Rebirth: Starting from the Cafeteria

The noise faded away.

Du Shaojie was not dazzled by the apparent wealth.

After Qi Yan and his daughter returned to the capital, he started a new round of inspections with Wang Yongli, Luo Qin and others.

In his eyes, these stores all over the country are his foundation, and everything else is just a passing cloud. As long as these stores are there, even if the previous investments have failed, he can start over.

There were still three cars, running slowly on the road leading to the distance.

Du Shaojie goes out for inspection almost every year, sometimes by plane and sometimes by car. He can clearly feel that the road conditions have improved significantly in recent years.

In particular, the emerging highway construction has invisibly shortened the distance between different places.

Passing by a county town, Du Shaojie asked Zou Xiaohe to find a place to eat. He was usually not in a hurry when he went out for inspection. He would rest when he needed to, stay in a hotel when he needed to, and often choose some unknown small places to spend the night.

The country is so vast that it is impossible to travel around it in a lifetime.

There are always endless sights to see and endless delicacies to eat waiting for him, and he never gets tired of it.

"It got hot early this year, and there's a lot of rain. Last year many places suffered from drought, so I hope there won't be floods again this year!"

"You're such a bad guy, can't you hope for something good?"

The group walked into a small restaurant, which was doing good business, with the occupancy rate at least 80%.

Du Shaojie and others found a table near the corner and sat down. Then they heard several people at the next table talking loudly.

He deeply believed that it was true. During the journey, it rained from time to time, and sometimes it rained heavily. As the saying goes, after a drought, there will be a flood. There may be some truth in what they say.

Of course, no one can predict the weather, and weather forecasts are often wrong, right?
Afterwards, Du Shaojie ordered some stir-fried dishes, and everyone started to eat. It was still early today, but he didn't want to rush, so after eating, he went to the best hotel in the county to arrange accommodation.

night.

Du Shaojie was very interested in visiting the night market with everyone.

"This [Stir-fried snails] is good. Let's have some snacks and have dinner here."

Seeing that a snack stand was serving delicious fried snails, Du Shaojie sat down.

Wang Yongli ordered some food nearby, and they sat down and started eating right away, while also ordering some beer.

Just as we were enjoying the meal, it started to rain. Raindrops the size of soybeans fell down and soon turned into a heavy rain.

Du Shaojie and his companions had no choice but to pack up the food and run back to the hotel in the rain.

We returned to the hotel to continue eating and drinking. We didn’t know when the rain would stop, and we might not be able to set off tomorrow.

"Mr. Du, the local weather station has issued a heavy rain warning. We don't know how many days we will have to stay here."

Wang Yongli checked the local weather forecast and it looked like everyone would be trapped here by heavy rain. It was hard to say how many days, but they certainly would not go out in the rain.

"It doesn't matter. We can stay for a few days. I see there are a lot of delicious foods here. Let's try them one by one."

Du Shaojie was very optimistic. If he couldn't leave, he would just stay. He estimated that it wouldn't take too long.

But no one expected that the heavy rain would last for three days and three nights, and a river running through the county town would repeatedly break the water level warning line. What's more terrible is that the extreme weather is not an isolated case, but covers a large area.

Currently, three provinces have issued heavy rain warnings and directly launched flood control and disaster relief plans.

"Boss Du, there is a large area of ​​water in the county, and the water is already above the knees."

Wang Yongli was about to drive out to buy food, but he went back downstairs.

The heavy rain has not stopped yet. Many houses in the county have been flooded and people in some low-lying areas have also been evacuated.

Du Shaojie and others could only eat in the hotel restaurant. Due to the blocked transportation roads, they were basically satisfied with just filling their stomachs and had no better choice.

He didn't care about this. He was worried that some river would suddenly burst its banks.

The day.

The county began to recruit volunteers. Several sections of the riverbank in the county were already in danger. Now, saving the levee was the overriding task. The superiors sent reinforcements, but the joint efforts of the people of the county were also needed.

"Wynn, let's go volunteer and do our part."

Du Shaojie couldn't sit still anymore, so he asked Luo Qin and Xu Youlian to stay in the hotel, and he took Wang Yongli, Zou Xiaohe, Peng Yongjun and others to sign up to join the volunteer team.

"You said you are a chef? That's great! Our county has deployed a large number of personnel on the river bank, and some of them are soldiers coming to reinforce. What they lack most now is a mouthful of hot water and a mouthful of hot food."

When registering, Du Shaojie filled in "chef" in the occupation column.

Wang Yongli and others followed suit and filled out the same form as their boss.

When the staff saw this, they couldn't help but be overjoyed. They now needed chefs, and logistics staff were equally important.

"I have no problem. You guys can make the arrangements." Du Shaojie had no objection. He just wanted to do his part. He didn't have to go up to the dam.
The logistics are also good. People are iron and food is steel, so it is also important to ensure everyone’s food supply.

Therefore, Du Shaojie, Wang Yongli and others were assigned to the logistics team.

At this time, we can’t care about the taste of the dishes. They are all cooked in a big pot. Sometimes we are too busy to even peel the potatoes. We just wash them and start cooking directly.

"That won't do! We can ignore the taste of the dishes, but we must ensure cleanliness. Captain Mao, what do you think?"

Du Shaojie was not a meddlesome person, but after arriving at the logistics team, he was annoyed by the food management here. It was not for anything else, but some guys were still slacking off even though there were enough people and time.

The person in charge of meals in the logistics team is named Mao and is a county staff member.

Du Shaojie then found the other party and put forward his suggestions.

Captain Mao used to work in political work and was not familiar with food supply. After hearing what the other party said, he thought for a while and then agreed to the suggestion.

"Well, now is an extraordinary period, so I won't say much. I just want to ask, are you a professional chef?"

Hearing Captain Mao's question, Wang Yongli and the others laughed out loud.

Du Shaojie nodded and said that he was the head chef of a large restaurant and had the qualifications of a senior chef.

"Okay! From now on, you will be the person in charge of catering."

Logistics is more than just about meals. Captain Mao is so busy all day that he has no time to take care of many details.

Since the other party has raised the problem, let him solve it. If it works, you will know after trying it. If it doesn't work, find someone else.

Du Shaojie didn't waste any words, and immediately accepted the task of "meal manager". After returning, he made a request. The place for cooking was in the wild, and a shed was built on a high ground, mainly because it was close to the river bank.

If the journey is far, the food delivered will have already gone cold.

Not all the catering staff are professional chefs, some of them just want to get experience, and they are somewhat resistant to these requirements. However, seeing that there are several people with Du Shaojie, and they look difficult to mess with, no one confronts him in person.

Next, everyone started to get busy.

Du Shaojie was not idle either, washing and cutting vegetables like everyone else, and then going to the stove. Even Wang Yongli and others, who had been with the boss for a long time, could do basic work and were very nimble.

This way, everyone has even less to say.

The person in charge led by example, and no one present could match his skills in cutting and cooking. After all, a chef's job is a technical one, and everything depends on his skills. You have to accept it even if you don't agree.

The lunch served was a simple dish of pork, cabbage and vermicelli. The staple food was white flour steamed buns, and a small pot of pickles was also made.

After that, the flood fighting personnel took over their shifts and came to eat.

To be honest, we didn't have high expectations for the food we were served. To put it bluntly, the food we had before was not much better than pig food. On the one hand, it was a technical problem, and on the other hand, it was an attitude problem. Some people were dissatisfied a long time ago.

But now no one has time to care about this matter and is too lazy to talk about it.

"Huh? The sun is rising from the west today? This pork stewed with cabbage and vermicelli is quite delicious."

Everyone got their food and ate under an empty awning nearby.

Some people took a bite of today's dishes and couldn't help but sigh in amazement. After all, the contrast was too strong. If the previous meals were called "pig food", then the meals served today could be called "delicious food".

"You know what, it's really delicious. Have you changed people?"

"Isn't it? The new volunteer, who is said to be the chef of a large restaurant, happened to be passing through the county and got stuck in the heavy rain."

"No wonder!"

Everybody was eating while chatting. The faces of the original catering staff were all unhappy. They were praised and criticized, making them look shameless.

Du Shaojie pretended not to hear the discussions. He was just passing by and didn't want to compete with anyone. There was no need to escalate the conflict.

In fact, this is a good thing. His cooking skills have not only been recognized by the flood control personnel, but also impressed by the original catering staff. In short, he will not be scolded in the future, and everyone will feel better.

Du Shaojie has been busy all the time, preparing pot after pot of fresh hot dishes, making sure all flood relief workers have hot meals.

Wang Yongli and others helped him, others ensured the supply of ingredients, and some people kept steaming buns.

To be honest, after a whole afternoon, even Du Shaojie felt a little tired.

In addition to three meals a day, they also provide midnight snacks. After all, the dam needs to be watched 24 hours a day, and if there is no food at night, it will definitely not be able to survive.

"Everyone, please pay attention. Flood peak No. 1 is coming tonight. Please be alert."

In the afternoon, everyone received an early warning notification. The real test came when the flood peak passed at night.

Wang Yongli was a little worried and urged Du Shaojie to go back to the hotel to rest after making dinner. After all, it was too dangerous to stay near the dam. It would be safer in the county town. (End of this chapter)