Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

The Li family's baby's one-month celebration was the talk of the town in Nanluoguxiang for many days.

It's the end of the year now, and Nanluoguxiang is bustling with celebrations, especially weddings.

If about ten young men from different families are getting married, they will definitely hold a wedding banquet.

Some families with good financial means will hold a banquet with 20 tables and 18 dishes, which is considered a grand affair.

Even those with limited means can hold a small celebration if they can persuade the bride's family.

It depends on the circumstances; do what you can afford. There's no need to compare yourself to others. Sha Zhu has booked several banquets and is very busy.

Li Jiuzhou is not accepting banquets now; they take too long and he gets too tired.

He only accepts one or two tables of guests now, and at most three.

He can manage all the work by himself.

Some of their regular customers wanted to hold a large banquet for a happy occasion, so Li Jiuzhou told them to go directly to Fengzeyuan Restaurant. He said it would cost a little more money, but it would be more presentable.

As the year draws to a close, the weather is getting colder and colder.

The stove in Li Jiuzhou's house has been burning since the beginning of winter. Although Bingbing has finished her postpartum confinement, her son is still young and can't withstand the cold.

Li Jiuzhou installed a thick, sturdy curtain at the front door of his house to keep out the cold. He had it made by a professional.

The household consumes twice as much coal and wood as in previous years.

Li Jiuzhou didn't feel bad about spending this money.

Li Jiuzhou had lived in Beiping for so many years and had seen families in poor conditions before.

The whole family slept in one room, trying to save on coal and firewood, but life was very difficult.

Li Jiuzhou paid people to haul coal and firewood.

The winter-stored cabbages were hauled by my younger brother Shanhe. Li Jiuzhou told him to haul less, since we can't eat cabbages every day throughout the winter.

Fengzeyuan has a channel to get some rare vegetables, and Li Jiuzhou can bring some back, but the price will be much higher.

Actually, Li Jiuzhou wasn't very fond of Chinese cabbage.

But Chinese cabbage is easy to preserve in winter. If it is stored in a cellar for several months, at most the edges will rot, but the inside will be good.

The vegetable market has very few varieties of vegetables; sweet potatoes, radishes, corn, and Chinese cabbage are the most abundant, and sometimes they can't even sell them all.

Other vegetables are available, but they cost more than meat. Would you buy them?

Ordinary people aren't stupid; they'd rather eat meat than pay more for it.

The people in the courtyard were very envious when they saw Li Jiuzhou bringing back vegetables from time to time, and sometimes they would even share some with the deaf old lady in the backyard.

After eating cabbage and radish for more than half a month, Yan Bugui couldn't help but ask Li Jiuzhou for some.

"Jiuzhou, you're so capable, why don't you share some with Uncle Yan?"

Li Jiuzhou didn't refuse directly, but instead asked a question:

Do you prefer meat or vegetables?

Yan Bugui did not hesitate at all:

"That's definitely meat, who the hell likes to eat vegetables?"

Li Jiuzhou smiled and shrugged:

"Then that's settled. The vegetables I got from Fengzeyuan are more expensive than meat. Are you sure you want them?"

Yan Bugui lost interest when he saw Li Jiuzhou say that, and knew that he wouldn't lie.

He meant he wanted to get it for free, but Li Jiuzhou was practically asking for a price; he wasn't that shameless yet.

"Fine, forget it then. I still prefer meat."

Sha Zhu could also get some vegetables from Fengzeyuan, but there was no need; he and Qin Huairu preferred to eat meat.

Just eat whatever vegetables you like.

Most people in Beijing eat noodles, or so does people in the north.

Li Jiuzhou prefers white rice; making noodles is too much trouble.

Kneading dough takes a lot of time, so he prefers to make dough balls to cook in soup, adding some meat to make it taste delicious.

When he feels like it, he might make a bowl of old Beijing-style fried noodles with soybean paste.

Or you can have knife-cut noodles.

Li Jiuzhou prefers Lanzhou ramen, which has a salty broth and chewy noodles.

In his previous life, Li Jiuzhou loved to eat Lanzhou ramen, and he had long since mastered the recipe.

Sure enough, Li Jiuzhou started making noodles early this morning. Yesterday, he brought back a beef bone and beef ribs from Fengzeyuan, along with more than a pound of beef, to make a soup base with radishes. He started simmering the broth last night.

Sha Zhu arrived early in the morning with his wife Qin Huairu carrying a large bag of flour. How could he not know what his senior brother had brought back?

Damn, he even paid for the beef bones and ribs himself. If my senior brother remembered, that would be fine, and I wouldn't lose out. But my senior brother often forgets!

Since that's the case, why not come and eat here, get some of your money back, and make yourself happy?

When Li Jiuzhou saw the silly girl and her husband coming over, he greeted them and told Sha Zhu to knead the dough and Qin Huairu to boil water.

Sha Zhu opened the pot of simmering broth, and a fragrant aroma filled the air. He closed his eyes and sniffed carefully, then opened them again, his voice tinged with uncertainty:

"Senior brother, is it halal?"

Li Jiuzhou rolled his eyes at him:

"What the hell? Hurry up and make the ramen."

"By the way, your senior brother prefers thicker, chewier noodles, so don't make a mistake."

Sha Zhu laughed after hearing this:

"Hehe, you think you're so great at eating? Don't worry, I'll poop it all out, just you wait and see!"

After saying that, he started kneading the dough, and while he was doing it, he was also teaching Qin Huairu how to do it.

Qin Huairu smiled, feeling that the greatest happiness in marrying a chef was the delicious food.

The six months or so after marrying Sha Zhu were the happiest days of her life.

No longer do I have to get up before dawn to cook for the whole family, do laundry, take care of the poultry, and then carry a hoe to help with the farm work.

Those days were predictable and could be seen from the beginning; her parents were the most accurate reflection of her life.

It's not that those kinds of days are bad; rural people have their own way of life.

Of course, if we could choose who is particularly willing to farm?

Therefore, choosing a good husband was a watershed moment in Qin Huairu's life.

Fortunately, after several years of hard work, she succeeded. Otherwise, according to rural customs, she would have been married long ago, and perhaps she would be feeding pigs by now.

Li Jiuzhou noticed this but didn't say anything. He was wondering if Qin Huairu in the original drama had a miserable life.

They might be somewhat pitiful, but they certainly wouldn't be considered tragic.

She's just a woman whose husband died and who has to work to support her family. There are countless people in reality who are worse off than her.

In the original drama, she was right to act in her own family's best interests, but it was Sha Zhu who suffered.

Forced by life's circumstances, she had to use her brain; she just wanted to live a good life.

Is she like Bai Lian, who has lost her husband and is finding it too difficult to raise her son, so she has no choice but to seek out a vengeful child?

It's not fair to say that those who form alliances are innocent. If you're not after someone's body, why would you form an alliance?

If you have something to gain, you have to pay the price.

No wonder people say Xu Damao is the smartest person.

He never took responsibility for his affairs with young wives and beautiful widows in the countryside, and nothing ever happened to him. His methods were ridiculously sophisticated.

Xu Damao is a pure egoist; such people live a more carefree and insightful life.

Sha Zhu quickly pulled the noodles, put them in the pot, and cooked them for the right time before taking them out.

Five large bowls were filled with beef slices by Li Jiuzhou. After adding some chili oil and pouring broth over them, it was time to eat!

Their son, Li Chuan, was still asleep, while the five of them were eating ramen noisily in the kitchen.

The five were enjoying their meal when there was a knock on the courtyard gate. Sha Zhu went to open it.

"It smells so good, why didn't you call me when you ate the noodles?" the deaf old woman said half-jokingly.

Silly Zhu chuckled, "You knew we were eating noodles?"

"I can hear all your sizzling sounds right here, do I need to guess?" the deaf old woman said irritably.

Sha Zhu didn't want to argue with her either.

"Alright, alright, please come inside, I'll make you some noodles!"

The deaf old woman glanced at a certain part of Sha Zhu's body and deliberately teased him:

"I'm not eating your 'stomach'..."

Holy crap!

The old woman's words left Sha Zhu speechless, his face flushed red, and finally he managed to stammer out:

"You...you're disrespectful to your elders, I can't be bothered to talk to you."

"Ha ha ha ha..."

The old deaf woman burst into laughter at Sha Zhu's exasperated appearance.

The three people in the kitchen spat out all the noodles they were eating after hearing the conversation between Sha Zhu and the deaf old woman.

What kind of inappropriate language is this?

That old deaf man is a genius!

Bingbing and Qin Huairu both blushed, and buried their heads in their noodles to hide their embarrassment.

Qin Huairu got up and said she was going to bring her sister-in-law, He Yushui, over for noodles.

Shazhu came in looking depressed and went straight to get ramen without saying a word.

He was disgusted by the deaf old woman; he couldn't even imagine what it was like. Damn it!

The deaf old woman didn't feel embarrassed at all, and calmly sat down to greet Li Jiuzhou and Bingbing.

Li Jiuzhou was already indifferent to her actions. He had given him so many good things, so it didn't matter if she had a few bites.

Even if there are difficult times in the future, she won't be able to rely on herself. There's still Sha Zhu, so she won't starve to death.