Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

Courtyard 95.

Wang family of the Intermediate People's Court.

After Aunt Wu finished killing the pheasant and rabbit, Qin Jingru started cooking.

Today, Wang Feng brought back the pheasants and rabbits openly and honestly, so there's no need to brew Chinese medicine.

Qin Jingru made a dish of stewed pheasant with dried mushrooms and a stir-fried rabbit dish.

As noon approached, a gentle breeze blew through the courtyard, filling the entire area with the aroma of Qin Jingru's cooking.

Qin Huairu went to the hospital early this morning to get an IUD inserted, but she hasn't returned by noon. Jia Zhangshi has to make cornbread for herself.

But as she was making steamed buns, the tempting aroma filled her with anger.

"You damned little beasts, the rabbit meat smells so good, why don't you bring some over to show your respect to your old mother? I curse you to never have a son in your life, and even if you do, he won't have an anus."

......

The front yard, the Yan family's house.

On Sundays, Liu Yuhua is usually not in the yard, and today is no exception; she has already gone to her father's house for a special meal.

The Yan family smelled the mouthwatering aroma, but the sweet potatoes tasted like cardboard and they couldn't swallow them at all.

Seeing this, Yan Fugui sighed and said, "Eat up, just think of the sweet potatoes as rabbit meat."

Upon hearing this, the Yan family tried their best to imagine the sweet potato as delicious rabbit meat, but they still couldn't bring themselves to eat it.

Yan Fugui said in a deep voice, "Eat quickly, the sweet potatoes will be even less tasty if they get cold. This morning, Jie Cheng and I worked together to make a few traps. Next Sunday, Jie Cheng will take Jiefang to the mountains to try. Maybe we can catch some game."

"Dad, if you really catch some prey, you won't just sell it and not eat it yourself, will you?" Yan Jiefang asked, frowning.

Yan Fugui waved his hand: "Jiefang, don't worry. If we really manage to catch some prey this time, I promise your mother will cook it all, leaving nothing behind."

"Very good!"

Yan Jiefang said happily, "Brother, let's go earlier next Sunday and try to bring back more game. I remember Wang Feng didn't know how to hunt before, but now he's become so good at it. Maybe there's a lot of game in the mountains now, and we can catch some with just a few traps."

"Brother, how about this? We're free this afternoon, so let's make a few more traps. The more traps we have, the better our chances of catching prey."

Yan Jiecheng nodded: "Okay, we'll start cooking after lunch. That bastard Wang Feng thinks he's so great because he's good at hunting. I don't believe that if he can catch so much game, the two of us can't catch any?"

Yan Fugui reminded him, "Jiecheng, the mountains are dangerous. There might be large wild animals like wild boars or bears. Safety should be the top priority, understand?"

"Dad, don't worry, I'll be careful. I'm sure I'll catch something this time," Yan Jiecheng replied.

Yan Fugui nodded, sighed, and said, "Wang Feng is getting more and more ill-mannered. This morning I asked him to have the people in the yard take turns killing the pheasants and rabbits for him, and he argued with me. You tell me, anyway, he and Qin Jingru don't eat the innards or chicken butts. If everyone shares them, they will still think good things about him. It won't cost him anything. I didn't expect him to disagree."

The third aunt frowned and said, "Old Yan, when you think about it, you can't really blame Wang Feng. After all, when Wang De had his accident, none of us in the courtyard helped him. I remember Wang Feng even asked to borrow a table from us, but we were afraid he would break it, so we didn't lend it to him. Only Aunt Wu was busy helping him. Although she didn't help much, Wang Feng definitely remembers her kindness."

"Now Wang Feng has grown up and become a cadre. Even Qin Jingru has become a head chef at the steel mill. Their combined salary is 166 yuan. He has become so good at hunting and his temper is even worse than before. The key is that he has also become better at fighting. He even beat up Sha Zhu."

"Old Yan, I feel we should treat Wang Feng better and appeal to his emotions. Look, Aunt Wu only helped Wang Feng a little bit, but now that Wang Feng is doing well, he keeps helping Aunt Wu. This shows that Wang Feng is a grateful person."

"Even Aunt Wu's job in the steel mill's kitchen, I suspect was helped by Wang Feng. Around this time last year, I remember Aunt Wu didn't get any matchbox pasting work from the neighborhood office for two months, and her family ran out of food. She even had to borrow money from people in the neighborhood. In the end, Wang Defa lent her two yuan. You tell me, in just one year, with Yaya in tow, how could she earn enough to buy a workstation just by pasting matchboxes? I estimate that Wang Feng probably lent her that money first."

Yan Fugui nodded: "Ruihua, what you said makes sense, but Wang Feng is successful now and doesn't need our help. What can we use to play the emotional card with him? They have things that we don't, so there's nothing they need our help with. Besides, Jie Cheng stole Wang Feng's chickens before, so our two families have a pretty bad relationship. Even when Jie Cheng was eating at the third canteen, Qin Jingru had to stir-fry the food for him. I feel like this is simply not going to work."

When Yan Jiecheng heard about the chicken theft, his face instantly darkened, his fists clenched, and veins bulged on his forehead.

If Wang Feng hadn't refused to help him get a job at the steel mill, he wouldn't have thought of stealing Wang Feng's chickens to get revenge, his marriage to Yu Li wouldn't have fallen through, and he wouldn't have been kicked into eunuch status by Jia Dongxu.

Because he is not a man now, Liu Yuhua does not treat him as her man at all. Otherwise, with Liu Yuhua's salary and the fact that her family often brings her meat or offal, he wouldn't be left with nothing but helpless stares.

He works himself to the bone every day in the foundry workshop, and when he gets home he can only eat sweet potatoes. He has lost about ten pounds in the past few days and feels weak all over. He gets dizzy from hunger after working for less than two hours.

Ultimately, all of this is because of Wang Feng. If Wang Feng had helped him get into the steel mill back then, none of this would have happened.

Neither the third aunt nor Yan Fugui noticed Yan Jiecheng's expression. The third aunt sighed and said:

"Old Yan, Wang Feng has money and food now, and he can eat meat regularly. There's not much we can do to help him for the time being. But since Wang Feng lives in the compound, I don't believe he won't need any help. If anything happens in the compound in the future, we should stand on Wang Feng's side and speak up for him. Isn't that helping him? If we help him a few more times, won't we build a good relationship?"

Yan Fugui nodded and gave the three aunties a thumbs up: "Ruihua, you're so clever! How come I didn't think of that?"

As he spoke, he looked at the three Yan brothers and said, "Listen up, all of you. From now on, in the courtyard, whatever happens to Wang Feng's family, help them as much as you can. Even just saying a word on their behalf would be helpful. Do you all understand?"

"understood."