The Cycle of Reincarnation in the Four-Courtyard House: A Journey Through the Heavens

All the things that Lu Yuan delivered to Li Xiao's family were seen by the residents of No. 95 Courtyard.

Looking at the pork belly and two plump roosters that Lu Yuan was carrying, Jia Zhangshi swallowed hard with envy.

This old woman is incredibly greedy; otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten fatter than any other woman during such a difficult time.

In this courtyard house, even Liu Haizhong doesn't look as fat as he does in TV dramas. Liu Haizhong, who is in his thirties this year, weighs at most around 120 pounds.

He started gaining weight after he turned forty.

Although Xu Fugui is hosting a housewarming banquet today, Li Xiao saw that when He Daqing was cooking, there was only a piece of pork weighing five or six pounds on the chopping board.

This piece of meat is intended for stewing with white radish, cabbage, and tofu. I imagine that among the fifty or sixty residents in the courtyard, each person wouldn't get many pieces of meat.

At that time, Beijing was a Japanese-occupied area, and everything from refined rice and flour to meat and vegetables such as chicken, duck, pork, beef, and mutton was strictly controlled.

Ordinary people can usually buy half a pound or eight ounces of meat without any problem, but it's difficult to buy more.

So when Madam Jia saw that Lu Yuan had brought so much meat, she naturally drooled with envy.

Li Xiao immediately noticed the greedy glint in Jia Zhangshi's triangular eyes as she stood at the entrance of the east courtyard.

Li Xiao snorted coldly, and a small pinch of grayish-white powder suddenly appeared at his fingertip, which he then flicked with his finger.

"Ugh, my eyes are burning! They're burning so badly!"

At this moment, Jia Zhangshi covered her eyes with both hands and rolled around on the ground in the backyard, wailing and howling.

This scene immediately attracted the attention of all the residents in the courtyard. Everyone surrounded Jia Zhangshi, who was rolling on the ground, wondering what was wrong with her this time.

Even Wang Xia and her two young girls, who were tidying up the house, didn't know what was going on and ran out to see what was happening.

"Xiao'er, what's wrong with this Sister Zhang?"

"I don't know either. She just suddenly lay down on the ground and said her eyes were burning!"

Li Xiao's move just now went unnoticed by anyone, not even Jia Zhangshi herself knew what had happened.

The small pinch of grayish-white powder in Li Xiao's hand just now was white pepper powder.

In his previous life, he had practiced flicking toothpicks with his fingers, just like the finger-flicking magic in martial arts dramas.

After several years of continuous practice, he can now flick a toothpick five or six meters away and make it stick firmly into a wooden board.

He also practiced a special card-throwing technique, just like in the movie "God of Gamblers".

An ordinary playing card can become an excellent killing weapon in Li Xiao's hands. In his previous life, he was able to cut a can of aluminum soda from a distance of seven or eight meters with a single playing card.

His physique is now ten times stronger than in his previous life, and the extraordinary skills he practiced in his spare time in his previous life must be even more terrifying now.

On Jia Zhangshi's side, a little boy of about ten years old ran to her side, calling out "Mother!" and trying to help her up.

"Mother, what's wrong? Get up quickly, the ground is cold!"

The little boy was none other than the short-lived Jia Dongxu, and Jia Zhangshi's husband, Jia Daniu, also ran over at that moment.

"Little Flower, Little Flower, what's wrong with you?"

"My eyes are burning so bad I can't open them! Big Niu, am I going blind?!"

"Oh no, what are we going to do?"

Upon hearing his wife's words, Jia Daniu panicked.

Madam Jia was still wailing when Yi Zhonghai approached and quickly said to Jia Dongxu, "Dongxu, hurry and bring a basin of clean water to wash your mother's eyes. Something probably got into them!"

Only then did Jia Dongxu realize what was happening, and he agreed and ran home.

After a long, noisy commotion, Jia Zhangshi finally managed to wash the pepper powder out of her eyes.

At that moment, everyone looked over and saw that her eyes were already red and swollen, like two big peaches. The residents in the courtyard all gasped.

Under Yi Zhonghai's direction, Jia Daniu and his son Jia Dongxu helped Jia Zhangshi home.

When Li Xiao first saw this man who had never appeared in the story, he judged from some minor details that the man was weak-willed and probably controlled by Jia Zhangshi at home.

Putting everything else aside, according to the original plot, Jia Daniu should be a fitter at Lou's Steel Factory. The only able-bodied man in the Jia family is as thin as a chick.

In the courtyard, whether it was Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, or the other steel rolling mill workers, they were all quite robust, except for Jia Daniu, who was both dark-skinned and thin.

This shows that this guy usually doesn't get enough to eat at home, while Jia Zhangshi, who rarely leaves the house, is well-fed and plump.

Li Xiao didn't bother with these matters. He continued to direct the group of idiots to put the furniture that Lu Yuan had brought back into place.

Wang Xia had also planned to invite Lu Yuan and his wife to stay for a meal, but they politely declined and then left the courtyard at No. 95.

At that moment, Xu Damao's mother walked into the east courtyard. She smiled and said to Wang Xia, "Sister Wang, the banquet in the courtyard is ready. Please take the children over!"

"Okay, I'm coming!"

The courtyard was bustling with activity. In this chaotic era of war, it was already a blessing to not go hungry. The greatest hope of ordinary people was to have a full meal.

Now that Xu Fugui is holding a housewarming banquet, it's a joyous occasion that hasn't been celebrated in the courtyard for many years.

The banquet consisted of seven tables, with four tables occupied by men and three tables by women.

At this moment, Wang Xia was sitting with Li Mingzhi, and the two were eating and chatting quietly.

The two little girls had their mouths stuffed full, like two little rabbits, and they were clearly very satisfied with the meal.

Li Xiao noticed that Jia Zhangshi was not present.

Her husband, Jia Daniu, was at that moment holding the large, family-inherited bowl and scooping a full bowl of stewed pork with cabbage and radish from He Daqing's stove.

Jia Dongxu also carried a large bowl containing more than ten cornbread buns, and followed his father back to his home.

The banquet ended in a lively atmosphere. Although Li Xiao was only 12 years old, he looked like a 17 or 18-year-old young man, so Xu Fugui poured a full bowl of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) into the bowl in front of him.

"Come on, Xiao Li, let me use this bowl of wine to welcome your whole family to our courtyard house!"

"Well said!"

"That's right, Xiao Li, you'd better finish that first bowl of wine!"

The men at the table all started to join in the commotion.

He Daqing spoke up at this moment: "You bunch of men, he's just a child, and you're already making him drink so recklessly!"

After he finished speaking, he looked at Li Xiao and said, "Little Li, just take a sip and that's enough. Don't listen to their nonsense!"