It was late spring in the sixth year of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Sijiucheng, Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, a canteen and a back kitchen.
"Shazhu, let's get started."
A middle-aged man with a paralyzed face and big puffy eyes directed a young man to wash, chop and stir-fry vegetables.
The other apprentice helpers in the kitchen all looked envious.
That young man is only sixteen years old, actually seventeen years old. He is younger than himself, but now he has the opportunity to cook.
No matter how good this young man's skills are, at the very least, who would be willing to give him this opportunity if he wasn't his own father?
The middle-aged man is indeed the biological father of the young man.
But the young man knew that his own father would soon abandon him and follow a widow to another place.
But these are nothing to young people.
After all, as a time traveler, it is standard for both parents to be dead.
Well, the time traveler also needs a sister.
The young man thought of his sister, that little baby who was still crying. She was almost ten years old and couldn't even wash her clothes.
When I was eight years old, I took over all the housework at home.
In comparison, my sister is much happier than me.
"Silly Zhu, what are you thinking about? You can't even afford the pot!"
The middle-aged man He Daqing interrupted the reverie of the young man He Yuzhu.
He Yuzhu was not panicked and his hands were calm. He bumped the pot again with his hand, and then he easily lifted the large iron pot, which weighed more than 40 kilograms, including the pot and vegetables. He tilted his wrist slightly and poured the cabbage stewed vermicelli in the pot onto the vegetables.
In the basin.
After waiting for the pot to start, a hint of satisfaction flashed across the middle-aged man's expressionless face.
Of course, this expression was fleeting.
The young man was busy cooking a pot and didn't pay attention to the expression of the middle-aged man behind him.
The steel rolling mill became a public-private partnership this year and has hired a lot of people. Now the total number of regular workers, apprentices, and temporary workers in the factory has exceeded 10,000.
In such a large factory, there are a total of five canteens serving lunch.
Because the cafeteria is close to the guard, it is the place where workers go to buy food when they go home, and the workload is the largest on weekdays.
Usually at noon, four or five windows are prepared to cook ten to twenty pots of food.
He Yuzhu cooked five more dishes one after another, making a total of six pots of dishes, without blushing or panting.
Looking at the two chefs who were also cooking next to them, although they were not out of breath, they were sweating profusely and looked somewhat embarrassed.
He Daqing watched his son grow a face for him, and naturally he couldn't help but feel proud. After all the vegetables were put into the basin, he turned around and smiled at a man with a mustache next to him: "Director Ma, come and try it, Silly Zhu.
How is this craft?"
The director of the canteen, Ma Guangyong, used a spatula to prepare a bowl of food one by one. After tasting it, he did not comment. Instead, he turned around and smiled at the chefs: "Come and try it, Xiao He."
The craftsmanship of a master.”
The canteen director is in charge of five canteens, and each canteen has a foreman chef. At the moment, the foreman chefs in canteens 2, 3, 4 and 5 are all present.
Hearing that the director of the cafeteria called He Yuzhu "Master Xiao He", the four foreman chefs all felt a little bit in their hearts: From now on, the four of them will not be on an equal footing with a young boy, right?
Although they were thinking this in their hearts, several chefs tasted it very carefully, and then each of them tasted the stir-fried dishes made by He Yuzhu.
Jiang Liangchen, the chef of the Second Canteen: "Well, well, if I insist on mastering Master He's skills, I'm afraid I've already mastered Master He's true skills."
Liu Dapao, chef of No. 3 Cafeteria: "It is said that a tiger is born out of nowhere, but Master Xiao He's skills, wow... In a few years, it will be better to be better than the old."
Zhao Laoni, chef of the Fourth Canteen: "I won't comment. Anyway, I can't catch up in this life."
Li Xiaotang, chef of Wu Canteen: "Master Zhao is not even good, and I am even less good."
The director of the cafeteria, Ma Guangyong, did not expect that the four chefs would be so capable, and his face suddenly burst into laughter:
"It seems that everyone has the same opinion, so Master Xiao He will be temporarily designated as a Level 6 chef and the foreman of the first canteen."
Ma Guangyong picked up an approval form and an application form, asked the four chefs to sign their names respectively, and then left with his hands behind his back.
I accepted the two hundred yuan from He Daqing last night, so I could save it with peace of mind.
After the canteen director left, the other four chefs looked at He Daqing and said happily, then turned and went back to their canteens.
There were twelve chefs, helpers, apprentices, and temporary workers left in the canteen, plus He Daqing and his son, fourteen people picked up the steamed buns and started to devour them.
It's almost noon, and we can't delay everyone's meal because of He Yuzhu's assessment.
After lunch, He Daqing led He Yuzhu to the canteen director's office. After receiving the news that Director Li of the Logistics Department had approved the application form, the two began to walk around the steel rolling mill.
Under the leadership of He Daqing, He Yuzhu visited more than a dozen department leaders.
He Yuzhu understood that He Daqing wanted to pave the way for himself.
Counting from the Japanese period, He Daqing worked in the steel rolling mill for almost sixteen or seventeen years.
That is, when his son He Yuzhu was born, he was working in the steel rolling mill.
Later, when his daughter-in-law was pregnant with her second child, He Daqing left for a while when He Yuyu was born, but later Jianguo came back.
Having worked there for more than ten years, He Daqing accumulated a lot of contacts.
He Yuzhu used to cook banquet noodles with He Daqing, and he knew most of them.
However, they had known each other before, so these people only regarded He Yuzhu as a young boy and did not regard him as a piece of food.
Now, He Daqing takes He Yuzhu around to recognize people, which is equivalent to telling others that He Yuzhu will be the man in charge of the He family from now on.
After wandering around for a while, the two boxes of cigarettes in He Daqing's pocket were gone, and He Yuzhu followed him back to the kitchen of the first cafeteria.
The director of the canteen, Ma Guangyong, informed that there would be no reception today.
He Daqing took He Yuzhu out of the factory.
As a chef, you have very free working hours.
After leaving the factory gate, He Daqing said to He Yuzhu:
"Shazhu, I have something else to do, you should go home first."
When He Yuzhu saw the expression on his father's face, he understood. He chuckled and said: "Going to see the White Widow again, right? I won't leave the door open for you tonight."
"casual."
He Daqing and He Yuzhu, the father and son duo, had already started an equal dialogue three years ago when He Yuzhu was able to earn and spend his own money.
Now, He Daqing is going to another place with the White Widow, and his dignity as a father in front of his son He Yuzhu is even more lost.
The father and son said goodbye, and He Yuzhu went to the vegetable market, bought some cooked food, and placed them in a necessary space for time travellers.
When he returned to the courtyard house at No. 95 Nanluogu Lane, He Yuzhu saw the third uncle Yan Fugui repairing the maza.
"Third uncle, if this horse is broken, buy a new one. You will spend more than a hundred days tinkering with it all year round."
"Zhuzi, you really don't know how to live. Buy a new one and it won't break. If it breaks, buy a new one. If it breaks, buy a new one. How rich does your family have to be to make it worth building?"
The third uncle's principles were all calculations. He Yuzhu just said it casually, and after saying hello, he walked through the front yard and arrived at the middle yard.
There are six households in the central courtyard. He Yuzhu first greeted his neighbor in the east wing and said, "Auntie, you are cooking."
"Zhuzi, are you getting off work so early today?"
"I changed my job today. From now on, I will be the head chef. If the boss doesn't entertain me, I will get off work so early."
He Yuzhu said a few words with a smile, and his eyes began to drift to the left.
The two families living in the West House are named Jia and Chen.
The person named Chen is new here and is not very familiar with everyone.
The person surnamed Jia is the Jia Zhang family and the Qin Huairu family in the famous "Love Mansion Siheyuan".
Jia Zhang is about forty years old now, and her son Jia Dongxu is twenty-two, five years older than He Yuzhu.
It has been two years since Qin Huairu got married, and she just gave birth to Jia Geng, the grandson of Jia's parents, who later became the Thief Saint Stick Geng.
The little Banggeng hasn't grown any teeth yet, so he can only eat from Qin Huairu's granary every day.
Every time He Yuzhu passes by Qin Huairu, he can smell the fragrance of milk.
Just when He Yuzhu was sniffing the sweet milk fragrance in the air, a voice like an old bird's cry suddenly sounded from his ears: "Silly Zhu, why are you standing next to my daughter-in-law?"
"Aunt Jia, haven't I seen my godson for a whole day?"
He Yuzhu chuckled and passed by Qin Huairu, leaving the furious Jia Zhang behind and turned around to enter the main house of his house.
In the yard, Mrs. Jia Zhang couldn't scold He Yuzhu, so she yelled at her daughter-in-law Qin Huairu: "Qin Huairu, why are you running into the yard with my grandson when you have nothing to do? Are you trying to seduce a wild man while my son is at work...
"
"Mom, didn't you ask me to come out and wash Bangge's diaper?"
Qin Huairu looked miserable. Ever since she married Jia Dongxu, her relationship with her mother-in-law had not been good.
Every day I was either ordered to do housework or scolded for being a rural woman and not having a tutor.
"Don't you know how to take a basin of water and go back to the house to wash it?"
Mrs. Jia Zhang doesn't care about that. She is the mother-in-law anyway, so she can say whatever she wants: "There is no good person in the courtyard, so don't talk to other men in the future!"
He Yuzhu, who was hiding in the house, listened to Mrs. Jia Zhang scolding her daughter-in-law outside the house and sneered: "This old widow was widowed when she was young and did not follow the rules of a woman. For two or three kilograms of noodles, she can sleep with the men nearby.
Now I still have the nerve to teach my daughter-in-law a lesson."
He Yuzhu was born in the womb and awakened the memory of his previous life.
Therefore, He Yuzhu has clearly remembered everything about the Siheyuan since he was a child.
Why did Mrs. Jia Zhang say there was no good person in the courtyard?
It is because more than ten years ago, after the death of the man Jia Zhang, in order to raise his son Jia Dongxu, Jia Zhang, a woman who had no power to restrain a chicken, became a half-hearted woman.
When he was young, Jia Zhang had a fair appearance, many repeat customers, and was quite famous.
The men who had two coins in their pockets nearby, and the men who often went to the secret door to play, basically all had an intersection with Jia and Zhang.
In this courtyard, people like Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, He Daqing, and Xu Damao's father Xu Fugui all had relationships with the Jia and Zhang family.
He Yuzhu had heard of these things long ago when he was walking through the streets and doing small business when he was a child.
Of course, these things all happened before the founding of the People's Republic of China.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, after Jia Dongxu went to work as an apprentice in the steel rolling mill, Jia Zhang stopped the half-open business and became a good person.
It's just that Jia and Zhang did not really live a clean life after being a good person.
Some old customers in the courtyard often ask Jia and Zhang to do business in the middle of the night.
This situation continues until now.
Last month, when He Yuzhu came back from outside in the middle of the night, he saw Jia Zhang and a man crawling out of the cellar in the backyard.
Therefore, He Yuzhu despises the Jia Zhang family in his heart, why not let his daughter-in-law Qin Huairu inherit the fine tradition of their Jia family widows.
Just when He Yuzhu was sighing with emotion, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a little girl ran in: "Brother, have you prepared the meal? I'm almost starving to death!"
"Okay, it's been done a long time ago."
When He Yuzhu saw his sister coming back, he quickly pretended to go to the kitchen, but actually took out five steamed buns, two hot dishes from the canteen, and half a pot of porridge from the space.
He Yuzhu set out the bowls and chopsticks, served a portion of rice, and said to his sister who was washing her hands: "Xiao Shui, you serve the rice first, and I'll bring it to the old lady. We'll eat when we get back."