Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

The two chefs who supervised the first canteen came from the third canteen of the steel rolling mill.

After Wang Dong became the deputy director of the kitchen, two chefs from the third canteen came over to join him.

On the one hand, it is because of Wang Dong’s identity. As a subordinate, he must follow his superiors.

On the other hand, it is because Wang Dong has never been reluctant to teach others cooking.

Follow Wang Dong and ask if you don’t understand something. Maybe you will have the opportunity to be promoted to a level nine chef in the future.

After hearing the gossip that Wang Dong was plotted against by Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu in Siheyuan, and that the kitchen staff wanted to retaliate against the two of them to vent the deputy director's anger, the two chefs kept the matter in mind.

Seeing Yi Zhonghai coming to him to ask for an explanation with the food that had been shaken by the kitchen helper, the chef would definitely not help him.

But in order to show his fairness and justice, he carefully checked the food brought by Yi Zhonghai, and then asked: "Comrade..."

"Excuse me, is there anything wrong with the food you brought over?"

Yi Zhonghai asked angrily: "Of course there is a problem..."

"Didn't you notice that the food the kitchen staff prepared for me today was less than usual, and the steamed bread contained more wild vegetables than usual?"

"Don't you think it's a bit too much that there isn't even a speck of meat in a meat dish?"

"If you don't give me an explanation today, I will definitely go to the factory leaders and sue your canteen..."

The chef's expression did not change at all because of Yi Zhonghai's anger. Instead, he frowned and asked, "Is there less food?"

"Why don't I think so?"

After saying that, he put the food that Yi Zhonghai brought over on the fair scale, then stared at Yi Zhonghai and asked: "Comrade..."

"If I'm not mistaken, you should have eaten a few bites of the food in the lunch box."

"Even so, the amount of food has reached the standard set by the kitchen."

"As for what you said about the wild vegetable content in the steamed bread being higher than usual... that's totally normal."

“Ask other workers in line if this has ever happened to them.”

"When we make steamed bread in the kitchen, we mix more than 100 kilograms of flour at a time. After adding wild vegetables, there will definitely be times when the mixing is not evenly distributed. It is inevitable that a small amount of steamed bread will contain more wild vegetables than normal."

"You are unlucky today. If you eat one or two steamed breads with high content of wild vegetables, you won't be so unlucky tomorrow..."

In the eyes of the workers: there are two people they hate to offend the most in the steel mill.

One is one’s own boss, and one is worried that he will be in trouble if he offends his superior.

One is a kitchen helper who serves food for himself in the canteen.

Although there are clear regulations in the kitchen that workers are not allowed to shake the spoons.

But within the prescribed range, the amount of food served to each worker by the kitchen still varies.

If you offend the kitchen helper who helps you serve food, even if he doesn't shake the spoon for you, the food you get will be much less than usual, and this less is within the specified range, so you will have no way to ask for an explanation in the kitchen.

In response to the chef's question, the workers nearby spoke up one after another, as if they had discussed it beforehand: "I've encountered this situation before..."

"It is true that some wild vegetable steamed bread contains more wild vegetables than usual..."

Some workers who knew Yi Zhonghai followed up with the conversation: "Master Yi..."

"It is impossible to get the same amount of food and dishes every time in the cafeteria. There will be some differences, more or less."

"As long as they haven't reduced your amount, that's enough."

"It doesn't matter if there's a little more soup in the dishes..." The kitchen helper who was serving the dishes saw that the workers around him were all speaking up for the canteen, and some even took the opportunity to criticize Yi Zhonghai. He was in a very good mood, and couldn't help but serve them a little more soup, and picked out bigger steamed bread for them.

Faced with such a good thing, the workers who spoke for the canteen became more and more excited, and more and more people began to criticize Yi Zhonghai.

Faced with everyone's pointing and criticizing, Yi Zhonghai was very angry, but there was nothing he could do.

Now they are in the right, and the workers around are also speaking for the canteen. I can't find any reasons to refute.

In order to avoid being embarrassed by staying here any longer, even though he still felt that there was something wrong with the food in his lunch box, he picked up the food and left the window in a huff, very quickly, fearing that he would be scolded by more workers if he was a step slower.

…………

Qin Huairu ran to three windows in a row to queue up and asked three kitchen helpers who were serving food, but none of them could find out where He Yuzhu was.

Seeing that the leftover food in the cafeteria was getting better and better, Qin Huairu, who was hungry, had to reluctantly give up and took out the money to buy his own lunch.

As for Banggeng's dinner, Qin Huairu decided to let He Yuzhu take care of it, as a punishment for not helping him get food and dishes in the kitchen at noon.

Based on his understanding of He Yuzhu, if he wanted to win his forgiveness, he would definitely go out to buy some delicious food, then Bang Geng and the others’ dinner would be solved.

"Comrade, could you have made a mistake? I ordered a vegetarian dish and five steamed buns with wild vegetables...how come there is only soup in the lunch box and no vegetables?" Qin Huairu widened his eyes and asked in disbelief as he looked at the vegetarian dish with more soup than vegetables in the lunch box.

He felt that the kitchen helper who was serving her food was deliberately targeting him, otherwise why would he only serve her such a small amount of food.

If He Yuzhu stood here, half a vegetarian dish would be more than the one vegetarian dish made by the kitchen helper in front of him.

The kitchen helper answered firmly: "No mistake..."

“That’s the amount for a vegetarian dish.”

"If you don't believe me, go to the fair scales and weigh it."

"We in the canteen never shortchange the workers when serving them food, and our spoons never shake."

Qin Huairu felt that the kitchen helper in front of him must be new and was not clear about his relationship with He Yuzhu.

As long as I mention He Yuzhu's name, the other party will definitely compromise and help me get more dishes.

He immediately retorted: "But these meals are not even half as much as your Master He's."

"In the past, Chef He always served me food, and the amount of a vegetarian dish was at least twice the amount in the lunch box..."

"Master He and I are neighbors in the same courtyard. Your Master He is also the godfather of my son Bang Geng. I have a very good relationship with him."

"Master, can you please give me more food for Master He's sake?"

The kitchen helper who was helping Qin Huairu serve the food did not respond, but frowned and asked back: "Comrade..."

"Are you sure that the amount of vegetarian food that the canteen kitchen gives you each time is more than twice the amount in your lunch box?"

Qin Huairu heard something wrong in the kitchen helper's words.

He did not answer directly immediately, but continued with an ambiguous expression: "I also forgot a little. May I ask this comrade, is it okay for Master He to give me some more dishes?"

The kitchen helper answered without thinking, "Of course there is a problem, and it's a big problem."

"We originally prepared food for ten people, but someone deliberately gave more food to the neighbors, so the food for ten people was only enough for nine people. Then one worker would go hungry."

"Supplies are so scarce in the city that there isn't a single steamed bun in the kitchen. Every spoonful of food has been calculated in advance and we absolutely cannot give more."

"Otherwise, the person in charge of serving the food will have to bear the loss caused by serving too much food to the kitchen of the steel mill." (End of this chapter)