Courtyard House: New Life, New Silly Zhu

He Yuzhu's movements were quick and steady, so Jia Dongxu didn't see them. However, he didn't care about such things; all he wanted to do now was find his master.

"Zhu, I'm different from you. You only have a younger sister, but I have a wife and a son now. I have to take care of them." Jia Dongxu's words made perfect sense.

"That's Jia Dongxu. You're married with children now, you're an adult, you should be in charge. You should save your breath," He Yuzhu echoed insincerely.

The main reason is that, in He Yuzhu's memory, his family was not very reliable.

One of the reasons Qin Huairu was able to marry into the Jia family was that they had been allocated land, and Qin Huairu, as a girl, received a share. Since marrying into the Jia family, she could go back to her hometown every year to fetch grain, so her family almost never needed to buy any.

But then the policy changed, and the land became collectively owned. Now they regret it, and the issuance of grain coupons a couple of years ago has only made things worse.

As the pillar of the family, Jia Dongxu did nothing at the time and let things develop as they pleased.

Some may feel sorry for Jia Dongxu, but the reality is that even after the land was taken away, Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu still tried to take advantage of the situation.

At that time, the neighborhood committee had already come to the courtyard to notify us that all those with rural household registrations would be required to change to urban household registrations regarding land issues.

The neighborhood committee specifically sought out Jia Dongxu, explained the pros and cons to him, and told him about the future policy changes. They asked him to persuade his wife and mother to transfer their household registration to the city and stop taking advantage of the government.

The policy at the time was to ensure that farmers could have enough to eat. But now, people like Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi are seizing land and then having their relatives and friends cultivate it so they can harvest the grain, while everyone else lives in the city.

The neighborhood committee had kindly persuaded Jia Dongxu, and he agreed on the spot. But after returning home, he immediately changed his mind after being told off by his mother and wife, showing no independent thought whatsoever.

The neighborhood committee would come every few days to try and persuade him, but Jia Dongxu just couldn't bring himself to transfer his mother's registration. And then nothing more was done. Once the grain coupons were issued, the entire grain supply was fixed.

They can eat whatever they want from the village, but the village won't give them anything because they didn't go back to farm. They don't get work points or grain, so they have to buy grain in the city.

But they were from the countryside and wouldn't have food coupons. So Jia Dongxu had to spend money to buy food coupons.

As a result, the family ended up eating very little, having to carefully budget their food every month.

Originally, Jia Dongxu, like his master, could buy meat dishes when there was meat available at the factory, unlike now where he can only eat vegetables.

So Jia Dongxu's current situation is purely because he didn't force his mother and wife to transfer their household registration to the city. Without urban household registration, they can only eat expensive grain and buy grain coupons.

He took the boxed lunch from He Yuzhu, along with two steamed buns, and ran to his master.

Just as they were about to start eating, Yi Zhonghai lowered his voice and said to Jia Dongxu, "Dongxu, Zhuzi is now the factory's cook. You shouldn't call him by his nickname anymore. You understand what I mean?"

There were quite a few people sitting around in the courtyard. Yi Zhonghai couldn't loudly tell Jia Dongxu what to do, so he could only lower his voice and whisper his advice.

Jia Dongxu, however, remained nonchalant: "Master, you're being too cautious. Sha Zhu and I have been close since childhood, what's wrong with calling him by his nickname?"

"Before he was in the factory, you could still call him that, since everyone around was familiar with him and you weren't the only one. But the problem is, he's just started working here now and is a regular worker. It's not appropriate for you to call him that now."

"What's wrong with that? My mother died, my father ran away, and I only have one younger sister. It's alright, Master, let's leave it at that. I'm starving, I'll eat first."

These words made Yi Zhonghai very uncomfortable. After all, what was the difference between Jia Dongxu and Zhu Zi? He had watched them grow up. In 49, Jia Dongxu's father died, and it was his mother who cried and begged him to take him as her apprentice.

Otherwise, what's the difference between their family situation and He Yuzhu's family situation?

It's truly despicable for someone to say such things now. But in the end, he's still my apprentice, so I can only sigh.

People always have to suffer losses before they learn to change, so Yi Zhonghai didn't say much. He just watched Jia Dongxu wolf down the bland cabbage soup and couldn't bear it, so he picked up a little meat from his bowl and put it into Jia Dongxu's bowl.

"Thank you, Master. This meat dish is so delicious!" Jia Dongxu was overjoyed to see his master put a piece of meat in his bowl, with a slice of meat on top. He thanked him profusely.

The entire steel rolling mill has three canteens, and each canteen serves a portion of the food. So, for the thousands of workers in the entire mill, all the food is sold out in just over an hour.

However, the cafeteria does have some advantages. For example, if there's any leftover soup or liquid in the food bowls, you don't need a ticket; you can just pour out whatever you need.

There's a little bit of oil in this soup.

There were some steamed buns in the basket, but they were small ones made from scraps, about two or three of them, and they cost money for one. However, it was still cheaper than buying regular steamed buns, and we could buy some to take home if someone in our family needed them.

"Master He, here's some soup. Where's your lunchbox? I'll pour it in for you." It was a kitchen helper who spoke.

He enthusiastically brought over the plate and asked He Yuzhu if he wanted some.

"No need, you're too kind. You can divide this among yourselves." He Yuzhu shook his head and refused.

If eating steamed buns in the morning to take advantage of public resources was to get along with them, then that's no longer necessary. This little bit of vegetable soup is truly a perk, and even if someone sees it, they won't say anything.

Besides, who is He Yuzhu? He's a master chef! More importantly, he's a time traveler with a cheat code.

While he was cooking, he casually scooped out a few spoonfuls and poured them directly into the lunchbox he kept in his space.

After all, having space means he can store things at any time, but it doesn't mean that the space can produce anything at any time.

He needs to be careful with everything and can't afford to waste anything, so he kept this dish.

However, the dish was slightly different from what he had imagined; what he really wanted to make was a private kitchen.

Unfortunately, at this time he had not yet made a name for himself in the cafeteria, and the leaders who actually made the decisions did not know him, so they had no intention of asking him to cook special meals for them.