Courtyard House: Become Stronger Through Blind Dates

Seeing that He Yuzhu was about to chase after him and kick him, Li Huaide quickly backed down, saying, "Hey, stop kicking me! I need to talk to you about something!"

He Yuzhu put down the two little ones who were wriggling in his arms, trying to get down, and then asked, "What could you possibly want from me?"

As soon as the two little ones landed, they imitated He Yuzhu's earlier action and kicked Li Huaide hard.

While dodging, Li Huaide said, "I heard you're doing procurement now? And you even got a large batch of wild boars for the city, is that true?"

He Yuzhu quickly pulled the two little ones away, saying irritably, "You already know all this, why are you asking me!"

"That's all hearsay; I'm here to verify it with you, the person involved."

"What? You've come here asking me to buy meat for you? We don't have wild boar, but I can get you some wild rabbit."

Li Huaide quickly replied, "It's not about that, but since you brought it up, it would be ungrateful of me to refuse!"

He Yuzhu asked in surprise, "Then why did you come to me?"

"If you go do the purchasing now, you'll have more time, right? My father-in-law is hosting a banquet for his friends in a few days, and I was having a hard time finding a chef. But as soon as he heard you had time, he immediately asked you to come and ask!"

After thinking it over, He Yuzhu decided to agree. After all, the other party had taken good care of He Daqing over the years, and had also helped a lot with Yi Zhonghai's matter. It was just a matter of a meal, and it wouldn't take much effort.

"Okay, do you want to make Tan Family Cuisine? Or Sichuan cuisine? Or Huaiyang cuisine?"

"That must be Tan Family Cuisine. You know, the day before yesterday, my father-in-law went to the Beijing Hotel for a meal of Tan Family Cuisine. When he came back, he told me that they had changed the head chef. A few of the main dishes were okay, but the rest of the dishes just didn't taste quite right."

He Yuzhu chuckled. When he was in the kitchen, he would replace the ingredients with those grown in his own space. The same quality ingredients would definitely taste different.

"That's just psychological. Master Peng is a national banquet chef, his skills are much better than mine. Haven't you seen that I've been demoted to purchasing now?" He Yuzhu said deliberately.

Li Huaide immediately spoke up in defense, saying, "Sigh, if you ask me, your restaurant's management is really despicable. Isn't this just kicking someone after they've served their purpose?"

He Yuzhu teased him deliberately, going along with his words, "That's right, it's a pity we have neither connections nor influence, so we can only pack our bags and leave!"

Li Huaide was genuinely angry at first, but then he suddenly remembered that He Yuzhu was Zhou Zhengming's son-in-law. How could that be considered having no background? He knew so many leaders; how could he be without connections?

He looked up at He Yuzhu and saw his amused expression. He said angrily, "You little brat, you're trying to mess with me here."

He Yuzhu laughed: "Haha, I was just going along with what you said!"

"You're a shrewd guy, I don't believe you'll get the short end of the stick!"

He Yuzhu shrugged and said, "How can I put it? He's the authentic successor of the Tan family cuisine. The Tan family cuisine has such a long history and heritage that I can't compare to alone."

"Take the National Day banquet for example. I'm the only chef in our restaurant who isn't on the list. I think if it weren't for my dad, I would probably be working at the Beijing Hotel a few years ago! Since I know I can't resist, I can only passively enjoy it."

Li Huaide sighed and said, "Sigh, it's really hard to get by anywhere!"

He Yuzhu didn't intend to continue the conversation and asked, "How's your factory doing now? I heard from my dad that you've won over all the key personnel that General Manager Lou left behind!"

Li Huaide became excited when he talked about this, and said proudly, "If my father-in-law hadn't told me not to go too far, I would have already sidelined Yang Weiguo! Now he is nominally in charge of production, but I have already infiltrated several workshops, and I know everything that happens."

"Awesome!" He Yuzhu didn't expect that his arrival would cause such a big change in the steel rolling mill. No wonder Minister Li always looked worried when he visited Yang Weiguo's home the last few times.

Li Huaide chuckled. Ever since He Yuzhu got married, he had developed a strange sense of identification with He Yuzhu and was always willing to share things with him.

"By the way, should you prepare the ingredients or should I?" He Yuzhu suddenly asked.

Li Huaide pulled a wad of banknotes from his pocket and said, "Professional matters should be left to professionals. Take these banknotes and use them for purchasing. If you need more, just let me know!"

He Yuzhu took the money and counted out sixty yuan, then returned the rest to Li Huaide: "Sixty yuan is enough. You're a big factory director, you certainly don't lack money. Consider this a small token of my appreciation!"

Knowing He Yuzhu's temperament, Li Huaide took the money directly and said with a smile, "Then I won't stand on ceremony with you. I'll have a car pick you up next Friday night."

"No need, I have my own car. Just give me the address!"

Li Huaide gave an address, then said goodbye, "I'll head back now. Don't forget Friday!"

"Why don't you have dinner here before you go back?" He Yuzhu asked.

"No, there's a lot going on at the factory right now. I was planning to tell you at noon and then head back, but I ended up waiting for you until now."

He Yuzhu saw him to the door, and just as he was about to go back inside, Li Huaide rolled down the window and called out, "By the way, Zhuzi! When are you going to get that rabbit you mentioned?"

He Yuzhu was taken aback, then said helplessly, "Fine, I owe you. I'll bring it to you tomorrow!"

"Sure, the more the merrier! Our factory is afraid of everything, except too much meat."

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That evening, as soon as Zhou Xiaobai got home, he pulled He Yuzhu aside and asked him about the situation in Xiaoli Village.

He Yuzhu told her the whole story from beginning to end, and said, "After things have been dealt with over there in a few days, I'll take you there. You can then tell the readers about their current situation and put their minds at ease."

Zhou Xiaobai wasn't one to be rigid, and immediately said, "Okay! But I have a feeling something's not quite right!"

"Something's not right?" He Yuzhu asked, puzzled.

Zhou Xiaobai thought for a moment and said, "You just said that so much grain was only found at the Party Secretary's house, and nothing was found at the other village cadres' houses. That's completely unreasonable!"

He Yuzhu cursed himself for being too talkative, and tried to gloss over the matter by saying, "Who knows? I only heard about these things from the county head and Secretary Li, but they didn't go into details."

Zhou Xiaobai looked He Yuzhu up and down, then suddenly grabbed He Yuzhu's ear and said, "Tell me, what are you hiding?"

He Yuzhu immediately begged for forgiveness, saying, "I'm innocent! I ran into Li Laosan and Li Xu before I even entered the village last night. Then I drove them to the town clinic. After that, I called my dad at dawn, and I didn't participate in anything after that. What can I possibly be hiding?"

"real?"

"It really is, even more real than real gold!" He Yuzhu assured him, holding up three fingers.

Zhou Xiaobai suddenly complained, "Sigh, it's all your fault for not taking me. Otherwise, I would have definitely been able to dig up more news if I had gone into the village with you."

He Yuzhu hugged Zhou Xiaobai and comforted her, "Sigh, who knew that Li Laosan would actually rescue them? If I had known there was no danger, I definitely would have taken you with me!"