Starting from 1950

The next day.

Su Yang still couldn't shake off the biological clock he'd developed on the battlefield, waking up precisely at 6 a.m.

"Coo coo!"

Xiaoyu, who was standing at the head of the bed, greeted him.

Su Yang tiptoed out of bed and first opened the door to let Xiao Yu, who had been holding back all night, out.

When he returned, he saw a small, fair, and delicate foot sticking out of the blanket on the small bed. He couldn't help but shake his head and went over to help tuck it back in.

Last night, Wu Xinxue pulled the two of them together to compare their heights.

After realizing that Su Yang was already as tall as her, she insisted on giving the big bed to Su Yang to sleep in.

Su Yang disappeared for a month, and now that he has returned, he dares not contradict Wu Xinxue at all, and can only silently acquiesce.

He turned on the stove and cooked a pot of millet porridge. He was wondering why Wu Xinxue was still lazing in bed.

When he went to call her, he found that she was already awake, wrapped in a blanket, staring at Su Yang with her big, watery eyes. He didn't know how long she had been looking at him.

"Oh! I haven't been back for a month, how come our Miss Wu has become so lazy?"

Su Yang tossed the cotton coat draped at the foot of the bed onto Wu Xinxue and joked.

Wu Xinxue gave him a cute eye roll, but didn't argue back. She obediently sat up and put on her clothes.

These two nights were some of the few good nights she'd had in a month.

She used to wake up five or six times almost every night, either dreaming of Su Yang dying on the battlefield covered in blood, or dreaming of Su Yang being brought back with severed arms and legs.

The morning sunlight streamed through the window lattice covered with old newspapers, casting bright patches of light across the dining table.

Su Yang ladled the steaming millet porridge into two large, rough porcelain bowls, and then added a small dish of pickled radish greens that Wu Xinxue had prepared.

"It smells so good." Wu Xinxue finished washing up, sniffed, and pulled out a chair to sit down.

"Eat quickly, it'll get cold soon." Su Yang handed her a pair of chopsticks.

The two ate breakfast quietly, the only sounds being swallowing and the clinking of their bowls and chopsticks.

"Today..." Wu Xinxue asked with a smile, "Are you still helping out in the noodle-making workshop at work? Aunt Mei and Aunt Wang were talking about you yesterday."

Su Yang swallowed a mouthful of porridge and nodded: "I have a new idea in my head that I want to give a try."

"A new idea?" Wu Xinxue's eyes lit up, and she asked, "Is it about dehydrated vegetables?"

"Wow! You know quite a lot." Su Yang looked at her with some surprise.

"That's right!" Wu Xinxue proudly flicked her bangs.

As the face of the flour factory's publicity department, it's no exaggeration to say that she got along well with all the factory workers.

In terms of being well-informed, probably no one in the entire factory can compare to her.

"Yes and no."

Su Yang slowly and deliberately kept her in suspense, while Wu Xinxue pouted, "What a smug look! Just tell me already!"

"I'm not telling you!"

The two bickered as they ate, and the month-long separation did not make their relationship awkward; on the contrary, it made them even closer.

After dinner, Su Yang rode his bicycle with Wu Xinxue to work at the flour factory.

He first took Wu Xinxue to the office building, and then went to the East Factory area.

The rich, caramelized aroma is the unchanging flavor here. The workers who had just finished their night shift in Workshop 2 greeted Su Yang one by one, and Su Yang returned their smiles.

When Su Yang arrived at Workshop 1, he found Wang Cui and several group leaders arguing about a sketch of the drying room's location drawn in chalk on the ground.

Bricks, timber, and tar paper were piled up in the corner of the workshop, and workers either helped move the materials or watched curiously.

"Su Yang! Over here!" Wang Cui, with her sharp eyes, immediately spotted him, her face lighting up with a smile. "Come quick, come quick! Everyone's been waiting for you! Quickly give us some ideas on how to arrange this drying room properly!"

Su Yang approached, his gaze sweeping over the sketches before turning to the messy workshop: "Aunt Wang, Aunt Mei, team leaders, regarding dehydrated vegetables... I have a different idea."

The workshop fell silent instantly, and everyone's eyes were focused on him.

Wang Cui put down the blueprints in her hand, her voice filled with anticipation: "Xiao Su? Tell me quickly, what are your thoughts?"

Su Yang took a deep breath and looked around at everyone: "The idea of ​​dehydrated vegetables is correct; it's important to supplement the nutrition of soldiers on the front lines. However, the yield is low, the efficiency is slow, and it depends on the weather, making it too difficult to promote. Moreover, this is ultimately just a side dish and cannot solve the core need of soldiers to endure hunger."

All the cadres fell silent.

It's not that no one noticed what Su Yang was saying, but the cadres were used to obeying orders and doing whatever their superiors told them to do.

Most importantly, they didn't have a better solution.

Seeing everyone remain silent, Su Yang couldn't help but laugh and say, "Everyone, since it's a matter of food, why don't we ask a professional?"

"A professional? Who?"

"The experts above?"

Everyone looked puzzled.

Su Yang continued, "Of course it's our factory's head chef—Li Dabenshi!"

......

"Xiao Su, what do you want?"

Li Dabenshi, still wearing his apron, hurriedly arrived at the fried noodle workshop.

He and Su Yang were quite familiar with each other. The cafeteria had its own small food storage room, which was also a rat-infested area.

Su Yang often helps the cafeteria exterminate rats.

Especially yesterday, Su Yang didn't even make a move. He just let the bird named "Xiao Yu" go around the small warehouse and it caught several mice.

As a cook, Li Dabenshi had traveled all over the country before entering the flour factory, and he knew that someone like Su Yang was definitely not someone to be underestimated.

I had just arrived at the factory today when someone from the workshop came to my door, saying that Su Yang had invited me.

Without saying a word, he put down his work and rushed over immediately.

"Master Li, you've come at the right time. We need your help with something," Su Yang said with a smile.

"Oh! Don't be so formal, Xiao Su, just let me know if you need anything!" Li Dabenshi replied casually.

Su Yang nodded, then said to Wang Cui, "Aunt Wang, could you have someone set up a cutting board, a wok, and prepare some flour, salt, alkali, scallions, ginger..."

He listed the ingredients needed to make instant noodles on the cooking panel.

Wang Cui frowned, unsure of what Su Yang wanted these things for.

However, given Su Yang's previous success in improving the stir-fry noodle recipe, she didn't ask any further questions, simply nodding and saying, "Okay!"

"Team Leader Jiang, stack some bricks to make a simple stove and prepare the oil pan; Team Leader Liu, take my note and go to the logistics department to get some supplies..."

Upon receiving Wang Cui's orders, the workshop's managers and workers began preparations in an orderly manner.

While everyone else was busy, Li Dabenshi couldn't help but pull him aside and ask, "Xiao Su, what exactly did you call me here for?"

His question prompted Wang Cui, Ruan Sumei, and others who were already completely bewildered to perk up their ears.

Upon hearing this, Su Yang stopped keeping him in suspense.

"Master Li, I remember your braised carp noodles were quite delicious."

"That's right!" Li Daben proudly raised his head. "Back then, my family couldn't survive in our hometown in the Central Plains, so we came to the Northeast to make our way in the world. We relied on this family skill to gain a foothold in Shenzhou."

After saying that, his expression changed again. He looked around and whispered to Su Yang, "Little Su, do you want to eat braised carp with noodles? You can't do that at the factory. The factory manager has repeatedly forbidden any special treatment. How about I come to your house and make it for you?"