Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

But Jia Dongxu's aggrieved look brought tears to the eyes of both Tong Jie and Jia Zhangshi.

Indeed, their family often experiences a series of incredibly unlucky and terrible things, and these things just happen to Jia Dongxu, the pillar of the family!

You see, from the initial poisoning of Jia Dongxu when he first entered the steel rolling mill, to his subsequent arrest for soliciting prostitutes.

Then, the pickled mustard greens made at home poisoned a group of people in the yard.

This is Jia Dongxu's second time suffering from food poisoning. If he had received treatment any later, he probably would have died long ago.

In the past two years, he was inexplicably dragged into a dark room and beaten by the security department of the steel rolling mill.

Immediately afterwards, Jia Dongxu almost sprained his ankle when he was unloading steel rims at the factory.

A sprained ankle is one thing, at least it's a work injury, but then something else happened that made the entire Jia family lose face.

Even Yi Zhonghai felt embarrassed and didn't go out to chat with his neighbors for several days. He was so ashamed!

That means Jia Dongxu was defecating in the corner of his own house.

While there are some extenuating circumstances, this is still too ridiculous and unbelievable.

Each and every one of these incidents is horrifying, yet they all happened to the same person!

How could you expect Tong Jie and Jia Zhangshi, those two women, not to be flustered and afraid?

If things continue to go this way, I'm afraid Jia Dongxu might really die one day.

By then, the Jia family's world will probably collapse.

You don't actually think there's nothing going on in the courtyard, do you?

Of course there is. People will say behind closed doors that the Jia family is incredibly unlucky, probably because they've attracted some unclean spirits.

Even Zhang Shih-hao's divorce is occasionally brought up as a topic of conversation.

In this day and age, anyone who is even slightly unlucky will be labeled, let alone someone as unlucky as Jia Dongxu!

No one brought it up out of consideration for the neighbors. As the breadwinner, Jia Dongxu still had to be given that face, since they lived in the same courtyard.

This was also a source of unease for both Tong Jie and Jia Zhangshi. Although their family was doing well, the events that had happened to Jia Zhangshi made them both uneasy.

For dinner that evening, Jia Zhangshi took the initiative to invite Yi Zhonghai and his wife over.

When they had almost finished eating, Jia Zhangshi began to pour out her grievances, her eyes filled with tears, looking quite pitiful.

Tong Jie was also wiping away tears.

Jia Dongxu, meanwhile, was drinking alone in silence.

Madam Jia Zhang cried out:

"Old Yi, you're Dongxu's master, can you give me some advice? I'm genuinely worried something else might happen to Dongxu. Even God has given us a warning; we can't pretend we don't know!"

"What if something happens to Dongxu? How are we, a widow and her children, supposed to live? How will you and Donglian (Aunt Yi's name) take care of yourselves in your old age?"

After listening to Jia Zhangshi's complaints, Yi Zhonghai's expression lost its usual calm and composure.

After Jia Zhangshi analyzed the matter piece by piece, Yi Zhonghai was also frightened, as he still believed in gods and ghosts to some extent.

The apprentice did indeed have some bad luck, and several of the things that happened to him were life-threatening.

Yi Zhonghai had to be wary; what if his apprentice was gone? Wouldn't all his efforts have been in vain?

Although there's the "grandson stick" joke, nobody knows if the couple will live that long.

So we still have to rely on Jia Dongxu.

At this moment, Jia Zhangshi's voice rang out again:

"And another thing, Lao Yi, all the other young people in the compound have either found good jobs or become cadres, but our Dongxu is the only one who's unlucky. That doesn't make sense..."

"Sigh..." Yi Zhonghai sighed heavily, his face bitter. He was a man, not a god. What could he do?

How could he possibly understand the unknown risks?

However, Yi Zhonghai took Jia Zhangshi's words to heart. The simplest solution was to find a master to break the curse, or even just draw a peace charm for Jia Dongxu to carry with him.

Having made up his mind, Yi Zhonghai slowly began to speak:

"Alright, sister-in-law, on your days off, you can go to Baiyun Temple to pray for blessings. While you have some free time these days, make some of your own Sachima to express your good wishes."

"Bring more money, be sincere, and find a highly skilled old immortal to examine Dongxu, like by feeling his bones or something."

"It would be best to get a peace charm, so everyone can feel at ease."

"But one thing to remember is not to make a big fuss. If you go out on your day off, just say you're visiting relatives, otherwise it might have a bad influence."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Yi Zhonghai's words, finding them very reasonable.

With Yi Zhonghai's decision, the Jia family felt much more at ease and awaited the arrival of their day off.

In the following day or two, Jia Zhangshi and Tong Jie started making Sachima.

The neighbors were quite curious. Why would the Jia family start doing business when it's not a holiday?

So short of money?

That shouldn't be the case, since your Jia family is doing quite well.

Tong Jie, the woman in charge, stepped forward and distributed some Sachima to each neighbor, saying it was for the children.

She also told her neighbors that the whole family was going to her parents' home in Changping on the weekend, which was why she started making sachima.

Once the neighbors receive the benefits, they won't care whether the Jia family is doing business or visiting relatives.

Now that we've got what's to shut us up, we should shut up when it's time to shut up.

Early on their day off, the Jia family set off with everyone in tow.

Jia Dongxu also borrowed Li Jiuzhou's bicycle, and he carried his mother, Jia Zhangshi, on his back.

Jia Zhangshi was also holding a small pawn in her arms.

Tong Jie, on the other hand, was riding Bingbing's women's bicycle with Banggeng on the back.

It's about 7 kilometers from Nanluoguxiang to Baiyun Temple in Xicheng District, which takes more than half an hour by bike.

The incense, candles, and paper money had already been secretly prepared by Jia Zhangshi.

The whole family arrived as soon as Baiyun Temple opened.

The Taoist priest who opened the door almost grinned from ear to ear when he heard that someone had come to offer incense.

That was a warm welcome; these past few days have been incredibly tough.

Many people don't believe in Taoism and instead go to burn incense and worship Buddha, leaving the Baiyun Temple with very few worshippers and believers, and they are almost starving.

Moreover, this was a very special time, and the policies from above were very difficult for them; they were practically living like Taoist priests with their tails between their legs.

Only because their Baiyun Temple is one of the ancestral temples of Taoism, and the Taoist Association moved in this year, have their lives improved somewhat.

But ordinary people dare not come; even if they do, they do so secretly, which is very distressing.

And you know what? The arrival of Jia Dongxu and his family was met with a very warm welcome.

Because I brought a lot of stuff!

The Sachima they make themselves weighs over 80 jin (40 kg)!

There's also a big bag of peanuts and fruits!

What is this?

This is faith!

This is full of sincerity!

Then, Jia Zhangshi came forward and recounted the various misfortunes her family had suffered, which moved all the Taoist priests present.

The abbot of Baiyun Temple, while eating Sachima (a type of Chinese pastry), waved his hand in front of everyone:

"Everyone, we understand what happened to the believer. Who will take over and resolve this?"

As soon as he said that, more than a dozen Taoist priests rushed forward.

"I'll handle this; it's something I'm good at!"

"You're talking nonsense! With your pathetic skills, don't mess it up. Let me do it!"

All the Taoist priests wanted to help, but they had no choice; they'd been idle for too long, and their skills were practically rusting.

Can you understand the helplessness of having a lot of magical power but nowhere to use it?

The president shook his head helplessly at their chaotic state.

"Stop arguing, where is the Hair Care Elder?!"

"Here!" At this moment, an old Taoist priest came out.

The president nodded:

"Jia Shanxin's matter is easy to resolve. Actually, it's nothing serious, but the fact that they came means they trust us."

"Even if it's just for show, we need to put their minds at ease. If we discover any mischief or troublemaking along the way..." At this point, the chairman slammed his hand on the table and shouted sharply:

"I don't care which mountain brat it's from, damn it, blast it to pieces with heavenly lightning!"