The Wizard's Journey Begins in a Courtyard House

Chapter 41 Dining: A Covert Maneuver

Li Qinsheng brought out a large bowl of corn porridge, not because he actually intended to eat it, but simply to make a show of it.

It was to tell everyone in the courtyard that he wasn't eating anything fancy, but just ordinary corn porridge.

Li Qin lit the dim kerosene lamp, then closed the door, while simultaneously casting a locking spell on it.

Then he sat back down at the table;

Li Qin first pushed the corn porridge in front of him to a corner of the table.

Then he waved his hand.

Several large plates filled with food suddenly appeared on the table.

However, what Li Qin took out from the ring space this time was not a hot dish, but a cold dish.

There is only one meat dish, which is braised pork, but there are quite a few varieties of it.

Pig's head meat, pig's ears, pig's snout, pig's heart, pig's liver...

Even if there's only a little of each, it adds up to a huge plate.

The rest were all vegetables.

Li Qin then waved his hand again, and suddenly several hot, seemingly freshly steamed white steamed buns appeared on the table.

"I ate a bit too much during the day, so I'll just have something simple for dinner."

Li Qin held chopsticks in one hand and a large white steamed bun in the other, and began to eat it with gusto.

Such food would be unthinkable for most people outside, but he only described it as something to eat.

Fortunately, Li Qin was hiding inside the room; if he had said those words outside, he might have been beaten to death.

Fortunately, although the system disappeared after Li Qin transmigrated, it left behind a beginner's gift pack.

And he extracted some useful insights from them.

Otherwise, he would be like the original owner of this body now, forced to drink corn porridge while holding his nose.

Li Qin ate a bite of vegetables, a bite of meat, and a bite of steamed bun, thoroughly enjoying his meal.

Soon, he finished all the vegetables, meat, and steamed buns he had taken out.

Li Qin then put down his chopsticks.

"Eating until you're 80% full is the ideal state, and this is just right now."

The food he just took out would normally be enough for two adults, but he ate it all by himself and was only about 80% full.

It's clear that his appetite hasn't decreased at all.

"Completely cleaned up!"

With a wave of his hand, Li Qin made the bowls, chopsticks, and plates on the table spotless again, so clean they were practically gleaming.

He then put these items back into his storage ring.

The corn porridge that was just served was also put into the ring space.

Although Li Qin himself couldn't eat this, he wouldn't waste it. Instead, he planned to use it to feed the poultry in his space.

After finishing his meal, Li Qin released the door-locking spell he had just cast.

He had initially done so because he was worried that someone might barge in while he was eating, although the possibility was extremely small, but he was just in case.

He still cast the spell.

After finishing his meal, Li Qin made himself a cup of tea.

He then drank tea to aid digestion while pondering the matter.

"I can't go to the black market last night, since meat is a relatively scarce commodity, and I've probably already been noticed selling meat last night."

Although I only sell wild boar meat, rabbits, and pheasants, I can easily explain it away by using hunting as an excuse.

But just to be on the safe side, let's not go to the black market from last night; let's go to another one instead.

The current permanent population of Beijing is not as large as it would be decades later, reaching an astonishing 20 million.

However, it also has a permanent population of three million.

With such a large population base, it's impossible for Beijing to have only one or two black markets.

Instead, there are several.

Tonight, Li Qin is going to another black market, one that is quite far from the No. 95 courtyard house.

If it were an ordinary person carrying a basket of meat on their back, traversing most of Beijing, especially in the middle of the night, there would only be one outcome.

That could mean being ambushed, robbed, or even losing both your money and your life.

After all, Beijing is not exactly safe these days.

However, this was no problem for Li Qin, because he had already figured out the locations of the various black markets.

You can simply use Apparition to teleport there instantly.

"Judging from last night's meat sales, there are a lot of people buying meat now, so we can appropriately increase sales tonight."

Thinking about how he sold half a wild boar, ten wild rabbits, and ten pheasants in less than half an hour last night, Li Qin decided to sell more today.

After careful consideration, Li Qin decided to double the quantity of items.

One wild boar, twenty wild rabbits, and twenty pheasants.

This number was calculated by him.

If there were any more, it would attract the attention of those with ulterior motives.

This number is just enough to match the harvest of a seasoned hunter on a single hunt, and it won't be too conspicuous.

"But tonight, besides selling meat, I also need to check the black market to see if I can buy any young livestock or pets..."

Li Qin thought about the pet again.

"Knock knock knock!"

Just as Li Qin was contemplating his plans for the night's trip to the black market, he suddenly heard a knock on the door.

A look of confusion immediately appeared on Li Qin's face;

Who would knock on the door at this time? Especially someone as insignificant as him?

With a questioning mind, Li Qin went over and opened the door;

But they discovered that the person knocking on the door was Yan Jiecheng, the eldest son of the third uncle, Yan Bugui.

"Jiecheng, it's you. What's the matter with you knocking?"

Li Qin looked at the other person with curiosity.

The original owner was quite familiar with Yan Jiecheng, because after graduating from middle school, Yan Jiecheng neither passed the entrance exam for a vocational school nor for a high school.

So I went home.

But given Yan Bugui's personality, how could he possibly allow Yan Jiecheng to eat and drink for free at home?

Therefore, Yan Jiecheng also started looking for work while doing odd jobs on the street.

Over time, he had more contact with the original owner, who also did odd jobs, and they naturally became familiar with each other.

Of course, the main reason for saying they were familiar was that Yan Jiecheng wanted to take advantage of the original owner and took the initiative to approach her.

Although the original owner was ambitious, he was introverted, and they lived in the same courtyard house, with the other party being the son of the third uncle.

The original owner couldn't very well refuse the other party's overtures.

As a result, Yan Jiecheng often found excuses to take advantage of the original owner;

For example, eating the steamed buns and pickled vegetables left on the original owner's body.

As time went on, Yan Jiecheng saw that the original owner had not clearly resisted, and even tried to borrow money from the original owner.

However, although the original owner was introverted, he was not stupid. He naturally knew that once he lent money to the other party, he would definitely not get it back.

However, directly refusing would make one look bad.

Therefore, the original owner could only use excuses such as not having enough money and needing to save the money for food to appease the other party.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to save more than fifty yuan in just over a year.

Upon hearing Li Qin's words, Yan Jiecheng first smiled and nodded at Li Qin before speaking.

"An old man just came to see my dad, saying there's a hospital-wide meeting in half an hour, and it seems there's something to announce."

My dad is the person in charge of the front yard, so I'm the one who notifies the residents there.

Yan Jiecheng didn't waste any words and explained the matter clearly in just a few sentences.

Li Qin nodded immediately, indicating that he already knew.

Seeing this, Yan Jiecheng smiled and nodded again, saying:

"I remember the meeting starts in half an hour, don't be late."

After saying this, Yan Jiecheng turned and walked to the next house, also to announce the matter of holding a general meeting of the entire institute.