60s: I have a store

Chapter 532: Dinner at the Research Laboratory
After the factory-wide meeting, the steel plant returned to its usual busy pace.

The workers quickly returned to their respective jobs, and the roar of machines once again echoed throughout the factory.

For the members of the research laboratory, although the air fryer project has achieved great success in stages, they are well aware that there is still a lot of follow-up work to be improved and promoted, and they dare not slack off at all.

As the head of the research laboratory, Li Chongguang took the lead in sorting out the overall progress of the project.

He sat in front of a desk piled with documents, brows furrowed, and carefully read through all kinds of information since the development of the air fryer, from the initial design sketches, to the repeatedly improved plans, to the finished product test reports, every page carries the team's hard work.

As he read, he carefully recorded key information and unresolved issues in his notebook, muttering to himself from time to time: "Although the cooling system has been optimized, its stability needs to be further improved when used continuously for a long time. Although the appearance design has been initially recognized by the market, there are still details that can be polished..."

After sorting out the information, Li Chongguang immediately communicated and coordinated with the production department to determine the supply of raw materials and production line allocation required for the large-scale production of air fryers.

He repeatedly emphasized on the phone: "The production time is tight, the quality of raw materials must be strictly controlled, every component is related to the product quality, there must be no mistakes!"

Zhou Yimin was not idle either, but tried his best to get things done within his ability.

Time flies and it's soon time to get off work.

Zhou Yimin came to Li Chongguang's office.

Li Chongguang saw Zhou Yimin coming in and thought something was wrong: "Yimin, what's the matter?"

Zhou Yimin smiled and explained: "Chief Li, it's nothing. I think the people in the research room have been working hard during this period, so I thought of treating everyone to a meal!"

Li Chongguang originally wanted to refuse, but when he thought about how hard everyone had been working during this period, even though they hadn't yet gone to the extent of neglecting food and sleep for the air fryer, it wasn't far from it.

"Okay, Yimin, you arrange it!"

Zhou Yimin nodded to show that he understood, and then the two of them walked out of the office together.

The afterglow of the setting sun shines on the windows of the laboratory, giving the interior a light golden hue.

Everyone in the laboratory stretched their bodies, packed up the documents and tools on the table, and prepared to leave with their tired bodies.

At this moment, Li Chongguang just walked out of the office and saw everyone preparing to leave, so he shouted loudly: "Everyone wait a moment!"

When everyone heard Li Chongguang's voice, their originally brisk steps stopped instantly.

Their hearts skipped a beat and the image of having to work overtime again emerged in their minds.

We have been working on the air fryer project for a long time and are exhausted both physically and mentally. We really don’t want to face the pressure of overtime work anymore.

However, Li Chongguang's next words made everyone's mood take a 180-degree turn in an instant.

Li Chongguang smiled and said, "Everyone has worked hard during this period. Yimin said he would like to invite us to dinner, so please sign up if you want to go!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the originally somewhat dull research laboratory suddenly became lively.

Everyone's eyes immediately sparkled with excitement, and the fatigue just now seemed to disappear without a trace.
They gathered around Li Chongguang and asked about the details.

"Really? Section Chief Zhou wants to treat us to a meal!" Xiao Zhao, who is in charge of circuit design, jumped up excitedly with an expectant smile on his face.

"Of course, Section Chief Zhou is not the kind of person who talks big." Li Chongguang answered affirmatively.

"That's great. I've been exhausted lately and was just looking for a good meal!" another colleague agreed.

As everyone was talking, they raised their hands to sign up, fearing that they would miss out on this rare opportunity for a dinner together.

However, in this lively atmosphere, Chen Guochang seemed out of place.

He stood in the corner with a look of disdain on his face. In his opinion, with the current shortage of supplies and difficult life, what good food could be prepared even if he invited guests to dinner?

Maybe it would be better for him to go home and cook the one pound of beef reward. He muttered to himself: "Humph, Zhou Yimin must be trying to use this opportunity to win people's hearts, I won't let him do what he wants."

Thinking of this, Chen Guochang curled his lips, and without even looking at the others, he turned around and left the laboratory, muttering softly, "A bunch of guys who have never seen the world are so happy just for a meal."

However, other researchers did not notice anything unusual about Chen Guochang. After they happily registered, Li Chongguang counted the number of registrants and went to report to Zhou Yimin.

After Zhou Yimin learned about it, he smiled slightly, then gave an address and asked Li Chongguang to notify everyone to go there as soon as possible.

Everyone in the laboratory rushed to the place designated by Zhou Yimin with excitement. Along the way, everyone talked and laughed, discussing the upcoming dinner.

"What delicious food do you think Section Chief Zhou will take us to eat?" Xiao Liu asked curiously.

Xiao Zhao rushed to answer: "There must be meat, maybe even braised pork, I'm drooling just thinking about it."

"Haha, Xiao Zhao, you are just thinking about the braised pork. But that's right, I haven't eaten meat properly for a long time." Xiao Zhang on the side joked.

They imagined the sumptuous food on the table, and their appetites were aroused.

Soon, they arrived in front of a small restaurant. Although the restaurant was small, it looked clean and tidy. The red lanterns hanging at the door swayed gently in the breeze, giving people a warm feeling.

When everyone walked into the restaurant, they saw two tables of food already set up.

Each table was set with two attractive meat dishes and three fresh and delicious vegetarian dishes.

The braised pork is bright red in color and has a fragrant aroma, making people salivate at the first sight; the sweet and sour spare ribs are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the sweet and sour taste fills the air, making everyone swallow their saliva continuously.

The vegetarian dishes are equally delicious, with emerald green vegetables, golden shredded potatoes and tender tofu, a perfect match.

When everyone in the laboratory saw such a rich variety of dishes, their eyes widened and their saliva kept swirling in their mouths, almost flowing out.

Just when everyone was so attracted by the delicious food, Li Chongguang quietly walked to Zhou Yimin and said with a worried look: "Yimin, if you order so many dishes and can't finish them, won't it be a waste?"

He knew very well that in that time of material scarcity, the portions of these meats and vegetables were so large that the meat coupons required were not a small amount.

He couldn't help but worry about Zhou Yimin, thinking: Is Zhou Yimin going to spend all the remaining meat coupons for the year on this one meal? How will he live in the future?

Zhou Yimin seemed to see what Li Chongguang was thinking. He smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Chief Li, just eat as much as you want! These are nothing to me."

Zhou Yimin knew that he came from the future and was well aware of how rare these foods were for his hard-working colleagues.

Moreover, he sincerely thanks everyone for their hard work on the air fryer project and hopes that this meal will allow everyone to relax.

Seeing Zhou Yimin's determination, Li Chongguang stopped talking. At this time, Zhou Yimin took out two bottles of good wine from behind, which were the famous local Lotus White. The labels on the bottles sparkled under the light, and the aroma of the wine filled the air, instantly attracting everyone's attention.

"Wow, Chief Zhou, you are so generous! You usually don't want to drink such good wine!" a colleague said in surprise.

"Yes, Chief Zhou, you really spent a lot of money on this meal!" another colleague also sighed.

Everyone expressed their appreciation for Zhou Yimin's generosity. In their opinion, if they had such good wine, they would definitely keep it for tasting slowly. However, Zhou Yimin took it out without hesitation to share it with everyone. They were very moved by this friendship.

Everyone sat around the dining table, and Zhou Yimin said with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work day and night for the air fryer project.

Today's meal is to thank everyone, everyone ate and drank to their heart's content!"

After saying that, he picked up the bottle and poured a glass of wine for each of his colleagues.

Everyone raised their glasses and clinked them with each other, and laughter echoed throughout the restaurant.

"cheers!"

Everyone drank it all in one gulp. The spiciness of the wine dissipated in their throats, making them feel extremely refreshed.

Then, everyone started to eat heartily. They couldn't wait to pick up pieces of braised pork and sweet and sour spareribs and put them in their mouths to taste them carefully.

They were intoxicated by the juicy and tender meat and the rich and mellow flavor.

"This braised pork is so delicious, fatty but not greasy, and melts in your mouth. Chief Zhou, you are so good at ordering food!" Xiao Zhao said vaguely while eating, with oil stains on the corners of his mouth.

"That's right. Section Chief Zhou's arrangement is perfect. To be honest, the success of the air fryer is thanks to the new ideas brought by Section Chief Zhou." Xiao Qian, who is in charge of appearance design, said while chewing pork ribs.

"Yes, yes. We never thought that we could optimize it this way before. If it weren't for Section Chief Zhou, we might still be stuck in the same place." Another colleague echoed.

Zhou Yimin smiled and waved his hands: "Don't just praise me, this is the credit of our entire team, no one can be missing."

While enjoying the food, everyone kept praising Zhou Yimin and also reviewed every detail of the project. In this era of material scarcity, being able to eat such a sumptuous meal was simply a luxury for them.

In addition to meat dishes, vegetarian dishes are also very popular.

Fresh green vegetables, soft and glutinous shredded potatoes and tender tofu add a refreshing taste to this hearty dinner.

Everyone ate with gusto and soon all the food on the table was gone.

If no one stopped them, some people would have licked the plate clean.

During the meal, everyone shared interesting things at work and in life from time to time.

There was laughter and joy, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

Zhou Yimin felt extremely satisfied watching everyone enjoying their meal and chatting happily.

He knew that this dinner was not only to thank everyone, but also to enhance the cohesion of the team so that everyone could work more together in the future.

Zhou Yimin knew that if he made any suggestions again, it would definitely not be as difficult as the first time.

After eating and drinking, everyone stood up with satisfied smiles on their faces.

As they burped, they expressed their gratitude to Zhou Yimin. "Captain Zhou, today's meal is so sumptuous. Thank you!"

"Yes, Chief Zhou, you gave us such a delicious meal, thank you so much!"

Zhou Yimin smiled and said, "You are so polite. This is what I should do. As long as everyone enjoys the meal, I am satisfied."

Afterwards, everyone went home. On the way home, the breeze blew gently, bringing a hint of drunkenness.

Everyone was still thinking about the sumptuous dinner they had just had, and they were in a particularly good mood.

As they walked, they were still talking about the delicious food and interesting topics on the table, as if the happy time just now was still in front of them.

"I think today's meal will make me savor it for a long time." Xiao Zhao said with satisfaction.

"That's right. I haven't had such a good meal in a long time. And we all chatted together. I thought Section Chief Li would be very serious, but I didn't expect him to be so approachable. The same goes for Section Chief Zhou." Xiao Zhang said.

"Yes, I feel the same way." The older Mr. Sun said seriously.

The next day, everyone in the laboratory returned to work as usual.

However, their faces no longer had the fatigue of the past, but were instead full of energy and joy.

As soon as everyone met, they started talking about the dinner last night.

"Yesterday's meal was so delicious that I'm still drooling when I think about it now!" Xiao Zhao said to his colleagues while sorting out the documents on the table.

"Yes, Section Chief Zhou is so generous. Not only did he treat us to such a sumptuous meal, he also brought out good wine." Another colleague also echoed.

"I think this dinner not only makes us feast on delicious food, but if Section Chief Zhou has any problems in the future, I will definitely be the first to support him." An older colleague said seriously.

Everyone nodded in agreement, and their enthusiasm for work increased.

But Chen Guochang felt very uncomfortable listening to it.

To celebrate yesterday, he ate half of the pound of beef he was rewarded with by himself. If he had not restrained himself a little, he would have finished it in one meal.

Now, when I hear everyone talking about how delicious the food was at yesterday's dinner, I suddenly feel a strong sense of jealousy and regret.

He couldn't help but start blaming himself, wondering why he was so stubborn and missed such a good meal.

He thought: Is Zhou Yimin deliberately going against me? If I had known the food was so good, I would have gone with him. I missed such a good opportunity in vain. What a fool!

The more Chen Guochang thought about it, the angrier he became, and the expression on his face became very ugly.

But he was too embarrassed to ask everyone about the details of the dinner and could only sulk in silence.

However, everyone in the laboratory did not pay attention to Chen Guochang's bold idea. While working hard, they would occasionally miss the meal last night.

(End of this chapter)