Too many courtesy can also lead to disaster

  Although Ye Meng's parents were very reassured about their little daughter living in Zhang Jin's home, Ye Meng also wanted to stay at Zhang Jin's house for a few more days. Here not only had the most delicious food, the cleanest and most primitive beach water, the smartest and cutest little dog Hei Shuijing, but more importantly, she especially enjoyed this day of 'cohabitation' with just herself and Zhang Jin. Sometimes in her small brain, they really seemed like a real couple. However, the little girl was about to enter her third year of high school, and summer vacation classes were indispensable. So when Ye Meng had only been living at Zhang Jin's house for a few days, she couldn't help but reluctantly leave.

  Although Ye Meng left with a sense of reluctance and unwillingness, Zhang Jin felt a mix of emotions. After sending off the little devil, Zhang Jin felt a great relief, aside from a hint of reluctance. This little girl had been tormenting him for days, changing her clothes every day was one thing, but what was overboard was that when they were alone at home, she didn't care about her attire or behavior. Accidental exposure and flashing were frequent occurrences, it was unclear if it was intentional or not. The constant rubbing and grinding against each other was also a common occurrence. Due to the little girl's presence, Zhang Jin's pent-up frustration had been building up, even when he was burning with desire and his nose was bleeding, he had to endure it. He didn't even have the chance to go to the city and hunt at the bar as he usually did.

  Of course, sending off Ye Meng, there was another guy who was very happy. That was Hei Shui Jing. These past few days, the little witch-like Ye Meng had tormented him enough. When she dressed him up, whether it was a bow tie or a hat, clothes would all make him feel uncomfortable all over. Whether it was perfume or powder, they would all torment his sensitive nose, and even his normally hearty appetite had weakened a lot.

  On the other side.

  With Zhang Jin's nod of approval, Shanghai Jufu and Hai Jili, the two brothers, loudly promoted it, and soon, villagers with arthritis and rheumatism from all over Haiguo Village came to his doorstep. In the end, due to Zhang Jin's limited time and village branch secretary Hai Jufu's mediation, hundreds of patients were divided into ten batches, each batch consisting of about ten people, with a fixed time slot for each person to visit Zhang Jin's home for treatment by the divine doctor. However, the almost non-stop flow of people in and out still made Zhang Jin's originally empty and quiet home suddenly become bustling with activity.

  Just then, Hai Jufu's younger brother Hai Jucai had just been sent away. Before Zhang Jin could sit down and take a sip of water, the next patient, Niu Dajye, walked in. Seeing the basket in Niu Dajye's hand, Zhang Jin's eyebrows furrowed again, "Niu Dajye, what is this? Didn't we agree that you wouldn't bring anything else? How come...

  Whether it was Hai Jufu's subtle or obvious hint, or the Chinese people's inherent understanding of human relationships, since Zhang Jin took on the task of treating illnesses for the villagers, every patient who came to his home would bring various gifts. From eggs laid by their own chickens and ducks, fruits picked from their own orchards, vegetables picked from their own gardens, to pork from pigs they had slaughtered themselves, freshwater and seafood caught from rivers and seas, game hunted from mountains, and mushrooms and wood ears picked in the wild...

  Actually, these people's idea is very simple: if you give them money, they won't accept it no matter what, but if it's their own local products and stuff, shouldn't you have no reason to refuse? This is different from money, which can be seen as a consultation fee. You just need to say "We're all fellow villagers, do you still want to charge for the medical treatment?" and they'll back down. But these homemade products are a token of affection, if you still insist on refusing, it would hurt their feelings.

  Old Niu was a soldier when he was young, fought in the Sino-Vietnamese War and received military honors. Now that he's old, his waist has started to hunch over, his hair is white as frost, but his voice still carries the momentum of his time in the army. As soon as Zhang Jin finished speaking, Old Niu glared at him with wide eyes, bellowing in a loud voice: "What's wrong? Are you saying that my stuff is poisonous?! Besides, you know that our village can't transport goods out, if you don't eat this lychee, it'll rot on the tree and go to waste! Hurry up and take it!"

  Helpless, Zhang Jin had no choice but to take over the basket of lychees that weighed at least twenty pounds, let Old Cow sit down on the sofa, and then carried the basket towards the kitchen.

  But when Zhang Jin was about to put the lychees into a storage space that could keep items from spoiling forever, he was shocked. It turned out that having too many gifts could also be a disaster!

  Although the space expanded eightfold when upgraded to level 10, it was still over thirty cubic meters. However, there were also a lot of things inside. Originally, Zhang Jin would bring back a large quantity of various ingredients every time he entered the city, and on top of that, he had purchased items such as dan ding, medicine stoves, iron furnaces, anvils, and hammers from the system store, which had already occupied more than half of the space. The remaining few cubic meters of space was already full to the brim after putting in the fresh mountain wood ear from Hai Jucai's half-snake skin bag. Shaking his head, Zhang Jin had no choice but to change his mind and put the lychee into the huge refrigerator that was already 70% full.

  With the thirty-six swift needles finished, Zhang Jin sent off Niu Dage as the last patient of the day and returned to the kitchen.

  Looking at the nearly full refrigerator and already full storage space, Zhang Jin started to worry. The things sent by his fellow villagers were all good things, and it would be a pity if they were wasted. But if he were to finish them off, Zhang Jin was not a celestial being who could eat day and night, nor was he a gluttonous king who had descended upon the earth, so how could he possibly finish off so many things? Having no other choice, Zhang Jin finally had to get rid of the lazy muscles he had developed during this period of leisure and think of ways to deal with these things.

  Fruits are easy to deal with. With the brewing skills of a high-ranking master, these fruits can be brewed into various fruit wines.

  But what about the meat, eggs, river and sea food? Even if the meat can be smoked or pickled for storage, and the eggs can be pickled. What about those river and sea food, can they all be dried in the sun? Isn't that a waste of good food?! The dried river and sea food sold by others are always of the worst quality, but the ones sent by our fellow villagers are all carefully selected good stuff! Whether it's shrimp, crab or fish, they're all plump and big.

  "The brother sleeping on the upper bunk..." Just as Zhang Jin was worried about the "good things" in the refrigerator and storage space, his mobile phone rang. The ringtone was obviously Wei Feng, who lived in his lower bunk in school back then.

  After casually pressing the answer button, Zhang Jin pondered how to deal with these good things while absent-mindedly saying: "Hey, Old Fourth, why did you suddenly think of calling me?"

  "Damn, I'm heartbroken. It's been so long since we last met, and you still have this attitude when I call you. Eldest brother, you're being too much!" On the other end of the line came Wei Feng's nauseatingly exaggerated tone of grievance.

  "Damn it, can you blame me for not seeing each other for so long? I said last week that I wanted to go downtown and hang out, but you had a business trip; the week before that, I also said I wanted to go downtown and hang out, but Lao San was working overtime and didn't have time; the week before that..."

  Before Zhang Jin finished listing the misdeeds of Old Three and Old Four, Wei Feng hastily interrupted: "Old Big Brother, this is not right of you. How can you bring up these things with us two? You're now a big idle person, but I and Third Brother still have to work and support our families! You weren't that great when you were working either. Besides, it just so happens that Second Brother and I are both free this weekend, so I couldn't wait to call and inform you!"

  "Suit yourself! Alright then, you tell me where and when, I'll come find you!"

  "You don't have to come into the city, you're our boss, how can we bother you? So just stay at home and I'll go with Old Three to your place. We'll take a look at the rooms in 'our' vacation villa too. But first, remind you to prepare some food, don't let us starve. As for the grade of food, that depends on your sincerity." Wei Feng still had Zhang Jin's culinary skills on his mind.

  Zhang Jin's eyes lit up, and now these "good things" that he had been struggling to get rid of finally had a way to be consumed. He hastily agreed: "Okay, no problem, you guys come on! Don't worry, I guarantee that within the two days of the weekend, I'll fatten each of you up by 10-18 pounds. When are you coming?"

  "The day after tomorrow afternoon, I declare in advance, it's not two people, but four! As for the other two... you know who they are."

  …………

  Saturday is a good weather. The sun is high, the sky is blue and cloudless. In the morning, around eleven thirty.

  Although Zhang Jin and Hei Shuijing, who was lying beside him with his mouth watering while watching him cook, had already heard the loud engine sound of Lu Hu's car and had seen a large grey dot approaching their direction through the small map in their minds, it wasn't until the chaotic footsteps were already outside the door that Zhang Jin finally came out of the kitchen to greet them.

  "You guys came pretty early, didn't you? In order to have lunch with me today, you didn't sleep in this morning, did you?" Zhang Jin said with a smile as he saw Xiao Fei, Wei Feng and the others entering one after another.

  In response to Zhang Jin's sarcastic greeting, Xiao Fei didn't feel embarrassed at all. While wiping away the sweat that had appeared on his forehead after walking just a few steps from getting off the car, he said bluntly: "That's right, do you think it was easy for us to make it in time for lunch? Don't beat around the bush, tell me, brothers, is our big lunch ready? I'm starving! We didn't even eat breakfast so we could save room for lunch!"

  He and Xiao Fei had the same moral integrity, and Wei Feng also said with a straight face: "Yes, yes. For this meal to satisfy our hunger, our family's Fei Fei's stomach is almost starving to death. Eldest brother, I'm telling you, if this lunch doesn't meet our expectations, don't blame me and third brother for rebelling against you!"

  Blue Fey and Mu Xinyan were both embarrassed, with their faces flushed as they hurried to the restaurant on empty stomachs. Especially Blue Fey, who was exposed by her boyfriend for being so hungry that she was about to collapse, was even more humiliated, hiding behind her man's back and refusing to show her face.

  He didn't find it unusual that his two brothers' faces were tense, but he scolded them with a bad temper: "You two guys are like starving ghosts. As soon as you enter the door, you don't even know to greet your elder brother, and you rush to eat. Don't worry, lunch is almost ready. Go upstairs and sit for a while, it'll be ready soon."

  Then Zhang Jin put on another smiling face and said to the two younger siblings: "You're here for the first time, take advantage of the time before dinner to take a look around. The rooms prepared for you are all upstairs, go take a look!"