Yan Jiecheng's Leisurely Life in Siheyuan

Chapter 134 Dinner Party
The next morning, Yi Zhonghai arrived at Li Huaide's office.

Li Huaide held high respect for highly skilled technical personnel like Yi Zhonghai.

After learning of Yi Zhonghai's purpose, Li Huaide hesitated for a moment, but ultimately agreed to his request.

However, to save face for his trusted confidant Yan Jiecheng, Li Huaide called Yan Jiecheng to his office after Yi Zhonghai left, intending to appease him.

Upon learning of Li Huaide's intentions, Yan Jiecheng immediately expressed his opinion.

"Old leader, that idiot Zhu never thinks before he acts. I was just angry yesterday, so I don't care how I deal with him."

"However, a new cook named Nan Yi will be transferred to the canteen soon. Please take some time to check on him. I went to great lengths to get him transferred to the steel rolling mill."

Upon hearing that Yan Jiecheng had brought in a new chef, Li Huaide immediately became interested and put aside the matter of Sha Zhu to inquire about Nan Yi's situation.

"Oh? Is this new chef even better than you?"

Li Huaide's question was not easy to answer, and Yan Jiecheng pondered for a moment before speaking.

"Old boss, how should I put it? My strength in cooking lies in the variety and originality of my dishes."

"As for Sha Zhu, he has a deep understanding of Sichuan cuisine, especially Beijing-style Sichuan cuisine."

"This newcomer, Nan Yi, is different. Although he doesn't have a particular specialty, his home-style cooking is very authentic."

"The three of us each have our own strengths. Of course, I haven't practiced in a long time, so I'm definitely not as good as the other two right now."

Upon hearing Yan Jiecheng's candid evaluation, Li Huaide immediately became curious about Nan Yi and gently patted the desk, saying...

"Since you've put it that way, let's play a game of dice when Nan Yi arrives and have a good taste of his cooking."

"Rest assured, sir, Nan Yi's craftsmanship will definitely not disappoint you."

……

After leaving Li Huaide's office, Yi Zhonghai hurriedly went to the patrol team.

The patrol team had already been notified and had released Sha Zhu.

Unlike his high spirits yesterday, Sha Zhu, who had been detained overnight, looked extremely dejected.

Upon seeing Yi Zhonghai, Sha Zhu greeted him weakly.

"Grandpa, you've arrived?"

Seeing Sha Zhu like this, Yi Zhonghai said with a sense of disappointment.

"Shazhu, you need to be more careful with what you say in the future, and you can't do anything stupid again."

Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's reminder, Sha Zhu did not refute this time, but instead showed a hint of apprehension on his face.

"Uncle, don't worry. I will never lay a hand on that bastard Yan Jiecheng unless I am absolutely certain of success."

However, there was something else Sha Zhu didn't say: Yan Jiecheng couldn't be moved for the time being, but Xu Damao might not be.

This patrol team is under Xu Damao's jurisdiction. Sha Zhu suffered a lot last night. If he doesn't get revenge, how can Sha Zhu be satisfied?

Yi Zhonghai was unaware of Sha Zhu's ulterior motives. After hearing what Sha Zhu said, he gave him a few reassuring words and went back to work in the workshop.

After returning to the cafeteria, Sha Zhu planned to work a few days in peace.

However, with the arrival of Nan Yi, he felt a great threat. Especially after Li Huaide repeatedly asked Nan Yi to be in charge of entertaining him, Sha Zhu finally couldn't hold back anymore and decided to take the initiative to show off his family's Tan family cuisine to Li Huaide.

While consolidating his position as the head chef of his private kitchen, he also gave Xu Damao a good dressing down.

Thus, the famous scene from the original drama, "Circling the Documents, Silly Zhu Deceives Li Huaide," was finally performed ahead of schedule.

Li Huaide originally intended to refuse Sha Zhu's invitation, since Nan Yi had only been there for a short time and he was very interested in Nan Yi's everyday life.

However, when Sha Zhu said he was going to use his family's traditional Tan family cuisine, Li Huaide decided to give Sha Zhu face.

As a cuisine served to officials, Tan Family Cuisine is not only beautifully presented, but also uses rare ingredients such as shark fin, bird's nest, and ham.

Sha Zhu practically scoured several black markets in the vicinity to gather enough people for this banquet.

Just like in the original story, the small private room still contained Li Huaide, Liu Lan, and Sha Zhu.

After a few rounds of drinks, seeing that Li Huaide was enjoying his meal, Sha Zhu began to subtly steer the conversation toward documents, even bringing up the matter of drawing circles.

Upon hearing about the painting, Li Huaide became suspicious. After exchanging a glance with Liu Lan, he left the private room.

Outside the private room, Li Huaide crouched down, not quite believing Sha Zhu's claim that Xu Damao had badmouthed him behind his back.

After all, Xu Damao had no powerful backers, so how could he possibly cause trouble for himself?
But then he thought about Xu Damao's character and Li Huaide became somewhat insecure.

After hesitating for a long time at the door, Li Huaide finally decided that, just in case, he should remove Xu Damao from his post.

Once he made up his mind, Li Huaide had no interest in tasting Sha Zhu's cooking.

After giving Sha Zhu a perfunctory answer, he summoned several deputy directors of a certain committee that night, excluding Xu Damao.

At the meeting, Li Huaide, filled with righteous indignation, enumerated Xu Damao's crimes.

In his quest for power, Xu Damao offended quite a few people, both those he should and shouldn't have offended.

This resulted in no one at the meeting speaking up for him.

Seeing that everyone was in agreement, Li Huaide quickly made the decision to dismiss Xu Damao and transfer him away from the steel rolling mill.

The next morning, Xu Damao leisurely arrived at his office. Before he could even sit down, he heard the announcement over the loudspeaker that he was being dismissed.

Xu Damao's face was full of disbelief, and he kept muttering, "Impossible, this is impossible..."

However, Deputy Director Nie, who was standing next to him and was the former head of the security department and Yan Jiecheng's former superior, immediately sneered when he saw Xu Damao's appearance.

“Deputy Director Xu, oh, we can’t call you that anymore. The notice of your dismissal was decided in a meeting we held last night. It’s absolutely true. You should hurry up and pack your things. You don’t deserve to stay here any longer.”

Despite hearing what Deputy Director Nie said, Xu Damao was still unwilling to give up. He staggered away from his seat, intending to go and demand an explanation from Li Huaide.

When Li Huaide saw Xu Damao barge into his office without knocking, he frowned and said with displeasure.

"Xu Damao, is there something you need?"

At this moment, Xu Damao's face had lost its usual respect, and he angrily questioned him.

"Director Li, what they said on the radio is true. I've really been dismissed?"

"It's true. It was a unanimous decision made at a factory meeting. You'll receive a document later, and you'll be transferred to work at the movie theater near the East Gate."

(End of this chapter)