Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

A canteen kitchen.

The fat man returned to the kitchen and reported to Wang Dong in vivid detail what he had seen in the small warehouse, which surprised Wang Dong greatly.

I didn't expect He Yuzhu to be such a bootlicker.

Qin Huairu would let Xu Damao take advantage of her for just twenty dollars.

Over the years, the amount of money he lent to Qin Huairu was almost five hundred, but in the end he didn't get any advantage.

A normal person would be furious when faced with this result, feeling that Qin Huairu had tricked him.

Unexpectedly, when the matter came to He Yuzhu, Qin Huairu solved it with just a few words.

This incident also made Wang Dong realize that the matter of He Yuzhu flattering Qin Huairu was not something he could solve just by wanting to.

He originally wanted to help He Yuzhu and prevent him from being sold out by Qin Huairu and helping Qin Huairu count money, but in the end he ended up with a miserable homelessness.

Now it seems that it is very difficult to wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep.

Wang Dong decided to put this matter aside for the time being and let He Yuzhu suffer a few more losses at the hands of Qin Huairu, and then see if there is any possibility of waking him up.

If there is really no way to wake him up, then Wang Dong will be powerless.

But there was one thing that made Wang Dong very happy.

Just now in the small warehouse, He Yuzhu spent the ten dollars he had just lent him.

In order to continue to flatter Qin Huairu, He Yuzhu will definitely continue to borrow money from him.

The two main rooms in the middle courtyard are now worth at most five hundred yuan.

He Yuzhu has already borrowed twenty yuan from himself. If he asks me to borrow ten yuan again tomorrow, the total will be thirty yuan and sixty kilograms of flour.

A year later, the price of flour will rise to at least three yuan per catty, and sixty catties of flour will cost one hundred and eighty yuan.

If He Yuzhu asks me to borrow a hundred yuan during this period, the two main rooms in the middle courtyard will belong to me in a year.

No matter how you analyze it, this is a good deal that is sure to make a profit.

Wang Dong decided that starting from tomorrow, he would always carry 20 yuan with him, just in case He Yuzhu asked him to borrow money and he would have no money, which would delay his plan to take over the two main rooms in the middle courtyard.

…………

Two months passed in a flash, and with the anticipation of everyone in the kitchen, the annual chef assessment finally began.

Master Li and Master Tang got their ninth-level chef certificates as they wished, Fatty and two other kitchen helpers who assisted Master Li and Master Tang got their tenth-level chef certificates, and Wang Dong himself got his eighth-level chef certificates.

Starting next month, the salary will officially increase to 42.5 yuan.

Looking at the people around him with smiling faces, He Yuzhu was extremely envious, but there was nothing he could do.

…………

Deputy Director Li's Office.

When Director Zhou from the kitchen came in, he saw Deputy Director Li with a frown on his face and a serious expression.

As a subordinate, he had to share his boss's worries at all times, so he quickly asked: "Director...something happened in the factory..."

Facing his confidant Director Zhou, Li Huaide did not hide his thoughts.

"It's easy to arrange housing and other things, but it's impossible for so many disaster victims to eat relief food every day and do nothing."

"The factory's supplies were already very tight, and now there are 2,000 more mouths. The logistical pressure we face will definitely increase..."

"Also, even if we find a way to get the rations for these two thousand people from the unplanned house, or eat more coarse grains on weekdays to save the rations for these two thousand people, I'm afraid the cafeteria won't be able to cook for so many people."

"If the food supply is insufficient and the steel mill's production is affected, the factory director will definitely use this excuse to hold me responsible." Director Zhou laughed after hearing this and immediately said, "Factory Director..."

“I thought it was some kind of problem…”

"This problem is easy to solve..."

"I just received some good news from Wang Dong before I came here."

"After a year of study, in the worker-level assessment that just ended, all the people in Canteen 1 except Wang Dong passed the eighth-level chef exam."

"The former chefs, Master Li and Master Tang, have both passed the ninth-level chef exam..."

"There are also three kitchen assistants who help them every day and have passed the tenth-level chef exam..."

"With He Yuzhu currently receiving punishment, there are now three more cooks in the cafeteria who can cook big pot dishes."

"It will definitely be no problem to cook meals for a thousand more people every day."

"The problem will be solved if we allocate 1,500 of the 2,000 extra people from the steel mill to one canteen and 100 to each of the other canteens."

Deputy Director Li stood up from his chair excitedly.

Before, he had thought about distributing the bulk of the labor of these two thousand people to one canteen, so that Wang Dong would have to work harder.

But cooking is a technical job.

As more workers eat, the number of large pots of dishes that need to be cooked in a canteen every day will increase exponentially.

When there are limited chefs, the more big pots of food there are to cook, the greater the pressure on each person, and the worse the quality of the dishes will definitely be.

If this were to happen, the canteen's reputation and branding at the steel mill would definitely be affected, which is something Li Huaide absolutely does not want to see.

The canteen is the signature of the steel rolling mill, and it is also the achievement of Li Huaide during his tenure as logistics director. He would never touch it unless it was absolutely necessary.

Now the canteen has three more chefs who can cook big pots of food. While ensuring the original workload, it can cook meals for more than a thousand people every day. The food will not deteriorate, and the canteen's reputation in the steel mill will not be affected.

Thinking of this, the worried expression on Li Huaide's face suddenly disappeared, and he looked at Director Zhou with a smile on his face.

"This Wang Dong is really our lucky general..."

"He Yuzhu was acting as the canteen monitor for such a long time, but the number of chefs in the canteen never increased."

"Except for his own improvement in cooking skills, no one else has changed at all."

"It's been less than a year since Wang Dong took over as the canteen's monitor, and the canteen has three chefs who cook big pot dishes and two level nine cooks..."

"He turned the messy canteen into a model canteen for our steel mill."

Director Zhou immediately responded: "Director..."

"Wang Dong is not only capable, but also very sensible."

"He Yuzhu used to be the tyrant in the kitchen. He relied on his cooking skills. He was the only one in the kitchen who could cook big pots of food, and he never took other people seriously."

"Even I, the head chef, have to look at his expression before speaking."

"Wang Dong's cooking skills are better than He Yuzhu's, but he never shows off in the cafeteria. He always asks me for instructions first when there is something, and he never interferes in other people's affairs."

"Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer subordinates who are both capable and obedient..."

"I am now serving as the deputy director of the logistics department of the steel mill. Sooner or later, I will lose my position as the head chef."

"Wang Dong has been in our steel mill for a year and has made so many contributions to us. Should we give him a promotion and make him deputy director of the kitchen?" (End of this chapter)