Chapter 28 Old Friend (Happy New Year's Eve!)
"Haha, whatever you say is what it is. What's your name, young master? I'll have to ask you to take care of me in the future."
The people eating were all farm workers. They usually spoke without taboos, but they couldn't be too presumptuous in front of Master Sun.
Someone smiled and looked at Du Shaojie, and greeted him politely.
Du Shaojie introduced himself with a smile, and then ignored these people and followed Master Sun into a compartment.
The compartment was a bit like a private room in later generations. It was a place where farm leaders used to receive important guests. Today was free, so Master Sun asked Du Shaojie to sit here and eat.
The food came up quickly, two bowls of sorghum rice, a portion of stewed potatoes, and a portion of stir-fried cabbage.
"Xiao Du, the food here is not so good, you have to make do with it."
Master Sun didn't eat either, and he started eating after sitting down.
Du Shaojie sighed secretly, but didn't show it. Instead, he ate voraciously, mainly because he was hungry.
After eating, he followed Master Sun to his dormitory.
The dormitory was not bad. He had a single room. Although there was no water supply or kitchen, it was a private space of his own. The stove was outside the door. There was no need to burn the fire wall during the day in this month, but it had to be burned at night, otherwise it would be too cold to sleep.
Master Sun took him to the dormitory and left. He came to take him to the field office to report in the afternoon.
Then, the two of them made a handover, and Master Sun took the shuttle bus back to the city, feeling very happy.
"Are you the new Master Du? My name is Li Guixiang, and her name is Qin Xiaomei. If you have any work in the future, just call us two."
There were only three people in the canteen kitchen, including Du Shaojie. Li Guixiang was about 30 years old and looked pretty, but her skin was very dark.
Qin Xiaomei was a middle-aged woman in her 40s. She was tall and strong, and her thighs were thicker than Li Guixiang's waist.
Du Shaojie then introduced himself and asked the two women to start preparing dinner. The dishes for dinner included stewed radish cubes and hot and sour potato shreds, and the staple food was cornmeal steamed bread and porridge.
Li Guixiang and Qin Xiaomei were responsible for washing vegetables, cutting vegetables, and steaming steamed bread, while Du Shaojie was responsible for side dishes, preparing small ingredients, and cooking.
The three of them worked together quite smoothly. Du Shaojie then started to heat up the pots, stewing the radish cubes in one pot and preparing to stir-fry the hot and sour potato shreds in another pot.
Qin Xiaomei went to steam the steamed bread, and Li Guixiang cooked cornmeal porridge. It was time to eat.
Afterwards, Li Guixiang was responsible for cleaning up the kitchen, and Qin Xiaomei was responsible for serving the food, so Du Shaojie was left idle.
However, today was his first day at work on the farm, so he stepped forward to take over Qin Xiaomei's position. As a newcomer, Du Shaojie needed to show himself in front of others so that he could quickly integrate into the new unit.
Farm workers came to eat in twos and threes, and soon, the cadres working on the farm also came in in a loose line.
"Hey, Old Chen, look who's the young man getting food today?"
Zhai Yucheng stood in the line and slowly moved forward, with Chen Jizhou behind him.
Suddenly, he saw the busy figure, and after a closer look, wasn't it Du Shaojie? So he turned around and said to Chen Jizhou with a smile.
"It's really him!"
Chen Jizhou was very familiar with Du Shaojie. He didn't notice him before because he was absent-minded, but now he recognized him at a glance after hearing what his old friend said.
The team kept moving forward, and it was Zhai Yucheng and Chen Jizhou's turn to get food.
"Chief Engineer Zhai? Old Director? How are you guys?"
Seeing the two, Du Shaojie couldn't help but smile in surprise.
He had deliberately glanced at them before, but because they were standing in the middle of the line, he didn't see them clearly for a while. As a result, he didn't pay attention to them when he was busy.
"Don't yell. Old Chen and I are now off-duty for labor training. It's not appropriate to call us to our previous positions. I say, there's no meat today? These old guys are almost bored."
Although Zhai Yucheng was a chief engineer, he didn't have the slightest nerd vibe. The only thing about him was his bald head, which looked very stylish.
He held out his rice bowl, and Du Shaojie served him food. Zhai Yucheng then made way while cursing. The meals for these people were fixed. For example, tonight's meal was two steamed buns, a bowl of porridge and two dishes for each person.
There was definitely less oil and water, and they didn't eat meat often, but they didn't starve.
The farm was an output-oriented unit, growing grain, vegetables, raising pigs and cattle, and most of the harvest was handed over.
The little subsidy from the bureau could only maintain such meals.
Chen Jizhou was very tall, taller than Du Shaojie, with a handsome face. In the words of later generations, he was a handsome old man. It's just that his face looks older than his actual age, and he is usually very serious.
"Xiao Du, I didn't expect you to follow in our footsteps. We'll talk when we have time, you go ahead."
Holding his own meal, Chen Jizhou left quickly.
In fact, at his level, some things can be figured out without asking.
Du Shaojie greeted everyone with a smile while serving food, and soon won the favor of most people.
When everyone sat down to eat, they unexpectedly found that the two dishes today were quite delicious, much better than the cooking skills of Old Sun.
"Old Chen, especially this hot and sour potato shreds, which perfectly blends all kinds of flavors together. It's very fragrant and goes well with rice!"
Zhai Yucheng and Chen Jizhou sat together, talking while eating.
Chen Jizhou nodded, and he felt the same way. He felt that this young man Du Shaojie finally got it, and his cooking level was simply a world apart compared to before.
The taste of these two dishes today is really good.
"Yes, people always mature. Xiao Du not only improves his cooking skills very quickly, but you also notice that he has become much more cheerful and is good at dealing with people."
The change in personality is what Chen Jizhou values most.
Du Shaojie used to be very dull and had almost no communication with people. He would definitely not be popular in the company.
After the two finished their meal, they went to wash the rice bowls and left the cafeteria.
After Du Shaojie finished his work, he went straight back to the dormitory, flipped through the [Popular Recipe] that Liao Yongxin gave him, and then went to bed early.
Although it was his first time on the job today and he was not familiar with the current environment, he could get a good overall evaluation even if he fried the dish [Sour and Spicy Potato Shreds] with his eyes closed.
And this time, the reward surprised him a little. He received four bottles of [Erguotou].
Erguotou is not a good wine, but in this place where no one lives, these bottles of wine will definitely attract many people.
The next day.
Du Shaojie did not get up too early. Since he did not need to make breakfast, he could naturally sleep a little longer.
Like everyone else, he took his rice bowl to the canteen and filled his stomach at random. Then he thought about what to cook for lunch. He first checked the family's financial situation. After checking, he couldn't help shaking his head.
There was little fine grain, but there was enough coarse grain. But the problem was that everything else was lacking, including oil, meat, and even seasonings. There were
still some green radishes, yellow radishes, potatoes, cabbages, and green onions in storage, which could barely get through this period of lean season. There were almost no side dishes, and they could still have tofu skin for one meal. Their family was poorer than his own.
So he went to the farm office and found Director Zhao.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
