Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

Chapter 511 He Daqing, questioning the meaning of life, is introduced to the machinery factory by Mi

Minister Ma's next words were self-explanatory, and He Daqing understood immediately.

This made He Daqing even more shocked and incredulous. How could Qin Jingru, a girl who was not even twenty years old and who was said to be from the countryside, possibly have better cooking skills than him?

He could distrust Yu Shui, after all, Yu Shui was still young and hadn't eaten his cooking in a long time, so it was understandable that he might be mistaken for someone else.

But as the Minister of Logistics, Minister Ma can't afford to make a mistake in something like this, can he?

If Minister Ma is not wrong, then there is only one reason: Qin Jingru's cooking skills are really better than his.

But... but how is that possible? Even if Qin Jingru had been learning cooking since she was a child, it's impossible for her cooking skills to be better than his. Besides, Qin Jingru lived in the countryside, so she didn't have any opportunity to learn cooking skills at all.

Doesn't he know what the countryside is like? With the conditions in the countryside, even if a chef from a state banquet taught Qin Jingru, there wouldn't be any ingredients to practice with, right?

"Old He, Old He?"

When Minister Ma saw He Daqing staring blankly, he quickly spoke up to remind him.

"Well."

He Daqing snapped out of his daze, gave an awkward laugh, and then said seriously:

"Minister Ma, we've known each other for a long time. Tell me the truth, is Qin Jingru's cooking really better than mine? By how much?"

Seeing that He Daqing was still not giving up, Minister Ma sighed and spoke frankly.

"Old He, you know Chef Wu Jing from Fengzeyuan, right? He's considered a chef for state banquets. Let me tell you, Qin Jingru's cooking skills are no weaker than Chef Wu's."

"What?"

"Minister Ma, are you serious?"

Minister Ma exhaled a long puff of smoke and nodded heavily.

He Daqing stared wide-eyed at Minister Ma in disbelief, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief, even questioning his own existence.

Wu Jing was his senior brother, who had loved cooking since childhood and came from a family of chefs. Moreover, he himself had extremely high culinary talent.

He Daqing has been cooking all his life, and even now, he can barely be considered a top chef. But his senior brother was already a state banquet chef more than ten years ago. The gap between a chef and a state banquet chef is like an insurmountable chasm, and he guesses he will never be able to cross it in his lifetime.

More than a decade has passed. He can't imagine, nor does he want to think, how much his senior's cooking skills have improved. In any case, they must be even better than they were more than a decade ago, a level that he can never reach.

"Minister Ma, since the steel mill has Qin Jingru, who has such excellent cooking skills, then I won't embarrass myself by showing off. Another time when I have time, I'll cook a couple of hearty dishes at home, and we can have a good drink together."

He Daqing let out a long sigh, his eyes filled with desolation.

He admitted that his cooking skills were not as good as his senior brother Wu Jing's, but now even a young girl's cooking skills could easily surpass his, which made him very helpless.

What's wrong with this world? Has He Daqing been eliminated by this world?

Minister Ma clearly saw He Daqing's dejected expression. He was also helpless. He Daqing's cooking skills were indeed good, but Qin Jingru's cooking skills were absolutely superb.

As the head of the logistics department, he couldn't possibly reject Qin Jingru, a chef of state banquet caliber, and instead choose He Daqing, whose culinary skills were far inferior, right?

If he did that, wouldn't Director Li skin him alive? Besides, he's always been on Director Li's side. He knows that Director Li and Wang Feng have a very close relationship, and Qin Jingru is Wang Feng's wife. To be honest, he wouldn't dare to offend Wang Feng, the deputy head of the purchasing department.

With a sigh, Minister Ma's expression turned serious: "Old He, tell me honestly, are you in a hurry to find a job right now?"

He Daqing nodded with a bitter smile. It wasn't that he hadn't thought about going to Hongbinlou or Fengzeyuan, but now that he had returned to Beijing in such a sorry state, he was too ashamed to face his former fellow disciples, let alone his senior brother Wu Jing.

Seeing this, Minister Ma sighed and said, "Old He, you know what the current situation is. Our steel rolling mill hasn't served banquets for a long time. The machinery factory is short of a head chef, with a salary of 49.5 yuan per month. Would you like to go?"

"Yes, yes, thank you, Minister Ma."

He Daqing nodded hurriedly. He had no choice now. He was lucky to have any job at all, and 49.5 yuan was not low. Even if he went back to the steel rolling mill, he would probably only get a little over fifty yuan, less than sixty yuan.

Upon seeing He Daqing's agreement, Minister Ma nodded: "Alright, Lao He, you wait here. I'll write you a letter of introduction right away. I'll call the factory director later, and you can start working at the factory next Monday."

As he spoke, Minister Ma took out a slip of paper and quickly wrote out a letter of introduction. This letter of introduction was not a formal one, since he was not from the machinery factory; it was just a certificate. He would make a phone call to the factory director, and someone would naturally receive He Daqing when he arrived there.

Minister Ma handed the letter of introduction to He Daqing, patted He Daqing on the shoulder, and smiled:

"Old He, we've known each other for a long time. I'll just mention it briefly: when you get to the machinery factory, work hard and don't end up like Sha Zhu. Otherwise, it'll be difficult for me, the middleman, to handle things."

He Daqing accepted the letter of introduction and nodded emphatically, saying, "Minister Ma, don't you know my character? Rest assured, I will definitely not make things difficult for you."

"Okay, then you should go back quickly, take care of things at home, and start working at the machine factory next Monday."

"Okay, Minister Ma, thank you. I, He Daqing, owe you a favor. If you ever need anything in the future, just let me know."

"Go."

Minister Ma didn't care about what He Daqing meant by "favor." Given his connections, He Daqing couldn't really help him much. It would be more like it was Wang Feng's favor, since Wang Feng could get a lot of meat and his wife's cooking was much better than He Daqing's.

He Daqing nodded, gave Minister Ma a grateful look, and rode his bicycle away from the steel rolling mill.

Instead of rushing back to No. 95 Courtyard, he went to the pigeon market near Nanluoguxiang and bought ten catties of cornmeal and three catties of wheat flour.

Cornmeal is now 1.5 yuan per jin (500g), and wheat flour is 2.8 yuan. These high-priced grains are really not something ordinary people can afford.

Fortunately, he had moved his household registration back to Beijing some time ago; otherwise, without a grain ration coupon, how could he afford to eat at the current grain price?

Fortunately, his family all had Beijing residency, so they could save a little each month and not buy much expensive grain. With his salary of 49.5 yuan, it was barely enough to support Yushui and Shazhu.