Courtyard House: Become Stronger Through Blind Dates

On the other side, He Yuzhu rubbed his temples as he walked, his mind a jumbled mess.

That dream last night...it felt so damn real!

"This is fucking bizarre..." He Yuzhu muttered under his breath, his steps unsteady as he walked toward Qianmen Street.

It was already 8:30 in the morning when we finally arrived at the Oriental Hotel.

He Yuzhu had just entered the back kitchen passage when he encountered Chef Chen.

Master Chen looked him up and down, puzzled, and said, "Zhu Zi, it's just a drink, why do you look like you've been drained of your life force by a female ghost!"

He Yuzhu forced a smile: "It's nothing, it's just that I drank a bit too much with them last night."

Master Chen grinned mischievously and said, "You young people are so reckless!"

"Those two lads, Jianguo and Weidong, sent someone to ask for leave first thing this morning. They said they drank too much last night and are still in bed unable to get up!"

He paused, then looked at He Yuzhu: "I thought you'd have to ask for leave too, but I didn't expect you to manage to come. You're much better than the other two!"

He Yuzhu gave a wry smile. His poor condition wasn't due to a hangover, but rather some fatigue.

"Alright, stop forcing yourself." Chef Chen waved his hand and pointed to a small door in the corner of the kitchen. "Go and rest in the lounge over there. There's no important banquet at noon today, but there's a small reception tonight and they've asked for your name."

"Well... thank you, Master Chen. I'm going to take a nap."

He Yuzhu didn't refuse any longer, thanked them, and walked towards the lounge.

Pushing open the door to the lounge, you'll find it's not large, with just a long wooden table, a few chairs, and a simple wooden bed against the wall covered with an old mattress.

He Yuzhu closed the door behind him, plopped down on the bed, and let out a long sigh of relief.

He took off his cotton-padded coat and draped it over the back of the chair, then collapsed onto the bed.

I closed my eyes, and those erotic memories from last night flooded back.

Burning bodies in the darkness, intertwined breaths, suppressed moans...

He Yuzhu immediately opened his eyes: "Stop, you can't think about it anymore!"

However, the more you try not to think about it, the clearer those images become.

"Damn it..."

He Yuzhu turned over in frustration, his back to the wall.

This is so abnormal... How could a dream be so real?

He reached up and touched his waist; the soreness felt so real.

He touched his chest again, vaguely remembering that he had been scratched.

He Yuzhu suddenly sat up, pulled open his collar, and looked down.

Sure enough, there were several faint red marks on her chest near her collarbone, as if she had been scratched by fingernails.

"My God..." He Yuzhu's head buzzed.

This...this could be...

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

He clearly came home alone last night, and the door was locked properly...

and many more......

He Yuzhu tried hard to recall, but his memory ended as soon as he opened the door to his home.

The door... was it left open?

"No way..." He Yuzhu's face turned extremely ugly.

He remembered the missing old bedsheets, the feeling of being hollowed out, and these inexplicable marks…

One suspicious point after another points to a possibility that sends chills down his spine.

"Could it be that last night... wasn't a dream?"

He Yuzhu felt like his CPU was about to burn out, but apart from those erotic dream fragments, he couldn't remember anything else.

He lay back down on the bed, stared at the ceiling, and began to analyze the situation rationally.

First, if it's true, who is the other party? Is it someone from inside the compound? Or someone from outside?

Second, if it's true, why did the other party come and go so quietly, taking the bed sheets with them?

Third, if it's true... does this mean I was "forced"?

Thinking of this, He Yuzhu's expression turned strange.

It seems like... we're not really at a disadvantage?

"Pah! What are you thinking!" He Yuzhu slapped himself. "What if it's a fat old lady..."

He tossed and turned, his thoughts becoming increasingly confused, until finally he simply gave up on thinking about it.

"Whatever, as long as it's not a fat old lady, I won't suffer any loss."

He Yuzhu muttered something in despair, pulled over an old cotton-padded coat left behind by someone, covered himself with it, and closed his eyes.

Perhaps he was too tired, or perhaps he was still hungover, because he soon fell into a deep sleep.

I slept very restlessly, with one bizarre dream after another.

In his dream, he returned to that sweltering night, someone pressed against him in the darkness, their warm breath brushing against his neck…

Suddenly, the scene in the dream changed; the face that should have been blurry gradually became clear, and it turned into Jia Zhangshi's large, fat face...

"A pillar? A pillar?"

He suddenly opened his eyes and saw that it was Master Chen standing by the bed, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

"What time is it?" He Yuzhu asked in a hoarse voice.

"It's two o'clock in the afternoon," Master Chen said with a smile. "I can tell you had a nightmare just now. How are you feeling? Are you feeling better?"

He Yuzhu sat up, feeling that his head was not hurting as much and that he had some strength back in his body.

"Much better, thank you, Master Chen," He Yuzhu said gratefully.

That was absolutely terrifying; I almost lost my innocence.

Master Chen pointed to the lunchbox on the table and said, "Alright, hurry up and get up and eat something. The lunch I left for you will get cold if you don't eat it soon."

He Yuzhu then realized he was hungry; his stomach was so empty he could have swallowed a cow.

He quickly got out of bed, opened his lunchbox, grabbed a steamed bun, and started eating.

Master Chen sat on the chair next to him, watching him wolf down his food, and laughed, "Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you."

"You young people, you drink like there's no tomorrow."

With his mouth full of food, He Yuzhu mumbled, "Next time... I won't drink like this next time."

Master Chen shook his head and said, "Alcohol is a good thing in a little bit, but too much can hurt your health! You're still young and don't know how to take care of yourselves. When you get to my age, you'll know how painful it is."

He Yuzhu nodded repeatedly, but in his heart he was thinking: Old Chen was probably right this morning, my body has been completely drained by that female benefactor…

After lunch, He Yuzhu felt much better.

He packed up his lunchbox and said to Master Chen, "Master Chen, I'm going to wash my face. I'll start work in a bit."

"No rush, the dinner table doesn't start until six o'clock, you can rest a bit more," Chef Chen waved his hand and said.

"Oh right, I almost forgot that Director Zhao came to see you this afternoon, but he didn't wake you up since you were asleep."

"Director Zhao wanted to see me?" He Yuzhu was taken aback. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, but judging from his expression, it must be good news," Master Chen said with a smile. "Go on, don't keep the boss waiting."

He Yuzhu responded and quickly went to the pool to wash his face with cold water, completely waking up.

He straightened his clothes and walked towards Zhao Dezhu's office.

He Yuzhu knocked on the office door as he approached it.

"Come in," came Zhao Dezhu's voice from inside.

He Yuzhu pushed open the door and saw Zhao Dezhu sitting behind his desk reading a newspaper with a smile on his face.

"Director Zhao, you wanted to see me?" He Yuzhu asked.

Zhao Dezhu looked up, saw it was him, and his smile widened: "Zhuzi's here, come in and sit down!"

He put down his newspaper, stepped out from behind the table, and patted He Yuzhu on the shoulder: "Not bad, kid, you've been keeping a low profile!"

He Yuzhu was completely bewildered by what he said: "Director Zhao, what are you saying...?"

"Still playing dumb with me?" Zhao Dezhu picked up the newspaper on the table and handed it to him. "Look, you're in the newspaper!"

He Yuzhu took the newspaper and saw an article at the bottom of the front page titled: "Young Chefs Show Their Talents, Traditional Skills Have a New Voice - A Profile of He Yuzhu, a Young Chef at Dongfang Hotel".

The article was short, about seven or eight hundred words, and included a photo of him in a chef's uniform in front of the stove, which was probably taken by Zhou Xiaobai during the interview that day.