Rebirth: The Courtyard Bride Is Cool and Radiant

Chapter 728: Chapter 728: Here Comes the Eccentric Neighbor

Huo Jiayuan, fearing that Fourth Brother and Fourth Sister-in-law might misunderstand, quickly waved her hand and said, ”No, he went out to handle some things and will be back soon.”

She felt embarrassed to admit that she had just casually mentioned how the fish grilled by the state-run restaurant chef at the factory gate was exquisite, and that fellow insisted on going out to see if it was available tonight.

There was no stopping him.

Yunyi, after listening, did not ask further. She saw a woman at the kitchen door and asked, ”Who is this?”

Huo Jiayuan hurriedly introduced, ”This is Auntie Qi, who just moved into our housing estate, living diagonally across from us.”

Yunyi nodded at the woman and looked at what she was holding.

The woman followed Yunyi’s gaze to the things in her hand, ”Sorry, we just moved in, and our house is not prepared with anything. We just wanted to borrow some, and we’ll return it once we get settled.”

Yunyi, being highly perceptive, could tell just from the woman’s shifting gaze that she was not speaking her true mind. She clearly understood that these things were unlikely to be returned.

She gave Huo Jingrui a look.

Huo Jingrui immediately understood, ”Jiayuan, is the meal ready? I’ve been busy all day, and I’m hungry.”

The woman might have been scared by Huo Jingrui’s serious demeanor, ”Well, I should get going now, you guys carry on.”

Saying this, she didn’t bother to mention borrowing salt anymore and quickly walked toward the courtyard exit.

Huo Jiayuan stretched her neck to watch the person leave the courtyard, finally letting out a long breath, ”It’s better to have less interaction with the Qi family in the future, Auntie Qi is really something.”

Yunyi laughed as she walked into the kitchen, ”Tell me about it.”

Huo Jiayuan turned and followed her into the kitchen, ”Luckily, I heard the commotion and hid a large batch of dumplings in advance, otherwise she might have opened her mouth to borrow dumplings.”

Upon hearing this, Yunyi burst into laughter, ”Really?”

Huo Jiayuan picked up the garlic on the stove and started peeling, ”You have no idea; when their family moved in, it wasn’t that late, but nobody in the house went out to shop. Only when it was almost dinner time did Auntie Qi act.”

Yunyi didn’t stay idle either. She took over the garlic from Huo Jiayuan’s hand and started peeling, her eyes filled with a glint of gossip.

Huo Jiayuan continued, ”Can you guess how she did it?”

Yunyi shook her head, ”Don’t keep me in suspense, just say it.”

Huo Jiayuan took the ceramic jar used for mashing garlic, threw the peeled garlic into it, added a little salt, and took a small rolling pin to mash the garlic, ”She borrowed things from all the nearby houses, and she had a technique for it.

She first went to Aunt Feng’s home to borrow flour. Aunt Feng said it didn’t matter if it was flour or rice, just enough for one dinner, and since Aunt Feng couldn’t refuse nicely, she gave a bowl of wheat flour and half a small basin of cornmeal, intending for them to make mixed grain noodles.

But guess what, Auntie Qi said that there were many children at home and their throats couldn’t handle the mixed grain when adults were fine with it, so Aunt Feng had no choice but to add another bowl of wheat flour.

After delivering the flour back, she went to Vice Director Lu’s home, and guess what, she was aiming for the fish that Wang Qingliu, Vice Director Lu’s daughter-in-law, brought home. She didn’t say anything else, just that the children were tired from the trip and wanted to eat fish.

Vice Director Lu’s wife naturally didn’t want to give it, saying that the fish was brought back by her daughter-in-law and she didn’t want to make the decision. However, Auntie Qi is quite capable, she directly called her children over to ask Vice Director Lu’s new daughter-in-law.

Wang Qingliu had just married into the housing estate for a few months; her face was still tender, and with those kids sniffling, how could she bear to say no.