1968: Started from breeding

Chapter 297 I told you why you were hiding in the back, sneaking around.
Early the next morning.

Su Wenchen and Jiang Li also ended their Spring Festival holiday together.

It was just daybreak.

The door to Su Wenchen's room was already open.

While cooking in the main room, Su's mother saw that Su Wenchen and his wife were already dressed and ready to go out, pushing their bicycles.

"Xiao Li, you're leaving so soon!"

"Eat your meal before you go to work!"

Seeing Su's mother come out, Jiang Li smiled and waved.

"Mom, I'll go to Ah Chen's cafeteria to eat. Anyway, they have breakfast there in the morning. If we cook at home, we'll be too late to get to work."

Seeing this, Su's mother quickly said something.

"Wait a minute, here are the eggs I boiled for you!"

"Take these over and eat them. I know their canteen; even though they raise chickens there, they don't have eggs for breakfast!"

As she spoke, Su's mother hurriedly ran back into the house.

A moment later, several eggs with a faint water stain on their surface were wrapped in a few sheets of oil paper.

They were obviously just scooped out of the pot!

Su Wenchen said directly.

"Mom, you can keep these chickens for yourself. If we want to eat them, we can just buy them ourselves!"

Su's mother rolled her eyes.

"I'm not giving it to you to eat, so who cares whether you eat it or not!"

"Xiao Li, here you go. You can heat it up at the cafeteria at lunchtime. Now that there are two of you, you need to eat at least two eggs a day!"

“I’ve heard the old man complain many times that the portions at our commune’s canteen are the smallest, and you definitely won’t get enough to eat.”

Upon hearing Su's mother's words, Jiang Li immediately smiled and replied.

"Then I'll thank you in advance, Mom. I knew you were the best to me."

Although she is now the commune director and it's impossible for her to go hungry, she still enjoys Su's mother's care.

Hearing this, Su's mother was very happy.

"Child, why are you being so polite!"

"Alright, be careful at work. I'll have that brat pick you up after get off work!"

Su Wenchen curled his lip upon hearing this.

"Tsk tsk, the child isn't even born yet!"

"My status is starting to decline!"

"He's gone from being my beloved youngest son to a brat. I bet he'll just be a weed by the roadside by the end!"

"What's that song again? Little cabbage! Turning yellow in the field!"

Hearing Su Wenchen's words, Su's mother rolled her eyes.

"You call yourself a little cabbage! You've always been just a weed in your mother's eyes."

"Alright, alright, you're just annoying. Be careful riding your bike on the road. If you make Ali fall, you'll see what I do to you!"

Upon seeing this, Su Wenchen simply straddled the bicycle with his long legs.

"Well, for most people, it's like having a wife and forgetting their mother; for me, it's like having a daughter-in-law and forgetting my son."

"Well, they're all family, so I can only suffer this great injustice by myself."

Seeing her husband's antics, Jiang Li could only give him a light pat.

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

However, he waved goodbye to Su's mother.

"Okay, Mom, we're leaving now. It's cold outside, you should go back inside!"

After saying that, she sat on the back of Su Wenchen's seat and wrapped her cold hands around Su Wenchen's waist.

"You like being wronged, huh? Well then, I'll let you suffer a little."

As she spoke, she reached into the seam of Su Wenchen's coat.

"Hey, just a little bit, don't put it in too far. It tickles my waist, and you might really fall!"

"Hmph, let's see if you'll keep spouting nonsense!"

Looking at the wobbly bicycle that had been traveling along the road, Su's mother shook her head.

"This youngest son, even though he's a leader, still acts like a little kid."

Will this convince the public?

"He's still too young and immature."

After walking along the main road, we arrived near the site.

Su Wenchen and Jiang Li also stopped playing around.

Clearly, only in front of their parents can the two of them put down their heavy work and burdens and enjoy the relaxed side of being children.

Upon arriving at their workplace, both men were tasked with leading the future of tens of thousands of commune members and farm workers.

Just after approaching the field area.

The loudspeakers at Blue Water Farm have already started broadcasting the daily morning news.

"Great news! Thanks to the earnest care of our superiors and the hard work of all our staff, our farm's white pig breeding project has achieved a major breakthrough!"

"The newly compiled 'Regulations on the Management of New White Pigs' covers a complete set of procedures including disease prevention, breeding, and feed nutrition ratios, and has been included in the Ministry's Comprehensive Livestock Management Manual."

"According to the instructions from higher authorities, our farm will undertake the main task of promoting white pigs this year. Each breeding group needs to strictly implement the 'New White Pig Management Regulations' to ensure that the output of 1,000 white pigs is completed this year."

"Further reports indicate that yesterday, Comrade Zhou Ting led the No. 2 pigsty feeding team, who worked continuously for 26 hours during the Spring Festival holiday to ensure the survival of 100% of the piglets, thus reducing production losses for the farm."

"After deliberation by the farm leaders, it was decided to reward the group members with five jin of grain coupons, one jin of meat coupons, and one jin of egg coupons."

"Comrades! Let us fight with the fearless spirit of battling against nature and strive for a great start in the first quarter!"

"We will exceed the arduous tasks assigned to us by our superiors! We will do our part to build socialism."

As the final note came from the loudspeaker, the music of "We Workers Have Strength" began to play.

Jiang Li smiled and said to Su Wenchen.

"Are you guys in this situation really that stingy?"

"They stood guard for 26 hours straight, and all they got were a pound of meat coupons, a pound of egg coupons, and five pounds of grain coupons!"

"If they're this stingy, who'll be willing to put in any effort in the future!"

Su Wenchen replied with a smile.

"In general, in this situation, we calculate based on the reduction of losses for the venue."

"Although it takes a long time, this usually only saves a few piglets."

"What other kind of reward do you want? Give each of them a pig!" The two of them had already ridden into the residential area while chatting.

At this point, there was no time for chatting, because all along the way, employees were excitedly greeting Su Wenchen.

Obviously, although it was the Spring Festival, the news had already been sent down after the meeting before the new year.

Even in the past few days, there has been no shortage of publicity about white pigs on television and in newspapers.

Therefore, Su Wenchen, who led them to achieve their current success, naturally received absolute respect, and the immense enthusiasm he received was almost overwhelming.

After parking their bicycles, the two entered the cafeteria.

Su Wenchen saw a notice written on the blackboard that was originally used to write the daily menu in the cafeteria.

"Logistics Department Notice: Starting today, the cafeteria will add a new test dish called 'Mock Crab.' All employees participating in the white pig breeding technology team can receive one free serving by presenting their employee ID. Welcome to try the improved egg cooking method from a chef in Beijing!"

Jiang Li looked at Su Wenchen in surprise after seeing it.

"No, you've already learned it all?"

When did you notify them?

Su Wenchen also scratched his head.

"I wonder too!"

“I gave my sister-in-law the dictated recipes I got from Cuihualou last night so she could bring them over for the cafeteria chefs to study.”

"How did you figure this out so early in the morning?"

"So this dish is really that simple? You can learn it in no time?"

At that moment, Su Wenchen walked to the window and happened to see Zhang Zhenhua secretly eating in the cafeteria.

"Old Zhang, what are you doing! Why are you sneaking around like that!"

Upon hearing the sound, Zhang Zhenhua glanced out the window and, seeing Su Wenchen, exclaimed with delight.

"Director, I heard from Chef Sun that this dish was brought back from Beijing by you?"

He took a few more bites and gave a thumbs up.

"Director, you really know how to eat! This stuff tastes really good, just like eating crab roe!"

"It's so delicious when mixed with rice!"

Su Wenchen was speechless upon seeing this.

"Everyone else is having corn porridge first thing in the morning, how can you be eating rice while everyone else is eating corn porridge?"

"That explains why you were hiding in the back, sneaking around like that."

Zhang Zhenhua immediately shook his head.

"This is my own rice. My wife sent it to me. I just need to ask Chef Sun to steam it for me!"

"Director, have you eaten? Would you like some?"

"I'm not going out to eat because if I do, my little bit of rice won't be enough to go around. I reckon even the team leaders from our chicken farm could eat it all up in one meal."

When Su Wenchen heard that it was Zhang Zhenhua's own rice, he didn't stand on ceremony.

He told Jiang Li to find a place to sit first, and then he opened the other door and went to the kitchen.

As soon as Su Wenchen entered, he was greeted by a strong smell of ginger and vinegar.

"Master Sun, how's it going? Old Zhang seems to be eating quite well. Is he able to recover?"

"Anyway, since it's for our employees, it doesn't need to be specially restored; it'll be fine as it is."

Seeing Su Wenchen come in, Master Sun put down his work and wiped his hands with a towel.

"Director, this dish is actually not difficult to make. It's just a matter of mixing ginger, vinegar, and sugar in a certain proportion to simulate the taste of crab."

"It's just that there are very few fish here. This morning I even had someone ride a bike to the county to look for fish, but they only managed to buy two."

"If we want to make this for our employees, we'll probably have to make some changes. I was just thinking about whether we could use mashed potatoes and carrot puree instead of fish!"

He then looked at Zhang Zhenhua.

"Deputy Director Zhang, what do you think of the taste of using mashed potatoes instead of fish?"

Zhang Zhenhua nodded as he ate his rice.

"I think it tastes pretty good. It's soft and chewy, and it's best used to mix with rice."

"And potatoes are much easier to prepare than fish."

Seeing Zhang Zhenhua eating heartily made Su Wenchen hungry too.

He took a plate directly from the kitchen, lifted a small pot on the stove behind him, and started filling it with rice.

Zhang Zhenhua had only taken two bites when he spoke up.

"Hey, hey, Director, why did you take it all? Leave some for me! I'm not full!"

Su Wenchen waved his hand.

"Where are the two of us?"

"Who told you to eat so big? You're making me hungry just watching you eat."

"You can have this for now, I'll treat you later!"

Soon, when Chef Sun ladled a spoonful of mashed potatoes instead of fish, a beggar's version of crab meat, over the rice, Su Wenchen smelled it and said...

"Master Sun, I think you're a really thoughtful person. This would be great with mashed potatoes to mix with rice."

"It feels like eating crab roe rice."

"We can't afford to treat our employees to fish, but we can't provide mashed potatoes!"

"Old Zhang, I think I could eat this every day."

Zhang Zhenhua rolled his eyes.

"Director, if we eat only the little rice in our warehouse every day, it will probably last for a week."

"Besides, even though our farm can produce eggs, we can't eat them all ourselves!"

"With the little money we have at the farm, I was thinking of renovating the living area!"

Zhang Zhenhua clearly felt that his director had many ideas and was indeed good at producing results, but when it came to spending money, he was also a master at it. No amount of money seemed to be enough for his director to spend.

Su Wenchen waved his hand.

"Spending all your money on food is definitely not an option, but it's okay to occasionally improve your meals!"

"It's not appropriate to eat here every day, but it's fine to come once a week or every few weeks so that everyone can have a good meal!"

"Alright, I'm not talking to you anymore. My wife is still out there starving!"

"Let me tell you, I really brought back a lot of good stuff on this trip to Beijing."

"I'll talk to you about this properly when we get to the stadium."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhenhua felt a strong urge to try it.

How could the director be like this!
Saying only half a sentence, isn't that deliberately making him feel uncomfortable?

(End of this chapter)