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

Sure enough, the next moment they heard Ma Qianjin say "Ai".

"Old Chen! That's not right of you! It's good that young people have ambition. Look at Xiao Chen's skills. If our canteen had someone with these skills, everyone's enthusiasm for work would be even higher! It's just an electric fan, I've taken the lead in approving it for Xiao Chen!"

In fact, Ma Qianjin understood that Chen Jianguo had specifically dragged him here today to support his nephew.

What's more, Chen Wei has real skills; he makes this dish really well!

Chen Wei is much more humble than that old man Wang Defa. If all the young people in the factory were like Chen Wei, Ma Qianjin would be happy to provide everyone with not just one electric fan, but even ten or eight.

The electric fan is finished!

As soon as Ma Qianjin finished speaking, Chen Wei couldn't help but smile.

He quickly took over the conversation and finalized the decision.

He laughed shamelessly.

"Thank you, Uncle! Thank you, Section Chief Ma!"

Ma Qianjin and Chen Jianguo exchanged a smile, waved for Chen Wei to leave, and then began to chat about their own affairs.

Chen Wei thought to himself, this Section Chief Ma didn't leave a deep impression on the original owner, and he didn't know why he had suddenly helped him so much today.

After seeing off the two leaders, the kitchen was almost cleaned up.

Chen Wei opened the bottle of Arctic Ocean soda that Chen Jianguo had just left behind and took a swig.

The sweltering air was finally subsided by the cool bubbles, and a feeling of complete comfort instantly spread throughout the body.

"Ah—that feels great!"

Chen Wei sighed, leaned back on the makeshift bed made of a bench, and lay down comfortably.

"System, open the panel!"

As Chen Wei murmured a word, a familiar semi-transparent panel immediately appeared in front of him.

The strange reputation points that had been discovered earlier had been maxed out. Chen Wei didn't know what the reward would be, but he heard a system notification saying that he would be rewarded with a chance to win a prize in the in-game store.

But this system also has an online store?

It must be a new feature unlocked after the system upgrade.

As Chen Wei thought this, he looked at the transparent panel in front of him and found that next to the attribute panel, which originally only had two equipment slots, there was a small golden icon - [Shop].

Once you click on it, there's only a large, glittering golden spinning wheel inside.

The character "抽" (chop) is written in large characters in the center of the wheel.

There is also a line of tiny, almost invisible text on the top of the wheel, which is a small note.

"Remaining draw attempts: 1"

hiss--

Is there only one chance to win a prize?

This system is so stingy! I finally managed to get 100 points of favorability, and all I got as a reward was one chance to draw a prize.

It's unknown whether Chen Wei, who has been ruthless since his past life, can change his black constitution this time.

"Who cares! All in!"

[Ding—The lucky draw has begun!]

[Congratulations, host, you have received a limited-edition recipe gift pack!]

"What's the meaning of this recipe gift pack? Does it contain a lot of recipes? Will it give me some kind of god-tier recipe that will make me a master chef? If all else fails, a chef's manual would be fine too!"

Chen Wei muttered to himself as he reached out and tapped on the limited-edition recipe gift pack.

【Ding--】

After a notification sound, a bright red recipe popped up on the panel.

[Congratulations, host, you have obtained a new recipe: Mapo Tofu!]

[Dish Description: Classic Sichuan cuisine, spicy and fragrant, tender and smooth to the taste. It's sure to be a hit throughout the factory once it's served.]

Chen Wei stared at the recipe descriptions on the panel, his brows furrowing slightly.

Mapo tofu?

It's a good recipe, very suitable for steel mills, since heavy physical labor requires oily and salty food to cope with such a large amount of physical exertion.

However, in this sweltering heat, tofu is something the cafeteria can't store; it has to be purchased fresh.

The procurement of food ingredients for the canteen of Tianjin No. 1 Steel Plant is managed by the Procurement Department. When food ingredients need to be purchased, a slip of paper must first be obtained from the Administration Department, and then the Procurement Department must be notified before it can be included in the procurement plan.

Moreover, food was not purchased every day. In those days, people's living conditions were limited. Grains and dry food were purchased about once a month, eggs were purchased about once every two weeks, and vegetables were purchased twice a week in the summer and once a week in the winter.

As for meat... that's something you only get to eat during holidays and festivals.

Normally, the canteen serves the same few dishes: potatoes, cabbage, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, and green beans. Behind the canteen is a plot of land, a sideline of Tianjin No. 1 Steel Plant, where they grow radishes, leafy greens, and other common vegetables.

The factory employs several hundred people, and their livelihoods depend almost entirely on this land. Occasionally, they go out to purchase ingredients, but that's entirely up to the purchasing department.

Chen Wei scratched his head. It seemed that he would have to go to the administration department first and ask his uncle, who was also his relative, to solve the big problem of finding ingredients before he could unlock this recipe.

Thinking of this, Chen Wei tilted his head back, downed the bottle of Beibingyang soda in one gulp, casually put the empty bottle in the kitchen cabinet, and then strode out of the kitchen.

-

In the office building of the Logistics and Administration Department, Chen Jianguo warmly saw Ma Qianjin out of the office before letting out a long sigh of relief and collapsing onto his chair.

But before he could even finish venting his anger, he saw his office door suddenly pushed open.

Chen Jianguo thought it was Ma Qianjin returning, so he quickly stood up with a warm smile. He was halfway through his grin when he saw that it was Chen Wei standing outside.

Why is this kid in my office instead of resting in his dorm?

Chen Jianguo was taken aback, then casually gestured for Chen Wei to sit down.

"What do you need me for?"

He knew his nephew all too well; he was a man of few words, and if it weren't for the fact that the nephew needed his help, he probably wouldn't have remembered having an uncle like him for 800 years.

"Uncle, I'd like to request permission to purchase some new ingredients," Chen Wei said with a smile, shamelessly leaning closer.

"New ingredients?" Chen Jianguo raised an eyebrow, stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, and said, "Want to make a new dish? Tell me!"

"I'd like to buy some soft tofu and fermented soybean paste! We don't have any fermented soybean paste in the kitchen!"

Chen Wei speaks the truth.

Previously, the head chef in the kitchen, Wang Defa, preferred to cook Huaiyang cuisine with a light flavor, so he generally didn't need to use seasonings like fermented bean paste. Naturally, the purchasing department wouldn't prepare seasonings that he didn't need.

Fortunately, Chen Wei had learned about the seasonings and ingredients needed to make Mapo Tofu beforehand. The ingredients were quite simple, just tofu, but the fermented bean paste in the seasoning was absolutely essential.

"Soft tofu?" Chen Jianguo frowned. "That's easy to arrange, but what dish are you planning to make?"

The local cuisine in Jinshi is a combination of Shandong and Jiangsu cuisines, so you generally don't see classic Sichuan dishes like Mapo Tofu. Chen Jianguo was not familiar with this dish.

"I'm planning to make Mapo Tofu!" Chen Wei explained patiently. "This dish requires soft tofu, fermented broad bean paste, fermented black beans, and Sichuan peppercorn powder. I just checked the cafeteria; I still have fermented black beans, and Sichuan peppercorn powder is readily available, but I don't have tofu or fermented broad bean paste."