“Slap!”
Gao Hui stood up, his gaze intense, “Boss Lin, I advise you to think it over before you speak. You’re young and may not see the crux of the matter. I can give you time. I’ll take my leave now.”
After Gao Hui left, Qin Han looked worriedly, “Sister-in-law, what does he mean by that? Could it be that they intend to coerce a sale?”
The other party is a county food factory with certain backing; they have no foundation. If the other party intends to force a sale, I’m afraid our food recipe might indeed be taken by them.
Lin Chuxia waved her hand, “No, we live in a society ruled by law,” they might use tactics to pressure us, but they won’t coerce a sale.
“Big brother, be mindful during this time, whatever moves the food factory makes, let me know immediately.”
“Okay, I got it, sister-in-law.”
Lin Chuxia had a simple lunch at the Bun Shop, then returned to the small courtyard’s office.
She took out medical texts from her space and began transcribing them.
The medical texts contain many traditional characters, and for easier reading, she decided to transcribe them, using a dictionary to convert them into simplified characters.
Although the terms in the medical texts are esoteric, they aren’t difficult for Lin Chuxia.
In her previous life, in order to have children, she often dealt with traditional Chinese medicine – suffering from a long illness turns one into a doctor. She knew a lot about herbal medicine and principles, and even added a lot of medicinal ingredients to her culinary recipes.
While writing, she suddenly remembered the letter she had sent to Qin Yang over half a month ago. She usually would have received a reply by now, but this time there was no word.
Could the letter have been lost?
Such occurrences are not uncommon these days.
She didn’t think about it anymore and continued to copy the medical texts until evening.
Pang Yongli, Ma Yingzi, and Jia Liang were all busy in the courtyard; Hou Xiaobao had gone down to the chicken farm.
Someone came in at the gate, not entering the courtyard, but shouted in the direction of Ma Yingzi, “Yingzi!”
Seeing the visitor, Ma Yingzi greeted her with a smile, “How come you’re here? Looking for Boss Lin?”
Their boss seemed to indeed be in the office today.
Chen Chunhua then walked into the courtyard, glancing towards the direction of the office as she did.
“No, I just came to see you. Ever since I started working at the Bun Shop, we hardly see each other. I finished work early today and came over to chat.”
Ma Yingzi handed her a stool to sit on, and Chen Chunhua sat to one side watching her work.
The pot was stewing cooked food, bubbling and steaming, with the fragrance of meat filling the courtyard.
“No wonder our shop’s cooked food sells so well. You don’t even need to eat the meat; just smelling the aroma can make people salivate.”
Chen Chunhua took a deep breath.
“When I get paid this month, I absolutely must buy a couple pounds of pig head meat to satisfy my craving.”
Ma Yingzi chuckled, “That will be soon; in three more days, it’ll be payday, and you should be getting a raise this month, right?”
Chen Chunhua had been there for over a month, and last month she received half a month’s salary, which made her extremely happy.
“Yes, that’s why it feels good to spend money you’ve earned yourself. But even when I do get paid, I can’t bring myself to buy two pounds of pig head meat. The New Year is coming; I need to save up for the holiday.”
After saying this, she sighed again, “That’s why your job is better. You earn a salary and also learn skills. When New Year’s comes, you can stew a pot of cooked food at home. Isn’t that better than buying it from outside? Yingzi, how about you talk to Boss Lin and let me work on the cooked food with you?”
Ma Yingzi laughed and said, “You’re mistaken. Our shop’s cooked food has secret recipes. Not to mention me, even Manager Su might not know the secrets of the recipe. If it were so simple that anyone could learn it after a few days, then Qin’s Cooked Food wouldn’t have such good business.”
Chen Chunhua’s eyes widened in disbelief, “There are secret recipes? Goodness, it’s just stewing meat.”
“Of course. I heard the boss’s ancestors used to be Imperial Chefs for the Prince, with recipes handed down from generation to generation. Otherwise, why do you think Qin’s Cooked Food is so delicious? Those are recipes even the Emperor couldn’t get his hands on.”
“My goodness, no wonder the food factory came looking…”
Ma Yingzi heard this and interrupted, “What happened?”
Chen Chunhua looked around, lowered her voice, “I don’t know the details, just that someone from the food factory’s cooked food store was looking for Manager Qin, and later they looked for Boss Lin. I don’t know exactly what was discussed, but I think they came because of our cooked food. Our Bun Shop has taken a lot of their business.”
Ma Yingzi cautioned after thinking, “If you don’t know, don’t spread rumors. What do you mean ’taken their business’? Everyone opens their doors for business, and customers decide where they want to go. How can that be called taking?”
These words, if heard by outsiders, might imply that their Bun Shop had used some underhand tactics.
Chen Chunhua nodded repeatedly, “I know, I know. I’m just talking to you. I wouldn’t tell anyone else.”
………
A quiet hospital corridor carried the sound of footsteps. Li Wei, carrying a lunch box, appeared in front of the hospital room.
Pushing open the room’s door, he saw a man sitting propped up on the hospital bed, gazing out the window, lost in thought.
His right arm was slung across his chest, not diminishing his imposing manner in the slightest.
Placing the lunch box on the bedside cabinet, Li Wei asked, “How are you feeling today?”
Qin Yang withdrew his gaze, replying nonchalantly, “Much better. Tell the chief to start my discharge process…”
“Discharge what? Stay here and recover properly,” Li Wei interrupted him irritably, “Do you really think you’re that young, not taking your health seriously? Do you have any idea how dangerous it was this time? Your arm was nearly crippled. If only I had stopped you like Mr. Bai did back then.”
They had experienced danger in the project before, with Liu Tao losing his life in an accident that time.
Although Liu Tao was to blame for that accident, having altered the blueprints privately without any reporting and even endangering others in the process.
This time, however, the entire team had deliberated deeply, with Qin Yang leading them to conclusions drawn from multiple rehearsals and experiments.
But how could a technological breakthrough come without any risk, especially in their field of engineering?
Each challenge they faced was a millennium-old puzzle.
In a critical moment, Qin Yang turned the tide, ensuring both the project’s progress and the workers’ safety, but he himself was injured.
“How is Mr. Bai now?” Hearing about Bai Xiaoming, Qin Yang felt a trace of unease.
“What else? All the work has fallen on his shoulders now. But the most difficult time has passed, the project has made a major breakthrough, and the leaders are paying close attention to our project team. Mr. Bai is just dealing with the leadership. When I was leaving, he asked me to tell you to recover well, that he’ll take care of everything in the group.”
Speaking of their project, Li Wei couldn’t help but be moved, “This time, our project team has accomplished a great feat, all thanks to you. The work group from above also claimed this was nearly an impossible challenge to overcome. Journalists want to make a special column about you and are asking when you’ll be available.”