Siheyuan, Me and the Yu Sisters

At this time, Lu Yong stepped forward and said

"Renkang, you have to be careful. That idiot Zhu is famous for being petty. Be careful that he might arrange Ma Hua and Fatty to trip you up."

Zhang Renkang nodded, patted Lu Yong's shoulder and said

"He's a reckless man, I don't take him seriously, don't worry"

Then he said loudly to a few people with a smile

"After get off work tonight, let's find a place and have a good gathering. I'll treat you."

When they heard that Zhang Renkang was inviting them to dinner, Liu Lan, Lu Yong, Gao Ying, and Song Gang were overjoyed. Nowadays, people either eat steamed corn bread or corn paste at home. Who has the money to go to a restaurant? Wouldn't a meal cost several yuan or even more than ten yuan? This money is enough for one or two people.

Hearing that Zhang Renkang was treating them, the other kitchen helpers and a dozen apprentices in the cafeteria were extremely envious. The fat guy on Shazhu's side was almost drooling.

Sha Zhu said disdainfully

"You are so generous even though you are poor, and you are treating me to a meal. An eighth-level person is making you so proud that you don't even know your own last name."

Liu Lan replied with disdain

"There are people who are level 7 workers but have never hired anyone. Both of their apprentices can't even get a bite to eat."

Ma Hua and Fatty were upset by what he said. They had been apprentices with Sha Zhu for two or three years. All they did was wash vegetables and chop vegetables. Sha Zhu was wary of them like a thief because he didn't teach them any cooking skills. The two had some complaints against Sha Zhu.

When Sha Zhu heard Liu Lan's ridicule, he got angry and shouted:

"Why should I treat you to a meal? I earn my money honestly, unlike some people who use shady means."

The whole cafeteria fell silent immediately after Sha Zhu said this. Of course, everyone knew what he was talking about. Everyone knew that Liu Lan and Deputy Factory Director Li Huaide were having an affair, but no one dared to speak out.

Liu Lan is also pitiful. She found out her husband was an alcoholic only after she got married. After giving birth to a daughter, her husband accidentally overturned a shelf in the workshop while drunk and was injured, leaving him paralyzed on one side of his body. Because her husband violated the rules while drunk, the factory saw that her family was in such a miserable state and did not pursue the responsibility. At least they could get compensation. In order to make a living, she could only beg Deputy Director Li to give her a job. Although everyone despised this behavior, they also understood Liu Lan's painstaking efforts. After all, they couldn't let her family starve to death.

Sha Zhu's words were like thunder in June. Everyone in the cafeteria lowered their heads in shock and whispered. Liu Lan's eyes turned red and she cried out:

"Silly Zhu, you bastard"

She ran away crying from the back door

At this time, Sha Zhu also realized that he had said something wrong, but who was Sha Zhu? He didn't care and muttered:

"Are you afraid of what others will say about what you did? Ugh."

Everyone knew that Sha Zhu had a foul mouth, but no one thought that he could do it to this extent. Everyone in the cafeteria kept their distance from him. It was better to stay away from such a person, otherwise he would definitely implicate everyone that day. Seeing that everyone subconsciously kept their distance from them, Ma Hua and Fatty felt miserable. Fatty almost hated Sha Zhu. This idiot would implicate them sooner or later. Fatty suddenly had a different idea in his mind.

Seeing this, the people in the kitchen stopped paying attention to Sha Zhu and went back to their own business. After a while, the canteen director Liu Liang came in with a big belly. Seeing that everyone was busy, he said slowly:

"Ahem, I have something to announce. Since Zhang Renkang has passed the eighth-level chef qualification and Old Sun has retired, Zhang Renkang will be in charge of Kitchen No. 1 from now on. Renkang, you choose two kitchen helpers to help you."

Then he signaled Zhang Renkang to choose someone

Zhang Renkang said without hesitation

"Let's just pick Lu Yong and Gao Ying." Song Gang was just an apprentice and hadn't officially been hired yet, so he couldn't help out in the kitchen. Sha Zhu snorted coldly and muttered:

"You may not even be able to cook well, and you want to be the chef, you are blind."

Sha Zhu thought his voice was low, but the kitchen was so small that no one could hear it when everyone was together. As expected, Liu Liang's face turned pale when he heard it. This Sha Zhu relied on his cooking skills to be domineering in the kitchen and even ignored him, the canteen director.

Liu Liang shouted angrily

"Silly Zhu, what are you mumbling about? If you have any opinions, speak up."

Sha Zhu said loudly in dissatisfaction

"Fatty Liu, who knows how good Zhang Renkang is at cooking? If you let him be the head chef, aren't you afraid that he will mess up the food and affect his co-workers' meals?"

Liu Liang glared at Sha Zhu and said angrily, "Sha Zhu, are you questioning my decision? Let me tell you, Zhang Renkang has passed the eighth-level chef assessment. His cooking skills have been approved by professional reviewers. You are not the only one who can question it. Besides, even if his dishes are not good, it is up to his fellow workers to decide, not just you complaining here."

Sha Zhu was choked by Liu Liang's words and was speechless. He glared at Zhang Renkang and turned away angrily. Zhang Renkang looked at Sha Zhu's back and didn't feel proud at all. He knew that it was better to do well than to say more. He believed that he would surprise everyone at noon today.

Zhang Renkang continued

"Director, let me cook the big pot dish today. Let everyone see my cooking skills and prove that your vision is correct."

Liu Liang glanced at him and saw Zhang Renkang nodded, very confident. He also believed in the level of the skill assessment and nodded.

"Okay, let Renkang do it this afternoon, so that everyone can see his strength, so that some people with little ability and bad temper won't think that there is something wrong with my selection of people."

Then Zhang Renkang officially took over the work of the No. 1 kitchen. He studied it carefully and found that there were only a few supplies, lacking a variety of vegetables and meat. If you want to make the food you eat every day taste good, it is nothing more than a matter of seasoning. This is why Sha Zhu's cooking is delicious. Sichuan cuisine is about the abundance of ingredients. Sha Zhu's skill in seasoning ingredients is definitely popular at this time.

Thinking of this, Zhang Renkang had an idea in his mind. It's not like he doesn't know how to cook Sichuan cuisine. Zhang Renkang arranged for Lu Yong and Gao Ying to peel more than a thousand kilograms of potatoes and put them on the chopping board one by one. He picked up the kitchen knife and made a few cuts. Snap, snap, snap, a potato was cut into strips of uniform thickness. This move stunned everyone in the kitchen. No one in the kitchen could do this kind of knife skills. Sha Zhu's knife skills were just okay, but not to such an extent.

Zhang Renkang said to Gao Ying and Lu Yong

"You two should pay attention to the precautions. Knife skills need to be practiced. You need to practice every day to master them. A real chef must have good knife skills. Otherwise, some dishes cannot be cooked. They cannot be fooled by just a little seasoning."

As he spoke, he glanced at Sha Zhu who had just entered the room. Everyone knew what Zhang Renkang meant and envied Lu Yong and Gao Ying's good fortune to have Zhang Renkang carefully teach them.

Seeing Zhang Renkang teaching the kitchen helper, Sha Zhu looked at him with disdain. He always believed that "the way should not be passed on easily". Everyone in the chef industry has been an apprentice for five years and a kitchen helper for five years. If the apprentice is taught easily, the master will starve to death. He suffered a lot when he was learning the craft.

Zhang Renkang saw the two people cutting potatoes and started to change the seasoning. He planned to make hot and sour potato shreds and minced meat and eggplant for lunch today. There was not enough meat, so he could only chop it up and stir-fry it to make it tasty.

At noon, as Zhang Renkang finished cooking two large pots of dishes, the aroma instantly filled the entire cafeteria. People in the kitchen tasted them one after another. They couldn't believe how delicious it was. A dish of shredded potatoes was so fragrant. The minced meat and eggplant really made everyone feel the pleasure of eating meat. Several people said

"Renkang, your cooking skills are truly amazing. It's so delicious. I think it's no worse than those of level 4 and 5 chefs."

Seeing the rave reviews from everyone, Sha Zhu couldn't believe it, he rushed over and pushed everyone aside to taste it. Although he didn't want to admit it, this one was indeed better than what he made, and the seasoning seemed to be even better than his own.

Sha Zhu was stunned. He couldn't believe that Zhang Renkang could beat him in his cooking skills. If Zhang Renkang's Sichuan cuisine was not worse than his, could he continue to be so arrogant? You know, the leaders tolerated him only because there were no good ingredients these days, so he could only rely on his own seasoning to satisfy his appetite. Zhang Renkang's seasoning was not worse than his. It's over, Sha Zhu thought to himself.

Lunch time

As soon as the workers entered the canteen, they smelled the fragrance and someone asked

"Who cooked the meal in your cafeteria today? It smells so good?"

Liu Lan deliberately said loudly

"Zhang Renkang, Zhang Renkang made a big pot of food today, you are in for a treat"

After everyone lined up to get their meals, there was a rare absence of noise in the cafeteria. Everyone was eating their meals. Suddenly, a man with a greasy face and a horse face shouted:

"I was wondering why the food in the cafeteria was so delicious today. It turned out that it wasn't made by Sha Zhu. It was delicious, a hundred times more delicious than what Sha Zhu made."

Zhang Renkang looked up and saw that it was Xu Damao. It was no wonder that Xu Damao and Sha Zhu were notoriously at odds with each other. They had been fighting since school. It could be said that as long as Sha Zhu agreed with something, Xu Damao would definitely disagree with it, and vice versa.

After hearing what Xu Damao said, the workers also agreed. Sha Zhu was domineering in the canteen and shook the spoon at every turn. In this era, everyone worked hard to earn money. Who would not feel resentful when they had to use meal tickets to eat less? They all cheered for Xu Damao. Sha Zhu was so angry that he picked up the rice spoon and wanted to hit him. At this time, Liu Liang came in with a man and saw Sha Zhu like this and shouted angrily:

"Silly Zhu, you are too presumptuous. Put it down. You dare to hit your coworkers with a rice spoon."

When everyone saw that it was Deputy Director Li and Liu Liang, they all lowered their heads to eat and stopped answering. Li Huaide was the one Liu Lan had complained to in the morning and had come over to support her. Just now at the door he heard the workers praising the delicious food in the cafeteria today. Li Huaide was very satisfied. He was in charge of the logistics of the cafeteria. If the food he cooked was delicious and the workers were satisfied, wouldn't it prove that his work was effective? When he came in and was about to praise the chef today, he saw Sha Zhu doing this.