Golden Color Xiangjiang: A Young Man's Dream in a Siheyuan

After Zhou Jin returned to the purchasing department, he chatted with several buyers in the office for a while, then left the steel mill and went home.

As soon as he got home, Zhou Jin lay down on the kang and closed his eyes to rest. After a while, he got up and walked into the kitchen, heated up the leftovers from last night, and fried a plate of cabbage, which was a simple lunch.

The weather was really cold. If there wasn't a kang in the house, the food would have gotten cold right after it was prepared.

Zhou Jin couldn't help but sigh: "Fortunately there is a kang in the house!"

After all, he had lived in Chongqing in his previous life. Even though it was very cold in winter, the temperature was basically above zero degrees, and he rarely saw snow, let alone experienced this kind of severe cold.

After traveling through time, he immediately went to the southwest to serve as a soldier. This was his first time spending the winter in such a cold place.

After dinner, Zhou Jin lay comfortably on the kang and read a book.

Suddenly, an idea came to his mind: How enjoyable it would be if he could eat a steaming hot pot on such a cold day! Thinking of this, he sat up from the kang excitedly.

Yes, I also have Chongqing hotpot base in my space that I got by signing in to the system!

Action speaks louder than words, so Zhou Jin immediately decided to go out and buy some meat ingredients.

However, since being reported last time, he has become extra cautious.

To avoid getting into trouble again, he decided to go out in person every time he bought food and then bring it home.

That way, even if someone saw him carrying food in, it wouldn't arouse suspicion.

Zhou Jin immediately put down the book, took the bicycle out of the house, locked the door and went out.

About an hour later, two bags were hung on Zhou Jin's bicycle. One bag contained two kilograms of pork, beef and mutton each, and the other bag contained cabbage, cucumber, tomato and garlic sprouts.

In that era, there were no off-season vegetables and no advanced storage and transportation technology, so it was impossible to transport large quantities of vegetables from the south. As a result, the vegetables that northerners had to survive the winter were basically potatoes and cabbage.

As soon as she pushed the bike into the front yard, the third aunt stared at the bags on Zhou Jin's bicycle. With her years of experience as a doorman, she could tell that the two bags contained meat and vegetables.

However, Third Aunt did not have the skills of Third Uncle, and she still did not dare to come up to Zhou Jin to ask for things. After all, it was recognized by everyone in the hospital that Zhou Jin was not easy to mess with. So she planned to wait for Third Uncle to come back and tell him. With so much food, Zhou Jin would definitely not be able to finish it in one meal, so she would see if Third Uncle could take advantage of her.

Zhou Jin didn't care what the third aunt was thinking. He just nodded, said hello and went back to the backyard. Because it was too cold in winter, when he passed by the middle courtyard, he didn't see Qin Huairu washing clothes in the sink.

In the fan fiction I read before, didn’t Qin Huairu always appear washing clothes in the sink? Why do I seem to have never seen her like this before? Is it because I’m not approaching her correctly?

Zhou Jin returned home, put the items he brought back in place one by one, and then took out coriander, green onions and some mushrooms from the space.

These mushrooms were planted by Zhou Jin in the space, and he even built a shed specifically for them.

The mushroom cultivation technique and this fungus species were discovered by Zhou Jin by chance when he was purchasing them in Wangjiazhuang, which was under the Construction Commune.

As for the technique of growing mushrooms, Zhou Jin figured it out bit by bit based on his memories from his previous life.

Fortunately, Zhou Jin had watched the entire "Mountains and Seas" before traveling through time, and there was a clip about growing mushrooms in it. Then, relying on his vague memory, he tried slowly, and failed more than a dozen times before he finally succeeded.

Zhou Jin spent another half an hour to prepare all the dishes and meat.

I glanced at my watch. It was only three o'clock in the afternoon, and there was still some time before dinner time. In this era, especially in the cold winter, people had relatively few entertainment activities, and most people were unwilling to go out and suffer from the cold.

The key is that I'm all alone. Even if I want to go ice skating or watch a movie, there's no one to accompany me. It seems I have to hurry up and get Lou Xiaoe.

But now he could only go back to bed and read. Before he knew it, it was already past six o'clock. Zhou Jin put down the book and started to make the base for the pot, feeling relaxed and happy.

In order to eat hot pot, Zhou Jin had already prepared a small stove and placed it directly on the kang table.

After Zhou Jin prepared the base of the pot in the kitchen, he brought it out and placed it on the small stove.

Then Zhou Jin brought out the prepared meat and vegetables from the kitchen and placed them on the kang table, then went back to the kitchen to make himself a dipping sauce. Because he was not used to sesame paste, he made the same kind of oil sauce used in Chongqing hot pot.

Soon, the whole courtyard was filled with the aroma of hot pot. Just at this time, everyone who went to work returned to the courtyard.

The people in the courtyard kept swallowing their saliva, and they just wanted to go home quickly so that they could take advantage of the fragrance and eat more steamed buns.

Yan Bugui came back quite early, probably because he left early again. When he got back to the courtyard, he learned from the third aunt that Zhou Jin had prepared a lot of food in the afternoon, and he was thinking about how he could take advantage of it so that he could have a good meal.

He smelled the fragrance wafting from the backyard. The spicy and fresh aroma made Yan Bugui swallow his saliva involuntarily. He thought that Zhou Jin must be making something delicious. After all, he was the only one in the entire courtyard who was able to get the ingredients, and his cooking skills were better than Sha Zhu's.

So Yan Bugui prepared to go to Zhou Jin's house to take a look. He had no grudge against him, so if he said a few nice words, he might be able to have a good meal.

As a result, as soon as he went out, he met Jia Dongxu and Sha Zhu who were coming back together. As soon as they entered the yard, they smelled the fragrance.

"Who is making hotpot? It smells really good." Sha Zhu spoke first. After all, he had been a chef for many years, specializing in Sichuan cuisine and Tan cuisine. He could tell the difference just by smelling it.

Yan Bugui quickly replied, "It should be Zhou Jin's house. Your third aunt saw him coming back with two bags of food this afternoon."

When Sha Zhu and Jia Dongxu heard that it was Zhou Jin, they just swallowed their saliva and went back to the Central Courtyard without staying for long.

As soon as the two arrived at the central courtyard, Yi Zhonghai came out of the house and quickly called out to Sha Zhu and Jia Dongxu.

"Zhu Zi, come directly to my house after you put your things away. Your aunt has already bought the ingredients. Show off your cooking skills today and ask the old lady to come to my house for dinner in the evening."

"And Dongxu, when you go back, tell Huairu not to cook anymore and to eat at my house in the evening."

Yes, Yi Zhonghai is still staying at home. He directly asked for a week's leave. Anyway, he has no salary for this month, so he might as well take a few more days off. Yi Zhonghai believes that after a week, everyone will have almost forgotten about it.

I have to say that Yi Zhonghai is very good at handling public relations. He knows that people's enthusiasm for this kind of thing will only last for three minutes. As long as a new hot spot appears, his own affairs will soon be forgotten. So he just handles it coldly and takes a few days off.

Sha Zhu and Jia Dongxu agreed and went home.

After a while, Sha Zhu arrived at Yi Zhonghai's house, greeted Yi Zhonghai and went straight to the kitchen. Yi Zhonghai had been having a bad time recently and was in a very bad mood, so he planned to call Sha Zhu, Jia Dongxu and the deaf old lady to have a good meal together, just to change his mood.

Just when Auntie and Shazhu were busy in the kitchen, Yi Zhonghai went to the backyard and took the deaf old lady to his home.

When she heard that there was meat to eat, the old lady was very happy and Sha Zhu cooked it himself. After all, her house was next to Zhou Jin, and she really suffered a lot from him.

The key point is that Zhou Jin doesn't give her any face at all. Several times, the old lady couldn't help but come to the house to order some food, but Zhou Jin didn't even open the door.

The deaf old lady had no choice. She could act like a spoiled child and smash other people's windows in front of other people, but she didn't dare to do that in front of Zhou Jin. Apart from her age, she had no other advantages.

After a long time, the deaf old lady gave up and only hoped that her eldest grandson Shazhu would remember her and make more delicious food for her.

However, the deaf old lady had no intention of letting Zhou Jin go so easily. She had never suffered such a great injustice in her life, and she had to get back at him.

So the deaf old lady began to spread rumors outside, intentionally or unintentionally, that Zhou Jin was disrespectful to the elderly, hoping to ruin Zhou Jin's reputation, just like they did to Xu Damao before.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. The deaf old lady gradually discovered that her trick, which always worked for her, did not work on Zhou Jin.

Everyone just laughed when they heard it and didn't discuss it too much. Instead, they moved further away from the deaf old lady, which made her feel puzzled.

However, this trick didn't work, so the deaf old lady had to give up. Besides, the weather was cold now, and she couldn't stand staying outside for a long time.

In fact, the reason is very simple. After Zhou Jin came back, he first broke the golden statue of the deaf old lady's martyrdom. Although it was not reported to the government, it had already spread throughout the neighborhood.

Faced with an old lady who could pretend to be a martyr's relative, people naturally would not believe her words. Moreover, the major events that had taken place in Courtyard No. 95 in the past few months had already spread throughout the area.

Everyone naturally knows what kind of person Zhou Jin is, and what kind of people are Yi Zhonghai, the deaf old lady, and Sha Zhu.

After Yi Zhonghai brought the deaf old lady back home, Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu came with their two children, and the house suddenly became lively.

Qin Huairu was a considerate person. She gave Xiaodang to Jia Dongxu to hold and then went to the kitchen to help.

You know what, without Jia Zhang around, the atmosphere in the room was quite good, it could be said to be full of joy, everyone was happily chatting and playing with the children.

After a while, Sha Zhu, with the help of Auntie and Qin Huairu, quickly cooked the dishes, including braised pork, stewed meat with cabbage, twice-cooked pork, spicy and sour shredded potatoes, stir-fried cabbage and a cabbage and tofu soup. Each dish was very generous in portion.

The deaf old lady's eyes immediately lit up and a greedy smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

She couldn't wait to pick up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in her mouth, chewing it carefully.

"Hmm... delicious, really delicious! You are worthy of being my good grandson, your cooking skills are amazing." The deaf old lady sighed with satisfaction, her face filled with happiness.

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, everyone had almost finished eating, except Bang Geng who was still clearing his plate. Everyone was surprised how such a young child could eat so much. Wasn't he afraid of getting sick from eating too much?

Just when everyone was still lamenting how much Banggeng ate, there was a knock on Yi Zhonghai's door.

Sha Zhu was very tactful and opened the door, but what caught his eye were two police officers. He was frightened and thought they were here to arrest him, so he subconsciously took two steps back.

Only then did he suddenly remember that he was now at Yi Zhonghai's house, and even if they came to arrest someone, they were definitely not looking for him.

Sha Zhu guessed correctly. The two policemen were not here to find Sha Zhu, but to find Jia Dongxu.

They came to inform Jia Zhang of the result of the trial because they didn't see anyone at Jia's house. After some inquiries, they found out that everyone was having dinner at Yi Zhonghai's house.

When Yi Zhonghai saw that it was the public security officers, he began to feel nervous for some reason.

Look at this person who has something to hide. He starts to feel uneasy when he sees the police.

However, Yi Zhonghai quickly adjusted his attitude, walked to the door with a smile, welcomed the two public security comrades in, and then closed the door.

One reason was that it was too cold outside and no one could stand it with the door open, and the other was that I didn’t want to be seen by others.

The two policemen walked into the room and started asking questions without wasting time.

"Which one is Jia Dongxu?"

When everyone heard that they were here to see Jia Dongxu, everyone except Jia Dongxu felt relieved.

Only Jia Dongxu came out trembling with fear.

"Comrade Public Security, I am Jia Dongxu. What can I do for you?"

At this time, the police officer who looked older took out a document and began to read it to Jia Dongxu.

“Jia Dongxu, we are here to convey the results of the trial of your mother, Jia Zhang.

Jia Zhang, whose original name was Zhang Xiaohua, concealed her family's actual income and used deceptive means to gain the sympathy of the manager of Courtyard No. 95, and held donation meetings for him in violation of regulations many times. The amount involved was quite large.

At the same time, they also repeatedly indulged in feudal superstition and insulted the martyrs' families in the courtyard.

Moreover, he had already been dealt with by the police station half a month ago. He has refused to change his ways despite repeated warnings and has no intention of repenting.

Therefore, Jia Zhang (formerly known as Zhang Xiaohua) was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of one hundred yuan for multiple crimes.

Jia Dongxu, please sign this notice now."

Jia Dongxu was already numb at this time. He did not expect such a result, but now that the police have come to notify him, it means that this matter is already an fait accompli.

Jia Dongxu signed his name on the notice like a zombie.

The two police officers took back the notice and pen and spoke to Jia Dongxu.

"Jia Dongxu, please go to the police station and pay the fine within two days, otherwise Jia Zhang will impose a heavier punishment. At the same time, you'd better send her clothes and bedding before she is sent to the labor camp."

The public security comrade left after saying this.

Yes, Jia Zhang was sentenced to three years. She certainly did not expect that when she listened to Yi Zhonghai, she not only took the blame for Jia Dongxu's crime, but also took the blame for Yi Zhonghai and others.

She originally really thought that Yi Zhonghai would help her reduce her sentence, but she had no idea that since Jia Dongxu was released, he never thought about Jia Zhangshi again.

When they heard that Jia Zhang was sentenced to three years in prison, everyone in the room, except Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady, was stunned.

After all, before this courtyard, no matter how big the incident was, the most that could be done was an apology. Even when Jia Zhang was imprisoned for half a month, it caused quite a stir in the courtyard.

But now Jia Zhang was directly sentenced to three years. If this news were to spread, I don’t know what would happen to the entire courtyard.