Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

Yan Bugui's arrogance lasted for quite some time, much to the chagrin of the neighbors in the courtyard.

I find it distasteful, thinking he's gone too far. After all, we're neighbors in the same courtyard. Is it really okay for Yan Bugui to do this?

You secretly celebrate when the He family is down on their luck, so does that mean you'll come and kick us when we're down too?

From that moment on, the neighbors in the courtyard stopped paying attention to the Yan family.

They were also afraid that if lightning struck their house, it would affect them as well.

Even Jia Zhangshi looked down on the Yan family. This was such a shady deal.

Jia Zhangshi was happy that He Daqing was in trouble, but that didn't stop her from going to the He family to say a few words of comfort.

Even Sha Zhu was so touched that he took two steamed buns for himself...

One should not go too far in dealing with people. Although there may be neighbors who do not like each other, there is absolutely no one who kicks someone when they are down.

Several days passed in the blink of an eye. It was snowing heavily, and the neighbors in the courtyard were all inspecting their roofs on their days off.

That is, to sweep the snow off the roof, otherwise too much snow could easily cause the house to collapse.

Just as Li Jiuzhou and his brother were getting busy, Sha Zhu arrived. He suggested that his senior brother finish his work first, and then they could go to his house.

They spent the whole morning shoveling snow on the roof, and while they were at it, they also cleaned up the old lady's roof in the backyard.

In the afternoon, Li Jiuzhou went to Fan Bingbing's house and cleaned their roof again.

I stayed for dinner and then went home.

Li Jiuzhou's room was very warm; his second brother, Shanhe, would always heat up the kang (a heated brick bed) before he came home from get off work.

Li Jiuzhou takes a shower every day after get off work, and Shazhu is forced to shower with him as well.

The smell of cooking oil is too strong; I have to wash it.

Li Jiuzhou's kitchen has two large pots, making it incredibly easy to boil water for a bath.

Occasionally, I would take my second brother, Shazhu, to get a bath. We had to go early, otherwise the water in the pool would be murky and disgusting.

At the end of the year, the Chinese tradition involves welcoming and sending off guests, with many people giving gifts and hosting dinners.

In the morning, Li Jiuzhou had nothing much to do, so he taught a group of apprentices some tips on using a knife.

This was Li Jiuzhou's moment to show off; in no time, he carved a mythical beast called Qilin out of a few carrots.

Seeing the apprentices exclaim in amazement, they exclaimed that the skill was absolutely incredible.

Even several chefs from Fengzeyuan couldn't resist coming up to join in the fun.

"What are you messing around with? Is it even edible?"

The speaker was Li Jiuzhou's master, Li Tielong.

"Hehe, Master, just tell me if it looks good or not, that's all." Li Jiuzhou laughed.

"Stop doing all this useless stuff..."

Li Tielong pursed his lips; he was used to his apprentice's occasional frivolous behavior.

These days, he's been reading a book in the kitchen. What are you trying to do? Are you trying to fly to the moon?

If someone calls you "Mr. Fish," you'd actually answer, wouldn't you?

You really want to be a teacher, don't you?

Anyway, Li Tielong couldn't control his apprentice anymore. His culinary skills had surpassed his master's, so what could he say?

Do you know what people in the industry say about Li Tielong?

It is said that he is exceptionally good at teaching apprentices, and because of this, many people have come to him begging him to take on disciples.

However, Li Tielong refused all of them. He Yuzhu was his last disciple, and he did not want to take on any more apprentices.

Just as the atmosphere in the kitchen was getting lively, Manager Luan walked in carrying a cloth bag covered in mud.

"They're all here. I just ran into an old man from the countryside selling frogs on the street, and I bought some."

"Which chef will cook us a good lunch?"

Shopkeeper Luan's words put many people in a difficult position, as frogs are already rare and not easy to prepare.

It's slippery, sticky, and disgusting to look at.

Most of the chefs at Fengzeyuan specialize in Shandong cuisine, and they really don't know how to cook frog legs.

But Li Jiuzhou's eyes lit up upon hearing this; he was really tempted and quickly said:

"Shopkeeper, leave it to me, I'll do it!"

"Haha, alright, with Mr. Fish here, we can have a good lunch."

He took the cloth bag handed to him by Manager Luan, weighed it in his hand, and estimated it to be about ten pounds, all of which were alive.

"Pillar, take him and kill him, skin him!"

Sha Zhu reluctantly picked up his cloth bag and went to kill the frogs.

He was vomiting while killing!

There were quite a few frogs, and Li Jiuzhou planned to make two kinds: dry pot and pickled pepper flavors.

The method is not difficult, and it is even simpler for chefs who specialize in Sichuan cuisine.

At lunchtime, everyone at Fengzeyuan ate their staff meals with gusto, practically swallowing their tongues.

"It smells so good!" Sha Zhu said while shoveling rice into his mouth.

Li Jiuzhou joked:

"You looked so reluctant when I asked you to kill the frogs, and you even swore you'd rather die than eat this stuff?"

"Hehe, isn't it because you made such a delicious meal, senior brother? I'll do this job again in the future!" Sha Zhu said shamelessly.

Anyway, he's shameless.

"Should we put a menu on it?" Manager Luan suddenly asked.

"This is the taste, absolutely no problem!" Everyone agreed.

"What do you think, Jiuzhou?"

Li Jiuzhou said, "No problem at all. I'll just use Sichuan cooking methods, so I'll just use a Sichuan menu."

"Manager Luan, you need to solve this problem of sourcing the goods."

Manager Luan nodded: "The supply of goods is not a problem, I'll figure something out."

A few days later, Fengzeyuan's Sichuan cuisine restaurant launched new dishes: pickled pepper frog and dry pot frog.

When diners learned that these two dishes were created by Mr. Fish, they all came to support them, saying that they were absolutely delighted with the first bite.

Li Jiuzhou knew that in the business world of later generations, large chain restaurants would basically serve either fish, frog, or bullfrog.

Because these types of products can make money and are relatively easy to operate.

During this time, a sensational event spread throughout Beijing.

The leader personally invited Wu Yusheng, a renowned Sichuan cuisine chef, to establish the Emei Restaurant in Beijing!

It is also the largest and most authentic Sichuan restaurant in the country!

It caused a sensation throughout the entire capital!

Of course, this matter was related to Li Jiuzhou. He was invited to Emei Restaurant to exchange Sichuan cuisine techniques with Chef Wu.

Li Jiuzhou's self-created Sichuan dishes were highly praised by Chef Wu.

"Jiuzhou, could you bring some of your dishes to Emei Restaurant? How about adding some good luck?" Chef Wu said somewhat embarrassedly.

As a renowned Sichuan cuisine chef, Chef Wu mastered Li Jiuzhou's dishes with minimal effort, achieving a near-perfect replication.

He wanted to add it to the menu of Emei Restaurant.

Li Jiuzhou smiled slightly upon hearing this:

"Why not? It's all Sichuan cuisine, so of course we should serve it. As the largest Sichuan restaurant in the country, does Emei Restaurant look any better than my dishes?"

"Hahaha, well said!"

Chef Wu was delighted, never expecting Li Jiuzhou to be so open-minded at such a young age.

"Why don't you come work at Emei Restaurant?"

"The benefits are definitely better than at Fengzeyuan!"

Li Jiuzhou rolled his eyes at Chef Wu:

"I'm telling you, don't push your luck! Would you dare say that to my master and Manager Luan?"

"Hehe, what a pity, it's a shame that a renowned chef like you doesn't come to Emei Restaurant."

Chef Wu was a little disappointed. He really liked Li Jiuzhou. At such a young age, Li Jiuzhou's Sichuan cuisine was superb, and he had even created several dishes of his own. His talent was absolutely top-notch.

Moreover, he still has room for improvement, given his age.