Chapter 27 Hosting a Banquet

"I don't know."

Yi Zhonghai shook his head, "Your mother and your wife, did they go shopping for groceries today?"

“Yes, we have discussed it. There are too many people in the courtyard, so each household will send a representative to come for the drinks.

There are more than 20 households in our courtyard, so we can just set up two tables."

When Jia Dongxu thought about making some money in the hospital soon, a smile appeared on his face again.

Yi Zhonghai nodded, "Okay, I will lend you the table when the time comes. Invite the head of each household, and you must toast him well and be a filial child."

"Got it, uncle!"

Jia Dongxu nodded, thinking about how much money he could make and how he could save some money by hosting the banquet.

He and his wife have already ordered a sewing machine, which will be delivered to the hospital tomorrow morning. Then Qin Huairu will be jealous...

Jia Dongxu felt better when he thought about it...

In the courtyard!

Yan Bugui had already run around the front and back yards, and the negotiations went smoothly. He was always fair in distributing things.

The total number of people in the courtyard and how much each household should pay were calculated exactly, leaving no room for error.

The only case left is the Intermediate Court. Mrs. Chen’s family has already been taken over and the money has been paid.

But there are still a few households that are difficult to deal with.

The aunt can't make the decision, she has to get Mr. Yi's approval.

At the He family, Li Zhiguo went to negotiate on his own, which involved free kitchen help.

At this time, Yan Bugui arrived at the next door of Jia's house. After entering the door, before he even opened his mouth, others took the initiative to ask him how much money he wanted to pay.

"Sister Sun, you are well-informed."

Yan Bugui took out his account book, looked at the calculated figures on it, and gave the person a price.

"Hey, how can I not be well-informed? Third uncle, let me tell you, the Jia family has been at home last night mumbling about how to trick us.

I heard it all when I passed by. Each family only allowed one person to go and set up two tables. I was thinking about taking the children and hiding away tomorrow."

Sun Erjie complained bitterly.

"What? Jia Zhang is so vicious."

Yan Bugui felt a little scared, then thought that Li Zhiguo was a bit bad, but the wedding was done openly, but one still had to be on guard against any tricks that might come up!
"That's right! But tomorrow we're going to Old Li's house, so we won't go to the Jia family.

Uncle, you have to prepare the food for tomorrow. My children haven’t eaten meat for a long time.”

Sun Erjie handed over the calculated money with some pain in her heart.

“Don’t worry about that. Li Zhiguo will make plans. He has gone to the factory to invite his fellow workers.

We collected the gifts from the workers and saved them for tomorrow night so that the people in our courtyard can have another meal. We made a profit from the gifts."

Yan Bugui was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. He had enough money, so he could buy more peanuts, melon seeds and the like. He kept a record of them and could just grab a handful and put them in his pocket whenever he had nothing to do.

Now everyone is paying for Li Zhiguo's banquet, and he can also get some small benefits from it.

"Second Sister Sun, I won't tell you more. I still have two more visits."

Yan Bugui put away the account book and left the house, just in time to see Jia Zhang and Chen Bihua coming back with things.

It's just a small amount of stuff, so it doesn't seem difficult to carry.

"Old Yan, since you are here, I won't come to look for you. Come here early tomorrow morning and help our Jia family be an accountant."

Jia Zhang said it as a matter of course.

"Not tomorrow. I have other things to do."

Yan Bugui turned and left, thinking that Li Zhiguo asked him to keep the accounts, since he had at least given him a fishing rod, and writing the invitations would be charged separately.

But the Jia family wants him to work for free. No way!

"No, Old Yan, why are you running away? Explain what you are saying clearly."

Jia Zhang chased for a few steps, but failed to catch up.

"This old Yan must be feeling sorry for the gift money. Bihua, let me tell you, the third uncle in our courtyard is a stingy old man. You have to be careful in your daily life."

After hearing this, Chen Bihua thought to herself, in the eyes of her mother-in-law, there was not a single good person in the courtyard.

"Mom, I see."

Chen Bihua came into the house carrying a cloth bag, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law put the things on the table.

Jia Zhang said distressedly: "Bihua, you just came to the city and don't know the rules. This morning, the meat in the market is expensive, 75 cents per pound.

Go there in the afternoon and buy some pork from the market for only 68 cents, so you can save money, right? "

Chen Bihua moved her lips, not knowing how to refute. The meat that was sold off the market was what others had picked out, and it was not fat anymore.

"With five pounds of meat and a chicken, we can make braised pork, stir-fried pork slices, or stew chicken with vermicelli. These are three main dishes.

Add cabbage, potatoes, and radishes, a total of six dishes, and the staple food is noodles.

Counting the daily necessities, two bottles of wine, and two packs of cigarettes, it's almost ten yuan. Five yuan per table is the standard, which is respectable."

This was all the money Jia Zhang had. The sewing machine was very expensive. She spent one hundred and seventy-five yuan and forty cents on it, which had already emptied the family's savings.

It is not easy to collect ten dollars for the wedding banquet, so we are counting on the donations from everyone in the hospital to make up the difference.

……

"Hey, Li Zhiguo, you're back. How are things going?"

Yan Bugui was waiting in the front yard, and when he saw someone coming back, he hurried over to greet him.

"Don't worry, Uncle San, we will definitely have five tables as promised. How is the situation on your side?"

Li Zhiguo parked his bicycle nearby and started asking questions.

"Except for the old man, the old lady, and the He family, all other households have been notified and the betrothal gifts have been collected.

You can go talk to Lao He yourself, it involves free kitchen help."

Yan Bugui pushed the frame of his glasses. He was very capable.

"Okay! I'll go right away."

Li Zhiguo was about to leave when he was suddenly called again.

"Li Zhiguo, I have found out that the Jia family is planning to..."

Yan Bugui immediately told the gossip.

Li Zhiguo frowned and said, "Mrs. Jia Zhang is too wicked. She only invited one representative from each household and only set up two tables. How could she come up with such an idea? Isn't it obvious that she is cheating people out of money?"

Yan Bugui thought to himself, you and Jia Zhang are birds of a feather.

"That's right, the Jia family's sewing machine has been ordered and will be delivered tomorrow. You can't let yourself be outdone.

But you have a bicycle, but you don’t know how to maintain it. Look, the steel bars are covered with mud.

Otherwise, you can leave your bike here, I'll clean it for you, and you can lend it to me for a ride."

Yan Bugui has wanted to buy a bicycle for a long time, but his salary is too low to afford it.

I am so envious of Li Zhiguo when I see him riding a bike every day.

"Okay, Uncle San, after you finish riding, help me tie a big red flower on the bike."

Li Zhiguo thought that someone could clean the car for free, which was fine.

"Big red flowers? No problem, I have plenty."

Yan Bugui is an elementary school teacher, so he doesn't need this kind of thing.

"Okay, I'll go to Lao He's first, and after we've negotiated, we'll discuss how to prepare the banquet for tomorrow."

Li Zhiguo left immediately. Others treated bicycles as treasures, but he treated them as tools.

"Oh, what a nice car this is, a Phoenix brand, it costs one hundred and sixty-eight fifty cents.

Let’s wait until tomorrow when we have money and buy Forever brand.”

Yan Bugui held the bicycle, touched it and looked around, looking envious.

Thinking that if I cleaned it now, it would get dirty when I rode it out later, it would be better to ride it back now and then clean it slowly. After a while, Yan Bugui rode his bicycle to the alley, feeling very happy.

"Uncle, did you buy a bicycle?"

Xu Damao came towards him. He had gone out with his master to show a movie today and would return to the theater after it was over.

"How can that be possible? This is Li Zhiguo's car. I borrowed it to practice."

Yan Bugui braked the car carefully, not wanting to damage it.

"No, can he lend you his car?"

Xu Damao was a little confused. He thought that the Third Uncle didn't have the ability to deal with that villain Li Zhiguo.

"Why not? Li Zhiguo is still a resident of the courtyard after all, and he especially respects me as his uncle."

Yan Bugui boasted for a while, then suddenly whispered, "We are temporarily on the same team with Li Zhiguo for the next two days, Damao, you will know when you get home."

"Uncle, why can't I understand what you are saying?"

Xu Damao was puzzled. Everything was fine when he went out in the morning, but how come he heard bad news when he came back in the afternoon? Could it be that Li Zhiguo was cheating him again?
"You'll understand when you get home. I'm in a hurry to practice driving, so I won't talk to you any more."

Yan Bugui planned to ride to Beixinqiao, show off to the old men he played chess with, and then come back.

"What's going on?"

Seeing that the people were running away, Xu Damao had no choice but to go back to the yard.

"Mom, is there something wrong in our yard?"

When Xu Damao returned home, he saw his sister was doing homework and his mother was already cooking.

"What could possibly happen?"

Xu's mother took out the fermented dough and steamed it. She didn't steam too much so that she could have two meals at Li's house tomorrow.

"Uncle just rode away with Li Zhiguo's bicycle. How can this not be considered a big deal?"

"Oh, you mean this. Old Yan is working as an accountant for someone. He must be riding that bike to do some work."

Xu's mother replied casually that she was already thinking about doing the same as Li Zhiguo when her son got married.

"What accountant? No, Li Zhiguo is going to hold a banquet. Where will he get the money?"

That's why people say Xu Damao is very smart and his thinking is divergent right away.

"He has no money, so all the residents in our hospital will come together to pay for his banquet. You have to learn from this."

Xu's mother always thought her son was smart, but recently, she found that he was far inferior to Li Zhiguo.

"No, why should the whole hospital pay for his banquet? Mom, you are not involved, are you? You are so confused!"

Xu Damao was so anxious that he jumped up and down. He didn't expect that Li Zhiguo could deceive everyone in the hospital?
"I'm confused? How could everyone in the hospital be confused? Third Uncle is such a smart man. He helped to arrange this matter. Mom has already given the Li family a gift."

Xu's mother raised her hand and hit her son on the head, saying that he didn't use his brain to speak.

"Brother is stupid, Brother Li is smart."

Xu Fengling stabbed him again from the side, leaving Xu Damao completely stunned.

After a long while, when Xu Damao finally figured out the inside story, he was completely numb.

"No one would do things this way, Li Zhiguo. He not only stole Jia Dongxu's girlfriend, but also wanted to steal the guests at his wedding."

Xu Damao felt that his moral values ​​had collapsed, and that people should at least have some conscience.

"Da Mao, stop howling like a ghost here. Go wash the vegetables and wait for your dad to come back so you can have dinner."

Xu's mother stuffed the basket of vegetables into her son's hands and said, "What does Jia Dongxu's misfortune have to do with you?"

"okay!"

Xu Damao hurried to wash the vegetables. He had to please his mother so that she could find him a wife.

……

Central Courtyard, He family!
Li Zhiguo had already arrived and saw He Daqing drinking alone. There was not even a plate of peanuts on the table.

"Oh, I'm drinking."

He Daqing raised his eyes and frowned, "Li Zhiguo, what are you doing here, to laugh at me?"

He Daqing is at the lowest point in his life, and he is spending his family savings every day. If he continues like this, how will he be able to find a wife in the future?

"You can't say that. I'm going to host a banquet tomorrow and send you an invitation, Uncle He."

Li Zhiguo handed over the invitation as he spoke. This was a big happy event and he had to ask someone to do something for him, so he had to be nice in every way.

"You actually called me uncle?"

After receiving the invitation, He Daqing was a little confused, "The Jia family has already invited me, I can't go to your place."

"Really can't go?"

Li Zhiguo had already boasted to Yan Bugui, and thought that he had helped He Daqing before, so how could he not be able to deal with this person?

"I really can't go. The Jia family is hosting dinner first, and you're late."

He Daqing was angry. He was really choked last time at the gate of Fengze Garden.

"Uncle He, you must come to my house tomorrow, and bring Sha Zhu with you to help me cook the banquet for free."

Li Zhiguo sat down, took out a cigarette and handed it over.

"Li Zhiguo, you want to threaten me with the matter of selling steamed buns? I've already said that my family was helping people sell steamed buns, not being a merchant."

He Daqing looked unhappy, but he still took the cigarette and lit it.

Who knew that Li Zhiguo shook his head and said, "It's not about the buns, it's that I met your long-lost brother, your real brother, who looks exactly like you."

"What? I have a younger brother, how come I didn't know that?"

He Daqing was completely stunned. Just to let him help in the kitchen, why would she make up such an exaggerated lie?

"Don't disbelieve me, that day, I came out from Fengze Garden after dinner and went for a walk on Qianmen Street.

If you see a tricycle driver on the road who looks exactly like you, people would believe you are my twins, not to mention your brother."

Li Zhiguo paused and said, "Help me prepare the banquet, and I will help you find your brother."

"Are you serious and not lying?"

He Daqing recalled carefully that his father ran away with a widow. Could it be that he really had a half-brother?
"How could I lie to you about this? You're looking for a job, right? There are plenty of opportunities on Qianmen Street.

Find your brother and ask him to help you find a job. You have more family members, so you don't have to worry about being bullied in the future.

Also, you are the oldest in the He family, and you have the obligation to help your brother recognize his ancestry. "

Li Zhiguo took a puff of his cigarette. If He Daqing still didn't agree, he had other tricks.

"Okay, I'll host the party for free, but you have to tell others that you gave me five dollars, and you have to help me find my brother."

He Daqing felt that what the boy said was a bit harsh, but it made sense.

"No problem, remember to bring the gifts. After dinner, I'll call Uncle San, you and Sha Zhu to my house to discuss the banquet."

Seeing that the deal was settled, Li Zhiguo did not stay any longer.

As a result, when I went out, I happened to see Sha Zhu coming back from outside.

"Li Zhiguo, what are you doing at my house?"

Sha Zhu just looks down on this kid. He is too bullying to Sister Qin.

"You'll find out later."

Li Zhiguo didn't talk much with Sha Zhu, because with Sha Zhu's current cooking skills, he was not able to host a banquet alone.

"Virtue!"

Sha Zhu took a puff of cigarette and went back to the house, where he saw his father smoking. He wanted a cigarette but was afraid of getting beaten.

"Dad, why did Li Zhiguo come to our house?"

"Oh, he's getting married tomorrow and he asked me to help out. He gave me five dollars."

He Daqing responded casually, saying that it was better to lose the battle than to lose the fight, and pretended that he had really taken the money.

(End of this chapter)