Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

Seeing that Wang Feng seemed hesitant to leave, Li Huaide asked, "Brother, is there something else you need? What is it? Tell me."

"Hehe, nothing can be hidden from Brother Li." Wang Feng laughed awkwardly.

"Brother Li, it's like this, Jingru is pregnant now, and the cooking fumes in the cafeteria have a significant impact on pregnant women. I want Jingru to quit her job so she can go home and rest during her pregnancy."

Upon hearing this, Li Huaide thought for a moment and said, "Brother, are you really sure? Your wife's salary isn't low right now. Are you really willing to give it up? How about I transfer her to an office job, and she can go back to the cafeteria after the baby is born?"

Wang Feng waved his hand, sighed, and said, "Brother Li, I'm afraid that won't work. After the child is born, she will have to stay at home to take care of the child and won't have time to come to work at the factory. Brother Li, you know me, I don't lack money, and whether Jingru goes to work or not won't have much of an impact on me."

Li Huaide frowned: "Brother, I know you're not short of money. You earn hundreds or even thousands of yuan every time you go into the mountains. I'm not as rich as you now. But with your wife gone, our factory won't be able to provide catering services anymore. You've really put me in a difficult position this time."

Wang Feng rolled his eyes and said speechlessly, "Brother Li, others may not know you, but I know you too. With your connections, you can't find a good cook?"

"Hey bro, what are you talking about? There are probably only a handful of chefs in the whole of Beijing with your wife's cooking skills. Do you really think I'm omnipotent?"

"Brother, you were the one who strongly recommended your wife to come here before. Now that she's gone, my hospitality skills are not as good as before. You know, many of our factory's deals are made over drinks. It's easy to find ordinary cooks, but a chef as good as your wife is not someone I can hire. You have to agree to one request."

After saying so much, Li Huaide finally revealed his purpose.

Wang Feng nodded: "What is it? Tell me."

"Hehe, brother, it's like this. For the meals our factory usually provides for guests, I can easily hire a chef to cook. But if important guests or leaders come to our factory, I'll ask your wife to come and help with the cooking. Don't refuse, brother. Don't worry, these kinds of meals might only happen once a month or even once every few months, so it definitely won't interfere with your wife taking care of the children."

"Of course, I won't let my sister-in-law suffer any losses. I'll let her still get her monthly salary, but it'll only be 42.5 yuan a month, half of what she used to be. She'll be a contracted cook at our steel mill, and she can even take some of the dishes home with her. With such good terms, you shouldn't refuse, right?"

Upon hearing Li Huaide's request and the conditions he offered, Wang Feng thought for a moment and said, "No problem."

"Hehe, alright then. I'll talk to Minister Ma of the Logistics Department and Director Zhu of the Canteen later. Starting tomorrow, your wife won't need to come to work anymore. If I need your help in the future, I'll have Director Zhu go to your hospital to ask for your wife," Li Huaide said with a smile.

This was the best solution Li Huaide could think of. There was no other way; Qin Jingru's cooking skills were simply too good. Many factory directors, and even people from the Ministry of Industry, came over wanting to eat Qin Jingru's dishes. Without Qin Jingru preparing meals for guests in the canteen, it would be really difficult to carry out the work in the future.

"Okay, Brother Li, I'll get back to work now."

"Okay, go ahead."

As soon as Wang Feng left, Li Huaide dialed the phone number of Minister Ma of the Logistics Department.

"Hey, Lao Ma, I heard you introduced He Daqing to the machine factory as a head chef?"

Li Huaide recounted Qin Jingru's situation to Minister Ma and instructed him:

"Old Ma, here's what we'll do. You contact the machinery factory now and ask them to transfer He Daqing over. Let's set his salary at 54.5 yuan for now, plus the foreman's allowance, so that's 56.5 yuan."

"Okay, factory manager, I'll contact the machinery factory right away."

After hanging up the phone, Li Huaide smiled; this was already the best possible outcome.

After leaving the factory director's office, Wang Feng left the steel rolling mill. He wanted to tell Qin Jingru the news.

He had just ridden his bicycle a short distance from the steel rolling mill when he saw Qin Jingru walking towards it, so he quickly stopped.

"Jingru, why are you going to the factory so early today?" Wang Feng asked.

"Brother Wang Feng, didn't you say yesterday that you were going to send a big wild boar to the factory today? The factory will definitely slaughter the pig to make extra food for the workers today, so I have to go there early to cook, right?" Qin Jingru explained with a smile.

Wang Feng nodded and immediately told Qin Jingru what he had just told Li Huaide.

"Huh? Brother Wang Feng, is that possible? You get paid without having to go to the factory?" Qin Jingru asked in surprise.

Wang Feng laughed and said, "What's the big deal? It's because you're such a good cook. But this salary isn't for nothing. Li Huaide said that if any big leaders come to the factory in the future, they'll have to invite you to cook a meal. But that might only happen once every month or two."

"Hehe, that's great! I'll get paid to stay home and take care of the kids from now on," Qin Jingru said happily.

"Okay, Jingru, today is your last day at work. Go to the kitchen and tell them that you won't be working in the cafeteria anymore. Make sure the kitchen staff don't bully Aunt Wu."

"Okay, Brother Wang Feng, don't worry."

With that, Qin Jingru walked toward the steel rolling mill.

She had been worried that without a job, she wouldn't be able to brag to her girlfriends when she returned to Qinjiazhuang. But now, she can stay home and take care of her child and still get paid. She must be the only one in the entire steel rolling mill to have this kind of treatment.

Watching Qin Jingru's retreating figure, Wang Feng smiled slightly, stepped on the pedal hard, and left as well.

Qin Jingru was only a few steps away from the kitchen, so there was no need to escort her. Walking more is good for a pregnant woman's health.

Wang Feng returned to Courtyard No. 95, closed the door, and entered the space.

He first used diluted life-giving water to irrigate the ginseng field, then watered a few tea trees before arriving at the living area of ​​the space.

He often irrigates this ginseng field with diluted "life-giving water," and now the ginseng is over sixty years old. After irrigating it for a few more months, he will have a hundred-year-old ginseng field, at which point he can make tiger bone wine.

The tigers in the space have now reached thirteen after several rounds of breeding. Currently, there are only three tiger cubs, while the others weigh at least over 100 pounds.

Seeing that he had already stored over a hundred kilograms of third-generation life water in his space, Wang Feng decided to splurge a little.

With a thought, he locked a pre-castrated domestic pig in a separate pigpen.

After thinking about it, I moved ten pheasants and ten rabbits to a separate enclosure as well.

He took out half an ounce of Water of Life from his spatial storage, diluted it with ten pounds of ordinary water, and fed it to the pheasants, rabbits, and piglets.