Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

The atmosphere in the private room was very pleasant. Halfway through, He Daqing returned; he had just come back from a side job.

After several rounds of drinks and several dishes, we stopped talking about work and started discussing romance.

Of course, Li Jiuzhou and his two fellow disciples were all young and inexperienced. They were all listening, mainly their master Li Tielong, their uncle He Daqing, and Manager Luan recounting their past.

Manager Luan was probably a bit drunk, and with tears in his eyes, he recounted his painful experiences from back then.

Despite Luan's current success, with several branches of Fengzeyuan Restaurant, don't be fooled by his current popularity.

But he was also quite embarrassed to talk about the poorest time of his life.

According to him, one year he went to the graves during the Qingming Festival empty-handed.

The main point is that the sentiment is enough; it's not that he's unfilial, but that he's so poor he's practically urinating blood.

Fortunately, the family next door who were visiting the grave left quickly, and Manager Luan managed to take the remaining half of the incense stick. They made do with it and were able to visit the grave without any problems.

Shopkeeper Luan is considered quite filial; even without money, he still goes to visit graves. In those days, some even poorer people simply didn't visit graves at all.

Then Manager Luan looked at Li Jiuzhou and his two fellow disciples and sighed:

"The three of you are lucky to be born in a good time. The world is not in chaos, and you can make money, start a family, and build a career in peace. That's good."

The three of them smiled slightly. They had indeed caught a good time, but everyone had a past they didn't want to look back on, right?

Li Jiuzhou's background is not exactly tragic, but rather pitiful. He lost his parents and lived a life of wandering and exile.

Sha Zhu and Wang Shan are much better off, as they both had parents growing up with them.

The six men drank eight bottles of baijiu (Chinese liquor), all of them were heavy drinkers and could walk and talk a lot.

Li Jiuzhou and Shazhu still had to ride their bikes home.

It wasn't too late, only a little past 8 o'clock.

After washing up, Li Jiuzhou went to bed and played with his son, Tie Niu.

Tie Niu, completely unbothered by the smell of alcohol on Li Jiuzhou, asked in a childish voice:

"Dad, what are you eating that looks so delicious?"

Not satisfied with just asking, he actually pried open Li Jiuzhou's mouth and started sniffing.

Then he pouted, clearly very unhappy: "Dad, you eat delicious food but don't include me, I'm not going to be friends with you anymore."

After saying that, she rushed into her mother's arms and then sulked alone.

The couple couldn't stop laughing at him, and Li Jiuzhou had to coax him to calm him down before promising to cook him something delicious the next day.

The next day, after getting up, Li Jiuzhou went directly to Jia's house and bought three catties of Sachima.

The reason they wanted it was because the Jia family hadn't taken Li Jiuzhou's money.

Upon learning that it was for Little Iron Ox, they insisted on giving it to Li Jiuzhou, refusing to accept any money.

Just kidding, their dog, Bang Geng, often goes from house to house to eat.

Sometimes, after eating too much, do you just not say a word?

We definitely had to make up for it; the Jia family shared some of their first batch of Sachima with every neighbor in the courtyard.

Making up for it also shuts up the neighbors.

Tell them that our Jia family is having a feast, and they should know their place after eating.

Winter was coming, and the Jia family couldn't bear to give up their sachima business, so they secretly continued the trade, telling outsiders that they wouldn't sell if they just wanted to exchange goods.

The specifics will naturally involve purchasing it with money, but neither party will disclose the details.

Of course, some people were indeed very cautious in exchanging items, and the Jia family agreed.

Li Jiuzhou still admired the Jia family's approach; at least they handled interpersonal relationships comprehensively.

It's understandable that the Jia family wants to make a quick buck at the end of the year. The neighbors won't report them, and they wouldn't do something like that; it's not easy for anyone.

Also, it's the end of the year, and everyone is busy moving things around. Who can keep things very clean? That's practically impossible.

Why are Yan Bugui's potted plants decreasing day by day? Is it really because he says he's giving them away to fellow flower enthusiasts? Or to like-minded people?

Is Liu Haizhong's fondness for tinkering with bottles and jars really because he picked them up from the street, as he claims?

Li Jiuzhou accidentally discovered that Liu Haizhong liked to study antiques, and the two even met in Liulichang.

We even communicated together, but the things Liu Haizhong collected were, to be honest, very good, rare handicrafts, but worthless except for being pretty.

Li Jiuzhou once pointed out something about him and he actually got angry.

That time, Liu Haizhong enthusiastically showed Li Jiuzhou a Song Dynasty brush washer.

Li Jiuzhou took a closer look and asked, "Is this new?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Haizhong became furious and pointed at Li Jiuzhou, yelling, "I bet you're new here too!"

The two parted on bad terms.

Li Jiuzhou couldn't be bothered with him; they were never on the same wavelength.

It would be a miracle if Liu Haizhong could find a bargain by figuring it out on his own.

What kind of diploma do you have, and you're still collecting antiques?

Then there's Xu Fugui in the backyard, who brings large and small bags of things into the yard every day, and the neighbors can guess pretty much what he's bringing.

The neighbors in the courtyard all have their own little secrets, but they are all minor matters, and no one is willing to expose them. It is a kind of unspoken understanding.

At the dining table, Little Iron Bull was eating Sachima and drinking malted milk powder with great satisfaction.

The Li family was having breakfast when they suddenly heard a loud commotion in the front yard.

Li Jiuzhou took his bowl and went out; quite a few neighbors followed suit.

Yan Bugui walked out of his house with a smile on his face and cupped his hands in greeting to his neighbors.

"Dear neighbors, I apologize for the commotion at home, but I have some good news to share: Ruihua is pregnant again."

The neighbors all offered their congratulations:

"Wow, Teacher Yan, you're really amazing! You're not even 40 and you already have four kids. Congratulations!"

"Hahaha, congratulations to you too." Yan Bugui smiled obsequiously, clearly quite pleased with himself.

Firstly, he is indeed young, and secondly, he already has three sons, so his family is quite popular.

At this point, they basically won't stop giving birth.

Yi Zhonghai and his wife had just entered the front yard with their bowls to join in the fun when they heard Yan Bugui say that his wife was pregnant again. They turned around and left without hesitation, as if a dog was chasing them.

Every time news of a woman becoming pregnant came from the compound, it felt like a knife stabbing Yi Zhonghai and his wife in the heart.

That was truly painful. Seeing other people with a house full of children and grandchildren, while my husband and I didn't have a single child, made my heart ache so much I could hardly breathe.

This kind of pain can only be silently endured by the two of them.

The Jia Dongxu couple, who had followed to watch the spectacle, understood the situation perfectly well.

Tong Jie sighed. The old couple were indeed pitiful, and they had tried their best to take care of their feelings.

After a moment of silence, Jia Dongxu said to Tong Jie:

"Honey, prepare a few more dishes tonight and invite the chef and his wife over for dinner. I'll keep the chef company for a bit to cheer him up."

Tong Jie agreed with her husband and replied, "Of course, I'll go to the market after you go to work."

"If you say hello to your master at noon, I'll also tell his wife not to cook dinner."

"Okay, let's do it this way!"