Siheyuan: Xu Damao's New Life

Xu Damao finally selected the most precious 70 or 80 pieces of porcelain, three boxes of calligraphy and paintings by celebrities from various dynasties, and 20 or 30 pieces of jade ornaments and bronzes. These included Yuan blue and white porcelain, exquisite porcelain from the five major official kilns, especially porcelain bowls from the Ru kiln, Xuande furnace from the Ming Dynasty, paintings by Tang Bohu and Wu Daozi, calligraphy by Wang Xizhi, cursive script by Monk Huaisu, etc. It can be said that Xu Damao directly caught all the most precious and exquisite items here.

Xu Weiguo was delighted to see that he had chosen so many things. These were all his achievements. I wonder who would dare to show off to him in the next meeting. So Xu Weiguo took out a small notebook and checked the prices of the items one by one with Sister Zhao.

Ten minutes later, the result was calculated. Xu Weiguo said, "This time there are a total of 145 items, and the total is 1,556 yuan. You just need to pay the whole amount." This price is based on the purchase price plus 10%, which is a small profit.

Xu Damao nodded and said it was okay. "But I don't have that much money on me, and I have to go back and clean up the place, otherwise there will be no space for all these things. How about this, I'll pay a part of the deposit first, and the rest will be paid when I notify the delivery."

"Okay, let's do it!" Xu Weiguo also expressed his understanding. He would find it strange if Xu Damao really took 2,000 yuan out. So the three of them returned to the store, and Xu Weiguo personally took Xu Damao to pay a deposit of 500 yuan.

Xu Damao took the deposit receipt and said goodbye. It was getting late, so he planned to exchange some good things from the space to go to his parents' house for dinner. This was also the first time the whole family had dinner together after getting the marriage certificate.

Xu Damao whistled as he thought about how he should find a place to transfer all these things before storing them in the space. It would be inconvenient to have so many people in the courtyard, so why not ask his father-in-law for help? His family is big and must have an empty house. OK, let's do it. Xu Damao was in a better mood after thinking of a solution, and pedaled his bicycle quickly.

When he was almost at his parents' house, Xu Damao found an alley that was temporarily empty and spent 60 points to exchange for five pounds of beef, three pounds of fatty pork, a large carp, one pound of tomatoes, one pound of cucumbers, and a plate of bananas. Tomato stewed beef brisket is a perfect match. He hadn't eaten it for so long since he came here, so he decided to splurge today.

When Xu Damao carried things into the house, Xu's mother and sister Xu Xiaoying were chatting with Lou Xiao'e, and they burst into laughter from time to time.

"What are you talking about? It's so lively. Xiaoying, guess what good things I bought?" Xu Damao asked.

"Mom is just telling me about the embarrassing things that happened to you when you were a child." Lou Xiao'e covered her mouth and laughed.

When Xu Xiaoying saw her brother come in and say there was something good, she jumped up and ran straight to the bag in Xu Damao's hand.

"Wow, there are so many pieces of meat. Look, mom and sister-in-law, there are bananas!" Xu Xiaoying exclaimed in surprise. Then she took out a whole plate of bananas, broke off two and handed them to the two people sitting there, "Mom and sister-in-law, you guys eat them. I ate them once when I was a kid." After that, she broke off two more bananas and gave one to Xu Damao, and started eating herself.

Lou Xiao'e likes bananas, but even with the Lou family's status and financial resources, it is not easy to get them. Xu's mother was a little surprised. It seemed that her son had made great progress and could get such a rare fruit.

While eating, Xu Damao said, "Mom, I bought a lot of good things, pork, beef, and a fish. I'll prepare them all in a while. We'll have a reunion dinner tonight. By the way, when will my dad be back?"

"Your dad doesn't have the night shift today, so he should be back soon. You guys chat first, I'll go clean up the fish."

Lou Xiao'e also stood up and wanted to help, but Xu Damao knew the background of this young lady, so he said, "Yingzi, take your sister-in-law to the supply and marketing cooperative at the street corner to buy two bottles of good wine and a few bottles of soda, and you can keep the rest." After that, he took out twenty yuan and a few bills and handed them to his sister.

Xu Xiaoying happily took her sister-in-law to go shopping. Lou Xiaoe knew that Xu Damao was taking care of her, but she was still determined to learn cooking skills from her mother. You know, her mother was a concubine of the Tan family. Although she didn't get the true teachings, she also had good cooking skills.

After seeing them leave, Xu Damao went to the kitchen to help. He is a good cook, so he will be the one to cook today's meal.

Xu Damao decided to make beef brisket stewed with tomatoes first, which took a long time to cook, and then pork, potatoes and vermicelli stew. Fortunately, in addition to the earthen stove, there was also a stove at home, so cooking both sides at the same time saved a lot of time.

Xu Damao stewed the two main dishes first, then started to peel potatoes, cutting some into pieces to stew later, and cutting some into shreds to stir-fry spicy and sour potato shreds. Finally, there was the appetizer of smashed cucumber and a plate of cold-mixed tomatoes, and the table was considered very sumptuous.

After about an hour, the stewed pork was ready. It was taken out of the pot and put into a bowl directly. Then the braised carp was arranged. At the same time, the firewood in the earthen stove was reduced and it was turned to low heat for slow cooking.

At this time, there was a burst of voices outside the house. It turned out that my sister had returned from shopping with her sister-in-law, but she was stopped by the enthusiasm of the group of aunties in the hospital to talk. The aunties had seen Xu Damao bring this girl back before, and this time they took the opportunity to ask Xu Xiaoying who this girl was.

Xu Xiaoying said directly, "This is my brother's wife, my dear sister-in-law. She came to my house for dinner today."

The aunts were shocked when they heard this. What? The son of the Xu family was actually married, and they didn't even know about it! This was definitely a question and a slap in the face of the aunts' intelligence capabilities. No, this time they had to dig up more information to save their face.

So this group of enthusiastic aunts congratulated and praised Lou Xiao'e for her beauty. For a while, Xu Xiaoying and Lou Xiao'e were tripped by this group of aunts. It was not until Xu's father came back and understood what happened and promised to give everyone wedding candies on the wedding day that the group of aunts stopped.

As soon as the three of them entered the door, they smelled a strong aroma. Xu Xiaoying even asked directly: "Brother, what delicious food did you make that smells so good?"

"Dad, you're back. I made beef brisket stewed with tomatoes, braised carp, and pork stewed with vermicelli. You guys take a break first, I'll be ready soon." After saying this, Xu Damao went back to work.

Xu's mother also served two cold dishes and pork stewed with vermicelli on the table, and Xu Xiaoying also placed the Wuliangye and Beibingyang soda she bought on the table. Xu's father had met Lou Xiao'e many times before, and was very satisfied with her. He also said a few words of encouragement, such as the young couple should understand each other and live a good life. He also said that if Xu Damao dared to go out and have affairs, he should come and tell him, and he would break Xu Damao's legs.

At this time, the two main dishes were ready, and Xu's mother served them to the table. Xu Damao then fried a spicy cabbage and a hot and sour potato shreds, and prepared to eat. Looking at the neat and tidy family, especially his son's success, Xu's father was very happy and took the initiative to raise his glass and clinked it with his son.