Chapter 156 Provincial Li-style Innovative Dishes.
Li Jianzhi improved his recipe for "top-bone fish" at home. He selected a medium-sized yellow croaker, removed the bones and internal organs, stuffed it with shiitake mushroom and pork filling, deep-fried it, and then simmered it in a sauce...
The final product wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly delicious either; it was just okay overall.
It is far inferior to the craftsmanship of a master.
Li Jianzhi: "Try it, I think it tastes pretty good. This innovative Li-style dish is a testament to my progress over the past three years."
"This is what is called knowing shame and then being courageous."
"So that you can experience the skills of a veteran navy officer who has been killing and cooking fish for more than ten years."
Qin Xiang wanted to eat a couple of bites of the "top-bone fish," but then thought to herself, "Now that you've taken over the kitchen, it's all over."
However, Li Jianzhi has indeed "improved." Lazy people have no right to criticize; at least he "can eat."
Yellow croaker, pork, shiitake mushrooms... If this dish turns out badly, a certain man should jump into the Huangpu River.
"Dad, is this the kind of food you eat in Guangzhou?" Fortunately, Little Fatty wasn't picky.
"Pretty much the same." Li Jianzhi said without any shame, "Next time, Dad will try making Maotai chicken for you."
Qin Xiangxiang: "???"
You're too brave, Comrade Li.
"Your mother is learning the patterns from Mawangdui, while your father is learning culinary skills, waiting to eat Commander Li's Maotai chicken."
Li Jianzhi: "Wife, I'm asking to make Maotai chicken for the whole family."
Qin Xiangxiang: "...Approved."
Qin Xiangxiang was in a dilemma. Should she let this man mess around in the kitchen? Why did a man with such poor cooking skills like to create new dishes in the kitchen?
They even dared to lay their hands on the chicken.
Little Fatty: "I want to learn from my dad in the future."
"I also want to develop innovative Li-style dishes. Dad, let's write a family recipe book to leave to our descendants."
Li Jianzhi: "Cough—"
Commander Li choked on a mouthful of tea.
Qin Xiangxiang covered her forehead, feeling utterly outrageous.
Li Jianzhi: "Okay, that's ambitious. Let's also make a family recipe book, and call it the Li-style Recipe Book."
It would be quite an achievement if such Li-style recipes, or "Li recipes" for short, could garner thousands of likes and saves on the future "X Kitchen" APP.
Li Xiaopang: "...This way, my descendants can use the family recipes to thank kind people in the future."
Li Jianzhi silently fed his daughter a bite of rice, wondering whether this family recipe was a way to repay a debt of gratitude or a way to settle a score.
Li Jianzhi touched his nose: "Write some miscellaneous notes about life in the recipes, similar to 'Six Records of a Floating Life'."
"I'll write an article later—'A Few Things About Morning Tea with My Wife'."
Qin Xiangxiang said, “I ate shrimp dumplings, rice noodle rolls, golden cake, jujube cake, braised chicken feet, and steamed spare ribs. My favorite was the steamed spare ribs, and I also liked the chicken feet and lotus seed cake.”
Li Jianzhi: "I like tiger-skin chicken feet."
The chubby boy yelled, "Mom! I want to go to the Canton Fair too!"
Li Jianzhi sought out Li Yaowei to help contact the engineering corps and, together with members of nearby communes, surveyed and selected a site. They then collectively and quickly excavated small and medium-sized air-raid shelters and added waterproof and mildew-proof layers.
At this time, the best and easiest building material to obtain was oyster shell ash, which is the ash produced by calcining oyster shells. It is white in color. In ancient times, this oyster shell ash was used to plaster walls. Coastal houses used this type of oyster shell ash to paint their walls white.
Its main components are calcium oxide and calcium carbonate. After solidification, oyster ash solution has a good waterproof effect and can also be used to repair porcelain.
Oyster shell ash is similar to quicklime and can also be used to improve the acidity and alkalinity of soil. However, oyster shell ash is weakly alkaline and does not have the strong alkalinity of quicklime.
"Director Qin's plan is very thorough. Such a valuable order must be protected carefully."
The island experiences typhoons every year, with varying degrees of damage. Some years are mild, while others are severe. In the event of a strong typhoon, it is common for roofs to be blown off, especially factory and warehouse roofs, which would cause significant losses to the factories.
"A poplin shirt costs fifty!"
The members of the nearby communes all hoped that the textile factory would not suffer a disaster. After all, they had the advantage of being close to the factory and had the opportunity to obtain scraps of poplin and wavy yarn. Moreover, if the textile factory improved, their lives would also be better. Many families had girls working in the textile factory, and there were also quotas for factory jobs every year.
The factory now has a film projection team that often shows movies to the surrounding communes for free, and the nearby communes are all grateful to Feiyan Textile Factory.
Thanks to everyone's concerted efforts, the air-raid shelters dug to prevent typhoon damage were larger than Qin Xiangxiang had anticipated. If a disaster were to occur, in addition to accommodating textiles, they could also accommodate some people.
Furthermore, the air-raid shelter was prepared with waterproof measures to prevent backflow. A moisture-proof isolation zone could also be built next to the textile storage area, with oyster shell ash and other moisture-absorbing materials piled up inside to act as a "dehumidifier," thus ensuring the safety of the textiles inside.
Qin Xiangxiang couldn't remember clearly, but she always felt that she would experience a strong typhoon within the next two years.
Taking precautions against typhoons in advance is always the best course of action.
Meng Qiaoyun said to Qin Xiangxiang, "We've tried making a kind of anti-mildew cloth, and the effect is very good. We added seaweed glue, which is a great thing. It has a miraculous effect on preventing mildew and fixing color."
"This anti-mildew cloth is waterproof and mildew-proof. If our textiles are forced to stay in the port, we can wrap them in the anti-mildew cloth and add moisture-absorbing bags made of oyster ash inside. With these layers of protection, we can absolutely ensure that the poplin inside will not be damaged."
Qin Xiangxiang nodded: "Thank you, Master Meng. Our factory has thought of contingency plans in advance so that we won't panic when we encounter a situation in the future. We need to train the transportation team to do more disaster prevention drills."
"I'll go talk to Representative Jie about this."
Feiyan Textile Factory is operating normally and in an orderly manner. It has also conducted disaster prevention drills in advance, and all workers are prepared. If a strong typhoon occurs on the island, the valuable textiles in the warehouse will be moved to the air-raid shelter in an orderly manner. If the goods are forced to stay in the port, they will be protected with anti-mildew cloth and moisture-absorbing bags immediately.
"Director Qin, you are truly the most thoughtful person I have ever met," Representative Xie exclaimed with deep admiration.
The factory was overjoyed to have secured such a large foreign trade order. However, Qin Xiangxiang had prepared various contingency plans in advance, so that everyone would be mentally prepared should a disaster occur, and even if a natural disaster did happen, it would not cause too much loss.
Qin Xiangxiang said, "This is also thanks to Master Rong's reminder. Having an elder in the family is like having a treasure. We also have to thank Master Li for inviting the several master craftsmen who are the guardians of the mountain."
"Once we complete this batch of foreign trade orders, our factory will have gained a lot of experience."
Zheng Jianguo of Hongxing Textile Factory returned to the factory dejectedly. They had returned empty-handed from the Canton Fair this time, without getting many orders. T-shirt orders were no longer popular, as buyers had sufficient stock. In addition, other small textile and garment factories had also shared the T-shirt export orders.
Feiyan Textile Factory secured a record-breaking 2.88 million yuan foreign trade order, shattering Hongxing Textile Factory's dream of becoming the province's leading foreign trade enterprise.
Unless they can find a way to surpass the exorbitant orders from Feiyan Textile Factory, but what can they do? A Mawangdui patterned poplin shirt costs fifty yuan! That's an astronomical price! What else can sell for such an exorbitant price?
"Qin Xiangxiang from Feiyan Textile Factory has too many tricks up her sleeve. She stole our cotton, and then she had people make poplin and some kind of East China Sea Wave Yarn. She even copied the Mawangdui patterns, which made our factory suffer ridicule. They said that even though we have level eight sewing workers, we are not as good as a small island factory."
In addition, after the factory completes the foreign trade order, it can get a portion of foreign exchange retention, but not much, only three percent of the foreign trade retention, which is too little. However, Feiyan Textile Factory can get orders of nearly three million this time. As long as this batch of exclusive orders is completed, it can get seventy or eighty thousand foreign exchange retention!
No other factory has the technology to make poplin shirts and wave yarn, so Feiyan Textile Factory will take all of this order!
Zheng Jianguo's heart was bleeding! Was he really inferior to Zhou Aodong's daughter? Inferior to a mere woman?
"What 'using the past for the present'? It's just old feudal patterns... Qin Xiangxiang is using these old feudal patterns to poison the workers!"
After thinking about it for several nights, Zheng Jianguo secretly found someone to report Feiyan Textile Factory, accusing the factory director Qin Xiangxiang of using "feudal old patterns" to poison the workers.
A few days later, Feiyan Textile Factory received news that a joint investigation team was about to be stationed there to conduct an investigation.
Qin Xiangxiang: "What? You're saying I'm using outdated feudal patterns to poison the workers?"
"These are cultural relics unearthed from Mawangdui, and they are nationally certified archaeological achievements! National policy states that cultural relics can be reproduced and exported."
Qin Xiangxiang wasn't afraid at all. At least their Feiyan Textile Factory had improved the patterns, while the silk printing factories in Shanghai were simply copying them exactly. They had no problems, so what problems could they possibly have?
It was because of the Shanghai textile factory incident that Qin Xiangxiang learned about the specially approved policy for the export of cultural relic replicas.
Assistant He, a person prone to anxiety, had barely been anxious for half an hour after learning that the investigation team was about to arrive when he received another phone call. The caller said that the Prince of Cambodia was about to visit Zhejiang and mentioned the poplin shirts and Donghai Langyong yarn that Feiyan Textile Factory had showcased at the Canton Fair. He wanted to come and see Feiyan Textile Factory in person.
Assistant He: "Factory manager, on the other hand, they said that our textile factory's poplin and Donghai Langyong yarn have been selected as 'provincial gifts'."
"Let us carefully prepare gifts for the Prince and showcase the beauty of the East China Sea."
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
Come on, come on, their Feiyan Textile Factory doesn't even have a storefront yet.
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