Chapter 14: Qin Huairu Comes to Terms

"First Elder, you were the one who gave Qin Huairu corn flour in the middle of the night, right? And you too, Third Elder! In a moment, Qin Huairu is going to go find you to borrow money; does that all count as illicit relations between a man and a woman too?!"

He Yuzhu grabbed the two of them and wouldn't let go; this label could not be worn recklessly, as in these special times, this pot of filth could ruin one's entire life.

"He is slandering me, he is slandering me!" Third Elder shouted incessantly, trembling with rage.

The Captain frowned: "No matter how much you talk, without evidence, you still have to come back with us!"

"There is, there is evidence, Captain, don't be anxious." Qin Huairu stepped forward ahead of He Yuzhu and whispered a few words of explanation about her relative arriving, and the Captain's expression instantly turned ugly.

However, the Captain was not so easily fooled; he turned his head and muttered a few words to the three elders, and then Qin Huairu was led away by the three matrons.

He Yuzhu felt a sense of relief in his heart and looked at Qin Huairu with some gratitude, but then he thought, he had been sleeping perfectly well and was almost implicated by her; what the hell was he grateful for?

"Comrade He Yuzhu, sit down. Let's wait a while. I will not wrong any good person, and I will absolutely not let any bad person go!"

The Captain waved his hand with some annoyance, drove everyone out of the room, and sat face-to-face with He Yuzhu inside.

"What are you staring at me for?" Seeing the Captain staring straight at him, He Yuzhu touched his stubbly face with some suspicion.

The Captain smiled; He Yuzhu, after all, was known throughout the Rolling Mill as Shazhu, with a foul temper and a foul mouth, but his cooking was peerless. If he could help it, he didn't want to offend him.

"Master He, you have good fortune. Be careful of Xu Damao. Get some rest early; if I have time during the day, I'll invite you for tea." Shaking his head, the Captain didn't wait for the results to come out, left behind this sentence, and walked out alone, leaving He Yuzhu completely bewildered.

It was true that the Captain wanted to earn merit, and it was also true that he didn't want to offend He Yuzhu. If there was indeed solid evidence, then he would handle it according to official procedure.

But seeing the two of them looking so certain, he wouldn't be earning any merit tonight, so he might as well do a favor.

Because his relative was getting married soon, if he could invite He Yuzhu to cook a banquet, that would be incredibly prestigious.

To return to the other side, the three matrons carefully checked, and it was true that Qin Huairu's relative had arrived; she hadn't lied. The crowd then glared at Xu Damao in turn with disappointment before returning to their respective homes.

In this era, there were only so many tricks; who would have thought that thing could even be stuffed into one's mouth.

Watching the crowd disperse, He Yuzhu stretched his wrists and neck, then walked out.

"Hey, hey, hey, Shazhu, what are you doing? Don't come over here!"

In an instant, Xu Damao's screams came from the Back Yard.

After a while, He Yuzhu walked back, rubbing his fists with a calm and composed air.

Wicked people need wicked people to grind them down; the ancients did not deceive me.

In a good mood, He Yuzhu lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Qin Huairu did not return again.

She busied herself for half the night, took a bath, and changed into a clean, beautiful set of clothes.

After carefully giving instructions to Xiao Dang and Huai Hua, in the dead of night, Qin Huairu slipped out of the courtyard alone in the dark.

He Yuzhu's remark that it wasn't about the money had awakened her, and the Captain's imposing manner made her realize the key to saving Bang Geng.

Once she left, she didn't return to the courtyard for several days.

Early in the morning, He Yuzhu woke up bleary-eyed and took the opportunity to "check in" in his sister's room.

"Check in!"

"Congratulations, you have successfully checked in and received Snow Cream Set x3!"

"Damn!" Looking at the three full sets of cosmetics, He Yuzhu complained, then took out one of them.

Looking at the facial cleanser, baby cream, lip balm, sunscreen, foundation, eyebrow pencil, and the rest of the full set of cosmetics, He Yuzhu speechlessy stuffed them into his sister's quilt.

He then took out the Kitchenware Set he had signed in for earlier and held it in his hand. Hey, it really lived up to being a system product; it was truly a good knife.

A cook knows if a knife is good as soon as they touch it. This set of knives was made of some unknown material; the blades had beautiful patterns, the edges were smooth and sharp, and they felt neither heavy nor light in the hand—just right.

After playing with the twenty-plus various knives one by one, He Yuzhu used a mesh bag to pack them up, thinking he needed a better cloth wrap, and then closed the door.

He had hoped to sign in for some money to fix the house, but now this—just giving him useless things.

Walking into the courtyard, He Yuzhu, who had originally intended to buy a lock, sighed; there was no need to buy a lock now.

The door was already burned through, and the White-eyed Wolf Thief Saint Jia Bang Geng had been caught; what the hell was he buying a lock for?

Humming a tune from "Wisdom Battle" all the way, He Yuzhu headed toward the Rolling Mill.

Seeing the fried dough sticks, stewed offal, and mung bean milk on the road, He Yuzhu swallowed his saliva.

The house was burned, the money was borrowed away by Qin Huairu, and he still owed money to his apprentice Ma Hua. He had meant to help Ma Hua out, but ended up living more and more miserably; now his pockets were cleaner than his face. Sure enough, you can't touch a widow; whoever touches one gets bad luck, He Yuzhu kept grumbling to himself.

Enduring his hunger, he arrived at the kitchen and stir-fried two dishes haphazardly, finally filling his stomach.

"Master, where did you get this knife? It's really good." Ma Hua looked envious, holding a small carving knife in his hand, stroking it constantly, unable to bear letting go.

"What? You like it?" He Yuzhu took a sip of tea, spat out a tea stalk, and asked.

"Ah? I like it, I like it too much!" Ma Hua was stunned, and a wave of joy instantly filled his heart; could it be that Master...

"If you like it, just look at it a while longer."

"... Oh, alright, Master."

As the two finished speaking, Liu Lan walked in.

"Shazhu, the Factory Director is hosting guests today. This is the menu, take a look." As she spoke, Liu Lan handed over the menu with the dish names written on it, and casually picked up a cucumber, rubbed it, and was about to take a bite.

He Yuzhu hurriedly stopped her: "Wash it before you eat it, aren't you afraid of the dirt?"

Liu Lan was stunned, smiled, and answered with an "oh."

He Yuzhu clapped his hands, looked at the menu, turned, and handed it to Ma Hua: "Prepare the ingredients!"

"Coming right up, Master."

A table of four cold and four hot dishes—the hot dishes consisting of two meat and two vegetable dishes plus a soup—was quickly prepared by He Yuzhu. Furthermore, he had secretly used quite a bit of seasoning produced by the system, and the entire small kitchen was filled with a mouth-watering fragrance.

He Yuzhu served out the extra portions he had made and called out a few times; the people in the small kitchen all gathered around.

"Eat up, everyone come over, take some steamed buns, have some of the dishes to taste the flavor, and fill your bellies."

"Thank you, Master He."

"Thank you, Sha... no, wait, thank you Zhuzi."

At the back door where no one was paying attention, Pangzi looked at the crowd gorging themselves with a fierce expression, swallowing his saliva repeatedly, unable to understand why He Yuzhu hated him so much; just a while ago, he had clearly been quite good to him!

Could it be just because he himself did not know how to flatter like Ma Hua?

Pangzi fell into deep thought.

In the small private room, the Factory Director raised his glass: "The dishes are all here, let's have a taste, colleagues. Let me tell you, it is rumored that He Yuzhu's ancestors were Imperial Chefs; you can't taste this outside. His craft is getting better and better. Just smelling the aroma makes me impatient, haha, come, cheers!"

"Haha, me too, my mouth is watering," another director took up the conversation, also raising his glass.

The two guests laughed and echoed, and everyone drank it all in one gulp.

"Hiss! Delicious, delicious, more authentic than what I ate in the Shu region!" One of the guests tasted a bite of the dish and nodded repeatedly.

"I didn't expect you to have such a treasure hidden here, haha."

"Not at all, not at all, we have plenty of treasures in our factory. You should come visit more often when you have time. Come, let's have another drink."

"Cheers!"

Soon, the table of dishes was eaten clean by everyone. One of them picked his teeth: "The Big Leader has had a poor appetite lately. Do you think we could invite this master to cook a meal for him, and we can report on our work while we're at it?"

"Good, that's a good idea. Shall I ask for instructions in a moment?" The Factory Director nodded, his eyes shining brightly.

"Good!"