In the 1970s, it started with contracting out communal dining.

It was afternoon, the time when the sun was at its strongest.

Several women from the accounting office were gathered together, eating popsicles from a small, insulated bucket.

When Wu Xiaochun went in, Sister Yang was the first to see him and waved to him familiarly.

"Xiaochun's here? Come on over and have some popsicles! It must be tough cooking in this sweltering heat!"

"No, no! It's all for serving the people! Sister Yang's hairstyle is really neat and tidy today, making her look so young!" Wu Xiaochun could easily come up with compliments, but his eyes had already secretly glanced at Old Liu, who was in charge of distributing grain coupons.

"Oh, you're so good with words! Let me shut you up with an ice pop!"

Upon hearing this, the woman surnamed Yang smiled and squinted her eyes, and actually handed over an ice pop.

Wu Xiaochun took it and chatted with everyone for a while before turning to Lao Liu's side.

"Master Liu, we have a few new employees at our cafeteria, and I've come to collect their meal tickets! They started this morning and are already working. You see, they don't have tickets, so our head chef, Chef Chen, paid for their lunches out of his own pocket!"

Wu Xiaochun deliberately brought up the matter of Chen Wei paying for the food tickets for Zhang Tieniu and the other new employees out of his own pocket, because if you don't bring out one or two well-known people in the accounting department, this matter will be really difficult to handle.

This old man might just make him go back and go through the proper procedures. He came here on his own, so there are no procedures to follow!

"Oh, really! Look at you guys, you didn't even tell me when the new employee was coming! I've already prepared these tickets for you, but nobody's come to collect them!"

Old Liu is a cunning old fox, a seasoned veteran in his fifties. Whenever something happens, his first reaction is to push it away.

Wu Xiaochun had grasped this very characteristic of his, which is why he dared to come here today under a pretense to collect tickets.

"Hey, everyone's been so busy lately, we all forgot! As soon as I got off work today, Chef Chen sent me over to take care of this for them. He's a new employee, so someone has to look after him. Please bear with me, Chef Liu!"

Knowing Lao Liu's temperament, Wu Xiaochun naturally didn't pursue the matter further and only planned to take the receipt and leave immediately.

This time, Old Liu cooperated very well, quickly ordering three portions of food coupons and vegetable coupons.

They are all paid according to the apprentices' quotas; this is a factory regulation that no one can circumvent.

When handing it over, I couldn't help but remind you, "Keep the ticket safe. If it's lost or damaged, we don't offer refunds or exchanges!"

The receipts from Tianjin No. 1 Steel Company are internal passes and not for external use. So, generally, they are issued to everyone, who then use them in the canteen, and finally, they are all returned to the accounting department.

"I know, I know!"

Seeing that he had the ticket in hand, Wu Xiaochun naturally didn't dare to linger. He casually replied a couple of times and quickly slipped away.

Once outside, the brothers Wu Danian and Wu Ernian were already waiting for them.

As soon as she saw him, she winked and approached him, asking, "How was it?"

"It's done!" Wu Xiaochun shook the receipts in his hand, a smug look on his face. "This afternoon we'll teach that kid a lesson! Let's see if he dares to say he wants to take my kitchen helper position again!"

The group walked away arm in arm, talking amongst themselves.

-

The new employees lived not far from Lin Jun and his group; two rooms were set aside at the end of the first floor of the staff dormitory.

Two people can live in one dormitory room, so Liu Dazhu and Wang Xiaoming were assigned to one room, leaving Zhang Tieniu alone in another room.

When Wu Xiaochun arrived, the two were fast asleep. He glanced at Zhang Tieniu's dormitory and found that the other party hadn't returned. This was a good thing, as it would save him from making too much noise and being seen by Zhang Tieniu.

Without disturbing the two new employees who were fast asleep, Wu Xiaochun simply divided the grain coupons and vegetable coupons into two portions and used half a brick to weigh them down on the window.

He tapped on the glass casually, then turned and left.

He didn't care whether the two of them got it or not; all he cared about now was whether he could get Chen Wei to retract his idea of ​​transferring him.

On his way back, Wu Xiaochun peeked into Chen Wei's dormitory.

But the other person wasn't in the dormitory.

His heart jumped into his throat. Could it be that Brother Chen had already arranged for him to be transferred to a different position so soon?

This time, Wu Xiaochun was right. Chen Wei was indeed in Chen Jianguo's office, discussing with him about transferring Wu Xiaochun to a different position.

In Chen Jianguo's office, the overhead fan hummed loudly, blowing a strong airflow that revealed Chen Jianguo's scalp, which was already somewhat sparse.

Furthermore, his constant scratching of his scalp made Chen Wei even more terrified.

I have a feeling that my uncle's few strands of hair are going to be lost.

"Fine, if you insist on transferring him, I'll try to find a way! But to be honest, the purchasing department isn't easy to get into. If it were, wouldn't I have assigned you there in the first place?"

Chen Jianguo seemed to have made a huge decision before he finally spoke.

When Chen Wei came in, he made his point quite clearly, saying that Wu Xiaochun was not suitable to work in the kitchen.

In Chen Wei's opinion, Wu Xiaochun's gossipy and sociable personality is best suited for departments like purchasing and sales, rather than a kitchen where he deals with cutting boards and grease every day.

It's one thing for him to have a laid-back personality, but Wu Xiaochun is so lively. Putting him in the kitchen, chopping things up every day, makes him feel uncomfortable.

"Actually, Wu Xiaochun isn't a bad person. He enjoys playing the hero and punishing the wicked and is very righteous. It's just that sometimes he doesn't know how to handle things properly when interacting with people. He's impulsive and prone to making a big deal out of small things. I think since that's the case, why not give him some power? Anyway, Lao Zhou and the others in the purchasing department aren't willing to do the work of getting ingredients to the cafeteria. So why not take this opportunity to have someone from our own cafeteria take over? Xiaochun has experience helping out in the kitchen, so he'll be more adept at selecting ingredients and purchasing materials."

Chen Wei slowly explained the reasoning to Chen Jianguo, and even emphasized one point.

"As for money, we will definitely reimburse you for your actual expenses. If the purchasing department is really unwilling, we can arrange for Wu Xiaochun to be an unofficial staff member of the purchasing department. Let the purchasing department handle the approvals. Wu Xiaochun can just be responsible for selecting items and not handling money. I don't think there will be any major problems."

To be honest, this position is a newly created one.

Chen Wei wanted to assign Wu Xiaochun there, firstly because Wu Xiaochun's personality wasn't suited to the kitchen; he was better at interacting with people. Secondly...

Chen Wei had some ulterior motives. If he could gradually bring the procurement of ingredients into the hands of the canteen staff, then when the steel plant was restructured and the canteen became privately owned, could he consider contracting the canteen?