Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

After the New Year holiday, life returned to normal, with people going back to work and school.

Interestingly, He Daqing went to pay his respects to Manager Luan during the first month of the lunar year, and then returned to work at Fengzeyuan after that one visit.

A top chef specializing in Shandong cuisine earns a monthly salary of 96 yuan!

Therefore, in Beijing, skilled chefs are never short of work.

Even if He Daqing doesn't go back to work at Fengzeyuan, he can still be invited to other restaurants.

Nothing major happened in courtyard number 95; it was just the usual petty squabbles between neighbors.

The biggest source of amusement is Jia Dongxu, who goes further and further down the path of blind dating.

He went on four blind dates during the entire first month of the lunar year, but none of them were successful.

This made Jia Dongxu feel depressed. In the entire Nanluoguxiang, no one had ever heard of a young man who had gone on seven or eight blind dates without success.

Jia Dongxu is the first, and currently the only one.

You should know that no one in the courtyard would do him any harm, unlike later on, when Sha Zhu had every single blind date ruined.

Yi Zhonghai was also anxious. He went to ask the matchmaker and the girl's family to find out the reason.

Without exception, they all disliked the Jia family's house.

It's small but not too bad; two rooms are more than enough, but it's a bit run-down.

Yi Zhonghai could only consult with Jia Zhangshi.

After figuring out the reason, Jia Zhangshi cursed and complained. She was very unhappy. Why did they look down on my family for being poor?

Is it leaking air or leaking water?

Isn't it quite comfortable not to live here?

Jia Dongxu was delighted to hear his master's words.

Actually, he had wanted to say for a long time that the house was in a bit of a mess and asked his mother to contribute some money to repair it.

I want to say something, but I can't get it out.

Of course, Jia Zhangshi knew the family's situation; she just couldn't bear to spend money.

What if a girl doesn't mind? Wouldn't that save me a lot of money?

Now that Yi Zhonghai has made his point clear, Jia Zhangshi can no longer pretend to be blind.

My son has been on dates with seven or eight girls already, and he's become famous throughout Nanluoguxiang. If he doesn't succeed soon, things will only get worse.

Gritting his teeth, he said to Yi Zhonghai:

"Then let's do some repairs. Old Yi, can you calculate how much that would cost?"

Yi Zhonghai did not reply upon hearing this, but instead stepped into the Jia family's house and observed the situation.

The Jia family's house was so cluttered that there wasn't even room to step if several people stood there.

Yi Zhonghai thought for a moment and then suddenly said:

"Dongxu, call Jiuzhou over. I have some ideas to discuss with him."

Although Jia Dongxu was puzzled by what he heard, he still went to the front yard.

The two men arrived shortly after, smoking cigarettes.

"Uncle Yi, what's up?" Li Jiuzhou asked as he entered the house.

Yi Zhonghai Road:

"That's right, Dongxu's family wants to do some renovations. Dongxu is getting married soon, and they'll definitely need to divide their house into two rooms."

"Dividing the room into two sections and using a coal stove in winter is obviously not warm enough. I was thinking that you have a kang (heated brick bed) in your room, so I asked you to come over and give Dongxu some advice."

Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, Jia Zhangshi could no longer sit still and hurriedly said:

"Old Yi, heating the kang (a traditional heated bed) in winter uses a lot of firewood, it's not cheap!"

Yi Zhonghai remained silent upon hearing this, but gestured for Li Jiuzhou to elaborate.

Li Jiuzhou didn't mince words either:

"Uncle Yi, Auntie, burning firewood won't cost much."

"But the kang (heated brick bed) must be comfortable. It's no exaggeration to say that it's warm in winter and cool in summer. You don't even need to add coal in the middle of the night, which is very convenient."

Hearing Li Jiuzhou say this, Jia Zhangshi was very tempted, and she even went to Li Jiuzhou's house to visit.

The kang (heated brick bed) is very sturdy; you can jump and bounce on it without it collapsing. The bed is different.

After her son got married and had to get married, the creaking of the bed was sure to drive her crazy.

So she stopped being stubborn and said to Li Jiuzhou with a smile:

"Then Jiuzhou, you can discuss it with your aunt's family and arrange it according to how your house is furnished."

Li Jiuzhou didn't refuse; it was a small matter. The group discussed how to rearrange the furniture.

Later, she pulled Jia Dongxu outside and asked him a few questions in a low voice.

Jia Dongxu blushed and felt a little shy when asked the question, but he was completely satisfied with Li Jiuzhou's suggestion.

Because Li Jiuzhou suggested that Jia Dongxu live in the inner room, they originally didn't plan to install a door and just use a curtain.

But Li Jiuzhou said, "Aren't you afraid your mother will spy on you and your wife when you're doing things together in the future, Jia Dongxu?"

With just one sentence, Jia Dongxu resolutely declared that he wanted to install a door, and it had to be a thick door!

The next day, Li Jiuzhou helped introduce him to Lao Hu, who was decorating his house.

After inspecting the Jia family's property, they offered 1.2 million.

Two kang beds were built, the interior was painted white, and the roof was inspected.

They also built an earthen stove on the left side of the eaves, an earthen stove with a large pot.

The wooden doors and chairs in the house add up to 120 million!

Despite her heartache, Jia Zhangshi paid half the money upfront.

A few days later, the Jia family home was completely transformed, and Jia Dongxu threw away all the useless jars and pots that Jia Zhangshi had collected.

Originally, Jia Zhangshi was quite distressed, after all, she had spent so much money.

After Lao Hu built the earthen stove at the door, Jia Zhangshi no longer felt bad.

She was very satisfied with this earthen stove.

On the afternoon the stove was built, the shrine to the Kitchen God was pasted up, an incense burner was set up, and firecrackers were set off to start cooking!

This is an old tradition; building a stove is a major event in the family and must be celebrated with guests.

Jia Zhangshi was busy at the stove, making pancakes!

Many neighbors were watching from the sidelines, and a group of little kids were drooling.

Jia Zhangshi was not stingy; she used fifteen catties of flour in one go to make scallion pancakes, which smelled so good they made people dizzy.

The cakes are for the children; anyone who comes will have some to eat.

But the children can't just eat; they have to say something auspicious!

Today is the happiest day for Jia Zhangshi since Old Jia died!

The neighbors in the courtyard, regardless of gender, all greatly envied the newly built earthen stove of the Jia family.

Watching the smoke rising from the chimney, their mood brightened...

This is the true essence of everyday life; they're probably sick of using coal stoves.

For ordinary people, the warmth and vibrancy of everyday life is what they pursue throughout their lives.

Where are there earthen stoves in traditional courtyard houses? If there were, they would have been demolished long ago.

A home is only complete with a stove; this is the tradition of the Chinese land!

The neighbors were all tempted, after all, everyone could see the benefits of the stove.

First of all, the food tastes better.

Food cooked on a coal stove always has a coal gas smell.

Currently, only Li Jiuzhou's family and Jia's family have stoves at No. 95.

Yi Zhonghai was very satisfied and immediately asked Lao Hu to build one for his family as well, along with a kang (heated brick bed).

The deaf old lady also wanted to build a kang (a heated brick bed), but the coal stove going out in the middle of the night often woke her up from the cold.

As for the stove, forget about it; she'd find a coal stove more convenient.

With Yi Zhonghai and others taking the lead, everyone in the courtyard joined in.

The benefits are obvious; they can see them.

The women, needless to say, were incredibly envious of Jia Zhangshi as she wielded the spatula in front of the stove.

That night, she urged her man to have sex with her, saying he absolutely had to, or he could forget about sleeping with her again!

Building a stove wouldn't cost much, so the men agreed without hesitation.

Of course, many residents, like the Jia family, built stoves at their doorsteps; they weren't as extravagant as Li Jiuzhou, who had a separate kitchen.

As a result, firecrackers were set off every few days in courtyard number 95, which drew curses and complaints from residents in nearby courtyards.

There were benefits, of course; the fact that the No. 95 courtyard collectively built stoves could not be kept secret from the military control committee.

They came specifically to check in the evening, and when they saw the rising smoke and the aroma of cooking pots, they felt very happy and peaceful.

They were all soldiers, and they couldn't be more proud to see the peaceful lives of the people they were protecting.

Courtyard No. 95 is a particular focus for them, since there is a deaf old woman who donated her entire courtyard to the country, and the government should take good care of her.