Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

Three new male babies were born in courtyard No. 95, but Yi Zhonghai and others claimed that there were four, including Li Huaide's children.

Anyway, they're from the Li family in the front yard, so being even remotely related is fine...

Li Huaide also held a full-month celebration for his child, but the banquet was small, with only six tables.

Since the father-in-law was of high status, there was no extravagant celebration. The banquet was arranged by Li Jiuzhou, who also hired a chef to cook.

His family could simply enjoy the feast without worrying about anything else; the old man would take care of everything else.

The most interesting thing was the baby's name. Li Jiuzhou's family arrived very early for the baby's one-month celebration.

The old man pulled Li Jiuzhou to play chess, chatting as they played.

"Kid, does the Li family have any objections to the name I'm giving your child?"

After hearing this, Li Jiuzhou exclaimed, "What? My Li family?"

Li Jiuzhou looked at the old man with considerable astonishment.

The old man immediately laughed and scolded, "What are you standing there for? Answer me!"

"No, sir, you also have the surname Li. Perhaps our two families were one family hundreds of years ago. Why make such a distinction?"

"You should be the one to choose this name. We have respected elders in the family; why should we, the younger generation, worry about it?"

"Isn't that just being bored out of your mind?"

The old man laughed heartily after hearing this:

"Hahaha, I love hearing you say that."

But then the tone shifted abruptly: "Won't you think I'm being too domineering?"

Li Jiuzhou quickly waved his hand:

"That's not true at all. Our family is actually marrying above our station."

"After spending so much time together, I can tell that you truly treat me like family, and you don't look down on us at all."

"It's rare to find a relative of such a high-ranking leader who isn't domineering and is still willing to associate with us."

"Anyway, I'm sticking with you as a relative now. You're not getting rid of us poor relatives anytime soon!"

"Hahahaha..." The old man laughed heartily again. He liked Li Jiuzhou's unrestrained personality.

However, she still complained verbally:

"Damn it, I'm so unlucky to have a relative like you."

"Hey, this is the baby's name, take a look."

After the old man finished speaking, he took out a piece of red paper from his pocket and handed it to Li Jiuzhou.

Li Jiuzhou took it and looked at it. The red paper contained his birth date and the last three characters of his name: "Li Wanli!"

Li Jiuzhou blurted out:

"The land and rivers of China stretch for thousands of miles!"

"Hahaha, that's right, I named it after you two brothers. How about that? Am I being righteous?"

Li Jiuzhou immediately gave him a thumbs up:

"So benevolent, so incredibly benevolent."

The old man smiled and waved to Li Jiuzhou:

"Go ahead and stick the red paper on the wall, or you'll make a fool of yourself."

"Alright~" Li Jiuzhou quickly got up and walked towards the gate.

But after taking a few steps, he stopped, turned around, and looked at him with a mocking expression:

"Old man, why don't you just surrender next time? Why resort to such shamelessness? You always do this."

The old man hadn't expected Li Jiuzhou to react so strongly, and he was a little embarrassed.

"Get lost! I'm only fit to die fighting, I can't even write the word 'surrender'!"

"Why do you have to do this? You're both bad at it and love to play games~" Li Jiuzhou said, then walked away quickly, ignoring the old man who was about to get angry.

That's right, just now in the game of chess, Li Jiuzhou only needed to make two more moves to checkmate the old man.

He had forgotten about it when the topic was changed, but now that he remembered, he naturally wanted to make a sarcastic remark.

Let's keep things separate, otherwise he'll act like a scoundrel again next time.

After finding his second uncle, Li Jiuzhou handed him the red paper.

"Hey, this is the name the old man gave our younger brother, Second Uncle, take a look."

Li Huaide was very curious; the baby was already a month old and still hadn't been named, which made him extremely anxious.

But the old man said he would tell them on the day of the full moon.

"Li Wanli?"

"The land and rivers of China stretch for thousands of miles!"

Li Huaide clearly understood his father-in-law's intentions, and his eyes immediately welled up with tears.

He murmured, "The old man is so kind..."

Li Jiuzhou quickly picked up the conversation:

"Of course! Second Uncle, you must bless the old man to live a long and healthy life..."

Upon hearing this, Li Huaide felt that his nephew made a lot of sense. The old man needed to live to be a hundred years old, and he needed to be protected for the rest of his life!

Many sons-in-law in the capital marry into wealthy families, but Li Huaide is not one of them. He is not like those cowardly, weaklings.

Wait, that's not right!

Realizing what was happening, Li Huaide glared at Li Jiuzhou and cursed:

"Where the hell am I supposed to go to bless the old man? What, you want me to go down there and bless him? Holy crap!"

Seeing that something was wrong, Li Jiuzhou quickly slipped away.

At 11 o'clock, the guests arrived as scheduled. Many of them were old men in military uniforms, but none of them wore rank insignia.

The old man and his second uncle were the ones receiving guests. Li Jiuzhou didn't go up to join in the fun. He wasn't part of that group, and he needed to know his own place.

After the banquet started, he could only sit at the children's table. There was no way around it; the tables there were too big for him.

They can't really be called children; they were mostly juniors who had been recruited by the leaders.

The full moon celebration was very successful, and I left with my master, Li Tielong, at the end.

On the way back, Li Jiuzhou asked his master:

"Master, are you alright? Preparing such a feast?"

Li Tielong was about to boast that he was still vigorous despite his age, but then he remembered that he was indeed a bit tired today, so he stopped bragging and sighed, saying:

"I didn't feel anything special while working at Fengzeyuan; cooking a few dishes occasionally wasn't difficult."

"But preparing banquets is a bit too much for me, I'm getting old."

"Luckily, I brought some help, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to handle it."

Li Jiuzhou nodded upon hearing this:

"Then you don't need to take on big jobs anymore. You have apprentices to take care of you, so there's no need to worry."

Sha Zhu and his senior brother Wang Shan chimed in from the side:

"Master, you should rest when you need to. If there's anything you need, just call your apprentice to do it."

Li Tielong looked at his apprentices with great satisfaction and smiled:

"Alright, I'm satisfied with your filial piety."

"I'm not old enough to retire yet, I can still work for a few more years. When I get old and can't move anymore, I'll have to rely on you guys."

"Leave it to us." Li Jiuzhou and the other two pounded their chests loudly.

Li Tielong held a high position in the Qinxing industry in Beiping. Not only was he impressive himself, but the apprentices he trained also brought him great honor.

Li Jiuzhou is one, and Wang Shan is now in charge of the kitchen. Both of them are now considered top chefs, ranking among the best in Beiping.

Sha Zhu is slightly less skilled; his cooking skills have a lot of room for improvement.

Of course, Li Jiuzhou is the most promising one.

He was proficient in various cuisines, and was especially famous for his performances at imperial banquets, which were highly favored by high-ranking officials and nobles.