Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

Back in the courtyard, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon, and the banquet was about to begin.

Wang Feng walked all the way to the central courtyard, where six tables had already been set up. Sha Zhu was cooking on a makeshift stove. Wang Feng greeted Aunt Wu and then went back inside.

"Brother Wang Feng, you're back."

Upon seeing Wang Feng, Qin Jingru quickly greeted him with a smile, pulled him to sit down, and thoughtfully poured him a cup of tea.

Wang Feng took a sip of tea and said, "Jingru, there's still a lot of braised pork left over from last night. We don't need to cook anything else later; you can just heat it up and we can eat it."

"Okay, Brother Wang Feng, I understand."

"By the way, Brother Wang Feng, Aunt Wu just told me that everyone in our compound gave money as a wedding gift for Liu Guangqi's wedding banquet. Would it be inappropriate if we didn't attend the banquet or give a gift?"

Wang Feng waved his hand: "There's nothing wrong with it. We can just live our own lives. Besides, I don't get along with the Liu family. If I go to the wedding banquet, it will seem like I'm trying to curry favor with them."

"Okay, Brother Wang Feng, I'll do whatever you say." Qin Jingru nodded obediently.

"Brother Wang Feng, I don't know what's wrong with me these past few days, but I seem to be learning to cook much faster than before. Today, my master even praised me, saying that I'll be able to graduate in less than a month. I've already learned to cook six dishes."

"Okay, that's good."

Wang Feng casually gave a perfunctory reply, secretly thinking to himself, "She's learned to cook much faster these past few days. Could it be because she made Qin Jingru drink another pound of the Water of Life a couple of days ago?"

Qin Jingru has already drunk four catties of the Water of Life. If she were to go and hit Sha Zhu now, she could probably knock him down with a single slap.

Just as Wang Feng was wondering, the young policeman Zhang Danian arrived at the Jia family's house with the judgment.

When the people in the courtyard saw the police come to their door again, they all came over to see what was going on.

"Is Jia Dongxu here?"

Jia Dongxu opened the door and saw it was the policeman from before. He asked with some concern, "Officer, what can I do for you?"

Without further ado, the police handed the judgment to Jia Dongxu and said:

"The verdict for Jia Zhangshi has been handed down. She has been sentenced to eight months. If you want to see her again, you'll have to go to the prison."

After saying that, the police officer walked out of the compound.

Upon hearing that it was her mother who had been sentenced to eight months, Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu breathed a long sigh of relief.

They were afraid that his mother would reveal that Banggeng had been her lookout, and that if Banggeng was arrested again because he had helped his mother transfer embezzled funds, things would get really complicated.

When the people in the courtyard heard that Jia Zhangshi had been sentenced to eight months, they were all filled with sighs of regret.

"Let's begin!"

With a shout from Yan Fugui, everyone came to the central courtyard to find seats and wait for the banquet to begin.

Liu Guangqi also brought his wife and her family with him. Liu Guangqi's wife is not particularly beautiful, only of average appearance, but not ugly either.

Liu Guangqi's wife's side had a total of more than 20 people. After they were seated, the banquet started quickly.

Qin Huairu represented the Jia family at the banquet this time, but she brought a stick with her. Seeing this, no one said anything. Since the host had no objections, what business was it of theirs?

One dish after another was served to the table by a group of middle-aged women. Banggeng was quick and nimble. As soon as a braised pork dish was served, he grabbed his bowl and used his chopsticks to scoop out half of it.

Qin Huairu looked at everyone apologetically and said, "Bang Geng is still a child and doesn't know any better. Please don't mind him."

Yan Fugui was seated at the same table as Qin Huairu. When he saw Bang Geng take half of the braised pork by himself, his heart was bleeding.

He quickly picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in his mouth, but when he tried to pick up another piece, there was no braised pork left. Even the broth had been eaten by someone else using cornbread as a dip.

"Qin Huairu, it's one thing for you to bring Bang Geng along, but look at what he's doing! The dishes were just served, and he started shoveling food into his own bowl. He took half of the braised pork by himself! What are we supposed to eat?"

"Yes, Qin Huairu, Banggeng is immature, but are you immature too?"

"Exactly! There are ten of us at the table, and Banggeng alone grabbed half of the braised pork. Are we even supposed to eat anymore?"

Qin Huairu felt a little embarrassed by everyone's comments. Just as she was about to say something, another dish of braised pork with preserved mustard greens was served.

Bang Geng was about to use the same trick as before to scoop the food into his own bowl and eat it slowly when everyone took a piece of braised pork and grabbed it. By the time Bang Geng went to get some more, there were only two pieces of braised pork left in his bowl.

There are only ten pieces of this braised pork with preserved mustard greens per table. There are ten people at a table, so each person gets one piece. If someone eats too much, then someone else won't get any.

Banggeng put two pieces of braised pork into his bowl and ate them in big mouthfuls. Qin Huairu also wanted to eat, but she couldn't very well take it from Banggeng. Seeing that there were still some preserved mustard greens left in the dish, she could only eat the preserved mustard greens with her cornbread.

Soon another dish of meatballs was served. This time, everyone was smarter. As soon as the dish was served, they started putting meatballs into their own bowls. Banggeng was, after all, a child, and he was definitely not as fast as the adults. He only managed to pick up one meatball before the whole plate was gone.

Qin Huairu was quite quick this time, managing to grab two meatballs. She planned to eat one herself and give the other to Banggeng.

But before she could even eat, Banggeng dumped the two meatballs from her bowl into his own.

Qin Huairu silently ate her cornbread, and seeing Banggeng eating with his mouth full of oil, she felt like crying.

There were only twenty meatballs in the plate. Banggeng was slow and only managed to grab one, while everyone else grabbed two. Only Yan Fugui was quick and managed to grab three.

During the banquet, Qin Huairu only got to eat one piece of braised pork; the rest was eaten by Bang Geng.

Since Jia Zhangshi was not present, no bloodshed occurred at the banquet.

The wedding banquet hosted by the Liu family this time was quite good, with a total of six dishes, four of which were meat dishes, but the portions were relatively small.

Liu Guangqi, accompanied by his new wife Li Cuilan, went to each table to offer a toast, and the people in the courtyard got to know Liu Guangqi's wife.

After the banquet ended, Liu Guangqi saw Li Cuilan's family off and returned to No. 95 courtyard to continue drinking with Liu Haizhong. He expressed his gratitude to Liu Haizhong in his words. This time, he even invited Liu Guangtian to join them for drinks at home.

Liu Guangqi prepared several bottles of Lotus White wine, and eventually Liu Haizhong and Liu Guangtian were successfully drunk by him.

Liu Guangqi's actions greatly annoyed Yan Jiecheng, Yan Jiefang, and Shazhu. They were all ready to eavesdrop, but why was he drinking at home all the time?

The three of them eavesdropped at Liu's house for over an hour, but to no avail. Helpless, they had no choice but to go back to their own homes and go to sleep.