Chapter Seventy-six The Best Meat

  Song Dingguo, the head chef of the cafeteria, was sharpening his knife while staring at the big fat pig in the pen, and said with a smile: "Since I picked up the big spoon, I haven't held a pig-killing knife again. This guy, 28 heads at once, don't even think about sleeping tonight."

  Chen Liang had his hands behind his back and asked with concern: "Master Song, how many catties of meat can be taken out?"

  "This is not easy to say, when we slaughtered pigs in the past, they were all from the commune and were thin and scrawny. Where did this fat one come from?" Song Dingguo wiped the pig-killing knife on his apron, patted the largest pig outside the brick wall, scaring it into a tremble, before chuckling and saying: "I think this biggest one weighs over 300 catties, we can get more than 200 catties of meat from it."

  "You can count it as accurate." Chen Liang lowered his voice and said, "Let's just say less is better than more. We'll divide the pork according to the number of people. If there's extra later on, that's not a problem. But if it's not enough, I'll have to contribute my hundred or so catties."

  "Then let's calculate it as 210 catties, and 220 should be stable." Song Dingguo returned to the middle of the courtyard to continue sharpening his knife, saying casually: "Our Director Su is really formidable. When I was young, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, a pig would only grow to 150 catties. This 300-catty pig must have been raised for three years, and good feed was used."

  "Otherwise, Director Su can report to the newspaper. Hurry up and kill it, the kids are all waiting." Chen Liang pointed outside at the children watching the pig run, their little eyes shining brightly.

  According to Su Cheng's idea, it would be best to gather 50 pigs together and kill them, producing over 10,000 catties of meat. Each worker can get 8-10 catties, which is convenient and looks good.

  But everyone couldn't wait. The backyard of the cafeteria was packed with people, all of whom were relatives of the big fat pig and workers from other factories who came to take a look. The scene was such that if you didn't know any better, you'd think they were raising giant pandas inside.

  There is actually a giant panda mixed in, and it's probably not going to end well either.

  When it was time for the night shift, the hungry workers were talking excitedly, and Su Cheng decided to distribute the 28 large fat pigs that had arrived earlier.

  To avoid unnecessary disputes, Su Cheng let the union's "big aunt team" post notices at the factory gate, the dormitory and the workshop door: Starting from 6 o'clock tomorrow morning, meat will be distributed according to household registration age order, without considering other positions or years of service. Each piece of meat has the same weight, with more returned and less supplemented, starting from the 18th retired worker, in batches of 20 people at a time.

  Giving benefits is a good thing that makes everyone happy, but being too calculating can be counterproductive. As a state-owned enterprise, Dahua Industry has a tendency to prioritize seniority based on age, and no one can say anything bad about it. Moreover, Su Cheng himself is among the youngest, while the factory director and other leaders are among the oldest, so according to Chen Liang's words, this plan takes care of all parties, except that Su Cheng may feel a bit wronged.

  Su Cheng smiled and said "it's okay". He didn't have much interest in the big fatty meat, but relatively liked the spare ribs and large intestine, yet eight or nine times out of ten they would be left over.

  After two trucks of hot water were delivered to the boiler room, Song Dingguo took up his knife and went into action.

  He was seen using an iron hook to catch the 300-catty fat pig's upper jaw, and easily led the pig into the yard. Several strong chefs helped lift the pig, put it on a bench, and Song Dingguo took out a shiny knife to kill the pig.

  The little kid in front wanted to see, but didn't dare to look, so he hid behind the adult, only peeking out with one eye, saw the white knife go in, immediately closed his eyes and hid back, couldn't hear the pig's cry anymore, when he opened his eyes again, the red knife was already cleaned.

  The pig that had been bled was thrown into a wooden bucket filled with hot water, where three other people were responsible for bathing and depilating it, washing it white, then throwing it onto the chopping board, where "One Knife Accurate", a national meat shop specially invited, cut it into 3.5 jin strips of meat.

  By the time it was dawn, more than 4,000 catties of meat had filled the yard, and a long line had formed outside the gate. Everyone was in high spirits, with children laughing and running past their sides.

  Although it has been explained that meat is allocated according to age, such a big thing can't be waited for at home, and even double-income families take turns queuing.

  The office then urgently wrote a bunch of numbers and stamped them with an official seal, distributing them to each household according to age for easy calling.

  At 6 o'clock in the morning, the formal meat distribution began.

  Only 20 people went in first, walked around happily and each chose a piece of fatty meat from behind the palm.

  Later comers rummaged through the pile of flesh for a while until the sound of "dang" from the wooden fish drum was heard, and the next batch of people began to enter.

  Everyone did their best to find the biggest and meatiest piece, but the most tender and delicious piece of meat remained in the center of the chopping board.

  Everyone walks past it as if they didn't see it and bursts into a treasure-hunting laugh when they find a piece of five-flower meat somewhere else.

  Until Su walked into the courtyard.

  Suddenly someone shouted:

  "Director Su, left for you."

  "Here you go, Director Su."

  "Director Su, thank you."

  The last sentence was repeated several times.

  Su Cheng only then noticed the large piece of fatty meat in the center of the chopping board.

  Both wide and thick, absolutely exceeding the standard of five fingers. Next to the fat meat, there are stacks of ribs, tenderloin, tendon meat (弹子肉), and hip tips...

  Everyone unexpectedly left what they thought was the best piece of meat for Su Cheng, who was at the back of the line.

  And those who received pork were not only factory workers, but also their family members and relatives...

  Thousands of people can take such action spontaneously, and Suzhou's eyes are also slightly dim.

  "What merits do I have...?" Su Cheng's throat was dry, but he couldn't continue speaking.

  The crowd erupted in kindly laughter.

  The master who came from outside, "one knife accurate", wrapped the big piece of fat meat in paper and handed it to Su Cheng, saying: "I have been cutting meat for my unit for 30 years, a cadre like you is interesting to do."

  Su Cheng nodded, took a deep breath, accepted the meat, held it above his head, and cupped his hands to say: "Thank you everyone for leaving me this meat, I've received it."

  "We've also received Director Su's meat." As soon as the words fell, everyone burst into loud laughter.

  Su Cheng didn't say much more, bowed his head and left the cafeteria.

  Fresh small ribs, tenderloin, and rump meat are still left on the chopping board. They will enter the kitchen to become workers' snacks.

  At noon that day, Dahua Industry's residential area was filled with a strong meaty aroma.

  Stir-fry, braising, stewing, sweet and sour... every family has its own way of doing things, but there's the same laughter.

  Su City was left with only a piece of fatty meat, which he made into lard and mixed with soy sauce to eat with rice. The remaining five-fingered raccoon dog was sent to the Shu Lan family, attracting a crowd of onlookers from the surrounding neighborhood.

  The next day, 25 more pigs were delivered.

  Chen Liang left the pig this time and said he would wait until it was full before killing it, 10 catties per household.

  So every mealtime, there would be a group of children holding their rice bowls and chewing on greasy meat while visiting the fat pigs in the backyard of the cafeteria.

  No matter how hard adults try to drive it away, they can't get rid of it, so they just have to listen and let it be.

  During this period, Dahua's workshop efficiency also experienced explosive growth.

  Workshop 1, which produces an average of 15 oil extractors per day, has increased its production capacity to 18 units; Workshop 2, which produces an average of 50-60 sets of anti-bias grinding systems per day, has seen a surge in production capacity to 100 sets. The installation speed of new machines in Workshop 3 has also accelerated by one-third...

  Looking at the data for the past ten months, Director Lin couldn't help but feel emotional: "Our pork, it really wasn't a waste of effort."

  "A week's increase in oil pump production is more profitable than pork." Su Cheng nodded and said, "We need to think of ways to further increase production. If we can stabilize at over 25 units per day, we can bring in another order."

  The net profit of a single oil extractor is equivalent to that of an anti-bias grinding system, which doesn't seem like a good deal. However, the factory's accounts can't be replaced by simple calculations. The Double Mule Head Oil Extractor is currently the product with the highest technical content that Dahu Industrial can manufacture. With it, hundreds of senior technicians have found their place and continue to make progress. At the same time, they can also take advantage of the production process to continuously depreciate old machines and replace them with new ones.

  Moreover, for the next ten to twenty years, twin-screw oil extractors will be a stable cash flow product with potential to open up international markets.

  Factories that only produce anti-bias grinding systems can only follow the market trend, factories that only produce oil extractors can only do OEM for others. Only enterprises that produce both types of products at the same time are potential enterprises.

  Su City did not put sales efforts in this area, mainly because of concerns that production could not keep up. The 4-year order for 20,000 sets of oil extraction machines organized by the Petroleum Department has already made Dahua Industry fully operational. Even if the current daily production capacity of 18 units can be stabilized, Dahua Industry's one workshop can only produce about 6,500 double-acting oil extraction machines per year.

  This is still a far cry from Suzhou's goal of 9,000 units.

  "Then send more pork?" As a tech enthusiast, Li Ruo Xiang naturally thought that more meat was better.

  Chen Liang smiled and shook his head, saying: "Where can we still get so many fat pigs? A few days ago, someone from the temporary command center asked me where our 300 jin of fat pigs came from. I said they were from Gaomi. They specifically went to take a look, but it turned out that there were no more fat pigs left locally... The year pigs they had prepared for New Year's Eve were all bought up by us before the Lunar New Year."

  Everyone laughed for a while, and Director Lin said: "Let's evaluate the production model soldiers. 3 workshops with 20 people each, we are now a joint venture factory, so we can set our own salaries, let's raise the salary by one level and issue a certificate of merit."

  "Promote him one rank and give him a suit." Su Cheng revised it to: "Make the suit with wool fabric."

  Even Li Zongxi, the factory director who was drowsy and about to fall asleep, sat up straight.

  Just a few days ago, the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held, and the five newly elected members of the Politburo Standing Committee made their first collective appearance wearing Western suits, instantly heating up the years-long suit craze and triggering a nationwide suit frenzy.

  Some media published a commentary titled "Zhongshan suit, goodbye", which was reprinted by four other parties.

  Now walking on the streets of Dongying, whoever wears a suit with shoulder pads that haven't been pressed and tags that haven't been removed, even if it's made of out-of-date Trevira fabric, can win the first prize for turning heads.

  What's more, it's fur!

  The factory director Li Zongxi, in his 50s, stuttered and almost said "I'll join too".

  （）