didn't let him do any work. A few people finished the work in a short time.

At noon, Yu Li said, "Are you really not going to my house for the New Year? It would be so boring for you to spend the New Year alone at home."

Before, Yu Li's family had invited him to spend the New Year with them many times, but Li Ping'an refused every time.

This year is his first year here, and also the first year his parents passed away. He doesn't want to have no one at home on New Year's Eve, so he plans to celebrate the New Year alone.

Hearing Yu Li invite him again, Li Pingan said to her face solemnly: "I know you and your uncle and aunt have good intentions, but my parents just passed away this year. I want to spend more time with them so that they won't be lonely."

Yu Li's eyes turned red when she heard this. She grabbed Li Ping'an's hand and said, "Brother Ping'an, I'm sorry. I made you think of sad things. We will get married after the New Year, and I will be with you from now on."

Listening to Yu Li's words, Li Pingan also patted her hands and said, "It's okay. If they knew that I found such a beautiful and sensible daughter-in-law, they would be very pleased."

After comforting Yu Li, everyone went home early in the afternoon.

Li Pingan returned home and saw that everyone was happily talking about the trivial matters of tomorrow's festival. He also planned to make good preparations.

The next day, Li Ping'an cleaned himself up neatly in the space and took out some vegetables and meat and put them in the kitchen.

I rode my bike to the street and bought some melon seeds, peanuts and candy.

I also bought some fireworks and so on.

When he returned to the courtyard, he saw Yan Bugui had already set up a table at the door of his house to write couplets. Li Pingan also went over and gave him a handful of melon seeds and peanuts.

When Yan Bugui saw that it was Li Ping'an, he wrote two couplets for him, one for the entrance to the courtyard and one for the inner gate.

At night, he brought out six dishes made by Liu Mi from the space. He drank wine and ate slowly at home.

In the middle court, at Yi Zhonghai's home, an aunt called He Yuzhu and his sister over.

Although Yi Zhonghai was lying in bed and unable to move, with He Yuzhu's cooking skills and Yi Xingwang's liveliness and cuteness, the families still lived happily.

As for the Jia family, Qin Huairu was in the kitchen, so she brought back more things than others. Moreover, He Yuzhu gave more than half of his share to Qin Huairu.

This also allowed Qin Huairu's family to have a few dishes and even make dumplings.

Jia Zhang and Bang Geng were eating with their mouths full of oil, and Jia Dongxu was also carried to the table. But he still looked gloomy. From time to time, hatred appeared in his eyes.

This made the dinner table tonight very depressing. Jia Zhang and Bang Geng just buried their heads in the food and did not dare to speak.

Qin Huairu also ate the food carefully, not daring to say anything, for fear of making Jia Dongxu angry.

At midnight, Li Pingan heard a lot of firecrackers outside. He also took the firecrackers and fireworks he bought and set them off in the yard.

After setting off the fireworks, it was already past twelve o'clock. The new year had arrived. Li Ping'an was also twenty years old. His main task this year was to get married. He also had to deal with the disaster year that would begin in the second half of the year.

Thinking about these things, Li Pingan didn't stay up all night and went straight to sleep.

The next day, the first day of the new year.

Early in the morning, everyone was in high spirits and congratulated each other.

As soon as he opened the door, a large group of children came to wish him a happy new year. He gave each of them two candies. This is a tradition and also a way to bring good luck.

After a while, Yan Jiecheng came over to inform that a meeting of the whole institute would be held later.

Ever since Yi Zhonghai became paralyzed and lay at home, the Siheyuan hasn't held a general meeting for a long time.

When Li Ping'an arrived at the Intermediate Court, many people had already arrived.

Seeing He Yuzhu waving at him, Li Ping'an took a stool and sat next to him.

I didn’t see Xu Damao. I guess he went to his parents’ house to celebrate the festival.

The two of them were smoking, and He Yuzhu said, "Ping An, I wanted to invite you to my house for the New Year last night, but an aunt asked me to go to her house to celebrate the New Year together. In recent years, we have celebrated the New Year with them, so I didn't invite you."

After hearing He Yuzhu's explanation, Li Pingan said without any concern: "It's okay. I just want to spend the New Year at home this year. I didn't go even when Yu Li and the others asked me to."

The two chatted for a few sentences, and then the second uncle Liu Haizhong and the third uncle Yan Bugui came.

Now that Yi Zhonghai is not here, the second uncle Liu Haizhong sits in the middle where Yi Zhonghai used to be.

The third uncle Yan Bugui glanced at Liu Haizhong, and he continued to sit in his original seat.

Seeing that most people had arrived, Liu Haizhong stood up and said, "Today is our annual hospital-wide meeting. In previous years, Uncle Yi Zhonghai presided over the meeting, but this year he is not in good health, so I will preside over it."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Yan Bugui and saw that Yan Bugui had no intention of speaking. So he continued, "Here I would like to wish you all a happy new year, hard work, and good health!"

After he finished speaking, everyone applauded.

Yan Bugui also stood up and said: "I also wish everyone good luck and success in the new year!"

Another round of applause.

Seeing everyone's enthusiasm, Liu Haizhong took the opportunity to say, "I have one more thing to ask. This old man is not in good health now, and he can't serve you in the future. But our courtyard cannot be without a leader. I mean that since everyone is here today, we should elect a new old man. This way, any problems in the courtyard can be dealt with in a timely manner in the future."

After that, he turned to Yan Bugui and said, "Are you talking about Old Yan?"

Yan Bugui replied indifferently after hearing this: "I'll see what everyone thinks about this matter. I don't have any opinion."

At this time, everyone was talking about it. He Yuzhu also said, "Look at Liu Haizhong's proud look. This time, the old man is lying on the bed. He is the happiest."

Li Pingan said, "Be careful, he might cause trouble for you if he hears you. I think he wants to be the boss."

He Yuzhu heard this and said angrily: "I'll make him a hammer."

After saying that, he stood up and shouted loudly: "Second uncle, you are wrong. These three uncles were originally selected by the street office. What's the point of us choosing them here? We don't even know whether the street office approves them or not. Don't you think so?"

Li Pingan looked at He Yuzhu in surprise. Who said this guy was stupid? Didn't this sentence poke into Liu Hai's lungs?

At this moment, everyone was calling for the Street Office to make the decision, which made Liu Haizhong feel embarrassed.

He looked at He Yuzhu and said, "Silly Zhu, what are you talking about? The subdistrict office is busy with a lot of things all day long, so how can it have time to deal with these small matters? We just need to hand it over to the subdistrict office for verification after we have selected it. How can we bother the subdistrict office for these matters?"

What Liu Haizhong said makes sense.

Everyone became hesitant again.

After listening to this, He Yuzhu said, "Who do you think is suitable to be the first uncle in our courtyard?"

Seeing that He Yuzhu was convinced by him, Liu Haizhong said proudly: "It depends on everyone's choice. But as the second uncle, I have done a lot of good things for our hospital over the years and helped some people. I think no one is more suitable than me for the position of the first uncle, right?"

After listening to Liu Haizhong's words, everyone started to discuss. It is true that there is no one more suitable than him in the hospital now. After all, he has been the second uncle for many years. He has done some good things.

But He Yuzhu was not convinced. He didn't want Liu Haizhong to take the position of the boss. He shouted, "Forget about you Liu Haizhong. There are many people who are better than you. You can't even manage your own family affairs, and you come to manage our courtyard affairs. Your two sons are beaten by you every day, but you still don't manage them well."

This made everyone laugh. Everyone knew that Liu Haizhong often beat his two little ones, but no one said it to their faces. He Yuzhu was specifically exposing Liu Haizhong's shortcomings.

Liu Haizhong was so angry that he was shaking. He pointed at He Yuzhu and said, "Shazhu, you are a fool who has no parents to teach you. Do you still know how to respect the elderly and love the young? Do you still have manners?"

He Yuzhu had a bad temper. He rushed over and kicked the table in front of Liu Haizhong. Liu Haizhong didn't have time to dodge and was knocked to the ground by the table.

He Yuzhu stepped over, sat on Liu Haizhong's body and started punching him.

Only then did everyone react and rushed over to help pull it apart.

Yan Bugui was almost knocked to the ground by the table. He pointed at He Yuzhu and shouted angrily: "Silly Zhu, stop it!"

After everyone frantically pulling and tugging, they finally pulled He Yuzhu aside.

At this time, there were several bruises on Liu Haizhong's face and many footprints on his body.

Liu Haizhong was so angry that he wanted to call his three sons to join him, but he was held back by everyone and had no choice but to have a verbal fight with He Yuzhu.

The meeting was already in chaos by this point. Yan Bugui said, "Let's forget about electing a great uncle for now. We can talk to the street office when we have time. Let's end the meeting here."

Then everyone went home in groups of two or three.

Liu Hai pointed at He Yuzhu angrily and said, "Silly Zhu, just wait, I am not done with you!"

He Yuzhu didn't care. Without Yi Zhonghai's suppression, his stupid temper would not save anyone's face.

When Liu Haizhong got home, he became angrier and angrier. He took out his belt and beat up Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu who were hiding at home to vent his anger.