50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 32 Warm Pot Fish Feast

"Well, goodbye." The old man saw Sun Zhiwei off, then looked at the fish in the two basins on the ground, feeling both happy and worried. How could he get them back?
Fortunately, a maintenance worker passed by and helped him move the fish to the guard room. The old man paid the price of two small fish, so he got what he wanted.

After leaving Beihai Park, Sun Zhiwei drove at lightning speed and reached the gate of the security compound in less than 10 minutes, where he was stopped by the security guard.

"Uncle, please don't stop me. The fish is almost dead. I need to send it to the kitchen quickly."

The guard at the door was about to reprimand him, but was stopped by his words. However, he was not upset because Sun Zhi said there was fish.

That’s right. We haven’t had any meat recently, and when we heard there was fish, several people around came over.

"Is it a fish? Let me take a look. Wow, it's really big."

"There are so many, Zhiwei. Did you catch them all?"

"Great, great! I can have meat for lunch today."

"Uncles, hurry up, if you're any later, you won't be able to have dinner."

"Oh, yes, everyone, get out of the way and let Zhiwei send it to the kitchen quickly."

"Thank you, uncle. Let's go." Seeing everyone make way, he quickly got on his bike again and soon arrived at the kitchen.

Before the car even stopped, he shouted inside: "Master, come quickly, the fish are here."

The chef who heard the noise immediately jumped out and asked: "Where is the fish? Where did the fish come from?"

"Master chef, here it is. Hurry up and get a big basin of water. This fish is almost suffocating to death."

"Xiao Zhao, Xiao Yang, quickly get a large basin of water, and the others come and move the fish."

In fact, it was not that heavy, only about 200 pounds for a bucket. The kitchen helpers and workers who were preparing lunch rushed over and quickly put the fish in place.

"Zhiwei, you're amazing! It's only been less than half a day, and you've already caught so many fish. I'll tell Lingdao about it and give you a reward."

"Hey, that's no big deal. We haven't had much oily food these past few days. I guess we can have some meat tonight."

"No problem, let's have fish tonight, it's guaranteed to be delicious." As long as the ingredients are available, the chef is very skilled.

Sun Zhiwei was also happy. He was about to push the cart away when he suddenly remembered that he still had to release some animals in the afternoon.

He said to the chef in an awkward whisper, "Hey, chef, I just forgot. We are going to catch fish today and release them in the afternoon. Can we keep two small carp?"

"Release? Release what?" The chef glared at him and said, "If anyone dares to release my fish, I will stew it and have it as a dinner for dinner."

That expression was like that of an evil ghost, which scared Sun Zhiwei so much that he never dared to mention releasing animals again.

Looking at the group of people gathered around the fish basin, and then at the ferocious-looking master chef, he covered his face with his hands. He was careless and should have gone back to the house and left two fish out.

Just when he was struggling to figure out how to explain this to Lao Zhang, the news that Lao Zhang's son Zhiwei had caught two large buckets of fish had already reached the office.

The guard reported this as a major incident, and Lingdao took it very seriously. The canteen's nutritious food supply had been insufficient recently, and Lingdao was worried. Seeing that it was almost noon, he decided to leave work early and come over to see the fish. Old Zhang was very proud and followed along with a smile.

When Sun Zhiwei saw Lao Zhang, he walked over with a troubled look on his face and explained in a low voice: "Uncle, we can't release these fish. They have all been detained by the chef."

"What do you mean by releasing it? Are you going to release this fish? You don't want to eat such a big fish, and you want to release it? Are you stupid?" Old Zhang looked at Sun Zhiwei in disbelief, as if he were a fool.

Sun Zhiwei looked at Lao Zhang in disbelief. "Isn't warming the pot and releasing the animals a custom in your hometown? Who am I doing this for?"
Old Zhang saw what he meant and replied without blushing, "I thought you were going to catch a few small fish and release them. Who knew you could catch so many big fish?"

"With so many big fish already in the kitchen, why bother releasing them raw? Just eat them straight away and use them as a 'warm pot'."

When Lingdao heard the word "warm pot", his heart was moved.
"Comrades, today Sun Zhiwei gave us a big surprise by getting us so many fish. It just so happens that many of our comrades have just moved here recently, so I'll make the decision and have a 'warm pot' of fish tonight."

"Good!" "Lingdao is wise." Everyone cheered immediately after hearing it.

After hearing this, Sun Zhiwei spread his hands and said, "Okay, 'collective warming of the pot' is also 'warming of the pot'."

Everyone started lunch in excitement. The lunch was no different from yesterday, but everyone's mood was obviously different because there would be a big dinner in the evening. No matter how bad the lunch was, everyone was happy.

After lunch, with the chef in charge, many family members volunteered to help the canteen kill and clean the fish. With only a handful of people in the canteen, it would take them an entire afternoon to clean over 200 kilograms of fish.

The master chef said that he would show off his skills today and prepare a whole fish feast for everyone.

He even prepared a menu, including braised carp, squirrel fish, West Lake vinegar fish, steamed sea bass, chopped pepper fish head, fish roe tofu, spicy fried fish skin, hot and sour fish soup, fish head tofu soup, and fried fish balls.

There are ten dishes in total, and it takes several hours to prepare them. I start cooking at around 4 o'clock, using all 10 stoves. I also have to steam steamed buns and cook millet porridge in the middle. It is almost 6 o'clock before all the dishes are ready.

Fortunately, it is summer, otherwise the first batch of dishes would have gone cold. Now they are just right.

As soon as 6 o'clock arrived, except for the people on duty at the door, everyone gathered in the cafeteria, a huge crowd of adults and children.

Nannan also mingled among a group of girls, chattering and making a lot of noise. It seemed that she had made a lot of friends.

This is good. Sun Zhiwei has always been worried that the girl is a little out of tune with the group. Now it seems that his worries were completely unnecessary.

He actually didn't know that it was actually himself who had always been a loner. Whether it was his status as an adult office worker in his previous life or his status as an orphan in this life, it made him incompatible with his current peers.

Old Zhang had noticed it early on, but he knew the child better. Sun Zhiwei had always regarded raising his daughter as his urgent responsibility, and there was nothing he could do to persuade him.

In Lao Zhang's opinion, having such a thing to rely on might be a good thing for Sun Zhiwei, as it would keep him from thinking about other things.

Watching their parents die before their eyes, what a huge blow it must have been for a child who was already sensible. How could an ordinary child not break down, cry, and take such good care of his sister?
This may be rapid growth in adversity, but the price is too high for most people to afford.

Those who can survive this level of blow will have unlimited future growth, but more people may never recover from this blow or even suffer an emotional breakdown.

In the crowd, Lao Zhang watched Sun Zhiwei and his sister start eating, and then he felt at ease and started to grab food with his comrades.

(End of this chapter)