Courtyard House: Become Stronger Through Blind Dates

The next morning, He Yuzhu told Wang Shuhua that he was going out to deliver some goods, and then drove out of the alley.

He turned a corner and found a secluded alley. When no one was around, he released three hundred wild rabbits from his spatial storage into the back of the truck before driving towards the steel mill.

As soon as the car came to a stop at the gate of the steel rolling mill, the security guard in the guardhouse poked half his head out.

He Yuzhu rolled down the car window, but before he could speak, the security guard recognized him: "Master He, you've arrived! Director Li instructed that you can go straight in."

He Yuzhu nodded to him, shifted gears, and slowly drove the car into the factory area.

He parked his car in the open space behind the cafeteria, and as soon as he got out, he saw Li Huaide jogging towards him from the direction of the office building.

"Zhu Zi, you're here really early!" Li Huaide said, opening the back door and exclaiming in surprise, "Wow, these rabbits are so fat!"

He Yuzhu smiled and said, "There are three hundred in total. Just pay the market price!"

Li Huaide waved to a passing cafeteria employee behind him: "Call Director He out here."

A moment later, He Daqing jogged out of the side door of the canteen. He was clearly taken aback when he saw He Yuzhu: "Zhuzi? What are you doing at the factory so early in the morning?"

He Yuzhu pointed to the wild rabbits in the carriage and said, "Send some goods to the factory."

He Daqing leaned closer to take a look and exclaimed in surprise, "So many wild rabbits?"

After saying that, he opened the car door, picked up a wild rabbit, weighed it in his hand, looked at its fur, and turned to Li Huaide, saying, "Director Li, this wild rabbit is really good. It's plump and its fur is excellent."

"This meat can be braised, stir-fried, or made into preserved rabbit. The fur, if properly processed, can also be given to employees as a perk."

Li Huaide was overjoyed upon hearing this and urged, "Then what are we waiting for? Quickly arrange for someone to weigh it and put it into storage!"

He Daqing gave a shout, and seven or eight more kitchen helpers came out of the canteen, packed the bags, and started moving them into the warehouse.

He Yuzhu watched them work from the side. Li Huaide offered him a cigarette, but he waved it away. Li Huaide lit it himself.

After weighing the three hundred wild rabbits, they totaled 1,780 jin (approximately 635 kg).

Li Huaide shouted to the bookkeeper standing at the warehouse entrance, "Calculate it at 45 cents and give Master He a receipt."

"Isn't this too high?" He Yuzhu asked.

Li Huaide waved his hand and said, "Not high. You don't know our factory's purchasing staff. They can't get the goods, but they dare to offer high prices. They can quote me 50 cents a pound for this wild rabbit."

He Yuzhu didn't say anything after hearing this, but he was thinking that he could send more to the steel mill in the future. After all, wild rabbits alone were 10 cents more expensive per pound than those at the Beijing Hotel, not to mention other meats.

The man responded and quickly handed the calculated receipt to Li Huaide.

Li Huaide said to He Yuzhu, "Come on, I'll take you to the finance office to collect the money now."

He Yuzhu greeted He Daqing and then followed him.

"Zhu Zi, I know you have a lot of purchasing tasks, but if there are any leftovers, you have to think of your brother. I'll definitely give you a high price," Li Huaide said as they walked.

He Yuzhu readily agreed, "Okay, I'll send you any leftovers each month from now on."

Li Huaide complained, "Why don't you get a telephone installed at your house? It's such a hassle to contact you every time."

He Yuzhu laughed and said, "My dad did mention it once, but I was working at a restaurant and didn't need it, so I didn't bother to get one!"

"Then you should hurry up and find a way to get one. It will be easier to contact each other with a phone."

He Yuzhu remained silent, planning to go back to the restaurant to ask if he could install one at home under the restaurant's name.

Upon arriving at the finance office, Li Huaide had someone directly give the money to He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu didn't count them and just stuffed them all into his pocket.

Li Huaide came out of the finance office and said, "Zhu Zi, come to my office for some tea. We'll have lunch here!"

He Yuzhu waved his hand: "No, I have things to do at home, so there's no need for us to be so polite!"

Li Huaide didn't insist, and after seeing him to the car, reminded him, "Don't forget about Friday!"

He Yuzhu nodded, shifted gears, released the clutch, and the truck slowly drove out of the steel rolling mill gate.

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For the next few months, He Yuzhu had a complete break from work.

He delivers meat to the Beijing Hotel once a month on the first day, and also delivers a batch to the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives at a fixed time. He basically doesn't need to go out at other times.

With more free time, he picked up an idea he had before.

In these days, resources are scarce, and people in both cities and the countryside are figuring out how to fill their stomachs with limited supplies.

He Yuzhu had knowledge of "substitute foods" from later generations in his mind. He knew that things like corn cobs, sweet potato vines, elm bark, and acorns could be eaten, but you had to be careful about how you ate them, otherwise they would be bitter and astringent and could easily cause health problems.

He spent three days organizing the processing methods from his memory one by one, and wrote a document on how to detoxify and grind coarse and hard-to-swallow "substitute foods" such as corn cobs, sweet potato vines, elm bark, and acorns, and make them into slightly more palatable cornbread or porridge.

He wrote these steps down as simply as possible, even clearly indicating the proportions.

After the article was published in the supplement of Zhou Xiaobai's newspaper, the response was unexpectedly good, and several newspapers reprinted it.

He Yuzhu got interested and then wrote another article specifically targeting the various canteens at that time.

Nowadays, those large canteens generally lack oil and meat, and the ingredients are of poor quality, so the dishes they make are terribly unpalatable! He broke down his culinary knowledge and taught them how to stir-fry delicious dishes in a large iron wok even with very little oil and inferior ingredients.

However, that article received a much worse response than the previous one, with only a few readers sending thank-you notes.

He Yuzhu didn't care. He never expected to become famous through this. He was just doing it because he was bored and wanted to find something to do.

Recently, he has started organizing methods for pickling vegetables and making sauces again, and has filled most of the manuscript. He plans to ask Zhou Xiaobai to take a look when she has time, and then send it to the newspaper for publication.

That evening, the family was having dinner when someone suddenly banged on the gate.

He Yuzhu put down his chopsticks and got up to open the door.

"Pillar...Pillar-kun...Something terrible has happened!"

Upon seeing that it was Bai Qiang, He Yuzhu asked, "Slow down, what happened?"

Bai Qiang paused for a moment, then said, "Uncle He, my mother, and the others are fighting with the Xu family. You should go and see!"

He Yuzhu frowned: "What happened? What caused the fight?"

Bai Qiang shook his head and urged, "I don't know either. When I got home, they were already fighting. Brother Zhu, you should go check it out!"