Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

Before National Day, Lou's Steel Rolling Mill held a technical assessment, which was quite a big event. In any case, most of the residents in Nanluoguxiang were talking about it.

As for Courtyard No. 95, it's a different story; more than half of the residents work at the steel rolling mill.

Although it's called a technical assessment, there are actually standards. For example, Yi Zhonghai is not a senior fitter now; if he were to be formally rated, he should be around level 5 or 6.

Currently, Lou's Steel Rolling Mill only assesses three levels: primary, intermediate, and advanced.

Many people in the institute were eager to get started, because improved skills meant higher wages, and these days, a raise was the most exciting thing.

A group of older women went to great lengths to feed their men well.

It's not a loss to treat your man to something good now; you'll get your money's worth when his salary increases. That saying is very true: the wool comes from the sheep's back.

After the Jia Dongxu incident, the men in the courtyard almost never managed the money anymore; the women had taken over the financial power.

The reason is that I'm afraid you'll keep a slut on the side.

Jia Dongxu was the most miserable one. He had no shortage of food and drink, and his clothes were decent. Tong Jie even provided him with cigarettes and alcohol.

But he had no coins on him; that meant they really hadn't left him a single penny.

He even had to use his master Yi Zhonghai's matches to light his cigarettes.

Jia Dongxu used to be able to tell his mother and wife that a man with money had a strong backbone.

No way now, who the hell would trust a client of a prostitute?

Tong Jie is much smarter; you could say she's very playful. If Jia Dongxu wants pocket money, fine, he can do it by tilling the land and working.

Allowances are given based on comfort levels.

I'm feeling weak and listless, so I'll give Jia Dongxu a consolation prize of 1,000 yuan (equivalent to 10 cents). After all, he did the work, so we should encourage him and hope he continues to work hard!

A moderate timeframe with plenty of ups and downs will earn you a reward of 5,000 yuan (50 cents).

Soaring through the clouds, as if swimming in the sea and floating in the air, this is awarded the grand prize of 2 yuan!

To date, Jia Dongxu has received the first two awards, both of which are the first two awards.

I've never won the grand prize even once.

Jia Dongxu has saved nearly 3 yuan in the past two months. Heaven knows what he has suffered.

The 3 yuan was his pride as a man; he couldn't bear to spend a single penny of it, having been terrified of poverty.

Jia Dongxu never expected his wife, Tong Jie, to be so playful, bringing him both pain and pleasure.

Of course, the joys between husband and wife are best left unsaid to outsiders.

The steel mill is about to undergo an assessment, and the women all know the importance of it. Recently, they've been preventing their men from plowing the fields, so they can conserve their energy for the assessment.

Li Jiuzhou was invited by Lou Bancheng when the assessment began on September 30.

The steel rolling mill held such a grand assessment this time, with so many leaders in attendance; they deserve a good meal.

Li Jiuzhou arrived with Sha Zhu. The two of them arrived at 8 a.m., and since it was still early, they went to the workshop to watch Yi Zhonghai and others being assessed.

"Dongxu, Dongxu, over here!" Shazhu called out to Jia Dongxu from the crowd.

"Hey, Jiuzhou, Zhuzi, what brings you two here?" Jia Dongxu asked in confusion.

Sha Zhu chuckled, responding as he pulled out cigarettes from his pocket and offered them to Jia Dongxu and Li Jiuzhou.

"Boss Lou asked my senior apprentice to cook, and since it's still early, my brother and I came over to take a look."

Upon hearing this, Jia Dongxu's eyes immediately lit up:

"As expected of Boss Lou, I heard a lot of high-ranking officials are coming today. How about I go to the kitchen for lunch and grab some food?"

Sha Zhu didn't dare to respond to this, and looked at his senior brother Li Jiuzhou.

Li Jiuzhou nodded and said with a faint smile:

"Come whenever you have time, it's no trouble at all."

Jia Dongxu responded excitedly:

"Good, you truly are my good brother, Jia Dongxu. Come on, let me show you the front. My master is currently conducting an assessment."

The two brothers and Jia Dongxu squeezed to the front of the crowd, where Yi Zhonghai was wielding tools.

His hands were incredibly steady, and some leaders couldn't help but nod in approval when they saw it.

Li Jiuzhou knew without even looking that Yi Zhonghai would definitely get a raise this time.

Not long after, Jia Dongxu also excitedly went to take the exam; he was a junior worker taking the junior worker exam.

He was originally an apprentice who was promoted to a full-time employee, with a monthly salary of 27 yuan. With various subsidies, he could earn 31 yuan a month.

If you pass the assessment, you can get 37.

The two brothers didn't watch Jia Dongxu's assessment, nor were they interested in watching it.

Even if he passes the exam, so what?

His monthly salary was less than what Li Jiuzhou earned for cooking a meal today, and even less than what Sha Zhu earned.

So the two brothers looked quite calm. It would be best if Jia Dongxu could pass the exam, but if he couldn't, it would just mean he hadn't tried hard enough.

The two went back to the kitchen to prepare the food.

The vegetables were washed by the kitchen staff at the steel mill.

After looking at the ingredients, the two brothers started to draft a menu, starting with preparing the side dishes.

Li Jiuzhou is now helping Sha Zhu with the cooking, preparing the ingredients and taking charge of the cooking.

The main purpose is to hone his skills. If Sha Zhu doesn't operate well, Li Jiuzhou will beat and scold him.

Li Jiuzhou usually jokes around with Sha Zhu without any problems, but when it comes to doing serious business, he won't be so playful with him.

He has high standards and is very strict. Once, Sha Zhu made a mistake and was scolded by Li Jiuzhou until he cried.

That time, I was also cooking for Lou Bancheng, but it was at his house, and they ate at their own home.

Sha Zhu felt carefree and relaxed a little, only to be caught by Li Jiuzhou.

She was scolded and cried on the spot, making the child feel extremely wronged.

Lou Bancheng and his wife came forward to comfort Sha Zhu.

A grown man, already married, crying like a child—anyone who saw him would feel some sympathy.

From then on, Sha Zhu never dared to joke around when cooking again; he became very serious.

Just as the two brothers were busy at work, Lou Bancheng walked in.

"Hey, you two are busy, let me stop for a second and I have something to tell you."

The two brothers wiped their hands and walked over:

"What are your instructions, Mr. Lou?" Li Jiuzhou asked.

Lou Bancheng's smile was somewhat awkward at this moment. He pointed to a cloth bag in the corner of the kitchen and said:

"There's a serving of pig intestines over there. One of our leaders has a rather unique palate; he likes strong flavors. Do you understand what I mean?"

The two brothers were stunned for a while upon hearing this. After they came to their senses, Li Jiuzhou asked:

"Mr. Lou, is the kind of 'strong taste' you're referring to the one I understand?"

Lou Bancheng felt a tightness in his throat and pointed again to the cloth bag in the corner:

"It's still fresh, so I just rinsed it quickly."

"Eh~" Li Jiuzhou and Shazhu both exclaimed in unison, their faces full of disgust.

Sha Zhu was the first to panic: "Mr. Lou, I understand you have a strong palate, but can this thing even be served after it's made?"

"We can't expect a group of leaders to eat this, can we?"

Lou Bancheng waved his hand upon hearing this: "Make it and put it in a box. The leader can take it to eat."

"That's more like it." The two brothers both breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, don't worry, today's pay is doubled, it's also a favor to you guys," Lou Bancheng said with a smile.

Li Jiuzhou nodded:

"Okay, you go ahead with your work. We'll take care of the kitchen. Dinner will be served promptly at 12 o'clock."

Lou Bancheng left with a smile. Since his superior had given him instructions, he naturally had to comply. After all, everyone has their little quirks.

After Lou Bancheng left, Sha Zhu looked at Li Jiuzhou with a troubled expression and asked:

"Senior, what do we do? How particular are that leader's tastes? How exactly do we proceed?"

"You can't do it with poop on the side, that's too disgusting."

Li Jiuzhou laughed:

"Don't misunderstand, the leader just has a peculiar taste, he doesn't really expect you to not even wash your excrement properly."

"Just wash it normally, and don't try to remove the smell when you do it. Isn't that simple?"

After hearing this, Sha Zhu suddenly realized and muttered, "Oh, I see."

After saying that, he ran over and rummaged through the cloth bag, and after taking one look, he immediately vomited.

"yue~ huh~"

"This is fucking disgusting, holy crap!" "Fuck you, you son of a bitch!"

Sha Zhu's words were so disgusting that they went in circles.

Li Jiuzhou laughed: "Don't expect me to do it. Deal with this last. Let's have a smoke and take a break first."

The two brothers smoked a cigarette to calm themselves down after feeling nauseous, and then continued cooking.

After all the other dishes were served, Sha Zhu stuffed two cloves of garlic in his nose and cleaned his large intestine.

Then I did as my senior brother said, without removing the smell, and after it was done, it looked and smelled delicious.

"Would you like to try some?" Li Jiuzhou asked with a smile.

"Ugh~ I haven't wanted to eat pig intestines for the past two years. I'll let Dongxu try some when he gets here," Shazhu said.

After he finished speaking, he picked out a few pieces.

Jia Dongxu arrived right after we finished, and the three of us started eating.

The two brothers didn't touch any of the large intestines; they were deliberately refusing to eat them.

Jia Dongxu ate happily, and seeing that the two brothers hadn't touched their large intestines, he asked:

"Why aren't you two eating the sausage?"

Sha Zhu said, "My senior brother and I are in the kitchen of Fengzeyuan. We're already tired of eating braised pork intestines, so we're saving them for you, Dongxu."

Jia Dongxu grinned upon hearing this:

"Then I won't be polite." With that, he picked up a piece and put it directly into his mouth, then closed his eyes and chewed slowly.

I could only smell a strong odor of large intestine hitting my head, but upon closer inspection, it was actually quite delicious.

He didn't think Li Jiuzhou and Sha Zhu would harm him; Nine-Turned Intestines was Fengzeyuan's signature dish.

Jia Dongxu had heard of it but had never tasted it; he only knew that it tasted like this.

So, under the watchful eyes of Li Jiuzhou and his brother, he ate two more.

"How's Dongxu?" Shazhu asked.

"It's delicious, it's fucking authentic~" Jia Dongxu replied without looking up.

Sha Zhu was stunned, but he picked up a piece to try, since he had made it himself.

One bite and the flavor was so intense that the food I had eaten earlier rushed back up to my throat.

To avoid Jia Dongxu noticing, Sha Zhu stared wide-eyed and swallowed it back down.

Li Jiuzhou watched from the side, his teeth clenched. "Zhu Zi, you're really ruthless!"

Jia Dongxu was completely unaware that Kuku Ganfan, seemingly afraid that Shazhu would fight him for the remaining large intestines, simply poured them into his rice bowl.

"Talented..." Li Jiuzhou sighed inwardly.