Siheyuan: Xu Damao's New Life

Time flies and it's Saturday. The punishment notice for Jia Zhang's fight with the Yan family has also come out. Since Jia Zhang has committed another crime just after being released, the police station decided to increase the punishment.

Jia Zhang paid Yan Bugui 20 yuan in compensation and had to go to labor camp for one month. Although Jia Zhang was indignant, she did not dare to confront the police, so she had to pay the money and was sent to labor camp. The Yan family members did not have any serious problems, they were just criticized and educated and then released.

Today, Xu Damao had just arrived at the office and was sipping a cup of tea when he heard someone knocking on the door. Xu Damao said, "Come in," and a security guard walked in.

"Chief Xu, there are two people at the door looking for you. One of them says his name is Nan Yi." the man said.

Xu Damao's rank was too low, so there was no telephone in his office, so he had to come to the office to notify anyone if something happened. "Oh, it's Nan Yi, the new chef I found for our factory. Let's go together." Xu Damao stood up and the two of them went to the south gate together.

"Brother Nan, it's really you. I calculated that you should report in today. This must be my sister-in-law, right?" Xu Damao grabbed Nan Yi's hand and said enthusiastically. He had to pretend that he didn't know her, which was a bit difficult.

"Well, this is your sister-in-law Ding Qiunan. We got the marriage certificate two days ago. Qiunan, this is brother Damao who asked me to work in the steel mill." Nan Yi said.

"Hello, Brother Damao." Ding Qiunan also greeted him warmly.

"Hello, sister-in-law. It must have been hard for you to come here. You will work here in the future. The factory will allocate housing for you." Xu Damao looked at Ding Qiunan carefully and felt that her aloof temperament had decreased a lot and became more friendly and gentle. "Come on, I'll take you to my office to rest first, and then I'll take you to see Deputy Director Li in a while."

Xu Damao walked and talked with the two people as he came to his office. He first poured tea for them, then took out a lot of snacks from the drawer and placed them on the table, warmly entertaining the couple.

"Da Mao, your office is nice. It looks clean and spacious." Nan Yi said with some envy. He is a cook and deals with oil fumes all day long. Sometimes it is difficult to keep it clean.

"Hi, this is newly assigned to me. I was promoted not long ago. I don't have any special skills, it's all because of the leadership's trust in me." Xu Damao said modestly.

The three of them chatted for a while. Nan Yi talked about meeting his father-in-law and getting married, while Xu Damao briefly introduced the situation of the steel rolling mill.

Xu Damao looked at his watch. It was almost nine o'clock. The leaders should have arrived by this time. So he stood up and said, "Let's go, Brother Nan and Sister-in-law. I'll take you to meet Deputy Director Li first. We may have to try some dishes later, and then you should start working."

Nan Yi and his wife also stood up after hearing this, "Okay, there will be no problem with the food tasting, you can trust my cooking skills."

Xu Damao brought the young couple to the office of Deputy Director Li in the main office building and knocked on the door.

"Please come in."

Hearing this, Xu Damao took the two of them into Deputy Director Li's office. "Director Li, I brought you the chef you were looking for. The other one is his wife, Ding Qiunan, who is a doctor."

"Oh," Li Huaide looked up. He was just correcting documents and became interested. He was fed up with the bad food in the cafeteria, which made him lose face in front of the brother units several times. "What a pretty young wife!" This was Li Huaide's first impression of Ding Qiunan.

"Tell me about your situation in detail so that I can arrange a job for you," said Li Huaide.

Nan Yi stepped forward and explained the couple's situation in detail. Finally, he said, "Director, there shouldn't be any problem with my background, right?" Nan Yi's ancestors were imperial chefs, and his family also opened a restaurant, so his family background was not very good.

"That's all in the past, two generations later. You should just work here with peace of mind. How about this, your wife will go to work in the factory clinic, and you will go to the cafeteria to be a chef. But we have to test your cooking skills before we can grade you. After that, I will write a note and let Damao take you to handle the paperwork and house matters. You can go back and pack up, and come to work next Monday."

When Xu Damao heard about the house allocation, he was moved. "Director, a few days ago, the deaf old lady in our yard was sent to a nursing home. Her two houses are not far from my house, but they were taken back by the street after they burned down. Can you discuss with the street to allocate Brother Nan to our yard? He doesn't have any acquaintances in our factory, so living with me will help him take care of me."

"Master Nan, what do you think about what Damao said?" Li Huaide asked.

Nan Yi and his wife looked at each other and said, "Okay, I'd love to be neighbors with Brother Damao."

"Okay, I'll talk to the street office later." Li Huaide agreed. But he went on to say, "Da Mao, I have something to ask you. Let's get it done first and then go taste the food."

Li Huaide opened the drawer and took out a certificate and a large stack of money and handed it over. "Da Mao, Damao, you said you did such a big thing, why didn't you disclose anything? I only received the notice yesterday. I heard that many people were arrested along that line this time, but it was not announced before to keep it confidential and protect you. This is the reward from the factory and the public security department for your arrest of enemy spies, a certificate and 200 yuan." He took out a stack of bills from his pocket, "This is my personal reward to you."

"This is not good. I didn't do anything. I just provided some clues and helped the public security comrades lead the way. How about I donate it?" Xu Damao declined.

"What's wrong with it? You're also risking your life. Just take it if it's given to you. Don't be embarrassed." Li Huaide pushed all the things over.

"Okay, Director, I'll accept it. Do you think we should go and try the food first?" Xu Damao said.

"Okay, let's go now. I'll call the canteen and ask them to prepare." Li Huaide made a phone call. He couldn't wait to try Nan Yi's cooking.

The four of them went straight to the cafeteria, and Xu Dabao, the deputy director of the cafeteria, who had received the news, had already come out to greet them. He had been blamed for Sha Zhu's incident last time, so he was demoted by half a level, so he hated Sha Zhu so much that he even instructed his subordinates to give Sha Zhu half a portion of rice in the future.

"Director Li, I have already arranged everything."

"Let's go in then."

Everyone walked into the back kitchen of the cafeteria together. Nan Yi was very happy to see all the new kitchen utensils inside. He was a person who loved to study cooking very much, and he loved the kitchen utensils as well.

"Director Li, I'm going to show you my skills. But the materials are limited, so I can only make something simple." Nan Yi said, looking at the ingredients on the table.

"Go, go, I can't wait to taste your cooking." Li Huaide said with a smile.