Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

Xu Damao couldn't wait to be discharged from the hospital after only three days.

He couldn't hold on any longer and desperately wanted to return to the hospital and be reborn in glory.

Sure enough, as soon as he returned to the courtyard, the neighborhood committee immediately set off, bringing him a plaque with gongs and drums.

This is a family of a third-class meritorious official, bringing glory to their ancestors!

Firecrackers were set off several times in courtyard number 95, and it was Xu Fugui who specially came back to set them off.

The men in the compound all had to go to work, so only the elderly, women, and children on summer vacation came to support Xu Damao.

Director Wang chatted with Xu Damao for a while before leaving with him.

Xu Damao was happily lying in his house; this was just too beautiful.

When the men returned in the evening, they had all heard about this.

Besides envy, there was also a hint of jealousy.

The neighborhood committee didn't come empty-handed either; they brought 50 jin of Fuqiang flour, a pork knuckle, and 10 jin of eggs.

These were all rewards given to Xu Damao.

Are these things valuable?

That's incredibly expensive, my goodness!

If it were last year or a few years ago, these things would be nothing.

Every household in the courtyard can afford it; it just costs a little more money.

But these are special times, and grain production has decreased, so these things are extremely precious.

Those whose families were starving were practically drooling with envy.

They were almost sick of eating coarse grains and cornbread.

We don't dare to eat refined grains normally; even if we do, we save them for the breadwinner of the family.

Women and children are only fit to eat coarse grains.

It's not that we're reluctant to feed the children, but the men have to work, and if the pillar of the family doesn't eat well, the consequences could be severe.

We only prepare refined grains when someone in the family is sick.

What is enriched flour? It's the whitest and finest grain, and ordinary people can't buy it without special privileges.

Only high-ranking officials and professors were supplied with these items, and even then, only during the Chinese New Year.

Ordinary people eat white flour, standard flour (also called 85 flour), which is yellowish in color.

Therefore, 50 kilograms of enriched flour is extremely rare.

The whitest and finest grains, who wouldn't love them? If you made a bowl of noodles with them, the aroma would make you dizzy with delight.

Many neighbors were already salivating when they heard about 50 jin of enriched flour.

Sha Zhu was a little envious, because he also liked this stuff. He was getting tired of eating plain white flour, and he truly loved the rich and strong flour.

Even a low-ranking cadre like him only gets a few kilograms of high-quality flour during the Chinese New Year.

You can buy it with money, but there's no need. These days, even eating regular white flour every day makes the neighbors green with envy. If we ate enriched flour, they'd probably rush into our house and steal it.

During dinner, the deaf old woman ate her steamed buns in silence.

That's right, she can still eat steamed buns, she really knows how to enjoy life, but she also paid for it, the ration book is in Qin Huairu's hands.

Fortunately, she couldn't eat much; one steamed bun was enough to fill the old woman up.

The deaf old woman found the food rather tasteless and said to Sha Zhu:

"Zhu Zi, why don't you go to Da Mao's place and get some high-gluten flour? I haven't had noodles in ages, I'm craving them."

Sha Zhu grinned after hearing this:

"The old lady wants to eat noodles. Now that you mention it, I'm actually a little hungry for them."

"But don't rush. Let's sit at the door after we finish eating and see who's eyeing Xu Damao's Fuqiang rice noodles. I reckon he can only keep ten jin at most."

"There won't even be much left of that pork knuckle."

The deaf old woman smiled upon hearing this:

"I'm full. I'm going to sit by the door and see who's so greedy, what kind of person they are, trying to eat the same high-gluten flour as me? You think you can!"

"Haha..." Sha Zhu and Qin Huairu both laughed after hearing this.

A little while later, the two of them finished eating and took their son to the doorway to drink tea and enjoy the cool air.

At this moment, someone from the Jia family came out. It was Jia Dongxu, holding a cloth bag in his hand and smoking an unfiltered cigarette. He walked towards the backyard with an air of indifference.

They didn't greet Sha Zhu's family, only giving a token nod.

In Xu Damao's house in the backyard, the couple were sprawled in chairs, looking very content.

Today we made noodles with gluten flour and also stewed some pork hock. The couple still have grease stains on their lips.

Just then, a knock sounded on the door:

"Bang bang bang".

"Go to sleep..." Xu Damao responded lazily.

"It's me, your brother Dongxu."

Koh Samui went to open the door:

"Hey, it's Brother Dongxu! Come in, you two chat, I'll go make some tea."

Xu Damao took out a cigarette and tossed one to Jia Dongxu.

Jia Dongxu took it casually and lit his cigarette with his own.

"Da Mao, you're really awesome! Look, I've even switched to economy cigarettes."

Xu Damao waved his hand:

"Hey, it's all the same no matter what you smoke, what do you want?"

When Xu Damao asked, Jia Dongxu remained calm and answered directly:

"Da Mao, can you spare me some high-gluten flour? Not much, just ten catties will do."

Xu Damao hesitated after hearing this, not because he didn't want to give it, but because he was unsure how to give it.

After all, this kind of thing is not on the food ration book of ordinary people.

Xu Damao decided to observe Jia Dongxu's attitude before making a decision, so he said:

"Brother Dongxu, giving you ten catties isn't a problem, but the question is, what price are you willing to pay, or what will you offer in exchange?"

Without even thinking, Jia Dongxu said directly:

"Of course I'll give it to you at the official price, and I'll also provide you with enough fine grain coupons."

Upon hearing this, Xu Damao immediately revealed a cold smile:

"Are you treating me like a fool? You're offering me the official price?"

"I'll give you ten yuan. If you can buy a pound of it, I'll admit defeat."

Do you know how much a pound of high-gluten flour costs on the black market? It's 4-6 yuan.

"As your neighbor, I won't ask for much. I'll give it to you at the minimum price of 4 yuan per jin."

"Take it or leave it..."

Xu Damao wasn't afraid of offending Jia Dongxu; he was nobody to him.

Jia Dongxu was a little embarrassed by Xu Damao's rebuke, but he held back his anger, after all, he needed Xu Damao's help.

"Da Mao, we're buddies, why are you calculating like this? It's 4 yuan a pound, 10 pounds would cost me a month's salary, how the hell am I supposed to afford that!"

Xu Damao rolled his eyes at him, annoyed.

"How dare you even ask? I only have this much high-gluten flour, and I'm giving it to you cheaply. Other neighbors are also asking for some; we can't have different prices, can we?"

"Don't you like cornmeal? Who in your family is so greedy? Can't they live without refined flour? Damn it..."

"Tell me, is it your mother or your wife?"

Jia Dongxu hung his head and uttered a few words:

"It's me...it's my mom!"

Actually, Jia Dongxu wanted to eat it too. It wasn't that he didn't know how precious Fuqiang flour was; he just wanted to see if he could get a bargain from Xu Damao.

However, judging from Xu Damao's attitude, he probably won't gain any advantage.

"Hehe..." Xu Damao sneered repeatedly after hearing this, what a gluttonous old man.

He glanced at Jia Dongxu, picked up a rolling pin from the side, and handed it to him.

"Take it!"

"What are you doing?" Jia Dongxu asked, somewhat bewildered, holding the rolling pin.

"Smack your mother on the head, smash her head so hard it kills her, make her crave food!"

Jia Dongxu quickly refused:

"No, no, that's my mother, I can't be unfilial."

"Tch, go back. You can't afford this stuff, don't bother with it."

"With that money, you could buy more whole grains and eat until you're stuffed. What kind of time is this to be craving food?"

"If someone in your family is sick or something, I'll give it to you. Why would you eat enriched flour if nothing's wrong? It's ridiculous."

"Let's go back..."

Xu Damao had already said all that, and Jia Dongxu wasn't the kind of person to be shameless.

"Alright, I'll head back now." Jia Dongxu took a couple of steps, then stopped, turned back to look at the cigarettes on Xu Damao's table, and gave an embarrassed smile.

"Hey Da Mao, we're out of cigarettes at home, can I borrow a few? I'll pay you back later..."

Xu Damao, speechless and rubbing his forehead, simply tossed the entire pack of cigarettes to him.

"Take it..."

Jia Dongxu took the cigarette with a smug smile on his face:

"Da Mao, thank you so much! I'll pay you back later..."

Seeing Jia Dongxu leave, Xu Damao muttered to himself:

"If you can give it back to me, I'll take your surname, damn it."