Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

In the afternoon, the Zhang couple brought six eggs from home and went to Li Jiuzhou's house.

Li Jiuzhou had just woken up and poured hot water for the couple when they arrived.

Something must be wrong, otherwise they wouldn't have come to my door so abruptly, especially since quite a few neighbors saw them.

Yan Bugui stood at the door, staring intently at the commotion inside Li Jiuzhou's house.

He was just curious why Old Zhang and his wife wanted to see Li Jiuzhou.

His wife, Yang Ruihua, came over and asked:

"Honey, Old Zhang and his wife are carrying eggs. They're probably up to something. What do you think it is?"

Upon hearing this, Yan Bugui stroked his chin and guessed:

"With the Lunar New Year just around the corner, there are many expenses. Old Zhang and his wife must be a bit short on cash, so they're asking Jiuzhou for a loan."

"Is that so?" Yang Ruihua asked suspiciously.

"You can just ask around after you're done," Yan Bugui said dismissively, assuming it was definitely about borrowing money.

After listening to the Zhang couple explain their purpose, Li Jiuzhou realized that their request wasn't a big deal.

If you teach them to make tofu once or twice, they'll basically get it.

The main reason is that the Zhang family is quite good; they are diligent and capable, and the whole family is honest and law-abiding.

It's a good idea to learn a skill to make a living, so Li Jiuzhou agreed.

You can't learn a skill for nothing; making and selling tofu is a way to make a living.

Li Jiuzhou didn't ask for a price; it was the men from the Zhang family who stated the terms.

30 yuan, including the technology, and all the tofu-making tools in Li Jiuzhou's house were packed up.

Although the deal was settled, Li Jiuzhou still asked the question that had been on his mind:

"Uncle Zhang, do you have a place to make tofu?"

"We don't even have enough room at home, where are we going to find a place to make tofu? Are you suggesting we do it at my house?"

Upon hearing this, Mr. and Mrs. Zhang exchanged a smile, and Mr. Zhang then explained:

"We definitely don't have enough space at home, so we're thinking of renting a small room in the back of a house to make a kitchen for tofu!"

"Okay, that's a great idea. It's settled then, I'll teach you tomorrow morning, until you learn it!"

For two days in a row, Li Jiuzhou taught the couple the entire process of making tofu without holding anything back.

It's quite simple, but the couple almost cried when they first started learning. Damn, it costs 30 yuan to learn how to make tofu pudding!

The operation process is quite simple; anyone can do it, it's not difficult at all.

This is a way to make a living. It's expensive to spend 30 yuan to become an apprentice, but you'll break even sooner or later.

The couple didn't make a fuss about it.

Meanwhile, the Zhang family also rented a room in the back row, right outside Li Jiuzhou's courtyard gate.

Five days later, the Zhang family began their grand tofu-making business!

The people in the courtyard had already received the news and knew all about the Zhang family's plan to start a tofu-selling business!

There is also anticipation, because no residents of Building 95 have started businesses yet.

Selling tofu is a small business, and they wanted to see if they could make money from it.

The currency system is still very large and has not been reformed.

It's almost the end of the year, and pork is 5000 yuan per jin (500g).

Tofu is much cheaper, costing 150 yuan per pound.

Selling ten catties of tofu would bring in 1,500 yuan.

Selling 100 jin of tofu would earn 15,000 yuan!

If you work 30 days a month at full capacity, that's 45!

Of course, the costs haven't been eliminated yet.

The cost needs to be reduced by more than one-third, which means that if you make 100 jin of tofu every day for a month, you can earn 200,000 yuan!

This business is perfectly feasible.

Of course, selling tofu is a skill; you can't just set up a stall and start selling it.

There are plenty of them in the market. If you want to sell better than others, not only do they have to taste good, but you also have to go door-to-door to sell them!

Sure enough, the Zhang family women went out to sell tofu before dawn.

They're not selling from a carrying pole, they're carrying it on their heads! In short, there's work to be done!

This was something Li Jiuzhou taught him casually; nobody in Beiping sold things this way, they all carried them on shoulder poles.

But if you want to stand out and sell better than others, you have to be different.

Look, others carry their wares on shoulder poles to sell, but I'm carrying tofu on my head to sell.

Who the hell wouldn't say "awesome" if they saw this?

In just a few days, Old Zhang's tofu sold out before it even left Nanluoguxiang; it was very popular.

After all, if you want to eat tofu, you have to go to the market. It's so much more convenient to have someone selling it on the streets in this cold weather.

Li Jiuzhou also taught the Zhang family how to make salted tofu, which can be eaten directly.

Li Jiuzhou really wanted to eat this. He ate the piping hot tofu directly, which was so hot it warmed his heart and felt great!

The children in the courtyard all love this salted tofu. It's so fresh! The aroma of freshly cooked tofu is irresistible.

Li Jiuzhou even added some fancy touches, mixing in various seasonings to make it even more fragrant.

Why bother making breakfast? Just eat tofu.

It can be said that Master Li Jiuzhou has taken good care of Old Zhang's tofu business.

Half a month later, the Zhang family members were all smiles; business was booming!

Although I haven't broken even after half a month, it's not far off.

Some people in this compound are getting jealous and have started making sarcastic remarks.

That was Jia Zhangshi, who said that the noise from the Zhang family grinding soybeans in the middle of the night kept her awake.

Li Jiuzhou wanted to laugh. He lived in the front yard and didn't hear the sound, but the Jia family, who lived in the middle yard, could hear the sound of grinding beans.

It's purely out of jealousy.

Yan Bugui had a perfectly clear plan about how much the Zhang family could earn selling tofu.

So the Zhang family's income flowed out unnoticed. There are no secrets in the courtyard, so naturally some people became jealous.

The Zhang family's situation was only slightly better than the Jia family's.

Old Zhang is a carpenter, and his wife can do odd jobs in addition to housework.

Not to mention his mother, who is over 60 years old and in her prime, she can carry at least 60 jin (30 catties) on ​​each side of the load!

Now that the Zhang family is about to take another step forward, Jia Zhangshi is naturally unhappy.

I feel uncomfortable when others are doing well, let alone neighbors in the same courtyard who see each other all the time.

People who are very jealous will feel even worse; they'd love for you to have bad luck tomorrow!

To spite the other party, Jia Zhangshi deliberately went to buy tofu from another place, and after buying it, she lingered in front of the other party's door, as if afraid that the other party would not know.

The neighbors all saw it, but they preferred to talk about it privately and wouldn't gossip about it publicly.

Of course, besides Jia Zhangshi, other neighbors also had their own ideas about making money selling tofu.

Earning over 20 a month, every family has a wife who's always busy, and they all want to sell tofu.

Money often leads people to cross moral boundaries.

Although the neighbors in courtyard number 95 didn't compete with Old Zhang's family, someone in the neighboring courtyard number 96 started selling tofu.

So only your Zhang family can sell tofu, huh?

So your Zhang family's tofu sells well?

I can sell them too!

I also sell them by carrying them on my head from street to street!

In short, I'll sell it the same way you sell it!

Sure enough, just a few days later, before dawn, the two women got into a fight at the gate of the courtyard!

The residents of the two courtyards came out to take a look!

Good heavens, tofu was scattered all over the floor, and both of their faces and hair were covered in tofu.

That wasn't all; a constant stream of insults and profanities directed at ancestors and forefathers poured out.

As soon as Old Zhang came out and saw his wife lying on the ground, he started punching and kicking another woman on the ground without saying a word!

What kind of good man doesn't hit women?

In this day and age, it was common for men to beat their wives, let alone someone else's wife. They would beat her to death!

The men from courtyard number 96 didn't sit idle after they came out; they got to work.

Both families had a large number of members, young and old, and a family war broke out right there in the alley.

This is a physical fight that escalated from business competition!