Courtyard Houses: Starting with the principle of hard work paying off

Chapter 231 Qin Huairu: Silly Zhu, who do you want to fuck?
Coincidentally.

Today happens to be Li Hongbing's day off.

It wasn't that Sha Zhu deliberately chose this day; it just happened to be that day.

After all, the "good stuff" that Sha Zhu mentioned isn't something you get every day, otherwise he wouldn't have waited until today to invite Li Hongbing over for drinks and to express his gratitude.

After breakfast, Li Hongbing specially brought his fishing rod and then rode his bicycle to take Chen Xueru to work at the silk shop.

Li Hongbing wasn't at work today, so Chen Xueru wouldn't be so spoiled as to insist that Li Hongbing drive her. However, for Li Hongbing, it would only take a short while, and he could also gain experience points in his cycling skill and fish for a bit, so it wasn't a big deal.

Because of what's about to happen, the higher-ups are quite tense, and Li Hongbing has recently become less busy.

It's not that no one wants to hire him for private jobs, but Li Hongbing is already flush with cash. Apart from Xu Lao and his group, Li Hongbing rarely works outside of his regular job at Fengzeyuan Restaurant.

Otherwise, Li Hongbing would have an endless stream of orders.

We've now fully entered the era of ration coupons, so no matter how much money you give Li Hongbing, it will be difficult for him to spend it.

Not to mention that Li Hongbing occasionally levels up his skills and frequently receives gold coins from the system, his current salary alone is more than enough to support his entire family, and they can even save a considerable amount each month.

As for big-ticket items, we already have everything we need at home, and we don't have any major expenses on a regular basis.

Because it wasn't a day off, there were far fewer people by the river today, but there were still quite a few people fishing. After all, most of them were elderly men who no longer had to work, and there were fewer people just strolling around and watching others fish.

In a short while, Li Hongbing had made quite a haul. Apart from keeping a large grass carp and a common carp for himself, he "processed" the rest on the spot and exchanged them for some money and tickets.

With his fishing skills alone, Li Hongbing could earn just as much as he does with a regular job. Even if he didn't work, he could support his family by fishing every day. However, the current "freelancing" industry is risky, and it would be better to have a stable and respectable job.

Hanging the large grass carp and carp he had kept on the handlebars of his bicycle, Li Hongbing showed off his morning's catch, attracting countless envious glances on his way back to the courtyard house.

This situation is just a part of Li Hongbing's daily routine.

"Hey, Hongbing, you've caught another big fish?"

When Li Hongbing pushed his bicycle into the courtyard, Aunt Yan's eyes lit up when she saw the large grass carp and carp hanging on the handlebars, and her voice rose a few octaves.

Before Li Hongbing could reply, Aunt Yang, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but tease him: "Old Yan's wife, what kind of question is that... Do you think you're his husband? When has Hongbing ever come back empty-handed?"

Hearing Aunt Yang's close-up attack, Aunt Yan felt a little embarrassed and annoyed, but quickly smiled helplessly and said, "My old Yan is naturally no match for Hongbing. Don't be fooled by the fact that he has been fishing longer than Hongbing. When it comes to strength and luck, there's really nothing you can do about it."

Aunt Yan responded, and also took the opportunity to praise Li Hongbing.

No matter how you look at it, it's not shameful for anyone to lose to Li Hongbing; this is practically a consensus within the institute.

Li Hongbing smiled upon hearing this and said modestly as usual, "Aunt Yan, you flatter me. I was just a little lucky."

In the entire courtyard, only Li Hongbing and Yan Bugui had the hobby and habit of fishing. Judging from their catches each time, it was obvious who was better. Li Hongbing didn't need to show off like this.

Moreover.

In terms of fishing skills, Yan Bugui himself admitted that he was not as good as Li Hongbing, and even always wanted to learn something from him.

Every time Li Hongbing went fishing, he would bring back one or two fish. But only Yan Bugui, who had fished with Li Hongbing, knew that this was just the tip of the iceberg of Li Hongbing's catch. The rest he exchanged for money and tickets and put into his pocket.

The fish he caught were the fruits of his labor and were unplanned supplies. In addition, Li Hongbing had connections in the neighborhood committee and the women's federation before being demonized, so he was not worried that anyone would use this to target him or cause trouble.

Moreover, Yan Bugui is currently the only person in the hospital who knows about this.

"Wow, what a big fish!"

"Dad, you're awesome!"

Hearing the commotion outside, Li Jianwu and Chen Jiwen rushed out of the house and began to genuinely admire Li Hongbing.

"Dad, next time you go fishing, remember to take me with you. I want to go fishing too."

Seeing the fish that Li Hongbing took off his bicycle, Li Jianwu couldn't help but speak up.

Although Li Jianwu is usually much more composed than other children his age, he is still a child after all. When he saw Li Hongbing return from fishing, he became childish again.

Hearing his brother Li Jianwu's words, Chen Jiwen looked at Li Hongbing and said in a childish voice, "I want to catch a big fish too!"

"No problem, but we'll have to wait until your mother has a day off before I take you to the river. Our whole family will go then."

Li Hongbing did not refuse his two eldest sons' request, but there were preconditions.

Normally it wouldn't work. Even Li Jianwu, who is a bit older, is only four years old now. He's at the age where he's very playful, so we have to be careful and attentive at all times.

Not to mention Li Hongbing's distrust, even Chen's mother and Chen Xueru would not agree.

However, if it's a family outing, there won't be any problem. With Chen's mother and Chen Xueru helping to take care of and watch over things, and Li Hongbing just being careful himself, he won't worry about any accidents happening.

"Yay, Dad, you're the best!"

"Whee!"

"Dad, let me get the fish for you."

"No, you'll smell fishy all over yourself, and then your grandma will have to wash your clothes."

"Oh!"

"..."

Seeing the two brothers cheering and jumping for joy, Li Hongbing couldn't help but smile. He then handed the grass carp in his hand to Chen's mother and said, "Mom, take this grass carp back and start steaming the rice first. Don't touch the fish. I'm going to the central courtyard first and will be right back. I'll make you boiled fish fillets later."

"it is good!"

Hearing her son-in-law's words, knowing that he wanted to cook lunch himself, Chen's mother couldn't help but smile.

Under Li Hongbing's professional guidance, Chen's mother's cooking skills are now quite good. She has basically moved beyond being an amateur and has begun to make continuous progress in the professional field. However, compared with Li Hongbing, a well-known chef, she is naturally no match.

The two children, Jianwu and Jiwen, also love Li Hongbing's cooking the most. After all, they have been spoiled since they were young and have developed a discerning palate. Although they don't have the bad habit of being picky eaters, they can eat better than anyone else.

With the remaining carp in hand, Li Hongbing arrived at the Central Court and soon saw Sha Zhu chatting and joking with other middle-aged women.

Even before entering the Intermediate People's Court, Li Hongbing had already heard Sha Zhu's distinctive voice and tone.

It's so distinctive.

Sha Zhu is very talkative, but unfortunately he lacks emotional intelligence, or rather, he's a typical straight man who has offended many people.

Otherwise, given his previous circumstances, he would have married a wife long ago, instead of still being single.

"Hey? Hongbing, you didn't go to work today?" Just as they were getting into the conversation, Shazhu's gaze suddenly fell on Li Hongbing, who had just come from the front yard, and he immediately froze for a moment.

Li Hongbing's days off were different from theirs. Sha Zhu had taken a day off today to host a banquet for Li Hongbing that evening. Moreover, Li Hongbing had taken Chen Xueru to work in the morning and had only just returned from fishing. Sha Zhu was unaware that he was also off today.

"I'm off today. I took Xue Ru to work this morning, and then went fishing by the river for a while. I was pretty lucky, look!"

At this point, Li Hongbing lifted the carp in his hand to show off his prize, and then continued to Sha Zhu, "Since you're treating us to drinks tonight, I can't come empty-handed. Consider this carp my gift."

"Hey, Hongbing, you... I'll treat you to a drink. I have good wine, so how could I be short of good food?"

Sha Zhu was very confident about the main dish tonight, so he said to Li Hongbing, "Take this fish back with you. You can cook it for Jianwu and Jiwen at noon. Just wait and see that you'll have a good meal tonight!"

Li Hongbing smiled and said, "No need. I still have a big grass carp for myself. I'll make boiled fish fillets later. You can keep this carp for now. We'll clean it up tonight and make it into an extra dish. The main course will definitely be the big dish you prepared."

Now that it's all taken, there's no reason to take it back, and Li Hongbing doesn't need this one fish anyway.

"Alright, you're not exactly short of fish anyway, so I'll take it. But please don't do this again next time, it makes me feel really bad."

Seeing Li Hongbing's response, Sha Zhu stopped insisting.

Neither of them is short of a fish, yet they're pushing and shoving each other over it, which only makes them look ridiculous.

Moreover, Li Hongbing's action made Sha Zhu feel very proud.

The moment Sha Zhu took the fish, he had already decided how to cook it. He immediately said, "Since it's a carp, I'll make another one tonight, a Sichuan dish called dry-fried carp. I'll also ask you to give me some pointers and see if my skills have improved recently."

When it comes to cooking skills, Sha Zhu admits that he is no match for Li Hongbing. Even if his master Dong Congyou came now, he probably wouldn't be able to compare with Li Hongbing. So Sha Zhu puts himself in a very humble position, looking like he is eagerly seeking guidance.

"no problem."

Li Hongbing was not modest in his professional field.

Although he and Sha Zhu are of the same generation, Li Hongbing's skills, reputation, and status in the culinary world have long surpassed Sha Zhu's by a wide margin, so he naturally has the confidence to do so.

……

in the afternoon.

Not long after finishing dinner, Sha Zhu started preparing for tonight's drinking session.

It wasn't supposed to be this early, but knowing that Li Hongbing was off work today, and that there was no need to wait for him to get off work in the evening, Sha Zhu moved the time forward.

Therefore, the processing of the relevant ingredients naturally needs to be done in advance.

The mysterious delicacy that Sha Zhu had carefully prepared was actually roe deer meat.

Roe deer meat is a rare delicacy, and even Li Hongbing cannot completely disregard it.

Ever since he invited Li Hongbing for drinks to express his gratitude, Sha Zhu had been searching for good ingredients, but truly good ones were hard to come by.

Originally, Sha Zhu had already obtained some high-quality dried goods through his master Dong Congyou's connection, but yesterday afternoon he heard that someone had hunted a roe deer, so Sha Zhu put in some effort and went out of his way to get a piece of roe deer meat.

In terms of cooking skills, Sha Zhu knew he was no match for Li Hongbing. No matter how fancy his cooking was, he could never impress Li Hongbing. So this time, he decided to focus on the ingredients and bring out their natural flavor.

Truly high-end ingredients often require only simple cooking methods.

Great simplicity!

As a professional chef who has studied under a renowned chef and received systematic training, Sha Zhu naturally knows this.

However, besides this, he also planned to use the roe deer meat to make a fine dish – Fragrant Braised Roe Deer Ribs.

After getting the roe deer meat, Sha Zhu specifically studied how to process it, and even went to Dong Congyou for advice, so he got a lot of suggestions from Dong Congyou.

One is to eat the original flavor of food.

Another dish is the fragrant braised roe deer spine, one of the four imperial dishes in the Manchu Han Imperial Feast.

Although Dong Congyou mainly recommended the former method, Sha Zhu was greedy and confident, wanting both and also wanting to try this famous dish from the Manchu Han Imperial Feast, while also showing off his skills and letting Li Hongbing see if his cooking skills had improved.

In this recipe for braised roe deer spine, the roe deer meat is soaked in cold water for three to four hours beforehand.

Time passed slowly.

As Sha Zhu, who was focused on preparing a big surprise, started stewing another portion of the roe deer meat ahead of time, the aroma of the roe deer meat slowly wafted out and filled the courtyard, beginning to arouse everyone's curiosity and amazement.

Everyone in the courtyard knew that Sha Zhu was going to treat Li Hongbing to drinks that night and had prepared some good stuff. But the smell was so good that they didn't even know what was stewing in the pot.

No matter how much everyone inquired, Sha Zhu just kept it a secret and bragged about it, refusing to say anything no matter what.

"Silly Zhu, what are you stewing? It smells so good! Let me have a bite!"

Just as Sha Zhu was watching the pot and processing the carp that Li Hongbing had given him at noon, Bang Geng, who had been playing wildly outside, came back here following the smell.

Despite his young age, Bang Geng spoke with the air of an old man. Sha Zhu, who had been humming a little tune, immediately glared at him and said irritably, "Get out of the way, what's it to you?"

Sha Zhu didn't have a single kind word for Bang Geng.

Putting aside the fact that this pot of roe deer meat was prepared by Sha Zhu with great effort, especially for Li Hongbing, he didn't have a good impression of that brat Bang Geng.

One reason is the strained relationship with the Jia family, and another is that Bang Geng himself is disliked.

However, Bang-ge is still a child, and Sha-ju has always been concerned about his reputation and "following the rules." No matter how unruly he is, he would never bully a child.

But now that Bang Geng has come knocking on the door, not only does he call him "Silly Zhu" without any manners, but he also keeps asking for the roe deer meat in the pot. It's no wonder that Silly Zhu is giving him a hard time.

"Silly Zhu, why is it none of my business?"

Hearing Sha Zhu's words, Bang Geng looked indignant and warned him righteously, "I'm a child. You have to love children. If you don't give me meat, you're bullying a child. I'm going to report you to the neighborhood committee!"

Bang Geng's words stunned Sha Zhu, who then reacted by reciting a poem about the essence of Chinese culture, complete with green plants.

"Damn it! You little brat, you're so young and already doing bad things, trying to scam people from your grandpa Shazhu! Don't you even know who I am? Get the hell out of my way..."

however.

Sha Zhu's words had barely left his mouth, and before they had even fully landed, Qin Huairu's furious voice rang out from the side.

"Silly Zhu, who do you want to fuck?"

(End of this chapter)