Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

Before Sha Zhu could respond, his wife Qin Huairu interrupted:

"Senior brother, it's not that we're superstitious, but Yan Jiecheng has a persistent high fever and said that Old Jia came to see him. Who wouldn't be scared if they heard that?"

Sha Zhu also said:

"Yeah, senior brother, it's terrifying!"

Li Jiuzhou said irritably, "Nonsense, you took a cold shower last night, didn't you? Was it cold from the wind?"

Sha Zhu recalled, "Yes, it was quite windy yesterday, so I took a shower at the tap."

Li Jiuzhou shrugged: "That settles it then. You just caught a cold, don't overthink it. The higher-ups have already said that no spirits are allowed after the founding of the People's Republic!"

"Haha, you're right, that makes sense." Silly Zhu laughed heartlessly.

"But what happened to Yan Jiecheng?" Qin Huai asked, puzzled.

Li Jiuzhou smiled:

"That's even simpler. That kid was sweating buckets after fighting yesterday, and he took a cold shower right outside his house as soon as the fight ended."

"It would be strange if he didn't get sick. As for the dream about Old Jia taking his life, it was just from being scared."

"Don't be fooled by the ruthlessness this kid showed when he smashed Old Jia's memorial tablet; he was actually terrified inside."

"Plus, I had a fever and was in a daze, so I had all sorts of dreams."

"If Old Jia really comes to take my life, who the hell would dare to live in this courtyard? I'd be the first to run away."

The couple, Sha Zhu and his wife, nodded repeatedly. Hearing their senior brother's words, they felt reassured and were no longer afraid.

Yan Bugui is in a bit of a hurry. His son's fever has gone down, but he's still traumatized, which is a real headache.

You can't exactly kowtow to Lao Jia, burn incense, and apologize, can you?

Impossible! Yan Bugui would absolutely not allow it. If that were done, the Yan family would lose all face.

As long as you still live in courtyard number 95, you will be overshadowed by the Jia family.

Fortunately, Yan Bugui's cousin from his hometown came over and, after hearing about the incident, put on a show of exorcising ghosts and evil spirits in front of Yan Jiecheng, and the matter was finally resolved.

After that, the two families treated each other coldly whenever they met, and neither of them liked the other.

Jia Zhangshi was still a little unhappy and kept cursing at home, saying that the Yan family hadn't come to apologize to Old Jia.

After learning about this, Yi Zhonghai went directly to the Jia family.

"Dongxu, Tongjie, you two take the child and go find your teacher's wife. Your mother and I need to talk to each other about something."

Although the couple was puzzled, they obediently went anyway.

Now only Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhangshi are left in the room.

Jia Zhangshi was a little afraid of Yi Zhonghai, and her voice was lowered.

"Old Yi, what do you want from me?"

Yi Zhonghai said with a cold face:

"Sister-in-law, don't use my brother Jia's memorial tablet to scare people anymore."

"Do you really not want my brother Jia to live in peace? How about this, I'll go with you to his grave first thing tomorrow morning, dig him up, and put him in our house."

Jia Zhangshi shuddered in fright:

"Old Yi, what nonsense are you talking about? I promise I won't do anything reckless again, okay?"

"You'd better keep your word and stop causing trouble for your son." Yi Zhonghai said and left, not wanting to say much more to Jia Zhangshi.

After being warned by Yi Zhonghai, Jia Zhangshi became much more well-behaved, and life in the courtyard returned to normal.

Li Jiuzhou has recently become fascinated with antiques, and his father-in-law gave him several books introducing precious antiques from all over China.

At the same time, let him play with the family's treasures to distinguish between real and fake.

Reading books without hands-on experience is useless; only by seeing many genuine products can you avoid being fooled.

The father-in-law even used Puyi as an example.

It is said that Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, did not know how to appraise antiques, but he could tell the difference between fakes at a glance. There was no other reason than that he was familiar with them!

The reason Li Jiuzhou's father-in-law taught him to identify antiques was because he was afraid that Li Jiuzhou would miss out on good things in the future.

Li Jiuzhou had memorized all the books perfectly; this was a skill that could lead to wealth.

These days, as long as you have the knowledge and a little money, it's not difficult to secretly collect some valuable items.

As long as we weather the turbulent times, the future is promising, and even if we cannot enjoy it ourselves, we can still leave a legacy for our descendants.

Countless people will make their fortunes this way in the future, and Li Jiuzhou felt he should seize this opportunity.

He has so much cash, he needs to spend some of it. If he takes so much money to exchange next year, it will attract attention.

If you still need to spend the money, buying antiques is the best way.

Having made up his mind, Li Jiuzhou decided to go to Liulichang to broaden his horizons and gain experience.

I'm in the newbie protection period, so I shouldn't make any mistakes.

After lunch, Li Jiuzhou greeted the shopkeeper and rode his bicycle straight to Liulichang.

There are still people setting up stalls in Liulichang.

It wasn't a black market, but a legitimate street stall selling goods.

After parking the car, Li Jiuzhou started strolling around, squatting down and stopping at each stall to look at the items.

There are definitely good things out there, but he's not very good at recognizing them.

Li Jiuzhou finally stopped at a stall because the stall owner was selling silver dollars.

Li Jiuzhou was most familiar with silver dollars because he had some at home.

He is 90% confident in distinguishing between real and fake.

Li Jiu casually grabbed a handful of Yuan Shikai silver dollars, examined them, took out a cigarette, offered one to the stall owner, and said with a smile:

"Hey buddy, you've really raided a warlord's den. You've got so much money. If this were a few years ago, you'd be rich."

The stall owner lit a cigarette and laughed, "That's right, brother. If I had this much money a few years ago, would I even be running a stall?"

"Hahahaha..." The stall owner's words made everyone around him laugh.

Because he was right, nowadays a Yuan Shikai silver dollar is not worth as much as a pound of pork.

There are too few people who enjoy collecting coins, and those who are true connoisseurs feel that collecting coins is beneath their status and class.

It's like a chicken rib – tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away.

But there were so many Yuan Shikai silver dollars in Beiping that you could collect them by the handful without any effort.

Those who dig up soil go to the countryside to collect it by weight, it's really worthless.

The stall in front of Li Jiuzhou was full of Yuan Shikai silver dollars.

Li Jiuzhou doesn't care about the ordinary ones; they have no collectible value. He wants the rare ones.

He was too lazy to look for them one by one, so he said to the stall owner:

"Okay, brother, pick out the ones with buttons, seals, and inscriptions—I'll take them all."

"Ordinary stuff is meaningless."

"If any other warlords bring out their silver dollars, I'll take them all."

The stall owner laughed: "No problem, brother. There are quite a few like these. I'll pick some out for you."

"Hey bro, do you want my skullcap?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jiuzhou felt a chill run down his spine and quickly refused.

"No, no, no, I don't want that thing."

The stall owner chuckled even more: "Look at you, so cowardly. What are you afraid of if you're into antiques?"

"You should just pick out silver coins for me honestly; I won't touch those 'kabo' (a type of foreign currency) stuff."

The stall owner chuckled and said nothing more, continuing to pick out coins for Li Jiuzhou.

To be honest, he really had quite a few rare silver dollars, but nobody wanted them.

Many years later, the stall owner had become a millionaire by dealing in antiques, his hair now completely white. But looking at the hundreds of ordinary Yuan Shikai silver dollars on his table, he was filled with regret.

Just thinking about those precious silver dollars he sold to Li Jiuzhou gives me a headache.

Because a multi-millionaire slipped away from him without his knowledge.

Whenever he thinks about this, he tells his grandson, "Grandpa could have been a multi-millionaire. Ah... life is unpredictable, like a big intestine wrapped around a small intestine!"