1968: Started from breeding

Chapter 340 Blue Water Rooster's Opportunity!
After greeting the engineering troops who had come over, Su Wenchen returned to the field headquarters.

Seeing that Ren Dachuan was still busy preparing side dishes with his team in the cafeteria, he quickly went over and called out.

"Old Ren! Old Ren! You don't need to prepare much food here."

"This time, their troops have dedicated logistical support, so we only need to be responsible for basic water and electricity supply."

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, Ren Dachuan, who was helping out in the kitchen, immediately got up and came over.

"Director, don't you need us to provide meals?"

"Could this be..."

Su Wenchen shook his head.

"It shouldn't be an excuse. Before I came back, I went to check out their pre-camped cooking station, and they had all sorts of equipment prepared."

"By the way, I noticed that the ingredients that were brought out were potatoes, sweet potatoes, and rice, which are relatively easy to store and transport."

"Why don't you arrange for someone to deliver some seasonal vegetables over there? Do we have enough vegetables in our garden? If so, we can tell them that we can send them a few baskets every day from now on!"

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, Ren Dachuan immediately nodded.

"That's enough! Director, didn't you set aside quite a few vegetable plots back then?"

"Our cucumbers, eggplants, and persimmons are almost ready for harvest."

"To be honest, these dishes all ripen at roughly the same time, and I'm worried about what to do if we can't finish them!"

After saying that, he walked inside while shouting.

"Old Ma! Old Ma! Stop preparing."

"They have a dedicated cooking team; I can just bring my own people and deliver the food directly over!"

Upon hearing Ren Dachuan's words, a sound of confusion immediately arose from inside.

"Director Ren, what should we do with these that we just washed and cut?"

"All of our staff have already finished eating!"

Ren Dachuan waved his hand.

"Do what you think is best! It's fine after washing! It can be used tomorrow morning."

"As for the chopped food, the director and I hadn't eaten yet, so you can make it into a late-night snack!"

After saying that, he followed a kitchen helper and together they carried a basket of various mixed vegetables, such as eggplants, cucumbers, cowpeas, and tomatoes, out of the kitchen.

"Director, I'll go and deliver it to them first!"

Su Wenchen nodded and handed over the flashlight in his hand.

"Take out your flashlights! I think this is the first road in our area that needs fixing."

Ren Dachuan said with a smile.

"Director, don't even mention it. Back in our commune, we talked about repairing roads every year, but we had no money, no grain, and no cement or similar materials."

"The only thing we can do is try to get people to pick up some stones to pave the road every year. Before, when there were hardly any large carts, it was still manageable."

"With all the cars coming and going these days, the old road is naturally no longer suitable."

Su Wenchen nodded in agreement. If it weren't for their engineering team coming to help, we would have been in real trouble this time.

"We need to build roads, manage saline-alkali land, expand aquaculture operations, and build other facilities."

"With the help of these professional construction workers, our employees can free up their time to focus on the fields and farms."

Ren Dachuan nodded as well.

"That's for sure! So we'd better make sure we take good care of them."

"Director, I'm not going to talk to you anymore, otherwise I'll be late and they'll have already prepared the food."

Su Wenchen waved his hand.

"Go ahead!"

"By the way, have you eaten yet? None of us have eaten since the meeting ended!"

Ren Dachuan shook his head.

"Old Hou and Director Chen and a few others came by earlier. When they saw there was no food left, they each took a cucumber and a persimmon and went back."

Su Wenchen looked into the window.

"Master Ma, do you have any flour left? If not, could you cook us a bowl of noodles?"

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, the other party immediately agreed.

"okay!"

"Director, we just cut a lot of persimmons earlier, and I was worried that they would spoil if left overnight."

"It's perfect to use tomatoes to make the sauce."

Seeing this, Su Wenchen also spoke to Ren Dachuan.

"When you come back, call them. Those who are able to move can come and eat."

Ren Dachuan waved.

"Okay, Director, I'll go call them when I get back."

After Ren Dachuan left, Su Wenchen looked through the food serving window at Chef Ma carefully pouring flour and said directly.

"Master Ma, I see that we've cut quite a few tomatoes. We can make more. You guys who were called over to help in the kitchen have been busy for so long, you must be hungry."

Hearing Su Wenchen say this, several elderly women who were packing their things immediately lit up, but Master Ma immediately shook his head.

"Director, we've already eaten dinner!"

"Besides, why would we eat white flour? Isn't that a waste?"

"Besides, Director, you've been in a meeting all this time and haven't eaten anything yet. You leaders can eat."

Su Wenchen waved his hand.

"Nonsense! There's no such thing as food being wasted once it's in your stomach. Those of you who were called in by Lao Ren to work overtime, you'll all have an extra meal later!"

After saying that, he looked at the sliced ​​tomatoes and said with some regret.

"Unfortunately, there aren't many chicken farmers around here."

"Let's ask Lao Hou to set up a chicken farm here as soon as possible. We can't get any rabbits now, so at least we'll have eggs to eat."

Su Wenchen had originally planned to raise meat rabbits, but now that things have turned out this way, every pound of manure produced by these rabbits is extremely precious, so it's impossible to use it for meat.

At least at this stage, it's absolutely impossible!

So he could only let Lao Hou go back to his old profession. Meat couldn't be eaten on a large scale for the time being, but eggs seemed to be an option!
Although Su Wenchen has decided to open another pig farm here, meat is not as timely as eggs.

Eggs can be produced every day, but meat can only be slaughtered when it is ready for market.

Upon hearing Su Wenchen say that everyone who came to work overtime would have an extra meal, an older woman who had been brought over to help with the cooking explained to Su Wenchen with a smile.

"Director, would you like some eggs? My family raised two this year!"

"Thanks to you, Director, we didn't have wheat bran to feed the chickens before; we used to save it to mix with our own grain!"

"We have enough food to eat now, so nobody wants to eat that stuff. Director, wait for me, I'm going back to get the eggs now!"

Su Wenchen quickly reached out to stop him.

"Oh, no need!"

"I was just saying this casually. You can keep the eggs for yourselves or for your children to use to improve their health."

However, Su Wenchen clearly failed to convince them.

"Don't worry, Director, our chickens can still lay eggs!"

"That's right, Director. If it weren't for you setting up this branch farm here, how could we be living such a good life!"

"The new wheat came in these past few days, and my husband used his work points to exchange for twenty catties of flour made from the new wheat at the threshing ground!"

“We never dared to dream of eating refined grains before! And this was only the newly harvested refined grains.”

What's wrong with eating a few eggs?

As they spoke, several middle-aged women who had come to help in the kitchen simply pulled off their aprons and strode briskly outside.

Su Wenchen couldn't stop him at all.

Master Ma smiled and said this when he saw it.

"Director, please don't stop us. It's just a few eggs; it's all from the staff's own heartfelt wishes."

"If you, Director, didn't come so often, how could we live like this!"

"Not to mention that we also have to represent the country in receiving foreign presidents."

"Director, I never dared to dream that I would be cooking for a foreign president!"

Su Wenchen shook his head upon hearing this.

"Nothing has been decided yet regarding catering and hospitality!"

"Whether they will eat here, what they will eat, and who will prepare all these things will have to wait until their security team arrives, and we will communicate with them in advance."

"However, the meals for the accompanying staff will most likely be provided by our venue!"

Hearing Su Wenchen say this, the other party was not disappointed. He knew that he might not be able to cook for the president, but cooking for the entourage would be just as good.

After all, he was someone who had hosted the president!

However, Su Wenchen thought that the subsequent banquet at the venue was indeed an aspect that needed attention.

Could we use their words to help them advertise?

Su Wenchen thought about it and realized that he hadn't actually put much effort into high-end ingredients yet, and it seemed that he only had the Blue Water Rooster.

At this point, his main focus was on ensuring he had enough meat to eat; eating well was something to consider later.

However, Su Wenchen felt that this might also be an opportunity for their Blue Water Chicken.

After all, chicken is the second largest meat consumed in the United States, after beef.

Although fried chicken fast food had begun to take off at this time, fried chicken was still a common dish on the tables of middle-class families, and it had not yet evolved into the "poor man's meal" that followed.

If we can take this opportunity to get the president to help advertise, then it seems like Bluewater Chicken could really succeed in entering the US chicken market!

Moreover, their net worth may not be low.

Thinking about it, Su Wenchen felt he really needed to figure out how to seize this opportunity. Just at the beginning of the year, Zhang Zhenhua had applied to expand the breeding scale of Bluewater Roosters at the main farm.

In addition, their farm already had export qualifications, so he felt that this matter was actually quite promising.

He sat in the cafeteria for a while, thinking.

Ren Dachuan led several leaders and cadres from the venue who had been attending a meeting earlier into the room.

Su Wenchen looked at it curiously.

"Why isn't Old Yang coming over? Has he already eaten?"

Ren Dachuan nodded.

"Old Yang is a local from Xiaoyanglou. His wife has already prepared it for him at home, so he won't be coming over."

Seeing this, Su Wenchen looked at Hou Guozhong and the others and said with a smile.

"It seems that we few people whose loved ones are not around are just sticking together for warmth."

Ren Dachuan laughed.

"Director, I don't count!"

“My wife is also a local. If she hadn’t come to help out at the cafeteria, I probably would have already gone back to eat.”

Seeing this, Su Wenchen smiled and replied.

"Alright! But the staff housing for our branch farm also needs to be built as soon as possible."

"At the very least, we can't keep separating people from each other all the time. It makes it impossible for them to bring their families over if they want to!"

"I was originally planning to wait until Lao Guo was familiar with the work here before I could leave and go back!"

"It seems unlikely that I'll be able to go back before the end of the year." "It's even uncertain whether I'll be able to go back for the Chinese New Year."

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, Chen Guodong, who came in later, also spoke up.

"Director Su, I heard that your child was just born. You can definitely bring your family over!"

"With your current level, you could probably apply for a regular job for your partner!"

Su Wenchen nodded.

"It's possible, but my wife is the director of the commune in our area, so it's not very convenient for her to be transferred here."

"Actually, if I hadn't taken on this foreign guest reception work all at once, it wouldn't have been a problem for me to be running back and forth between the two places all the time."

"That's why I applied to my superiors for a deputy to come over."

Seeing Su Wenchen say this, Guo Xiangyang said it with a teasing tone.

"Director, so you want to go back and reunite with your family, so you're having me come and do your work for you?"

Su Wenchen said in a very irritable tone.

"What? Didn't you ask to come here yourself? If you're not willing, how about I apply to the higher-ups to have someone else replaced?"

Upon hearing this, Guo Xiangyang naturally couldn't agree and quickly said...

"No, please. I'm here specifically to help our brothers solve their problems. How can you just replace me like that?"

For Guo Xiangyang, encountering such a thing was incredibly lucky; how could he possibly go back?

After exchanging a few jokes, Su Wenchen asked Chen Guodong a question.

"Director Chen, what are the arrangements for the meals of the foreign guests?"

"Is it arranged by our venue, or is it handled by someone higher up?"

Chen Guodong said directly.

“Generally speaking, when foreign guests visit a local area, the local authorities are usually in charge.”

"However, in the past, we only received leaders from countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America."

"So, the specific arrangements for the catering and reception this time were not finalized by our department when I came down."

"Right now, we are mainly busy with the preliminary preparations for presenting the international image we want to project."

"However, I feel that it should not be much different from before, and their team is basically responsible for controlling food safety."

"We are in charge of the banquet design and the supply of local ingredients!"

"So I think in the end, you and Jiangsu Province should be jointly responsible for this, and you should basically prepare some of the more famous local dishes."

Upon hearing this, Su Wenchen nodded thoughtfully.

In that case, they would provide the basic ingredients. As long as the dishes are prepared well enough, his idea of ​​having the president help advertise might actually work.

So he said it directly.

"Director Chen, what do you think of using our farm's bluewater chickens to entertain guests?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Guodong was taken aback for a moment, then thought for a moment and said...

"Director Su, I have indeed heard of your Blue Water Chicken, but I have never actually eaten it."

"Are you trying to use this opportunity to boost the reputation of your Blue Swamphen?"

"I don't think it's necessary, because your Blue Water Chicken is already quite famous!"

Su Wenchen shook his head.

"It is quite famous domestically, but virtually no one knows it abroad."

"We certainly wouldn't be willing to export it as just an ordinary rooster!"

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, Chen Guodong immediately understood what he meant.

He thought for a moment before replying.

"I think this is quite difficult. After all, we can't decide whether the president thinks it's good or not."

Just as the group was talking, a loud sound came from the kitchen.

“The noodles are here!”

As Master Ma spoke, he walked out of the kitchen carrying a large bowl full of hand-pulled noodles.

Following behind was an older woman who helped with the cooking, who also brought out a bowl of tomato and egg sauce.

Seeing this, Su Wenchen also carried the bowls over with Chen Guodong and the others, saying as they walked.

"So my idea is to use our bluewater chicken as the main ingredient and make a dish based on their American-style fried chicken."

"Director Chen, do you think that with the quality of our chicken, plus the added benefit of eating hometown food in a foreign country, we might have a chance?"

After seeing Lao Ma offer to help make the noodles, Su Wenchen politely declined.

"Old Ma, you guys from the cafeteria can go get your own bowls. We can do it ourselves."

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, Chen Guodong pondered for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

"I don't think there's any problem. Anyway, they probably won't serve fried chicken at the banquet in Beijing!"

"You might actually get a pleasant surprise from this!"

Su Wenchen knew that their dishes couldn't compare to the exquisite cuisine served at state banquets in Beijing!
Therefore, we can only try to find solutions by focusing on small details.

So he said it directly.

"Alright, Lao Hou, later you can ask the main farm to send over a batch of Bluewater Chickens, and we can raise some here too."

"I'll call around later to see if I can ask my friends at the Foreign Trade Bureau to help me look out for American-style fried chicken recipes."

"After all, recipes are relatively easy to find on the market!"

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's suggestion, Hou Guozhong immediately agreed.

"Yes, Director. But if you really do make these experimental dishes, remember to call me!"

"I've never had American food before! A whole chicken deep-fried in oil, what a waste of oil! Most people can't afford that."

Upon hearing Hou Guozhong's words, Chen Guodong immediately responded.

"It's really not!"

"I heard about this fried chicken before when I was in the European and American section of the company. It is said that it is coated with flour before frying, and it is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside after frying."

"It is a dish that many middle-class and ordinary people like."

Upon hearing Chen Guodong's words, the others in the cafeteria immediately sighed in admiration.

"My goodness, coating chicken in flour and deep-frying it! How could it not taste good?"

"Exactly, those Americans just know how to waste things. They could fry anything that would taste good."

Even Guo Xiangyang joined in the fun.

"If you ask me, I think it would taste good even if it were used to fry rocks!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wenchen rolled his eyes.

"You want fried stones? I'll have Chef Ma fry a few for you."

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, Guo Xiangyang sighed helplessly.

"Director, I was just using a metaphor!"

"Using oil to fry stones, isn't that a waste of food? That's a sin against heaven!"

"But when we're doing the fried chicken experiment at the farm, you'd better let me know!"

Su Wenchen waved his hand and said.

"It's not even close to happening yet! What kind of wishful thinking are you!"

"Besides, if we all work hard, maybe in another ten or twenty years, we'll all be able to eat fried chicken every day."

"Just don't all complain about how unhealthy it is when the time comes."

Su Wenchen felt that in another twenty or thirty years, that would be the time when his generation would gradually grow old.

It seems that around that time, fried chicken, which is now an absolute luxury food, slowly became junk food.

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, Guo Xiangyang was speechless.

"Director, what you're saying is completely unrealistic. How could fried chicken possibly be unhealthy!"

"If I had the choice, I'd eat it every day!"

"It's still unhealthy! Is it the chicken that's unhealthy, the oil that's unhealthy, or the noodles that's unhealthy?!"

"They're all good stuff, how could they not be healthy!"

"But I think that in twenty or thirty years, we won't have to eat fried chicken every meal anymore. I'll be satisfied if we can eat white flour every meal."

Su Wenchen smiled when he heard Guo Xiangyang's words.

"What's wrong? You didn't eat well at the ministry's canteen?"

Guo Xiangyang remained silent.

"Director, do you have some misconceptions about government agencies?"

"Ask Director Chen if they can eat white flour every meal in their canteen."

"It's good if we can eat all-white flour once a month. Most of the time, it's a mixture of white flour and cornmeal."

"We mostly pay for our own meals, and only occasionally go out to treat ourselves."

"Aside from bachelors who don't even have a wife, who can afford to eat fine grains every day with their salary!"

After saying that, he immediately used his chopsticks to scoop up a large bowl of noodles for himself.

Seeing this, Su Wenchen remained silent.

"You're like a starving ghost reincarnated! Even if you pour gravy on you, it'll spill out."

Guo Xiangyang shook his head.

"Director, I'm pretty good at judging people!"

He then poured a spoonful of tomato and egg sauce directly onto the bowl, which immediately reached the rim.

Guo Xiangyang first took a sip of soup to prevent spilling before picking it up and walking towards his seat.

He was still saying it.

"It tastes really good! I didn't realize Chef Ma's cooking skills were so authentic!"

Su Wenchen rolled his eyes upon hearing this.

"Have you eaten here before? It's authentic here!"

"I heard that there are no roads in Beijing, and the whole city is made up of tunnels."

Upon hearing this, Guo Xiangyang immediately muttered something.

"Director, I was just saying that to express my praise, meaning it's authentic and delicious!"

"It's not the same thing as the tunnel you mentioned."

Su Wenchen waved his hand.

"Alright, hurry up and eat! Even eating can't shut you up."

After finishing the meal, Su Wenchen didn't discuss anything further with the others.

The general direction has been basically decided; all that's left is to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

On his way back, Su Wenchen intended to go to his office to call Jiang Li.

However, after thinking about it, I realized that my wife had just given birth and it would be inconvenient for her to answer the phone.

It's better to write a letter than to have someone else deliver a message!

So after returning to his dormitory, he could only express his longing and guilt towards his wife and children through letters.

(End of this chapter)