Courtyard House: Become Stronger Through Blind Dates

At the same time, the cold, mechanical voice echoed in He Yuzhu's mind:

[Ding! A potential blind date has been detected, triggering a blind date task.]

[Task Requirements: The blind date must last at least 30 minutes; otherwise, the task will fail.]

[Quest Reward: Random skill or item.]

He suppressed his excitement and prepared to follow his previous experience: after both sides had finished introducing themselves, he would introduce himself, which should trigger the mission countdown.

At this moment, Xu Ning came out of the kitchen somewhat embarrassed. He had been helping his mother prepare things in the kitchen.

He Yuzhu then got a clear look at Xu Dahai's son. He wasn't very tall, but he was thin and slender with fair skin and delicate features. He was exactly the kind of handsome young man that girls would like in later generations.

Matchmaker Wang immediately and enthusiastically introduced the two parties: "Brother Xu, Sister-in-law Xu, this is Comrade Liu Guixiang from the textile factory, and this is Guixiang's mother. Guixiang, this is Xu Ning, the young man from the Xu family. He works at our district's cultural center and is quite a cultured person!"

Xu Ning blushed slightly and greeted Liu Guixiang in a low voice.

Liu Guixiang was quite generous, responding with a smile. Her gaze lingered on Xu Ning's face for a moment, seemingly quite fond of his appearance.

After introducing the main characters, Xu Dahai quickly pulled He Yuzhu over and said to the matchmaker and the Liu family mother and daughter, "Aunt Wang, Comrade Guixiang, Sister-in-law Liu, this is He Yuzhu. He lives in the courtyard next to ours. He's a junior I've watched grow up. I specially invited him to help with the cooking today."

As he spoke, Xu Dahai gave a thumbs up and continued, "He learned the craft from his father since he was a child, and he's still an apprentice at the Emei Restaurant. His skills are beyond question!"

Matchmaker Wang naturally knew He Yuzhu, but the incident with the Jia family was still fresh in her mind, so she couldn't say anything.

Taking the opportunity, He Yuzhu stepped forward and said with a smile, "Hello, my name is He Yuzhu..."

Liu Guixiang simply nodded politely to him, then quickly looked away from his face and returned her gaze to Xu Ning.

After He Yuzhu finished his introduction, the task countdown timer below his field of vision remained unchanged!

He was puzzled at first, and pondered it for a long time, but couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried.

Looking up, he saw the girl chatting with Xu Ning familiarly, trying to find topics to talk about.

One minute they'd ask him what specific work he did at the cultural center, the next they'd ask him what books he liked to read, and so on...

He Yuzhu suddenly understood: the girl's attention was entirely on Xu Ning, and she didn't even notice him.

Unlike the previous two times, the time with Qian Daniu, she probably realized that Qian Daniu didn't like her, so she showed up and attracted his attention.

The situation with the Jia family was even simpler; Qin Huairu clearly didn't think much of the Jia family.

It seems that there are prerequisites for the system to trigger the countdown; the other party must be interested in you.

"Holy crap... Am I going to get ripped off for free today?" He Yuzhu felt like a million grass mud horses were galloping through his mind.

Fortunately, Xu Dahai thought he was really there to learn, and kept explaining the precautions for blind dates to him, so that he wouldn't feel too embarrassed.

The quest won't trigger, and forcing it won't help. You can't just force a girl to chat with you, can you? That would be harassing her.

After listening for a while, he said to Xu Dahai, "Uncle Xu, you two continue chatting. It's almost time to cook."

"Alright, alright, Zhu Zi, then thank you for your hard work!" Xu Dahai's mind was entirely on his son and future daughter-in-law at the moment, and he nodded repeatedly.

He Yuzhu turned around and went into the kitchen. Looking at the ingredients on the cutting board, he lost all his previous enthusiasm and was filled with frustration.

"Damn it, those who only care about looks can't have a house!" he muttered under his breath, angrily picking up the kitchen knife.

Today's meal was really a waste of Grandma's money!

As he prepared the dishes, he listened intently to the sounds coming from the main room.

Liu Guixiang was chatting animatedly with Xu Ning when she asked, "Comrade Xu Ning, has your cultural center been showing any new movies lately?"

"Yes... there is a new movie called 'Chicken Feather Letter.' If Comrade Liu is interested, you can come and watch it..." Xu Ning said shyly.

"Really? That's great!"

Listening to their conversation and comparing it to the way he had just been ignored, He Yuzhu felt incredibly bitter.

"Well, looks like there's really nothing for me to do." He sighed inwardly, put the sliced ​​meat into a bowl, and began to marinate it.

He suddenly realized that his cooking skills would surely attract attention when dinner was served, and maybe the system task would be triggered, so his help today wouldn't have been in vain.

Clinging to this last glimmer of hope, He Yuzhu rallied his spirits and got to work.

As time passed, the atmosphere in the main room seemed to grow more and more harmonious.

"Sister-in-law Liu, look at these two children, they seem to be getting along quite well, don't they?" This was Aunt Xu's voice, full of laughter.

"Indeed, your Xu Ning is really good. He's cultured and steady." Liu's mother's tone was full of satisfaction.

"I think if the kids have no objections, we parents should start thinking about their next steps..."

"Yes, yes, that's what I meant too! These days everyone's advocating for new ways of doing things, but we can't neglect proper etiquette, can we? I wonder about your side..."

He Yuzhu heard everything clearly from the kitchen and thought to himself: Goodness, this is progressing too fast! They're already talking about marriage after just one formal blind date? Does that mean my little scheme is going to fall through?

Sure enough, the ensuing conversation completely confirmed his guess.

The two mothers actually started discussing the bride price, dowry, and even the general range of the wedding date right in front of the two parties involved!

The Xu family was well-off, and Xu Dahai was a transporter who was knowledgeable, straightforward, and never ambiguous about the bride price.

The Liu family seemed to be extremely satisfied with Xu Ning, and they did their best to make the dowry as presentable as possible.

The two hit it off immediately as they chatted.

Just then, the system interface in He Yuzhu's mind, which had been completely silent, suddenly flickered like a light bulb with a faulty connection, and then... disappeared!

[Ding, it has been detected that the blind date has reached an agreement to get married. The mission objective has been locked and the current mission is canceled.]

A cold, emotionless notification sounded in my mind.

He Yuzhu froze completely. Canceled? Just like that?

He subconsciously screamed in his mind, "System, bro? Stop messing around, give me another chance! Let's talk about it after we finish eating!"

No matter how he called out, his mind remained silent; it was as if the system had never existed.

"Looks-obsessed people can't have a house! Flash marriages can't have a house!" He muttered angrily, venting his frustration.