Siheyuan: Struggle Begins in the 1950s

However, after receiving Li Huaide's order, Cui Dake went directly to the cafeteria and asked the cafeteria director to gather all the cooks in the kitchen.

Sha Zhu was frying a big pot of food when his apprentice Fatty ran over and shouted:

"Master, the higher-ups are calling us to a meeting."

"What kind of meeting is this? Why are you holding it in our kitchen?"

Sha Zhu took the food out of the pot while cursing, wiped his head with a towel, and followed the fat man out of the kitchen.

Meetings are rarely held in the cafeteria kitchen, and when they do, they are mostly just to emphasize hygiene issues.

When I arrived at the conference room, I saw a man with a wretched face, who looked even uglier than me, standing there.

And Xu Damao stood next to him.

"Why do I feel like this guy looks as annoying as Xu Damao?"

Although it was the first time that Sha Zhu met Cui Dake, it did not prevent him from disliking Cui Dake.

Xu Damao stood up first and said:

"Everyone, be quiet. We called all the kitchen staff here to inform you of something! This is Comrade Cui Dake, the director of our branch committee!

After research and decision by the higher-level committee, in order to improve the ideological awareness of the workers, our factory will be carrying out reforms in the canteen. Comrade Cui Dake will be in charge of this reform, and everyone must obey Comrade Cui Dake’s arrangements!

Especially you, Shazhu! You are the biggest troublemaker in our kitchen. If you dare to go against Director Cui, don't blame me, Xu Damao, for killing a chicken to scare the monkeys!"

Sha Zhu curled his lips and felt very disdainful, but at least he did not argue with Xu Damao in public.

Xu Damao was very pleased to see Sha Zhu give in. He then signaled to Cui Dake.

Cui Dake immediately stood up and said with a smile:

"Dear comrades in the kitchen, I am Cui Dake, the chairman of the committee of the machine repair factory. I will be responsible for the canteen reform this time.

Starting tomorrow, the food in the canteen of the steel mill will be re-adjusted. We will no longer serve the traditional steamed bread and white flour, but instead serve bitter rice!"

Bitterness-recalling rice is not something new. It is used as a warning and education.

Those who are particular will really eat some unpalatable food, while those who are not willing to compromise will just deal with it casually.

The curious cook then said:

"Director Cui, what is this bitter memory rice made of?"

"That's a good question. You'll know when I show it to you."

Cui Dake immediately asked someone to bring a basket to distribute to everyone.

Everyone took a look and saw that the things in the basket were gray and looked quite like steamed corn bread.

Someone picked one up, broke it open, put it in his mouth and took a bite.

"Isn't this... a wild vegetable dumpling?"

"It really is a wild vegetable dumpling. And why is it made of dead dough? How can we eat it when it is so hard and hasn't risen yet?"

"My goodness, how many wild vegetables and wheat bran are mixed in this? And what is this? It tastes too bitter!"

Someone took a few bites of the wild vegetable dumplings, but couldn't swallow them and had to spit them out.

Cui Dake said with a smile:

"It tastes bad, right? That's right! If it doesn't taste bad, how can it be called a bitter memory meal? Comrades, I felt heartbroken when I saw those people spitting out the wild vegetable dumplings just now!

It’s only been a few years since we had enough food to eat! Have you all forgotten those three difficult years when so many people were so hungry that they could only eat grass roots and tree bark!!”

Everyone was a little confused by Cui Dake's words, and when they saw Cui Dake's excited expression, everyone was wondering if Cui Dake was mentally ill.

But no one dared to say this.

After all, no matter how ugly he looks, he is still the director of the committee.

However, some people still raised objections.

"Director Cui, we are not saying that it is bad to recall the past and think of the present. But the workers in the factory are all doing manual labor. How can they have the energy to work if they don't have enough food? If you ask us to make this wild vegetable picture for them to eat, won't those workers fight us to death?!"

The silly guy next to him also said:

"Indeed, this kind of wild vegetable dumplings is simply inedible. If you really want to make them, remove the old leaves of the wild vegetables, chop them finer, and add more spices to make them delicious."

But Cui Dake said:

"No! This bitterness-recalling rice must be made according to my standards. Comrades! Why do we eat this bitterness-recalling rice? Isn't it to make the majority of workers cherish the hard-earned good days now? If this bitterness-recalling rice is not unpalatable, how can we achieve the effect of remembering the bitterness and thinking of the sweetness?"

After hearing this, Sha Zhu suddenly understood why he hated Cui Dake.

This guy is now standing on the moral high ground and talking about morality and justice.

Isn't it exactly the same as what Yi Zhonghai did back then?

It turns out that those who can join the committee are not good people.

"Then how are we going to explain this to our fellow workers? If those workers start making trouble, our canteen won't be able to handle it!"

"Yes, we have to give the workers an explanation. Don't let them put all the blame on us."

Cui Dake pressed his hand and said calmly:

"Don't worry, the steel mill will notify everyone tomorrow. This matter was initiated by Director Li. If any worker has any objections, let them report to the committee."

After hearing this, everyone in the kitchen dared not speak again.

Who in the factory dares to offend Li Huaide now?

Anyway, someone will take the blame, so when the time comes, I can just push the responsibility onto Li Huaide and be done with it.

"Okay, take these wild vegetable dumplings for the bitterness-recalling rice back home and cook them according to this standard. I'll check them one by one tomorrow. Whoever makes better food than this will ensure the hygiene of the kitchen! From now on, our factory will eat this bitterness-recalling rice every other day."

Hearing this, many people were muttering to themselves, it might be difficult to make it delicious, but it is not difficult to make it taste bad, even a cleaning lady can make it taste worse than this.

What they didn’t know was that Cui Dake had originally planned to eat this thing six days a week.

It was probably because Li Huaide was afraid that the workers would cause trouble that he changed the feeding time to once every other day.

As for adding sand, it is also banned.

After all, leaders have to go to the cafeteria occasionally to eat these things just to pretend.

If there is really sand in it, how can I swallow it?

Sha Zhu shook his head and sighed, and was about to go back to work, but Cui Dake stopped him.

"Master He, right? Wait a minute. I have something to talk to you in private."

Sha Zhu turned around and raised his eyebrows, not knowing what the other party was up to.

Cui Dake leaned closer and whispered:

"Master He, Director Li said that the kitchen in your place doesn't make this kind of wild vegetable dumplings. Just make it according to the method you just mentioned, and add more white flour. After it's done, leave it for Director Li and the others to eat. The leaders are busy with all kinds of things every day, so they must eat something good to replenish their bodies."

Shazhu thought to himself, wow, are you so blatantly practicing double standards?

He said impatiently:

"Okay, I get it."

"By the way, remember to keep this a secret!"