Siheyuan: Struggle Begins in the 1950s

Sha Zhu has a special position in the kitchen.

His current cooking skills are actually far beyond his work level, but there are restrictions on the grading of cooks in the steel rolling mill.

In addition, he does not have enough years of service and has a bad mouth, so he is still the lowest level ten cook, earning a salary of 27 yuan.

Cooks belong to the service category of jobs, and their grading is opposite to that of production categories, with ten levels being the lowest and one being the highest.

There are many kitchens in the factory that are higher in rank than his, but he is the only one who cooks in the kitchen. It's because he has the best cooking skills among all the kitchen staff.

Sha Zhu also won the favor of the factory leaders because of his cooking skills. The deputy director in charge of logistics even allowed him to take some leftovers back from the reception.

The colleague in charge of the warehouse checked the approval slip and confirmed that it was correct, then asked Sha Zhu to pick the ingredients.

There is no fixed ingredient list. It depends on what the colleagues in the purchasing department can buy and then we can play around with it.

However, there are standards for reception meals for leaders.

As long as the ingredients do not exceed this standard, you can make as many dishes as you like.

"Give me one pound of meat. No, give me two pounds of meat. One pound of pork belly and one pound of lean meat. If there is a chicken, get me one, and get me seven or eight eggs.

And give me a fish too. Wow! These two grass carps are big enough, they must weigh more than five pounds. Catch one for me to make braised fish nuggets tonight."

While Sha Zhu was picking ingredients, he couldn't help but say a few more words when he saw the grass carp in the fish pond.

The warehouse keeper picked up the scoop net and fished out the grass carp and said:

"You have sharp eyes. These two are large grass carps weighing more than five kilograms. They were just delivered and are very fresh. The buyer is still here."

As he said this, he pointed at Wang Jianjun who was standing aside and about to leave.

Sha Zhu glanced at Wang Jianjun and said disdainfully:

"I was wondering who it was. It turns out to be you, Wang Jianjun. You are so lucky to have caught such a big fish. But it's a pity that even if you caught the fish, you can't eat it."

Wang Jianjun smiled and said indifferently:

"So what? If I can't eat it, then you can?"

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu immediately boasted:

"Well, you're right! I really have a share of the fish today."

Wang Jianjun glanced at Sha Zhu meaningfully and said calmly:

"As a cook, you only sneak a few bites of food while tasting it, and at most you pick up some unwanted leftovers to satisfy your cravings after the customers have finished eating. You have nothing to brag about."

Just as Sha Zhu was about to curse, Wang Jianjun added another sentence.

"Are you, Shazhu, trying to secretly keep some for yourself while cooking? No way! This is an infringement of public property! You, Shazhu, don't have the guts to do that, do you?"

Wang Jianjun's words irritated Sha Zhu, who immediately got angry and shouted:

"Who said I didn't! I..."

But as soon as he said this, Sha Zhu regretted it.

Some things can be done but not said. If someone with ulterior motives heard this and reported him, he would be punished no matter how great his cooking skills were.

Didn’t you see that the warehouse keeper in the logistics department was looking at you with strange eyes?

"Wang Jianjun, stop slandering me. I'll just try the taste while I'm cooking."

Wang Jianjun shrugged and said disdainfully:

"Then why are you showing off? You are just a cook who serves people. You act like someone will invite you to the table."

Sha Zhu was about to refute, but Wang Jianjun ignored him and turned away.

Only Shazhu was left behind, helpless and furious.

In the end, Sha Zhu carried the grass carp back to the kitchen.

He wanted to be tough and not take the fish that Wang Jianjun got.

But it would be difficult for him to secretly keep some of the fish weighing one or two kilograms.

It also needs to be a big fish with plenty of room to operate.

By then, if we prepare more side dishes, he can at least deduct one kilogram from the five kilograms of fish.

If you take a little bit from other dishes, you’ll have something to go with your drinks tonight.

Thinking of this, Sha Zhu happily started to kill the fish.

Kill a grass carp, cut it into pieces, marinate it, and fry it in oil. Then add bean paste and spices and simmer it until it is well-flavored. This is a Sichuan dish of dry-fried fish fillets that goes well with rice.

Sha Zhu’s cooking skills are impeccable, and he has specialties in Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, and Beijing cuisine.

Among them, Beijing-style Sichuan cuisine is the best.

After making the dry-fried fish fillets, add another dish of twice-cooked pork and shredded pork with Beijing sauce, and you have three main dishes.

After cooking, Sha Zhu put some hard dishes into his lunch box as usual.

Especially the braised fish fillets, which filled up an entire lunch box.

It is said that a cook will never starve to death in a famine.

As for Shazhu's operation, he really eats whatever the leader eats.

After eating half of the evening meal and confirming that there was no need for additional dishes, Sha Zhu carried the three lunch boxes back to the courtyard.

He Yushui is in junior high school this year. He usually lives in school and did not come back this weekend.

The Jia family hasn't started sucking blood yet, so naturally all these delicious dishes belong to Sha Zhu.

Sha Zhu was in a good mood, humming songs along the way.

He has never concealed the fact that he brings back food.

So whenever people in the courtyard saw Sha Zhu coming back late, they knew that he had packed some good things in the evening.

The first person waiting at the gate of the courtyard was naturally Yan Bugui.

Although it was already dark, it did not stop Yan Bugui from watering the flowers with a lamp.

Seeing Sha Zhu coming back, Yan Bugui said with a smile:

"Hey, silly Zhu, are you entertaining us again tonight? You're back so late, what delicious dishes did you bring?"

Sha Zhu said happily:

"Nothing much, I just brought back some dry-fried fish nuggets."

Yan Bugui's eyes lit up, and he smiled with narrowed eyes:

"Good wine goes well with good food. This braised fish fillet is the best match for wine. I happen to have a bottle of good wine. How about having a drink with me tonight?"

Sha Zhu will not give Yan Bugui any face.

He moved the lunch box in the net bag behind him and said with a pout:

"Uncle, don't worry about my lunch. Just keep your watered-down wine for yourself. Besides, you go fishing at Shichahai every few days, so you don't need a bite of fish from me."

After saying this, he left the central courtyard without paying any attention to Yan Bugui.

Yan Bugui felt unhappy because he was humiliated by Sha Zhu.

After all, he is the manager of the hospital and a teacher, so he has to maintain his dignity.

He was so angry that he had no place to vent his anger and could only throw up his hands and go back to the house.

When Sha Zhu returned to the house, he took out the lunch boxes one by one and placed them on the dining table. He then stood up and went back to the house to take out the half remaining bottle of Fenjiu that Yi Zhonghai had taken last time.

The wine had just been taken out when the door was opened from the outside.

Sha Zhu looked back and saw that it was Yi Zhonghai.

"You haven't eaten a whole mouthful yet. Do you want to have two more bites from me?"

"I've eaten the pillars, and I came here just to talk to you."

Yi Zhonghai regretted what he said as soon as he finished speaking.

Because Shazhu was opening lunch boxes one by one.

One box was filled with dry-fried fish chunks, one box was filled with twice-cooked pork, Beijing-style shredded pork, and scrambled eggs with chili peppers, and the last box was filled with a few large white steamed buns.

These boxes are full of delicious food, and Yi Zhonghai is also greedy.

I recalled the corn porridge and steamed bread with a plate of fried cabbage that I had just eaten.

I can’t say that the food the aunt cooked was bad, but it wasn’t delicious at all.

Yi Zhonghai secretly cursed himself for speaking so quickly. He should have sat down and eaten a few bites.