Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

After Director Wang left, Yi Zhonghai was the first to stand up and gave his neighbors a helpless, bitter smile:

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and go home to get your tools!"

Upon hearing this, the neighbors immediately went home to get their tools—brooms, hoes, sickles, and so on.

Even though the neighbors in the yard don't farm, they still have the tools.

Yan Bugui, who claimed to come from a scholarly family, came over carrying a hoe, while his two sons, Yan Jiecheng and Yan Jiefang, each carried a sickle.

Seeing the manner in which Yan Bugui's family behaved, Liu Haizhong couldn't help but ask:

"Hey Lao Yan, you live in the front yard and you're here to poop?"

"It's one thing for the people in our backyard and frontyard to chat, but it's a bit much for you, who lives in the front yard, to come and join in the fun, isn't it?"

"The outhouse is right around the corner from the front yard. Is it really possible that this side yard is even closer to your house?"

Liu Haizhong's three consecutive questions piqued the interest of the neighbors, who all turned to look at Yan Bugui.

Yan Bugui remained calm and slowly said:

"Old Liu, you don't understand. I'm just trying to stay connected with the masses. Since you've all joined in, I have to join in the fun too, right?"

"The land belongs to the public; it doesn't mean my Yan family can't use it!"

Liu Haizhong shook his head speechlessly and said something that made Yan Bugui break down on the spot:

"You're really something. No wonder some people say that you even taste the salt when the manure truck passes by our yard."

"Hahahaha..." The neighbors laughed loudly.

They had heard about this before. It wasn't that Yan Bugui stood at the gate asking his neighbors for things, but rather that he was just too curious.

He would ask a question or two if a neighbor brought something into the yard, and sometimes he would even chat with strangers passing by the gate.

Over time, rumors spread that whenever a manure truck passed by Yanbugui, it would taste the salty food.

Yan Bugui blushed and said, "Old Liu, you've insulted me. How could you say such a thing about me?"

"I did that for the safety of the compound."

Liu Haizhong shrugged and said, "I didn't say those words; I heard them from Fugui."

Xu Fugui almost bit his tongue. What the hell is this?

Xu Fugui glared at Liu Haizhong hatefully. Now you're calling me all affectionately, you don't even call me Old Xu anymore, you're calling me Fugui now.

Is wealth and honor something you can just shout about?

Liu Haizhong gave him a trembling smile, not at all thinking there was anything wrong with what he said. He had indeed heard it from Xu Fugui, and he was right!

Yan Bugui naturally turned his attention to Xu Fugui, wanting him to give an explanation.

Xu Fugui wore an awkward smile, thinking to himself, "Better to die than see my friend die. Old Yi, I'm sorry."

"Hehe, Lao Yan, don't be angry. I heard Zhong Hai say those words too."

Yi Zhonghai was utterly speechless. He knew things were going to go wrong the moment Xu Fugui gave him an apologetic smile.

Damn, he even affectionately called me Zhonghai. Is Zhonghai someone you can call me?

What could Yi Zhonghai do? He had only heard about it from others, so he smiled obsequiously at Yan Bugui and said:

"Hey Lao Yan, why bother with all this? It's just idle people talking nonsense. Don't mind it, don't mind it."

Yan Bugui stared sharply at Yi Zhonghai and said, word by word:

"So you mean you were the one who started it?"

Yi Zhonghai frowned. He had originally intended to let the matter drop, but Yan Bugui was unwilling. He couldn't bear to take the blame for nothing, so he said:

"He told me that when I was drinking with Dongxu, hehehe..."

Jia Dongxu was extremely frustrated, so he simply stood up and said, "Yes, I said it, but I heard it from my mother."

Jia Zhangshi didn't care and stepped forward directly: "Yan Bugui, don't try to find out the truth. I only heard it from others. The source is not with me."

"If you're not happy about it, let's just fight."

"Hmph!" Yan Bugui snorted coldly. He was helpless against Jia Zhangshi, who was so stubborn. He couldn't gain any advantage at all and would only end up with a lot of trouble.

After seeing that things had stopped developing, Yi Zhonghai called on everyone to clean up the courtyard.

First, people were assigned to shovel away the dried Oli Geyser, and then weeds were removed.

The dilapidated buildings were also demolished because the children in the courtyard often came here to play hide-and-seek, which was too dangerous.

Just in case, we decided to demolish them all together, and the neighbors thought it made a very good point.

After the houses were demolished, the wood was divided equally among each household.

It's winter, so it's perfect to take it home to keep warm; it won't go to waste.

Many hands make light work, and we finished the job in one morning.

In the afternoon, Director Wang brought Bingbing to take another look and was quite satisfied, but it was a bit of a pity that such a large open space was being wasted.

Li Jiuzhou had already spotted Director Wang and his wife, so he took two freshly steamed, piping hot ears of corn and went to the courtyard.

Upon arriving at the courtyard, Li Jiuzhou greeted the two:

"Director Wang, wife, have some corn. It's fresh out of the pot and still warm."

Director Wang had no guests, so he smiled and accepted the corn.

"I'm actually quite hungry after working all day. Thank you, Jiuzhou."

"Don't be shy, eat it while it's hot," Li Jiuzhou said with a smile.

The three of them strolled around while eating corn, and Director Wang said regretfully:

"It's such a pity that there are no houses in such a big place. If it weren't dilapidated, we could have accommodated more than a dozen families."

Upon hearing this, Li Jiuzhou said:

"Director Wang, doesn't the subdistrict office have a construction team? Can't we just build it directly?"

Director Wang shook his head: "It would be better to use this money to help impoverished households."

"Over a thousand square meters, how much would that cost? I can't afford it."

Li Jiuzhou felt like ants were crawling inside him; to be honest, he really wanted this piece of land.

So he asked directly, "Director Wang, is this land for sale?"

Director Wang looked at Li Jiuzhou with a half-smile upon hearing this:

"What, you want to buy it?"

Li Jiuzhou replied without any pretense: "Of course, if you have land to build a house, who would live in a small house?"

"Just tell me if you can sell it. If you can, name your price, and I'll buy it."

Director Wang pondered for a moment and replied, "Of course we can sell, but we're tightening our belts."

"It might work this year, but it might not work next year."

"This plot of land is a little over two acres, but it's basically abandoned. If you want it, I'll give it to you for 1100 yuan."

"Jiuzhou, you have the ability and the money, why don't you build a courtyard house?"

Li Jiuzhou was very interested after hearing this: "Director Wang, if I build the yard, will people be arranged to live there?"

"Then wouldn't I have worked for nothing?"

Director Wang understood perfectly what Li Jiuzhou meant, so he smiled and said, "Our subdistrict office doesn't do such things."

"Even though there is a housing shortage, you can't force people to live in someone else's private home, can you?"

"If we squeeze in, we can still make room in the house."

"Besides, with your family's connections, who would dare to do that?"

Li Jiuzhou smiled and said, "Then it's settled. I'll take this land. Can we complete the formalities now?"

"Come back to the subdistrict office with me, and remember to bring money." After saying this, Director Wang took Bingbing back first.

Bingbing didn't say a word the whole time because she knew her man had something on his mind.

After returning home and getting the money, Li Jiuzhou went straight to the subdistrict office, paid the money, signed the contract, and received the land deed.

Director Wang cooperated by returning to courtyard number 95 and informing the neighbors that the courtyard had been sold to Li Jiuzhou.

They didn't hide how much they sold it for; they explained everything clearly.