Yan Jiecheng's Leisurely Life in Siheyuan

Chapter 4 Entering the Factory
The next morning, just as it was getting light, Yan Jiecheng packed up and prepared to go out.

As soon as I reached the gate of the courtyard, I saw Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu walking together.

"Jie Cheng, are you going out to work so early today?"

"Yes, Brother Dongxu."

Although this job as a canteen kitchen helper is a temporary job, it is very popular.

Before the job is confirmed, Yan Jiecheng doesn't want the news to leak out, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.

So after briefly greeting Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu, Yan Jiecheng slowed down and distanced himself from the two of them.

Looking at Yan Jiecheng who fell behind him, Jia Dongxu said with some confusion.

"Master, this Yan Jiecheng is so weird. How can he survive so early in the morning?"

Now that Yi Zhonghai has Jia Dongxu as his elderly care provider, he has no interest in the affairs of other people in the hospital, so he just said it perfunctorily.

"Maybe the solution is that the job I'm looking for this time is a bit far away."

……

After the two men walked away, Yan Jiecheng continued walking towards the steel mill.

When he arrived at the gate of the steel rolling mill, Yan Jiefang showed his letter of introduction to the guard.

After seeing that Yan Jiecheng was just a temporary worker, several people in the guard room were unwilling to pay any attention to Yan Jiecheng.

In the end, it was a young security guard who had to take on the job because of his lack of experience.

Perhaps it was because of this that the security guard always ignored Yan Jiecheng's calls on the road.

After arriving at the logistics department, the guard found one of the clerks and said.

"Brother Zhang, this is the new kitchen helper. I leave it to you."

"It's all this crap all day long."

Brother Zhang complained dissatisfiedly and took Yan Jiecheng to the door of an office.

After knocking on the office door and getting permission, Brother Zhang took Yan Jiecheng into the office.

Brother Zhang put Yan Jiecheng's letter of introduction on the desk with a smile on his face and said.

"Director Wang, this is a canteen kitchen helper recruited by the logistics department. Please arrange it when you have time."

"Oh, I see."

After Brother Zhang left, Director Wang lowered his head and started writing on the table again.

After about twenty minutes, Director Wang raised his head and said.

"Come with me. I'll take you to the cafeteria."

On the way, Director Wang introduced to Yan Jiecheng as he walked.

"There are nearly 8,000 people working in our steel mill, and there are ten in the cafeteria alone. You should work harder and try to get a permanent position soon."

"I understand, Director. I will do my best."

The two of them left the office building and walked for about ten minutes before arriving at a cafeteria.

Director Wang took Yan Jiecheng across the restaurant and into the kitchen. Director Wang waved to a master chef and waited for the other person to come to him before introducing him.

"Master Liu, this is the new temporary worker. I'll leave it to you."

"okay, I get it."

Director Wang did not stay long and left after giving a brief explanation.

After Director Wang left, Chef Liu casually called a kitchen helper and asked him to take Yan Jiecheng with him.

Then Yan Jiecheng followed the kitchen helper to the backyard and started peeling potatoes.

The kitchen helper was quite friendly, and soon Yan Jiecheng knew that his name was Shao Weiming.

"Brother Ming, tell me about the situation in our cafeteria."

As a kitchen helper, Shao Weiming was very pleased to be called "Brother" and immediately introduced himself to Yan Jiecheng. The steel mill currently has a total of ten canteens, of which canteens one to three are large canteens with the largest staff.

As for the canteens four to ten, they are smaller in scale. Of course, the number of people dining there is also much less than that of the first three canteens.

The canteen where Yan Jiecheng works is Canteen No. 6, which only serves lunch. About five to six hundred people eat there every day.

There are currently nine people in the cafeteria, among whom Liu Haining is the squad leader and also the chef.

Liu Haining accepted two apprentices, Zhang Jun and Wang Jianpeng. They were mainly responsible for cutting the tiles on weekdays and helping out in their spare time.

In addition to the three of them, there are three aunts in charge of staple foods. They are the only six regular employees in the entire canteen.

As for the remaining three people, including Yan Jiecheng, they are all temporary workers.

As temporary workers, the work is more complicated, and basically all the dirty and tiring work is done by the three of them.

"The solution is, let's go to the warehouse together to move some food."

"Jie Cheng, let's go to the window and get some food."

"Jie Cheng, let me teach you how to knead dough."

"Jie Cheng, get some water and let's clean up."

……

Such high-intensity work made Yan Jiecheng feel unbearable.

If Yan Jiecheng hadn't seen Shao Weiming joining in, he would have quit long ago.

After getting home from get off work, Yan Jiecheng lay in bed and rested for a long time before he recovered.

However, when it was time to eat, Yan Jiecheng couldn't help but frown.

"Mom, why is there only one bowl of corn porridge? At least give everyone a sweet potato."

Hearing Yan Jiecheng's complaints, Yan's mother curled her lips and said.

"What do you mean it's just a bowl of corn porridge? There's also a bowl of wild vegetables."

Yan Jiecheng was speechless when he saw the wild vegetables that didn't even have any oil on them.

Even though the food was poor on weekdays, at least I had a sweet potato to fill my stomach. But what good was this wild vegetable?

Before Yan Jiecheng could continue speaking, Yan Fugui sighed and said.

"Today the street office notified us that the rations have been reduced by two levels. We have so many people in our family, if we don't save some, we'll be starving by the end of the month."

Yan Jiecheng had heard of the special three years in later life, but he didn't expect it to be so difficult.

"Dad, we adults can bear it, but the three little ones can't stand it."

"Then be thankful. You know how many places your mother went to to collect these wild vegetables. If you wait for a while, you won't even have wild vegetables to eat. Just endure it."

Hearing his father's words, Yan Jiecheng had nothing else to say. He could only share the little corn porridge in his bowl with the three children.

"Brother, don't you want to eat?"

"You guys eat. I had lunch at the factory."

Yan Fugui's eyes lit up and he said to Yan Jiecheng.

"Jie Cheng, you're working in the cafeteria now. Can you do the same as Sha Zhu and bring two lunch boxes home every day to help support your family?"

Yan Jiecheng couldn't help but smile bitterly at his father's wild idea.

"Dad, what time is it now? Not to mention me, I haven't seen even the chef in our cafeteria bring a lunch box."

"Why did that idiot Zhu bring his lunch box?"

"Dad, do you think anyone can compare to Sha Zhu? Sha Zhu's cooking skills are well-loved by the factory leaders. Do you think the security guard would check his lunch box? Would someone else be okay?"

In fact, what Yan Jiecheng said was not entirely correct. Many employees in the factory would take extra food from the cafeteria to take home, and the security guards turned a blind eye to it.

But that all cost money. There are only a few people who take food home without spending money. Yan Jiefang, a temporary worker, definitely does not have this treatment.

(End of this chapter)