Siheyuan: Xu Damao's New Life

The drinking party lasted until nine o'clock in the evening. The group of grown men drank a little too much in the end, but fortunately they just bragged and chatted, and no one got drunk. Several of them also agreed to compete at the welcoming banquet held for Guangtian and Jiefang.

Lou Xiao'e was telling a story. The children were so sleepy that their heads were nodding, but they still insisted on waiting until their father came back before going to bed.

Xu Damao didn't even clean up the table. He coaxed his three children to sleep before taking a shower. He smelled so much of alcohol that he even felt a little disgusted with himself.

"Da Mao, are you okay? Will you come tonight?" Lou Xiao'e said to Xu Damao affectionately.

Xu Damao rubbed his aching waist. He wanted to refuse, but a man couldn't say he couldn't do it. "Come, you must come. You must make your wife pregnant."

Putting aside the toil of the night, time soon arrived at Sunday. Today was the day when the Liu and Yan families held a welcoming banquet for their children. Since it was a joint banquet, the two families also had the intention of competing with each other.

Liu Haizhong invited Nan Yi from the backyard to be the chef, while Yan Bugui invited Sha Zhu to help. The two chefs only needed to cook the dishes they were good at.

Sha Zhu also wanted to compete with Nan Yi in cooking skills, so he specially wrote down some high-quality ingredients when deciding the menu. He wanted to make some family heirloom Tan family dishes to surpass Nan Yi.

Nan Yi was not to be outdone. His ancestors were imperial chefs, and he was quite familiar with the recipes of palace dishes. However, like Sha Zhu's Tan family dishes, he lacked practical experience. After all, in an era when the whole country was hungry and clothed, high-quality ingredients were in short supply.

Since the middle courtyard was the most spacious, the two families decided to hold the banquet there. Otherwise, it would not be right to have them one after the other. The earthen stove was already built a day in advance, just waiting for the ingredients to be in place.

Liu Guangfu went out to inspect the site last night. Early in the morning, he went to the warehouse to bring back the ingredients that Xu Damao had prepared in advance.

A group of onlookers helped unload the truck, while Nan Yi and Sha Zhu each selected the ingredients they needed. It must be said that some of the ingredients were indeed rare, and as chefs, they had only seen them a few times, not to mention the ordinary people in the courtyard.

Nan Yi picked up the two pigeons tied together and weighed them, then said, "Zhu Zi, I know you have always had a problem with me and think that I took your place, but this is all arranged by the leader and not my intention.

I didn't want to compete with you, but if you insist on competing with me, you have to agree to one condition."

Sha Zhu no longer had as much resentment towards Nan Yi as he did at the beginning. He just wanted to prove his cooking skills.

"What are the conditions? Tell me. If it's not difficult, I'll agree."

"My condition is that no matter who wins or loses today, we can't cause trouble for each other in the future. Even if we can't be friends, at least we can't be enemies!" Nan Yi turned around and said to Sha Zhu.

Sha Zhu glanced at Liang Ladi who was nodding at him and said, "Okay, since your Master Nan is so open-minded, I won't be a mean person in vain! I promise that no matter whether we win or lose today, I won't cause you any trouble in the future. We can even exchange cooking skills."

"Okay, everyone is watching, so let's make it a deal."

"A man of honor cannot take back his word once it's spoken. A word is a promise!"

The two of them quickly picked out the ingredients and went back to their respective stoves to get busy. If they were making a banquet or something like that, they would definitely need the help of apprentices or aunties. But today was a competition, so they had to do everything themselves and strive for perfection!

A bunch of old men outside were not too interested in this and were sitting together smoking and chatting. The housewives around them were watching the two men processing the ingredients with great interest, commenting on their operations and hoping to learn a thing or two from them.

"Shazhu cuts the vegetables so fast that the knife is almost smoking!"

"You don't understand, right? Those who are qualified to become masters are very fast at cutting vegetables. I think Nan Yi is just a little slower than Zhuzi, but the vegetables Nan Yi cuts are more delicate."

"Hey, look, that carrot has been carved into a flower!"

"Oh my, I've really learned a lot today. When will I be able to reach this level?"

"You, this life is difficult."

However, as these aunties chatted, the conversation went off track.

"Hey, Shazhu's house is so beautifully decorated, with all the new furniture."

"That's for their wedding, and they spent a lot of money on the decoration."

"Isn't Liang Ladi standing next to Sha Zhu and watching?"

"I heard that they both got the marriage certificate, but the wedding date was postponed. Did you know?"

"Oh, I knew they took leave to get their marriage certificate a few days ago, but I didn't know it was postponed. Tell us why quickly and don't keep us in suspense." Someone urged.

"Hehe, do you remember the people from the nursing home who came to look for Sha Zhu and Yi Zhonghai? The deaf old lady died that day after she arranged her funeral arrangements."

"I know about this, but what does this have to do with marriage?"

"Why do people say Zhuzi is more loyal? When the deaf old lady was alive, he was very partial to her and he even called her grandma. So now that the old lady is gone, Zhuzi plans to wait until she is 57 days old before getting married."

At this time, Liang Ladi, who was not far away, also heard everyone talking about her and Sha Zhu, and immediately said to them: "Thank you all for the compliments. Zhuzi and I have indeed obtained the marriage certificate, but the wedding banquet will have to wait until next month. I will give out wedding candies to everyone then!"

"Okay, thank you in advance."

"I wish you a happy marriage and a son soon!"

"I'll give you a big red envelope when the time comes!"

"Hey, that's what Aunt Li said just now. I won't do it without five dollars. I'll remember that!" Liang Ladi said with a smile.

Aunt Li blushed, "You kid, you're making fun of me."

After saying this, Aunt Li returned to the circle of old sisters, "So Zhuzi is really loyal and righteous, while Yi Zhonghai is just like nothing happened. You know, when Yi Zhonghai was a big boss, he often promoted respecting the elderly and loving the young, and he also used the power of the old lady to pressure us!"

"Hey, Yi Zhonghai and his wife have been busy recently. Didn't you see that they didn't come out for such a lively event today? They are busy adopting a child and went out early this morning."

"If you ask me, they should have adopted one a long time ago. It's never as good as relying on others to raise a child yourself. They relied on Jia Dongxu before, but Jia Dongxu died in an accident. Didn't Yi Zhonghai's money go down the drain?"

"Oh, right, there's an old saying that goes, the grace of giving birth is greater than the grace of raising!"

"Yes, yes, that's right!"

Time passed slowly as these aunties chatted. The two had completed the preparations and were ready to start cooking.

"Come on, come on, don't just stand there. A few of you go and help light the fire. The rest of you go home and clean up the tables, chairs and benches at home, and ask the men to move them out." When Liu Haizhong saw that she was about to start cooking, he also stepped forward to make arrangements.

"Okay, I'll listen to you, uncle."

"I'll go back and move the table!"

As a result, the crowd in the yard quickly dispersed and went home to move their things.