Siheyuan: Sizhu starts blindly and takes a new path

Chapter 248 Yi County Machinery Bureau

Li Huaide's forehead was covered with cold sweat. He knew that if this matter got out of hand, he would be the first to suffer. Now, the workers were very dissatisfied, saying that the food tasted wrong, there was not enough oil and water, and they were not full. If this affected production, it would be a major event that would alarm the city.

That night, Li Huaide called Xu Damao to his office and scolded him, "You are a jeopardizer who can't do anything good but always makes things difficult! Now the whole factory has to shut down, what do you say we should do?!"

Xu Damao hunched his neck, with beads of sweat on his forehead: "Director Li, how about...reinstating the free meals first?"

"Bullshit!" Li Huaide kicked over the chair. "Recover, how to recover, do you want me to do it or do you want me to do it?!"

At this moment, the phone rang. Li Huaide picked up the phone and his face turned pale instantly: "Yes...Yes...We will rectify it immediately..."

After hanging up the phone, he slumped in his chair: "The city... the city knows..."

The next morning, the steel mill posted a notice: "After research, it has been decided that chefs will have to study independently in their spare time. We hope that all chefs will study hard and strive to better serve the employees."

In the cafeteria, workers lined up in a long queue. Sha Zhu was wearing an apron, waving his wok up and down. Ma Hua deliberately shouted at the top of his voice: "Here comes Director He's cabbage and pork slices—"

Xu Damao hid behind a pillar, watching the workers talking and laughing around the silly pillar who was getting his meal, and he was so angry that his teeth were itching. Suddenly, a piece of cabbage stalk flew over and stuck on his brand new Zhongshan suit.

"Ouch! Team Leader Xu!" Sha Zhu shouted exaggeratedly, "I'm sorry, my hands are unfamiliar - after all, I haven't touched a rice spoon for a long time!"

The workers burst into laughter. Xu Damao walked out with a gloomy face, and there were constant jokes behind him:

"Team Leader Xu, take care!"

“Be careful, it’s slippery!”

“Don’t fall!”

After leaving the cafeteria, Xu Damao found that the propaganda board was crowded with people. He squeezed in and saw a new big-character poster: "On the reactionary behavior of some people who sabotage production." The signature was clearly "the broad revolutionary workers of the steel rolling mill."

The cold wind blew, cutting Xu Damao's face like a knife. He suddenly found his hands shaking - not because of anger, but because of fear. Because he clearly saw that next to the big-character poster was a document from the city: "Notice on Ensuring Food Supply for Workers".

The news of the free meals at the steel mill soon reached Li Huaide's father-in-law, who called Li Huaide over. Li Huaide stood in front of the mahogany desk in his father-in-law's study, and the cold sweat on his back had soaked through his shirt. There was a drizzle outside the window, hitting the glass and making a tiny sound, like countless small needles piercing his nerves.

"Asshole!" Li Huaide's father-in-law slammed the table so hard that the purple clay teapot jumped up.

Li Huaide was so frightened that his knees went weak and he fell to his knees on the blue brick floor. His father-in-law, a leader in a ministry, was staring at him with sharp eyes. Although he didn't touch him, Li Huaide felt as if he was pierced by thousands of steel needles.

"Why should we send the income of the chef service team to the steel mill just for those little things? The steel mill has no government funding, or its products cannot be sold, and it has no income. It has to rely on the little money earned by a few chefs outside to support it? Huh?" Li Huaide's father-in-law lowered his voice very low, but it was more terrifying than a roar. "I just pushed you to the position of the head of the steel mill. How many eyes in the city are watching you? But you almost caused the workers to go on strike for that little bit of money!"

Li Huaide's father-in-law kicked Li Huaide on the thigh. He shuddered in pain but did not dare to dodge.

"Dad, let me explain..."

"What an explanation!" Li Huaide's father-in-law grabbed the Workers' Daily on the table and threw it in his face. "Look! Page 3! "Caring about the lives of workers is a big deal"! Someone is setting the tone!"

Li Huaide unfolded the newspaper with shaking hands and saw an inconspicuous report in the corner, which mentioned that a steel plant's production was affected by food problems. His face turned pale - this was clearly a warning to him!

"Do you know," Li Huaide's father-in-law leaned over, and the smell of tobacco mixed with mint candy sprayed on his face, "how many people are waiting for you to make a mistake? Huh? Deputy Mayor Wang's nephew and Deputy Minister Zhang's nephew are all eyeing your position!"

The rain outside the window was getting heavier, and the water drops were winding down the glass like tear marks. Li Huaide suddenly remembered something and hurriedly took out an envelope from his briefcase: "Dad, this is what we found during the seizure..."

"Idiot!" Li Huaide's father-in-law threw the envelope away, and several deeds and gold notes scattered all over the floor. "What's the trend now? How dare you touch these?!"

Li Huaide's father-in-law slowly walked to the window and looked at the outline of the municipal party committee building in the rain: "Next week, the department will hold a cadre meeting... You, take the initiative to make a self-criticism and smooth over the matter of the chef team." He turned and stared at his son-in-law, "As for that Xu Damao..."

Li Huaide immediately understood: "I'll take care of it right away!"

"Wait." My father-in-law suddenly laughed and took out a document from the drawer. "Doesn't your factory have an opportunity to work in the Yi County Machinery Bureau? Let him go."

Li Huaide was stunned - Yi County? Two hundred miles away, and he was still on a temporary assignment.

"Remember," the father-in-law picked up the gold note on the ground and threw it into the charcoal basin, "you have to be willing to give up, only by giving up can you gain."

The flames shot up, making Li Huaide's face flicker. He stared at the bills that turned to ashes, and suddenly understood something.

That night, the steel mill posted two notices: one was Li Huaide's "Self-Criticism on Improving Work Style"; the other was Xu Damao's transfer order.

Sha Zhu squatted at the back door of the cafeteria sharpening his knife, listening to the workers talking:

"Xu Damao got promoted?"

"Bah! A promotion in name only, a demotion in reality! That place is a waste of time!"

“Serves him right! He’s bullying people all day long!”

Ma Hua came over and said, "Master, why did Li Huaide suddenly change his personality?"

Sha Zhu smiled and said, "People who have been hungry know best how precious food is." He looked in the direction of the office building, "Someone... is afraid."

Xu Damao kicked the door open, and his briefcase slammed heavily on the table, causing the lid of the teapot to jump up with a clang. Qin Jingru was humming a little tune while sewing a cotton-padded jacket for her son. Seeing this, she happily went to meet him and said, "Damo, I heard that you are going to be promoted to deputy section chief?"

"Promotion, damn it!" Xu Damao ripped the pen off his collar and threw it on the ground, ink splattering everywhere. "This is exile! Do you understand exile?!"

Qin Jingru then noticed that her husband's face was livid and his lips were trembling. She hurriedly picked up the transfer order and when she saw the words "Yi County Machinery Bureau", her hands trembled and the sewing basket fell to the ground with a crash.

“This…this isn’t a promotion?” she stammered, her fingers tightly clenched around the piece of paper until her knuckles turned white.

Xu Damao opened his collar, revealing the bulging veins on his neck. "Have you ever seen anyone get promoted to a remote place? And he left immediately!" He suddenly picked up a bench and smashed it against the wardrobe. The mirror fragments fell to the ground. "Li Huaide! Fuck your ancestors!"

Little Shouye was startled awake and started crying loudly in the inner room. Qin Jingru didn't bother to comfort the child, and rushed to the transfer order to confirm it again and again: "Today is the 18th day of the twelfth lunar month... If I go, during the Chinese New Year..."

"New Year's Day? Ha!" Xu Damao grinned and pulled open the drawer, stuffing his clothes into the travel bag. "I'm going to jail! In Yi County, you have to bring a stick to pee in winter!"

Large flakes of snow were falling outside the window, rustling onto the jeep in the yard - the car sent by the factory to "take" him to report was already waiting.

Qin Jingru suddenly went crazy and rummaged through boxes and cabinets, stuffing all the pickled sausages and new cotton shoes into her net bag: "Take it... take it all..." Her voice was filled with tears, "I will go find Li Huaide tomorrow..."

"Forget it!" Xu Damao tied his scarf and suddenly saw the light on in Shazhu's house across the street. He Yuzhu was standing in front of the window, the kitchen knife in his hand gleaming coldly under the light, as if sneering at him.

The driver honked his horn impatiently. Xu Damao picked up his luggage, took a last look at his crying wife and children, and said to himself, "Li Huaide, this is not over yet!"

The jeep drove slowly away from the courtyard, crushing the snow. In the rearview mirror, Qin Jingru ran far away with her child in her arms, her red scarf particularly dazzling in the snow. Xu Damao touched the hard object in his pocket - it was the notebook full of "dirty" information about all the leaders of the steel mill. He suddenly laughed, and his laughter was colder than the wind and snow outside the window.