Siheyuan: Traveling through Cai Quanwu, pretending to be Uncle Shazhu

It was around six o'clock in the evening and Cai Quanwu and his friends were sitting at Sha Zhu's house having dinner.

Eat and chat at the same time. There is no such thing as eating without talking.

As they were chatting, Xiao Wu suddenly asked, "Uncle, what did the third uncle talk to you about when you went home? He talked for so long."

After Xiao Wu asked this question, the people who were eating all looked at Cai Quanwu, and the meaning in their eyes was self-evident.

They all wanted to hear what the Third Uncle had to say to Cai Quanwu.

Cai Quanwu was stunned for a moment, swallowed the food in his mouth, and seeing that everyone was looking at him, he smiled and said:

"Nothing said."

"The third uncle is more gossipy."

"Gossip with me about the Jia family eating roast duck."

When Sha Zhu heard this, he asked curiously, "How did the Third Master know that the Jia family eats roast duck?"

Not only Shazhu wants to know this question, but everyone else here also wants to know it.

How would the uncle know that other people’s families were eating roast duck?

“I smell the aroma.”

"I guess they ate roast duck and brought back the duck bones."

"When the duck bones were roasted, Uncle San was very smart and could smell it right away."

Tsai Quanwu gave everyone a brief explanation.

"No wonder I smelled a delicious aroma when I was doing my homework. It turned out to be the smell of roast duck."

"You know what, it smells pretty good."

After Cai Quanwu finished explaining, He Yushui looked as if he had suddenly realized something. Then he licked his lips, as if he was recalling the taste of the roast duck, and then he said to Cai Quanwu coquettishly:

"Uncle, this roast duck is so delicious."

"Let's go eat again sometime."

She remembered that she hadn't eaten roast duck for a long time and almost forgot what it tasted like.

Otherwise, how could she not smell the aroma of roast duck?

It must be like this.

He Yushui was looking for an excuse to eat roast duck.

The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. When He Yushui said this, Shazhu, Xiao Wu and Guan Jiaqi looked at each other and were all moved.

Among the five of them, four work and earn a little over a hundred yuan a month.

Apart from the monthly ration of food, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, which cost a little money, there are no other expenses in the family.

A lot of food was secretly taken home by Cai Quanwu every now and then.

They knew that Tsai Quan had no connections, so they didn't ask any further questions.

There is basically no shortage of meat in their house, and the food is constantly changing. Sha Zhu cooks it in different ways.

My mouth is full of food.

Now, their whole family has no idea about eating meat at home.

But roast duck is different.

Even if he bought a duck, Shazhu couldn't cook its dish as well as others.

So everyone, except Cai Quanwu, was very tempted by He Yushui's proposal.

It doesn’t make sense that the Jia family can afford roast duck, but they can’t.

Cai Quanwu looked at the interested people, smiled, and passed the question to He Yushui:

"Yushui, eating roast duck is not something that I can decide on my own."

“You have to ask people and hear what they think.”

As soon as Cai Quanwu finished speaking, before He Yushui could ask, Sha Zhu jumped out and said:

"Yushui wants to eat, so let's go have a meal on this day off and treat it as a holiday."

"After the rest day, it will be the Dragon Boat Festival in two days anyway."

Sha Zhu was trying to be clever. He obviously wanted to eat roast duck too, but he pushed He Yushui to the front and said that she wanted to eat it.

"Yes, Yu Shui wants to eat, so let's go have a meal." After Sha Zhu finished speaking, Xiao Wu agreed.

The husband and wife follow each other's lead.

After Xiao Wu finished speaking, he glanced at Guan Jiaqi inconspicuously, and there was no need to ask what he meant.

After receiving Xiao Wu's eye signal, Guan Jiaqi gave Xiao Wu face and said with a smile:

"Since everyone wants to eat, let's go eat together on our day off."

In the past, Guan Jiaqi might have considered it again. After all, for people of this generation, thriftiness is ingrained in their bones.

In particular, Guan Jiaqi suffered a lot since childhood.

But after they got married, Cai Quanwu would occasionally give her ten or twenty yuan.

Since their marriage, Cai Quanwu has given her more than one hundred yuan in total.

It can be said that it is equivalent to more than three months' salary for her.

Only then did she realize that when Cai Quanwu said he had no shortage of money, he was not bragging, but he really had no shortage of money.

Now, of course, there are not so many concerns.

After hearing everyone agree, He Yushui looked at Cai Quanwu and said happily:

"Uncle, my brother, sister-in-law, and sister Guan all agreed to go eat roast duck."

Looking at He Yushui who was so proud of himself that he didn't realize he was the first to come out on top, Cai Quanwu nodded and said with a smile: "Okay, let's go eat roast duck on our day off."

After reaching a consensus, everyone started to eat happily.

After dinner, Xiao Wu and Guan Jiaqi cleaned the table and washed the dishes, and He Yushui helped.

Needless to say, Cai Quanwu has always been a hands-off boss. After getting married, Sha Zhu gradually became the same as Cai Quanwu and became a hands-off boss.

Now the two of them, both hands-off managers, sat at the table drinking tea and chatting.

"Uncle, the rain interrupted me just now and I forgot to ask why Jia Dongxu wanted to eat roast duck."

"This meal is going to cost a lot of money."

"They can barely afford to eat, how can they afford to eat roast duck?"

No matter how Sha Zhu thought about it, he felt that the Jia family was not the kind of people who were willing to pay for Peking duck out of their own pocket.

"To eat roast duck, you don't have to go to Quanjude or Bianyifang. There are other cheaper places."

"In a small shop like that, you won't spend much money."

Cai Quanwu gave a reason casually.

It is indeed as Cai Quanwu said, there are many places in this city where you can eat roast duck.

Both Bianyifang and Quanjude have been open for so many years, and I don’t know how many masters and apprentices have been replaced in them.

Some people learn a little and then start a small shop on their own.

They collect some ducks and roast them to sell at a low price, so some people who can't afford Bianyifang and Quanjude still patronize them.

Although many did not persist, there were also quite a few who did.

It’s just not as famous as Quanjude and Bianyifang.

After the public-private partnership, these stores that survived the partnership are still open there.

Many people who can't afford Quanjude and Bianyifang go to these stores.

So the third uncle only said that the Jia family went out to eat roast duck, but did not mention the name of the restaurant.

There are many places in Beijing where you can eat roast duck.

It’s just that Bianyifang and Quanjude are more famous and have become the representatives of roast duck restaurants.

Hearing what Cai Quanwu said, Sha Zhu did not refute but nodded in agreement:

"That's true."

But then he added:

"But even though roast duck is cheaper in other places, it still costs several dollars per piece. The Jia family has spent a lot of money on this."

"Haha, if people have to pay for it themselves, it's not okay for others to treat us." Cai Quanwu took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, saying it jokingly.

He actually said this because he was bored and wanted to tease Shazhu.

Unexpectedly, when Sha Zhu heard this, his eyes lit up. Cai Quanwu's words gave him another idea:

"Uncle, don't tell me, it's really possible."

“And I think this possibility is quite high.”

"Given Aunt Jia's personality, it would be impossible for her to pay for roast duck."

"Maybe someone really is treating us."

"I didn't expect someone would invite the Jia family to dinner."

"Uncle, who do you think invited the Jia family to dinner?"

At the end, Sha Zhu asked about Cai Quanwu.

Cai Quanwu thought, of course I know who invited the Jia family to dinner.

But I can't tell you this.

So, Cai said without any pretense:

"Then how should I know? Who doesn't have two relatives?"

"Perhaps one of the Jia family's relatives has become wealthy and it wouldn't be unusual for them to invite us to a meal."