Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

Wu's second son's wife gave her husband a good scolding, calling him useless and asking why he didn't stand up straight when his father was about to kill him.

At worst, let him slash me; I won't die anyway, and if I get hurt, I'll even have to pay for medicine.

Then she looked at her youngest son, and when she saw that the cloth bag had a hole in it, her face turned green.

There's more than just that piece of pork belly inside; there are also freshly bought peanuts and fruits.

Enraged, he gave his youngest son a good beating. When he went back to pick it up, it was gone. He was hoping someone would be honest and return it.

Hmph, how naive!

Li Jiuzhou, carrying a piece of pork belly, had just entered Wu'an when he saw the eldest son of the Wu family.

The eldest son of the Wu family greeted Li Jiuzhou with a natural smile, showing no embarrassment whatsoever about the previous farce in their family.

But he just heard that Li Jiuzhou and Shazhu went to cut meat, how come they came back so quickly?

Although puzzled, I still greeted them with a smile:

"Hey, Kyushu, off to get some meat? It looks like top-quality pork belly."

Li Jiuzhou smiled and said, "Yes, Brother Wu, where are you going?"

"Damn it, my sister-in-law stole the pork belly I just cut this morning. Should I just go cut another one?" Old Wu said, rather speechless.

"Haha, you go ahead with your work, I'm going home to stew some braised pork." Li Jiuzhou chuckled and turned to go back to his own home.

Old Wu smiled and continued walking out of the courtyard, but as soon as he stepped out of the gate, he felt something was wrong.

Looking back at the pork belly that Li Jiuzhou was carrying, it looked exactly like the piece of meat she had cut that morning.

"Damn it, why does it look so much like the meat I cut this morning?" After muttering to himself for a while, Old Wu still went out of the yard to cut some meat.

If Li Jiuzhou knew what he was thinking, he would definitely tell Boss Wu:

"No need to guess, this piece of pork belly is the one you cut this morning..."

Because he was in a hurry, Wu Laoda caught up with Sha Zhu, who was going to get meat, in no time.

Old Wu's eyes lit up, and he quickly stepped forward, patting Sha Zhu on the shoulder:

"Zhu Zi, why are you still wandering around? Didn't you say you were going to buy some meat? Where's your meat?"

Sha Zhu turned around and saw that it was the eldest son of the Wu family, and he smiled.

"Brother Wu, I've only been away for a short time. Don't you know where the market is?"

After hearing this, Old Wu scratched his head and said, "But I just saw your senior brother Jiuzhou carrying meat back to the courtyard!"

"You two went out together."

"Hehehe~" Upon hearing this, Shazhu chuckled strangely.

"No, Zhu Zi, what are you laughing about?" Boss Wu asked, puzzled.

After recovering, Sha Zhu still had a mischievous grin on his face and slowly said:

"My senior brother was lucky; he picked up a good piece of pork belly not long after being discharged from the hospital."

"Goodness, it must weigh at least three pounds."

Upon hearing this, Boss Wu's expression changed rapidly, alternating between anger and delight.

She was furious that her sister-in-law had taken her meat, but she was also surprised that the woman had thrown it away.

What goes around comes around; no one escapes divine retribution. Justice prevails, and what goes around comes around...

Seeing Sha Zhu suppressing a wicked grin, Boss Wu laughed and scolded him:

"Zhu Zi, you can just keep laughing, you're just making fun of me."

Sha Zhu chuckled, took out a cigarette and offered it to Boss Wu, then put his arm around his shoulder.

"Brother Wu, suffering a loss is a blessing. It's just a piece of pork belly, what's the big deal? How much money can you lose? I'll go with you again."

"I didn't say anything discouraging even though I didn't find any meat, did I?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Laoda laughed. He wasn't the petty type; it was just that his younger brother's family had gone too far. They could have talked things out properly instead of making things so embarrassing and giving everyone in the courtyard a reason to laugh at them.

So the two of them went to the market to buy meat, arm in arm.

Back home, Li Jiuzhou cheerfully shared with Bingbing about finding the meat.

Upon hearing this, Bingbing immediately beamed with joy and hugged him, saying:

"Hey Zhou, you're having a really lucky day! How about you treat me to a round tonight?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jiuzhou's smile immediately froze. He pulled his left hand out of Bingbing's embrace and pretended to scold her:

"You stinking woman, all you ever think about is this. Get out of my way."

"Hehe~" Bingbing wasn't annoyed and continued to look at him with a smile.

Li Jiuzhou shook his head helplessly and asked her:

"How do you want to eat this pork belly for lunch?"

Upon hearing this, Bingbing stroked her chin thoughtfully, and after a while said:

"I'm tired of eating braised pork every day, Zhou-ge, can you make it differently?"

Li Jiuzhou thought about it and immediately agreed.

"Alright, this chef has no problem making it. Today, let's have some crispy pork belly."

It's called crispy, but it's actually baked.

Li Jiuzhou instructed his younger brother Shanhe to set up the barbecue grill, then went to the kitchen to slice the pork belly and marinate it.

Bingbing followed Li Jiuzhou around like a shadow, wiping his sweat and offering him saliva from time to time, and even giving him a kiss when the mood was right.

Li Jiuzhou was thoroughly enjoying himself, while his younger brother Shanhe was speechless at how sticky his teeth were with his brother and sister-in-law.

He couldn't help but think to himself, "Am I still a kid? Can't I keep this quiet for once? Don't they see me as a person? What am I, anyway? What the hell am I?"

After all, this was in the 1950s, when even holding hands between men and women would attract gossip, let alone kissing.

Fortunately, this is at home.

Li Shanhe thought that he would be happy if he married a wife and lived like this at home.

Soon, the barbecue grill was set up in Li Jiuzhou's own courtyard, and there was also charcoal. Li Jiuzhou had prepared it before when he made grilled fish, so that his family could enjoy it.

Li Jiuzhou became a barbecue master, and Shanhe went to his godfather's house to bring his younger sister Li Fengjiao back.

Rest days are usually the days when the Li family gathers together.

Sure enough, Li Jiuzhou had just finished grilling the meat when his second uncle's family arrived.

They never come empty-handed; they always come with large bags and small packages.

The main problem is that I have too many things at home, all of which were gifts from others, including leaders and subordinates.

When the relationship is right, it's hard to refuse some gifts from certain people, even though the old man is already very conservative.

Even so, the house was piled high with stuff, and they even had a dedicated room to store it all.

There are only a few people in their family, they can't possibly use it all, they simply can't. The old man in the family instructed that it be taken to help that kid Jiuzhou use it.

They even gave them to different subordinates.

Since the old man had given his word, Li Huaide and his wife naturally complied. It didn't cost them any money, the items were good, and they felt proud to bring them home.

My second aunt was holding my little cousin Li Wanli; the three-month-old baby was very cute.

"Damn, this meat tastes delicious," Li Huaide exclaimed as he ate.

Bingbing ate quite a bit and is now sitting in a chair holding her little cousin.

She adored the baby during her pregnancy and held it close, unable to put it down.

My second aunt was also happy about this, as it freed her hands to enjoy the meat.

Li Jiuzhou enjoyed his meal, but the people in the courtyard were drooling with envy; the roasted meat smelled incredibly delicious.

Sha Zhu and his wife Qin Huairu came after smelling the aroma.

Without any hesitation, they picked up the meat and started grilling it.

At the entrance of Li Jiuzhou's courtyard, many little children and girls were drooling through the crack in the door.

Although I ate a full lunch and had meat during my rest day, the food at Li Jiuzhou's place was just too authentic.

These days, kids roast sweet potatoes and corn in the wild, and the cleverer ones even roast turkeys.

But Li Jiuzhou was a master chef who knew how to season, and they had never tasted such fragrant roasted meat in their lives.

So they would squat at the gate of his house, and if Li Jiuzhou was in a good mood, he might even give them a few bites of food.

After Li Jiuzhou and his family had eaten and drunk their fill, they saw that there were still a few skewers left, so they had Sha Zhu grill them and distribute them to the children at the door.

They must have had a hard time squatting there for so long.