Chapter 62: Zhou Jianye Sweeps Through He Yuzhu’s Forces

Chapter 62: Zhou Jianye Raids He Yuzhu

After He Yuzhu saw off Director Sun from the rolling mill's cafeteria in the morning, Zhou Jianye arrived in the afternoon.

Looking at Zhou Jianye, He Yuzhu asked with some confusion, "Did you get news already? You move fast."

Zhou Jianye was left baffled by the question. "What do you mean, fast? Didn't you promise to give me some tea yesterday? I'm here today to pick it up."

He Yuzhu stared intently at Zhou Jianye without saying a word.

The gaze made Zhou Jianye feel a bit uneasy. "Stop looking at me like that. If you have something to say, just spit it out."

He Yuzhu took a deep breath to calm his rising anger. "How is it that you only ever show up to take advantage of me? Did you forget what you promised last night?"

"What are you talking about?" Zhou Jianye was still clueless.

He Yuzhu said with displeasure, "About the job."

Zhou Jianye suddenly realized. "Oh! You should have said it was about the job earlier. Don't worry, I remember. I haven't forgotten. Even if I did forget, isn't your senior sister around? I got back too late yesterday, so I didn't go to my dad's place. Tonight, your senior sister and I will go back together. I guarantee it will be taken care of properly."

Hearing this, He Yuzhu finally felt relieved. After all, his senior sister was the reliable one.

"Alright, wait here. I'll go get your tea." With that, He Yuzhu headed toward the east wing room.

Zhou Jianye prepared to follow him, hoping he might be able to score some other good items along the way. "Wait up, I'm coming with you."

"I'm just getting you some tea. Why are you tagging along?"

"Aren't I just worried you'll wear yourself out? Little tasks like this are better left to me."

He Yuzhu saw right through Zhou Jianye's intentions. Bothered by such a lame excuse—worried he'd get tired over a bit of tea? Who would ever get exhausted from that?—he decided to let it go. If he wanted to follow, let him. All the truly good items were stored in his spatial dimension anyway, so Zhou Jianye could do whatever he wanted with the things outside.

He Yuzhu led Zhou Jianye into the east wing room.

As soon as he stepped inside, Zhou Jianye's eyes began darting around.

The first thing he spotted was a small wooden rocking horse, exquisitely crafted. "This rocking horse looks great. Perfect for my son to play with."

"I made that for Xiao Yuanchao. I was planning to give it to him as a New Year's gift. You can just take it with you now."

"Well, I won't be polite then."

He Yuzhu retrieved a box of tea from the storage cabinet against the wall and handed it to Zhou Jianye. "Here you go. Take it and let's head out."

"Don't be in such a rush to leave. Give me some of those alcoholic drinks too."

"Have you got no shame left at all?"

"What do I need shame for?"

He Yuzhu looked at the brazenly shameless Zhou Jianye. "Everything I have here is accounted for. If I give them to you now, I won't have any left for the New Year."

Although He Yuzhu still had plenty more inside his spatial dimension, he couldn't just hand them all over. After all, the scarcer something is and the harder it is to acquire, the more precious others will consider it.

"That won't do. I know you definitely have a surplus. Besides, I'm not even drinking this wine myself; I'm using it to get things done for you."

Hearing Zhou Jianye put it that way, He Yuzhu had no choice but to contribute some of his stock.

He led Zhou Jianye down to the basement to move the wine.

As soon as they entered the basement, Zhou Jianye saw stacks upon stacks of various liquors. "You've got quite a bit of wine this year."

He Yuzhu replied, "A bit more than last year. We've got a new variety this year: peach blossom wine. You should take some back."

Together, He Yuzhu and Zhou Jianye moved twenty catties each of "Joy Reliever" and "Worry Eraser" (in five-catty jars), twelve catties each of the medicinal wines "Green Ant" and "Red Sleeve" (in three-catty jars), and ten catties of the peach blossom wine (in a five-catty jar).

Looking at the jars of wine lined up in the courtyard, He Yuzhu asked Zhou Jianye, "Is this enough? How are you planning to haul it away?"

Zhou Jianye answered, "I'll go find a flatbed cart in a minute to cart it away. Where's your tiger whip wine? How come I don't see it?"

"What does a young man like you want with that kind of wine? Don't tell me..." He Yuzhu dropped his gaze toward the lower half of Zhou Jianye's body.

Catching He Yuzhu's dubious look, Zhou Jianye gave him a shove. "My health is perfectly fine, thank you very much. Hurry up, I need that wine to give away as gifts."

"Fine, fine. Wait here, I'll go get it for you." He Yuzhu turned and walked into his room, pulling thirty catties of tiger bone and tiger whip wine from his space (five jars total, three catties each).

He carried the jars out to the courtyard and set them before Zhou Jianye. "Happy now?"

Surveying the massive pile of liquor before him, Zhou Jianye felt a slight twinge of embarrassment. "Enough. Absolutely enough."

He Yuzhu went outside to flag down a flatbed cart, helped load the liquor onto it, and finally sent Zhou Jianye on his way.

Zhou Jianye wheeled the cart home and began hauling the items inside.

Upon seeing the vast array of wine, Fan Ting asked, "Did you go and clean out Zhuzi's entire house?"

"As if! What do you mean, a lot? You have no idea—Zhuzi has an entire basement packed with liquor."

"Can you two possibly finish drinking this much alcohol? If you dare get drunk on me, you'll see how I deal with you."

"Oh come on, you know me. I hardly ever drink anyway. I brought these back to give away as gifts."

"You really only know how to fleece Zhuzi, don't you? You can't just hand out these medicinal wines casually. Zhuzi said so himself—drinking too much of them at once can cause trouble." Fan Ting reminded him not to give away the medicinal wine carelessly.

"I'm not an idiot; how could I just give away the really good stuff? These medicinal wines aren't even enough for us to drink ourselves. I'm planning to send a portion to my parents' place, and we'll keep the rest for ourselves."

Pointing to the exquisite little wooden rocking horse resting beside a jar of wine, Zhou Jianye said, "Where's our son? Zhuzi made this little rocking horse for him as a New Year's gift, and I grabbed it ahead of time."

"His grandmother took him out this morning, and it's getting late. We should head over there too. Which of these jars are you planning to take?"

"Just one jar of the yellow wine, one jar of each medicinal wine, and oh, a jar of the peach blossom wine so you and Mom can try it tonight."

That evening, Fan Ting accompanied Zhou Jianye to the municipal bureau residential compound.

At the Zhou household, Mother Zhou was surprised to see her son and daughter-in-law return with so many goods. "You two coming back to visit is enough, why did you have to bring all this wine?"

Fan Ting stepped forward to link arms with Mother Zhou. "Mom, these are all medicinal wines, just like the ones we sent you before. Drinking them is good for your health."

As Fan Ting and Mother Zhou walked into the house arm in arm, Zhou Jianye was left behind to haul the rest of the wine.

Once he finished moving everything, Zhou Jianye asked, "Mom, hasn't Dad come back yet?"

Mother Zhou replied, "He'll be back any minute."

No sooner had Mother Zhou finished speaking than Father Zhou walked through the door.

Upon entering, Father Zhou immediately spotted the wine Zhou Jianye had brought. "Hoo, look at all this liquor. Who sent it over?"

Zhou Jianye grinned. "Who else? Your dutiful son, of course."

Noticing how uncharacteristically eager Zhou Jianye was being, Father Zhou knew there had to be a catch. "Out with it. What do you want?"

"Can't I just be showing my filial piety?"

"If you're not going to talk, forget it."

"I'll talk, I'll talk right now. It's just a tiny little matter. Have you found a head chef for the municipal bureau cafeteria yet?"

"You're a police station director—what business is it of yours to care about the bureau cafeteria?"

"Isn't your son just trying to help you solve your problems? If you haven't found a suitable person yet, I happen to have the exact right candidate for you."

"Who is it? Let's get one thing straight first: if their culinary skills aren't up to par, I won't take them."

"He Yuzhu, Tingting's senior fellow apprentice. His cooking skills are beyond reproach. Besides, he got his Level Three Chef certificate long ago."

Hearing the name He Yuzhu, Father Zhou recalled who he was. "Ah, you mean that exceptionally talented apprentice of our in-laws."

"Right, that's him. These medicinal wines were made by him too."

"For Tingting's sake, bring him to the bureau to see me tomorrow. We'll go through the proper procedures, have him cook a test meal first, and shut everyone else up."

Mother Zhou interrupted, "You two stop chatting about work and come over to eat."

The family gathered around the dining table. Zhou Jianye picked up a jar of the peach blossom wine. "Try this new creation—peach blossom wine. I had to shamelessly pester Zhuzi to get this out of him."

Zhou Jianye poured a cup for everyone. Seeing the pinkish hue of the peach blossom wine in their cups, Mother Zhou and Fan Ting were instantly charmed and couldn't resist taking a sip.

The taste was smooth and refreshing, carrying a unique, subtle fragrance of peach blossoms.

After tasting it themselves, Zhou Jianye and Father Zhou agreed it was delicious, though the alcohol content was a bit on the mild side.