Courtyard House: In times of famine, my hamster became a spirit.

This should have been the most anticipated moment of the day for the workers, but the atmosphere in the third canteen was quite strange.

The long queue in front of the window was even more winding than usual. The workers held aluminum lunch boxes in their hands, but their eyes kept glancing restlessly at window number one, and their whispers buzzed like flies.

"See that? Isn't that Sha Zhu?"

"Hey, it really is! I haven't seen him all morning, and this bastard's crawled out of the latrine and transformed into a white coat again?"

Behind window number one, that familiar figure stood proudly.

He Yuzhu, our silly comrade, was wearing a chef's uniform with oil stains still on the cuffs and the collar was even a little ill-fitting and choking his neck, but he puffed out his chest like a rooster courting a mate.

He held the gleaming, long-handled iron ladle in his hand, and his eyes no longer held the humility and fear he had shown when facing Deputy Factory Director Li that morning, but rather a kind of almost pathological excitement.

He scanned the crowd like a hungry wolf that had just sharpened its teeth, searching for the prey that would drag him into the mire.

"when--!"

Without warning, Sha Zhu slammed the large iron ladle in his hand heavily against the edge of the stainless steel vegetable basin.

The sharp sound even drowned out the singing on the radio, startling the apprentices at the front of the line.

"Line up! Don't fucking push! Whoever pushes won't get any food!" Sha Zhu yelled at the top of his lungs.

That's the smell of power.

In this square canteen, the spoon in his hand is everything.

Just then, the heavy cotton curtain of the cafeteria door was lifted by a hand.

A cold wind blew in, carrying snowflakes, causing those near the door to shrink their necks.

Zhou Jianguo strode in, his expression calm.

But as soon as he stepped into this noisy territory, he keenly sensed something was amiss.

Hundreds of eyes immediately focused on him.

Some were gloating, waiting to see the joke unfold; some felt guilty and dared not meet their eyes; and many more were simply indifferent, watching the spectacle without any involvement.

Zhou Jianguo ignored the stares. He slightly raised his eyes, his gaze passing through the crowded throng, landing on the long, provocative face behind window number one.

Eyes facing each other.

Sha Zhu's eye muscles twitched violently. Then, he made a highly insulting gesture—he stuck out his tongue, licked his chapped lips, and then raised the large ladle in his hand again, waving it fiercely at the air, as if the ladle contained not air, but Zhou Jianguo's head.

That was a declaration of war.

Zhou Jianguo didn't stop walking, and his breathing didn't even falter.

He sneered inwardly: It seems that Deputy Factory Director Li's ideological education was not thorough enough. This is not repentance and reform, but a mad dog being released from its cage.

When the workers in line saw Zhou Jianguo approaching, they all pushed to the sides, creating a straight passage in the crowded queue.

Nobody wants to be caught in the middle of these two gentlemen and become cannon fodder at this critical juncture.

Zhou Jianguo stepped over the oil stains and vegetable leaves on the ground and walked straight to window number one.

"Clang!"

He casually tossed the aluminum lunchbox onto the windowsill, making a jarring clanging sound.

Zhou Jianguo had his hands in his work pants pockets, his eyelids drooping slightly, and his voice, though not loud, carried a cold, hard tone: "One serving of cabbage, two steamed buns."

Sha Zhu looked down at the face in front of him.

This is the face that caused his family's ruin last night and forced him to sign a contract of servitude this morning.

When enemies meet, their eyes blaze with hatred. Sha Zhu felt all the blood rushing to his head, and the urge to devour the person in front of him almost made him grind his teeth to pieces.

But he held back.

A disgusting smile suddenly appeared on Sha Zhu's face, a smile that pulled at the wrinkles on his face, making him look both comical and ferocious.

Before Zhou Jianguo could speak, Sha Zhu dipped the long-handled ladle in his hand into the large vegetable basin, which was a meter in diameter.

This spoonful went in, and it was truly bottomless.

As if he were worried that Zhou Jianguo wouldn't have enough to eat, he deliberately scooped some food from the bottom of the basin.

When the spoon was lifted up, a low gasp of surprise rippled through the crowd.

The large spoonful contained not only a mountain of cabbage, but also several slices of fatty, juicy pork, so oily they were dripping down.

In this era of oil and salt shortages, this is practically a treat reserved for the Lunar New Year.

The workers behind them craned their necks, their eyes wide with astonishment, wondering to themselves: Has Sha Zhu changed his ways? Or has he been subdued by Zhou Jianguo? Why is he so eager to curry favor with him?

Zhou Jianguo stood outside the window, his eyes still indifferent, showing no joy whatsoever at the sight of that "generous gift."

He knew these beasts all too well; a leopard can't change its spots. If Sha Zhu could have any good intentions, pigs would fly.

really.

Just a second before that heavy spoonful of food was about to be poured into Zhou Jianguo's lunchbox, a sudden change occurred.

Sha Zhu's wrist began to tremble violently and frequently, as if he had suddenly developed epilepsy.

"Do do do do..."

That's a highly technical kind of shaking.

It's not about shaking it randomly, but about using skillful force, transmitting the vibration of the wrist to the handle of the spoon, and then precisely feeding it back to the spoon head.

This is Sha Zhu's specialty, which he has practiced for over ten years—tossing the wok.

The cabbage and meat slices that were originally piled high seemed to have been hit by an 8-magnitude earthquake, and they all slipped off the edge of the spoon and fell back into the large dish with a "plop plop".

With the first shake, the fatty meat slices disappeared.

With the second shake, the thick cabbage stalks were gone.

With the third shake, even the slightly thicker soup was gone.

This set of movements was so fluid and fast that it was dazzling.

When the spoon finally stopped above Zhou Jianguo's lunchbox, the once full spoonful was now only half a spoonful of clear broth, with two rotten vegetable leaves, thinner than a strand of hair, floating on top, spinning forlornly.

"Splash!"

Sha Zhu flicked his wrist, and the pitiful amount of soup spilled into Zhou Jianguo's lunchbox.

Because of the large movements, even a small spoonful of soup splashed onto the windowsill and the back of Zhou Jianguo's hand, the scalding soup steaming.

"Oh dear, Master Zhou, I'm so sorry!"

Sha Zhu wore a mask of utterly feigned concern, but his voice betrayed an undisguised smugness. "I noticed your forehead has been flushed lately; it must be from getting angry last night and hurting your health, causing excessive liver fire. I specially prepared some extra soup for you. As the saying goes, 'original soup helps digest original food,' clearing heat and reducing fire! This is all for your health, so please don't thank me!"

The surroundings were deathly silent.

Everyone could see that this was blatant revenge.

This is the privilege of the head chef. In the cafeteria, he can make you eat dry food if he wants, or drink water if he wants you to.

Zhou Jianguo looked down at the pale yellow murky water at the bottom of the lunchbox, which was so thick it couldn't even cover the bottom, and then looked at the steaming water stains on the back of his hand.

He didn't wipe it, letting the heat cool quickly in the cold wind until it was ice-cold.

He slowly raised his head, his once calm eyes now fixed on Sha Zhu's smug face.

"He Yuzhu".

Zhou Jianguo's voice wasn't loud, lacking any hysterical roar, yet it possessed an extremely penetrating quality: "Is this the skill of what you call a successor of the Tan family cuisine? You can't even hold a spoon properly, are you in the late stages of Parkinson's?"

Sha Zhu's smile froze.

Zhou Jianguo leaned forward slightly, speaking in a low voice through the stainless steel countertop by the window, his tone laced with undisguised sarcasm: "Looks like you didn't clean enough toilets this morning. Did that stench make your hands ache? Should I talk to Director Li and ask you to go back and get a manure scoop? You're familiar with that thing, no need to fumble around."

"you--!"

The phrase "dung spoon" struck a nerve with Sha Zhu, whose wounds had barely healed.

That was his pillar of shame, the few hours he least wanted to remember in his life.

Sha Zhu broke through his defenses, and his reckless and fearless spirit came out.

He leaned out of the window, abandoning his usual arrogant act, and used his size advantage to shout down at Zhou Jianguo, "Zhou Jianguo! Stop spouting nonsense! You're asking for it, aren't you?"

He pointed at the bowl of food with the greasy handle of a spoon, spitting as he shouted at the surrounding workers, "Everyone, be the judge! What time is this? This is the Three Years of Natural Disasters! The country is tightening its belts! The factory has repeatedly emphasized the need to conserve food and oppose extravagance and waste!"

Sha Zhu got more and more excited as he spoke, and he was quite adept at putting on that big label, clearly having put a lot of effort into it.

"What? You, Zhou Jianguo, are special? Did you grow an extra mouth or an extra stomach? Trying to get special treatment? Trying to eat more and take more than your share? I didn't fill your plate completely so that the hundreds of workers waiting in line could all get a hot meal! I'm doing this for the collective! For the greater good!"

Sha Zhu spoke with such righteous indignation, as if what he had just shaken off was not a piece of meat, but the future of all mankind.

The workers who had initially sympathized with Zhou Jianguo fell silent the moment they heard the words "save food" and "collective," shrinking their heads like quails.

In this day and age, who dares to go against these words?

Even if they knew that Sha Zhu was talking nonsense, no one dared to stand up and risk trouble at this critical juncture.

Moreover, now that Sha Zhu is back in the kitchen, he's the "living Yama" who controls everyone's stomachs. If you offend him, who won't want to eat in the future?

In the entire cafeteria, apart from the whirring of the exhaust fans, no one dared to respond.

Sha Zhu looked at the silent crowd, his smugness growing even stronger. He stared defiantly at Zhou Jianguo, his eyes seeming to say: See? Here, even if you're a dragon, you have to coil up; even if you're a tiger, you have to lie low. I have Director Li backing me up, and I have a spoon in my hand. What can you do to me?

Zhou Jianguo looked around.

He saw Yi Zhonghai, an old man, sitting in the corner with a lunchbox in his hand, giving a sinister sneer. He also saw Qin Huairu's resentful yet gleeful look as she queued up not far away.

this is the truth.

So-called justice is worthless in the face of power and interests, which made Zhou Jianguo realize the importance of power.

The system in my mind remained silent; clearly, this level of verbal conflict had not triggered a counterattack.

This is suppression within the rules.

Zhou Jianguo took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the violent rage that had risen to his throat.

Taking action now would only give Officer Wu in the security department an excuse to use against them, and would be pointless.

Beating up Sha Zhu here would be considered a brawl, disrupting production, and turning a justified argument into an unjustified one.

well.

Zhou Jianguo suddenly laughed, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

He reached out and steadily picked up the aluminum lunchbox, his movements slow and deliberate.

"Okay, He Yuzhu."

Zhou Jianguo gave Sha Zhu a deep look, but there was no anger, no resentment, and not even the mockery from before.

All that remained was a chilling coldness, as if looking at a dead person.

That look made Sha Zhu's facial muscles twitch inexplicably, and a cold sweat broke out on his back.

"Since it's for the collective good, I, Zhou Jianguo, will remember this soup to clear heat and reduce internal fire."

Zhou Jianguo picked up the box of soup, turned around, and left.

His back was ramrod straight as he walked through the passage that the crowd automatically parted, his steps steady and powerful.

As Sha Zhu watched Zhou Jianguo's retreating figure, a fleeting unease crossed his mind, quickly replaced by a surge of vengeful pleasure.

He spat fiercely, "Pah! What kind of trash are you! Trying to fight me? I'll starve you to death!"

"Next! Anyone who dares to say another word will suffer the consequences!" Sha Zhu waved his large ladle, reverting to his arrogant demeanor.

As Zhou Jianguo walked out of the cafeteria, the cold wind made his eyes even clearer.

He looked down at the murky soup.

Trying to use rules to intimidate people?

Deputy Factory Director Li, Yi Zhonghai, Sha Zhu... we'll see.