Chapter 91: Initiative “But we can’t bring this up on our own initiative, you…

After a day off, Wang Ying returned to work as usual. She usually arrived earlier than Director Xiang. She cleaned the office and poured tea into Director Xiang's teacup. Director Xiang arrived on time.

"Director Xiang, good morning." Wang Ying greeted Xiang Huaimin with a smile. When he looked up, he saw that Director Xiang seemed a little haggard.

Xiang Huaimin snorted, walked to his desk and sat down, took out a piece of paper from his briefcase and slapped it on the table.

"Here! The formula you asked for. This is the data under ideal raw materials, ideal water quality, ideal temperature and humidity. I can't guarantee whether it can be used." Xiang Huaimin said.

"Oh my! You figured it out!" Wang Ying walked over to Xiang Huaimin's desk in surprise. Director Xiang looked haggard. Could he have stayed up all night solving problems? Director Xiang truly was a good director for the people.

Wang Ying picked up the paper on the desk. As expected of Director Xiang, the ingredients he calculated were accurate to two decimal places...

"Thank you! I'll give it to them to try right away!" Wang Ying said with a smile.

Xiang Huaimin spent several days calculating the formula, and he began to worry about it. He coughed softly, "Ahem, don't make a mistake when weighing. If it doesn't work once, try it twice. Even the same experiment can have successes and failures..."

Wang Ying understood that Director Xiang was a man of honor. Now that he had calculated a number, he still hoped it would succeed.

"I understand! I'll go to the factory and try it myself," Wang Ying said. "Then I'll have to trouble the director to attend the factory meeting this morning."

"Yeah." Director Xiang said, took out a work notebook from his briefcase, tucked it under his arm and went to the meeting.

Wang Ying took the new formula to the workshop with a smile on his face.

In the workshop, several people from the R&D team had recovered their energy after a day of rest. When they saw Wang Ying come in, they greeted her one after another.

After greeting, Xu Lili raised her hand and said, "Director, I reviewed all the recipes we tried at home yesterday and wrote a new one. I'm sure it will work today!"

Seeing Xu Lili so enthusiastic, Wang Ying did not rush to take out Director Xiang's prescription. Instead, she smiled and said, "Okay, let's give it a try. I'll do it with you today."

When several people heard that Wang Ying was going to join them, they were both happy and frustrated. They felt that without their team leader, nothing they did would succeed...

Wang Ying and her team followed Xu Lili's improved recipe and began their first attempt. While preparing the ingredients, Wang Ying said, "Prepare more dough. When shaping, experiment with different sizes and thicknesses. Cover it with a wet cloth and a dry cloth, and let it rest for several periods of time. When baking it in the oven, use different temperatures, and try spraying it with and without water. Try it all."

Xu Lili gave Wang Ying a thumbs up: "Team leader, we really can't do without you!" Although Wang Ying is now the deputy director, colleagues in the R&D team sometimes still call her team leader.

"Haha, you can't say that. Let's get started." Wang Ying said.

Wang Ying did not handle the dough herself. She went back to the office and quickly drew a form and brought it back.

After the production began, the team members remained silent. Xu Lili's words were true: the team leader could think more and more comprehensively than they could. When would they be able to achieve something on their own without relying on the team leader?

After the preliminary preparations were completed, raw embryos of varying thicknesses and sizes were placed on the operating table. Wang Ying asked them to measure the sizes and then fill them in the report.

After the dough was processed in different ways, it was put into the oven in batches. Wang Ying gave Xu Lili the table she had drawn, asking her to record the state of each batch of dough and the baking time.

As Xu Lili wrote down the results, she felt deeply moved. She thought, "The team leader is so kind to me. This form is so well drawn, especially since he wrote her name on it. It's a testament to her hard work!" Xu Lili thought, "regardless of whether she succeeds today or not, she'll save this form."

After some operation, Xu Lili was surprised to find that two of them were better than the ones they had originally tested, with improvements in taste and hardness.

Wang Ying said, “Circle it on the form.”

"Yes!" Xu Lili was very excited.

After eating it, Zhou Qianjin said: "It seems to be a little better, but compared with the ones in Shanghai, it seems to be a little worse."

"Really..." Xu Lili's face fell a little. Could it be that Zhou Qianjin was afraid that she would get there first and said that on purpose? Xu Lili thought so, and then she felt ashamed of her own thoughts and blushed to herself.

"It's indeed a little bit short." Wang Ying said.

Xu Lili gave up after hearing what Wang Ying said. She dropped her hands weakly and said, "I've really tried everything I can. I'll just give up. It's up to you guys."

Wang Ying then pulled Director Xiang's recipe out of his pocket and said, "I have another recipe here. Let's try it again using the same method as before."

Wu Haiyang said, "Team Leader, if you have the formula, why didn't you bring it out earlier? We wouldn't have wasted time and the previous batch of raw materials."

When Xu Lili heard what Wu Haiyang said, her face turned red.

"You can't say that, Comrade Wu Haiyang. No experiment is done in vain." Wang Ying said seriously.

Wu Haiyang saw Xu Lili blushing, then realized that he had said the wrong thing, and said quickly: "I, I didn't mean that..."

"Take a break and continue. I'll go back and draw another table." Wang Ying said.

Wang Ying returned to the office, but Director Xiang hadn't come back yet. She took off her mask, drank some water, finished drawing up the form, and returned to the workshop.

After Wang Ying left, Wu Haiyang apologized to Xu Lili alone. Xu Lili accepted Wu Haiyang's apology, but still felt uncomfortable.

"Alright, let's continue!" Wang Ying clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention. "Look, this recipe has a very detailed list of ingredients. Don't make any mistakes in weighing. Be sure to be as precise as possible."

"good!"

Several people began to get busy again. Just as they finished mixing the dough, they found Director Xiang entering the workshop! This was the second time Director Xiang had entered the workshop in more than a week.

Wang Ying stepped forward and said, "Director, the meeting has been going on for so long today. Do you have any message you'd like to convey?"

"Well, the people recruited by the factory will be taking up their posts soon, and new machines will be delivered to the factory tomorrow," said Xiang Huaimin.

"That's great!" Wang Ying said with a smile. Shaqima's production tasks have been quite heavy these days, and there are obviously not enough people.

After Director Xiang finished speaking, he didn't rush to leave. Instead, he glanced around the workshop, looking at the finished product area and then at the operating table. Wang Ying understood Director Xiang's expression and felt like laughing. It seemed that Director Xiang was carrying a heavy burden.

Wang Ying whispered, "Your recipe hasn't even left the oven yet. They don't even know it's your recipe."

Xiang Huaimin looked at Wang Ying and coughed lightly. "I don't care about that. Anyway, I've calculated it for you. I'm going back to the office."

Xiang Huaimin left after he finished speaking, as if he was fleeing in panic after someone saw through his thoughts.

Wang Ying smiled secretly in his heart. It seemed that he would have to trouble Director Xiang more often in the future to calculate the prescriptions for them.

Wang Ying took the form, this time recording it herself. The team members all assumed the recipe was Wang Ying's own, and they treated it with great caution. They'd been failing repeatedly these past few days, and they desperately wanted to see success, even if it wasn't their own achievement.

It was almost lunch time when Director Xiang came to the workshop again. However, he took a look and left. No one knew what he was doing there.

Zhou Qianjin was very careful and noticed that their director was acting strangely. He whispered to Wang Ying, "Director Wang, the formula you brought today couldn't be Director Xiang's, could it?"

Wang Ying looked at him, smiled, and didn't answer, but Zhou Qianjin felt that he had guessed correctly. Zhou Qianjin had also asked others about Director Xiang and learned that he was a top student at Qinghua University. As expected of a top student, he could also calculate food formulas, so it was no wonder that there were both decimals and whole numbers.

Zhou Qianjin had previously thought Wang Ying was a smooth-talking person, and now he saw it even more clearly. She hadn't mentioned a single word that the recipe was written by Director Xiang. Was she waiting to see if it would work? If it did, she'd definitely trumpet it as Director Xiang's recipe; if not, she'd just pretend it was her own creation... Zhou Qianjin sighed. No one is stupid, and leaders are even less so.

A new batch of peach cakes came out of the oven, and it was also lunch time.

"Let's go have lunch first, it will be cold when we come back," said Wang Ying.

Wang Ying and the others still went to eat together. Xiang Huaimin only ate with Wang Ying and the others on the first day, and after that he ate alone because he was afraid that Wang Ying would cheat him.

Wang Ying ran into Director Xiang in the cafeteria. Wang Ying could tell from his expression that he was curious about the progress of his recipe and wanted to eat with them. But Wang Ying was being mean. Normally, he would ask if they wanted to eat together, but today he didn't.

Xiang Huaimin was waiting for Wang Ying to invite him to dinner so he could hear about their workshop today and see if his recipe would work, and if not, what went wrong. To his surprise, Wang Ying didn't even invite him! Xiang Huaimin thought she was doing it on purpose; he should have just left it out!

Xiang Huaimin thought of some things in the past, his face gradually became gloomy, and he took his plate and went to the corner to eat alone.

Wang Ying and his friends ate particularly quickly today, after all, there were still cooling peach cakes waiting for them.

After returning to the workshop, they began to taste the food.

"I just had a full meal, and I feel like I can't taste anything?" Xu Lili muttered.

Luo Wenshu said, "That's wrong. You can only tell if something is truly delicious if you're not hungry! When you're hungry, everything tastes good."

"Give each person a little bit of each piece and break it by hand to test how fragile it is." Wang Ying said as he picked up a piece and broke off a little bit for himself.

As soon as Wang Ying took a sip, he felt that the taste was slightly different from the recipe they had tried before.

"Hmm? This one seems to taste better!" Xu Lili said, having given up hope. She really couldn't beat the team leader. And since the team leader clearly had the recipe and gave her a chance, she felt even more grateful to Wang Ying.

A few people were about to eat another piece, but Wang Ying said, "Drink some water or rinse your mouth before eating the next piece."

When they tried the fifth piece, everyone was stunned.

"Director! This tastes right!" Zhou Qianjin said excitedly.

"The taste is right," Wang Ying realized. She took a whole piece, lifted it a dozen centimeters, and dropped it onto the workbench. Surprisingly, it didn't break too badly and was still firm enough. She took out a form, circled it, and recorded the production process for this special batch of peach cakes.

"Team leader, did we succeed?" Xu Lili said excitedly.

"I'll give it to the director to try. He's studying at a university in Beijing and must have eaten good food before," said Wang Ying.

Wang Ying took a few pieces on a small tray and took them away.

Wang Ying returned to the office. The reserved Director Xiang looked up at her, then lowered his head nonchalantly and continued to solve his own international problems.

"Director, your peach cakes are ready. Would you like to try them?" Wang Ying said with a smile.

"Oh, it's done." Director Xiang said calmly and didn't care at all.

"Please try it." Wang Ying walked over to Director Xiang and placed the tray in front of him. "Would you like me to pour you some tea?"

"There's tea." Director Xiang said, taking a piece from the tray. He broke off a piece and put it in his mouth. After eating it, he didn't say a word, took another big bite, and then ate the whole piece. He also drank a sip of tea to moisten his throat.

"Is this really made according to my recipe?" Director Xiang looked at Wang Ying after eating.

"It's absolutely true!" Wang Ying said, pulling out the chart he had drawn from his pocket. "Look."

Director Xiang looked at Wang Ying's table, somewhat surprised, and asked, "Have you studied statistics?"

"No." Wang Ying shook his head.

"Your table is the application of statistics," said Director Xiang.

Wang Ying laughed: "Oh, so I'm also using math knowledge."

"Well, mathematics is everywhere in life." Director Xiang thought Wang Ying's table was very well made and it made his mind active at a glance.

"You haven't told me yet, how does it taste?" Wang Ying said.

Director Xiang felt a little embarrassed, but he still said matter-of-factly: "I think it's better than the one we have now. You guys can decide."

"We all feel successful," Wang Ying said with a smile. "This is all thanks to you, Director. I wish you had come to our factory earlier! You're amazing! Gold really shines wherever it goes!"

"Okay, okay, stop flattering me. I know what you are going to say next." Director Xiang said.

"Hey, we will calculate for you all the formulas our workshop gets in the future." Wang Ying had to say it no matter what Director Xiang thought.

Director Xiang snorted and didn't respond, but Wang Ying took it as his consent.

"I'll leave two pieces for you and send the rest to the leaders," said Wang Ying.

"Go, go." Director Xiang waved his hand.

Wang Ying gave the new peach cake to several leaders to try. They all knew the quality of the cake and immediately tasted its deliciousness.

Wang Ying praised Director Xiang highly, and then praised the members of the team. As for herself, she said that she did not contribute at all this time and all the credit went to others.

Qian Tongsheng thought Wang Ying was being too modest, but he liked modest people, so he praised Wang Ying a few times.

Wang Ying returned to the workshop and told the team members that this was the formula calculated by Director Xiang. She then asked them to continue to follow the successful case.

In one afternoon, the finished products were almost all successful.

Yang Jianshe sighed, "People with knowledge are different, unlike us..."

Wang Ying said, "Knowledge won't turn into peach cakes on its own; this is what you made. Without the repeated failures we'd learned, there wouldn't be this success. I believe Director Xiang feels the same way. Society has divisions of labor, and everyone is indispensable."

Yang Jianshe felt comforted by Deputy Director Wang, but Tian Yulan, who was standing beside him, had other thoughts in mind.

Director Xiang was largely responsible for the successful improvement of the peach cake. However, Director Xiang was not happy and instead scolded Wang Ying.

"I just said one less word, and you're already making trouble for me! Why did you say I was the one who came up with the recipe?"

"Because we have to seek truth from facts, I can't take credit from the director!" said Wang Ying.

Director Xiang covered his forehead and said, "I don't need this credit. This won't happen again!"

"Okay!" Wang Ying agreed readily without asking the leader why he couldn't say it.

The peach cake improvement work was completed, and Wang Ying crossed this goal out of his work notes. The next step, Wang Ying thought, was to secure the peach cake supply from Nanchong.

Shaqima sold very well in Nanchong, and a month later, they placed another order.

Wang Ying is now the deputy director, so he doesn’t have to go to Nanchong with the goods, but Wang Ying still took the initiative to ask to go.

Before leaving, Qian Tongsheng was worried about her and told Wang Ying: "I know the peach cakes are ready, and you may have some new thoughts, but we can't bring this up, you know!"

"Okay! I know, don't worry, I will never mention that we want to provide peach cakes to Nan Chong!" Wang Ying assured Qian Tongsheng.

But, she bought some for herself and gave them to the salesperson in Nanchong and to Tang Jiaming (the wife of her leader). Is there anything wrong with that?

Wang Ying thought so and did it. She bought ten bags of new peach cakes at her own expense and took them to Nanchong.