Siheyuan: The Qing Dynasty is back

It was already late at night when He Daqing returned home.

He put the cornmeal in the kitchen, took out some potatoes and sweet potatoes, and took less rice and flour.

Food is precious now, so he plans to eat this cornmeal with potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc., otherwise everyone will be jealous.

After thinking for a while, he took out another piece of wild boar meat weighing seven or eight kilograms. For the first meal tomorrow, I would make some lard and add some lean meat to give them something good to eat. This way they would have motivation to work.

After arranging all these, He Daqing gently got into bed and fell asleep with his little wife in his arms.

Early the next morning, Yu Linhai came with five or six people.

Everyone started to work on the renovation, starting with the kitchen and bathroom in the annex.

He Daqing watched Yu Linhai and the others working hard. He was not idle either, thinking about how to make sure this group of people had a good meal at noon without attracting too much attention.

Speaking of the steel mill today, Li Huaide was worried about how to explain to Director Yang about the invitation to He Daqing yesterday. After all, He Daqing's answer was ambiguous, and he was not sure whether he would come or not.

At this time, Sha Zhu came. Seeing Sha Zhu's happy face, Li Huaide asked anxiously, "He Yuzhu, what did your father say?"

Sha Zhu also did not forget his father's instructions. He walked over to Li Huaide and said, "Director Li, after you left yesterday, I tried to persuade my father. After my persuasion, he finally agreed."

When Li Huaide heard that He Daqing agreed, he said happily: "Comrade He Yuzhu, you have made a great contribution this time. Don't worry, I will definitely fulfill my promise to you."

"Thank you Director Li. My dad said he has some things to deal with today and will come tomorrow. By the way, let's prepare everything today. We can taste the food when he comes tomorrow."

After listening to Sha Zhu's words, Li Huaide felt reassured.

"Okay! He Yuzhu, please let your father rest assured. I will prepare everything today and wait for him to show his skills tomorrow."

After that, Sha Zhu also went to work in the cafeteria. Li Huaide also took out a pack of Huazi and threw it to Sha Zhu as a reward for him.

This silly Zhu was very happy, thinking that it was worth it to betray his father this time. Not only did he have a bicycle, he was almost going to have a radio. Huazi was about to smoke one now.

After Sha Zhu left happily, Li Huaide did not waste any time and quickly went to find Director Yang to report his achievement.

At Director Yang's place, Li Huaide exaggerated his actions yesterday, explaining that he had finally managed to convince He Daqing.

Director Yang was also very happy after hearing this. This was 80% of the work of receiving the experts arranged. As long as He Daqing's cooking skills were up to standard tomorrow, he would be able to rest assured.

Afterwards, the two discussed what to prepare and waited to see He Daqing's cooking skills tomorrow.

In the courtyard, today is the first meal for the workers. According to the old tradition, at noon, a table of good wine and good food must be set up to entertain the workers.

But in the current situation, most people can't even get enough to eat, let alone good food and wine. Who can afford to set up a table of food and wine?

At noon today, He Daqing steamed cornmeal steamed bread. He also fried a dish with cabbage vermicelli mixed with the grease residue from cooking meat oil. He then fried shredded potatoes with meat oil. Finally, he cooked a pot of sweet potato porridge. These two simple dishes and one porridge were enough to fill you up.

These two dishes, which were dipped in some meat oil, were also fragrant, and the other people in the compound would eat two more steamed breads just by smelling the aroma.

At the Jia family, Jia Zhang smelled the smell and angrily cursed at home: "He Daqing, this short-lived ghost, has good things to treat those peasants, but he doesn't know how to be nice to us neighbors. I think he is a rotten-hearted bastard."

Qin Huairu hugged Xiaodang and said with a sad face, "Mom, please say less. Don't you know what kind of temper He Daqing has? You said you have been beaten by him several times, so remember it!"

After hearing this, Jia Zhang cursed, "You are the unlucky one. Otherwise, how could our money be lost? What's the use of you? How long has it been since we had a decent meal? We only eat cabbage and steamed buns every day. You have made our corn stalks thin because of me."

Qin Huairu was now in a state of grievance, but she did not dare to retort in the face of Jia Zhang's insults.

"Mom, we don't have a penny now. We can't even afford to eat this cabbage steamed bun. It's still a long time before I go to work. What should I do?"

Jia Zhang also knew the family situation. She thought for a moment and said, "You go find Yi Zhonghai. He was Dongxu's master. You can't go now that Dongxu is gone. He won't care about our family, right? If he dares to, I'll go to his door and scold him."

Qin Huairu thought about it and decided that she could only rely on Yi Zhonghai now. She would not dare to attack Sha Zhu no matter what she said. If He Daqing knew about it, who knows how he would retaliate against her?

At noon, Yu Linhai and his group were already starving. They all smelled the fragrance coming from He Daqing's kitchen. They were all looking forward to having a good meal at noon.

When everyone saw the two large plates of food, a large pot of steamed bread and a large bowl of thick sweet potato porridge on the table, everyone was very happy. It had been a long time since we had eaten such a good meal. This time we could finally have a big meal.

He Daqing said enthusiastically: "The conditions are tough right now, so just make do with what you have. Although the food is not very good, you can eat as much as you want. We will provide you with enough food here."

This made Yu Linhai and the others very happy, and they all thanked He Daqing. Then they started eating with big mouthfuls.

I'm not even talking about being a chef. The simple cabbage noodles and potato shreds are much better than what most people cook. They even add some oil residue and meat oil. Everyone is enjoying the meal.

Soon, a large pot of more than 20 steamed buns, two large plates of vegetables and a small pot of sweet potato porridge were all eaten up by everyone. Now everyone was finally full.

In the afternoon, everyone was working very hard as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

This made He Daqing very satisfied. He would go to the steel mill from tomorrow, and Chen Xueru would take care of the house.

In the afternoon, Qin Huairu went to Yi Zhonghai's house.

Yi Zhonghai is still lying in bed every day. Unless it is necessary, he will recuperate in bed. He wants to recover as soon as possible and go back to work. He is still hungry now.

Seeing Qin Huairu coming in with a big belly, the aunt carefully helped her in and sat her down.

Yi Zhonghai looked at it and asked, "Huai Ru, what are you doing here?"

Qin Huairu said to Yi Zhonghai with a bitter face: "Uncle, you know that my family was robbed of everything, and now we are running out of food. How can we survive this?"

After hearing this, Yi Zhonghai also thought of what happened to his family. He angrily cursed: "This damn He Daqing, if it weren't for our two families, would it be like this?"

"Huai Ru, don't worry. You know my house was robbed, and I have to borrow some money to live. I'll ask your aunt to bring you ten kilograms of corn flour and ten yuan. You can use them first. I'll think of a way for you when I go to work in a while."

Yi Zhonghai’s only hope now is Banggeng, he doesn’t want to let his own grandson starve.

Qin Huairu knew that Yi Zhonghai's family might not have much food, so she could only take ten kilograms of corn flour and ten yuan and go back first.

This little bit of food is probably not enough for Jia Zhang to eat for a few days. The ten dollars won't be of much use. It seems that we have to find a way.

After chatting for a while at Yi Zhonghai's house, Qin Huairu walked back carrying the corn noodles.

As soon as I arrived at the Central Courtyard, I saw Sha Zhu coming back with a lunch box.

She stared at the two lunch boxes and wanted to ask for them. But when she thought of He Daqing, she swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue. Qin Huairu was really afraid of He Daqing now. She didn't want to provoke that evil star at all.

When Sha Zhu saw his sister Qin, he asked enthusiastically, "Sister Qin, what are you doing?"

Qin Huairu instinctively showed a weak and bitter look, and complained to Sha Zhu: "Hey, Zhuzi, you also know that my house was robbed clean this time. Now my family can hardly afford to eat, so I went to borrow some corn flour from an old man to make do."

Sha Zhu felt bad when he saw such a pitiful sister Qin. He was about to give the lunch box to Qin Huairu.

"Silly Zhu, you're being affectionate with your sister Qin again? Can you two be more careful about the impact? It's broad daylight now!"

Sha Zhu suddenly turned his head and saw that it was Xu Damao, the bastard, who was ruining his plans again.

"Xu Damao, if you keep talking nonsense, I will tear your mouth to pieces! What does it have to do with you if I say a few words to Sister Qin? Get out of here!"

Xu Damao was pushing a cart with a black briefcase hanging in front and an old hen and half a bag of cornmeal hanging in the back. He had obtained these things by exchanging them with people in the countryside.

In the past, he could get some good things for free in the countryside, but now, he can only pay a little money or take other things to the countryside to exchange. It is impossible to give it away for free in the village. Everyone is almost starving to death. Who can give it to you for free?

Facing Sha Zhu's words, the two people seemed to be born to be incompatible. It always felt like something was missing if they didn't say a few words to each other when they met.

"Silly Zhu, you said there are so many people watching in the yard now. You two are arguing with each other, and you said there is nothing wrong between you two. Who would believe you?"

Sha Zhu couldn't argue with Xu Damao, so he rushed forward and was ready to attack.

Xu Damao knew that he was no match for Sha Zhu, so he pushed his bicycle and hurried to the backyard, shouting as he ran: "Sha Zhu, you stinky cook. Did I hit the nail on the head?"

Sha Zhu chased after Xu Damao and kicked him. However, Xu Damao's body skills were not practiced in vain. He accelerated and dodged.

Sha Zhu didn't kick Xu Damao, but the kick was quite powerful and directly kicked half a bag of corn noodles off the back of his bicycle.

Xu Damao was so anxious that he ran away. He didn't notice that the corn flour had fallen. He ran to the backyard in one breath.

Sha Zhu watched Xu Damao running away, and was so angry that he spat in the direction of Xu Damao.

"Xu Damao, if you mess with me again, I'll beat the shit out of you!"

After cursing, he turned around and looked at the bag of flour on the ground. Sha Zhu smiled and walked to Qin Huairu with the bag of flour.

"Sister Qin, don't mind what Xu Damao's grandson said. I'll deal with him next time. I'll give this to you as compensation."

Qin Huairu looked at the bag of corn flour weighing thirty or forty kilograms and was very tempted. However, she still said carefully: "Zhu Zi, this is not good, right? What if Xu Damao comes looking for us?"

Sha Zhu waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Don't worry about him. If he wants to come to you, tell him to come to me. Then I'll show you how to deal with him."

"Besides, who told him to frame us? Just consider it as his compensation this time. Take it."

Qin Huairu thought about it and took the bag of flour. The family was really running out of food. With this bag of corn flour, her family could survive for a while longer.

When Sha Zhu saw that Sister Qin accepted it, he went back happily.

As for Xu Damao looking for him, he didn't take Xu Damao seriously at all.