Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

Soon Liu Haizhong and Yi Zhonghai came to Yan Fugui's house on behalf of the people in the courtyard.

"Hey, Lao Yi, Lao Liu, how come you two are here together? It's a great honor for my humble home! Please sit down, please sit down."

Yan Fugui warmly invited the two to take a seat.

Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong didn't bother to be polite with Yan Fugui and just sat down.

"You two came here together, you must have something to discuss with me, tell me, what is it?"

Yan Fugui was still feeling smug about the weekend wedding banquet, knowing that he had gotten another advantage.

"Old Yan, there is something. How are the preparations for the wedding banquet this weekend going?"

Yi Zhonghai asked with a faint smile on his face.

"The wedding banquet, of course it's ready, just waiting for you to arrive!"

Yan Fugui said with a smile, and poured them two glasses of boiled water without even taking out a bit of tea leaves.

"Ah, so, um...um...Old Liu, you tell me."

Yi Zhonghai was still reluctant to mention this matter. After all, it was a bit of overstepping one's authority. How could he tell them about the host's dishes in advance? So he threw the problem to Liu Haizhong.

Liu Haizhong obviously didn't want to bring it up. When he saw Yi Zhonghai throwing the question to him and asking him to ask, he immediately became unhappy.

"Hey, what's the meaning? If you have something to say, just tell me. What are you two doing?" Yan Fugui felt something was wrong and said.

Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong pointed at each other, indicating that it was up to the other to speak.

"Hey, what are you two doing? Lao Liu, you tell me!" Yan Fugui couldn't stand it anymore and directly called out Liu Haizhong.

"Uh...Okay, Old Yan, don't mind me. We came here to ask everyone what dishes you prepared for the wedding banquet."

Liu Haizhong had no choice but to speak up.

"What dishes? Didn't I tell you? There will be fish and meat! Eight dishes and one soup for each table! I guarantee you will be satisfied!"

Yan Fugui made an eight gesture and said with a smile.

He had thought about it a long time ago. He had recently caught a few crucian carps. He would cut the crucian carps into three parts: the head, the body, and the tail! He would make three dishes and cook them in the Yan family version of "one fish, three ways to eat it"!

Go get some pig offal, specifically pick out the parts that others don't want. Get more and share them, and you can add two more dishes.

Then add some lard and add another dish.

Finally, add some radishes, pickles, cabbage, potatoes, etc. and mix them together to make one or two vegetarian dishes. There’s no problem at all!

If all else fails, have a plate of peanuts and some sweet potato soup mixed with water, it will be just right!

As for the soup, I just made an egg, mixed it with some kelp, and added a little more salt. Kelp and egg soup! Done!

"There are eight dishes and one soup, not bad, not bad. Then..." Liu Haizhong said with a smile.

Yi Zhonghai pulled Liu Haizhong, Liu Haizhong glanced at Yi Zhonghai, then put away his smile and asked, "Old Yan, what dishes do you have? Tell me in detail."

"Hey, Lao Liu, this is inappropriate. I'm having a wedding banquet, and you come over here and ask me what dishes I want? This is not in accordance with etiquette!"

Yan Fugui also realized Liu Haizhong's purpose. Liu Haizhong also knew that he was a bit offensive and his face was a little embarrassed.

"Old Yan, let's not beat around the bush. Actually, we are here to ask you on behalf of the people in the hospital. We can't do anything about it. Anyway, the day after tomorrow is the weekend. Just tell us what dishes you have, otherwise we won't be able to explain when we go back. If you don't tell us, I'm afraid someone will cause trouble at the wedding banquet this weekend."

Seeing that Liu Haizhong didn't ask the main question, Yi Zhonghai spoke up anyway.

“This…this…” Yan Fugui was in trouble now. He couldn’t just say that they were just scraps, otherwise who would come?

"Old Yan, just tell me directly, don't waste time, just tell me how many pounds of meat and fish you have prepared, and that's it."

Liu Haizhong also said bluntly.

“This…this…” Yan Fugui was even more speechless.

"Old Yan, if you don't tell me, no one will come to the wedding. It's a rule that only one person from your family can come. People in the whole hospital will have a lot of opinions about you."

Yi Zhonghai continued.

"Lao Yi, Lao Liu, how can I afford to buy meat? I'm going to go fishing these few days and use all the fish I catch to treat you. Is that okay?"

Yan Fugui said with a bitter face.

"So how many fish have you caught now?" Yi Zhonghai asked.

"There are four fish."

"How big?"

"About half a pound."

"That adds up to two kilograms, which is not bad. If you catch a few more in the next two days, you will have fish."

When Yi Zhonghai heard that there were two kilograms of fish, he breathed a sigh of relief. It was better than nothing.

"Well...well, it's half a pound in total." Yan Fugui didn't dare to hide it. After all, it would be exposed later.

"Hey, Old Yan, you're planning to use half a pound of fish to cook, right?"

Liu Haizhong was so angry that he laughed.

Yi Zhonghai was too lazy to speak. What kind of people are you? Four fish weigh half a catty, which means each fish weighs more than one ounce. Is this still fish? There are more than 20 people in this courtyard who only eat half a catty of fish. I guess there is no one to eat!

"Hey, bad luck, bad luck. There are still two days left. I will definitely catch a big fish."

Yan Fugui explained.

"Okay, there are other dishes." Yi Zhonghai continued to ask.

“Well…well, I’m also going to get some pig offal, lard and the like, and use them to make a few more dishes.

Don't worry, it will be delicious. My wife makes it often and it's so delicious!

In this era, we all advocate thrift and hard work, so I am also responding to the country's call, don't you think so? "

Yan Fugui said these things awkwardly, tying them to the interests of the country!

"Hey, Old Yan, according to what you said, the country still advocates not holding wedding banquets! Why don't you learn from it!

So you mean to buy some pig offal and lard for your son's wedding banquet? You don't even plan to hire a cook, you're awesome! Even so, you still want us to only have one person from each family? I think I'd better not come!"

Liu Haizhong was amused by Yan Fugui's words. It would be better to eat this dish in the factory cafeteria!

"I have no choice. It's hard to find a chef nowadays. How about you ask Shazhu... no, no, He Yuzhu to come and cook for me?"

Yan Fugui said.

"You wish! They're cooking for you, can you afford to pay them? When a man goes out to host a wedding banquet, it costs at least five dollars per time, can you afford it?"

Bangzhong rolled his eyes.

"I'm just doing a favor for my neighbor, why should I charge him for it? How about I just not charge him for it?"

Yan Fugui argued cunningly.

"Alright, alright, just save yourself the trouble. Considering your relationship with Zhuzi, you still want him to cook for you. I don't think he will come or not. Let's talk about the pork instead."

Liu Haizhong refused directly.

"Well...that pig offal is pretty good. I can't buy pork, so how about you buy some for me? I'll give you money!" Yan Fugui said awkwardly.

"Okay, Old Yan, you still want me to buy it for you? A pound of pork is seven yuan on the black market. Give me the money and I will buy it for you right away!" Liu Haizhong rolled his eyes.

"How can we go to the black market? We have jobs. If we are caught, we will be punished. Can you find Xiao Laizi..."

Yan Fugui tried to take advantage again.

When Liu Haizhong heard that Yan Fugui actually wanted to go to He Lai to get pork, he stood up and stretched out his hand to stop Yan Fugui from talking. He said, "Alright, alright, Old Yan, stop talking. Everyone in the courtyard knows that you sell the fish you catch on the black market every time you catch them. It's boring to tell us all this. Old Yi, let's go. Old Yan is really mean to me. I guess the wedding wine is fake wine mixed with water. Let's not worry about it."

Liu Haizhong no longer wanted to argue with Yan Fugui. After becoming the workshop director, he became more and more disdainful of such trivial matters. It was really boring to calculate such trivial matters all day long.

"Old Yan, we'll leave first. If you change your mind and want to have a good wedding banquet, just tell us and we will definitely give you gifts. But you still want to make some money from the people in the courtyard. I advise you to give up this idea as soon as possible and don't ruin your last bit of popularity."

Yi Zhonghai also stood up, said a few words, and then left the Yan family with Liu Haizhong.

Yan Fugui's face turned pale. Now it seemed that the wedding banquet could not be held. After all, Liu Haizhong and Yi Zhonghai had said so. That meant that no one in the hospital would give much as a gift. If he insisted on holding the wedding banquet, he would definitely lose money. It would be better not to hold it!

"Old man, are we still going to have this wedding banquet?" Aunt Three asked in a low voice. Of course she heard their conversation.

"What else can we do, unless you want to lose money." Yan Fugui took a sip of water and sighed.