Courtyard House: Is Xu Damao a childless man? Let me help.

So at noon, Director Zhou invited several workshop directors and deputy directors to lunch, allowing Ye Jianchuan to get acquainted with them a little. And that was the end of Ye Jianchuan's promotion.

Back in the workshop, the workshop director and his team helped Ye Jianchuan set up an office, making Ye Jianchuan a proper leader now.

However, Ye Jianchuan didn't like putting on airs of a leader, after all, he knew that this so-called leadership position was actually useless.

Anyway, I have no intention of pursuing a career in politics in the future. My current position is just enough to make my life a little more comfortable.

So even after becoming an official, Ye Jianchuan remained very "approachable," still able to joke around with the older women in the workshop.

This further boosted Ye Jianchuan's 'reputation' in the workshop, raising it directly from 'friendly' to 'respected'.

. . . . . .

The promotion is finally over, but there are still a lot of troubles to come.

For example, Ye Jianchuan did treat everyone to a meal after get off work, as promised. The meal cost Ye Jianchuan more than ten yuan!

Moreover, after finishing the meal, Ye Jianchuan suddenly remembered that he had actually promised to treat Third Uncle to a meal today, but he had completely forgotten about it!

So when he returned to the courtyard house, Ye Jianchuan had no choice but to take the initiative to apologize. After all, the other party had already done the favor, and he had stood them up.

Fortunately, Uncle San knew a lot about water. He could smell a strong smell of alcohol on Ye Jianchuan and knew that Ye Jianchuan must have been "busy" outside today.

Moreover, Uncle San's information network is very efficient. Last time, he was the first to know that Ye Jianchuan had been promoted to group leader, and this time, Ye Jianchuan has been promoted to deputy director. If you say he didn't know, that's really unlikely.

After easily settling things off with a few eggs, Ye Jianchuan went to Sha Zhu's house in the Central Courtyard.

After pushing the door open, Ye Jianchuan saw Sha Zhu lying on the bed, fast asleep. Without any hesitation, Ye Jianchuan went up and patted Sha Zhu, then plopped down on the bed.

Sha Zhu sat up, rubbed his eyes, and then immediately covered his nose. "Hey, young master! Where have you been? You smell so strongly of alcohol!"

Ye Jianchuan waved his hand, "I was in a good mood today, so I went out for a drink with my colleagues!"

Oh, and remember to ask for leave tomorrow! The reception is scheduled for noon the day after tomorrow.

I reckon you should start preparing tonight, right? Otherwise, how can you post all that useful information properly?

Sha Zhu nodded. "Okay, I'll get up and start uploading those dry goods in a bit."

After saying that, Sha Zhu's eyes darted around, and then he asked, "Xiao Ye, do you think that chicken-stealing incident is over?"

Ye Jianchuan had also been drinking and didn't quite understand what Sha Zhu was saying. He stared at Sha Zhu blankly, not knowing what to say.

Sha Zhu panicked, "Hey!! It's about what you told me last time—that I brought back leftover food from the factory. Uncle Er and Xu Damao might report me for that..."

I did encounter the security guards checking our kitchen lunchboxes at the entrance before, but because I listened to you, my lunchbox was empty.

After that check-up, nothing like that happened again. So, do you think this matter is over?

Ye Jianchuan scratched his head. "Well... if it's already been checked once and nothing was found, then it should be considered over, right?"

But... what are you trying to do now? Trying to bring food back from the kitchen again? You only have 37.5 yuan a month, why would you need that little bit of food from the cafeteria?

Sha Zhu waved his hand and then said, "Hey! Isn't it because Sister Qin is currently unemployed? She's going through a tough time right now, so I was thinking of bringing her some food every day to help her out."

Upon hearing this, Ye Jianchuan rolled his eyes. "No way... you're really something! I've never seen you care this much about your own sister!"

"Alright, you don't need to worry about Sister Qin's affairs anymore. Without Jia Zhangshi to drag her down, her life will be much easier!"

Sha Zhu nodded, then continued, "So, if I do well at the reception the day after tomorrow, could the manager of the workers' store help me arrange work for two people at 2.5?"

Ye Jianchuan turned to look at Sha Zhu and asked, "What? You want to arrange for Qin Huairu to go to the workers' store too?"

You'd better not get your hopes up. If you dare make such an outrageous request, you won't be able to handle even one job, let alone two!

Sha Zhu was immediately a little disappointed, lowered his head, and seemed to be thinking about something.

Ye Jianchuan thought to himself, "This won't do. If you mess things up because of your skills, I'll really be ruined by you."

So Ye Jianchuan immediately spoke up again, saying, "Besides, you don't need to worry about Sister Qin's job. I've already arranged everything. Tomorrow I'll take Sister Qin to the food factory to report for duty, and she'll go straight to our new workshop!"

Chapter 75 The neighbors are arguing again!!

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu's eyes lit up immediately. "Wow, Xiao Ye, I didn't expect you to be so capable!"

However, Sha Zhu then felt that it was a bit unreliable. "Hey, that's not right either, Xiao Ye. I'm the shift leader in our canteen, which is similar to being a group leader in your workshop."

I can't even find work, how did you manage to get any? You're not kidding me, are you?"

Ye Jianchuan was so angry at Sha Zhu's stupidity that he laughed. "Sha Zhu, are you really stupid? Can't you talk to people a little better? How can you talk to people like that?"

"I only asked you to be the host because you're Yushui's brother; otherwise, I really wouldn't want to do this job. You might say something inappropriate and offend someone!"

Sha Zhu realized he had said something wrong again, so he awkwardly scratched his head and began to apologize.

Ye Jianchuan waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, you can skip the apology. You're the kind of guy who says, 'I'm sorry, I was wrong, but I'm not going to change.'"

There's a reason I was able to get Sister Qin a job this time! Do you know why I went out drinking with my colleagues today?

That's because I got promoted again! Now I'm the deputy director of workshop 27! Tell me, isn't it perfectly reasonable for a deputy director to be in charge of an entire workshop's work?

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu was immediately startled. "You got promoted again? To deputy director? That's too fast! Didn't you just become a group leader a few days ago?"

Ye Jianchuan shrugged and then said, "Yu Shui knew about this the day before yesterday. Actually, it was just good luck. Didn't I happen to run into human traffickers on the road who took away the two little girls, Xiao Dang and Huai Hua?"

The matter was reported by the authorities, and since the higher-ups are planning to publicize a few exemplary young cadres, I, as someone who acted bravely, just benefited from it.

"What? Rainwater knew all along? Why didn't she tell me?"

Ye Jianchuan rolled his eyes at Sha Zhu. "Why didn't I tell you? Didn't you know? With your big mouth, if I had told you before this was even done, whether it would even work out in the end would have been a question!"

Hearing Ye Jianchuan's complaint, Sha Zhu scratched his head awkwardly again, "Hehe, that's why I don't say anything when I go out to cook. Okay, it's Wednesday, right? I got it!"

After saying that, Sha Zhu prepared to lie down again, but after lying down, he felt something was wrong and immediately sat up again. "You... you haven't left yet? Is there something else?"

Ye Jianchuan couldn't help but sigh, "Sha Zhu is really single-minded!" However, Ye Jianchuan resisted the urge to criticize him again.

"There's one more thing, you should know about Master Nan Yinan from the mechanic shop, right?"

Sha Zhu nodded. "I know them. Aren't they from the imperial chef family? I'm not too familiar with them, but we've met before."

"You'll probably need a helper when you're cooking on Wednesday, right? How about I have Nan Yi come and help you?"

Sha Zhu immediately perked up, "Great! I was planning to bring Ma Hua and Fatty along to help out, and with the help of the people from the machine repair shop's kitchen, that should be enough."

However, if I could find someone knowledgeable to help me, I wouldn't need to bring anyone with me!

As he spoke, Sha Zhu suddenly felt something was off. "Hey... wait, how did you meet Nan Yi? I heard his family's class background isn't good, you shouldn't hang out with him!"

Ye Jianchuan waved his hand. "I met him when I was making clothes. We chatted for a bit."

I never expected that he was a chef, so I just casually mentioned you. It turned out that he knew you too, and that's how we got to know each other!

Alright, alright, what's the point of telling you all this? Let's get down to business! Nan Yi can help you, but his idea is to ask you about the recipe for Tan Family Cuisine.

"If you're willing, the two of you can exchange some of your knowledge and skills. He can teach you some of his family's traditional imperial dishes, and you can teach him some of your specialty Tan family dishes."

If you have any taboos, such as rules like requiring an apprenticeship or a tradition of passing on knowledge only to women, then I think you should just agree!

Sha Zhu didn't have any objections at all. As for the rules, they were practically meaningless to him. Even if his master had mentioned them before, Sha Zhu had probably forgotten them by now.

Seeing that Sha Zhu had agreed, Ye Jianchuan was also satisfied. He took out a bottle of Fenjiu liquor and a bag of spicy dried tofu from his satchel.

"Alright! It's settled then. This is what I brought back from the restaurant today. Here you go, have a good drink!"

After saying that, Ye Jianchuan put the things on the table and then turned and left.

The wine was indeed extra that Ye Jianchuan bought during his "dinner" with his colleagues earlier, and he brought it back directly. However, there are very few people in Beijing who make spicy tofu.

This was a reward from Ye Jianchuan's system, but this time it was a lot, a full five jin! So Ye Jianchuan wasn't stingy and gave half a jin to Sha Zhu as a thank you for his help!

. . . . . .

After returning to his room, Ye Jianchuan was too lazy to move. He quickly washed his face with water and then climbed into bed and fell asleep.

However, Ye Jianchuan had only been asleep for a short while when the sounds of arguing from next door came through again.

If it were just an argument, Ye Jianchuan, who had been drinking, might not have been woken up, since there was still a wall between them.

But as the argument escalated, the neighbors started smashing things. A bowl smashed against the wall closest to Ye Jianchuan's house with a loud crack, completely waking him up.

At this moment, the sound of things being smashed next door grew louder and louder. It wasn't just Ye Jianchuan's side; even the Second Uncle and Qin Huairu next door were frightened by the commotion and ran out.

Ye Jianchuan put on his clothes, opened the door, and lo and behold! Apart from the deaf old lady who had difficulty walking, everyone else living in the backyard was standing outside the door, peering at Xu Damao's house.

After thinking to himself that the courtyard was indeed full of birds, Ye Jianchuan pushed open the door and walked out. He went straight to Qin Huairu's side and nudged her.

Qin Huairu is a shrewd person; it wouldn't be appropriate for anyone else to go, so only Qin Huairu would be suitable.

Moreover, Lou Xiao'e came to Qin Huairu's rescue yesterday, so Qin Huairu's intervention can be considered justified.

Chapter Seventy-Six: Lou Xiao'e Wants a Divorce!!

She stepped forward and knocked on the door twice, but there was no response from inside. Qin Huairu turned her head and glanced at Ye Jianchuan, then at Uncle Er beside her.

Seeing Ye Jianchuan nod at her, Qin Huairu felt emboldened and banged on the door twice more. This time, things finally quieted down inside. Then, Xu Damao pulled the door open with a displeased expression.

At this moment, Xu Damao thought it was Ye Jianchuan knocking on the door. Ye Jianchuan hadn't given him a friendly look last time, so Xu Damao was prepared to say some harsh words after opening the door this time.

"Knock, knock, knock, what are you knocking on all day long? Do you just love meddling so much...?"

Before he could even finish saying "meddle in other people's business," he discovered that the person standing at the door wasn't Ye Jianchuan as he had assumed, but Qin Huai-Ru.

Then Xu Damao saw a group of 'neighbors' standing behind Qin Huairu, and he was dumbfounded. What was going on? How did so many people suddenly appear?

Moreover... it's alright with the others, whether it's Uncle Er or Ye Jianchuan, they're all his neighbors in the backyard, so why did Qin Huairu come over too?

Well, Xu Damao had a fight and an argument with his family, so he only stayed at home for two days before going to the countryside to show movies again. He just came back.

After returning, I naturally took off my clothes and asked Lou Xiao'e to help me wash them.

After so many days of 'cooling down,' Lou Xiao'e wasn't as angry as before. She figured she'd follow her husband wherever he went. So the two stopped arguing and even started to understand each other.

But at that very moment, Lou Xiao'e discovered a woman's hair on Xu Damao's jacket!

This jacket is the innermost garment Xu Damao wears! If a woman's hair could stick to the jacket, then at least the two outer garments would have to be removed, right?

Under what circumstances would one need to remove two pieces of clothing to meet a woman? Lou Xiao'e's previously calmed mood suddenly became irritable again, and she immediately began to question Xu Damao.

Xu Damao's response was also hesitant and evasive, with the excuse that the glue might have been stuck to the room where the commune had arranged for him to live.