The Steel Mill's Little Cook in the 1960s

My next novel will be "Raising Children at a Nursery School in the 1960s." Please add it to your reading list. Here is the blurb for this novel:

Yu Shuiyan was the daughter of a steel mill director. It wasn't until she was eighteen that she remembered she had been born into this world from the womb.

At this point, she had two choices. First, pack her bags and go to college, only to be sent to the countryside as an educated youth two years later.

Second, return to the steel mill, get a job, and find someone to marry, because she really didn't want to go to some remote village.

Yu Shuiyan chose the second option.

Sure enough, she returned to the steel mill. After asking her father to arrange a job for her in the kitchen, he left to support the Third Front construction effort.

Her mother went with him to look after her husband, leaving Yu Shuiyan and her two younger sisters from her mother's family in the care of Chef Liang, the head chef at the steel mill.

Chef Liang was Yu Shuiyan's mother's senior fellow apprentice. They had both learned to cook under the same master.

But before long, Chef Liang would be leaving for the Third Front construction effort with an iron wok on his back.

Before he left, Chef Liang was especially worried about Yu Shuiyan's marriage prospects.

He introduced her to two men.

One was the son of Chef Liang's ex-wife. The man, Meng Shanguang, was handsome and sturdy.

But he had a whole family to support, with a long line of younger siblings and nephews behind him, and he wasn't even related to Chef Liang by blood.

The other was Chef Liang's sister's son. He had a respectable appearance and was about to graduate from college as a trainee technician.

Everyone in the steel mill housing compound thought Yu Shuiyan would definitely pick the technician.

But nobody expected Yu Shuiyan to choose Meng Shanguang instead!

The residents of the compound figured Yu Shuiyan was in for a hard time.

Her future husband had so many children in his family, and she also had to support her mother's two younger sisters. With so many people, the family would surely struggle to make ends meet, and the house would be a constant mess.

But just before Chef Liang left, he gave Yu Shuiyan the position of head chef in the steel mill cafeteria.

Yu Shuiyan rose to become the cafeteria's top chef. Every day, she took on a few apprentices, who fussed over her. With her cooking skills, Yu Shuiyan was their one and only big sister.

Meanwhile, Meng Shanguang, the man who married Yu Shuiyan, did the laundry, cooked, and looked after the children at home. He managed to raise the long line of kids reasonably well.

Meng Shanguang also started out as a steelworker at the mill. He was determined to work hard and get ahead, so he wouldn't embarrass his wife.

Besides, Yu Shuiyan was the head chef. She could bring home some dishes and ingredients from the cafeteria, so not a single child in the family went without. At last, they could all eat their fill.

Later, the college-bound trainee technician was sent to the countryside too, and Yu Shuiyan breathed a sigh of relief.

She also knew that in the future he would abandon his wife and children in the countryside, return to the mill, and try to seduce her, the director's daughter.

But Yu Shuiyan would never give him the chance. She would just let her husband, Meng Shanguang, stand in his way while she lived her life in peace.

*

#The heroine just wants to be a cafeteria cook#

#By day, the hero does laundry, cooks, looks after the kids, does housework, and earns extra money. At night, he studies skills and knowledge, in case his wife gets fed up with him and kicks him out one day#

Blurb for "Raising Children at a Nursery School in the 1960s":

After the twenty-five-year-old Lu Tinglan awakened the memories of her past life, she discovered that she was a supporting character in a period novel. She worked at the nursery school of a cotton mill, looking after children every day. People praised her, and she was even named an outstanding employee.

However, in the original book, Lu Tinglan also had several children in the countryside. Their aunt arranged for them to take a bus to the cotton mill nursery school and find Lu Tinglan. "You figure it out. They're all your children."

Lu Tinglan looked at the three obedient, adorable children. They were a little thin, and their eyes looked a little pitiful as they each grabbed one of her sleeves. "Mama, don't leave us."

Lu Tinglan: So where's the children's father?

Their aunt told Lu Tinglan to take the children to the construction corps and find her husband. With no choice in the matter, Lu Tinglan went. To her surprise, she was still assigned to look after children at the nursery school.

As for the children's father, he was already on his way back.

Lu Tinglan, Lu Zhouling's wife, thought he was too plain in his habits and too quiet, so she had lived separately from him. Then one day, Lu Tinglan showed up with three children and said she had come to settle down and live with him.

At first, Lu Zhouling waited for Lu Tinglan to drop the act so he could send her back to her hometown.

Later, when Lu Tinglan became pregnant, Lu Zhouling couldn't bear to let her leave. She also took excellent care of the children. With three meals a day and a life that was comfortable and peaceful, he could never get enough.

Blurb for "Everyday Life in the 1960s Housing Compound of the Machinery Factory":

Dong Yunxu transmigrated into the 1960s as the eldest daughter of Dong Xuechun, a widow living in the machinery factory's housing compound. As her mother's most worrying daughter, the original Dong Yunxu not only speculated and resold goods with a good-for-nothing, but also showered a scumbag with money and attention.

Her mother worried herself sick and wanted to marry Dong Yunxu off. She didn't even ask for a bride price, only that her daughter could settle down and live a peaceful life.

Her mother had her eye on a workshop supervisor at the machinery factory. He was older and knew how to care for people, and he was still unmarried in his thirties.

Dong Yunxu: Maybe I can choose for myself?

Zou Fengqin was one of the few college graduates assigned to the machinery factory. He was handsome and tall, the kind of man who caught your eye at once. But on his very first day at the factory, Dong Yunxu latched on to him.

Two days later, Zou Fengqin saw Dong Yunxu chase off some people who had been causing trouble for him. He cornered her in the cafeteria storeroom. "Who are you going to pick a fight with next..."

Dong Yunxu: "Take a guess."

A week later, Zou Fengqin held Dong Yunxu's hand. "Once we're married, no more fighting. I'll protect you."

Two months later, the workshop supervisor returned from a business trip and saw Zou Fengqin bringing Dong Yunxu to him. "Uncle, could you be our witness? Xiaoyun and I are getting married."

The workshop supervisor, blindsided by this public display of affection: "?"

Theme: Choose the life that suits you best, then live it well.