My happy life in a courtyard house with triplets.

Chapter 143: Buying the Cheapest Wine

Yi Zhonghai, however, was secretly delighted. This was exactly the effect he wanted—to make people think that he was completely devoted to Sha Zhu, thus making it perfectly legitimate for Sha Zhu to take care of him in his old age.

Just then, Zhang Lei nudged Yan Fugui with his elbow, winked at him, and said, "Third Uncle, don't you think it's a great thing for our courtyard that Sha Zhu bought this bicycle?"

Upon seeing Zhang Lei's actions, Yan Fugui immediately realized what was happening and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, you're right!" He turned to Sha Zhu and said, "Zhu Zi, buying a bicycle is a big deal for you, we have to celebrate!"

Zhang Lei chimed in, "Yeah, Sha Zhu. Logically speaking, your bicycle is the first brand-new one in our entire college. The rest of us are all riding old ones."

Sha Zhu, flattered by the two, thought about it carefully and realized it was true. So he forced himself to say, "We should celebrate!" But then he changed the subject, looking troubled. "But even if I wanted to celebrate, there's nothing. You can't buy meat or anything like that in the market these days."

Zhang Lei looked at Sha Zhu, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Hey Sha Zhu, have you forgotten what I do? If you want to buy meat and vegetables, these things are a bit difficult for me, but not impossible."

Just then, Yi Zhonghai stepped forward to stop them, saying, "It's just buying a bicycle, why make such a big fuss about it? Besides, it's not some earth-shattering event."

Zhang Lei immediately retorted, "Uncle, you're wrong about that. With your influence, and with Sha Zhu being the only level-eight chef in our compound, isn't that enough to warrant a celebration?"

He paused, then continued, "Besides, we won't go on a big fuss. We'll just invite a few respected elders like you three, along with us young people of similar age, prepare a table of dishes, and have a meal together. This way, we can celebrate Zhuzi buying his first car and also strengthen the bonds between everyone in the compound. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"

Upon hearing this, Yan Fugui quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, Zhang Lei is right! Let's not be extravagant. Let Zhang Lei get the ingredients, and we'll just have a simple meal and drinks at Zhu Zi's house to make it lively."

After saying that, he looked at Yi Zhonghai and winked, saying, "Old Yi, you're just buying a bicycle for Zhuzi, you should at least let everyone know, right? Otherwise, the money will be wasted!"

Yan Fugui was making his own plans, and he kept giving Yi Zhonghai meaningful glances.

Listening to Yan Fugui's words and glancing at the envious looks from the neighbors, Yi Zhonghai thought to himself, "That makes sense. We've already spent the money, isn't it all for a good reputation? If we do it quietly, wouldn't that two hundred yuan be wasted?"

Thinking of this, Yi Zhonghai stopped insisting and nodded, which was considered tacit agreement.

Seeing that Yi Zhonghai didn't object, Zhang Lei reached out and said to Sha Zhu, "Zhu Zi, where's the money?"

Sha Zhu paused for a moment, then pulled out a handful of change from his pocket, preparing to count it one bill at a time.

Zhang Lei grabbed it directly and said, "Alright, Zhu Zi, stop counting. That's enough. If it's not enough, I'll give you more."

As he spoke, he pushed the cart and walked out.

This startled Sha Zhu, and before he could even shout, Zhang Lei ran out of the courtyard like a rabbit.

Sha Zhu and the others looked at each other in bewilderment at Zhang Lei's actions.

Yi Zhonghai patted Sha Zhu on the shoulder and comforted him, "Alright, don't worry about the money. Just tell me if you ever need money in the future."

Sha Zhu nodded after hearing Yi Zhonghai's words and said, "Okay, Uncle, I understand."

Zhang Lei left the courtyard, got on his bicycle, found a secluded spot, and counted the wad of money in his hand.

"Hey, 32.7 yuan, that's quite a lot." Zhang Lei was overjoyed.

He put the money and tickets into his personal storage space, took out the dog, and then continued riding forward with peace of mind.

Soon, Zhang Lei arrived at the entrance of a shop that specialized in butchering meat.

He parked the car and lifted the big black wolfhound out of the back seat—the same dog he had "borrowed" from the Lou family last night.

The butcher looked up and was startled to see such a large black dog: "What is this...?"

Zhang Lei quickly feigned sadness and sighed, "Sigh, this is my dog, whom I've raised for many years. Last night, it choked to death on something it ate. These days, meat is precious, and we can't let it go to waste, right? I was thinking of asking you to help me kill it and get some meat."

The man looked Zhang Lei up and down, then glanced at the dog, sensing that something was amiss.

Especially Zhang Lei, who kept saying he was "sad," couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from turning up; he couldn't hide his happiness at all.

The butcher felt a chill run down his spine, thinking to himself: Is this kid just messing with me?

However, the butcher thought again, who cares where the meat comes from, as long as he gets paid, he's just a worker anyway.

Soon, at Zhang Lei's request, the big black wolfhound was stripped clean and its flesh was separated from its bones.

Zhang Lei asked him to divide the dog meat into a small bag and a large bag.

After paying the butcher a fee, Zhang Lei carried his things and slowly rode towards the department store.

I haven't bought the fabric I promised to buy for Ye Shuqin yet, so I'll take this opportunity to do it all at once.

Soon, Zhang Lei arrived at the department store. Looking at the people coming and going, he finally found the place selling fabric.

When Zhang Lei reached the counter, he slapped his forehead and realized, "Oh dear, I forgot to ask Ye Shuqin what color she likes."

However, Zhang Lei was too lazy to go back and ask again. Anyway, he had plenty of tickets now—from Lou Jiashun, from the casino, and from other places. He was not short of tickets at all.

Zhang Lei directly picked out several bolts of fabric with nice colors and good material, paid for them, and received the fabric coupons.

People around him were incredibly envious when they saw him buy so much fabric at once.

Amidst envious glances from the crowd, Zhang Lei left the fabric counter carrying a large pile of fabric.

He then asked for two more ropes, tied the cloth to the back of the bicycle, and rode away satisfied.

After buying the cloth, Zhang Lei thought about the meat he would have for dinner and began to think: "How can we have meat without wine? I still need to get those people in the courtyard drunk."

So he went to the place that sold wine.

Upon seeing the boss, Zhang Lei immediately said, "Boss, get me the cheapest bulk liquor, the higher the alcohol content, the better."

Hearing Zhang Lei's words, the shop owner was taken aback, as if he hadn't heard him clearly, and asked again, "Do you mean the cheapest one? Or the absolute best one?"

Zhang Lei repeated impatiently, "The cheapest one! It's not like I'm drinking it, why would I want something so good?"

Zhang Lei's words left the shopkeeper speechless.

The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment before saying, "Alright then, how about this one?"

The shopkeeper pointed to a large vat of wine in the corner.

Zhang Lei leaned closer and took a sniff. Good heavens, the smell of alcohol was incredibly pungent.

Zhang Lei looked at the wine in the vat, frowned, and said, "Hey boss, this isn't leftovers, is it?"

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper's face flushed red...