Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

Deputy Director Li didn't want to abandon the wild vegetable steamed bread he was making halfway due to lack of raw materials.

By that time, the steel mill will run out of wild vegetable steamed bread, and I will have to beg everyone for help to raise extra food, which will be too tiring.

If food cannot be collected and the workers go hungry, it would mean that I, as the deputy factory director, have failed in my duty, and the reputation I have worked so hard to build up in the steel mill would also be affected.

Director Yang might take the opportunity to attack me and suppress me, which would be counterproductive.

Wang Dong was staring at him with shining eyes, looking like a power-hungry person.

Deputy Director Li was not angry at all. On the contrary, he was very happy.

As a leader, the biggest worry is that subordinates do not make demands, so that you cannot tie them to your chariot.

As long as the other party wants something, you should cater to his or her needs. It is easy to tie the other party to yourself and advance and retreat together.

Wang Dong wants to be an official and wants to become a cadre. As long as he is willing to follow me, I will promote him.

Anyway, he is still just a deputy kitchen director with a worker's status. In terms of rank, he is nearly ten levels lower than me. There is plenty of room to promote him slowly.

Looking at Wang Dong's passionate eyes, he answered confidently: "As long as your method is feasible, I will definitely help you become a cadre first."

Now Deputy Director Li still needs my help in planning and arranging food supplies, so he will definitely keep his promise.

Wang Dong immediately replied: "Leader..."

"You should know that I am not from Sijiu City..."

"My father-in-law is not from the Forbidden City either..."

"Our hometown is actually in the Northeast..."

"My father and father-in-law were both soldiers in the Northeast. My father died in the war, and my father-in-law later transferred to the security department of a steel mill, and then he brought me to my home in Beijing."

"In my hometown, because it is backed by mountains and sparsely populated, every household will store a lot of dried wild vegetables for winter consumption."

"Every spring, there are so many wild vegetables in the mountains that we can't eat them all."

"Don't even mention 2,000 kilograms of wild vegetables a day. We can even collect 20,000 kilograms."

"There are also a lot of wild boars hiding in the mountains. Do you think we can send people to the northeast to mobilize the local people to help us pick wild vegetables?"

"When the time comes, just use the money to buy it from them."

"If we're lucky, we might be able to buy a few wild boars to feed the workers."

"In order to facilitate the transportation and storage of wild vegetables, we can mobilize local people to turn all the wild vegetables they picked into dried goods. We only accept dried goods."

"Just go back to the steel mill and soak it up..."

"I remember that the steel mill had more than a dozen large trucks in its logistics department. If the wild vegetables were dried, the dried wild vegetables transported back could at least meet the needs of the steel mill for a month."

"It only takes three or four days to drive from the steel mill to my hometown."

Deputy Factory Director Li stared at Wang Dong with wide eyes and asked seriously, "Are you sure that your hometown can really provide a large amount of wild vegetables..."

Wang Dong answered confidently: "Leader..."

"No matter how brave I am, I would never dare to joke with you about such a thing."

"My hometown is vast and sparsely populated, so there is no shortage of wild vegetables or even food..."

"It's just that grain cannot be bought and sold privately, and it's all been transferred away. Otherwise, we might be able to buy some grain back after we go to the steel mill."

"If the leader doesn't believe us, we can send two buyers to check out the situation. Anyway, we can still pick wild vegetables outside the city, so there's no need to rush."

Deputy Director Li stared at Wang Dong and continued to ask: "Can you get wild boars?" "Not only wild boars, but if you're lucky, you might be able to buy some venison..."

"There are several hunters in every village in my hometown. Now that we have set up a commune, I don't know if they still hunt."

"But if our steel mill purchases through formal channels, I believe the local commune will definitely organize hunters to go into the mountains to hunt."

Deputy Director Li was so excited that he couldn't express it in words.

Looking at Wang Dong, he answered seriously: "Deputy Director Wang..."

"If what you said is true, then you have done a great service to our steel mill..."

"As long as the steel mill really buys a lot of wild vegetables from your hometown, I promise to change your worker status to cadre status."

"If you can bring back some wild boar meat and venison, I'll give you a reward."

…………

Wang Dong’s idea is very simple.

Taking advantage of the shortage of supplies in the city of Sijiu and the lack of food in the steel rolling mill, I, as a cook, would be useful to Deputy Director Li. I should seize the time to make more contributions and get promoted as soon as possible.

When Sijiu City has sufficient supplies and the steel rolling mill is no longer short of food, his role in Deputy Director Li's office will definitely become less and less important.

Apart from being an excellent cook, I have almost no other abilities that can gain the other party's attention, so it will be difficult to improve my level at that time.

Just as he returned to the canteen kitchen, the broadcast of his official appointment as deputy director of the kitchen sounded at the steel mill, and at the same time, the steel mill's grade and salary were also announced.

When they heard that they could get a salary of 68 yuan per month, everyone in the kitchen showed envy on their faces.

He Yuzhu and Lin Tao, who had joined Director Yang, showed jealous expressions.

Looking at all the chefs in the kitchen, I was the last to work in the steel mill. I had the youngest qualifications and age. However, in less than two years, I became the highest-ranking and highest-paid person in the steel mill.

This was definitely a huge blow to He Yuzhu, who had worked in the steel mill for seven or eight years.

Because he had worked in the steel mill for such a long time, not only did he not get further promotion, but he fell further and further behind, from an envied eighth-level chef to an unknown tenth-level chef.

The huge gap almost made him unable to catch his breath.

…………

A workshop in a steel rolling mill.

Yi Zhonghai's face looked very solemn.

Although he had tried every means to stop Wang Dong from promoting wild vegetable steamed bread in the steel mill, he failed in the end.

Wang Dong, whom I would never even look at before, has now become the official deputy director of the kitchen. Even his salary is nearly doubled than before. It is equivalent to having one foot in the ranks of cadres. It would be a lie to say that I am not envious.

I have worked diligently in the steel rolling mill for more than ten years, and my work grade has been promoted to the highest in the factory. I have become one of the few senior fitters in the steel rolling mill. Even Director Yang is polite to me when he sees me.

But no matter how polite you are, you can't change your identity as a worker.

Although Wang Dong was in charge of logistics, he had nothing to do with himself.

But when he actually stood in front of her, she had to call him deputy director out of emotion and reason, otherwise it would be disrespectful to her leader.

Then think about He Yuzhu, the elderly person whom you trained at great cost.

He had made mistakes again and again at the steel mill, otherwise Wang Dong would probably be in his current position.

Unlike now, I hide in the back kitchen of the canteen every day as an invisible person, not even a squad leader, and I am afraid that I will make mistakes and be fined. (End of this chapter)