Siheyuan, Me and the Yu Sisters

Yu Li was still an unmarried girl. Although she had just suppressed her shyness and let Zhang Renkang take advantage of her, she could not stand Zhang Renkang's explicit words. For a moment, she blushed like a red apple. Zhang Renkang saw that she was shy, and the waiter had just brought the cold dishes, soybeans and Arctic Ocean, so he stopped teasing Yu Li and said

"Lily, try the eight dishes here. This side dish tastes really good."

As he spoke, he passed a pickled cucumber and some pickled cabbage to Yu Li. Yu Li blushed and tasted them. They were indeed delicious. She mustered up the courage to ask:

"Renkang, will you marry me?"

Zhang Renkang thought for a moment and said

"I'll come to your house after June next year, okay?"

Zhang Renkang has been thinking a lot about what will happen after Lou Xiaoe leaves. If he is asked to get married, he still hopes to find a smart woman who can help him manage his career. Besides, the wind is about to rise. If he plays too much and gets caught by someone, it will be difficult to spend the next ten years. Unless she is the kind that is easier to control, Zhang Renkang does not plan to attract bees and butterflies anymore.

Yu Li is a smart person with ideas and thoughts. In the play, she opened a restaurant with Yan Jiecheng as soon as the time was right, which shows that she is smart. However, she was too affected by her own limitations and the calculations of the Yan family and broke up with Sha Zhu. Otherwise, she could have seized the opportunity in the first 20 years and made a comeback.

I believe that with my own "training", Yu Li herself, without the influence of the calculating atmosphere of the Yan family, will be a good helper in terms of "skills" and brains. If there is a chance to get You Fengxia in the future, with the help of the prophet's brain, she may be able to build a powerful business empire in the future in the computer information age.

Hearing that Zhang Renkang agreed to come home next year, Yu Li felt inexplicably relieved. As long as Zhang Renkang didn't eat everything and deny it, it would be fine. The relaxed Yu Li smiled and asked

"Renkang, when can I go to work?"

Zhang Renkang took a bite of pickled radish and drank a sip of Arctic Ocean and said

"The day after tomorrow at 8 o'clock, come to the gate of the steel mill and tell them to come to the second canteen to find me. I will arrange for you to start work the day after tomorrow."

Yu Li was relieved after knowing what was going on. After the waiter brought the roast duck slices, the two of them chatted and laughed while eating till they finished. After paying the bill, Zhang Renkang took out three big black bills and a few cloth coupons and said,

"Lily, go to the department store and buy two sets of clothes for tomorrow. Pick something nice."

Yu Li looked at the money in Zhang Renkang's hand and hesitated.

"Renkang, this..."

Zhang Renkang said with a smile

"Take it, I don't need it, don't save it, I really don't need this little money"

Yu Li nodded, took the money and carefully put it into her chest pocket, and asked

"Renkang, won't you come with me?"

Zhang Renkang looked at the sky and said

"It's getting late. I have to go to the factory this afternoon. It would be bad if I'm away for something urgent."

Yu Li nodded and said that Zhang Renkang rode away on his bike. Yu Li looked at Zhang Renkang going away and suddenly felt very safe. She turned and went to the department store. She had never bought clothes in a department store in her life.

(A woman like Yu Li is smart but admires the strong, and she knows what's going on. In order to live a better life, she can pretend not to know some things. As long as she can be suppressed, she will still be very obedient)

Zhang Renkang first returned to the courtyard to put the books at home. He also had a leftover duck carcass from lunch and planned to come back to make soup in the evening. Then he rode non-stop to the steel mill.

When he returned to the kitchen of the first canteen, he saw Sha Zhu boasting inside. Unfortunately, the current canteen was no longer the one Sha Zhu was familiar with. This week, Master Li went to the fourth canteen to be the squad leader (the squad leader position remained unchanged but he took turns to preside over the work in each canteen). The one here was the eighth-level chef Sun Kaifang from the sixth canteen as the squad leader. Lu Yong, as the responsible team leader of the first canteen, only rotated with Wang Dahai from the second canteen every month. So when Zhang Renkang entered the kitchen, he heard Lu Yong yelling:

"Silly Zhu, don't make noise here during working hours. If you don't have work today, just take note of the canteen hygiene regulations and work rules and don't disturb other people's work."

Sha Zhu said with an unconvinced look on his face

"Lu Yong, when grandpa was the chef, you were a kitchen helper. Now you are just a kitchen helper too. Why do you control me?"

"I've never heard of a cook not cooking, cleaning, or memorizing rules and regulations. Who made these decisions?"

Zhang Renkang approached expressionlessly and said

"I ordered it, do you have any questions?"

Seeing Zhang Renkang coming in, everyone in the kitchen suddenly became serious and hurried back to work. During this period, Zhang Renkang had used both kindness and severity to deal with them. Now, the six canteen employees both respected and feared Zhang Renkang. On the one hand, they respected Zhang Renkang for his superb cooking skills and his unreserved teaching to them. On the other hand, they feared Zhang Renkang's methods. Even the troublemakers who had connections with leaders of other departments were punished to unload the warehouse. Others dared not mess with him.

When Sha Zhu saw Zhang Renkang, he shuddered but still suppressed his fear and said

"Director Zhang, I'm a cook. If I don't cook, it's not appropriate for you to ask me to memorize some rules and clean with these apprentices, right?"

Zhang Renkang said expressionlessly

"Silly Zhu, first of all, you are just an apprentice now, not a level 7 chef like in the canteen."

"Second, the hygiene regulations are formulated to ensure food safety and the canteen environment, and to better serve the workers. Not only you, but all the staff working in the canteen must memorize and strictly implement them."

"Silly Zhu, I'll give you two choices. First, follow my instructions and work as an apprentice in the cafeteria. Next month, I'll have the factory hold an assessment of the cafeteria department, and you can continue to take the exam and become a chef."

"Second, if you feel you can't stand it, I can give you a chance to transfer."

"You make your own choice, but if you still want to do your old tricks here, don't blame me for not saying it in advance. The cafeteria will not tolerate anyone who does not abide by the rules."

After that, he stared at Sha Zhu and waited for him to choose. Sha Zhu felt unconvinced by Zhang Renkang's words. After all, he was the king of the kitchen before, but now he is back and no one likes him and he has to accept so much discipline. How could Sha Zhu bear it? But when he remembered what the deaf old lady said in the morning that she would find him a wife, Sha Zhu loosened his clenched fist and gave in.

"I, I obey"

After saying this, Sha Zhu was like a deflated ball, with his head down and no more words. Zhang Renkang was a little surprised. When did Sha Zhu become so patient? But he didn't care about Sha Zhu and said,

"Okay, since you've made your choice, and with so many people here today, I won't make things difficult for you in the factory. You and everyone else will be treated equally. But if you cause trouble again, don't blame me for being rude."

"Now, I am officially informing you that as an apprentice, you will be managed and assigned tasks by Team Leader Lu Yong. Sha Zhu hopes that you will work honestly."

After saying that, Zhang Renkang looked at everyone, gave Lu Yong a look and left. Seeing Zhang Renkang leave, everyone in the kitchen breathed a sigh of relief. Today, except for Ma Hua and Liu Lan, the rest of the people in the canteen were employees who had been rotated from other kitchens. They did not discuss the previous relationship between Sha Zhu and others.

Ma Hua quickly leaned towards Sha Zhu and said

"Master, the cafeteria has been restructured now, you have to be patient, otherwise Director Zhang will really kick you out again."

Sha Zhu finally recovered after seeing Zhang Renkang leave. He probably didn't even notice that he unconsciously called Zhang Renkang "Director Zhang". In fact, he was already scared in his heart. Otherwise, he never called him "Director" when Liu Liang was here.

Sha Zhu said with a grim look on his face.

"Just wait until I pass the Level 6 exam and see how I deal with him."

"Things have changed. I have caught Zhang Renkang with something he has no right to do to me."

Seeing that Sha Zhu still hadn't changed his ways, Ma Hua said worriedly:

"Master, you'd better not go against Director Zhang. Director Zhang is actually a very nice person."

When Sha Zhu heard Ma Hua say that Zhang Renkang was good, he immediately turned hostile and said

"Ma Hua, don't forget who your master is. You don't want to betray me, do you?"

Liu Lan on the side said disdainfully

"Silly Zhu, you still have the nerve to say that you are Ma Hua's master? Why don't you ask Ma Hua how many dishes he has learned from Ren Kang recently? You haven't even taught Ma Hua how to use a kitchen knife, right? How shameless!"

Sha Zhu said in embarrassment

"Ma Hua, who told you to learn from Zhang Renkang? Do you want to betray your master?"

"My Tan family cuisine is not much better than Zhang Renkang's. Do you still need to learn it?"

Ma Hua smiled bitterly in his heart. Following Zhang Renkang, he had almost mastered some basic skills and dishes of a chef. He had been following Sha Zhu for four years, but he still hadn't learned how to hold a kitchen knife. However, these days were not like the later generations. Once you became his disciple, it meant you had entered his door. If the master didn't agree, it would be difficult for him to learn from Zhang Renkang in the future. But if he didn't learn, there were still a large family relying on him for support. For the first time, Ma Hua felt that Sha Zhu's return was not a good thing.