Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

Deputy Director Li came especially early today.

He appeared in the kitchen of a canteen in the steel rolling mill before eight o'clock.

Fortunately, Wang Dong, Huang Longfei and Tang Dashan were already waiting here, otherwise Deputy Director Li would have been disappointed.

When he saw Wang Dong, he asked anxiously, "Xiao Wang, how is it? Did you succeed?"

Wang Dong pointed to the bone oil in the basin and said, "Leader..."

"There are a little over 13 pounds of bone oil in total... The remaining bone soup in the pot can be used to stew radishes and cabbages..."

“I haven’t tried the specific taste yet.”

"It just so happens that there is half a cabbage left in the kitchen. How about I fry it for you with some bone oil and we can eat it first."

Deputy Factory Director Li looked at the small amount of bone oil on the plate and said, "Let's fry it now..."

"As long as it's edible, you've made a great contribution to our steel mill..."

For Wang Dong now, stir-frying a cabbage with bone oil is absolutely the simplest thing.

In less than five minutes, a plate of fragrant cabbage appeared in front of Deputy Director Li.

Perhaps it was because Wang Dong used a large amount of shredded ginger and minced garlic to suppress the peculiar smell of the bone oil itself, the fried cabbage was actually comparable to lard.

After eating a few bites of cabbage, Deputy Director Li showed a satisfied smile on his face, and then said to Wang Dong: "Let's use this bone oil to cook vegetables at noon today and see how the workers react."

"Xiao Wang, come with me to the office..."

After saying that, he hurried to the office, and Wang Dong followed closely behind him.

After closing the door of Deputy Director Li's room, Deputy Director Li pulled him to sit on a chair with a smile on his face, and then sighed: "Every time we had a meeting before, Director Yang would complain to me about the lack of oil and water in the food."

"Now that we have bone oil, I wonder how Old Yang can still cause trouble."

"I will have the Logistics and Procurement Department contact all the meat processing factories in the city and collect a large number of pig bones. The more the better."

"Please organize this method and put it into writing. I want to report it to my superiors."

"For such a great contribution, I will not only reward you at the steel mill, but also recommend you to the superiors."

"If you're lucky enough, I, Deputy Factory Director Li, will also benefit greatly from you."

Wang Dong was not as happy as he had imagined. Instead, he reminded him seriously, "Leader..."

"I suggest that we don't report this matter for the time being."

"Although there are several meat processing plants in the city, only so much pork is slaughtered every day. The total weight of all the pork shanks that no one wants is probably only a few hundred kilograms."

"Even if they sell most of the pig shank bones to steel mills, they can only extract a few dozen kilograms of bone oil every day."

"For a steel mill with more than 10,000 employees, this little bit of bone oil is obviously a drop in the bucket."

"If you report this to other factories and let them know that pig bones can be used to make bone oil, then the pig bones that no one wanted before will become a hot commodity."

"No matter how skilled our buyers are, they won't be able to buy many pork bones."

"I suggest that we keep this a secret for the time being and stay at the steel mill and make a fortune quietly."

"No matter what, let's solve the problem of the workers' lack of oil and water first."

"If we have a steady supply of pig bones, it won't be too late to report it in the future."

The fanatical expression on Deputy Director Li's face was slowly replaced by calmness.

I am going to be the director of the steel mill in the future, and I must not lose the big picture because of a single achievement. The reward from the superior is very important, but if the news of the steel mill boiling bone oil is leaked, resulting in the workers still not having enough to eat, and Director Yang takes the opportunity to attack me, not only will I not be able to be the director in the future, I may even lose my position as the deputy director.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his inner excitement, looked at Wang Dong with gratitude and replied: "You are right..."

"Until we have a way to continuously purchase pig bones, we have to keep quiet and make a fortune."

"I will help you get the reward I promised you yesterday at the meeting.

"I can't guarantee that I'll be promoted to the next level and become the head chef, but I'm sure there will be no problem with a salary increase..."

…………

Steel rolling mill conference room.

After discussing several important issues, Director Yang, as usual, turned his attention to Deputy Director Li.

"Lao Li, I went to inspect the workshop yesterday afternoon, and several workshop directors came to me and said, "The dishes cooked in the cafeteria at noon were not oily at all, and they were not filling. They were hungry after working for two or three hours in the afternoon."

"During this period, many workers have fainted from hunger at work, causing the workshop's production efficiency to drop significantly. It is very likely that we will not be able to complete the production tasks assigned to us by our superiors this year."

"You are the deputy director of logistics at our steel mill. Such a big issue cannot remain unsolved."

"Otherwise, how can we, the factory leaders, give an explanation to the workers?"

Faced with Director Yang's attack, Deputy Director Li had been complaining or talking about other things in the past few days, trying to end the meeting as soon as possible.

But now that the problem has arisen, it must be solved.

Yesterday, Deputy Director Li was particularly worried about today's meeting, fearing that he would lose face in front of Director Yang again.

No more fear now.

Facing Director Yang's gaze, he answered confidently: "Director, and other comrades..."

"Through the unremitting efforts of all the logistics cadres and workers, we have lived up to everyone's expectations and finally came up with a good solution to the steel mill's lack of edible oil."

"For various reasons, this method cannot be disclosed for the time being."

"In the next week, you will see the changes in the food in the kitchen."

"Comrade Wang Dong, deputy director of the kitchen, was the one who proposed this method. He not only helped the logistics department solve a big problem, but also helped the entire steel mill solve the problem, thus guaranteeing the production of the steel mill in disguise and making important contributions."

"Rewarding those who have made contributions is my principle as deputy factory director."

"I propose that once this matter is thoroughly resolved, Comrade Wang Dong be directly promoted to the position of kitchen director of the steel mill..."

"no……"

Director Yang refused without hesitation: "The matter has not been resolved yet. We can't promote Wang Dong to the position of kitchen manager just based on your words."

"And if I remember correctly, this Wang Dong will only be eighteen in half a year. It's already unusual for him to be the deputy director of the kitchen."

"Now asking him to be the head chef is not feasible in terms of both reason and ethics."

"Although our superiors ask us to use young people with confidence and give them more opportunities, we should not force their growth."

Deputy Director Li quickly reminded: "Director, please don't worry..."

"I didn't say that Comrade Wang Dong would be promoted to deputy director of the kitchen department right now."

"The solution was proposed by Wang Dong. I want to promote him to the position of kitchen manager after he has completely solved the problem of lack of oil and water in the kitchen."

"Perhaps Comrade Wang Dong was already 18 years old at that time." (End of this chapter)