Siheyuan: Return to the Era of Prosperity

Chapter 5 Meaty Flavor
At this time, the unique aroma of pork could already be smelled in the courtyard.

Shen Zhiyu, who was standing in front of the stove, couldn't help but feel hungry, but he had to wait. He cut the potatoes into pieces and poured them into the pot, starting the final journey of stewing the meat.

About ten minutes later, the students in the courtyard came back one after another. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they smelled the meat from Shen Zhiyu's house.

As soon as Shen Zhihua and his sister Shen Zhiwen entered the courtyard, they smelled meat. They looked at each other, quickly pushed the door open, and walked to the stove.

"Put down your schoolbag and wait for your elder sister to come back, then we'll have dinner." Shen Zhiyu said to the two greedy cats.

The two of them looked back every few steps and kept swallowing their saliva.

Shen Zhiyu looked at the greedy faces of the two and said with some amusement: "Each of you can eat one piece first, and eat the rest when your sister comes back."

As he spoke, he scooped up two pieces of meat, half fat and half lean, with a spoon and handed them to the two men.

Shen Zhihua couldn't wait to put his hand into the bowl and prepare to eat the meat.

Shen Zhiyu scolded him hurriedly: "You forgot again. Wash your hands before eating, and be careful of the heat."

The two little ones put down their bowls reluctantly and kept looking outside, waiting for their eldest sister to come home.

The central courtyard of the quadrangle is the Jia family’s home.

"Grandma, Mom, I want to eat meat too. Meat smells delicious." The six-year-old little Banggen cried.

"Be good, boy. After your father gets his salary, mom will buy you meat." Qin Huairu comforted her son.

Jia Zhang shook the fat on her face and said, "Whoever cooked meat didn't tell him to close the windows tightly, which made my dear grandson cry."

"Grandma, the Shen family in the front yard is cooking meat. I saw him coming back with pork. Please ask for it for me." Bang Geng is indeed a natural descendant of the King of Thieves. He has had good eyesight since he was a child.

"This is great. Wait until your father comes back and ask him to buy it." Jia Dongxu had not died yet, and Jia Zhangshi was not as shameless as she was later.

"No, I want to eat now." Bang Geng cried and disagreed.

"Huai Ru, why don't you go out and get some sticks for our family?" Jia Zhang whispered.

"Mom, his parents just passed away, I..." Qin Huairu was a little reluctant. Now she had not yet evolved into a white lotus in the prosperous age.

"You should ask for less. It's no use for Banggeng to keep crying like this." Jia Zhang really couldn't bear to see Banggeng cry.

Qin Huairu looked at Banggeng crying and had no choice but to go to the front yard to ask Shen Zhiyu for some meat.

Jia Dongxu is still alive. His family’s situation isn’t very good, but it’s not bad either.

The White Lotus of the Golden Age has not yet been trained.

Qin Huairu felt embarrassed and could only procrastinate and wait for her husband Jia Dongxu to return. Only he had the solution to the problem.

Sure enough, after a while, she heard the voices of Jia Dongxu and an old man named Yi Zhonghai chatting at the entrance of the alley.

Seeing this, Qin Huairu hurried into the front yard and just saw Jia Dongxu entering the courtyard.

"Huai Ru, where are you taking the bowl?" Jia Dongxu asked curiously.

Yi Zhonghai also pricked up his ears.

Qin Huairu said embarrassedly: "The Shen family in the front yard cooked meat. Banggeng smelled the meat and cried for it. No matter how we coaxed him down, he wouldn't stop. Mom sent me to ask for meat for him."

Jia Dongxu said speechlessly: "Okay, don't go. It's embarrassing. How can I ask others for meat? When I get my salary this month, I will buy some meat and eat with my master's family."

Yi Zhonghai nodded repeatedly as he listened, and it was obvious that he was very satisfied with Jia Dongxu's filial piety.

Jia Dongxu was the successor he chose. He had impeccable character, thanks to the good education of Old Jia. If he had been educated by Jia Zhang all the time, who knows what would have happened!
Yi Zhonghai was happy to hear his disciple say so, but he could not let down the elderly person he had chosen, so he took out two yuan and a few meat tickets from his trouser pocket and handed them to Jia Dongxu.

"Dongxu, it's still early. You and Huairu should go to the grocery store and buy some meat for the children. If the grocery store is sold out, go to the Pigeon Market. It doesn't matter if it's a little more expensive. You can't let the children cry because of their greed!"

"Master, this is inappropriate. How can I take your money?" Jia Dongxu said embarrassedly.

"Okay, take it and come back quickly." Yi Zhonghai turned and walked towards the middle courtyard. Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu looked at each other and thought that this master was good.

……

On the other side, the two little ones finally welcomed their eldest sister back.

"Brother, our family is cooking meat. I could smell it outside." said the eldest sister Shen Zhifang.

"Well, hurry up and wash up and have dinner." Seeing his eldest sister coming back, Shen Zhiyu hurriedly poured the vegetables in the pot into a basin and put it on the dining table.

He then served his meal to his younger brother and sister, and the four of them started eating.

The younger brothers and sisters didn't have time to talk and were only focused on eating meat.

The eldest sister said worriedly: "Brother, you want to eat such a large amount of meat at one time. You should eat it in several portions."

"Eat quickly. You are so young, why do you have so many thoughts? Your brother can support the three of you." Shen Zhiyu said with a smile.

Shen Zhifang said nothing more and joined the group eating.

Jia Dongxu watched Yi Zhonghai enter the central courtyard, retracted his respectful gaze, and pushed his wife.

"Huai Ru, take the bowl home. I'll wait for you here."

Qin Huairu hurried home, while Banggeng was still crying.

Seeing Qin Huairu holding an empty bowl, she cried even harder.

Jia Zhang felt sorry for Qin Huairu and started to scold her: "How come you can't even take two pieces of meat? Look how greedy the child is."

Qin Huairu said with a wronged look on her face: "Mom, I met Dongxu on the way, and he didn't let me go to ask for it."

When Jia Zhang heard that it was Jia Dongxu who said this, she stopped scolding Qin Huairu and whispered to Bang Geng, "My dear grandson, don't you dare cry again, or your father will beat you again when he comes back."

"Mom, I met an old man in the front yard. He gave Dongxu two dollars and asked me to go with him to buy meat."

"Really? When would Mr. Yi be willing to pluck the hair?" Jia Zhang said in disbelief.

Seeing that Qin Huairu had already left, Jia Zhang could only continue to comfort Bang Geng.

As for making fire and cooking, don't even think about it. That is Qin Huairu's job. She has worked so hard to become a mother-in-law from a daughter-in-law, how can she go back?
Bang Geng was so greedy for the meat from Shen Zhiyu's family that he cried out in pleasure. Jia Zhang could only comfort him while cursing in a low voice.

However, Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu walked towards Gezi City together. At this time, all the pork in the state-owned food stores or the International Trade Market had been sold out.

The two could only go to Pigeon Market, where the situation was slightly better, but the best pork belly and fat were basically sold out.

Seeing that most of the remaining meat was lean meat, Qin Huairu was very dissatisfied and felt at a disadvantage.

He is clamoring for the meat to be sold at a lower price, but now it is a seller's market and people won't indulge him.

In the end, the two had no choice but to buy the bad meat.

On the way back from buying meat, Qin Huairu said to Jia Dongxu distressedly: "Dongxu, did we buy too much?"

Jia Dongxu rolled his eyes at Qin Huairu. His wife was perfect in every way and was very attentive in taking care of him and his family.

The only bad thing is probably her identity issue. She has a rural household registration, so her children also have rural household registration. They don’t have food rations and have to keep going to the black market or pigeon market to buy food.

Another thing is that she has short sightedness and can't see far, but my wife learns things quickly. As long as I explain it to her once, she can basically remember it.

"What do you know? This is not the way to save money." Jia Dongxu did not explain in detail. He planned to talk to his mother Jia Zhang and his wife Qin Huairu in detail when he had time. He only figured out the reasoning behind this during this period of time.

……

　Please collect and protect.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)