Siheyuan Great Craftsmen

Time passed in the blink of an eye, and Zhou Tian was so immersed in the processing of the bearings that he didn't feel the passage of time at all.

"Ring ring ring!"

As a bell rang, Zhou Tiancai suddenly realized that it was time for lunch.

"Xiaotian, let's go, it's time to eat!"

At this moment, Master Liu Wuming took the lunch boxes for both of them and called out to Zhou Tian.

"Okay, Master!"

Zhou Tian calmly turned off the machine tool, then walked towards the cafeteria side by side with his master.

Lou's Steel Rolling Mill was built in 1935. Legend has it that the founder was the father of the factory director Lou Jiancheng. However, due to the chaos caused by warlords in various places at that time, Lou's Steel Rolling Mill could only survive in the cracks.

It was not until Lou Jiancheng's father made friends with the warlords in Sijiucheng that the situation improved a little. Unfortunately, after the Japanese army occupied Sijiucheng in 1938, the Lou's Steel Rolling Mill was occupied by the Japanese for eight years.

It was not until 1946 that it returned to the hands of Lou Jiancheng. At the beginning, the scale of Lou’s Steel Rolling Mill was not large, with only a few hundred people. In order to develop the steel rolling mill, Lou Jiancheng continuously introduced advanced equipment from abroad.

It was not until the beginning of this year, in 1951, that the steel mill expanded to a scale of two thousand people.

There is only one canteen in the entire steel rolling mill. It is said that the chef in the canteen was specially hired by Lou Jiancheng to cook Tan family cuisine. Although it is not known whether this is true or not, the food in the canteen is indeed very good.

When Zhou Tian and Liu Wuming arrived at the cafeteria, it was already packed with people, and the queue even stretched outside the cafeteria.

Zhou Tian and his master looked at each other and quickly lined up at the end.

Half an hour later, it was Zhou Tian's turn.

"Xiaotian, why are you late today?"

The chef who served the food was a middle-aged man with no expression on his face, as if he had a zombie face, except for his pair of eye bags that looked particularly large. He was He Daqing from Zhou Tian's yard.

He is also the successor of Tan family cuisine invited by Lou Jiancheng and is now the canteen director.

"Uncle He! I'm late because I have something to do today!"

Zhou Tian called out and handed the lunch box in his hand to He Daqing.

He Daqing took the lunch box, filled it up with a spoon, and handed it to him, saying, "You're in for a treat today, we're going to have cabbage and meat stewed with vermicelli!"

"Uncle He's cooking skills are still the best!"

Zhou Tian smiled and didn't say much. After paying the money, he took three steamed buns and came to the table of Master Liu Wuming. He put down the lunch box and started eating.

"Wow, you're really good! You actually filled your lunch box with everything. It seems like He Daqing really takes good care of you!"

Looking at the dishes in Zhou Tian’s lunch box, Liu Wuming couldn’t help but feel a little envious.

"Master, I only meet Uncle He occasionally. You know that Uncle He usually doesn't serve food at the window himself!"

Zhou Tian smiled when he heard that. He was about to give some of the food in the lunch box to the chef, but the chef stopped him and refused him forcefully.

"Okay, I'll just say this. You have a family to take care of, and the master doesn't want your food. If you're interested, you might as well get married early and find someone who can help you with laundry and cooking!"

Helpless, Zhou Tian had to give up.

"Master, I'm still young, not even eighteen, not to mention my current family situation. You know, I have two younger brothers and a younger sister. The burden is too great. No one would want someone like me!"

After listening to Zhou Tian's words, Liu Wuming could only sigh secretly. Although he felt sorry for his apprentice, he also knew that what Zhou Tian said was true. Although it seemed that Zhou Tian earned a lot, he had a family of four, plus he had to support his younger siblings to go to school. It could be said that although life was not difficult, it was not rich either.

What's more, there is no elderly person to take care of him at home. It can be said that among general blind date candidates, his family situation is not popular.

"Xiaotian, everything will pass. Although it's a bit difficult for you now, as long as you can pass the exam to become a master chef in three years, then all the hard work will pay off!"

Liu Wuming couldn't help but comfort her.

"Yes, Master, I know!"

Zhou Tian nodded.

After dinner, Zhou Tian and his master returned to the workshop, and they became busy again. Although many of the lathes in the steel rolling mill were imported, many parts had started to have problems due to their long years of use. Even if Zhou Tian had high skills, he still needed to be very careful.

As a result, he only completed one-third of the entire part by the time he got off work.

Just as he thought, it would probably take at least three days to process the entire bearing.

After get off work, Zhou Tian followed the crowd and walked out of the steel mill. As soon as he walked out of the steel mill, he saw He Daqing walking in front of him with two lunch boxes.

"Uncle He?"

Zhou Tian called out from behind. He Daqing turned around and saw that it was Zhou Tian. He immediately stopped and said with a smile, "It's Xiaotian! How is the food today? Do you like it?"

“This is Uncle He’s craft!”

Zhou Tian smiled and gave a thumbs up.

"It's good to eat. Take this lunch box and give it to your brothers and sisters when you go back!"

Hearing Zhou Tian's praise, He Daqing handed the two lunch boxes in his hand to one of them.

"No, Uncle He, I left half for my younger brother and sister! You should take it back and feed Zhuzi and Yushui!"

Zhou Tian quickly refused and showed his lunch box.

Although his family was in difficulty, they were still able to get by. What's more, he was the only one who knew that their family was not actually in difficulty. The so-called difficulties were the result of him deliberately showing them off.

Seeing Zhou Tian’s refusal, He Daqing did not force him. The two chatted and laughed as they walked towards the courtyard.

No. 95 Nantongluoguxiang is rumored to be the residence of a Qing Dynasty royal palace. The entire courtyard was originally a four-in-one courtyard, but later due to the destruction of some places during the Japanese occupation, the courtyard fell into disrepair, with only a dozen rooms left for people to live in. Later, after our army entered the city, it repaired some of it and turned it into a three-in-one courtyard.

The former east and west courtyards and Nyumapeng were separated, and the layout has changed a lot.

Zhou Tian's family lived in the backyard's west side back house, which had three rooms in total. It could be said that the area was quite large. Together with an ear room on the south side, the number of rooms they had could be said to be second only to the main house of He Daqing's house in the entire courtyard.

Of course, there have been people who have coveted his house in recent years, but unfortunately, his house was private property purchased when his father Zhou Weiguo was alive.

In addition, although Zhou Tian himself does not like to interact with people in the yard, it does not mean that he is easy to bully. You know, he has practiced the ancestral Xingyiquan with his father Zhou Weiguo. If he was not afraid of getting into big trouble and took into account the young age of his younger brothers and sisters, he would be able to kill those people on the spot.

Because of this, he offended many people in Siheyuan, but for Zhou Tian, ​​these people were not a concern at all. If these houses were not indeed bought by his parents, and he was afraid that no one would take care of them after he left and they would be occupied by these people in Siheyuan, he would have moved out long ago.

After returning home, Zhou Tian closed the door, walked into the bedroom, moved the cabinet away, took out a box from the crack in the wall behind the cabinet, and blew away the dust on it.

He came to the bed, put the box down, opened it, and took out a stack of banknotes, which were the first edition of RMB issued this year. He counted them and there were exactly twenty-three million.