Chapter 185
When the bell rang at noon, a group of workers in the grain replica workshop grabbed their lunch boxes and ran out the door.
The workshop director shouted from behind, "Why are you all running? Your group only has half a bucket of mung bean powder left. Finish this little work before you can leave!"
"Director, please stop working! The cafeteria made braised pork knuckle and four-happiness meatballs today. If you go too late, you won't be able to catch them!"
Director Qian asked as he unpacked his lunch box, "Who told you that? How could the cafeteria possibly prepare two meat dishes for one meal?"
"Really? That's the news from the factory this morning! The canning workshop is hiring chefs and having them come to the factory to try out the food. All the meat dishes in the cafeteria today were made by chefs from big restaurants. I heard they're going to have several special dishes!"
Upon hearing this, all the workers in the workshop put down their work, picked up their lunch boxes and ran out.
At the same time, most of the factory workers came out of the workshop and hurried to the canteen.
As Ye Manzhi walked into the cafeteria, she heard the logistics officer shouting over a loud speaker, "Everyone line up! Don't rush! Prepare your food and meat coupons in advance! Find a partner to share the meal with. Four people can get one serving of four-happiness meatballs!"
"Secretary Cai, how many meatballs are in one serving?"
"One serving! Quantities are limited. To ensure everyone can try the new dishes, four people share one!"
"It takes four people to eat one meatball, that's too little!"
Xiao Cai said, "That's great! Four chefs came today to sample the food. They were only supposed to make one dish for the factory director, the head chef, and the technicians in the canning workshop. It was Director Ye who suggested that all of us get to taste the cooking of a big restaurant chef, which is how we got this lunch today. Our logistics and supply and marketing departments went to great lengths to gather the raw materials, and Director Niu even specially approved the pig farm to send us three big fat pigs!"
"Wow, today's atmosphere is almost like Chinese New Year!"
"Haha, that's right! We only get to eat braised pork during the Chinese New Year." Luo Qiang, who worked in the candy workshop, stood in the crowd, took a deep breath of the meaty aroma, and asked, "Secretary Cai, besides the four-happiness meatballs, what other dishes do you have?"
Xiao Cai took out a slip of paper and read out the names of the dishes according to the information on it: "Fish-flavored shredded pork, Kung Pao chicken, and braised pork elbow. Please note, the elbow is cut into pieces, and each person can only get one piece at most! If you don't have enough, you can get the braised pork, half a spoonful per person! Our factory's dishes are cheap, each dish only costs one or two meat coupons plus ten cents. There are five dishes in total, so everyone can choose what you want!"
At this point, Xiao Cai, the secretary, asked again with the loudspeaker, "Are there any comrades whose hometown is Sichuan?"
More than a dozen hands were raised in the crowd.
"We've got a Sichuan chef here this time. We don't usually eat spicy food, and most of us haven't tried fish-flavored shredded pork or Kung Pao chicken. You'll get to savor today's authentic hometown dishes!" Xiao Cai handed each of the Sichuanese a number plate and whispered, "Hand this over when you get your food, and you'll get an extra half spoonful. Don't just eat; you have to give feedback to the factory afterward! We're going to use this for canned food!"
The dozen or so people who got the license plates agreed with surprise and promised to complete the task.
Ye Manzhi stood in the crowd, laughing with everyone else. When she saw Pi Yuzhen, she waved and said, "Chairman Pi, let's get some four-happiness meatballs together!"
"Okay." Pi Yuzhen pulled the women's director over as well.
There are three of us and one is missing. We need to find another person.
Ye Manzhi glanced back and saw that Lao Niu and three other deputy factory directors had already formed a team, and Zhu Kehai, who had just entered the door, was left aside.
She smiled and called to Zhu Kehai, "Director Zhu, we're going to make four of these four-happiness meatballs. Would you like to join us?"
Zhu Kehai agreed with a smile and walked up to the three female comrades, but he was not in a good mood when facing Ye Manyi.
The leadership team of the food factory was good at management, but their achievements in party affairs were not outstanding. His superiors sent him to the food factory to focus on ideological and political work.
It was originally a foregone conclusion that he would go to the Provincial Party School for further studies. However, after an article by Ye Manzhi appeared in the Binjiang Political News, things went off track.
Niu Enjiu praised the implementation of the "Angang Constitution" and wrote Ye Manzhi's name on the recommendation form!
Zhu Kehai has carefully read Ye Manzhi's article several times.
I heard that Director Ye was a top student at the provincial university and had worked as a secretary for a provincial department leader, so he really had some skills in writing.
Zhu Kehai recognized her theoretical level, but he always felt that the timing of the article was too coincidental.
Niu Enjiu was reluctant to announce the recommended candidates, and Ye Manzhi published the article during this period.
As soon as the article was published, Niu Enjiu made a decision.
How could such a coincidence happen? He suspected that the two of them did it on purpose. Niu Enjiu was just giving Ye Manzhi time to publish her article!
He once thought that this guess was more reasonable, but he had asked an acquaintance in the Municipal People's Committee about the situation the day before yesterday.
"Binjiang Political News" is an official newspaper, published once a month, and never accepts urgent manuscripts. The final version is usually finalized half a month in advance.
Ye Manzhi's article was published about a week after she received the recommendation from the factory.
She wouldn't go to the Municipal People's Committee to ask the editor to cut in line, right?
Ye Manzhi indeed did not ask anyone to cut in line.
She sent in that manuscript in June.
At that time, the "Angang Constitution" had been implemented throughout the factory. Niu Enjiu found reporters to publicize the factory's achievements and also accepted interviews from reporters, which really made him famous for a while.
Ye Manzhi came back from the Canton Fair and had some ideas after hearing about this incident.
Although she had a relatively harmonious relationship with Director Lao Niu, she was the first person to propose implementing the "Angang Constitution" in the factory. So when summarizing the achievements, how could she be left out while Director Lao Niu was the only one to take the spotlight?
So, since there was no reporter to interview her, she wrote an article and published it in the newspaper.
The content mainly summarizes the achievements, praises the employees' contributions, and of course praises the good leadership of Director Lao Niu.
The manuscript was sent out in June, but neither the June nor the July issues of Binjiang Political News adopted her manuscript.
It wasn't until the August issue that she was given a page space.
Ye Manzhi thought to herself that she didn't publish the article intentionally just to give Lao Niu a ladder.
If her article had been published earlier, Lao Niu would have had a reason to give her the spot.
As long as the spot is not given to Zhu Kehai, who can threaten him, it doesn't matter who it is given to.
Ye Manzhi ordered some food from the window, then sat around the big dining table with a group of people and introduced the chefs.
"The Personnel Department recommended four chefs: one Sichuan and Cantonese chef, and three Shandong chefs. The Sichuan chef is in his sixties and worked as a chef in a large restaurant in his hometown. When he was younger, he also cooked Cantonese cuisine in a restaurant in Guangzhou. A few years ago, after his only son was transferred to Binjiang for work, he and his wife came to live with him. We don't have all the ingredients here, so we won't have any Cantonese dishes to try today. Let's try two Sichuan dishes first." Ye Manzhi smiled at Jiang Wenming, "Director Jiang, I heard you're a son-in-law from Sichuan. Can you help everyone taste these two Sichuan dishes and see if they're authentic?"
Seeing him nod, Ye Manzhi introduced the three Shandong cuisine chefs to the judges.
Two of them came from state-owned restaurants and one from a commune canteen.
The chef of the commune canteen was not well-known, but he was recommended by Chef Zhou from Yanbinlou.
Master Zhou was the master chef who seasoned the canned dishes for banquets.
The person who was recommended was his apprentice, who had worked in Yanbinlou for several years, but he was unwilling to gain experience in a big hotel, so he found a canteen near his home and started cooking in a big pot.
Anyway, I have no worries about food and drink.
Master Zhou couldn't bear to see him wasting his skills, so he introduced him to a food factory as a technician.
The benefits are good and it sounds decent.
The dishes made by the three Shandong cuisine chefs are the same, each of them has a braised pork elbow, a braised pork trotter, and a four-happiness meatball.
When the judges served the dishes, they also gave each of the three people a portion according to the numbers.
"What do you think?" Niu Enjiu asked.
"I'm not used to Sichuan cuisine; it's too spicy." Wang Shihu swallowed two mouthfuls of steamed buns to cool down the spiciness and continued, "The other three chefs all make excellent Shandong cuisine, but I think No. 3 is closer to the canned food we use for banquets in our factory. The braised dish has a salty and fragrant flavor, perfect for eating with rice."
Ye Manzhi also thought that the elbow No. 3 was delicious. The skin of the elbow was fat but not greasy. The dish freshly out of the pot was much more delicious than the canned food.
Finally, a total of 25 judges, including Chef Zhou from Yanbinlou, voted for the three Shandong cuisine chefs.
Master No. 1 received 8 votes, Master No. 2 received 7 votes, and Master No. 3 received 10 votes.
"Which master is number 3?" Ye Manzhi asked.
"No. 3 is Chef Cui Zhuangzhuang from the Dongfeng Commune Canteen."
It was Master Zhou's apprentice.
*
The First Food Factory finally hired Cui Zhuangzhuang and the Sichuan and Cantonese chef.
The food factory was calculating very well. They thought hiring Cui Zhuangzhuang was like hiring half of Master Zhou. If there were any problems that Cui Zhuangzhuang couldn't handle, they could still ask him to step in.
The theoretical backbone research class of the Provincial Party School will start on September 1st.
Before Ye Manzhi went for further studies, two new technicians had already started adjusting the taste of canned banquet dishes and researching new dishes.
"Ruyi, I'm going to take two months off to study. If there's anything urgent at the factory, you can come to the Party School to find me. If there's nothing urgent, wait until Saturday. I'll be back every Saturday afternoon."
Zhou Ruyi wrote down her arrangements in a notebook. "Director, do you have any other instructions?"
Ye Manzhi smiled and said, "There's nothing else to say. You should study more theoretical knowledge at home, write more ideological reports to the organization, and strive to join the party as soon as possible. If there are opportunities to study at party schools at all levels in the future, you will miss them if you are not a party member."
Zhou Ruyi nodded frequently.
The best role model is right in front of her. She will definitely be right if she follows Director Ye's path. Her rank will not be promoted in a short time, but she can first strive to join the party.
…
Ye Manzhi was going to study for two months, and after arranging the affairs at the factory, she went to report to the Party School.
The reporting day was a weekday, and Ye Manzhi did not use Wu Zhengrong to pick her up. She carried her bag and took a bus to the Provincial Party School on her own.
She attended the theoretical backbone research class, but starting on September 1st there were also training classes for county and department-level cadres, self-study classes for senior cadres, advanced training classes for theoretical teachers, and short-term training courses for various business areas.
When Ye Manzhi saw groups of students carrying bags on their backs in the small campus, he felt as if he was back in college.
After being away from all the work at the unit, she finally felt a sense of reality about studying.
The theoretical backbone research class has only one class with a total of 60 people. The students are all theoretical backbones from various units across the province, most of whom are secretaries and deputy secretaries of various units, and even writers from the Political Research Office.
There are really not many people like Ye Manzhi who are purely engaged in business.
However, when she saw Zhao Guilin at the opening ceremony, her heart fell back into her stomach.
"Manager Zhao, how did you become a theoretical backbone?"
Zhao Guilin chuckled and said, "If Director Ye can be a backbone, why can't I be a theoretical backbone?"
Ye Manzhi said without any modesty: "I have published articles in newspapers, and my theoretical level has been tested."
When Zhao Guilin was the chief of Comprehensive Section 3, she worked under him for a year, and they both knew each other's style.
They are both practical people who focus on business.
Now we meet in the theoretical backbone research class, which is actually a bit funny.
Zhao Guilin is the second-in-command of the Provincial Leather Industry Company. It is likely that he opened a backdoor for himself to get this opportunity for further study.
"Haha," Zhao Guilin didn't deny it. "It's a rare opportunity to study at the Provincial Party School. While we focus on our business, we can't slack off on improving our theoretical level!"
"Yes, we are here to improve our understanding and strengthen our Party spirit!"
The two of them sang high-pitched songs one after another, and then laughed at the same time.
Zhao Guilin smiled narrowly and reminded, "It seems our research class has exams every week. The test results and rankings need to be put into the file. Don't slack off and let yourself rank last!"
Although Ye Manzhi appears calm on the surface, he is actually extremely nervous.
In the words of her husband Ye, she is good at everything except studying.
She did not have the good memory of the two Wus in her family, and relied entirely on rote memorization before the liberal arts exams.
When I was in college, I spent a lot of time memorizing and was able to barely maintain a position in the top ten in the class.
In the theoretical backbone research class, more than half of the students are real theoretical backbones, and the content of their studies in the research class, in addition to the Chairman's quotations and works that she often read, also includes large volumes such as Marx and Lenin.
The thought of competing with these writers made her feel overwhelmed.
Therefore, in order to avoid having bad grades in his file, Director Xiao Ye did not dare to slack off at all. After finishing the theoretical classes every morning, he had to go to the library to memorize in the afternoon.
Before coming to study, she assured Wu Zhengrong that there would only be half a day of classes every day and she would be responsible for picking Youyan up from school in the afternoon.
As a result, she stayed in the Party School for two weeks and had no time to leave the campus.
After the first quiz was over, she got 82 points and ranked 21st. She finally fulfilled her promise and went to pick up her child from kindergarten.
21st place is not a top score, but Zhao Guilin, who is also a college student, only scored 76 points and ranked 30th!
Ha ha ha ha!
When she arrived at the kindergarten, it was not yet time to go home from school and the children were all free in the classroom.
A little boy kicked the ball to the classroom door. When he ran out to pick it up, he saw Ye Manyi and called out "Hello, Auntie" in a cowardly voice.
Ye Manzhi was about to reply when the child turned around and shouted, "Wu Yuzhuo, your mother is back from that class at the Provincial Party School!"
Then all the children in the classroom looked towards the door.
Ye Manzhi: “…”
It must be her little one showing off in kindergarten again.
Wu Zhengrong's work involves confidential information, and she repeatedly warns her daughter not to talk nonsense outside, so her daughter can only show off to her.
After catching a glimpse of his mother, Wu Yuzhuo stopped playing cat's tangle, handed the wool to the child next to him, and quickly ran to the door.
She first corrected the little boy: "It's the theoretical backbone research class of the Provincial Party School."
Then he threw himself into Ye Manzhi's arms and said, "Mom, why haven't you come back for so long? I've learned to take a bath by myself when you weren't home!"
"Then you are awesome!" Ye Manyzhi greeted the teacher and walked out with the child.
"Mom, how is school going for you? Is it interesting?"
Ye Manzhi was afraid that her child would become bored with school because of the promise that he would go to school next year, so she could only say against her will, "School is so interesting now, I don't want to go back."
If there were no exams, life in the provincial party school would be really good.
The teachers at the Party School all have a high level of theoretical knowledge. They can even give new ideas to books like the Chairman’s Quotations and works, which they have read to pieces.
The class is actually quite interesting.
Moreover, the Party School shows movies in the auditorium every week, and there are sports competitions between classes. The extracurricular activities are much richer than she imagined.
She introduced her campus life to her daughter, and they took a car back to the military industrial compound.
She hadn't seen Lao Ye and Chang Yue'e for half a month, and today she had time, so she decided to go back and see them.
When the mother and daughter entered the door, Huang Li had just picked up a taxi and picked up Qi Qiu from school.
As soon as the three siblings met, they immediately gathered together and chattered about their recent lives.
Hearing the babbling sounds in the room, the taxi driver pulled Youyan into the house and asked her to play with the one-year-old little sister of her fifth uncle.
Ye Manzhi teased her niece for a while, then turned around and asked Huang Daxian, "Sister-in-law, Taxi is one year older than Youyan. He should be old enough to go to elementary school this year, right? Why haven't you registered him for school yet?"
Huang Li said, "I want to go to Sanxian before the Chinese New Year next year to reunite with your third brother. Changing schools frequently isn't good for the child. Once he arrives in the local area, it won't be a problem for him to start school again when he's eight."
Ye Manzhi nodded. It was good that the family could be reunited. In fact, the family members were not very worried about letting the third brother work there alone.
She wanted to ask about Wong Tai Sin's work arrangements, but Shen Liangmei, who had just returned from the public kitchen, asked in surprise, "Third sister-in-law, are you going to the Third Front?"
"Yes, I have this plan."
"Why do you want to go to the Third Front? It's all deep mountains and old forests over there, the conditions are so harsh!" Shen Liangmei tried her best to persuade her, "Sister-in-law, you should stay in Binjiang with the children."
"It's mainly because Qixiang always misses his dad, and I think it would be better for the child if the whole family could live together."
Ever since Ye Mantang went to the third front, the brothers and sisters of the old Ye family have been very caring towards his mother and daughter. Whenever the children need something, such as taking a bath or getting a haircut, his fourth uncle and fifth uncle are the ones who take them out.
Chen Liangmei also became very considerate. The two sisters-in-law had lived together under the same roof for ten years, and this was the first time they got along so harmoniously.
But she and her son missed Ye Mantang very much.
Moreover, Qixiang seems to have limited talent in skating. He has participated in several children's skating competitions but has not achieved good results.
Therefore, she didn't want to waste any more time and would like to go south before the Chinese New Year next year.
Shen Liangmei was extremely anxious. Seeing her husband coming home from get off work, she hurriedly called out, "Mangui, please persuade your sister-in-law. She wants to take a taxi to the third line!"
"Going to the Third Front is a good idea!" Fourth Brother agreed with both hands. "We can reunite with Third Brother and be a family again!"
"What's good about that?"
"Hey, Third Sister-in-law has already made up her mind, so don't get involved." Fourth Brother looked at Ye Manzhi and said, "Director Xiao Ye, I want to tell you something. Have you heard the latest news about our factory?"
"What news? I've been studying at the Party School lately and haven't been back to the factory."
"The factory bought a housing complex for employees' families, but only 32 people got it, and the others are quite dissatisfied. I heard from a coworker today that Director Niu plans to apply to the city for land to build another housing complex for employees' families."
Ye Manzhi frowned and said, "Impossible? The factory has already spent a lot of money on buying buildings and equipment this year. How can we afford to build a new building?"
"It's true! Everyone's spreading rumors with every ounce of truth! The factory can't come up with that much money, but the employees do. I heard that those without houses can pool their money to build one, at 30 to 40 yuan per square meter. This is like robbing money! A 20-meter house costs 600 to 800 yuan! A few years ago, a bungalow here only cost 400 to 500 yuan."
Ye Manzhi pondered for a moment and said, "The cost of building a tube-shaped building is much higher than that of a bungalow. The employees only contribute to the interior area, but the factory has to pay for the stairs, corridors, washrooms, and toilets. It's like the public and the individuals each contribute half."
Even if the employees raise funds, the factory will have to contribute hundreds of thousands of yuan, and the financial pressure will be too great by then.
Fourth Brother curled his lips and said, "Who would spend so much money to build a house?"
Shen Liangmei teased him and said, "The factory leaders will definitely have a solution. Just listen to them."
She was almost driven to death by her husband. After finally making it to night, she quickly pulled him into the room, closed the door, and asked, "Are you eligible for housing at the food factory this time?"
"The requirement is three years of service, but I haven't had one year."
"Is it not possible to raise funds on my own?" Shen Liangmei asked, "Can you discuss this with Lai Ya?"
"I don't know if it's possible, but this is a unified rule of the factory. It's not going to work if I discuss it with her." The fourth brother took off his shoes and got on the bed. "We have a place to live at home. Besides, how can we raise so much money?"
Shen Liangmei said worriedly, "What if we don't raise funds? Third sister-in-law is going to the third frontier! Don't forget that this house belongs to our father and third brother. If third sister-in-law and the taxi driver stay at home, it's fine. But if she goes to the third frontier, the house will probably be taken back by the factory!"
"No way?" Fourth brother sat up from the bed.
"Why not? I heard from Old Liu at our service station that two families who had moved their entire families to the Third Front had their houses reclaimed by the factory. Their personnel relationships were transferred to other units, so of course they can no longer occupy the factory houses. There are also quite a few workers at Factory 656 waiting for housing!"
The fourth brother murmured, "If that's the case, our family will be in real trouble!"
When the factory distributed housing, Lao Ye could only get a one-and-a-half-bedroom apartment based on his situation. It was only when his third brother added his share that the apartment became a two-bedroom apartment.
Then they modified the house themselves, dividing the two rooms into three, so that they could accommodate the whole family.
Many people in the factory are looking forward to being allocated housing. Once my third sister-in-law takes her children south, this house will most likely be taken back.
By then, this three-bedroom apartment will become a one and a half bedroom apartment.
The one-and-a-half-room apartments in the military industrial compound are less than 20 square meters. If only Lao Ye and Chang Yue'e live there, it would be quite spacious.
It was a bit crowded with their family of four.
Shen Liangmei reminded him: "Don't forget that our Maiduo is about to graduate from high school. It's only a matter of time before he gets married. If the house becomes a one-and-a-half-bedroom apartment, where will the new wife live?"
If they continue to live in the existing house, when Maddo gets married, he can just give their room to the young couple and they can sleep in the living room.
But the one-and-a-half-bedroom apartment doesn't have a living room, so even if they wanted to, they didn't have the conditions.
The couple discussed the matter for most of the night, and when they got up to go to work the next day, each of them had dark circles under their eyes.
Fourth Brother sat cross-legged on the bed, squinting his eyes and said, "I've initially thought of two solutions..."
Shen Liangmei urged: "Hurry up and tell me, let's discuss it."
"First of all, of course, we're keeping an eye on the housing allocation for the food factory to see if this fundraising can remove the length of service restriction."
Shen Liangmei felt a little worried, "What if there are still length of service requirements?"
"Then we can only use the second method," the fourth brother slapped his thigh and said, "I have to urge our father to become the deputy director of the workshop as soon as possible. The director and deputy director are eligible for a two-bedroom apartment, and then we can keep this house. When the third sister-in-law and the taxi driver go to the third line, there will be an extra room! It will be enough for our Mai Duo to get married!"
Shen Liangmei: "..."
Ye Manzhi, who was attending classes at the Party School, was unaware that his fourth brother had reached a new level of dependence on his parents and was already preparing to urge Old Ye to make progress.
She had a class at 8:30 in the morning. When she walked into the classroom with her two roommates, she caught a glimpse of Zhao Guilin waving at her.
Ye Manzhi walked to the back of the classroom and asked, "Manager Zhao, what's the good news for you?"
"It's nothing good. I just heard some news yesterday." Zhao Guilin leaned closer to her and said in a low voice, "It seems that Niu Enjiu from your factory is going to be reassigned."
Ye Manzhi asked in astonishment: "Director Niu is going to be reassigned?"
Can't it?
She suddenly remembered the news her fourth brother brought back yesterday - Factory Director Lao Niu was going to spend a huge amount of money to build houses for the employees.
Could it be that he had heard some rumors and wanted to solve the employees' housing problem before leaving the food factory?
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