Back to the 70s: My Childhood Sweetheart Spoils Me Rotten-Chapter 818 - 820: Taihu Stone

Gong Ruini looked at the entrance of the private kitchen. She already had a mental preparation and wouldn’t expect too much from the inside.

But once she went in, she was truly shocked and really didn’t know how to describe it.

The courtyard was pitch black enough, but fortunately, it was summer now, and the outside light was sufficient.

But the courtyard was such a mess, Gong Ruini couldn’t help but shake her head. If this old man hoped to run the private kitchen well, he at least needed to tidy up the environment.

Otherwise, even if the cooking skills are excellent, without a good environment, it would scare away a batch of people.

Once Zhao Xuran went in, he too couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose. Having seen many courtyards, such a filthy one wasn’t unseen.

However, a courtyard meant for a restaurant having such a dreadful environment left him without words.

"The environment isn’t good." Cai Ming was initially quite looking forward to it, but once inside, his expression turned awkward.

He truly hadn’t seen such an awful environment before. If Zhuge Zhi hadn’t brought him here to eat, he certainly wouldn’t have stepped in.

Even Zhuge Zhi was shocked once he entered. Knowing a friend had secretly opened a shop, he wondered if difficulties had arisen, but hadn’t thought the situation might be this poor.

"You..." Zhuge Zhi really hadn’t expected the situation to be so bad.

Wan Dajun was dumbfounded too, "This?"

During those years when things weren’t good, they would find an opportunity to gather once a year, with Zhuge Zhi preparing the food, and Wan Dajun and the others bringing what they could.

Even during such poor times, there wasn’t

such a disastrous courtyard, what difficult times did they encounter?

"Well, sigh, let’s forget it, go in for a meal. I’ll cook the food. You didn’t come here just to make a meal yourselves." Xu Zhengming noticed his friends were staring continuously at the courtyard, realizing the situation was unusually bad.

Honestly, it’s not that he didn’t want to explain, but he truly didn’t know how to. Back then, although everyone lived at different levels, the differences weren’t huge, and even as a cook, he lived reasonably well.

But now looking again, though Zhuge Zhi and Wan Dajun didn’t say how their situation was, they were surely faring better than him, at least.

Looking at himself now, sigh, Xu Zhengming sighed internally, "Let’s wait until I get the food ready, then I’ll come and tell you all."

Since Xu Zhengming had said this, even Zhuge Zhi and the others, despite having more questions, could only keep silent, feeling quite guilty internally.

They hadn’t not tried finding Xu Zhengming over the years, but couldn’t. On top of receiving news that he and his family had gone out of town to join his son, they hadn’t pursued contact further.

Besides being terribly busy previously, they’d also harbored some anger toward Xu Zhengming. Even if he was truly going to join his son, couldn’t he bid farewell?

Even if time was tight, couldn’t he have sent a letter afterwards?

They didn’t know the location of Xu Zhengming’s son, but he knew where Zhuge Zhi and the others were.

"Looks like Old Xu hasn’t been doing well these years." Wan Dajun sighed.

Zhuge Zhi had the same thought, "Let’s see how he explains things later."

"Anyway, we can’t let things end like this." Zhuge Zhi insisted angrily.

Wan Dajun shared the sentiment, "If we can help, we should try."

"Help with what? Does he even appear needing our help?" Zhuge Zhi’s anger hadn’t dissipated, "Hmph, let’s see how this meal turns out. If it’s not good, we won’t help."

"Do we really have to lend our hand?" Zhuge Zhi, acting prideful, stated he was a busy person with no time for such trivialities.

While he wouldn’t admit it, wasn’t he being prideful? Wan Dajun shook his head repeatedly, knowing it was just stubbornness.

Wan Dajun habitually swept his gaze across the courtyard, although it had really turned into a garbage-like place, they had spent many joyful youthful days here.

The nostalgia hit Wan Dajun, and Zhuge Zhi felt much the same.

"This should be a grapevine."

"There’s even a pond here." Gong Ruini didn’t understand why Zhuge Zhi and the others hadn’t entered the house, and as the host had dashed off, where to sit remained elusive.

Forced, the group wandered around the courtyard, and just a glance left Gong Ruini quite startled.

She had thought the courtyard looked unimpressive initially but hadn’t realized it had a rather nice original design.

"There’s even a pond, what a pity, it’s dried up." Zhao Guangran, hearing about the pond, hurriedly ran over, but after a glance, lost his interest since to him, this was far inferior to his own place.

"What do you think the taste will be like?" Zhao Guangran detected the others had a good relationship with Grandpa Zhuge, while they stated it tasted nice, heaven knows if it was flattery.

"Whether good or not, it’s the elders’ goodwill." Zhao Xuran knew his younger brother was bound to say something outrageous and wanted to scold but hadn’t expected this mistake.

Goodwill—yes, one can’t disregard the elders’ intentions, but the taste must be good, otherwise, what’s the point?

"I think it shouldn’t be bad." Zhuge Zhi and the others might willingly lend a hand, but they weren’t ones to lie obviously.

"This property’s location and the courtyard’s layout." Gong Ruini pointed to a large stone in the center of the courtyard, "If I’m not mistaken, this should be a Taihu Stone."

"Ah, Taihu Stone." Zhao Guangran found nothing wrong with having a Taihu Stone; many old wealthy families would decorate their courtyards, providing a refined feel.

As for the so-called Taihu Stones, there were many kinds, "Let’s go have a look."

A few kids circled around the stone in the center of the courtyard, drawing in some adults too, driven by boredom, thinking Gong Ruini had found something interesting.

They came over to find it was indeed a Taihu Stone. Everyone had seen many Taihu Stones, including in the courtyard they currently lived in, which also had a few.

Zhao Gang assumed it was just a random Taihu Stone, given their abundance, merely costing some labor and transport fees.

Though the sun had set, under the moonlight, seeing this Taihu Stone stunned Zhao Gang and the others.

"Wife, look, doesn’t this stone have wrinkles, leaks, slenderness, and transparency, just unsure of its color?" Zhao Gang always thought the Taihu Stones in their home were nice.

Since it was the result of generations of the Zhuge Family diligently searching for Taihu Stones, but comparing just this stone, it truly surpassed the ones found by Zhuge Family.

Could this be a hidden abode? This was Zhao Gang’s only thought regarding whose house this belonged to, questioning if it was the cook’s home.