50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 426 Finding Ears
On the morning of the third day, he requested a private meeting with his superior to report on his work.

After the secretary reported it, the leader was very puzzled, wondering what work he could report after only two days, but he did not refuse.

"Comrade Zhiwei, please sit down. What work do you want to report?"

"That's the kind of leadership I'm talking about. I have a few thoughts about the people-to-people exchange work that's been assigned to me."

While spouting nonsense with a straight face, Sun Zhiwei took a white envelope out of his pocket and gently placed it on the leader's desk.

However, throughout the process, he spoke without pausing for a moment, and his words made no mention of the white envelope on the table.

His unusual behavior immediately alerted his superiors: "Oh, really? Comrade Zhiwei, you're doing great. You've already gotten into work mode as soon as you arrived."

The leader replied verbally, but his hand picked up the envelope and opened it.

"If you have any ideas or thoughts in mind, feel free to speak them out. Even if there are shortcomings, it's okay. We can discuss ways to improve them."

When the leader opened the envelope, he saw a drawing inside. He immediately recognized it as a floor plan of the embassy, ​​with ear symbols drawn in many places on the drawing.

"The key is to speak up boldly; only then can you make progress."

“Good leader, this is what I think: when we carry out people-to-people exchanges, we can’t just focus on overseas Chinese, but we need to go deep into the grassroots, especially among the children.”

As the leader listened to him speak, he frowned, because he noticed that there were three ears in his office in the picture.

One is on the desk lamp, one is on a tree branch outside the window, and one is on the bookshelf.

"How do you conduct cultural exchanges with children? Please explain in detail."

As he spoke, Leader Yang carefully examined the desk lamp that was right next to him, but after looking at it for a long time, he still couldn't find the problem.

So, while cooperating with Sun Zhiwei's conversation, he looked at Sun Zhiwei and pointed to the desk lamp.

"This is what I think: culture is not necessarily something high-class or sophisticated; it permeates every aspect of our lives."

Sun Zhiwei understood immediately. He kept talking, but his finger pointed to the joint of the lamp's glass cover, where there was a recessed screw hole.

"for example?"

The leader raised his eyebrows, peered closer to examine the problem, and finally noticed a clue inside the screw hole.

Although the light was dim, he could still tell that the thing inside was definitely not a screw.

This discovery dispelled his doubts about the markings on the blueprint. He nodded solemnly to Sun Zhiwei in gratitude.

For example: delicious food.

"Gourmet food? What kind of gourmet food are you talking about? Rare delicacies from land and sea? That would be too expensive."

"Besides, we don't have any top chefs here right now. If we really want to do it this way, we'll definitely have to bring people over from China, and the ingredients won't be easy to come by either."

Although the leader claimed to be cooperating with Sun Zhiwei in a fake conversation, he was genuinely interested in the topic Sun Zhiwei had just brought up.

But he is now more grateful for Sun Zhiwei's true intention in coming here this time—the drawing with ears all over it.

If these ears are left unattended for a long time, who knows what kind of harm they will cause in the future? This "Listening Ear" guy truly lives up to his name. He's really amazing; with so many security personnel here, they haven't found any ears in all these years, but he's only been here for two days and he's already found a whole bunch of them.

Moreover, the other party has high emotional intelligence; instead of directly revealing these findings, they left it to him to handle, which reduced a lot of trouble for him.

Putting aside other things, although he has just taken office and this is not his responsibility, the fact that this happened during his tenure will definitely leave a bad impression on the country and offend his predecessor.

Now that he has accurate information in advance, he can turn the tables and perhaps even catch a few lurking fish.

Seeing that his superior nodded at him, Sun Zhiwei knew that his superior understood his meaning, so he stopped talking and began to give a serious report on his work.

"Boss, the food I'm talking about isn't the delicacies from land and sea in China, but rather all kinds of snacks and home-style dishes from all over the country."

"Of course, we can't serve every kind; we also need to select based on the locals' tastes."

"Home-style cooking? What's so special about that? Would kids in Moscow like that?"

"Boss, please don't look down on our domestic home-style dishes."

"Our dishes are all good things that have been passed down for thousands of years. Compared with Western food, what we eat can be called gourmet food, while Western food can only fill our stomachs."

"Just like dumplings, they are simple to make, simple to cook, and inexpensive."

"However, dumplings can have almost countless fillings, with ever-changing flavors, so there's bound to be one that Moscow's children will like."

"Food is a universal human interest. Once we open the door, communication will naturally follow, won't it?"

The leader had already put the blueprints back into the envelope and then put the whole thing in the drawer, focusing his attention on Sun Zhiwei's proposal.

After a moment's thought, he realized that Sun Zhiwei's idea actually made some sense.

Thinking about the food I eat in Moscow—the rye bread, black bread, borscht, kvass—it's hard to describe.

He had just arrived in Moscow and really didn't like the food there. Luckily, the embassy had a chef from China; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to get a single sip of vegetable and tofu soup.

Thinking about all the common foods in China makes my mouth water, which shows how insightful Sun Zhiwei's suggestion is.

"Boss, everyone likes good food. We like it, but don't the children in Moscow like it too?"

"Besides, put yourself in their shoes. Those lovely children grew up eating pig swill and never even had a sip of egg drop soup. What kind of miserable life did they live?"

When Sun Zhiwei got to this point, his expression was exaggerated, as if he were pleading with utter despair: 'Save the children!'

“You’re right, that’s absolutely not going to work. We must make sure that the children in Moscow can enjoy delicious Chinese food just like we do.”

Leader Yang genuinely approved of Sun Zhiwei's idea; if it worked, it would be very beneficial for him to improve his work in the area.

"Comrade Zhiwei, I think your suggestion is excellent. How about you spend a few days writing a detailed plan and submit it to me?"

"Then, I'll coordinate the ingredients and staff. Let's try to hold a 'Chinese Food Festival' next month to introduce delicious Chinese food to the children in Moscow."

"Okay, boss. I'll go write the plan now. Once I've finished, you can take a look and see if there's anything that needs improvement."

(End of this chapter)