Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

No, you're stupid! Your workstation! Your dad left you a workstation when he passed away, so you didn't need to start as an apprentice at all! And what about your master and senior apprentices? You're still not even a master yet, understand?!

Even if it's to toughen you up, it wouldn't be necessary to make you turn against your master, would it?

And how your father was tricked and killed, you're completely indifferent, aren't you?

Are you genuinely stupid or just pretending?

That idiot—

It’s over.

Meanwhile, He Yushui's door was gently closed.

Is this girl disappointed?

In no time at all, the braised pork was ready.

As if the Jia family had calculated the cooking time perfectly, Banggeng jumped up and down at home, shouting that he wanted to eat meat, while Qin Huairu went out with a big bowl in her hand, swaying her hips.

Oh my gosh, the show's started?!

Qin Huairu swayed her hips as she walked to Sha Zhu's door and pitifully said to Sha Zhu and Yi Zhonghai, "Sha Zhu, Uncle Yi, Bang Geng is causing trouble at home again, wanting to eat the braised pork his Uncle Sha makes. I haven't had any breast milk since giving birth to Xiao Dang, could you share some with me? I'd like to thank Uncle Sha and Uncle Yi on behalf of Bang Geng and Xiao Dang."

Sha Zhu frowned: "Sister Qin, you borrowed 100 yuan from me last night, why didn't you buy something nice to replenish your body?"

Qin Huairu's eyebrows twitched instantly, and her eyes reddened again—completely unpretentious!

"This morning, Banggeng's grandma went to the market to queue up, but you all know how scarce meat is right now, so she couldn't buy any."

"Let's go to Pigeon City instead. They've been cracking down hard lately; I heard they arrested another batch a few days ago."

"If Dongxu gets caught buying meat at the pigeon market, how will our whole family survive?"

"And you don't know, I heard that pork in the pigeon market has gone up to 4 yuan a pound! How can our family afford that!"

Yi Zhonghai remained silent. Of course he knew that he had bought the meat from the pigeon market for 4.8 yuan per catty!

The price at the market is only 74 cents a pound, which is cheap, but it's completely unavailable, and there's a limit on the quantity.

"It's all because Dongxu's job grade hasn't been promoted. His ration is supporting our family of five. Just thinking about it makes my heart sink..."

As she spoke, tears streamed down her face. It was so natural; it was truly heartbreaking to hear!

Zhang Dabiao almost believed it!

If he hadn't smelled the roast duck coming from next door at noon.

Yi Zhonghai's heart skipped a beat. "You're bringing up Jia Dongxu's work grade? Are you implying something about me?"

When Sha Zhu saw Qin Huairu crying, he panicked.

"Hey, Sister Qin, don't cry."

"I don't care, but this meat was bought by an old man for his wife, so I can't make that decision."

He then looked at Yi Zhonghai. Sha Zhu was still very principled in this respect: you can take what's mine, but I can't make decisions about what belongs to others.

He may be a bit of a slacker, but he still knows what a cook should and shouldn't do.

"Grandpa, what do you think?" Qin Huairu looked at Yi Zhonghai with a tearful expression. What else could Yi Zhonghai do?

After a brief silence of two seconds, he nodded: "Shazhu, give Huairu some; her family has it tough too."

"If we have the ability, we should help each other. We shouldn't care what others say, but just strive to have a clear conscience."

"The hamster is still growing, and the little one is just born and looks like a skinny kitten. We can't let the baby go hungry."

Sha Zhu smiled and gave Yi Zhonghai a thumbs up: "Uncle, you're the best."

"Here, Sister Qin, give me the bowl, I'll serve you some."

Qin Huairu immediately beamed with joy, took the spatula from Sha Zhu's hand, and went around to the other side, saying, "No need to trouble yourself, Sha Zhu, you must be tired from cooking. You rest, I'll do it myself."

……

then……

Qin Huairu took a little more than half a portion of braised pork, then swayed her hips and went back to the Jia family.

Even Sha Zhu couldn't stop it, and neither could Yi Zhonghai.

The two of them stared blankly at the large, wiggling buttocks that were moving away, then looked at the less than half a pound of braised pork in the pot, remaining silent.

"How about I stew some potatoes and add them in?"

Yi Zhonghai waved his hand: "Forget it, let's leave it at that. The old lady can't eat too much anyway."

"I'll go back and get some cornbread, and we'll go to the old lady's place together."

After Yi Zhonghai returned to the house, He Yushui opened the door, grabbed a bowl, and ran to Sha Zhu's side: "Brother, give me some, I haven't eaten yet."

Sha Zhu frowned. He estimated that there were only 4 liang (200 grams) of braised pork left. Sha Zhu had cut it into medium-sized pieces, so there were only 8 pieces left.

If this were given to rainwater, it would be worth at least two dollars, right?

Then he and Yi Zhonghai took six pieces of braised pork to the deaf old lady's place for a meal. That didn't look right.

He was in a dilemma.

"Rainwater, this is meat that an old man bought to cook for his old lady, and there are only 8 pieces left... This is inconvenient."

"Brother, why can't you leave me a few pieces of the food you made? You put in the effort too. I just want two pieces to taste it. I haven't eaten meat for over a month..." Yu Shui said, feeling a little aggrieved. Qin Huairu had just scooped up most of the bowl! She had seen it clearly.

She can take so much, so why can't I, as Shazhu's own sister, eat two pieces?

Yi Zhonghai was here just now. After what happened yesterday, she naturally both hated and feared him, especially since he had just admitted that he was sexist and believed that girls should all get married.

It means there's no need to care so much; as long as you're alive, that's enough.

Sha Zhu had been fooled by Yi Zhonghai, so naturally she didn't dare to appear in front of him.

Taking advantage of Yi Zhonghai going back inside, he quickly came out to ask for two yuan, but his own brother...

Raindrops also reddened her eyes.

But at this moment, Yi Zhonghai came out carrying a large bowl. When he saw Sha Zhu and Yu Shui, he immediately understood what was going on.

He took two cornbread buns and stuffed them into the bowl of rainwater.

"Rainwater, this is for the old lady today. There are only a few pieces left. Your brother and I can only have a taste."

"Just bear with it for now. I'll bring you lunchboxes when your brother goes back to work in a couple of days."

"He's a cook, how could he let his own sister go hungry?"

"Silly Pillar, let's go."

"Okay, sure."

Then the two of them carried the braised pork and a bowl of steamed buns to the backyard.

He Yushui, left standing there helplessly biting her lip, wiped away her last tear, turned and went back into the house.

Zhang Dabiao was stunned.

Holy crap, you can do that?

He kept saying his younger sister was important and he couldn't mistreat He Yushui, but then he turned around and...

Although the decision of whether or not to give out the meat rests with Yi Zhonghai, in principle, what Sha Zhu said makes sense...

But you can say I won't eat it, and I'll give my two pieces to the rainwater.

This is pure male chauvinism and a matter of saving face.

Zhang Dabiao didn't even know how to describe it.

He really wanted to complain, but it wasn't his business.

And the rainwater has already accepted this fact and gone back inside, so why do we still have to drag her out to uphold justice for her?

The meat belongs to Yi Zhonghai; he can divide it however he wants.

Zhang Dabiao has no reason to go crazy online.

As the two walked through the covered corridor and were about to turn into the moon gate between the middle and back courtyards, Sha Zhu happened to see Zhang Dabiao staring in disbelief, which he interpreted as Zhang Dabiao being greedy.

Then, on a whim, I started making cheeky jokes.

"See this? This is braised pork that I made myself, 9% perfect!"

"You can't get this kind of braised pork even in state-run restaurants outside! I'm not bragging, there are probably fewer than 50 chefs in Beijing who can make it as good as me!"

"Greedy, aren't you? You have money, but what's the use of wasting it? What kind of crap do you eat?"

"You can't have my cooking, Master Zhu!"

Yi Zhonghai glared at him: "Idiot Zhu!"

Sha Zhu chuckled, glanced at Zhang Dabiao, and then smugly followed Yi Zhonghai to the backyard.

Zhang Dabiao —

Holy crap, what the hell?!

I'm just quietly smoking, reading, and watching a play at my doorstep. What did I do to offend you?

What are you so smug about?

Give me back my money! What did I eat? Can't I enjoy your cooking?

I, Zhang Dabiao, a time traveler, can't afford braised pork?!

This is an insult to the dignity of a time traveler like me!

How can we tolerate this?!

Zhang Dabiao's anger level is full, and he's about to explode!

He wished he could just stand there and do a quick combo (↓↘→↘↓↙←+A/C) to give Sha Zhu a good beating with his "Eight Maidens" move!

What is the best way to attack someone?

Of course, it's about trampling on him and humiliating him in his professional field!

Zhang Dabiao has no culinary skills. He can manage to make something like stir-fried shredded potatoes, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, green peppers, shredded pork, and fried rice, but he's no good at anything else.

Considering my cooking skills and my girlfriend's health, I ordered a Thermomix automatic cooking machine from a WeChat seller!

More than ten thousand!

Whether it's a scam or not is another matter, but it's really convenient for cooking and has many functions.

Of course, it's not practical to use "Xiaomei" to cook right now, because there isn't enough time.

But Zhang Dabiao's fridge is full of pre-cooked meals! He has all sorts of things!

I'll fucking kill you!

I'm about to release some poison!

No, poisoning isn't enough!

I'm going to poison that old deaf man's door!

I'll make you drool!

Just do it!

Zhang Dabiao needed a legitimate reason to poison their backyard, and after a little thought, he came up with an idea.

He went back inside to tidy up, and while he was at it, he heated up some pre-cooked dishes in his "little nest," some in the microwave, some in the air fryer, and some in boiling water for 5 minutes...

Everything was ready, and Zhang Dabiao went straight to the backyard. At that time, the three of them were already eating in the deaf old lady's house with the door closed.

Zhang Dabiao then shouted loudly.

"Xu Damao! Liu Guangqi!"

"come out!"