Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

Liu Haizhong returned home with lingering fear, ignoring anyone who greeted him on the way.

When I saw her, heavily pregnant, still washing clothes at noon, I felt guilty and quickly went over to stop her.

"Honey, take the breakfast back with you, and boil two eggs for us. I'll do the laundry."

Liu Haizhong's clothes were not an excuse. She was overjoyed that her husband doted on her, and she genuinely felt a little heavy-hearted. She smiled and said:

"Then you'll have to do this for me, I'll go back and boil some eggs."

Liu Haizhong smiled and waved his hand:

"Go on, go on, tell those two brats to get up and help clean the house."

"Hmm~"

It's nothing new for men to do laundry, but do you really think they don't have to do any chores once they have a wife?

In this day and age, it's impossible for a couple to have a good life without supporting each other.

Sure enough, Jia Dongxu, who also felt guilty towards his wife, brought over a bucket of clothes to wash.

"Uncle Liu is helping Auntie with the laundry, he really knows how to take care of his wife!" Jia Dongxu greeted her with a smile.

"Hehehe..." Liu Haizhong didn't stop working, but he glanced around and, seeing no one else was around, chuckled softly:

"Dongxu, how did you like the prison food you ate last night? Was it delicious?"

Jia Dongxu was shocked to hear this, but he quickly calmed down. Was he afraid that Liu Haizhong would find out?

He wasn't afraid at all; if he wasn't afraid, why should he care? However, he wanted to scare Liu Haizhong and not let him laugh at him, so he whispered:

"Uncle Liu, I don't know if prison food is good or not, breakfast hadn't been served when I got out."

"But the boss said that as long as I expose and report you, I'll still get credit. Do you think I should report you?"

Liu Haizhong was slightly surprised by Jia Dongxu's words, but he wasn't stupid and didn't believe he had the guts.

"Dongxu, you're still too green to scare me." Liu Haizhong's tone was anything but polite.

"If you dare to report me to the authorities, I'll expose what you've done. We might as well both die together."

"We're all clients of prostitutes, who's afraid of who? Even a tortoise is afraid of a hammer!"

Jia Dongxu wasn't afraid; he stretched out his hand in front of his bangs, fingers spread wide.

"I will take this number with me to my grave and never mention it again."

Liu Haizhong, seeing this, was so angry he laughed instead.

"You're just unlucky to have been arrested, and you still want to blackmail me? Get the hell out of here, don't even think about it."

Jia Dongxu was not angry at all when he was scolded.

"Do you know how much ransom I paid last night?"

"A whole 150,000, shouldn't we make some change?"

"Uncle Liu, 50,000 yuan will do. I'll also ask Old Wang at the alley entrance for 50,000 yuan."

"The three of us are practically brothers-in-law, so let's each give 50,000 as a way of settling the matter."

"You don't want to spend all your time worrying about this, do you?"

"If I say anything more, I'll ask you for 50,000. You won't lose out or be cheated with 50,000 yuan."

"Just consider it money spent to avoid further trouble..."

Liu Haizhong was somewhat persuaded; he wasn't very brave to begin with.

"Are you sure you want to wipe the 50,000 yuan clean?"

Jia Dongxu patted his chest and guaranteed, "A real man keeps his word. I mean what I say."

"Okay, I believe you if you, Dongxu. I'll give you 50,000 yuan later!" Liu Haizhong decided to give it to him anyway.

Little did they know that their conversation had been overheard by Xu Damao, who happened to be passing by.

They even secretly saw Liu Hai giving money to Jia Dongxu and Xu Damao.

Then he followed Jia Dongxu to the alley entrance to watch him extort money from Lao Wang.

Xu Damao understood the whole story perfectly!

He didn't get up last night when Jia Dongxu went missing, but he knew about the commotion. He originally planned to go out this morning to find out what was going on, but he actually found out a big secret!

Xu Damao was grinning from ear to ear and immediately wanted to spread the word, but he quickly gave up.

He felt he couldn't handle Liu Haizhong and Lao Wang because of their age, but he was confident he could take on Jia Dongxu.

You, Jia Dongxu, extorted Liu Haizhong and Lao Wang, right? Well, I'll extort you instead.

He happened to be short of money, so this was like a windfall; opportunity favors the prepared.

"Hehehe..." Xu Damao grinned wickedly at the thought.

Jia Dongxu took Lao Wang's money and was about to go for a stroll when Xu Damao stopped him.

"Da Mao, is something wrong?" Jia Dongxu asked, puzzled.

"Hey, Dongxu, let's talk in private."

Jia Dongxu was in a good mood at the moment, and assumed that Xu Damao had some unspeakable trouble, so he nodded and smiled:

"I'd like to see what tricks you're up to."

The two arrived at a deserted dead end, and Jia Dongxu asked first:

"Okay, what do you want? Let me make this clear first: no way, I don't handle money at home."

Jia Dongxu immediately tried to avoid any discussion about money.

Xu Damao didn't say anything, just looked at him with a smile.

That look made Jia Dongxu very unhappy.

"Hey kid, are you got something up your sleeve? If not, I'm leaving. But watch out, or I'll give you a good beating!"

Xu Damao smiled upon hearing this:

"Brother Dongxu, you're not being honest. I don't need to tell you who Cui'er is, do I?"

Jia Dongxu's eyes widened upon hearing this:

"You little brat, you were eavesdropping, and you were even following me?"

Xu Damao waved his hand:

"Brother Dongxu, none of that matters. What matters is that I'm a little short on money right now..."

Blatant extortion and threats enraged Jia Dongxu, who wanted to give the brat in front of him a good beating.

But this would be a big problem; he would be caught soliciting prostitutes and it would be impossible to hide it anymore.

All the work the master did would have been in vain.

Jia Dongxu stared at Xu Damao expressionlessly for almost 30 seconds before finally choosing to pay money to avoid further trouble, just like Liu Haizhong and Lao Wang.

After taking a deep breath, he said:

How much do you want?

Xu Damao smirked: "Not much. Just give me whatever you got from Liu Haizhong and Lao Wang."

"Huff...huff..."

Jia Dongxu asked, "What if I don't give it to them?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Damao revealed a mocking smile:

"Hehehe... If we don't make sure the whole of Nanluoguxiang knows today that you, Jia Dongxu, Liu Haizhong, and Lao Wang, went to the Eight Great Hutongs to be clients of prostitutes, and you're even brothers-in-law!"

"You, Jia Dongxu, are the worst off; you even got caught!"

Upon hearing this, Jia Dongxu was so angry he laughed instead:

"Hahaha...Good lad, really good lad!"

"Da Mao, you've grown up!"

"Of course, Brother Dongxu, don't treat me like a child, give me the money."

"Otherwise, would I be here talking to you if I needed money?"

Xu Damao didn't want to argue with Jia Dongxu anymore, so he just paid up and left it at that. Why bother with all this nonsense?

Jia Dongxu didn't want to talk to this bastard anymore, so he took out the money, threw it on the ground, and then tried to leave.

Jia Dongxu's action displeased Xu Damao, who cursed:

"You son of a bitch, Jia Dongxu! Who are you insulting? Pick up the money for me!"

"Otherwise, I don't want the money anymore. You just wait and see, you bastard!"

"Holy shit..." Jia Dongxu almost ground his teeth to powder. He turned around, picked up the money, stuffed it into Xu Damao's hand, and finally uttered a harsh threat:

"Da Mao, be careful you might have the money but not the life to enjoy it!"

"Some things are better left unsaid, otherwise I might do something outrageous."

Xu Damao wasn't angry anymore; he had the money, so everything was fine now.

He didn't want to offend Jia Dongxu too much, so he smiled and said:

"Brother Dongxu, I only care about money. Don't worry, I'm tight-lipped. Nothing happened today!"

"That's for the best!" Jia Dongxu said, leaving without looking back.

Damn it, I tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice instead; all my efforts were in vain!

I'll definitely teach that bastard Xu Damao a lesson when I get the chance!