Chapter 162: Yi Zhonghai, you want to sponge off me?

Jia Zhangshi's tone of voice was extremely weird and sarcastic, giving people a creepy feeling.

"Shazhu, Yu Li, your family is capable—why don't you help the neighbors more? We all live in the same courtyard; we can't just watch the neighbors go hungry."

Jia Zhangshi really dared to say that.

Only Jia Zhangshi would stick her neck out like that.

If it were someone else.

One would have to consider the specific consequences.

Embarrassing or not.

Jia Zhangshi didn't think about those things; she no longer saw embarrassment as embarrassment, but rather took it as capital to show off, considering it an honor.

"Although my old woman is just a clueless housewife, I heard the neighborhood office say that the greater one's ability, the greater one's responsibility. Our Jia family doesn't have the conditions that your He family has; otherwise, we Jia would have responded to the head elder's call long ago."

Shazhu looked at the mean-spirited, selfish Jia Zhangshi before him.

Yet he didn't lose his temper.

Instead, a smile appeared on his face.

It was rare for Jia Zhangshi to willingly step into a trap.

But we had to give Jia Zhangshi face.

"Madam Jia, those words were truly pleasant to hear; let's give Madam Jia a round of applause."

Shazhu led the applause.

Although the neighbors didn't know what scheme Shazhu was hatching, they also knew they had to go along with him at this moment.

They found Shazhu displeasing to look at.

They found Jia Zhangshi even more displeasing.

"It's just what my old woman should do." Jia Zhangshi, not understanding Shazhu's meaning, truly thought the neighbors were cheering for her Jia family, and she showed off, saying, "I still say the same thing: if conditions allow, our Jia family will not shirk responsibility."

"Madam Jia, if I remember correctly, the head elder delivered white flour to your home the day before yesterday, and that white flour belonged to the old lady; why hasn't your Jia family contributed it?"

Jia Zhangshi, snapped at by Shazhu, didn't know how to respond; the smug look on her face was replaced by a flustered, angry expression.

She was somewhat annoyed and embarrassed, turning to anger.

Her two triangular eyes glared fiercely at Shazhu.

"Madam Jia, did I hit the nail on the head? Your Jia family has eaten up the white flour, leaving only coarse corn flour, and now you're scheming against the neighbors?"

Shazhu gave Jia Zhangshi no face at all.

This is one time.

That is another time.

Just now that was laying the groundwork.

Now is the climax segment.

"The neighbors each have just a little white flour saved, hoping to eat dumplings for the New Year to improve their lives, yet that little bit of white flour has caught your eye, Jia Zhangshi. I want to ask Madam Jia, why is your face so big? Is Qin Huairu's pregnancy the excuse?"

These words.

Really hit the neighbors' hearts.

Families who had stored a few jin of white flour were thinking of eating dumplings when the New Year came.

Who would have thought.

Even those limited few jin of white flour were eyed by Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhangshi.

What the heck.

Bastard.

……

One night passed.

The next day was Monday.

Work hours.

As a chef at the Yagangchang, Shazhu got up very early; after washing up, he rode his bicycle to the Yagangchang.

Today marked his first official step into his career as a chef at the Yagangchang.

For Shazhu himself.

It was especially important.

A new official sets three fires upon taking office.

As the section chief of the Ershitang, and it being his first day on the job, he naturally needed to show his stance.

Following the direction from his memory, he came to the kitchen.

Just as he pushed the door open.

He immediately saw that someone was already busy in the kitchen.

Everyone who was supposed to come had arrived.

Thus: Thus: Mahua, Pangzi, Liu Lan and the others—whether they truly had work to do or were just trying to make a good impression on Shazhu—were all busy, either holding a rag or a broom.

Upon seeing Shazhu arrive, everyone stopped what they were doing and greeted him.

Shazhu also didn't put on airs as the section chief; he nodded in response to each person who greeted him, paying particular attention to Pangzi, Thus: Thus: Mahua, and Liu Lan.

Perhaps with intent.

Perhaps without intent.

After some inquiry.

He learned Liu Lan's true situation.

Things are unpredictable.

Liu Lan entered the canteen as a helper cook, heard that it was Deputy Factory Director Li operating behind the scenes.

What kind of character does Deputy Factory Director Li have?

Shazhu is clean-handed.

A lecher just like Xu Daming; if Liu Lan had no dealings with him, Deputy Factory Director Li would never give such a coveted helper-cook job at the canteen to Liu Lan.

……

Noon.

Ershitang

The workers queuing up packed the small Ershitang to capacity in an instant.

Even so, some people still refused to give up and queued at the very end.

It's all because of the aroma of the rice.

The aroma of rice emanating from Ershitang.

It filled the air, making countless workers who had labored all morning, their stomachs growling with hunger, unable to resist.

I had long heard of Shazhu's fame, but never had a chance to taste his cooking.

The news that Shazhu was the canteen monitor at Ershitang spread through Yagangchang by Saturday, and tens of thousands of workers there, holding back their anger, all wanted to eat his cooking.

Ershitang being packed to the rafters is hardly surprising.

One sentence.

Who made your cooking so fragrant, Shazhu?

Seeing the people in line, the workers inside the canteen were all immensely proud.

Yagangchang has ten canteens.

Ershitang ranks last.

The workers shouted a slogan that Ershitang's food was worse than pig slop, saying they'd rather go hungry than eat from Ershitang, so the Ershitang workers could never hold their heads high in front of the Yagangchang workforce.

As soon as Shazhu arrived.

The workers swarmed into Ershitang like bees.

This month.

Their Ershitang will receive the mobile red flag of the Advanced Class for the first time.

Yagangchang has specific regulations.

Meals start promptly at twelve o'clock.

Accompanied by the striking of twelve bells.

The workers in the canteen finally got busy, waving their spoons, ladling hot half-vegetable half-soup into the workers' lunch boxes.

There is no such thing as shaking the spoon.

Nor will they shake the spoon.

Even if the worker serving meals opposite you is wrong, as a meal-server you cannot use your authority to shake their spoon.

With so many people watching on the spot.

If one really were to shake the spoon.

Only the spoon-shaker would come to a bad end.

In times of scarce supplies, when workers do hard labor, if you give them spoon-shaking as a game, unless you don't want this canteen job.

If you won't do it, there are plenty of people behind you who will.

No one would casually jeopardize their future.

It's not that there are no behind-the-scenes dealings.

It's merely a matter of you getting an extra slice of meat while he gets less, the difference between lean and fatty meat.

Jia Dongxu was also in the queue.

He was carrying two lunch boxes.

One was his own, the other belonged to Yi Zhonghai.

Yi Zhonghai truly wants to be a bastard and yet set up a chastity archway; on one hand he wants to eat Shazhu's cooking, on the other he doesn't want anyone to know he ate Shazhu's cooking.

Thus.

Jia Dongxu therefore volunteered to take on the task of getting meals for Yi Zhonghai.

On the way there.

Jia Dongxu also kindly used his own saliva to clean Yi Zhonghai's lunch box; he vented the anger he felt from Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu onto Yi Zhonghai's lunch box, and after serving the meal, on the way back to the workshop, seeing no one on the road, he spat his saliva several times into Yi Zhonghai's food, fearing detection, and stirred it with his own chopsticks.

He walked away with light, cheerful steps toward the workshop.

I don't know whether it was because he cleaned Yi Zhonghai's lunch box with his saliva, or because he added his saliva as a seasoning to Yi Zhonghai's food; originally upset by the sordid affair between Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu, Jia Dongxu then calmed down, his suppressed feeling of breathlessness disappearing, and he felt much more relaxed from head to toe.

Yi Zhonghai.

Aren't you awesome?

Even if you're awesome, you still have to eat my saliva!

This is the karmic retribution for your fooling around with Qin Huairu behind my back.

Yi Zhonghai, you are going to eat my saliva.