1968: Started from breeding

Chapter 309 Director Su, do you also have the qualifications to accept people for reformation?

The next morning.

As the melody of "We Workers Have Strength" slowly rose in the factory area, the entire hand-held tractor factory gradually awoke in the dim morning light.

After Su Wenchen finished washing up, he and Zhao Weiguo left the guesthouse.

Along the main road of the entire factory area, there are already quite a few employees wearing dark blue overalls and pushing bicycles.

At this time, guesthouses, unless they are hosting extremely frequent guests, usually do not provide meals.

So Su Wenchen and Zhao Weiguo followed the crowd of employees to the factory canteen.

After walking along a gravel path.

Su Wenchen saw factory buildings on both sides that looked like production workshops. At this moment, many employees were sitting on the steps at the entrance chatting with each other, each holding a large enamel mug and drinking hot rice porridge.

The lingering smell of machine oil emanating from the factory behind them seemed to have no effect on them whatsoever.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Weiguo couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

"Director, why are they all eating at the workshop entrance? Is their canteen that small?"

Su Wenchen shook his head.

He didn't know what kind of habit this was, but as far as he knew, some places did seem to have some special customs.

For example, some people like to squat while eating, and others deliberately squat on chairs to eat instead of sitting on them.

Although he didn't understand the meaning behind it, he wouldn't comment much on other people's habits.

"I'm not sure either, maybe it's just a local custom!"

Zhao Weiguo scratched his head.

"But I haven't heard of this custom among the production team workers in the branch farm!"

"And even though it's spring now, won't your bottom get cold sitting on those chilly steps first thing in the morning?"

When Su Wenchen entered the factory canteen, he understood why everyone was eating at the workshop entrance.

Because in such a large cafeteria, only the front row of tables had chairs.

The long row of tables behind them had nothing underneath them.

Seeing this, Zhao Weiguo said somewhat indignantly.

"Their factory doesn't seem to be short of money! Are they deliberately only providing tables and not chairs?"
"Isn't this deliberately making things difficult for employees and preventing them from eating in the cafeteria?"

However, after looking around, Su Wenchen found that this might not be the case, because there were chairs at the front of the table, but he didn't see many employees sitting down.

If it was truly intentional to make things difficult for someone, he felt that the current employees were not the type to tolerate such grievances.

There must be something going on in the factory that he doesn't know about.

Just then, Li Xingguo, who was eating at the front table, also saw Su Wenchen.

He called out directly to Su Wenchen at the door.

"Director Su, you're up so early!"

Upon hearing the sound, Su Wenchen led Zhao Weiguo over.

"Haha, Director Li, you're joking. You've already started eating, and you're saying I'm early!"

Li Xingguo put down his chopsticks and said helplessly.

"My colleagues from the bureau and the police, and I haven't slept all night!"

"Only then have we been able to get a basic understanding of what's going on over there."

"Oh right, hurry up and get your food! Otherwise, it might run out. I'll tell you later."

Upon hearing this, Su Wenchen glanced at Li Xingguo, whose face clearly showed signs of fatigue, and nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I'll go get my food first!"

Arriving at the food serving window.

Su Wenchen was still a little curious about what breakfasts were like at other factories at this time.

Because besides eating mostly in his own canteen, he also frequently ate at the canteens of various government agencies and institutions.

So he was actually quite curious about the factory canteen at that time.

When Su Wenchen got to the window, he found that it was quite different from what they had been eating in their place. The only staple food was a kind of coarse grain steamed bun, commonly known as "wowotou".

Two cents plus two ounces of grain coupons for each item, and each person can only buy a maximum of two!
Although a bowl of corn porridge costs only one cent and doesn't require food coupons, Su Wenchen recognized its familiar appearance immediately. He knew it was made from cornmeal with the corn cobs crushed together.

In the first few years after he arrived, Pingcun Brigade was not as well-off as it is now, so his family often drank this kind of beverage. However, his family would sometimes add some wild vegetables to the brew.

Su Wenchen glanced at the side dishes again and found that they were far less plentiful than those in their factory, consisting only of pickled radish strips and fermented soybeans mixed together.

Since the pickled vegetables were free and made by the workers themselves in a large basin, Su Wenchen noticed that there was very little fermented soybeans in them. He wondered if the employees had taken them all or if they simply hadn't put in much.

Since he didn't have much of an appetite, Su Wenchen ended up spending only one cent to order a large mug of corn porridge and a small dish of pickled vegetables.

The canteen worker who served Su Wenchen porridge was a little puzzled for a moment, because he rarely saw a cadre from out of town being so stingy with him.

On the contrary, Zhao Weiguo seemed to think that the conditions at the branch farm were not as good as here, so he directly ordered two multigrain steamed buns, a large bowl of corn porridge, and a large plate of pickled vegetables.

Holding a bowl of porridge, he sat down opposite Li Xingguo.

The other party saw that Su Wenchen only had a bowl of porridge and a plate of pickled vegetables.

"Hey, look at me, Director Su, I'm so sorry, I was so busy I forgot you might not have brought any food coupons!" As he spoke, he was about to take out his food coupons, but Su Wenchen quickly stopped him.

"Director Xingguo, it's not that I forgot my food coupons, it's just that I ate too much last night and didn't have an appetite this morning."

"If you don't believe me, look at the ones at my workplace!"

As he spoke, he pointed to Zhao Weiguo, who was not far away, taking a big bite of half a multigrain steamed bun, then shoveling several handfuls of pickled vegetables into his mouth, and finally gulping down a big mouthful of corn porridge.

Zhao Weiguo noticed that Su Wenchen and Li Xingguo were both looking at him from a distance.

He immediately forced himself to swallow the food in his mouth.

"Director, what's wrong? Is something the problem?"

Su Wenchen waved his hand.

"It's nothing, it's just that you've been eating well!"

"The food is quite good! The fermented soybeans here are well-pickled, but there's not enough. Director, I think we can learn from them and ask the cafeteria staff to add a side dish."

"Director, haven't you always said that food is the most important thing for people? I heard that the canteen at the main farm has added a side dish of crab-like meat. We can't not even allow one more fermented bean paste dish at the branch farm!"

Su Wenchen immediately said in an annoyed tone.

"Alright, just eat! Anyone who didn't know better would think you were from the logistics department!"

Seeing this, Li Xingguo knew that Su Wenchen wasn't just being polite, so he smiled directly.

"Haha, Director Su, your section chief Zhao is quite interesting!"

"But that makes sense. Employees need to be well-fed to have the energy to work! A company that keeps skimping on its employees' food rations is unlikely to achieve much."

“Su Wenchen, if your farm needs it, you can send someone to learn it. These aren’t the blueprints for our factory’s machines.”

"Let me tell you, the chefs in our factory are quite skilled at pickling these soybeans, and our company's fermented bean curd is also limited in supply. It's first come, first served, so if you come late, you won't get anything."

As she spoke, she pushed a small plate from her side toward Su Wenchen.

"Director Su, you should try it if you don't believe me!"

This was the first time Su Wenchen had ever eaten fermented bean curd in this era. He had heard that some places in Lan City made it themselves, but no one in his family knew how to make it.

So Su Wenchen curiously picked up a piece with his chopsticks.

I took a bite and found it to be very salty, but the bean flavor was indeed very strong, and the aftertaste was slightly salty and astringent.

However, after taking another sip of porridge, Su Wenchen felt that it was just right.

At this time of year, it is indeed a pretty good side dish for porridge.

Of course, after looking around, Su Wenchen found that generally no one used it simply as a side dish for porridge, because most people ate it with multigrain steamed buns.

If it were at the main farm, it might be a bit better, but here at the branch farm, this fermented bean curd seems to be considered a pretty good dish.

So he smiled and replied.

"Director Xingguo, if you put it that way, I'll take it seriously!"

"I'll send someone over to learn from them right away!"

"After all, the conditions at our branch farm are indeed a bit rudimentary, especially with spring plowing just around the corner. It would be good to improve the food and living conditions for the farm workers a little!"

Upon hearing this, Li Xingguo's smile widened, and he readily agreed.

"No problem, I'll take care of this little thing!"

After taking a couple of bites of food, he mentioned it seemingly casually.

"Director Su, is your Blue Water Farm also qualified to accept people undergoing reformation?"

Su Wenchen was stunned when he heard this, and he put down the teacup he had just picked up.

"Receiving people for rehabilitation?"

"We do have the qualifications to accept such orders, but we generally don't. What's wrong? Has someone in your factory committed a crime?"

"Send it to other farms!"

To be honest, their farm does have the necessary qualifications, but Su Wenchen found it too troublesome and never contacted the local public security department.

Because those who have committed crimes can indeed be used to do the dirtiest and most tiring work, but a special department must be established to manage these people.

Su Wenchen generally doesn't like to take on tasks that offer little benefit and are particularly troublesome.

Since they were a farm under the ministry, the local authorities couldn't force people to come to them, so he had never considered this issue before.

Hearing Su Wenchen's words, Li Xingguo sighed and explained directly.

"It's not from our factory, you know it's from the agricultural machinery factory."

“Last night we sorted out their accounts, and the police arrested a lot of people. Most of them have confessed.”

"The city requires that those who harm national interests be dealt with severely, so there is no problem in directly dealing with these people who embezzle state property."

"But there are some people who, to be honest, have no problems in other aspects, but they dismantled your equipment without permission, and that really cannot be ignored."

"But we can't just execute them all, so early this morning the bureau called the province to ask how to handle this matter."

"Especially this morning, the province called and said that if it has not caused major losses to the country, the focus should still be on labor reform."

(End of this chapter)