Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

At the end of the year, Li Jiuzhou was very busy, and the canteen staff were also busy.

This hospitality was personally organized by Minister Li Jiuzhou.

Because both Li Huaide and Li Jiuzhou, uncle and nephew, were deputy secretaries in their workplace, their professional titles were separated.

It would be appropriate to call Li Huaide "Deputy Secretary Li" and Li Jiuzhou "Minister Li".

Therefore, our Minister Li personally hosted a grand reception at the factory.

We have no choice but to do it; it's almost the end of the year, and we need to coordinate the supply of materials.

You have to treat the people at the grain depot to a meal, and you have to treat the people at the meat processing plant to a meal.

Do you think they'll give you supplies just by making a phone call? That's ridiculous. It's not that easy.

Of course, when it comes to entertaining guests, Li Jiuzhou wouldn't just sit there eating and drinking by himself.

Li Jiuzhou is so shrewd. He invites each of the leaders in the team to come and keep him company. It's better to share happiness than to enjoy it alone. He can't eat alone.

Yang Ligong had been invited over by him several times, and he couldn't refuse.

Li Jiuzhou said he couldn't handle the situation and that only the factory director could manage it in person.

Now that things have come to this point, why should Yang Ligong refuse?

Besides, why would Li Jiuzhou do this? It's all for the factory.

This year's production capacity had already reached its target by the middle of the year, and the rest of the year was just their own savings.

With money comes the need to spend it, so this year the leaders were determined to provide welfare benefits to the workers, and the benefits couldn't be too bad.

Yang Ligong raised this question in the meeting room at that time.

No one refused; they all wanted the workers to have a good New Year.

So now it's Li Jiuzhou's turn to be the one in the bind.

You casually offer workers welfare with a single sentence, but I'm expected to handle all the supplies. Why should I?

Li Jiuzhou immediately raised an objection.

However, Yang Ligong persuaded him to go back, as he understood Li Jiuzhou's difficulties.

He also said that he would do everything possible to handle the matter properly, and the factory would spare no effort in taking charge.

Secretary Nie nodded in agreement and told Li Jiuzhou to do his best to handle it.

Li Jiuzhou had no choice but to agree. After returning to his office, he racked his brains and actually came up with an idea.

The first thing he did was treat everyone to a meal.

Send Da Hu to order some wild game and delicacies.

The first guests invited were the entire leadership team of the Metallurgical Department, a total of nine people.

Under the guise of inspecting the canteen of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, we asked the leaders for their opinions.

The Ministry of Metallurgy was overjoyed to receive the invitation.

This is unbelievable!

They actually used the name of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill canteen to invite leaders from the Ministry of Metallurgy to give instructions.

You're just putting on a show, aren't you? You're a real bastard, you've really done well! We didn't spoil you for nothing!

Upon learning that leaders from the Ministry of Metallurgy were coming to inspect the factory, the leadership team became restless.

The first person to call was Secretary Nie.

"Kid, you're using the cafeteria's name to treat the department leaders to... well, an inspection. How about you invite me too?"

Li Jiuzhou laughed into the phone:

"Look at what you're saying! We absolutely need your guidance; no one else can be missing, but you can't be absent!"

Secretary Nie smiled broadly, his face crinkling with wrinkles, and nodded in satisfaction.

"You're a smart kid."

Next was Yang Ligong.

"Xiao Li, did you invite me?" I'm the factory manager, so it's not unreasonable for me to go along with the leaders and give instructions, right?

Yang Ligong called Li Jiuzhou "Little Li" not out of malicious belittling, but rather as a casual way of addressing him; he called Li Huaide "Old Li."

Yang Ligong would only address Li Jiuzhou as Minister Li on formal occasions.

Besides, Yang Ligong is more than ten years older than Li Jiuzhou and holds a higher position, so it's perfectly reasonable for him to call him "Little Li".

Li Jiuzhou wouldn't bother arguing with him about these things at all, and used a similar rhetoric to that of Secretary Nie when speaking to Yang Ligong:

"Factory manager, why did you call in person? The leaders from the Ministry of Metallurgy are coming, and they definitely need you to accompany them. No one can be missing, but you can't be missing."

Yang Ligong was very satisfied, and before leaving, he even asked someone to send over two packs of good cigarettes and some good tea.

Li Jiuzhou naturally accepted it with a smile. Yang Ligong's things were of high quality; he always offered top-grade Chinese tea.

Other leaders didn't dare to call, but instead went to Li Jiuzhou's office in person to cautiously inquire whether they were qualified to attend... no, I mean, to inspect the work...

Apart from Secretary Nie, Yang Ligong, and Li Huaide, who were the three leaders in the factory, no one else had the authority to give instructions to Li Jiuzhou over the phone.

He was basically on par with Li Jiuzhou, and even had less power than Li Jiuzhou, who was the deputy secretary, one of only two deputy secretaries in the factory, and also the head of the logistics department.

Although the title of deputy secretary is "deputy," who would dare to call Li Jiuzhou "deputy secretary" when he goes out?

This is just asking for trouble!

Of course, they weren't qualified to sit down; there wasn't enough room for so many people.

The factory only assigned four people, plus the nine bigwigs from the Ministry of Metallurgy, making a total of thirteen people.

There is a large table in the factory's reception hall that can seat 28 people; it is a specially made large round table.

Da Hu's ingredients arrived three days in advance.

Sha Zhu personally led several apprentices and nephews to brew the broth. Li Jiuzhou didn't say anything, only occasionally going over to check on them, because Sha Zhu was already capable of handling things on his own.

Sha Zhu himself had been holding it in for ages.

God knows how he's been living for the past year. He's got amazing culinary skills, but all he does is make braised pork or chicken soup every day. Damn it…

Now that his senior brother has asked Da Hu to bring over so many ingredients, he's going to show off his skills and also mentor his apprentice.

After all, the apprentice had never eaten any good pork.

Fortunately, there was plenty of food. Whatever the leaders ate, they and their apprentices ate too, and they even had to take some home. This is what is called eating and taking away at the same time!

Most of the leaders were elderly, and since it was winter, Li Jiuzhou arranged for dishes that were relatively mild and nourishing.

Don't just randomly serve a whole table of Sichuan dishes, isn't that ridiculous?

The leaders are all getting old; how many of them can handle spicy food? It's true that they enjoy the meal at the table, but they'll suffer terribly when they get home.

Li Jiuzhou would never dare to joke about the health of his superiors.

On the morning of January 20th, it was snowing lightly when three trucks arrived at the steel rolling mill.

Secretary Nie and others stepped forward to greet them and shook hands with the leaders.

Minister Wang glanced at Li Jiuzhou behind Secretary Nie and joked:

"Comrade Jiuzhou, weren't you inviting us to inspect your work? Then please lead the way, what are you waiting for?"

Li Jiuzhou quickly stepped forward:

"Please, leaders."

Of course, while it's called an inspection of the canteen, it can't really just be a visit to the canteen. It's true that the leaders are interested in food, but their work can't be neglected.

Their primary concern is production and safety within the factory.

Anyway, we'll go to the cafeteria last. It's only a little past 9 o'clock now. We can't go now; the leaders have to save face.

Li Jiuzhou and several other leaders inspected the work of various departments in the factory.

At this point, there was no prior notice, which the steel rolling mill was already used to, as leaders frequently inspected the work and it was nothing unusual.

It's not like I'm cracking down on a factory, I'm not afraid of you for a second!