Siheyuan: Shazhu's Leisurely Life

Chapter 1 Rebirth He Yuzhu

At the end of 1959, the city of Beijing.

Ten years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the National Day that just passed still carries with it a lot of celebratory aftertaste.

Not far from Dongzhimen, workers at the Third Steel Rolling Mill (Red Star Steel Rolling Mill) were actively engaged in production work.

Among them, in the back kitchen of a canteen, a young man in his twenties was wandering around with his white porcelain teacup. After seeing an apprentice who was cutting potato shreds on the chopping board, he walked up and patted the apprentice on the shoulder.

"Mahua, don't be impatient. You have only been learning for a short time. Cutting into strips is not something that can be done quickly. You need to practice your knife skills first."

"Hey, Master, don't worry, I will definitely practice hard!"

Ma Hua responded with a smile, and after pulling over the last three remaining potatoes, he suddenly had an idea.

"Master, there are only three potatoes left. After cutting them, will there be any work to do later? I see there are some cabbages in the warehouse..."

"Don't worry about the cabbages, kid. You know the current situation of our factory. The canteen director told me yesterday that supplies are tight and there is nowhere to buy them. Save these ingredients for me. The cabbages in the warehouse will last for a few days. Besides, didn't we just eat the stewed cabbage yesterday? We can eat it tomorrow after a day."

As He Yuzhu spoke, he came to the stove.

"Okay, come over here and take a closer look after you've cut the potatoes. I'm going to teach you something real today!"

Soon, Ma Hua washed the shredded potatoes with clean water. Of course, the water used to wash the shredded potatoes was not wasted and was collected. After all, in this era of material scarcity, water with a little starch is a good thing!

At the same time, the stove was already lit and waiting. He Yuzhu skillfully shook the pot of the big pot. As he moved, he tilted his head slightly and said, "Stir-fried shredded potatoes. Even though it doesn't look special, there are many things to pay attention to. First, the heat must be controlled well. After the pot is heated, the fire can't be too big or too small, otherwise, he won't be able to eat it..."

……

At noon, passionate red songs sounded from the steel mill's loudspeakers, and workers in various workshops put down their work and went to the canteen to eat.

There was a dense queue in front of the window of the canteen. These workers were wearing blue work clothes, and some were wearing labor protection hats with red stars on them. They had just come down from the workshop.

Although people were dressed simply, most of them had positive energy on their faces. In this era, people valued the glory of labor and the greatness of the working class. Although life was a little hard, people were quite rich in spirit.

The workers were holding lunch boxes and meal tickets for lunch. Unlike later times, buying things now required not only money but also tickets.

For example, meat tickets were needed to buy meat, rice tickets were needed to buy grain tickets, and sugar, vinegar, salt, oil, cloth, bicycles, industry, etc. After the public-private partnership, the organization allocated resources uniformly, and all kinds of materials needed for people's lives, from a small screw to a large bicycle, etc., all needed tickets to buy. Otherwise, no matter how much money you had, you couldn't buy anything.

Of course, there are also some pigeon markets, commonly known as black markets, where you can exchange money for some material tickets, but this thing is also risky. If you get caught, there will be no good consequences.

At this time, at the cafeteria window of the cafeteria, Liu Lan and Ma Hua were responsible for serving meals.

"Hey, what are we having today? It smells so good?" "Ma Hua, when did your cooking skills become so good?"

The workers in the front line had already smelled the aroma of food in the air and couldn't help but joke with Ma Hua.

Hearing this, Ma Hua snorted twice: "What do you think? My chef personally cooked the shredded potatoes today, how could it not be delicious?"

When they heard that it was He Yuzhu who was cooking, the workers in front did not object but nodded in agreement.

"That's right. Master He's cooking skills are indeed impeccable. I feel very comfortable today. I finally got to have a taste of this."

"Of course, everyone knows Master He's skills in our steel mill. There are six large canteens in the whole steel mill, but there are so many people lining up in Canteen 1 every day. Why? It's because Master He is in Canteen 1. If you are lucky enough to meet him cooking, you can have a bite like this."

"Okay, okay, stop talking nonsense. Have you finished ordering the dishes? If you have, make room for us. We are still waiting to taste Master He's cooking."

"That's right, hurry up, there won't be enough if there are too many people!"

The people behind urged them, and the people in front also hurried to get their food.

"A steamed bun with white flour costs five cents for a meal ticket, and a portion of shredded potatoes also costs five cents..."

Liu Lan and Ma Hua soon became busy because Master He was cooking today and the workers serving the food were extremely enthusiastic. The two of them cooperated well and were still very busy.

……

A canteen kitchen.

The cooks and apprentices all went out to help, leaving He Yuzhu alone sitting on his chair in the back kitchen. He brought the white porcelain cup to his lips, sipped it carefully, and filtered out the tea foam inside.

That's right, he is a time traveler. It has been more than three months since he came to this world. From the confusion and at a loss when he first traveled to this era, to now, he has gradually adapted to this body, and his work is getting better and better, He Yuzhu has accepted this fact.

Three months ago, He Yuzhu traveled through the Love in the Courtyard and became the protagonist He Yuzhu. Although the year of this time travel was still some time away from the beginning of the original drama, he clearly remembered the plot of the entire TV series.

After all, he had watched this TV series a lot in his original form, and the tragic life of the protagonist He Yuzhu, a dog licker, made him sigh.

The Jia family, led by the little white lotus Qin Huairu, and the three uncles in the yard, put Sha Zhu in the oil pan and squeezed him again and again until the last drop of oil was squeezed out. Even the task of taking care of the elderly in the yard was given to Sha Zhu. If Lou Xiao'e hadn't come back from Hong Kong to help, Sha Zhu's ending would have been even more miserable!

However, He Yuzhu only sighed in his heart about Sha Zhu's tragic ending, but he had no sympathy at all. After all, in his opinion, Sha Zhu deserved this ending. As the saying goes, there must be something hateful about pitiful people. Although it was due to the calculations of those people in the yard, Sha Zhu also had a lot of problems himself to end up like that!

(End of this chapter)