Chapter 46

"Hmph, that's it!" He Yuzhu gave a disdainful cold snort, dusted himself off, and went home.

After returning home, He Yuzhu went straight to sleep, not taking the events of the evening to heart at all. To take even a shred of it to heart would be a disrespect to beautiful things like kindness, sincerity, and benevolence.

As for what the beasts thought, they could think whatever they wanted; it would be best if they were so angry they couldn't sleep.

Early the next morning, He Yuzhu woke up feeling refreshed, tidied up, and headed straight for the Rolling Mill. As soon as He Yuzhu arrived at the kitchen, he found Canteen Director Niu Fen waiting for him.

He Yuzhu had thought he would be reprimanded for being late, but to his surprise, Niu Fen pulled him aside and asked in a low voice, "Squad Leader He, the factory leaders asked me to come and ask you if there is any way to solve the problem of the workers' lack of oil and water."

"What? Director, aren't you making things difficult for me? Even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice," He Yuzhu couldn't help but widen his eyes, looking at Niu Fen in disbelief.

Nowadays, let alone eating until full, being half-full was already very good. Wanting to solve the problem of lack of oil and water was simply a fantasy. If it weren't for Niu Fen's serious expression, He Yuzhu would have thought Niu Fen was here to tease him.

"Sigh, I have no choice either; this is an order from above. You know about Jia Dongxu's incident, right? In the end, it was because Jia Dongxu had no oil and water in his stomach that it led to that."

"The factory leaders also know that food is scarce now, and they know even better that the workers have no oil and water in their stomachs. Eating half-full can sustain them, but without oil and water in their stomachs, something will go wrong."

"The factory leaders don't want Jia Dongxu's incident to happen again, which is why they asked me to find you and see if there is any way to find a new path to solve this problem," Niu Fen said with a worried face.

He Yuzhu suddenly understood. The factory leaders were afraid of another incident like Jia Dongxu's. Food was rationed, and the factory leaders couldn't conjure it out of thin air, so they wanted to find other ways to compensate the workers.

It had to be said that the leaders of this period were still capable of doing some practical things. Whether it was out of fear of taking responsibility or for other reasons, at least they were still concerned about the workers' safety.

"If you want the workers to have oil and water in their stomachs, you need meat. In the current situation, counting on the Meat Processing Plant is impossible. Can we have the Security Section send some people, and then have the brigade organize a group of young and strong men to go into the mountains to hunt? If we can bag a few wild boars, wouldn't that solve the urgent need?" He Yuzhu said.

"Hunt wild boars? And a few of them? What are you thinking? Can you think of something others haven't? Let's put it this way: the mountains near Sijiucheng have been plowed over several times. Let alone wild boars, if you can catch a wild rabbit, you're considered capable."

"And don't think about fishing in the river. The authorities have long since dispatched a large number of people to use fishing nets with such small meshes to catch all the fish in the rivers and lakes," Canteen Director Niu Fen said.

He Yuzhu nodded in understanding. In this day and age, people would do anything for food. People were not stupid; what you could think of, others could also think of. Things like protecting animals and plants were all pushed to the back in the face of survival.

He Yuzhu also understood why the fish Yan Bugui caught were only the size of a palm and he never caught big fish; it turned out that the big fish had long been taken away by others, and Yan Bugui was catching the fish that slipped through the net.

"If it's just to get some oil and water into everyone's stomachs, I actually do have a way," He Yuzhu thought for a moment.

"What way?" Niu Fen asked impatiently.

"Stewing big bones. This requires you leaders to step forward and ask the Meat Processing Plant for some big bones," He Yuzhu said.

"Sigh, I thought it was some good way. Forget about this; the meat on the bones has long been picked clean. If you want to exploit this loophole, there's no chance," Niu Fen waved his hand and said.

"That's not what I mean. How could I not know that the meat on the bones has been picked clean? I'm talking about stewing big bone soup, preferably pork bones. Pork bones are rich in protein, fat, vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, and other substances. Drinking it in moderation can not only supplement nutrition but also has the effect of nourishing Qi, strengthening the spleen, warming the stomach, and moistening the intestines."

"When it's stewed, let the workers drink two bowls, and I guarantee they'll have oil and water in their stomachs. However, this stuff takes a long time. If we stew it now, we won't have results until the afternoon or evening," He Yuzhu said.

"Really?" Canteen Director Niu Fen's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Of course it's true. Meat is hard to find, but getting some bones shouldn't be difficult for the leaders, right?" He Yuzhu said.

"It's not difficult. You wait; I'll report this to Deputy Factory Director Li right now and get a few bones to try," Niu Fen said and left.

Less than an hour later, Niu Fen brought ten pork bones to the kitchen. After He Yuzhu took them, he immediately started working on them. "Squad Leader He, why not stew a few more pots? There are so many people in our factory; who is going to drink just these two pots of soup?" Niu Fen asked after watching for a while.

"This is the base soup. Once it's boiled, we can just add an appropriate amount of water to dilute it. At worst, we'll just add a bit more salt," He Yuzhu said.

Niu Fen couldn't help but nod. This wasn't about making exquisite dishes; it was just to get some oil and water into the workers' stomachs. Whether it tasted good or not wasn't important, as long as it was nutritious. At times like this, you had to be heavy on oil and salt.

These two pots of bone soup were boiled for a full four hours before they were ready. As soon as the bone soup was ready, Niu Fen hurried to the kitchen with Deputy Factory Director Li.

"It smells so good," Deputy Factory Director Li couldn't help but sniff and said, then he unceremoniously ladled a bowl of bone soup and took a light sip.

Immediately, Deputy Factory Director Li's eyes lit up, and he shouted, "Good! Squad Leader He, you have performed a meritorious service! From next month—no, from now on, you are the Level 6 Cook of our Rolling Mill."

The Rolling Mill had the authority to promote He Yuzhu's chef level, but due to the nature of the factory, it could only be promoted to Level 6. Above Level 6, it wasn't up to the Rolling Mill to decide; he would need to go to a specialized place to take an exam.

In fact, with He Yuzhu's culinary skills, he could have reached the level of a Level 6 Cook long ago. As for why he hadn't been promoted, one reason was that Shazhu used to have a foul mouth and offended many people;

The second was that Yi Zhonghai, in order to control Shazhu, had been pulling strings in the dark to prevent He Yuzhu from rising so quickly.

Now, He Yuzhu had not only perfectly solved the problem of the workers' lack of oil and water but also allowed Deputy Factory Director Li to take this opportunity to curry favor with his superiors. Naturally, Deputy Factory Director Li had to give He Yuzhu some benefits.

"Thank you for the promotion, Factory Director Li," He Yuzhu said neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Deputy Factory Director Li looked at He Yuzhu in surprise. He had expected He Yuzhu to be ecstatic, but he hadn't expected him to be so composed, so he couldn't help but nod.

"Squad Leader He, could I trouble you to come in four hours early tomorrow morning and stew this big bone soup ahead of time, so that the workers can have a bowl of hot soup when they come to work?" Deputy Factory Director Li said politely.

Li Huaide planned to let the workers drink the soup for free. Anyway, the pork bones were obtained from the Meat Processing Plant through his connections without spending a penny. As for the consumption of coal, water, salt, and seasonings, it would be charged directly to the factory's account.

He didn't have to spend a penny himself, and he would gain such a good reputation; why not do it?

It had to be said that Deputy Factory Director Li, also known as Li Huaide, was better at speculating and better at handling people than Factory Director Yang.

Just regarding the task assignment just now, Li Huaide was polite and used a consultative tone. The key was that he had given benefits in advance, promoting him by two levels directly.

If it had been Factory Director Yang, he would have issued the order in an imperative tone and believed that this was what you should do.

"No problem! I will teach the technique of boiling bone soup to Pangzi, Ma Hua, and Liu Lan, and let them take shifts here to ensure that tomorrow morning, when the workers come to work, they can have a bowl of hot soup," He Yuzhu said, patting his chest.

"Good! Good! Good! Then I can rest easy," Li Huaide said, and after having his secretary ladle two lunch boxes of bone soup for him, he left immediately.

Needless to say, Li Huaide was going to report the good news to his father-in-law and, by the way, get busy with asking for more bones from the Meat Processing Plant.

"This is the way it should be. You leaders eat meat, and we workers should at least get to drink some soup," He Yuzhu sighed to himself.

Not long after, the Rolling Mill's broadcast room began to announce the news that there would be big bone soup to drink tomorrow morning, and incidentally mentioned the news of He Yuzhu's two-level promotion.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How could Shazhu be promoted two levels in a row?" In the guest house, Yi Zhonghai said in disbelief.

(End of this chapter)