Siheyuan: Sizhu starts blindly and takes a new path

Sha Zhu didn't say anything else and ate in silence. After finishing his meal, he lit a cigarette and thought for a long time before saying, "I'll ask my master's opinion on this matter first. I need his consent before I can pass on my skills. In addition, I want to discuss with Uncle Ren whether a service team can be established. He is more familiar with the policies."

"You're right. You should not only ask Mr. Ren, but also Secretary Yang. If the steel mill disagrees, then no matter how good our plan is, it will be useless."

The next day, Sha Zhu went to the factory and asked Director Pang for half a day off, then went to Master Sun's house. When his wife saw him coming at this time, she asked him if he had any urgent business. Sha Zhu said, "Nothing urgent, I just wanted to ask Master for advice. The people in the building said it was not convenient, so I came to Master Sun's house."

Master Sun hadn't come to work yet. After Sha Zhu finished telling Yu Li what he had discussed with her last night, Master Sun said, "Zhu Zi, there's an old saying that 'the apprentice is taught without the master', so the master will always keep a trick until he is on his deathbed or doesn't fully trust his apprentice. That's because this last trick is a guarantee, to ensure that the master's work will not be taken over by the apprentice, or the apprentice will have to support the master for a hundred years just to have this unique skill. But because of this trick, many good things have been lost. Now, in this new country, we all have public food and pensions after retirement, so we don't have to worry about being replaced by someone else and ending up on the street. As long as you think he's a good person, you can teach him. This will promote our Shandong cuisine, which is a good thing. I have no problem with it."

"Master, I didn't expect you to be so open-minded!" Sha Zhu complimented.

"In fact, this is what I thought of after I discovered that you have a special sense of smell. Some people may not be able to learn all the skills even if you teach them step by step; some people can understand them on their own even if you don't teach them; some people practice twice or three times until they can do it if they can't do it once; some people just mess around and get by; smart and persistent apprentices are hard to come by. You have to teach more people to know who is smart and persistent. Not only can we ensure that our skills will continue to be passed down, but we can also innovate and expand them."

"Okay, as long as you agree, I'm ready to do it." After chatting with the master's wife for a few more words, Sha Zhu said goodbye and left.

After work in the afternoon, Sha Zhu went straight to Uncle Ren's house.

When Aunt Ren saw that he was the only one who came, she complained that he didn't bring Yu Li and the child. Sha Zhu said, "Didn't they come before the New Year and during the Spring Festival? Do you miss them so much?"

"Children are here to make things lively. You come here to talk to the old man, and they come here to keep me company. Besides, June 1st is a lovely time now."

"Okay, I'll go back and tell Yu Li to bring Liu Yi here tomorrow, okay?"

"That's great. Okay, I won't keep you and the old man away. Can you finish eating and go back later?"

"No, I'll just say a few words to my uncle and then I'll be back. Yu Li is taking care of Liu Yi so it's inconvenient for her to cook. I have to go back and take care of him and his mother."

Grandpa Ren waited until his old lady finished her rambling before he said, "Okay, I'll tell Zhuzi to go back after I finish talking to him. You can go do your thing."

Sha Zhu told Grandpa Ren about his idea of ​​forming a chef service team, and Grandpa Ren agreed very much. "Your idea can indeed solve the problem of wedding and funeral banquets for many people. There is no problem in policy. After all, you are going to set up a service team through the steel rolling mill, which belongs to the public. But there are many practical problems. Will the work of the service team affect the chefs' main job? Who will manage the service team? How to distribute the benefits? Especially the last two items. If you don't consider them well, a good thing may turn into a bad thing in the end."

"A good thing turns bad? Why?"

"If the service team does a good job and there is a great demand from the masses, the team will need more chefs. Maybe there won't be enough chefs in your factory, because as you said, not all chefs can prepare banquets. You may need to recruit new chefs. Are these people considered employees of the steel mill or the service team? With more people, there will be more power and responsibility, and some people will want to interfere. So it is important to have someone in charge, and this person must be able to stop those who want to take advantage of the situation. Then, when it comes to the issue of profit distribution, is it more work, more pay, or is it a big pot?"

"Of course it's 'Everyone does his best and gets paid according to his work'. Isn't that written in the Party Constitution?"

"Oh, have you read the Party Constitution?"

"Yes, Secretary Chen from our factory reminded me to get closer to the organization. He gave me the Party Constitution. I read the general outline yesterday and there is 'Everyone should do his best and receive pay according to his work'."

"'Everyone should do his best and be paid according to his work' is correct. Have you ever thought about what a banquet chef would think if his income from the service team exceeded that from his main job? Would he still be able to do his job with peace of mind? What would other employees think? Why should the chef earn more money? In that case, we might as well become chefs too. Money can move people's hearts!" Uncle Ren said this and looked at Sha Zhu with a smile.

Sha Zhu frowned, thought for a long time, and said, "Then I will try to control the size of the steel mill service team to make it less attractive. The income left for the factory can be used to buy more meat and eggs, improve the food for the employees, and let other employees benefit from it, so that everyone can benefit. Based on your analysis and suggestions, this is all I can think of at the moment."

Uncle Ren nodded with a smile and said, "It's great that you can come up with these plans in such a short time. Zhuzi, it's easy to want to do things, as long as you have an idea, but it's hard to get things done. As I just mentioned, there are too many things to balance, and you can't just do it recklessly. I hope you can get this done, which will not only improve your status in the factory, but more importantly, it can exercise your abilities." Uncle Ren thought for a moment and said, "And through practice, your understanding of the Party and its members will gradually deepen, so do your best!"

Sha Zhu clenched his fist and said, "I will try my best!"

Sha Zhu will work hard. He needs to seriously consider the issues raised by Uncle Ren, such as what the standard of charging price should be, how many chefs will participate in each banquet, what proportion of the reserve should be left for the chefs to be satisfied, how big the service team should be so that the retained portion is enough to improve the meals of the factory employees, and how big the team should be so that it can be kept in his own hands. In other words, it may seem that there is a leader in control, but in reality it is him who is in control. He can't plant trees and have others eat the peaches. Although party members do not pursue interests, they can't give up what they have created through their own efforts.

He had been thinking about it since leaving Uncle Ren's house. He didn't care when people he met on the road greeted him. When he got home, he had just figured out the price and retention ratio. The chefs who joined the team first had certain advantages over those who joined later. He was not good at other aspects. Besides, the size of the team and the arrangement of managers were not something he, a small deputy section-level cadre, could control. He could only take these things one step at a time.

While eating, he discussed his ideas with Yu Li, who agreed with his decision. He could give suggestions on banquet prices and retention ratios, which he knew about, and he should not get involved in matters that he could not participate in. The provincial leaders were unhappy when they heard this, "Why are you arranging things for me?"