Siheyuan: A warm home with wife and children

Having witnessed countless partings of life and death, I feel them all the more deeply.

It felt as if I was walking step by step towards the funeral hall, into the coffin placed in the middle.

One day, she will be like Yi Zhonghai and his wife.

They lay in coffins, were worshipped, and were buried.

It was cold, dark, and buried in the earth, never seeing the light of day.

Enduring wind and rain, insect infestation and snake bites...

wow~

As she splashed water on her body, Yingzi made a decision in her heart.

"The noodles are ready." The cooked noodles are served and topped with the stir-fried meat sauce.

Yang Jianguo pushed the noodles in front of her and put chopsticks on them: "Eat quickly, you must be hungry after a busy day."

"Mm." Yingzi nodded and picked up her chopsticks.

A layer of gravy, a bite of noodles—that's how you get the best flavor.

Halfway through the meal, Yingzi suddenly said, "Jianguo, have you thought about our future?"

Yang Jianguo naturally understood that she wasn't referring to the future.

After several days of busy work with funeral arrangements, and being in close proximity to the deceased, I've become caught up in the experience myself.

"What do you think?" Yang Jianguo didn't rush to answer, but instead asked her with a smile.

“I…I think cremation is a good thing,” Yingzi said.

Yang Jianguo nodded in agreement: "That's good. We should take the lead. Who can stand being buried in the ground!"

"Pfft~" Yingzi was amused by his deliberately funny tone.

"I'm telling you the truth, when a person dies, the lights go out. Those who should be remembered will be remembered whether they are still alive or not. What's forgotten is that the grave will just stand there and be overgrown with weeds."

Even now, aren't there quite a few neglected graves?

Not to mention, the grass on those graves is taller than the tombstones, making people completely forget about the abandoned graves that have been torn down.

According to the old saying, wouldn't all these graves become wandering ghosts?

It would be better to burn it, find a quiet place to pour water on it, or even sprinkle it under a tree.

Hey ~

Sprinkling it under the trees is good; it can also serve as fertilizer for the trees.

Even in death, one can still make a contribution.

"Look at you, you're exaggerating more and more." Yingzi gave him a playful glare, but secretly she felt relieved.

She was afraid that Jian Guo would disagree, but to her surprise, he was more open-minded than she had imagined.

They also sprinkled it under the tree roots as fertilizer...

That won't do; we need to find a place with beautiful scenery.

It was tossed into the air and carried away by the wind, allowing me to see the magnificent landscape of our motherland.

That's what makes it truly romantic—a scene of poetic beauty.

What's the point of talking about romance when you're dead? Yang Jianguo couldn't understand it either.

But he would never disagree with his wife's opinion.

He's already dead, so whatever you do with him is up to him. Even if you empty the toilet and flush the water, there's nothing he can do, right?

So, people should worry less about what happens after they die.

Focus more on the present and concentrate on the moment.

To burn one's finite life with infinite light and become part of history.

This is much better than being put in a coffin, buried in the ground, and mourned by others.

……

The next day, the courtyard was even more lively.

For no other reason than that the troublesome old neighbors have all returned.

The Liu family, including Liu Haizhong in a wheelchair, and Yan Laokou, who spent most of his life scheming and almost lost his family.

All complete!

Chapter 634 Old Friends Reunite, Just Like Back Then

"Second Uncle, his Second Uncle."

Old Yan is quite eloquent, but his legs aren't very good.

Now I saw Liu Haizhong sitting in a wheelchair, his mouth crooked and eyes squinting, with drool at the corner of his mouth.

A bittersweet desolation arose from my heart.

Back in the day, he was such a wonderful person.

When he swung the whip, the empty cracking sound could be heard for miles around.

Now look at her, sitting in a wheelchair like a baby being breastfed.

How pitiful and pathetic!

As soon as he thought of himself, tears welled up in Old Man Yan's eyes.

His calculator wasn't much better than Liu Haizhong's.

"Third Uncle, how are you feeling?"

Upon seeing Yan Laokou, Shazhu smiled with exceptional joy.

That joyful expression on his face was particularly irritating to Old Man Yan.

It's like they're mocking him for being a useless person now.

"Zhu Zi, are you laughing at me?"

"Where are you? Look at what you're saying, do you think I'm that kind of person?"

"You're exactly that kind of person..."

Old Yan muttered something under his breath, but didn't argue with him anymore.

Circumstances are beyond one's control; I'm now in a wheelchair and my legs are no longer agile.

When I could still walk and run, I never got the better of him.

At this moment...

If you challenge him again, will you come out unscathed?

"Brother Zhuzi." All four children of the Yan family have arrived today.

When they saw Sha Zhu, they addressed him as "Brother Zhu" with great politeness.

For no other reason than that he's now a big boss.

Tianxiazhuang is now famous both at home and abroad.

Foreigners visiting the capital city always make sure to try the authentic, traditional government-style cuisine first.

Otherwise, it's as if they didn't come at all.

I heard that his restaurant makes several million a year.

How much money would that cost?!

"Since you're all here, you're not outsiders, so please make your own way!"

After greeting Sha Zhu, he went to find Liu Haizhong's family.

"Uncle Er, oh dear, how did you get like this?"

Sha Zhu looked regretful, with a hint of sympathy in his eyes, but he couldn't hide the smile in his eyes.

Of the three old men, he looked down on the second old man, Liu Haizhong, the most.

He has no real skills, all he does is daydream.

He acts arrogantly in his own home, treating his wife and children like servants.

In the end, this is how it ended up.

He may be pitiful, but if you ask Sha Zhu, it's the retribution he deserves.

However, only Guangtian and Guangfu came today.

What, after all these years, the boss still hasn't forgiven him?

"Brother Zhuzi," Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu called out, mimicking the way Old Yan's family called him.

Nowadays, everything is about making money.

Sha Zhu is not only rich, but also has many influential people from all over the country coming and going in the village.

He returned it to the high-ranking leader's family, where he had worked as a private chef for so many years.

They had long wanted to curry favor with this relationship.

It's a pity he left so early; I've looked for him several times since then, but he's never been there.

He was either busy at the restaurant or being called away by the big boss.

Over time, the relationship will naturally break down.

They were busy making a living and didn't have much time to stake out the area.

Besides, I wouldn't have been able to bring myself to do it when I was younger.

Thinking about these things, the two of them turned their gaze to Liu Haizhong, who was in a wheelchair and suffering from dementia.

It's all that old man's fault. If it weren't for his troublemaking, we might still be living here!

If they could just get on the good side of Sha Zhu or Yang Jianguo, and get some help from them, the Liu family would surely rise to prominence.

Unlike now, I'm still just an ordinary worker, stuck in a limbo, not good enough for high-level jobs but not good enough for low-level ones.

The two of them got angrier and angrier, so they simply ignored him and started chatting with Sha Zhu.

At the same time, he tiptoed, looking left and right, searching for something.

"Looking for Jianguo!" Sha Zhu grinned and said directly, "Don't bother looking, he hasn't come back yet!"

"Uh, such a big thing, and Brother Jianguo didn't even show up?"

“What big deal is it? Uncle Yi and he don’t get along very well… Besides, Jianguo has done more than enough by clearing out his yard for him to do things.”

All those messy things from back then are in the past.

But as for forgetting, that's definitely impossible.

While I may feel relieved, it doesn't mean I've become his 'neighbor'.

They're just casual acquaintances. It's your own funeral; why would you expect your neighbor to do so much for you?

As for Yingzi, that was out of consideration for Aunt Yi, who had taken care of her child back then.

Thinking of this, Sha Zhu couldn't help but smile. 'These two, they really know their boundaries.'

Just then, a commotion arose outside the door: "Jianguo is back."

"Jianguo, you're a leader, you're never idle."

"Director Yang, I didn't expect to see you here. This is my business card. I am..."

People from all walks of life struck up conversations and tried to build connections, crowding around him.

Seeing that Yang Jianguo showed no sign of stopping, none of them dared to stop him.

Make way in the middle and follow him step by step.

As for Yang Jianguo, he did have a smile on his face, but he also exuded a sense of distance that kept people at arm's length.