Siheyuan, Me and the Yu Sisters

Everyone had already seen that the layout of the cafeteria had changed, and it was clean and bright. The window glass was cleaned very well, which made people feel good. Seeing that everyone was silent, Zhang Renkang said again

"Hygiene is the premise for ensuring that workers can eat comfortably, and it is also the basis for ensuring food safety. When you go back, you must thoroughly clean and tidy up your canteen according to the standards of a canteen. You must meet the standards of a canteen. I will ask Master Li to distribute the hygiene implementation manual to you later. I will arrange for people from the canteen to follow you back to assist in rectification."

"Is there any problem?"

The chefs and team leaders of the other five canteens remained silent. They knew the hygiene standards of the first canteen, but they were tired. Besides, it didn’t matter whether they did it or not. Could the factory fire them? So they were too lazy to learn.

Zhang Renkang naturally understood their mentality. When he was an employee in his previous life, he knew the minds of his subordinates too well. Who would do something that has no benefits? Zhang Renkang naturally had a way to deal with this bunch of "lazy politicians"

"Starting from next Monday, the chefs of each canteen will be rotated. What does this mean? You will be chosen to be the chef of a certain canteen by drawing lots every Monday. The rotation will be random every week. Starting from next week, all canteens will have a unified weekly menu. All apprentices and kitchen helpers will be trained as chefs. I will personally teach them how to cook, and I guarantee that as long as they are diligent and studious, they will apply for a professional title exam before the end of this year and be awarded the professional title."

After Zhang Renkang finished speaking, everyone was silent at first, and then more than a dozen people in the cafeteria burst into the warmest applause. In fact, for Lu Yong and Gao Ying from the cafeteria, their knife skills and cooking skills had already improved, but they didn't know the techniques of heat and adding ingredients before, and they didn't know the tricks of some dishes. With Zhang Renkang's guidance for more than half a month, it will be no problem for them to pass the eighth-level chef exam. Ma Hua and Fatty from the cafeteria's knife skills are also good enough, but Sha Zhu had been hiding it from them and didn't teach them the techniques of adding ingredients and the heat of cooking. In the past four or five days, they have begun to have the ability to cook with Zhang Renkang, and they will probably pass the exam in a month.

Zhang Renkang's words put the ten chefs in the five canteens in a dilemma. This was a threat to their lives. The rotation system prevented them from being arrogant in the kitchen. Zhang Renkang's open teaching of the assistants also made them lose their status. If a few "eighth-level chefs" were really qualified in more than a month, how much value and role would they have? They were planning to protest collectively. They could not let Zhang Renkang control the lifeline of the entire canteen.

Zhang Renkang didn't wait for them to speak and continued

"The ten of you can also take the exam. Since you have all passed the eighth level, it means that your basic skills are fine. You can practice hard later. What you lack is nothing more than the recipes and some specialized techniques."

"I can teach you all these. At least some of you will have no problem reaching level 7 and level 6. What do you think?"

This sentence made the ten chefs completely unable to hold back. How could they not want to take the exam? Not to mention that their salary would increase, just by learning a few more skills and having this title and ability, they would not have to worry about food, drink and work wherever they go in the future. In an instant, the ten people were separated. Except for Wang Dahai and the other chef of the second canteen, the other eight people were instantly tempted. For passing the exam to the next level, isn't it just about being obedient? That's nothing. Zhang Renkang is already the deputy director and maybe he will be the director next year. Then they will have to listen to him.

Wang Dahai was not convinced because he had the most seniority and the highest rank. The deputy director position should have been his. How could he accept being defeated by a young man? Secondly, what Zhang Renkang said was not very attractive to him. He was already fifty years old. How high could he be promoted? It was not like a few level eight chefs who were only in their thirties. The oldest was only in their early forties. There was still room for improvement.

Wang Dahai said with a stern look on his face

"Deputy Director Zhang, what qualifications do you have to guide us? Just because you are the deputy director? And you are a level 8 chef? Cooking skills are not something you can just talk about."

After hearing this, several people became hesitant. Does Zhang Renkang, who just passed the eighth-level chef qualification this year, have the ability to guide them?

Zhang Renkang smiled and said

"Master Wang, do you want to give me some advice? That's perfect. A chef's ability should be demonstrated through his dishes. Let's go to the kitchen and see what happens."

Wang Dahai didn't think a young man in his early twenties had any special skills, so he was not afraid of the challenge. Liu Liang brought Lu Yong and Gao Ying to the back kitchen with Wang Dahai and Zhang Renkang. The others stayed in the restaurant waiting for the selection. Zhang Renkang smiled and said

"Master Wang, what do you want to challenge?"

Wang Dahai thought for a moment and said

"Stir-fry shredded potatoes and shredded pork with green peppers. The skill of the cook is very important."

Zhang Renkang nodded. Lu Yong and Gao Ying prepared four potatoes and green peppers of similar size for the two of them, and took out a pound of pork for them. Zhang Renkang and Wang Dahai put on aprons and picked up kitchen knives. Zhang Renkang took two potatoes and "bang bang bang" in the blink of an eye, the two potatoes became neatly sized potato strips and appeared in the basin. Drain the water, pour oil

. . . . . .

Ten minutes later, Zhang Renkang had finished a plate of spicy and sour potato shreds, while Wang Dahai's was not out of the pot yet. When Wang Dahai, who was sweating profusely, came out of the pot, Liu Liang tasted their fried potato shreds first without saying anything, and called someone from the fourth canteen to come in and take it out.

Liu Liang said

"Everyone, the two chefs have finished their works. Now you can try them. If you think the dish is delicious, please line up behind it. The one with the most people wins."

After tasting them, everyone praised the neatly arranged shredded potatoes, saying that they were tasty and different from the fried shredded potatoes they had eaten before. They were sour, spicy and appetizing, leaving a lingering aftertaste. In fact, Wang Dahai was already in awe of Zhang Renkang's knife skills when he saw him in the kitchen. Other things could deceive people, but this knife skill could not. Zhang Renkang's knife skills could be said to be the best he had ever seen. Even when he was an apprentice with the master in the restaurant, he had never seen many chefs with such great knife skills. Seeing everyone make their choices, Wang Dahai seemed to have been drained of his strength. He said weakly:

"No need to continue. I'm convinced. Deputy Director Zhang's knife skills are incredible. He is definitely qualified to teach you."

Wang Dahai couldn't understand why Zhang Renkang couldn't be so powerful even if he had practiced swordsmanship in his mother's womb when he was in his early twenties. Seeing that he was convinced, Zhang Renkang smiled and said

"Does anyone have any other opinions?"

"If not, I hope everyone will start to rectify it when we get back today. Complete the assignment of tasks this afternoon, and complete the rectification of the cafeteria tomorrow morning. Two days later, all cafeterias will be evaluated according to the standards of a single cafeteria. Those who fail to meet the standards will be demoted and their subsidies will be canceled. If a cafeteria has more than three unqualified team leaders, they will be dismissed and replaced."

"I hope everyone will take this seriously and provide good service to the workers."

After that, he asked them to go back and discuss with their respective kitchen assistants and apprentices. After Zhang Renkang sent Liu Liang away, he arranged

"After lunch tomorrow, when Canteen 1 finishes its final sanitation work, Master Li will go to Canteen 2 to assist, Liu Lan and Lu Yong will go to Canteen 3, Gao Ying and Song Gang will go to Canteen 4, Ma Hua will take Wang Xiao (a passerby) to Canteen 5, and I will go to Canteen 6. Make sure it is thoroughly rectified according to the standards of Canteen 1."

After saying that, he went out with his hands behind his back.

After everyone returned to their respective canteens and told them about Zhang Renkang's request, it caused dissatisfaction among the people at first. But when they heard that Zhang Renkang was going to teach them cooking skills and that they would have to take a special exam at the end of the year, this dissatisfaction was thrown behind their minds. It was just some work, and they did it every day anyway. Now Zhang Renkang had opened the way for their promotion, and in an instant they gained the support of the kitchen helpers and apprentices in the six canteens. As long as they could get a promotion and a raise in salary, they were all children from poor families, so why would they be afraid of hardship and hard work? In the past, they were in a bad situation because no one was willing to teach them skills, and they had no way to get ahead and could only muddle through.

(For your information, the best material for clothes in the 1960s was Dacron, an industrial fabric made from striped weaving. It was the newest material at the time, but due to insufficient domestic productivity, scarcity led to a trend of expensive items. Its characteristics were: it did not wrinkle, it did not shrink, it did not need ironing, it did not fade, and it looked very Western, like a city dweller. It avoided the shortcomings of cotton-padded clothes, and was considered by people to be high-end clothes that would never get worn out. However, its obvious shortcomings were that it did not absorb sweat and it would feel hot on the body when exposed to the sun.)