Guo Dajun stared fixedly at the extraordinarily beautiful young girl across from him, thinking… she was such a braggart!
The best welfare benefits in the entire county? He wouldn’t even dare dream of such things!
Considering how good-looking she was, he decided not to scold her.
Guo Dajun replied perfunctorily: “Alright then, tell me how you plan to do it?”
Cheng Hui said: “I need 5 jin of flour, 30 eggs, 1 liang of white sugar, and your pots, pans, and utensils.”
Guo Dajun immediately stood up like a mother hen protecting her chicks, blocking the two meager bags of flour and one basket of eggs behind him.
His face turned cold: “Please leave. I don’t have time to fool around with you!”
He thought Cheng Hui and Gao Zhi were just hungry and wanted to have a big meal…
Cheng Hui took 4 yuan from her pocket and slapped it on the table: “This should be enough to buy 5 jin of flour and 30 eggs, right? I’m not here to scam free food – I genuinely want to be this deputy factory manager.
“You don’t have any other options anyway. Either take a gamble and revive this factory, or go home and rely on others to support you.”
Rely on others? His whole family was depending on him for support!
With a heavy expression, Guo Dajun weighed out 5 jin of flour and took out 30 eggs.
He then went to the employee break room and brought her all the pots, pans, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.
He truly had no other choice – he could only take this gamble.
After collecting the ingredients, Cheng Hui went to the workshop.
Guo Dajun tried to follow her inside but was stopped at the door.
“My recipe is confidential for now. You’ll find out soon enough.”
With that, she bolted the door.
As for the glass windows – since it was winter, they had been covered with plastic sheeting for insulation, preventing anyone from seeing inside.
When Cheng Hui turned around, she got a fright!
“What are you doing? Put that down immediately!”
Gao Zhi was boiling eggs!
Gao Zhi was startled and whispered: “Sister-in-law, aren’t we going to eat boiled eggs? Are we having scrambled eggs instead? That works too – I’ve never had scrambled eggs before!”
Sister-in-law was so clever – with just 4 yuan she bought all these things without using any ration tickets! Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to buy these things even if they had money.
Cheng Hui didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she quickly fished the eggs out of the pot. She instructed Gao Zhi: “First wash the pot. Later, do exactly what I tell you. If you listen to me, I’ll make sure you eat so many eggs you’ll get sick of them.”
Gao Zhi… Sister-in-law was such a braggart! No wonder she usually didn’t talk much – was she afraid of getting beaten?
Nevertheless, she obediently washed the pot, working quickly and efficiently.
As someone who was essentially an extra mouth to feed, she couldn’t afford to be idle. She was capable of handling all kinds of household chores.
After washing the pot, Gao Zhi thought they would start kneading dough to steam buns or make scrambled eggs. Instead, Cheng Hui told her to steam the flour!
Pure white dry flour, placed directly into a steamer to be steamed.
“Sister-in-law, is this how they eat in Jingcheng?” Gao Zhi asked.
“Mhm,” Cheng Hui replied dismissively.
She was actually converting regular flour into low-gluten flour – a simple process of steaming it for 20 minutes.
While the flour was steaming, Cheng Hui directed Gao Zhi to use egg whites to whip cream.
Without an egg beater and relying only on chopsticks, most people couldn’t whip it properly.
But Gao Zhi was skilled at manual work – by the time the flour was done steaming, she had already whipped a whole bowl of cream.
Gao Zhi looked at her handiwork in astonishment, never knowing that egg whites could transform into something like this.
City people really knew how to eat!
Step by step, Cheng Hui continued directing Gao Zhi until they made a chiffon cake.
Then they placed it in the oven.
As for how to use this coal-fired oven from the 1950s, she had no idea—she had only seen such things in textbooks and couldn’t control the temperature properly.
Cheng Hui washed all the used tools and put them away, then said to Gao Zhi, “Don’t utter a word to anyone about what you just did, especially steaming the flour and whipping the egg whites into cream! This is my family’s secret recipe. Keep it safe, and you’ll be able to work here.”
Gao Zhi froze, then immediately clamped her hand over her mouth, nodding vigorously at Cheng Hui!
She wouldn’t tell a soul! Not even if beaten to death!
She never expected her sister-in-law to share her family’s secret recipe with her and even use it to secure her a job… She was so moved she felt like crying!
Cheng Hui stood up and opened the door, only to find all the workers crowded outside, with one even pressed against the window, straining to see inside.
Unfortunately, it was covered too tightly to make out anything.
Seeing Cheng Hui open the door, Guo Dajun immediately asked, “Is it done?”
“Not yet. I need someone who knows how to tend the fire—the temperature must be steadily maintained at 160 degrees,” Cheng Hui replied.
“Me, me!” The dark, skinny man who had been peering through the window squeezed forward. “I’m in charge of the fire. If you can save our factory, I’ll even get you 161 degrees if that’s what you need!”
Cheng Hui noted the man’s complexion, almost as dark as an African’s, and his expression, brimming with absolute confidence.
She decided to trust him with the task!
This opportunity was equally precious to her, and she had only one shot.
If she failed this time, they wouldn’t let her try again—not even if she paid them.
She stepped aside from the doorway and let everyone in.
Guo Dajun entered the room and sniffed—there was no smell of fried eggs, but rather a raw egg odor. He looked at the oven and asked, “Did you make Caozi Cake?”
He let out a bitter laugh. “It’s no use. We have the best pastry chef in the entire province here, capable of making the most delicious Caozi Cake! Our problem isn’t technique—it’s the lack of raw materials!”
They had offended the leaders of the county Food Factory. Kicking them out was just the first step; the real goal was to drive them to ruin!
That’s why they weren’t given sufficient raw materials.
With subpar products, public criticism would follow, giving the county Food Factory a legitimate reason to shut them down.
Cheng Hui smiled and said, “Actually, it still comes down to inadequate technique.”
The crowd…
Felt an urge to hit someone—what should they do?
They were like trapped animals, their tempers frayed.
But soon, a strange, captivating aroma began to waft slowly from the oven, unlike anything they had ever smelled before.
The scent was so overpowering it instantly soothed their irritability.
“What kind of Caozi Cake is this?… It smells amazing!” Tao Juan thought hard but couldn’t find any other words—still, “amazing” summed it up.
“So fragrant, so fragrant!” The others echoed similar sentiments.
“What did you put in here? Milk? But we don’t have any milk.”
“Did you use two pounds of sugar? But the factory manager said he only gave her one ounce.”
As they chattered and speculated, everyone turned their eyes to Cheng Hui.
But Cheng Hui sat calmly by, sipping hot water and saying nothing.
Behind her, Gao Zhi was practically hopping with excitement and asked, “Sister-in-law, when will it be ready?”
Cheng Hui sniffed the air and replied, “Keep the heat steady. Wait another 15 minutes.”
In her previous life, after her daughter was found, she had been mentally unstable, unresponsive to everything—except food.
The more delicious the food, the happier she became, occasionally showing a joyful expression.
For this reason, she devoted herself to studying various cuisines.
Chinese, Western, the eight major culinary traditions, the Manchu-Han Imperial Feast—she mastered them all, and with exceptional skill.
Her mentors were all top masters from each culinary tradition.
Though she never obtained certifications, every mentor acknowledged her extraordinary talent, saying she had surpassed them.
When making Western pastries, she could determine the perfect timing by scent alone.
As the aroma grew richer, the expressions of everyone in the room grew more excited.
Their main missing ingredient was eggs. Without enough eggs, the Caozi Cake would taste bland, worse than plain steamed buns!
But the egg ratio Cheng Hui had just used was much lower than the standard for Caozi Cake—only one or two more than what they usually added—yet the flavor improved tenfold!
They saw hope.
Finally, the time was up. Cheng Hui instructed them to turn off the heat and open the oven.