Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

After the meal, the leaders from the Ministry of Metallurgy left.

Of course, Li Jiuzhou didn't eat for nothing.

As the banquet drew to a close, Li Jiuzhou took the opportunity to ask the leaders for help in allocating supplies for the end of the year.

Minister Wang assured Li Jiuzhou that they wouldn't eat this meal for nothing.

Sure enough, the approval came through the next day, granting Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill 300 pigs and some grain.

There wasn't much food; 300 pigs were barely enough for the steel mill to feed two meals.

It's mainly used for welfare distribution; it won't be available immediately, you have to wait.

So the steel mill continued to entertain guests, inviting them to meals and requesting supplies.

Of course, the hospitality couldn't just be for Li Jiuzhou alone; other leaders also had guests to entertain.

Sha Zhu was happy to do it, saying he could prepare two meals a day, one for lunch and one for dinner.

This is the atmosphere at the end of the year; without treating others, it's difficult to allocate resources.

There was also the textile factory; Li Jiuzhou went there personally to ask for some things.

To be honest, their factory generally doesn't use the textile factory's products.

They're talking about things like cloth; their steel mill is a steel plant, so they generally don't use those.

However, the cloth can be used to distribute welfare.

With over 35000 employees at Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, it's impossible for each person to produce a single piece of cloth; otherwise, what's the difference between that and diapers?

Fabric is also a scarce resource, and as long as the rewards are given to outstanding workers and cadres, this will not change.

Moreover, the reward of fabric is more than enough for you to make three decent outfits.

The factory will not reward workers for defective fabrics.

In the office of the textile factory's Party Secretary, Li Jiuzhou leisurely sipped his tea.

"Secretary Dong, I wonder if your factory has prepared what we need?"

Dong Tianbao looked at Li Jiuzhou with a smile. He didn't dislike Li Jiuzhou; he only disliked Yang Guangming of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill.

Besides, in officialdom, how can one make enemies everywhere? Having suffered so many losses, Dong Tianbao had finally learned his lesson.

Dong Tianbao laughed:

"Minister Li, everything was prepared long ago. It's no big deal."

"I have a batch of defective fabric here, do you want it?"

Li Jiuzhou had no idea what Dong Tianbao was up to, but while cadres might look down on flawed cloth, ordinary workers treasured it. Who the hell would complain about such a thing?

If the price isn't too high, Li Jiuzhou would be willing to take some back.

"Oh? May I ask how many defective pieces of fabric your factory produces, and what conditions are required?"

Dong Tianbao gave a wry smile:

"This batch of fabric has quite a few defects, Brother Li. They're all priced by the ton. If you want it, I'll give you five tons."

"It's mainly blue and black."

"I don't have any special requests, I just want our cafeteria's cooks to go back to your cafeteria to learn again."

"The price is negotiable; consider it making friends with you, Brother Li."

Li Jiuzhou thought there was nothing wrong with it and laughed:

"Then it's settled. Let's get the warrant issued."

"As for the training in the cafeteria, you can send someone over anytime, and I'll arrange for someone to handle it."

"Okay, it's settled then." Dong Tianbao had no objections.

That afternoon, several trucks returned carrying bolts of cloth, and many workers saw them.

I was overjoyed when I heard it was a defective fabric.

Good fabrics are truly not available to ordinary workers unless you are recognized as an advanced or outstanding worker this year; otherwise, you can only stand aside.

Imperfect fabrics are different; they don't mind them, and they'll give you as much as you want.

We didn't have enough clothes at home. The family's cloth ration coupons saved up for a year weren't even enough to make two pieces of clothing, let alone cotton ration coupons.

The factory leaders were also curious and came to take a look when they saw that Li Jiuzhou had brought back so many flawed fabrics.

After learning that Dong Tianbao was selling it at half price and giving it away, he understood the situation.

This thing is most likely used as a welfare benefit for workers.

That's fine too. Give us less grain, but a few bolts of cloth would be good. We can discuss the specifics of how to distribute it in a meeting.

In the following days, after Li Jiuzhou treated them to meals multiple times, the leadership of the meat processing plant finally relented and agreed to supply 400 pigs by the end of the year.

Sha Zhu was practically wielding a ladle in the kitchen, cooking while cursing the meat processing plant leaders as bastards who sucked the blood of the workers.

After all, his senior brother had invited them four times already, and things shouldn't happen more than three times. Sha Zhu was starting to get fed up.

If these bastards still don't give in by the fourth time, he'll poison the food he's cooking, damn it... even his senior brother!

Sha Zhu was full of resentment while cooking, and the leadership team all knew about it.

The cursing and swearing were almost bursting out; it was just that the meat processing plant workers hadn't arrived yet, otherwise things would have really gone wrong.

The leaders were also angry. Damn it, they had to beg you four times before you finally gave in. You've lost all sense of shame.

Most people would agree to do something after being asked twice, but this meat processing plant takes four times. I'm speechless.

But there's nothing we can do, the meat processing plant is our father!

If you offend them, they won't just stop giving you supplies for the New Year; they'll obstruct you even on ordinary days, and that would be a real problem.

In all of Beiping, no one dared to raise their voice at the meat processing plant. It was a real powerhouse; no one dared to offend it!

On the surface, they all treat them kindly, but behind their backs, their ancestors for eighteen generations are cursed out.

The factory leaders took turns coming over to appease Sha Zhu, telling him to calm down, that it was all for the factory's sake, and to just bear with it.

They also gave Sha Zhu compensation, stuffing him with all sorts of receipts, which actually made Sha Zhu happy!

Sha Zhu was also a cadre in the factory, and he was unhappy to see the meat processing plant people taking advantage of the factory like this.

And it puts my senior brother in such a difficult position; no wonder he's unhappy about it.

Fortunately, the matter was resolved, and Li Jiuzhou breathed a sigh of relief.

He was also helpless; the people at the meat processing plant were all tough nut to crack, afraid of no one and unafraid of offending anyone.

If you're so capable, why don't you just give up meat? Do you even have any?

No, that's not true!

No one in the same level unit can stand up for themselves at the meat processing plant!

Unless it's a higher-level leader who approves it, but leaders generally don't care about these kinds of things.

Unless there are special circumstances.

Last time, Minister Wang approved 300 pigs, which was already the maximum he could manage; there really weren't any more.

With an additional 400 heads this time, it means that Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill can really have a good year.

Money is not a problem for the steel rolling mill; the main problem is the difficulty in procuring materials.

Normally, grain and meat are supplied on a fixed basis, so there is no worry about workers not having enough to eat.

What I dread most is the Chinese New Year. Workers work so hard all year round, so it's only fair that we give them some benefits.

Meat is the most important part; nothing is more thoughtful or timely than this.

Because every household needs to eat meat during the Chinese New Year, some people who don't have ration coupons can't even afford to eat meat during the New Year.

The dumpling filling is always pickled cabbage or Chinese cabbage, how shabby! It makes me want to cry.

The factory plans to process the 700 pigs they acquired, each weighing around 180 jin (90 catties), which amounts to over 120,000 jin (60,000 kg) of meat.

This time it's definitely enough, and there's even more.

Li Jiuzhou plans to use 400 pigs to distribute as welfare, which will definitely be enough.

The rest will be stored in the freezer. We'll have to work overtime again after the New Year, and then we'll take them out to eat.

The leaders thought it made sense. If all 700 pigs were killed, what would that look like? Only a spendthrift would do that.

In short, everyone will get a share of pork this time, starting with at least one pound.