Chapter 71: Dark Clouds Supporting the Moon

In the morning, after finishing inspection in the canteen, He Yuzhu did not leave; he stayed in the kitchen watching Ma Hua practice basic skills, and for these months he had not supervised him.

He seemed to have relaxed.

"When cutting meat, follow the grain and keep your hand steady."

Before He Yuzhu finished speaking, the factory director's secretary came over, telling him to go to the office immediately because the factory director had urgent business for him that could not be delayed.

"Factory Director, what's the matter? So urgent." He Yuzhu did not understand; there was nothing happening at the steel rolling mill, and he had not heard of any important guests.

The factory director had him sit down, took out his own good tea from the cabinet, had the secretary brew a cup, and meanwhile went to the supply team to get some snacks, as they would be discussing for a long time.

This left He Yuzhu somewhat bewildered.

After taking a sip of tea, the factory director slowly said, "I heard you got into a fight with Xu Damao yesterday. As a leader, you cannot keep doing this; it's embarrassing."

The factory director also understood that He Yuzhu beat Xu Damao to avoid being dealt with by Deputy Factory Director Li, and extending a bit, this matter also concerned him.

Today summoning him was not to criticize him.

"Alright, I'll pay attention from now on."

"There will be no next time."

The factory director, noticing He Yuzhu's slightly changed expression, told him that Xu Damao had been transferred to the northern branch factory, where although it wasn't garbage collection, it was the heaviest work in the branch.

"Sometimes you don't have to use force; you need to use your brain."

He Yuzhu wore an expression of being taught, but in his heart he did not think so; you, a factory director, have this authority, while he is merely a canteen director.

Transferring work is also not his responsibility.

"The matter of Xu Damao is settled for now; I still have a task for you."

A former superior of the factory director is coming to visit, requiring He Yuzhu to personally cook.

"Isn't this what I should be doing?"

Things are certainly not that simple; this superior is now also a factory leader, more precisely a peer, so when receiving him we cannot serve overly lavish fish and meat.

Isn't that showing off in front of others?

But it also cannot be too shabby, or we would lose face for the factory director.

He Yuzhu must control the degree himself, making as much tasty yet not too expensive food as possible, and these dishes also need to have a good name.

"I roughly understand." He Yuzhu, after all, had experienced an information explosion; this is just like those gatherings of elites, unexpectedly someone still likes this style nowadays.

"Hmm. I also contacted the superior today; he specifically requested to eat Dark Clouds Supporting the Moon. Do you know how to make it? Approximately how much would it cost? If it's too expensive, I'll deduct a bit from my salary."

He Yuzhu smiled; the factory director simply hadn't figured it out.

"This dish isn't complicated; it's just purple seaweed egg drop soup."

This is a famous dish of Shandong cuisine, using quail eggs, but essentially it's the same.

The factory director patted his own head, realizing he had spent half a day thinking without success; it turned out to be such a simple dish, the superior was just trying to save him money.

"We shouldn't have any problems at the factory, right?"

"No problem, I will prepare the ingredients and such."

Only then did the factory director nod, telling him to go prepare; the superior will arrive in two or three days, and everything must be prepared in advance.

Purple seaweed egg drop soup only needs two kinds of raw materials; He Yuzhu returned to the canteen and simply instructed Ma Hua, not thinking much of it, but he still needed to come up with names for the other dishes.

"Master, there's no purple seaweed in the warehouse." Ma Hua hurried over to report, saying, "I remember we have this in the store, but I just can't find it."

"Is it really missing or just not to be found?" He Yuzhu pondered, then said, "Don't bother looking; let's just go buy some."

However, the canteen has no budget for this; to spend money one must go to the finance department, and previously there were many procedures, very troublesome.

"Master, I'm afraid we can't make it in a day or two; what should we do?"

"Finance isn't Deputy Factory Director Li's turf, so why is it taking so long? Who exactly is blocking this?" He Yuzhu snorted, "I'll see who's stubborn."

This matter was assigned by the factory director; the steel rolling mill is still under his authority, yet we can't come up with even a little money for purple seaweed—this is openly slapping the factory director's face.

"We previously had funds allocated here, but now that purple seaweed can't be found, they won't give us money."

Ma Hua's explanation wasn't clear; after He Yuzhu asked several times, he realized that the canteen's budget at the time had included this money, and purple seaweed had already been purchased.

It had never been used, and now it cannot be found in the warehouse.

Therefore, the superiors not only refuse to allocate funds, they also require the canteen to conduct a self‑investigation, to see where the purple seaweed ended up—whether it was embezzled or improperly stored in the warehouse.

There must be an accounting.

"Ma Hua, what do you think is going on? Does our canteen still have such dishonest hands?" He Yuzhu wondered; he had already cleaned everything before, and logically no one would dare steal from the warehouse.

"Master, I don't know either." Ma Hua felt dejected, "Sorry, Master, I'm incompetent!"

Seeing Ma Hua on the verge of tears, He Yuzhu could only comfort him, saying it's fine; if we buy some we'll surely find it, and have him think about anything suspicious.

I have good purple seaweed from a system reward in my hand; this incident won't affect me, but we still need to investigate.

Constantly sitting in the office won't do; no matter my current position, the canteen is my foundation, and absolutely no outsiders must be allowed to interfere.

Of course, having an insider traitor is also unacceptable; a solid fortress is always breached from within.

He personally went to the warehouse to check; indeed there was no trace of purple seaweed, and according to He Yuzhu's memory, they had indeed bought purple seaweed back then.

This served as an early warning; if purple seaweed and such run out, it's easily said, but if meat ever runs out, I might have to quit my job.

It's hard to put into words.

Upon entering the canteen, He Yuzhu walked back and forth with a blank expression; perhaps everyone could see he was in a bad mood, and they all acted cautiously.

They didn't even dare to use force when chopping vegetables.

"Everyone is busy; I have something to say." He Yuzhu spoke solemnly, "Working in the canteen is quite a good job; ordinary people basically can't get in, but some people never feel satisfied—if anyone feels unhappy with the work, they can tell me, and I won't stop them from going wherever they want."

The canteen staff looked at He Yuzhu, somewhat at a loss, not knowing why he was bringing up such a serious topic.

"But while you work here, you must accept the canteen's rules; whoever wants to change the rules, I'll change your mind. After finishing lunch at noon, everyone must come to the canteen for a meeting, and no one may be absent."