My happy life in a courtyard house with triplets.

Chapter 29: Craving Meat

The backyard of a traditional courtyard house.

An older woman brought the food to the deaf old lady's table.

The deaf old lady glanced at it, frowned, and said, "Why is it this again? Didn't we make meat today? I can smell the aroma of meat."

An older woman looked at the deaf old lady and replied softly, "Grandma, I don't know whose meat it is, but it smells like it's coming from behind your room. It must be Zhang Lei's family in the back room."

Upon hearing this, the deaf old woman sighed heavily, her voice filled with grievance: "Alas, this old woman of mine is truly all alone, with no one to care for me or ask about me, and I can't even get a bite of meat."

Upon hearing this, the older woman quickly advised, "Grandma, meat isn't so easy to come by these days. If you really want some, I'll go back and talk to Old Yi, and see if he can manage to get some meat coupons to buy you some to satisfy your craving."

The deaf old woman looked at the middle-aged woman and started muttering again, "Where did that Zhang family boy in the backyard get the meat? Isn't he just trying to tempt this old woman?"

An older woman thought for a moment and offered a guess: "This is probably related to the fact that Zhang Lei is a purchasing agent; he must have bought the meat somewhere in the countryside."

Looking at the deaf old woman, the older woman pointed to the food on the table and said, "Grandma, the food is on the table for you. Please eat it while it's hot."

"Alright, I know, it's the same thing every day, just put it there," the deaf old lady replied impatiently.

The older woman turned around and went back to the Yi family home.

When Yi Zhonghai saw his wife return, he asked, "Did you take the food to the old lady?"

An older woman sighed, "Oh well, it's been delivered."

Noticing her odd expression, Yi Zhonghai pressed, "It's been delivered, why do you look like that? What did the old lady say?"

The older woman looked at Yi Zhonghai and said helplessly, "What can I say? She smelled the meat and is craving it. Tell me, where am I supposed to get her meat, even though it's not a holiday?"

Yi Zhonghai frowned: "Who made this meat?"

An older woman said irritably, "It's all because of Zhang Lei from the back building. The meat Zhang Lei makes makes this old lady so hungry that she doesn't even want to eat."

Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai immediately stood up.

Seeing this, an older woman quickly asked, "Old Yi, where are you going?"

Yi Zhonghai said angrily, "Where are you going? I'm going to check on the back room! That Zhang Lei is so inconsiderate! He made meat but didn't even bother to bring it to the old lady. He has no respect for the elderly or care for the young at all. I need to go back and give him a good talking to!"

Hearing Yi Zhonghai say this, the older woman originally wanted to persuade him, but seeing Yi Zhonghai's expression, she swallowed her words.

Yi Zhonghai quickly arrived at the rear building.

He stood outside the courtyard gate, staring at the locked door. His expression darkened further. He raised his hand and pounded on the door, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Zhang Lei! Zhang Lei, open the door for me!"

Zhang Lei had just finished eating when he heard another knock on the door. He angrily cursed, "Is this ever going to stop? What the hell do they all want?!"

Seeing Zhang Lei's anger, Ye Shuqi quickly advised, "Honey, don't be anxious. See who it is first; maybe it's something urgent."

Zhang Lei snorted coldly: "What urgent matter could there be? They're just jealous because my family is cooking meat, and they're all acting like they're starving ghosts reincarnated."

He talked as he walked, and soon arrived at the courtyard gate. He peeked through the crack in the door and called out, "Who is it?"

Upon hearing Zhang Lei's voice, Yi Zhonghai immediately replied, "Zhang Lei, it's me, Uncle Yi."

Zhang Lei recognized his voice and asked in a cold tone, "What is it?"

Yi Zhonghai, his face stern, demanded, "Who told you to lock the door? Don't you know we don't allow locking doors in our compound?"

Zhang Lei stood inside the doorway with his arms crossed, deliberately raising his voice, "Lock the door? Of course, it's to prevent those greedy, shameless people from trying to mooch meat from my house, to keep them out! Uncle, you have no idea, today was the first time four of us moved into our new home, and we were making some meat to celebrate. But what happened? They all acted like they were starving ghosts, coming to borrow meat, some even trying to steal it. If I didn't lock the door, wouldn't all the meat be gone?"

Upon hearing Zhang Lei's sarcastic remarks, Yi Zhonghai swallowed his own words and then coldly snorted, "That's no reason for you to lock the door."

At this moment, Zhang Lei looked at Yi Zhonghai, raised his eyebrows and asked, "Hey old man, are you done yet? My family is the only one in the entire back building. I even have the land deed for this back building yard. What's wrong with me locking the door? Besides, I'm locking my own door, not some public passageway."

Yi Zhonghai was momentarily speechless, but he forced himself to continue, saying, "Our courtyard has always been a model of civility, where everyone leaves their doors unlocked at night and no one picks up lost items. Isn't locking the door damaging the image of our courtyard?"

Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, Zhang Lei immediately scoffed, his tone full of sarcasm: "Really? But I've never heard of the Civilized Compound requiring doors to be left unlocked at night. Which law explicitly states that? Besides, even with the doors locked, my own Zhang family house was occupied. If we don't lock the doors now, they might even tear down the roof. I can't take that risk; if I don't lock the doors, I might lose my home. Don't you think that makes sense, sir?"

Yi Zhonghai was so angry at Zhang Lei's retort that his face turned red and his neck bulged. He pointed at Zhang Lei, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time, finally managing to squeeze out, "You, you're just being unreasonable! Since you won't listen to advice, then you'd better watch yourself!"

With that, he flicked his sleeve and angrily turned and left.

Hearing Yi Zhonghai's footsteps fade into the distance, Zhang Lei didn't care at all. He had just finished his scathing rebuke, and all the pent-up frustration in his heart had dissipated.

He had just turned and stepped into the house when Ye Shuhua skipped and hopped up to him, asking curiously, "Who is it, sir?"

Zhang Lei glanced in the direction of the courtyard gate and casually said, "It's nothing, just a shameless dog trying to freeload off us again."

Ye Shuhua pouted and complained, "Seriously! Honey, I heard you say there were a lot of weirdos in your courtyard, but I didn't expect there to be so many. We can't even have a peaceful meal."

At this moment, Ye Shuqin, who had just finished clearing the dishes, wiped the water from her hands and said helplessly, "You really think this is Ye Family Village? Those are all fellow villagers with the same surname, helping each other out. Besides, don't you even look at what we're eating tonight? In this day and age, what doesn't attract envy?"

At this moment, Zhang Lei thought for a moment and said, "Shuqin, you're right. This meal was a wake-up call for me; it really is too eye-catching. If we only eat like this once or twice, it's fine, but if it continues like this, I'm afraid we'll be in trouble every day."

Upon hearing this, Ye Shuhua immediately pouted, looking aggrieved: "Then can't we eat meat?"

Seeing her like this, Zhang Lei couldn't help but smile and reached out to ruffle her hair: "It's not that we can't eat meat, it's just that we should be discreet. From now on, when we eat meat at home, we'll keep all the doors and windows tightly closed. Also, I'll prepare some mixed noodles in advance, and Shuqin, you guys make some cornbread and some pickled vegetables to put out in plain sight, so that no one else can tell what we're really eating."

Upon hearing Zhang Lei's words, Ye Shuqin said directly, "Honey, don't spoil her. Although we're doing better now, everyone is struggling. Even though we have money, we still need to be careful with our food. After all, you're the one supporting our family of four."

Zhang Lei smiled at Ye Shuqin and replied confidently, "It's alright. Have you forgotten what I do? I'm a purchasing agent, and besides, I have my own connections. Don't worry about grain and meat; we'll never lack them. But we just need to keep a low profile so that no one gets jealous and reports us later."