Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

The Wu family was well-prepared; the mourning hall was already set up, and Wu Lao Er's body was immediately taken inside.

Immediately, people started offering incense and burning paper money.

The Wu family's evening banquet delighted the relatives and friends who came to pay their respects.

The claim that Wu Lao Er died unjustly in another place and cannot be buried in the ancestral grave is utter nonsense.

If you dare to disagree with the Wu family, they'll dig up your ancestral graves first.

It's not worth making an enemy of the Wu family over such a trivial matter.

Among those offering condolences were members of the Su family.

Regardless of whether the marriage between the two families went through or not, the death of a person is a serious matter, and the Su family should come to pay their respects out of both courtesy and reason.

The eldest son of the Wu family also met the Su family, chatted casually, and then went to find his father.

At this moment, in the study, the father and aunt were discussing how tragically the second brother had died, without even getting a wife. The aunt was crying and sobbing.

Mrs. Wu's weeping and wailing annoyed Mr. Wu, who scolded her:

"Stop crying. So what do you suggest we do? Are you suggesting we send someone down to your son's house?"

Perhaps due to excessive grief, Madam Wu's speech became harsh:

"Isn't the Su family's daughter betrothed to their son since childhood? I think it would be a good idea to find a Taoist priest to arrange a ghost marriage."

"Those who were born my son will die to be his ghost!"

Hearing his daughter-in-law say this, Old Master Wu calmed down, which was unusual for him.

He seemed to be considering the feasibility of his daughter-in-law's idea.

It is indeed a great pity that the son passed away at such a young age. In addition, the daughter of the Su family had long been engaged to the son, so a ghost marriage seems to make sense.

Mr. Wu is a man who has lived through turbulent times; he has seen all sorts of things.

If a ghost marriage is truly to be arranged, how should it be carried out? Openly doing it is definitely not feasible and would easily cause trouble.

We can only do it secretly, provided the Su family agrees.

As soon as Wu the eldest approached his father and aunt, he overheard them talking about something immoral. Somewhat displeased, he spoke up:

"Dad, you can't do this. What era are we living in? You still think ghost marriages are acceptable? Do you really think the government won't dare to mess with you?"

Upon hearing this, Old Master Wu frowned and remained silent.

But Madam Wu was displeased, and her gaze turned icy as she looked at Wu the eldest:

"Boss, you must be the happiest person about your brother's death, right?"

Both Old Master Wu and the old man were stunned upon hearing this.

Old Wu was definitely happy, but he didn't show it. His aunt's comment made him unhappy, and he retorted:

"Aunt, although my second brother and I are half-brothers, we brothers have no grudges or hatred between us."

"It's not worth it for brothers to turn against each other over some family property."

"I am saddened by my second brother's death, and I know you are saddened as well, Aunt."

"All I want now is to send my brother off in style, because death is a serious matter!"

The old man nodded repeatedly at what Wu the eldest said; it made sense. He had to admit that the eldest son was more mature than the second son.

But Madam Wu's expression remained unchanged, still one of intense hatred. She pointed at Wu the eldest's nose and cursed:

"Boss Wu, are you still pretending at a time like this?"

"You usually enjoy reading history, and you especially admire Li Shimin and Zhu Di."

"You must have studied quite a bit about how those two rose to the throne and became emperors, right?"

"How did you know?" Wu Laoda blurted out. It was practically his secret.

"You fucking spy on me?" Boss Wu looked incredulous.

At this moment, Madam Wu laughed, a ferocious laugh:

"If you don't want others to know, then don't do it in the first place."

"When your father was unconscious yesterday, didn't you say that the sun would be shining brightly tonight?"

"Isn't it bright and sunny now?"

"You...you...you..." Old Wu was no longer calm.

Grandpa Wu also stared at him with unfriendly eyes.

Seeing this, Boss Wu decided to go all out; if he didn't make things clear today, things wouldn't end well.

Wu Laoda simply spread his hands:

"Fine, I'm not pretending anymore. So what if I'm hoping my bro dies?"

"Go ask your good son if he also wants me dead?"

"He died without me doing anything, what does that prove?"

"This proves that I deserve to inherit the Wu family business."

He then pointed at Madam Wu viciously: "You filthy whore, who you used to sell yourself in the brothel, what right do you have to talk back to me like that?"

"Let me tell you, if you piss me off, you won't even leave a whole corpse; your ashes will be scattered!"

Then he said to Old Master Wu:

"And you, Dad, don't think about anything else. Now that the second son is gone, I will take full charge of the family business from now on."

"From now on, you can just be an emperor emeritus like Li Yuan."

"But it's one thing to spend all day playing around with women like Li Yuan."

After saying that, he pointed at Madam Wu and said, "This wretched woman is only in her forties. You can make do with her when it's dark and the candles are out."

After Wu finished speaking, the couple's expressions changed countless times, and finally they even became somewhat shy...

Looking at the couple's ever-changing expressions, Wu the Elder said again:

"And please, never do anything like arranging a ghost marriage for my brother. It will cause a huge problem."

"Even if the entire Wu family were to pay off the debt, it wouldn't be enough."

"You two think it over carefully," Old Wu said before leaving the study.

There was a long silence in the study before finally Old Master Wu spoke:

"Forget it, Shufen, the second son is unlucky, there's no point in worrying about these things."

"We still have to live our lives. The eldest brother is right. You're only in your early forties. You can make do... uh... you're still young. If we try our best, maybe we can even have another child."

After finishing his sentence, Old Master Wu didn't dare look at his wife. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, realizing he had almost blurted out "I can use it now."

Madam Wu looked at the old man with disdain and said scornfully:

"You old codger, yes, I'm in my early forties and still usable, what about you?"

"You're only in your fifties and you're already leaking urine, are you really going to put up with this?"

"Finding a cucumber is better than you!"

"grass!"

"You shameless woman, stop talking now." Master Wu quickly interrupted her, knowing that if she continued, she would lose all sense of shame.

Their son's body was barely cold, still lying in the living room, and they were discussing this.

What if the second child finds out he's single at night?

What if his parents have to go down with him? Old Master Wu hasn't lived enough yet.

He'd figured it out anyway. So what if his youngest son was gone? He still had his eldest son. The family line wasn't dying out, so what was there to be afraid of?

Besides, even if the eldest son passes away, it won't matter. He has two sons and two daughters, so there's no worry about the Wu family line ending.

Late at night, Li Jiuzhou had already gone to sleep in the Wu family's guest room, as he was exhausted from preparing the feast.

He wasn't afraid of Wu Lao Er turning things around, and besides, he didn't believe in such things.

Sha Zhu was different; he was actually invited to the mourning hall by Boss Wu, who paid him a large sum of money to keep watch overnight.

Sure enough, Sha Zhu was sitting at the entrance of the mourning hall, holding a pig-slaughtering knife in his hand, his eyes fixed on Wu Lao Er's coffin.

Xu Damao sat trembling next to Sha Zhu, holding a black donkey hoof in his hand, staring at Wu Lao Er's coffin lid.

His eyes held fear, excitement, and exhilaration, as if he were saying, "Wu Lao Er, you damn well better jump out now!"