Chapter 94: Changing Bacon

Li Shengli held a large enamel bowl full of dishes in one hand, with two steamed buns made of flour on top. He stood behind with chopsticks in the other hand, watching Xu Damao showing the movie.

Li Shengli didn't see Liu Xikui, and didn't know whether he was eating in the kitchen or looking for a young girl among the members.

Every time unmarried young people go to the countryside to work in the steel rolling mill, they are always popular. After all, as long as they marry into the city, they can eat commercial grain.

Li Shengli found that a little girl was secretly looking at him and whispering something, but Li Shengli pretended not to see it. It was not a good idea to chat with her, what if others thought you were interested in her.

"Director Xu, what's the name of that handsome-looking young man in your kitchen?" Captain Zhao and a few others were chatting when he suddenly asked Xu Weimin.

"Which one?" Xu Weimin was asked this out of the blue and couldn't remember for a moment.

"It's the one who is the most handsome and has the best cooking skills." Captain Zhao replied.

"His name is Li Shengli." Xu Weimin replied.

"What's the matter, Captain Zhao? Is someone in your family interested in him?" He Fumin found it very interesting. Could this lead to a marriage?

"That's not the case. I have a granddaughter who is about to reach marriageable age." Captain Zhao took a puff of his cigarette and said, "I want to ask about his situation and see if the two of them can get along."

"Director Xu?" He Fumin gestured to Xu Weimin, asking him to talk about Li Shengli's situation.

"As for Li Shengli, his cooking skills are pretty good. I heard that his master used to learn from the imperial chef." Xu Weimin thought for a moment and said, "But Li Shengli's parents are gone, and he doesn't have many relatives around here. He's not married yet, so I don't know if he's dating anyone."

Xu Weimin briefly introduced Li Shengli's situation.

"That's pretty much it, Captain Zhao." Director Xu thought about it and wasn't too sure about the rest.

"Is that so?" Captain Zhao took a puff of his cigarette and thought for a moment. "We still need both parties to meet and talk about his matter."

Li Shengli didn't know that he was almost arranged to go on a blind date. He was standing in the back, eating and watching a movie, while Xu Damao was eating while playing a movie.

After watching the movie, Li Shengli planned to buy some things in the village, wanting to see if anyone had chickens, ducks, bacon, etc. that they were reluctant to eat.

Li Shengli looked around but couldn't find Captain Zhao and Secretary Feng. After thinking about it, Li Shengli went to the canteen in the backyard and found Lao Wu.

At this moment, Old Wu was washing pots and dishes with a group of wives, both young and old, and the people from the steel mill were also cleaning up the pots and stoves they brought with them.

"Master Wu, do you know if there is any other family here that has bacon?" Li Shengli asked quietly while cleaning the kitchen.

"Let me think about bacon." Old Wu thought seriously, "Oh, the hunter Duan Quanan in the village might have it."

"Then could you please, Master Wu, take me there?" Li Shengli said as he handed Master Wu a cigarette.

"Okay, let's clean up and go." Old Wu said as he looked at the dishes and pots in the kitchen that had not been washed yet.

Li Shengli, Liu Hongliang and several other cooks washed the stove and cleaned up the kitchen.

"Let's go, Master Li. I'll take you to Duan Quanan first." Old Wu wiped his hands with a towel and waved to Li Shengli to follow him.

"Let's go." Li Shengli nodded and followed Old Wu.

"Master, you have to go out." Liu Xikui came out from the backyard. Today, several people from the kitchen were arranged to stay together in the evening.

"Master Wu and I are going out for a while. If you want to replace anything, go find someone to replace it. We should go back to the factory tomorrow." Li Shengli said to Liu Xikui. After that, he saw that Master Wu was a little far away, so he quickly followed him.

Following Old Wu, the two came to the edge of the village, where there was a mud house surrounded by a fence. There was a dog inside, which started barking when it saw Old Wu and Li Shengli.

Hearing the dog barking, Lao Wu and Li Shengli stood at the door.

"Old Duan, are you home?" Old Wu stood at the door and shouted into the yard.

With a "squeak" sound, the door was opened.

"Old Wu? What can I do for you?" A big man wearing a fur hat opened the door, stopped the barking dog and asked Old Wu and Li Shengli.

"Old Duan, this is Master Li Shengli from the steel rolling mill. He came to you now to buy some bacon from you." Old Wu said, pointing at Li Shengli.

"We need bacon." Old Duan pondered for a while. Not long ago, Captain Zhao brought his men to his place to exchange some bacon and young chickens.

"We have bacon. How much do you want? How about one dollar and twenty cents per pound?" Old Duan said bluntly.

Captain Zhao had come earlier, bringing with him two men who looked like cadres, and he gave them one yuan per pound.

Li Shengli thought about it and thought the price was suitable. Normally, meat was 80 cents a pound but a ticket was required. This bacon was a bit troublesome to make, so 1.2 yuan a pound was not expensive without a ticket, and this was wild boar meat.

"How much do you have?" Li Shengli asked after thinking for a while.

Duan Quanan was shocked when he heard Li Shengli ask this. How come this is a big client and he wants to book the whole business for himself?

"I can give you two pieces of meat at most." Duan Quan'an said, and he had to keep some for himself.

"That's fine." Li Shengli thought about it. Generally, a piece of meat weighs about three or four pounds. Two pieces of meat plus the monthly meat ticket are enough for him to eat for a year.

Duan Quanan took down two pieces of bacon from the beam in his house. Li Shengli took a look and weighed them with his hand. They weighed about seven pounds.

"I've weighed it, it's a little over seven pounds. I'll count it as seven pounds for you. If you're not sure, we'll weigh it again." Duan Quanan said as he was about to get the scale.

"No need, I weighed it." Li Shengli stopped Duan Quanan from getting the scale.

Li Shengli took out eight yuan and forty cents from his pocket and handed it over. This time the salary he had just received was reduced by almost half.

"Brother Duan, do you have any extra furs from hunting?" Li Shengli thought about it and thought, how warm it would be if he had a fur coat these days.

"Not now, but I can't say for sure in the future." Duan Quan'an said after thinking for a while.

"Brother Duan, can you leave me enough for a coat in the fall?" Li Shengli thought about it and decided to reserve some in advance.

"Of course you can." Duan Quan'an looked at Li Shengli with some doubt. He was not familiar with Li Shengli.

"Okay, Brother Duan, I'll come again in the summer." Li Shengli also knew that this was the first time he and Duan Quanan met, so it would not be appropriate to let him save your skin.

"Okay, then we'll talk about it when you come." Duan Quanan nodded.

After making an appointment with Duan Quanan, Li Shengli looked happy, as this cotton-padded jacket was really not cold-resistant.

(End of this chapter)