Siheyuan: He Yuzhu since 1958

Although the queue at the third canteen was very long, the workers took the initiative to let Director Yang and his team get their food from the window. After the leaders got their food, they sat down at a long table. One of the leaders asked, "Old Yang, how come there is tofu in your factory? Where did you get it?!"

Director Yang said, "Our factory cafeteria makes it ourselves. Although the supply of non-staple food has been reduced, we can't let the workers drink boiled water and eat steamed bread or corn bread, right?! So our factory chefs took the initiative to find ways to increase the variety of dishes. In addition, we plan to open up a few acres of wasteland in the back in a few days and plant some vegetables in the spring. It's difficult now, and we can't always ask our superiors for things. We have to find ways to be self-reliant."

After listening to Director Yang's words, the leader sitting in the middle echoed: "Well said! Self-reliance! Isn't that how we got here?! As the old saying goes, good traditions cannot be lost." Then he urged: "Try it quickly, the tofu they made today is pretty good!"

After lunch, Director Yang and his team sent off the inspectors and all breathed a sigh of relief. Hao Shuji said, "Xiao Yang, Xiao Li, I will retire in two years. The steel mill will depend on you in the future. I hope you can work together to make the steel mill a prosperous one."

Director Yang said: "Hao Shuji, I, don't you know?!"

Li Huaide said, "Hao Shuji, I want to express my opinion today. I will work with Director Yang to make the steel mill a success!" In fact, Li Huaide was thinking, "You are all out of date. How can you make the steel mill a success? It's good enough that it doesn't close down!"

Around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Li Huaian walked into the cafeteria and saw He Yuzhu busying himself at the stove. Li Huaian walked over curiously and asked, "Zhuzi, what are you doing?!"

He Yuzhu replied, "Fried bean paste. It's only a few days away from New Year's Day. I want to make some snacks so that everyone can have a good holiday." Then he asked, "What are you doing here at this time?!"

Li Huaian replied: "Director Li asked you to go to his office."

"Okay! I'll be there right away." He Yuzhu then slightly increased his workload to speed up the drying of the bean paste. After about a quarter of an hour, He Yuzhu turned off the fire, scooped out the bean paste, put it aside to let it cool, then gave a few words to the cafeteria staff and left the kitchen immediately.

"Knock! Knock! Knock!" He Yuzhu walked to the door of Li Huaide's office and knocked on the door.

Li Huaide shouted, "Come in!"

He Yuzhu pushed the door open and walked into the office, closed it, and asked with a smile, "Director Li, you're looking for me?!"

"Zhuzi is here! Come and sit down!" Li Huaide asked He Yuzhu to sit down, then opened the drawer, took out an envelope, and said, "You performed well today. This is a reward for you."

He Yuzhu replied: "Director Li, what I did today is what I should do. There is no need for reward."

Li Huaide pretended to be unhappy and said, "I told you to take it, so just take it! Why are you talking so much nonsense?!"

He Yuzhu stared at Li Huaide for a few seconds, then smiled and said, "Okay! I'll take it!" Then he asked, "Director Li, I was just frying bean paste in the kitchen. I'm going to make some cakes. The quantity won't be too much, about 100 pounds. I'll have to trouble Director Li to figure out how to distribute it."

Li Huaide was still upset about delivering gifts to his relatives for New Year's Day. He didn't expect that he would get a reward after giving He Yuzhu some sweet things today. It seems that building a good relationship with He Yuzhu was a good move. Li Huaide asked: "What snacks are you going to make?!

He Yuzhu replied: "Mung bean cake, crispy cake, rice cake and donkey roll. Due to limited conditions, we can only make these four. Mung bean cake and donkey roll are the main ones."

Li Huaide began to think about it. After about seven or eight minutes, Li Huaide asked, "Zhu Zi, one hundred kilograms is too little. Can you make more?!"

He Yuzhu thought for a moment and said, "You can make more mung bean cakes and donkey rolls, but there's really nothing you can do about the others."

Li Huaide said, "I'll have someone go to the printing factory next door to get some boxes. Once they're done, pack them in packages of one pound each."

"Okay! No problem! Director, I'll leave first if there's nothing else!" After saying that, He Yuzhu saw Li Huaide nodded, and without staying for long, he left Li Huaide's office directly. Walking outside the office building, He Yuzhu found a place where no one was, and took out the envelope that Li Huaide gave him. Opening the envelope, a stack of food coupons and an electric fan coupon appeared in front of He Yuzhu. He Yuzhu saw the electric fan coupon and laughed, muttering: "This Li Huaide is really interesting?! Sending fans in winter." Then He Yuzhu counted the food coupons, exactly fifty kilograms. But Li Huaide gave national food coupons. National food coupons contain oil and are not expired. Li Huaide is still on the road.

After returning to the cafeteria, He Yuzhu saw that it was almost time to get off work and he didn't have the heart to make pastries anymore. After putting the things away, he waited quietly for the end of the get off work day.

In a blink of an eye, it was less than a week away from New Year's Day in 1961. He Yuzhu had made all the cakes. After packing the cakes, He Yuzhu discussed with Li Huaian that the extra cakes would be a private benefit for the canteen and distributed half a catty to each person.

In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, He Yuzhu asked Li Huaian to get some tickets and sent them to Li Huaide. He told Li Huaide that those in the factory could go to the canteen to collect the tickets. As for the rest, Li Huaide understood without saying anything.

Li Huaide looked at the tickets, counted the number, and then, as he had planned, gave ten tickets to Director Yang and Hao Shuji, and then gave two tickets to the heads and deputy heads of each workshop, and the heads and deputy heads of each department. As for the rest, Li Huaide waited until the end of the workday when all the workers in the factory had left, borrowed a jeep from the factory, loaded all the cakes on the jeep, and left the steel mill.

As 1961 arrived, the impact of natural disasters became even greater. The price of grain on the market had risen to a sky-high level. In some places, kilograms of fine grain could be exchanged for a job. Instead of increasing the supply to Pigeon City, He Yuzhu reduced it.

Although the amount was less, the profit was much greater than before. Especially later, He Yuzhu did not want money or tickets, but only old items and gold, and the profit increased several times.

By July and August 1961, the supply of the steel mill had decreased by %. Li Huaide, who was in charge of logistics, began to worry. The small group that was originally a standard group began to develop towards Guangmingding. Although there was a lot of food in He Yuzhu's supermarket space, he also saw the situation of the steel mill. But he had no way to explain why too much food was produced at once. Instead of causing trouble for himself, it is better to turn a blind eye. Just do your job well. As for the rest, let the leaders of the factory worry about it!

He Yuzhu didn't worry about the factory's affairs, but Huang Ying found things for him to do. Not long after He Yuzhu got home from get off work, Huang Ying also came back. As usual, Huang Ying greeted her grandparents and walked into the kitchen.

He Yuzhu saw Huang Ying looking unhappy, so he stopped what he was doing and asked, "Wife, what's wrong?!"

Huang Ying asked, "Zhu Zi, can we take out some of our food and sell it to the police?!"