Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

The next day, Yi Zhonghai woke up groggily, feeling only a dry throat and a throbbing headache.

I was in a daze for a while before I remembered that I had been drinking last night, and I think I had drunk too much.

Aunt Yi then brought over breakfast and asked with concern, "Honey, you're awake! How are you feeling?"

Yi Zhonghai rubbed his temples and waved his hand, "Don't worry, it's nothing. I just drank a little too much last night."

Upon hearing this, Aunt Yi suddenly laughed, remembering what Jia Zhangshi had said the previous night:

"Hahaha, you've really had too much to drink. Your sister-in-law asked you if cremation was a good idea, and you said yes. You even said you wanted to grind your ashes into powder and make dice so that Banggeng could shake them when he's having trouble, and then ask you to come up with some crazy ideas for him!"

Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai's lips twitched: "What nonsense are you spouting during the New Year? I don't want to be cremated. I need to be left with a complete corpse. I'll have to explain this to Dongxu properly later."

"Hehe, whatever you want. Go wash up and eat quickly," Aunt Yi said with a smile.

Li Jiuzhou would laugh if he knew that Yi Zhonghai wanted to be buried after his death.

By the time Yi Zhonghai was born, burial was no longer permitted in Beiping; instead, he was cremated and buried directly.

On the way to work at the factory in the morning, almost every worker has a smile on their face.

There was basically no work to do today, so I just slacked off at the factory.

The main reason is that we're receiving New Year's benefits today, and we're all lining up to get them.

The canteen has a task: distributing pork.

Li Jiuzhou was supervising the scene, and canteen staff were cutting pork.

Not everyone receives the same amount of pork.

Chinese New Year benefits are distributed according to employee rank.

Apprentices only get one pound of meat, mostly lean meat and ribs.

No one was dissatisfied or caused trouble, because the notice had been given in advance, specifying the benefits based on job level, to avoid disputes when it came time to cut costs.

The factory isn't a vegetable market; you can't be picky. You take whatever they give you, and they won't give you anything more.

The pork from a first-class worker is about the same, about 1.3 jin (0.5 kg), with not much fat.

A worker at level 2-4 can receive 1.5 jin of pork, which is a piece of good quality pork belly, meaning it's half fat and half lean.

Two jin of meat for a level 5-6 worker is also considered high-quality pork belly.

Level 7-8 is pork hock, weighing exactly 3 jin (1.5 catties).

The kitchen staff worked until the afternoon to finish cutting the pork, and they also took their share.

Li Jiuzhou, a deputy section chief, was allocated five jin of pork ribs, which he requested himself.

Fried pork ribs are delicious during Chinese New Year.

Moreover, the family has everything they need.

After the welfare distribution was completed, I went home for the holiday and prepared for the Chinese New Year. Tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve.

The New Year holiday is only 3 days, but the steel rolling mill gave us an extra day, so it's 4 days.

We have to go back to work on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, so there aren't many holidays.

Before dawn on New Year's Eve, the courtyard was already bustling with activity; everyone was up and working. Who the hell could possibly sleep?

Those children had been looking forward to this day for a long time; every extra second of sleep was a loss.

Because New Year's money doesn't necessarily have to be given after the New Year's Eve dinner or during the first month of the lunar calendar.

Many people visit relatives and friends on New Year's Eve and leave their children with them. If they are not present, they leave them with their parents, which is a loss.

So the children didn't go anywhere else, they just played in the front yard, afraid of missing something.

Many people came to wish Li Jiuzhou a Happy New Year early throughout the morning; they were mostly cafeteria staff.

The New Year's gifts they gave were very small; they would usually give their son, Tie Niu, a red envelope.

Li Jiuzhou didn't refuse any of them; as long as it wasn't a bribe, it was fine.

He wasn't unprepared, nor did he want to take advantage of his subordinates; he returned the gifts to those who came to wish him a Happy New Year.

A bag of peanuts and melon seeds, a bag of candy, and a bag of sachima (a type of Chinese pastry).

The sachima was bought by the Jia family to boost their sales figures for the Chinese New Year.

There's no way around it; once you become a leader, you're not in control of your own destiny.

Why are they coming to wish us a Happy New Year today?

Because smart people tend to prepare in advance.

The boss is very busy during the first month of the lunar year, so he might not be there if you go to pay your respects.

Therefore, it's best to do it in advance.

The workers in both canteens knew exactly what Li Jiuzhou was going to do in the first month of the lunar year.

The neighbors envied Li Jiuzhou, but they envied the workers who wished him a Happy New Year even more.

Li Jiuzhou's return gift was quite generous; peanuts and melon seeds were too cheap, though.

However, sugar cubes and sachima are not cheap, especially sugar cubes, which are even rarer.

Every canteen worker who received a return gift was surprised when they got home.

My wife said that the leader is indeed a leader, and we must go again next year!

Besides Li Jiuzhou's family, which received many New Year's greetings, there was another family that also had a lot of visitors: Liu Haizhong's family.

He has many apprentices. Although they have eccentric personalities and irritable tempers, they are genuinely skilled at teaching techniques.

Many of his apprentices came to wish him a Happy New Year, and he received a lot of New Year's gifts.

Liu Haizhong finally got to show off in the courtyard, looking down on Yi Zhonghai whenever they met, and was extremely smug.

Yi Zhonghai smiled outwardly but cursed inwardly.

Calling Liu Haizhong an idiot, doesn't he understand the principle of "teaching a disciple will starve the master"?

A few people came to wish Yi Zhonghai a Happy New Year, but not as many as Liu Haizhong. They came in waves, almost as many as Li Jiuzhou.

Yi Zhonghai also mentors apprentices, but he always holds back a bit of his skills. He's been through it all, so he's quite calculating.

He didn't have many apprentices, about five, and they all came. Except for Jia Dongxu, who was a true apprentice, the others were either assigned by the factory or were mentored by the factory because they liked him.

The four apprentices were not high-ranking, around level two or three.

Yi Zhonghai will not hinder their technical skills at this stage; he will only slow down when they reach the advanced fitter level.

In other words, there is a submarine line in Yizhong, but not much...

Everyone has their own selfish motives, and Yi Zhonghai had his own considerations. He didn't intend to hold back his skills against his personal disciple, Jia Dongxu.

Because it was unnecessary, and Yi Zhonghai didn't think that teaching Jia Dongxu without reservation would enable him to be promoted to senior fitter.

This requires talent, and it's clear that Jia Dongxu has some talent, but not a lot.

Yi Zhonghai had thought it through; Jia Dongxu could at most become a level five fitter, at most level six.

To continue to advance, one truly needs exceptional talent. Yi Zhonghai himself is a senior fitter, so he can naturally discern a person's talent.

Yi Zhonghai is now proficient in level seven fitter work. With a little more practice, he can be promoted. He is very confident that his future is bright.

The factory and workshops respect Yi Zhonghai because engineers and top experts have given him very fair evaluations.

It is said that Yi Zhonghai has a very solid foundation in fitter work, and his hands are steadyer than an old dog. If he keeps this up, he will become an eighth-level fitter in time!

Level 8 Fitter = Technical ceiling + High income + High authority + High prestige!

The engineers affirmed Yi Zhonghai's future, which made the factory leaders and his colleagues believe that he could reach that level in the future.