Starting from 1950

With Zhou Zheng's full support, the "Defend the Country Noodles" workshop is progressing smoothly.

The day after the successful experiment, Zhou Zheng took the finished product to report to his superiors.

The cadres of that era were almost all pragmatists. After verifying the feasibility of "defending the country with noodles", they immediately ordered Limin Flour Factory to start mass production.

They even asked other food factories to allocate their existing equipment to Limin Flour Factory.

Because of the limitations of the conditions, a production line cannot be set up like a noodle-making workshop for the time being, so the process is very simple and almost all of it is done manually.

The original workshop was divided in two, with one half being built into a drying room and the other half having rows of stoves built like those in a canteen kitchen.

The production process has been finalized:

The dough was kneaded using ten precious electric dough mixers;

Then, twenty workers operate a hand-cranked dough sheeter to press and cut the dough into sheets;

Then, forty or fifty workers worked together to apply a little oil to the noodles to prevent them from sticking together, and used chopsticks to coil the noodles into a shape that could fit into a lunchbox.

The coiled noodles are then steamed one by one in a steamer.

Once the steamed noodles are cooked, simply send them to the drying room to dry them, and you're all done!

The recipe provided to Su Yang included not only the dough but also a powder packet and a sauce packet.

However, using sauce packets was impractical, not only because of the difficulty in packaging them, but also because of the oil shortage at that time.

Therefore, I can only make do with powder packets.

At Su Yang's suggestion, the workshop dried scallions, ginger powder, and chopped vegetables, added an appropriate amount of salt, wrapped them in paper, and a simple seasoning packet was made.

After giving his advice, Su Yang left Workshop 1.

Although Xiaoyu can catch mice, her success rate is very low in narrow areas, so Su Yang has to step in.

Su Yang spent a week suppressing the emerging rat infestation in the factory area.

Life seems to have returned to the old rhythm of slacking off: wandering around the factory workshops and warehouses in the morning, and then going home to the compound to relax in the afternoon.

.......

"Stop hitting me! Waaah... Mom, please stop hitting me, I'll never do it again."

"Sister Zhang! Give it a little more effort!"

"Right! We can't spoil this kind of spendthrift. How about I lend you my belt and you whip him hard!"

It was a little boy named Tiedan in Building 1 being chased and beaten by his mother.

The neighbors watched the show with smiles on their faces, some of them clearly enjoying the spectacle.

Su Yang, holding a small handful of melon seeds that Zhou Zheng had rewarded him with, basked in the sun and watched the commotion.

The chaotic scene before us was not caused by anything major.

His improved version of fried noodles has been promoted nationwide, and food factories in Shenzhou that produce fried noodles have started buying eggshells, causing eggshell prices to rise significantly.

The street vendors who used to collect scraps of cloth and trade chicken feathers for sugar immediately started offering eggshells for sugar.

That brat Tiedan, because of his gluttony, stole whole eggs from home, drank the egg liquid raw, and then traded the eggshells for candy.

It just so happened that Mrs. Zhang, who was on her way home from get off work, stumbled upon the whole thing, which led to this dramatic scene of "a mother teaching her son."

Su Yang spat out the sunflower seed shells, and was about to stir up trouble when he noticed Li Yan walking quickly towards him.

He knew that Li Yan's presence at the family compound was most likely to see him, so he abandoned his nonchalant demeanor and proactively went to greet him, asking, "Brother Li, is the factory manager looking for me?"

"Su Yang! What are you doing, sneaking off again!" Li Yan wiped the thin layer of sweat from his forehead, his tone half reproachful and half anxious. "Quick! The factory manager told me to bring you back! The expert from the older brother's side has arrived and is currently in the workshop overseeing things!"

Su Yang's relaxed expression vanished instantly.

Zhou Zheng did mention this a couple of days ago, saying that the higher authorities arranged for a Soviet food industry expert to come to several key units in Shenzhou for "exchange and guidance." Limin Flour Factory was included in the inspection list because of its "national defense noodles."

He thought it would take another two days, but he didn't expect the person to arrive so quickly.

"Got it, Brother Li, I'm off!" Su Yang replied, stuffing the last few sunflower seeds in his hand into the hands of a little girl next to him who was already drooling with envy. He dusted off his hands, pushed his bicycle, and headed out.

On the way, Li Yan and Su Yang rode their bikes side by side. Li Yan lowered his voice and added, "Two people came. One is named Viktor Ivanovich, a pilot, who looks quite serious. The other is a woman named Natalia, who is the food industry expert this time. The factory manager specifically instructed you... um, to be quick-witted."

"Understood." Su Yang nodded.

He was somewhat curious as to why a pilot would come to the Limin Flour Factory.

But he knew perfectly well that the production capacity of "Defend the Country Noodles" was too low if made entirely by hand.

To achieve mass production, we cannot do without the equipment and technical support from our industry leader.

So no matter who comes, we have to take good care of them!

The two rode their bikes at high speed and soon returned to Limin Flour Factory.

The atmosphere at the entrance of Workshop 1 in the East Plant area was noticeably different from usual.

Two security officers stood ramrod straight outside the door, their expressions solemn.

The workshop was no longer filled with the roar of machines or the clamor of voices, but rather with a slightly tense silence, and... unfamiliar conversations with heavy rolled "r" sounds.

Even though they were very familiar with the factory staff, Su Yang and Li Yan still had to register at the gate before they were allowed to pass.

Upon entering the workshop, a wave of heat, mixed with the unique sweet aroma of freshly steamed wheat and a faint smell of drying, hits you.

Each stove had more than a dozen layers of steamers stacked on top of it, steaming with plumes of white vapor.

The temperature in the drying room was even higher. Even in the dead of winter, the workers were still sweating profusely in their thin shirts, but everyone was focused on their work, their movements meticulous, and they were more tense and solemn than usual.

A crowd gathered near the exit of the drying room.

Director Zhou Zheng stood at the front, next to a foreigner who was under thirty years old, short in stature, and wearing a dark gray woolen overcoat.

Another woman, also wearing a coat, with a younger face and gold-rimmed glasses, was hunched over, taking notes in a notebook.

To Su Yang's surprise, Wu Xinxue was also there.

However, he immediately realized that Wu Xinxue had been learning the language of her elder brother's side for the past year.

Although she spoke haltingly, she was outstanding among the short people, and she was the only one in the entire factory who could hold her own.

As for Director Wang Cui and Ruan Sumei, they could only stay a little behind, both looking somewhat tense.

Although the managers and workers in the workshop didn't stop working, they couldn't help but glance in this direction out of the corner of their eyes.

"...Comrade Natalia means," Wu Xinxue was struggling to translate Natalia's deep, rapid Russian into Chinese, her pace a little slow, "that the production process for this...bread seems...too simple? Lacking...uh...standardized industrial processes and precise control of process parameters? She also inquired about specific temperature and humidity control standards, and...why the level of mechanization is so low?"

After the translator finished speaking, she saw sweat on her forehead. Clearly, in addition to the high temperature in the workshop, Natalia, the expert, had asked technically demanding questions, which put a lot of pressure on her as a translator.

Zhou Zheng maintained a polite smile on his face.

He was about to explain the principles of "adapting to local conditions," "combining with reality," and "the wisdom of the masses" when he caught a glimpse of Su Yang and Li Yan quietly squeezing in out of the corner of his eye, and his heart immediately relaxed.