Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

Soon the table was filled with dishes!

"Zhu Zi, thank you for your hard work. You've been busy for most of the day!" Grandpa Zhou thanked with a smile.

"It's okay, it's okay, Mr. Zhou. Actually, I've always wanted to make this bear paw."

Sha Zhu smiled and continued.

"Grandpa Zhou, you don't understand, when a chef sees good ingredients, he can't even walk!"

He Lai also continued.

"You're the only one who's capable, you brat!" Old Master Zhou glared at He Lai.

"Dad, Uncle Zhou, can I eat it now?" Xu Yang almost drooled when he saw the bear paw.

"What are you in such a hurry for! You bastard, all you do is eat besides playing!" Old Man Xu hit Xu Yang directly!

"Oh, what are you doing? It's not normal for a child to want to eat. Who wouldn't want to eat such a good thing?" Xu's mother immediately protected Xu Yang.

"Alright, alright, let's eat. Let's try this bear paw and see what it tastes like!"

Mr. Zhou was the first to pick up his chopsticks, and the others all put down their chopsticks one after another.

"Mom, this bear paw doesn't taste that good. It's not as good as the pork elbow made by Brother Zhuzi!"

Xu Yang finished eating and said, "Just now in the kitchen, Sha Zhu made him a pork elbow."

Old Master Xu glared at Xu Yang fiercely, and Xu Yang immediately lowered his head and kept silent.

"You don't understand, no one ever said bear paws are delicious! Bear paws are just rare!

This bear paw has thick fat and smells very bad. Few chefs can cook bear paw well. If you don’t master certain methods and techniques, you can’t even cover up the smell, let alone make it delicious!

The bear paw dish tastes good only because the chicken and duck meat and other ingredients are well used.”

He Lai explained.

"Yes, yes, Master Liao said the same thing." Sha Zhu agreed.

"Well, you know a lot, brat! Come on, come on, everyone, eat. Old Xu, let's drink."

Mr. Zhou smiled, raised his glass, and started drinking with Mr. Xu.

He Lai gave Yu Shui a large piece of bear paw, which was actually a piece of fat meat.

Yu Shui was quite happy at first, but after taking a bite, he felt bad and immediately pushed the bear paw into He Lai's bowl.

"Yushui, you really loved eating pork elbows when you were a kid? Why don't you eat them now?"

He Lai said with a smile.

"I've eaten, you can eat it yourself." Yu Shui said, and picked up another piece of bear paw and gave it to He Lai.

"Okay, I'll eat it. This bear paw contains collagen! It's very good!" After He said that, he started eating.

To be honest, it's a little bit worse than pork elbow, but it's still pretty good.

Soon everyone started to feast on the food, after all, there were so many delicious dishes!

Under the special care of Old Lady Zhou, Ke'er and Ye Jun never stopped talking!

Yu Shui kept picking up some fat for He Lai, and He Lai was speechless and could only eat it silently.

Because Sha Zhu was at Mr. Zhou's house, he seemed a little reserved. He only ordered just enough food and would have a drink with the two old men from time to time.

After the meal, Xu Yang and He Lai ate the most!

Xu Yang was a wild kid by nature. He was sixteen or seventeen years old, which was the age when he could eat a lot. When he saw something delicious, he would naturally stuff it into his mouth without any care.

Yu Shui was beside He Lai and was helping him pick up some food. Before he finished eating, there was some extra food in his bowl.

Soon everyone finished eating the whole table of food!

……

on the way back

"Hey, Xiao Laizi, this bear paw is really not that good. I was kind of looking forward to it before! It took me a lot of effort."

Silly Zhu said.

"Hey, Brother Zhuzi, sometimes when you eat food, it's not necessarily about the taste, but about the face!

Bear paw, how proud you are to say it out loud! When others hear it, they think it’s so classy! Who wouldn’t want to try it? Believe it or not, next time you make it for others, everyone will say it’s delicious!”

He Lai said with a smile.

"That's right, that's true. Bear paws are very valuable and most people can't afford them."

Sha Zhu nodded and said.

"Brother Lai, I want to eat big lobster, it's delicious!" Yu Shui, who was sitting behind He Lai, spoke.

"Okay, I'll ask someone to go to Jinshi and bring some to you in a few days."

He Lai agreed.

"Xiao Laizi, bring a few more. I want to eat some too." Sha Zhu said quickly.

"Okay, ten dollars each, as many as you want!" He Lai said with a smile.

"Hey, I'm your uncle! And you still want to ask me for money!" Sha Zhu stared at He Lai with wide eyes.

He couldn't afford to buy lobster because the money was in Qin Huairu's hands.

"Even brothers have to settle accounts! What's more, he's my brother-in-law, right, Yushui?"

He Lai said deliberately.

"Yeah!" Yu Shui hugged He Lai and said with a smile.

"Hey, I'm an outsider, right?" Sha Zhu said speechlessly.

"Brother Zhuzi, you are an outsider anyway, let's go!" After saying that, He quickened his bike speed.

"Wait for me, I can't ride my bike fast enough!"

As Sha Zhu spoke, he pedaled faster.

……

A few more days passed, and all the accessories for the plastic lighter were ready, and all that was left was to assemble it.

He Lai looked at the group of accessories in front of him and began to recall his childhood in his previous life.

At that time, every time the nearby river flooded, many lighters would be washed ashore, and He Lai would pick up several every time.

At that time, most families used matches! Only some adult men used plastic lighters.

So He Lai was deeply impressed by these plastic lighters. He often pressed them and liked to see the sparks flying. Sometimes his thumbs were rubbed raw by the flint, but he still wanted to play with them! He thought these things were very magical.

He Lai quickly assembled the lighter, took the bottle of butane, and inserted it into the inflatable port. Soon, the lighter was filled with butane liquid.

"Director Yang, would you like to try it?" He Lai handed the assembled lighter to Director Yang.

"Okay, I'll try." Director Yang happily took the plastic lighter.

"Just rub the flint with your thumb and press down the support frame," said He.

Director Yang listened and nodded. There was a crackling sound, and a small flame appeared.

He saw that the flame was a little small, so he walked forward and turned the fire-adjusting ring, and instantly the flame became much bigger.

"Well, not bad, not bad, come on, you all try it." Director Yang put down his thumb and gave the lighter to others.

Soon everyone began to take turns playing with it, nodding in satisfaction.

"Chief He, this lighter is good. Do you want to report it to your superiors now so that we can quickly build a factory for mass production?"

Director Yang said with a smile.

"Director Yang, there is no rush for mass production. This plastic lighter is still in the experimental stage and needs some time for testing. Only after it has been improved and there are no problems, can it be put into mass production."

He Lai explained.

"Okay then, keep going. I'll take this plastic lighter and report it to my superiors. Let them take a look and give me some suggestions."

Director Yang nodded and said.

"Okay." He Lai agreed.

After Director Yang and his team left with a few packed lighters, He Lai was called over by Li Huaide's secretary again.