Courtyard House: My Hidden Wheat Seeds Caused a National Sensation

When Li Jianye returned to his courtyard, it was already nearly dusk.

He stood in front of the courtyard gate, his gaze falling on the lock—the brass lock was intact and the latch was tightly closed.

A slight smile played on his lips as he thought to himself: It's truly peaceful without that old hag causing trouble.

He pushed open the door and entered the house, placing his belongings on the table. He then said gently to Delilah, who was tidying up, "You keep tidying up. I'm going out to see the driver off and buy some rice and other necessities."

As we passed through the courtyard, the crowd had dispersed, leaving only two or three women whispering by the well.

Xu Damao was walking towards them from the opposite direction. As soon as he saw Li Jianye, he raised his hand and said, "Jianye! How have you been these days?"

"Things went fairly smoothly."

Li Jianye nodded with a smile, "I heard a commotion in the courtyard just now, what happened this time?"

"unlucky!"

Xu Damao slapped his thigh, "Someone stole my speckled chickens from the backyard! It must have been some nosy person in the yard; they're checking every house right now!"

"The chicken is missing?"

Li Jianye's eyebrows twitched slightly, a hint of surprise flashing through his mind.

He vaguely remembered this matter, but he did not expect it to happen so many years earlier.

"If the people in the courtyard are dishonest... it's most likely the Jia family's mother and son."

Why don't you pretend to have found some clues and say you're going to report it to the authorities? Give him a scare, and you're sure to get the truth out of him.

"Brilliant!"

Xu Damao's eyes lit up, and he patted Li Jianye on the shoulder heavily. "You're the one with the best ideas! Thanks, brother, I'll treat you to drinks tomorrow!"

After saying that, he didn't care about Lou Xiao'e, who was still standing there in a daze, and turned around and strode towards the east wing.

Li Jianye nodded slightly to Lou Xiao'e and went straight to the front yard.

Now, having received the guidance, Xu Damao was filled with rage and rushed into the Jia family's house.

Looking up, I saw Yi Zhonghai sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), whispering something to Jia Dongxu.

Upon seeing him barge in, the two of them immediately fell silent.

"It's perfect that you're here, sir!"

Xu Damao stood with his hands on his hips inside the threshold. "I've found the evidence! The Jia family is the one who stole the chickens! If they don't give me an explanation today, I'm going to the police station to report it right now!"

Jia Dongxu's face turned pale instantly, and he blurted out, "You're talking nonsense! I buried the chicken feathers long ago—"

He suddenly stopped mid-sentence, frozen in place.

"You bastard, Jia Dongxu!"

Xu Damao flew into a rage and rolled up his sleeves to pounce on him, but Yi Zhonghai grabbed his arm.

"Da Mao! Fighting won't solve anything!"

Yi Zhonghai said in a deep voice, turning to glare at Jia Dongxu, his eyes filled with sorrow and disappointment, "Dongxu, since you really did it, you have to take responsibility for it."

Jia Dongxu shrank back and said awkwardly, "That chicken... I told you to stew it."

"Can I... I'll pay you back?"

"Losing money?"

Xu Damao sneered, "Don't you know what the market is like these days? Grain coupons have gone up to 2.5 yuan a pound! How precious is a laying hen? Fifty yuan! If you're short even a penny, we'll see you at the police station!"

"Fifty it is..."

Jia Dongxu muttered to himself, then suddenly looked up at Yi Zhonghai, "But I can't save much money cleaning toilets these days."

"Sir, could you put this under me first?"

Yi Zhonghai was stunned.

Xu Damao immediately turned to him: "Uncle, look at this..."

Yi Zhonghai closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

"Come on, let's go get the money."

He stood up, didn't look at Jia Dongxu again, and stepped out the door with his hands behind his back.

As dusk deepened, dim yellow light shone from the windows of every household.

Li Jianye, carrying a bag of rice and an oil bottle, turned back from the alley entrance and heard Qin Huairu's low sobbing coming from the Jia family's house, mixed with Jia Zhangshi's sharp cursing.

He shook his head and pushed open the gate to his own courtyard.

The room has been tidied up.

Delisilin was leaning the last broom against the corner of the wall when she saw him return, and she looked up at him with her clear eyes.

The soft glow of the kerosene lamp spread out, turning the stray hairs around her face a warm gold.

"Everything is ready."

Li Jianye put down his things and said gently, "From now on, this will be our home."

The moonlight was just rising outside the window, quietly enveloping the courtyard house.

The faint sound of cursing could still be heard coming from the east wing, while in the small courtyard to the west, only the gentle, steady bubbling of water from the kettle on the stove could be heard.

The dim light in Yi Zhonghai's eyes did not escape Jia Dongxu's notice.

That gaze pierced Jia Dongxu's heart like fine needles, stirring up a wave of bitter guilt.

He prided himself on being filial, so how could he allow his master to show such an expression? He almost immediately called out to the person who was about to turn around.

"Da Mao, wait a minute."

Jia Dongxu straightened his sleeves, his tone slow and deep, "I won't pay the money back."

Consider it an obligation on my part to repay you with two laying hens by this time next year.

"Are you treating me like a three-year-old?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Damao turned his head, his eyebrows raised. "Can chicken prices be the same as in normal years? If the disaster eases next year, won't I be at a disadvantage?"

"But what if next year is the same, or even more difficult?"

Jia Dongxu remained calm and unhurried, pulling out a fan from some unknown corner. The fan, its feathers broken and handle askew, was slowly shaken twice.

He lowered his voice, as if he were telling a secret, "These disasters are always easy to start but hard to resolve."

This year, some families in the countryside have been eating tree bark and digging up grass roots, and even the grain saved for seed has been consumed.

Without seeds, what will grow in the fields next year? How can we even talk about a harvest?

He paused, his fan resting in front of his chest, and glanced sideways at Xu Damao: "So? Do you dare to bet this time?"

Xu Damao was stunned.

A gust of wind swept through the hall, making the back of his neck feel cold.

He often went to the countryside and naturally saw those empty grain jars and the despairing faces of the farmers.

Jia Dongxu's words hit the nail on the head.

Yes, without seeds, the land dies.

If the land dies, will there be any good days next year?

"...Fine, I'll bet!"

Xu Damao steeled his resolve and stomped his foot heavily.

This deal seems like a sure way to lose money.

"We need to set a deadline."

How about next New Year's Eve?

"Too tight."

Jia Dongxu shook his head, "Next October."

On National Day.

"We need three! And all of them must be hens that lay eggs!"

"become."

Jia Dongxu answered crisply and decisively, as if he had been waiting for these words.

"Let's put it in writing! We need this old man to be our guarantor!"

"nature."

Before Yi Zhonghai could respond, Jia Dongxu had already found paper and pen and wrote down the IOU in ink.

"Master, please sign your name as a witness."

Yi Zhonghai stared intently at his apprentice for a moment before finally picking up his pen and signing his name.

"Alright, Jia Dongxu, I'll make a note of this for now."

Xu Damao carefully folded the note and put it in his pocket, a smile spreading across his face as he left, satisfied.

As soon as they left the hospital, Yi Zhonghai turned to Jia Dongxu, his brow furrowed: "Dongxu, what are you really planning? If next year is another year of disaster, where are you going to find these three chickens?"

Not only Yi Zhonghai, but also Qin Huairu and Banggeng, who were clutching her clothes, looked up, their eyes full of confusion.

"master,"

Jia Dongxu suddenly grinned, a sly smile in his eyes. "When the time comes, we can just find an excuse to fool him, right? For example... promise to return the nine to him."

Besides, don't you know what kind of person Xu Damao is? He's a muddle-headed person who gets drunk at the sight of alcohol.

"I'll ask Sha Zhu for a favor. While he's completely drunk, we can retrieve that agreement."

"Oh?"

Yi Zhonghai's eyes lit up suddenly, and an overwhelming sense of joy welled up in his heart.

He carefully examined his usually honest and simple apprentice and suddenly realized that the man had somehow become enlightened and had such intricate thoughts.

"well!"

Yi Zhonghai raised his hand and patted Jia Dongxu's shoulder, the force carrying approval, "Dongxu, you didn't let your master suffer in vain."

"hey-hey……"

Jia Dongxu was beaming with joy upon receiving the praise.

He shook the tattered feather fan again, raised his chin slightly, and squinted his eyes as if intoxicated: "Master, I can now finally taste a bit of the feeling of 'strategizing'."

That ability to use your brain to confuse people is truly... exhilarating!

Jia Dongxu's face was flushed, and his voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement: "From now on, I'll be the Crouching Dragon of this courtyard! Once I find a Phoenix Chick, with the Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick together, Master, with the two of us assisting you, what great things could you possibly worry about? Ah, right—"

He abruptly changed the subject, as if suddenly remembering a crucial detail. His gaze swept around the room before finally settling on Banggeng, who was playing around in a daze.

He strode forward, scooped up the child, and held him directly in front of Yi Zhonghai, his tone almost eager, like he was offering a treasure: "Master! Look, we're missing a 'prop' to win people's hearts! Here, take it, smash it!"

Banggeng blinked blankly in his hand.

Qin Huairu, who was standing to the side, was first stunned, and then her face was full of astonishment.

Yi Zhonghai, on the other hand, froze completely in place, with veins throbbing faintly on his forehead.

Looking at his apprentice's enthusiastic expression, eagerly awaiting praise, a deep sense of powerlessness instantly overwhelmed him.

This apprentice... is truly an inexhaustible source of "surprises".

what.

Yi Zhonghai raised his hand and rubbed his temples hard, his regretful whisper almost squeezed out between clenched teeth: "If I had known this would happen, I should have thrown his copy of 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' into the stove and burned it back then..."

……

When Li Jianye pushed his bicycle back to the courtyard, the handlebars and front beam were covered with all kinds of ingredients: bulging bags of rice and flour, bright green vegetables, and mutton wrapped in oil paper, which faintly exuded a muttony aroma.

The courtyard gate was quiet, and Yan Bugui, who usually stood guard there, was nowhere to be seen.

Slightly surprised, he glanced at the Yan family's window and vaguely saw the family eating around the table. He then understood, looked away, and walked straight towards his own house.

Pushing open the door, I saw Delilah was wiping the table carefully with her sleeves rolled up. Hearing the noise, she looked up, her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat that glistened in the twilight.

"Xiao Di, stop what you're doing."

Li Jianye put down his things and said gently, "No need to cook dinner, I brought some food back."

Delilah straightened up, gently wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, and smiled sweetly: "Didn't I buy everything? Let me cook it. Don't you trust my skills? I want you to try it again."

"Not today."

Li Jianye shook his head, a smile in his eyes, "Today is a good day, worth celebrating."

Wait for me a moment.

As he spoke, he turned around, grabbed a few empty glass bottles and a small pot, and hurriedly left.

He strolled leisurely through the nearby alleys, found a quiet, deserted corner, and a thought began to stir in his mind.

A moment later, he had a lot more things in his hands: chewy handmade noodles, a large plate of chicken with rich broth and a fragrant aroma, and a skewer of grilled lamb with a good mix of lean and fatty meat, sprinkled with cumin and chili powder.

They then brought back some purple-red grapes from the frontier and quickly brewed them into a bottle of mellow wine.

Finally, a small cake was carefully made using flour, eggs, fresh raspberries, goat milk, and whipped cream, and then carefully packed into a box woven from wheat straw.

Carrying these "changes"

After enjoying the delicious food, he quickly returned home.

"Xiao Di, the delicious food is here!"

Delilah came out to greet him, took the things from his hands, and looked at them one by one, her eyes growing brighter and brighter: "What are all these? Wow! Big plate chicken! And lamb skewers! The aroma..."

She couldn't help but sniff, a familiar and comforting rich fragrance penetrating her heart and making her eyes slightly warm.

He prepared these things specially, clearly because he remembered the tastes she had eaten since childhood.

"And this, homemade wine."

Li Jianye put the wine bottle away and then mysteriously placed the straw box in a corner of the cabinet. "We'll open this little surprise after we've eaten and drunk our fill."

The two of them worked together and quickly set the food on the table, pouring amber wine into glasses.

Looking at the table full of dishes that pleased her, Delilah felt a warm glow in her heart.

She was already a little hungry, and he so thoughtfully noticed it and prepared all of this without making a sound.

"My husband, you are so good to me."

She said softly.