Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

Upon entering the private room, Li Huaide addressed the three leaders:

"Three leaders, the kitchen has made quite a few pickled duck feet. Please take some back for the children to try."

One of the leaders frowned:

"Huai De, this isn't appropriate. It'll look bad if word gets out that we're taking advantage of your kindness."

Li Huaide exaggeratedly, saying, "What are you saying, leader? This is a specialty of our steel rolling mill. It's just this little bit."

"We didn't eat anything extravagantly, what's a few duck feet?"

"After working so hard, can't I even afford to eat a few duck feet?"

"That's utterly unreasonable!"

At this point, other leaders of the steel rolling mill also joined in to support Li Huaide:

"Yes, boss, it's just a local specialty. It's nothing special. I can argue my case anywhere."

Seeing this, the three leaders nodded helplessly, understanding the subordinates' intentions, otherwise it would be easy to discourage them.

They're not wrong; it's just a specialty of the steel mill, nothing special.

He glanced at Sha Zhu, the man Li Huaide had brought in, carrying a small jar.

They could tell at a glance that the small jar contained at most one or two pounds.

The price of duck meat is only a dollar or two. What's this little bit of stuff? Are you trying to bribe the boss with this?

Which leader wouldn't be tempted by such a thing? If someone were to use this to attack them, they would be a laughingstock.

Li Huaide greeted Sha Zhu:

"Zhu Zi, hurry up, put our factory's specialties next to the leaders."

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu quickly went over and put his things away, then nodded to everyone, turned, and left the private room, inwardly cursing:

"Damn it, isn't steel ingot the specialty of the steel rolling mill? When did it become pickled duck feet?"

"The world is going to the dogs; it's impossible to tell who's human and who's ghost..."

Back in the kitchen, Sha Zhu couldn't hold back and started rambling to his senior apprentice, Li Jiuzhou:

"Senior, you know, those leaders talk in such a sophisticated way that I really don't understand them."

"Send some duck feet as a gift, and you even claim it's a specialty of our factory."

"How about we switch to selling duck feet from now on?"

Li Jiuzhou smiled after hearing this:

"If you could understand that, you wouldn't be a cook."

"I don't want to be a cook..." Sha Zhu suddenly replied.

"I didn't tell you to be a cook, I meant to be... a cook." Li Jiuzhou raised his voice in anger.

Sha Zhu shook his head frantically: "I'd never be a cook, no matter what..."

Li Jiuzhou waved his hand impatiently, knowing that continuing to talk to Sha Zhu would only make him angrier:

"Get lost, you idiot, talking to you is exhausting."

"Tch, fine, get lost, why are you swearing..." Sha Zhu muttered and immediately walked away. If he didn't leave, he was afraid his senior brother would beat him up.

Li Jiuzhou rode his bike home from get off work at four o'clock in the afternoon, leaving the cleaning work to others.

Sha Zhu is now the head of the first canteen, and he is responsible for handling and supervising matters.

That's right, Sha Zhu also became a minor official.

The two brothers were not only respected in the factory, but also became quite the celebrity.

Many people feel it's a pity that the two brothers got married at such a young age; otherwise, they would definitely introduce their own daughters or the daughters of their relatives to the two brothers.

The main reason is that their senior's qualifications are too high.

Not only is she a valuable asset to the factory, but she can also cook excellent dishes. It's said that other large factories are trying to poach her.

Most importantly, the salary is high. Li Jiuzhou didn't know that, but everyone knew that Sha Zhu earned 68.5 yuan a month.

68.5 yuan! You can't even spend that much if you eat meat for three meals a day. You simply can't spend it all.

You should know that 5 yuan can feed a person for a whole month, and there will still be some left over.

68.5 yuan is a lot!

Sha Zhu's score is already 68.5, so you can imagine how much more Li Jiuzhou earns. And since he's the cafeteria manager, his salary must be even higher.

Li Jiuzhou didn't go straight home. Instead, he went to the market to buy some vegetables. He bought three catties of spare ribs that nobody wanted. In those days, people preferred to buy half-fat and half-lean meat, which was pork belly, because it could be rendered into oil.

I also bought two scallions and a pound of shrimp.

It was already 5:30 when we finished shopping at the market. My wife should have been home by now.

As soon as Li Jiuzhou's bicycle entered the yard, he habitually rang the bicycle bell three times.

In the front yard, a child sat under the eaves talking to his uncle.

The words weren't very clear, but the tone was fairly fluent.

"Piggy, what's 7 in the evening? 7 again?"

Shanhe scratched his head in annoyance after hearing his nephew's words:

"Niu Niu, it's Uncle, not Pig."

Little Iron Ox seemed to understand, but not quite, and nodded: "Okay, piggy~"

"Oh dear, what a disaster!" Shanhe sighed helplessly.

Just then, three clear bicycle bells rang out from the courtyard gate:

"Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring!"

Little Iron Ox sat up abruptly, its chubby little finger pointing excitedly outside as it said:

"Father... Father is back."

After saying that, he rushed out with his short legs.

"Oh my little darling, slow down!" Shanhe could only protect her from behind.

"Hahaha, my good son, Daddy's back!" Li Jiuzhou laughed loudly when he saw the little figure running.

Little Iron Bull got even more excited when he saw his dad and ran even faster, but he tripped over his own foot and fell down...

The mountains and rivers couldn't be protected in time; Little Iron Ox fell down so suddenly that no one could have predicted it.

"Son, get up by yourself." Although Li Jiuzhou felt sorry for him, he didn't help him up and chose to let him get up on his own.

Seeing this, Little Iron Ox got up on its own and rushed into Li Jiuzhou's arms.

"Dad, Dad, Dad!" Little Iron Bull called out three times in a row!

"Yes, yes, yes, my good son." Li Jiuzhou responded three times.

Some say that looking at their daughters melts their hearts, but little do they know that a well-behaved son can also melt a father's heart.

That's blatant prejudice. Who says a son is born to rebel against the heavens? We'll have to see how things develop.

If they grow up and become disobedient, there will be plenty of opportunities to punish them.

Li Jiuzhou picked up his son and said to him:

"Son, say with Dad, 'Brave Niu Niu is not afraid of difficulties!'"

"Brave Ox is not afraid of difficulties!" This time, Little Iron Ox learned it very well.

"Good, very good. Dad will make you braised pork ribs with scallions tonight." Li Jiuzhou praised him and added that he wanted to eat pork ribs.

Upon hearing this, Little Iron Ox's saliva immediately dripped down, flowing smoothly onto Li Jiuzhou's shoulder.

"Dad, it's delicious!"

Li Jiuzhou wiped his mouth:

"The meat is delicious, hahaha."

At this moment, Shanhe pushed Li Jiuzhou's bicycle, which was parked at the door, over and said with a smile:

"Niu Niu, call him uncle!"

"Piggy~" Little Iron Ox called out crisply.

Shanhe retorted angrily, "It's Uncle, not Pig!"

"Piggy..."

"Hahahaha..." Li Jiuzhou was overjoyed by the interaction between his younger brother and son.

Then he pointed to his younger brother and said, "Son, this is your uncle. Call him uncle."

"Uncle!" Tie Niu answered correctly.

Shanhe smiled and asked again:

"Call me 'Uncle' one more time."

"Piggy, hahaha..." Little Iron Ox laughed for no apparent reason.

Shanhe felt so frustrated he wanted to cry. He said to his brother, "You two are father and son, I'm an outsider, okay..."

"Hahahaha..." Li Jiuzhou burst into laughter again.