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

The next morning, as soon as Wang Xiuli arrived at the entrance of the canteen, she saw Li Changfu pushing a tricycle and waiting at the door with his hands in his pockets.

Wang Xiuli looked puzzled: "Li Changfu, what are you doing here?"

You should know that the purchasing department colleagues usually arrive at work at 8 o'clock sharp, and they would never arrive a minute early.

Those people work in offices, so their treatment is definitely different from those who suffer hardship and toil.

But Li Changfu, sitting opposite him, was unusually smiling broadly, and spoke to him in a much more friendly manner than usual.

"This tofu was sent to Chef Chen in the canteen by my section chief. He said it was specially approved by the administration department so that our factory can improve our lunch!"

Wang Xiuli turned around and looked at the tricycle behind Li Changfu. Sure enough, she saw ten boards of tofu neatly stacked inside the vehicle.

She couldn't help but marvel.

"Hey, Xiao Li! How early did you have to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy tofu? It's only 6:30!"

Normally, the supply and marketing cooperative's grocery store doesn't open until 7 o'clock. If an ordinary person goes there at 6 o'clock and bangs on the door, they're guaranteed to be kicked out by the staff on duty.

Li Changfu chuckled and said, "I was worried about delaying Chef Chen's cooking. Last night, I made a special trip to the supply and marketing cooperative to ask my old classmate to leave the door open for me so I could pick up the first truckload of tofu."

"Oh my, we ordered this tofu from the supply and marketing cooperative?" Wang Xiuli exclaimed in surprise.

To be able to order such a large truckload of tofu from the supply and marketing cooperative, you can't do it without connections.

You should know that the supply and marketing cooperative usually requires ration coupons to purchase non-staple foods. Buying things like tofu and dried tofu was considered a treat. They'd be sold out within half an hour of opening in the morning!

The purchasing department must have benefited from the factory leadership to be so attentive to the canteen's ingredients. I didn't expect the factory leadership to value today's meal so much!

"That's right!" Li Changfu chimed in, beaming. "Luckily, I have an old classmate at the supply and marketing cooperative, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get all this tofu! Uh... so Aunt Wang..."

As he said this, Li Changfu suddenly lowered his voice and chuckled.

"Could you please put in a good word for Chef Chen and ask him to make extra Mapo Tofu for lunch today? Our Section Chief Ma has already agreed to let our sales department leave 5 minutes early, but I'm still worried..."

Now Wang Xiuli understood. It turned out that this kid was afraid that she wouldn't be able to enjoy Chen Wei's cooking.

Who would have thought that the usually arrogant purchasing department would become like quails when it comes to Chen Wei, suddenly following the rules? They're really beholden to him because they're being paid!

"No problem!" Wang Xiuli dared not refuse the request from the purchasing department.

Wang Xiuli nodded confidently: "I'll discuss it with Chen Wei, and we'll make 400 servings of Mapo Tofu later, so there won't be not enough for everyone!"

"400 servings! That's great!" Li Changfu immediately beamed with joy upon hearing this.

After greeting Wang Xiuli, he turned and left with a scurry gait.

Judging from his appearance, he must have gone back to the purchasing department to spread good news.

In fact, Wang Xiuli had already heard Chen Wei mutter to himself last night that he planned to make 400 servings of tofu today. She considered this a favor she had gained, since those young bastards in the purchasing department were always so arrogant!

Wang Xiuli smiled and shook her head, then quickly pushed the tricycle to the back kitchen of the canteen.

In the canteen kitchen, Chen Wei was standing in front of the cutting board, calmly sharpening the cleaver in his hand.

Turning his head, he saw Wang Xiuli pushing a tricycle and stopping at the entrance of the kitchen. He went over to help Wang Xiuli unload the ten boards of tofu from the tricycle.

The tofu in Jinshi is usually soft tofu, so the serving size is relatively small. In addition, the workers at the steel mill who do heavy physical labor eat a lot of tofu, so they usually order larger portions.

Chen Wei estimated that about two pieces of tofu could make one serving of Mapo Tofu.

A slab of tofu contains about 80 to 100 pieces, so ten slabs can make exactly 400 servings.

Moreover, cutting tofu requires some knife skills, and Chen Wei still doesn't plan to rely on anyone else for help today.

Since I need to improve my skill level anyway, today is a good day to break through to the next stage of my knife skills.

He stopped helping with breakfast preparation and focused entirely on preparing lunch.

The tender white tofu was smoothly cut into even two-centimeter square pieces on the cutting board.

With his skillful knife work, each piece of tofu was evenly divided. Chen Wei's hands were as steady as a machine; you could only see his hand holding the knife flying across the tofu, but you couldn't see a single piece of tofu falling onto the cutting board.

On hot days, considering that tofu is a food that is prone to spoilage, Chen Wei blanched each block of tofu in salt water after cutting it.

While removing the beany smell, it can also extend the shelf life of tofu.

After all, only fresh ingredients can make truly delicious food.

By the time all ten slabs of tofu were ready, it was already 10 a.m.

With dinner time approaching at 11:30, Chen Wei didn't dare to delay and immediately lit the fire to heat the pot and added lard.

Start cooking Mapo Tofu.

After yesterday's systematic practice, Chen Wei's cooking process has become much faster.

To outsiders, his movements appeared fluid and efficient, without any hesitation.

There was a strange sense of rhythm about him.

But Chen Wei himself could feel that today's stir-frying was like mechanically scoring points; the effort required was completely different from yesterday, and it was much less strenuous.

Every time he finished cooking ten portions, he could hear the system panel's report in his mind, and the numbers on the panel would also jump up once.

Although he was tending to the scorching stove and carrying a heavy pot, the exhilarating feeling of watching his score slowly climb up still put Chen Wei in a great mood.

[Ding—Proficiency in controlling the heat +1]

[Temperature control proficiency +1]

[Proficiency +1]

……

One pot after another, Chen Wei was unusually silent today, but his hands did not slow down at all.

The scalding red oil slowly churned in the iron pot, the tofu floated in the broth, and the numbing aroma of Sichuan peppercorns permeated the entire kitchen.

Wang Xiuli and Wu Xiaochun, who were helping out, couldn't help but stare in astonishment.

Chen Wei is usually quiet, but when he gets to work, he's terrifying!

For an average person, even if they don't cook 400 servings of Mapo Tofu in one pot, they would at least need to cook it in two pots.

But this kid is so stubborn, he insists on cooking 10 portions at a time!

But it was precisely because of this that the people present couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "This kid is really amazing!"

After cooking so many batches, the aroma of each one was exactly the same, and even the color of the red oil on the tofu was almost identical.

More importantly, as he cooked more and more Mapo Tofu, the aroma filling the entire kitchen became increasingly rich and intense.

Wang Xiuli was so tempted that she couldn't resist.

Finally, around 11:30, Chenwei's 40th batch of Mapo Tofu was completed!

Current proficiency: 52/500

Chen Wei leaned against the stove, panting heavily and covered in sweat. He had finally finished making 40 pots of Mapo Tofu, but the proficiency level refreshed by the system was not satisfactory.

It takes 500 proficiency points to level up. It's been two days and I've only earned 52 points. If I want to level up quickly, it'll take forever!

Fortunately, my knife skills improved significantly today.

Tofu is a food with a lot of hidden complexities; it's much more substantial than cucumbers or potatoes.

It seems that making Mapo Tofu is much more cost-effective than making Hot and Sour Shredded Vegetables. Not only is the cooking time shorter, but it also improves knife skills much faster.

Chen Wei had cut nearly 800 jin of tofu by the end of the morning, and his knife skills had already advanced to the next level. However, before he could check the system rewards for this knife skill upgrade, he heard a series of footsteps outside the cafeteria.

Immediately afterwards, a few young people cautiously entered the cafeteria.

"Master Chen, can we get lunch now?"