Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

One o'clock in the afternoon.

The third canteen of the steel rolling mill.

After the kitchen staff finished serving the food and cleaning up the kitchen, Liu Lan approached Qin Jingru and sincerely said:

"Jingru, thank you so much this time. If it weren't for you, my daughter Tingting would have been sold to a child trafficker by that beast Chen Jian."

Qin Jingru smiled and waved her hand, "Sister Lan, we're practically family, no need to be so polite. By the way, have you taken care of Chen Jian's funeral arrangements?"

Liu Lan scoffed, "That's easy. I just spent four yuan to hire four people to carry him to the mountain outside the city and bury him. Do you think I'd buy him a coffin and throw him a banquet for a beast like Chen Jian?"

"Hehe, that's true. Sister Lan was able to carry Chen Jian out and bury him, so it's fair that she did him justice." Qin Jingru nodded with a smile.

Liu Lan held Qin Jingru's hand and said apologetically, "Jingru, I can only pay you back that hundred yuan slowly in the future. The night before Chen Jian died, he used that hundred yuan to pay off his gambling debts."

Qin Jingru smiled indifferently: "Sister Lan, no rush. You can pay me back when you have the money. Now that Chen Jian, that beast, is no longer beating you every day, you can go to work and earn money properly from now on."

"By the way, Sister Lan, now that Chen Jian is dead, who's going to help take care of your daughter Tingting?"

Liu Lan nodded: "Yes, that bastard Chen Jian is dead. I won't have to pay off his gambling debts anymore. Now Tingting is being taken care of by our auntie in the courtyard. Auntie is a very nice person. I give her three yuan a month for lunch."

Just as Qin Jingru was about to speak, she saw Director Zhu of the cafeteria walk into the kitchen.

Behind Director Zhu were four other people, including two middle-aged women and two young men. One of the young men was fat, and the other was rather thin.

"Jingru, these four are new. Please make arrangements for them."

"By the way, Jingru, a few Soviet experts are coming to our factory this afternoon to teach our technicians about mechanical technology. Could you please cook a few dishes to entertain them today? Just like before, serve the dishes at 6 p.m. The ingredients are already prepared; you can have Liu Lan go to the warehouse to get them."

Upon hearing this, Qin Jingru nodded: "Okay, Director Zhu."

"Cheng, Jingru, I'm entrusting these four newcomers to you."

Upon hearing that they would be hosting another event, Liu Lan, Aunt Li, and Aunt Liu were overjoyed, as it was their turn to take the catering back this time.

It's practically impossible to buy meat and vegetables at the market now, and meat is expensive on the black market. These people haven't eaten meat since the Lunar New Year.

After Director Zhu left, Qin Jingru looked at the four newcomers and said, "Let me introduce myself. My name is Qin Jingru. I'm the head of the third canteen and also the head chef who does hospitality at the factory. Please introduce yourselves."

The group was shocked to see that Qin Jingru was so beautiful and was also the factory's head chef, but they still quickly gave their names.

My name is Li Mei.

"My name is Wang Xiaohua."

"My name is Ma Hua."

"My name is Chen Dabao."

Qin Jingru nodded: "Aunt Li, Aunt Wang, you usually help Sister Lan wash and chop vegetables. Ma Hua, Chen Dabao, besides being responsible for washing and chopping vegetables and doing some odd jobs, you can go and learn how to cook big pot dishes from Chef Liu when you have free time. Is that alright?"

"no problem."

All four spoke at the same time. They were all new employees. If they were not satisfied with the first task assigned by the leader, would they still want to work there?

Qin Jingru nodded and looked at Liu Lan beside her, saying, "Sister Lan, I'm leaving them in your care."

"Cheng, Jingru, don't worry, I will teach them well."

Soon, Liu Lan led the four of them to clean up. Although the cleaning had already been done once, there was nothing to do now, and they couldn't let the newcomers be idle.

In the afternoon, Liu Lan went to the warehouse to pick up the ingredients. When Qin Jingru saw these ingredients, she felt that they were very similar to what her family usually ate.

Especially the pheasants, rabbits, and fish. The rabbits are about four pounds each, the fish are about five pounds each, and the pheasants are about three pounds each. The fish they usually eat are about the same size.

However, Qin Jingru didn't think much of it, as the ingredients all looked pretty much the same.

Liu Lan didn't bring many ingredients this time. There was less than five pounds of pork, three or four pounds of mutton, a pheasant, a rabbit, a fish, and a rooster.

Qin Jingru didn't care what flavors these foreigners liked to eat; she just cooked it the way she wanted.

She made a braised pork, a meatball, a pork stew with vermicelli, stir-fried mutton with scallions, pheasant stew with mushrooms, stir-fried rabbit, braised fish chunks, Kung Pao chicken, plus a hot and sour shredded potato and a hot and sour cabbage, a total of ten dishes, all done.

Before 6 p.m., Qin Jingru had finished preparing all the dishes and had Liu Lan bring them into the private room one after another.

Qin Jingru set aside a lot of meat dishes this time, including pork, mutton, and chicken, with braised pork being the most plentiful.

Having worked at the factory for so long, Qin Jingru knew that everyone was short of food, so she deliberately made extra braised pork to share with everyone.

Qin Jingru filled three lunchboxes with meat and vegetables and said to Liu Lan, Aunt Li, and Aunt Liu, "It seems like it's your turn for this banquet, right? You can each take a lunchbox and share."

Liu Lan and the others took the lunchboxes and nodded with smiles, "Thank you, Jingru."

Seeing this, the other kitchen staff all looked on with envy. However, Qin Jingru was fair in her dealings, and since she didn't want any meat or vegetables herself, they would still get a share of the complimentary meal next time, so no one said anything.

Especially the newcomers today, seeing so much meat and vegetables to share, they kept swallowing their saliva.

Fatty and Ma Hua had been watching Qin Jingru cook from a distance. The aroma, even from more than ten meters away, reached their nostrils, whetting their appetites.

MCA didn't say anything. They had already inquired about it that afternoon. The meals served in the kitchen were divided equally, and everyone got a share. However, since they were newcomers, they definitely wouldn't get any.

However, the fat boy couldn't help but ask Qin Jingru, "Class monitor, are all these meat and vegetables only going to the three of them? What about us?"

Hearing this, Qin Jingru looked at the fat man with great displeasure and snorted coldly: "Chen Dabao, what do you mean? You just arrived today and you want to share meat and vegetables with everyone? There's no such thing as a free lunch. Even if you were to share, you would be last in line."

"Aunt Li, please tell Chen Dabao about the rules here."

The kitchen staff were not impressed with the new fat man because he was so clueless. They had already explained the rules to him when Qin Jingru was cooking.

Aunt Li said angrily, "Chen Dabao, we have our own rules in the kitchen. The dishes Jingru makes for guests are always divided equally among the three of us. Next time, it'll be the other three's turn. Jingru is so good to us; she doesn't take any meat or vegetables for herself and gives it all to us. What are you complaining about?"

"Exactly, Chen Dabao, you talk too much. Ma Hua, Sister Li, and Sister Wang came with you, why don't they have as much fuss as you?"

Liu Lan said unhappily, "Jingru, talk to Director Zhu tomorrow and ask him to kick this fatso out of our third canteen."

"Yes, kick him out of the third canteen. This kind of person is a rotten apple in our third canteen."

"Kick that fatso out of the third cafeteria."

Everyone in the kitchen glared at the fat man, which instantly turned his face liver-colored.

Qin Jingru waved her hand: "Let's talk about this tomorrow, I'm going back now."