OBS Chapter 43 Standing on Your Side
Chapter 43 Standing on Your Side
"Then give it to me now."
Lin Shuyao stretched out her hand, palm facing up.
The three of them painfully pulled out their tickets, counting them one by one. With each count, their hearts ached as if a knife was cutting into their flesh; it was excruciating.
Finally, he reluctantly placed the ticket in Lin Shuyao's palm.
"Thanks." Lin Shuyao smiled and put the money into her pocket.
Liu Dazhu and the other two stared intently at Lin Shuyao's bulging purse, gritting their teeth, regretting it to death. They regretted not participating in this selection competition; they didn't get the prize money and even lost a month's worth of food stamps!
Oh shit!
This is absolutely the worst luck imaginable!
Unlike the three men who looked utterly devastated, the logistics director and Factory Director Zhou were all smiles.
The logistics director, seizing the opportunity, turned to Ivanov with a beaming smile: "Comrade expert, since you approve of Comrade Shen's culinary skills, how about we have Comrade Shen temporarily take charge of your meals while Comrade Andrei is away in the Soviet Union for medical treatment? We will definitely cooperate fully and ensure you are satisfied with your meals!"
Ivanov's eyes lit up, and he nodded in agreement: "That's exactly what I was thinking!"
He took the initiative to walk up to Lin Shuyao and solemnly extended his hand in invitation: "Comrade Shen, would you be so honored?"
Lin Shuyao reached out and shook his hand in return, speaking with grace and poise: "You flatter me. You are a valuable technical expert, and it is my honor to be able to contribute to your health and work. I also hope that you can devote more effort to providing technical guidance for the 'Red Star-1' engine."
"Don't worry! I'll go to the workshop first thing tomorrow morning to provide technical guidance! I'll get the drawings and debugging plan out as soon as possible!" Ivanov nodded in assurance, his expression much more positive than before.
Upon hearing this, all the employees and leaders present instantly became excited. With the expert's guarantee, the project could finally move forward!
Just as everyone was getting excited, several employees who were good at reading people immediately seized the opportunity, put on fawning smiles, and sidled up to Director Zhou:
"If you ask me, Director Zhou, you deserve the most credit for successfully resolving the experts' problem and discovering talent like Comrade Shen!"
"Yes, yes, yes! It's all thanks to Director Zhou's foresight in coming up with this great method of open selection! It's fair and just, and it solves a huge problem! If it weren't for your decision, where would we have found such a suitable candidate? The experts might have really left!"
"Director Zhou is the pillar of our Factory 306! With you at the helm, we feel at ease!"
A few sycophants set the tone, and the remaining employees naturally nodded in agreement: "That's right, with Factory Director Zhou around, any problem can be solved. We just need to focus on our work!"
Cheng Zheng, the factory representative who was clearly one level above Director Zhou, was also present, but everyone fawned over Director Zhou.
As the saying goes, even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. Director Zhou is a veteran in the factory, and all promotions and appointments initially went through his hands, so naturally he has many confidants.
Although Cheng Zheng was sent down from above, everyone knew that he wouldn't stay in the factory for long. Once the first domestically produced car was manufactured, his mission would be complete, and he would be transferred away.
At that time, Director Zhou will still be in charge of the factory.
So while everyone outwardly treated Cheng Zheng with utmost respect, in reality they all followed Director Zhou's lead.
Hearing everyone's flattering remarks, Lin Shuyao was unhappy.
She participated in this selection for two reasons: first, she genuinely wanted to contribute to the country; second, of course, she wanted to win Cheng Zheng's favor. What did it have to do with that Director Zhou?
How come all the credit is being given to Director Zhou?
She's not going to do someone else's work for her own benefit!
Lin Shuyao searched through the crowd, pinpointed Cheng Zheng, walked up to him, stood ramrod straight, adopting a military posture, and loudly proclaimed, "Reporting, Representative! The mission has been successfully completed!"
Her words immediately silenced all the flattery around her.
Everyone turned to look at her.
Lin Shuyao met everyone's gaze and explained, "The representative has always been concerned about the development of domestic cars. In order to solve the problem of the experts' meals, he was so worried that he couldn't eat or drink and racked his brains for solutions. After learning that I had learned some Soviet cuisine from the church priest, he found a chef from a Western restaurant to train me so that I could participate in this selection competition."
Her words directly attributed the credit to Cheng Zheng.
The wind direction changed immediately.
"So it turns out the representative discovered Comrade Shen's culinary skills and even arranged for training! If it weren't for the factory representative's discerning eye, Expert Ivanov would have already returned to the Soviet Union tomorrow, and our production line would have stopped. We really owe a debt of gratitude to the factory representative and Comrade Shen!"
"Yes, thankfully we had representatives this time; they are the backbone of our factory!"
"Of course! Our representative graduated from a military academy, majoring in mechanical engineering, and has also served in the army for several years. His abilities in all aspects are top-notch. With his guidance, we will definitely be able to build our own domestically produced cars!"
Despite the praise from the crowd, Cheng Zheng remained unmoved, his expression unchanged. However, his gaze on Lin Shuyao deepened. When Lin Shuyao met his eyes, she winked playfully.
The two exchanged glances, which made Director Zhou and Director Wang's expressions turn sour.
I originally thought I could take credit for this incident and then claim credit when the higher-ups came to inspect, but I ended up getting nothing.
Since they didn't get any credit, they didn't want to care about what happened next.
The two men subtly pursed their lips, flicked their sleeves, and prepared to leave.
"Director Zhou, Director Wang," Cheng Zheng called out to them, and coldly instructed, "From now on, the experts' meals will be entirely handled by Comrade Shen. You must cooperate with Comrade Shen's work. If Comrade Shen needs any special ingredients, the logistics department must make special arrangements and do its best to ensure their needs are met."
"In addition, transfer two chefs from the canteen to assist Comrade Shen. She only needs to cook; she doesn't need to worry about other miscellaneous tasks."
"On behalf of..." Director Wang said with difficulty, "The cafeteria is already short-staffed. If we transfer another one for Comrade Shen, how will the staff cafeteria be able to provide adequate food and drink..."
Factory Director Zhou spoke up: "I saw that Xiao Shen cooked three dishes by himself today, and he was very efficient. He didn't need to help at all."
Cheng Zheng's cold gaze swept over the two of them: "Expert catering should be the responsibility of the logistics department. Comrade Shen is only temporarily in charge. Moreover, she is from the technical department and has many important tasks waiting for her to assist in completing. It is impossible for her to spend most of her time in the kitchen."
"But..." Director Wang was about to say something when a kitchen worker stepped forward and said, "Director Wang, I'd like to help Comrade Shen!"
"Me too! Me too!"
"We all want to! Don't worry, we won't interfere with the cafeteria's regular operations! It's easy for an expert to cook for one person; it won't take much time!"
They had wanted to learn cooking skills from Liu Dazhu, but as the saying goes, "teaching an apprentice can starve the master," and he wouldn't teach them.
Now that Comrade Shen needs people to assist him, and there's an opportunity to learn from him, they naturally want to seize it.
With the subordinates so eager, Director Wang frowned, reluctantly saying, "If you want to help out, you have to see if Shen Tongzhi is willing to do it."
Lin Shuyao doesn't want to cook every day. Making desserts is fine, as it only requires an oven, but cooking is different. These days, there's no range hood or anything like that. Even when frying steak, there will be smoke.
She doesn't want to be surrounded by smoke and fire every day.
It's always good to have someone to help out.
"Director Wang, I have no problem with that. I can teach any comrades who are willing to help me to cook Soviet dishes."
Hearing this, everyone became even more enthusiastic.
"Comrade Shen, choose me! Choose me! I'm a great knife player, I can chop vegetables incredibly fast!"
"Pick me, Comrade Shen! I'm strong; I've slaughtered pigs and chopped lamb chops before, so pork chops are no problem!"
Director Wang's face darkened completely: "Comrade Shen, you can choose for yourself."
Lin Shuyao selected two people.
Seeing that she had made her choice, Cheng Zheng turned to Director Zhou and instructed him: "The rewards for winning this selection—grain coupons, bicycle coupons, industrial vouchers, and bonuses—must be implemented as soon as possible and delivered to Comrade Shen by tomorrow."
Tomorrow? Director Zhou gritted his teeth, he was really anxious.
"What? Is there a problem?" Cheng Zheng raised an eyebrow.
Factory Director Zhou shook his head: "No, no, I'll take care of it right away."
Cheng Zheng glanced at his watch, then looked up at everyone: "It's not time to leave work yet, everyone go back to your posts."
The group gradually left.
Gao Tingting, who was hiding in the corner, wanted to talk to Lin Shuyao, but seeing her own brother standing next to her, she could only helplessly purse her lips and go back to her office first.
Lin Shuyao also had to return to her department, following the same direction as Cheng Zheng.
The two walked out of the cafeteria one after the other, Cheng Zheng in front and Lin Shuyao behind. Every few steps, Lin Shuyao would touch the three months' worth of food coupons she had won in her pocket. Thinking about the bonus and other coupons that would be available tomorrow, she couldn't help but smile.
What a bountiful harvest today!
For the next few months, she was finally able to eat her fill. She could eat chicken legs whenever she wanted, buy ribs whenever she wanted, and if she didn't like eating in the cafeteria, she could go to a restaurant for a treat.
Just thinking about it makes life wonderful.
Oh right, I also need to use the prize money to buy Tingting a gift, then treat her to dinner, and I also need to repay Cheng Zheng's favor. Should I treat him to dinner or...?
Lin Shuyao kept walking while pondering with a serious expression, until there was a thud. Her nose bumped into something, and she cried out, covering her nose and looking up at the person who had suddenly stopped and turned around in front of her with a resentful look.
"What are you thinking about, walking without looking where you're going?" Cheng Zheng looked down at her, his tone a little serious.
Lin Shuyao rubbed her reddened nose, looking aggrieved: "Who knew you would suddenly stop..."
Ouch, that hurts! Luckily, her nose wasn't surgically enhanced, otherwise the implant would have shifted after that impact. But what is his body made of? It's as hard as a steel plate.
Seeing her brows furrowed in pain, her clear eyes misting over, Cheng Zheng swallowed the "delicate" word that was on the tip of his tongue. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he said, "Why...why are you trying to pin all the credit on me today?"
As the pain subsided, Lin Shuyao lowered her hand that had been rubbing her nose, her eyes quickly gathering emotion before she looked up to meet his gaze and said earnestly:
"As I said before, I want to help you share some of the burden to the best of my ability. Didn't you say that the sooner domestically produced cars are developed, the sooner supplies can be delivered to the front lines, and the fewer lives our soldiers will shed?"
"Comrade Cheng Zheng, you are not alone. I'm here for you too!"
She repeated what he had said before, looking at him with bright eyes as if trying to see into his heart through his eyes. Two small dimples appeared on her lips as she spoke, making her look sweet and charming.
It was very quiet around, with only the rustling of leaves in the wind.
Cheng Zheng felt as if something had bumped into his chest, not too hard, not too soft.
He looked at her bright and beautiful face, and in her deep and sharp black eyes, something slowly settled and surged, but eventually returned to calm.
"Is your foot better?" He was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked.
Lin Shuyao was taken aback, thinking he was concerned about her, "That's about enough."
"Remember to be on time for military training tomorrow."
What?
She had just expressed her determination and tried to win his favor, and not only was he not moved, but he even wanted her to continue military training?
"Cheng Zheng, are you a monster? I'm now in charge of the experts' meals, and I still have to do military training?"
Lin Shuyao puffed out her cheeks in anger, her cat-like eyes wide open, like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on, staring at him in disbelief.
Cheng Zheng looked at her agitated expression and smirked, "Didn't you say you're from the technical department? Since you're still in the technical department, you have to participate in military training just like everyone else."
"But I still have to cook for the experts!" Lin Shuyao tried to struggle.
Cheng Zheng: "So you should teach your assistant as soon as possible."
"No, cooking skills are like trade secrets; you can't just teach them to anyone."
"Do you want to cook for others forever?"
"Is that not allowed? Anyway, I'm good at this job, and the pay is high."
Cheng Zheng scoffed, "Should I call you naive or stupid? How long do you think Soviet experts can help us here? The situation outside changes every day. Your ability to cook Western food is your advantage now, but it might be your death warrant in a few years."
These words sent a chill down Lin Shuyao's spine.
Oh right, how could she forget about that!
In two years, the Soviet Union will withdraw all its experts, and then...
At that time, people will definitely make a fuss about her ability to cook Western food.
She was careless; it seems she really should hand over the task of taking care of the expert's diet to someone else as soon as possible.
Wait a minute... Lin Shuyao remembered that Cheng Zheng had just asked her for two assistants from the cafeteria. Could it be that he had already thought of this when he made the request?
It seems he still cares about her quite a bit; he's even thought so far ahead for her.
"Comrade Cheng Zheng, you're right! Thank you for reminding me!" Lin Shuyao's mood suddenly improved again. Two shallow dimples appeared on her lips, her eyes curved into crescents, and she smiled at him sweetly.
Cheng Zheng felt something flash before his eyes, and his Adam's apple bobbed unconsciously.
"Since I have military training tomorrow, I won't be going back to the office today! I'm going back to rest and recharge. Bye!"
Lin Shuyao waved to him and walked in the opposite direction.
Cheng Zheng didn't stop her in the end. He thought to himself, "She must be tired today. Let her get some rest."
Lin Shuyao didn't go back to her dorm, though. She was still thinking about Gao Tingting's help, so she went to the personnel office instead.