Courtyard House: New Life, New Silly Zhu

"Uncle, I'm just a cook. What are you thinking? Alright, Uncle, I'm not going to argue with you anymore. Yushui is still waiting for me at home."

I was too lazy to argue with the Third Uncle tonight, so I just left after saying that.

Upon arriving at the central courtyard, I saw that the room lights were on, and the lights in the side rooms were not yet on, so I knew that Yu Shui was still waiting in the room.

It feels really nice to have family waiting for you.

Pushing open the door, I saw He Yushui sitting on the table with a book in her hand, nodding her head.

"Rain, Rain?" He Yuzhu gently shook He Yushui's shoulder.

He Yushui suddenly woke up with a start, turned her head and saw that her brother had returned. She quickly got up and said, "Brother, you're back. Have you eaten? I made some steamed buns, and they're still warming up on the stove."

"I've already eaten, but I brought back some good stuff." He Yuzhu mysteriously took out the lunchbox.

He Yushui was initially puzzled, but when she saw her brother take out a lunchbox, she understood.

"Brother, what's so strange about that? Didn't Dad often bring lunchboxes home back then?" He Yushui said with a hint of disdain, but her movements were still very nimble.

The rice was placed on the stove, and hot steamed buns were brought over, along with two pairs of chopsticks.

"Brother, is the food in the lunchbox no longer hot? Give it to me, I'll heat it up." After saying that, He Yushui reached out to take the lunchbox.

When she touched the lunchbox, she found it was still warm and looked at her brother with some confusion.

"Brother, why is this lunchbox still warm?" Back when he was little, every time He Daqing brought a lunchbox home, no matter what the weather was like, it would be completely cold by the time he got home.

Hearing this, He Yuzhu smiled slightly and explained, "I had been keeping them in my bag, and all I was carrying were empty lunchboxes."

In reality, it's just that the lunchbox was placed in the space, since the space is quite functional.

Hearing her brother's explanation, He Yushui's clever little mind immediately understood, "Brother, is it the third uncle in the front yard?"

"Yushui is so clever. When I first started working, my third uncle came to me and looked at my lunchbox. So ever since then, I've always carried my lunchbox empty in my hand; I put it in my bag instead." As she spoke, He Yuzhu picked up another lunchbox and waved it in front of her.

He Yushui nodded: "That's how you should be, brother. We've just started to get better off, we can't let anyone find fault with us."

"Hmm? Rain, did someone say something?" He Yuzhu sensed something was wrong when He Yushui said that.

"It's nothing, I just overheard that Jia Zhangshi from next door muttering something about us eating alone. But it's alright, as long as we're careful." After saying that, He Yushui's eyes turned to the food. "Brother, what's in this lunchbox?"

Hearing that it was Jia Zhangshi from next door, He Yuzhu felt a little unhappy, but at this moment, eating was the most important thing.

"Guess what this dish is?" He Yuzhu didn't try to be mysterious and simply opened the lunchbox.

"Meat? How come there's so much meat?" He Yushui asked in surprise.

"Alright, looks like you still didn't recognize it. This is Northeastern cuisine. Try it and see how it tastes." Seeing that He Yushui was only focused on the meat, he stopped teasing her.

"Mmm, delicious. Why is it sweet and sour?" He Yushui picked up a piece with her chopsticks and tasted it, her eyes shining.

Girls also really like these sweet and sour dishes, especially girls like He Yushui.

"Eat more if you like it. This is sweet and sour pork." He Yuzhu said with a smile as he introduced the dish He Yushui had picked up with her chopsticks.

It's a pity they didn't have pork knuckle; otherwise, it would have been even better.

"Brother, will bringing back so much meat from the factory have any effect on you? Maybe we shouldn't bring it next time," He Yushui said, somewhat worried about her brother.

He Yushui's words also reminded He Yuzhu that he should be more careful next time, or rather, think of a way to get his lunchbox back in a reasonable manner.

"You don't need to worry about that, I have my own way of handling it."

Seeing her brother's confident demeanor, He Yushui nodded and continued eating her food.

He waited until He Yushui finished eating the meat in her lunchbox before saying to her, "Yushui, don't wash the lunchbox tonight, so that others won't find out."

He Yushui smiled and nodded, then went straight back to her side room.

Lying in my bed, rubbing my full belly, I felt a great sense of satisfaction.

No longer do we have to live a life of irregular eating habits, like before.

Tonight, I'm destined to have no dreams!

The next morning, He Yuzhu got up very early.

After a long day, I woke up feeling completely refreshed.

Seeing that He Yushui hadn't gotten up yet, He Yuzhu quickly grabbed yesterday's lunchbox, went out to wash it, added some water, cooked some porridge, and put two steamed buns on top.

Then He Yuzhu walked to He Yushui's door, knocked on the window, and waited for He Yushui to answer from inside the room before he staggered toward the steel rolling mill.

It's still quite early today. Yi Zhonghai and the others only got up and washed up after He Yuzhu set off.

Facing the rising sun, He Yuzhu arrived at the third canteen.

"Master He, you're here really early today."

"I arrived early, but you're not late either."

"Master He is here!"

"Coming, coming! You're not enthusiastic about eating, there's something wrong with your thinking. Aunt Zhang, give me a steamed bun."

He Yuzhu walked into the cafeteria with his hands behind his back, greeted a few familiar faces, and then grabbed a steamed bun, which he put in his mouth and started eating.

He had only been in the cafeteria for two or three days, but the third cafeteria was already vaguely taking him as its leader.

After all, none of the other chefs in the entire cafeteria have He Yuzhu's culinary skills.

In the cafeteria, having culinary skills is all it takes to gain recognition from others; it's that simple and straightforward.

He Yuzhu casually took out a pickled vegetable dumpling from the vegetable jar in the canteen. These pickled vegetable dumplings were made by the chefs who cooked in large batches, just to make things convenient for everyone.

To be fair, these pickled vegetable dumplings aren't very tasty; they're far too salty, and they come in clumps. You have to cut them into slices before you can eat them.

Just as He Yuzhu was eating the steamed buns, the kitchen staff gradually arrived.

The breakfast chefs can also tidy up and prepare to leave work at this time.

As a large steel rolling mill with thousands of employees, the canteen usually operates on a three-shift system. However, it typically only sells steamed buns in the morning, not in the evening, due to insufficient production capacity. The so-called three-shift system is not actually implemented; it's just a formality.

At this moment, the kitchen helper had already started chopping potatoes on the cutting board.

Yesterday I used radishes, but today I'll use potatoes instead.

He Yuzhu was sitting there, but he felt he couldn't just sit idly by; he still needed to practice his skills.

So he picked up a potato from the side and started practicing his basic skills. However, he cut potatoes differently from the other kitchen helpers; he cut them into strips, while the other kitchen helpers cut them into chunks.