Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 474 The Scene

January 15th, shopping.

boring.

Chen Fan was driving aimlessly around the streets of the provincial capital. When he came to the provincial capital department store, he saw someone happily carrying a red enamel basin, a red enamel spittoon, a red thermos, and a large piece of red cloth. Suddenly, he remembered something.

It seems that Zhang Wenliang and Yang Xingxiu got married on January 17th?
Then there are meetings tomorrow and the day after, so even if I leave right after the meeting, I'll just perfectly miss it?

In the Yunhu area, in two years, rural weddings will be two days long. In the mid-to-late 1980s, it became three days, and after the new century, it became two days again. In the end, everyone was busy, and many families finished in one day. Only some towns still adhere to the rule of at least two days.

But now, just like 40 years later, it's only held for one day.

The morning routine includes welcoming guests, picking up the bride, lunch, and the end of the event.

So unless he rushes back tomorrow, he will most likely miss Zhang Wenliang's wedding.

Feeling a pang of sympathy, Chen Fan decided to try to make amends.

After parking and entering the store, they soon brought out a large piece of red cloth.

I even came all the way to the provincial capital to buy a wedding gift, so you can't blame me for not thinking about it, right?!

We got back on the bus and set off again, map in hand, heading straight for the famous tourist attractions to visit.

For example, the Yangtze River Hotel where Mr. Li stayed, a certain shopping mall that Mr. Li visited, and some ancient buildings.

These ancient buildings no longer require tickets, and although they are quite dilapidated, they do indeed have an "antique charm."

It will take several years, or even more than a decade, before the provincial capital will renovate or rebuild these dilapidated ancient buildings under the guise of renovation, turning them into paid tourist attractions.

There were still some attractions that required tickets at that time, but they were mostly parks, which Chen Fan wasn't interested in. So he specifically sought out scenery that would be almost impossible to see in later generations to photograph, capturing history in his camera.

After going around in circles, it was finally noon when Chen Fan drove to a wild game restaurant not far from the river.

The mighty Yangtze River flows on and on. A small hill on the riverbank was leveled, and the soil and stones were used to fill the low-lying area, making this section of the river embankment connect with the flat land behind it. The river embankment became the road.

There is a row of sturdy plane trees along the road. They were planted by leaders in Jiangnan when Chiang Kai-shek ordered the planting of plane trees in Nanjing. These plane trees can also be found in the old city of the provincial capital, including the area in front of the Cultural Palace Guesthouse, but not on the same scale as in Nanjing. They are limited to the administrative district and its surrounding areas.

The Wild Game Restaurant is located behind a few sycamore trees. It is a small red two-story building with a considerable area, about forty or fifty meters long.

These days, there's no problem with parking. Even though several minibuses and cars were already parked in front of the restaurant, there was still plenty of parking space for Chen Fan.

After parking the car, I got out and pushed open the door. A loud noise immediately hit me. Looking around, I saw that the huge lobby on the first floor was filled with square tables. It was lunchtime, and almost all the tables were full of people.

Business is so good?
Chen Fan glanced around and saw that most people were eating noodles, and the air was filled with a rich aroma. This must be the wild game braised noodles that Xiao Peng had emphasized.

He sniffed and immediately recognized at least a dozen kinds of wild game in the ingredients, and although it was called braised noodles, it actually had a large spoonful of topping.

No wonder other places sell noodles for one or two cents, while his sells them for one dollar; they are definitely worth the price.

Some people were eating rice. For example, at the table to his left, several diners were eating heartily with their rice bowls in hand. There were three dishes on the table. One dish was fried sparrows that were shiny and oily. There were at least a dozen or twenty sparrows on that dish. The other two dishes were not clear what they were.

It's said that the Wild Game Restaurant only serves wild game, which is probably some kind of small animal. But since it's sold on the first floor, the price shouldn't be too high.

For example, a plate of fried sparrows costs only 6 cents for 20 sparrows, which is a great deal.

Chen Fan didn't linger. After glancing around, he went straight up to the second floor.

Why didn't anyone stop them?

Are there waiters/waitresses to serve you?
A man in his thirties, wearing a Zhongshan suit, stood at the entrance of the building, watching Chen Fan come up. As soon as Chen Fan stepped onto the last step, the man asked at just the right moment, "Hello, are you here for a meal or to find someone?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Let's have a meal."

The man seemed somewhat surprised. "Are you alone? Or is someone coming from behind?"

Chen Fan: "Just me."

She then looked at him and smiled, "Is that not allowed?"

He specifically asked Xiao Peng that although the Wild Game Restaurant was a place for foreigners, it did not prohibit ordinary diners, and there were no special requirements. In fact, because it served foreign guests, the dining habits were somewhat biased towards later generations.

It's not that you can eat first and pay later, but rather that when dining on the second floor, you don't need to go to the service counter to order and pay. You can go to a private room, sit down, take your time looking at the menu, and pay directly after the waiter has recorded and calculated the bill.

Moreover, you don't need food coupons or meat coupons to eat here, but the prices are a bit higher. By the way, you can also eat at ordinary restaurants without meat coupons, but you need to use food coupons to offset the price. If you don't have any, the price of meat dishes will be slightly higher. So for a while, people who were short of meat would go to restaurants to eat meat and pay with food coupons or cash.

The man looked at Chen Fan and quickly smiled, "No, no, it's just that it's rare for me to come to the second floor to dine alone."

After saying this, he saw that Chen Fan did not react, so he knew that this person came to eat the dishes, not for a bowl of wild game braised noodles.

Looking at Chen Fan's outfit, he shouldn't be someone who can't afford to pay the bill.

While thinking for a moment, he reached out and walked forward, saying, "This way, please."

The waiter led Chen Fan to a small private room next to the corridor, which contained a small round table that could seat 10 people.

Chen Fan moved to the main seat facing the entrance and sat down. The waiter had already taken a menu from the cabinet by the door and placed it in front of him with both hands.

Picking up the menu and flipping through it, Chen Fan couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "As expected of a place catering to foreigners, the service is truly exceptional."

The cookbook he was holding was exactly the same as the one Lao Peng from Team 9 had given him, so he didn't look at it much, just flipped through it briefly, and then ordered a few dishes.

Braised bear paw, grilled mutton skewers, grilled deer leg, clove roe deer leg, curry red leg, grilled wild goose, grilled wild duck, lantern pheasant slices, lemon hazel grouse, salt and pepper rice flower bird, braised stone chicken, grilled pheasant, and winter mushroom and pigeon soup.

The menu had 27 wild game dishes, but he only ordered 13.

The remaining dishes he didn't order were either made with similar ingredients, such as clear broth bear paw and braised bear paw, but with different flavors, so he just randomly chose one.

(Bear paw soup)
There were also some recipes that he had experimented with at home using the recipes Lao Peng had given him, such as roasted wild rabbit legs, wild rabbit back with peanuts, crispy rice chicken, Portuguese-style half-chicken with gravy, as well as spiced wild pigeon and braised wild pigeon. He had made all of these.

He didn't care at all whether the taste was the same as what the chef here made.

Everyone has their own taste, and every chef's cooking will taste different. Chinese cuisine emphasizes appearance, color, flavor, and aroma. As long as the cooking method is correct and brings out the flavor of the ingredients, and the food tastes good, nothing else matters.

Of course, learning from others' strengths and making up for one's own weaknesses is an attitude that every chef should have, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the same dish; other dishes can also be used.

After ordering, the waiter took notes and stared blankly at the menu.

She paused for two seconds, then looked at him in surprise, "You ate so much by yourself?"

Chen Fan coughed lightly, "I'm from out of town, so I don't have many opportunities to eat here. I'll pack up any leftovers and take them back with me."

The waiter nodded in realization and then began to calculate the bill. After a short while, he handed the bill to Chen Fan. "Look, this is the price of each dish, and this is the total price."

Chen Fan took a closer look and was surprised to find that even the cost and gross profit were listed.
(A bill from Guangzhou Restaurant in October 1978: 320 yuan for a table of 12 people)
Whether or not you write the gross profit margin is not important, because these days there is no such thing as haggling or discounts; the price is what it is.

For example, the bill in front of Chen Fan says 207. He can't negotiate with anyone to see if the 7 yuan can be waived; he has to pay whatever the bill is.

Thirteen dishes cost over 200 yuan. No wonder Xiao Peng never eats on the second floor; it's really expensive.

Chen Fan took out his wallet and paid the full amount. The waiter wrote a simple receipt in the blank space below the menu, tore it off, placed it on the table, and then left.

Then the dishes were served one after another.

The meal lasted nearly an hour, and there was still half of the food left on the table. When the waiter brought him a lunchbox to pack it up, he couldn't hide his surprise.

This is a meat dish, and he ate half of the 13 dishes by himself?
Chen Fan paid for the lunchboxes, picked up a bag of six lunchboxes, and walked out of the restaurant. The smile on his face showed that he was in a very good mood.

It must be said that this is indeed a world-renowned wild game restaurant. The chef's skills are even better than those of the chef at Yunhu Wangjianglou, especially in the preparation of wild game. Even Chen Fan is ashamed of himself for not being able to do it as well.

Of course, that was before the meal. After eating the meal, he knew the secret sauce and cooking methods of the wild game restaurant chef like the back of his hand, and even had ideas about the dishes he hadn't eaten.

This experience significantly improved his cooking skills.

Unfortunately, it's still at LV5.

He realized that this skill board was definitely produced by PvP. It seemed easy to level up in the early stages, and he even thought about when he could become a superhero. But in the later stages, the experience bar for leveling up was so slow that he wanted to kill someone.

Oh well, I'll just have to make do with it.

After getting in the car, Chen Fan drove a short distance, then stopped, took the still-warm lunchbox, opened the lid, and ate slowly.

People who practice martial arts naturally have a large appetite. Putting aside others, Xiao Liewen and Zhang Wenliang alone eat two or three times more than the average person.

At that time, the average person's appetite was two to three times that of the average person in later generations. Any strong laborer could easily finish two or three large bowls.

However, after Chen Fan started practicing several qigong techniques taught by Master Lin, his appetite became even greater than Zhang Wenliang's. It's just that he usually eats "small" meals frequently, and his food is rich in oil, so outsiders can't tell.

This is also one of the reasons why he is unwilling to work in the city. If he goes to the city, he will have to eat rations, and where will he find so many rations?

It's different in Lujiawan. There's a big river right next to the house, and the whole village is engaged in aquaculture. In addition, there's no shortage of all kinds of wild game that fly in the sky and run on the ground. You can easily fill your stomach with whatever you catch. It's much better than in the city!
Now that there are no outsiders around, he goes all out.

In no time, three of the six lunchboxes were empty.

Looking at the remaining three lunchboxes, Chen Fan patted his stomach and decided to finish them all in one go. Otherwise, he would have to explain himself to others if he carried these things back to the guesthouse. He took a deep breath, and his breathing rhythm immediately changed, his stomach rising and falling with each breath.

At the same time, he wondered what Master Lin's expression would be if he knew that he used the giant toad's energy to aid digestion.

……

Chen Fan did not continue sightseeing and returned to the Cultural Palace Guesthouse at 2 p.m.

As soon as he parked the car, He Qingsheng ran out, looking at him with surprise. "Xiao Peng told me this morning that you went out, and you drove yourself. Your unit treats you well, even providing you with a car! Does Yunhu Health Department have so many cars?"

Chen Fan got out of the car, closed the door behind him, and chuckled, "This isn't a car from the health department; it belongs to Yunhu Machinery Factory. They lent it to me because they knew I was coming to the provincial capital for a meeting."

He Qingsheng nodded in realization and smiled, "That's pretty good too."

He gestured and led Chen Fan inside, saying, "Our magazine only has one old car, which is 20 years old. It was only allocated to us by the Provincial Propaganda Department when the magazine resumed publication last year. You know, factory benefits are really better than those of government units."

Chen Fan smiled and agreed, "Production comes first."

As he walked through the lobby, he turned to look at the front desk. Xiao Peng was no longer there; in her place was a round-faced girl.

He didn't greet him, but just smiled and nodded. Then he followed behind He Qingsheng and answered him, "I didn't do much sightseeing. I just went to a few places that Mr. Li had been to, then ate something at the Wild Game Restaurant, and then came back."

He Qingsheng turned around and glanced at him, then laughed and said, "Was it recommended by Xiao Peng? Did you try their wild game braised noodles? They were pretty good, weren't they!"

Chen Fan blinked and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, it's really good. It contains more than a dozen kinds of wild game such as sparrows, rock partridges, hazel grouse, and pheasants. After careful matching, these flavors blend together and infuse the soup with umami. On the contrary, the meat itself is not as delicious as the broth."

He Qingsheng gave a thumbs up, "Hmm, you're a true connoisseur. You've seen right through their family's secrets."

Chen Fan chuckled. He didn't know it by eating, but by smelling it. And he was very confident that he could recreate this wild game braised noodle dish.

Thanks to LV5 for the cooking skills.

At this moment, he was a little curious about what magical effects would occur when he reached LV6.
Is it possible to make fried rice that glows?
As Chen Fan approached the dormitory building, he took out his key to open the door, but He Qingsheng waved to him and said, "Come on, come upstairs with me, I'll take you to meet some people."

Chen Fan put the keys in his pocket and followed him upstairs, asking curiously, "Who is it?"

He Qingsheng smiled and said, "There are a few leaders from the Publicity Department and the Provincial Department of Culture who will introduce you to them, and then there are representatives of writers from various regions who have already registered."

Chen Fan simply said "Oh" and didn't reply.

To be honest, he wasn't too fond of leaders; he preferred dealing with factories.

For example, even after a year in Lujiawan, he never thought of meeting and talking to Secretary Qian of the commune. On two occasions when Secretary Qian came to the team to inspect the work, he deliberately avoided him.

Even if they met, there wouldn't be much to talk about; it would just be polite small talk. He couldn't offer much help even with the side business in Lujiawan.

In Chen Fan's view, these are all ineffective rewards and should be avoided if possible.

Besides, we still have Secretary Yang and the others; it's perfectly appropriate to leave these social engagements to them.

Factories are different. They have production resources and a network of connections with other units. In terms of power, they are even greater than administrative units of the same level. Building good relationships with them would be of great benefit to both Chen Fan and Lujiawan.

Another thing is that he has already avoided the leaders of the administrative units, so it would be inappropriate for him to avoid the factory as well. He has to rely on one side.

Unfortunately, there's no hiding place now.

He Qingsheng led the way, and soon they reached the end of the second floor. He knocked on the door, and a voice immediately came from inside saying "Please come in."

From the moment Chen Fan entered the room, he switched into his long-hidden after-sales manager mode, transforming into a socialite and exchanging pleasantries with the four leaders inside.

Two men and two women, two from the Publicity Department and two from the Department of Culture, were all deputy leaders, and their ranks were quite high.

However, in terms of rank, Editor-in-Chief He is on the same level as them; they are all about the same.

Only Chen Fan, a nobody at the deputy section chief level.

Their conversation was uneventful; it was all the same stuff He Qingsheng had said in Chen Fan's room the night before.

However, when the same words come out of their mouths, they inevitably sound somewhat official.

Editor-in-Chief He treated Chen Fan as an equal based on his literary achievements. These other people, however, were speaking to a low-ranking official as leaders, so their tone was naturally different.

This is one of the reasons why Chen Fan is unwilling to meet with his superiors.

Fortunately, Chen Fan was a man of good manners; compared to his days working at a company before his transmigration, this was just a small matter. Besides, although these people were somewhat pretentious, they outwardly appeared "amiable" and "approachable," so overall, the atmosphere was quite good.

After finally finishing their conversation, He Qingsheng brought Chen Fan out, looked at his face, nodded slightly and smiled, "Not bad, neither humble nor arrogant, handling things with ease, showing some of the integrity of a scholar."

Before Chen Fan could speak, he gestured and said as he walked forward, "This reconstruction meeting has 23 representatives, including you. Once the provincial writers' association branch is established, I will serve as its chairman..."

Hearing this, Chen Fan was not surprised. Although the chairman of the Writers Association was elected by representatives from various regions, at the beginning of the reconstruction, a highly respected person was definitely needed to lead the association. In this case, the leadership department would usually appoint the candidate.

Once the initial phase is over and everything is on track, a vote will be held to elect the next candidate.

However, even by then, as long as He Qingsheng doesn't make any major mistakes and is still willing to stay in this position, he will still be elected as chairman.

He Qingsheng, unaware of Chen Fan standing a step behind him, continued, "The Secretary-General is also appointed by higher authorities; he is Xu Qizhen from the Publicity Department, whom you just met."

Chen Fan nodded slightly.

The Writers Association is supposed to be a member unit of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and its superior authority should also be the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, but unfortunately it isn't.

Because the Writers Association and the Federation of Literary and Art Circles are at the same level, many leaders of the Writers Association often switch between the two organizations. Today they may be the secretary-general of the Writers Association, and tomorrow they may become leaders of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles. They treat each other like family.

Other arts organizations, such as the Dance Association and the Music Association, can only look on with envy.

Therefore, the Writers Association, like the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, is directly managed by an organization.

For most of the past, the Writers' Association was coordinated and managed by the Publicity Department... It can only be described as coordination and management, meaning that it represented the organization in making work arrangements.

Later, for a period of time, this management authority was handed over to the cultural department, but it was later returned to the propaganda department.

In this way, the Writers Association has a deep relationship with both departments, which is why the publicity and cultural systems need to be involved in the Writers Association's reconstruction.

In this context, it is quite understandable that a leader from the provincial publicity department would serve as the secretary-general of the Writers Association.

Well, it's just as normal as a bunch of people from the Writers Association getting into the Ministry of Culture.

He Qingsheng continued, "The vice chairpersons and executive vice chairpersons will be selected from representatives of various regions."

After saying that, he turned to look at Chen Fan and smiled, "How about it? Do you want to reconsider what I said yesterday? As long as you're willing to come, I'll guarantee you a vice-chairman position in the next election."

Chen Fan chuckled dryly twice, then quickly shook his head and waved his hands, "I can't do it, I can't do it."

He Qingsheng wasn't angry. He turned around and went up the stairs, saying, "It's okay. You're not that old. There will always be opportunities in the future."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly. Judging from these words, he was still not giving up.

However, he didn't take it to heart. It didn't matter if he was unwilling to give up today; he would probably give up in a few years.

Upon reaching the third floor, He Qingsheng didn't knock on any room doors. Instead, he called out as he walked, "Anyone still holed up in their rooms? Come to the conference room for tea!"

After a few seconds, the doors to the rooms were opened one by one.

A dozen or so middle-aged people in their forties and fifties came out of the room, including four women.

An older man shouted at the top of his lungs, "What's the point of just drinking tea? At least get some melon seeds to eat!"

He spoke to He Qingsheng, but his eyes were on Chen Fan. He then seamlessly continued, "What a spirited young man! You must be Chen Fan. You certainly have an extraordinary presence."

He Qingsheng glanced back, then pushed open the door to the conference room at the end of the corridor. "Old Xu, you'd better step up your game. If you don't work harder, Xiao Chen will leave you far behind, and you won't be able to catch up even on horseback."

Before Lao Xu could speak, someone next to him laughed and said, "You're really giving Lao Xu too much credit. He's just a cowherd, how could he know how to ride a horse? So he'll never catch up with you in this lifetime."

As he spoke, he walked over to Chen Fan, looked him up and down, and nodded approvingly. "My surname is Guo. I'm a few years older than you and I'm also from Yunhu. You can call me Lao Guo."

At this moment, Old Xu came over and interjected, "I'm a cowherd, and you're a livestock herder. We're not much better than each other, let alone the second brother."

He then turned to Chen Fan and smiled, "Do you know what he does?"

Chen Fan blinked and carefully examined the fellow villager for a few moments.

At this moment, no one else entered the room; they all looked at him with smiles on their faces, but their eyes were full of mockery.

The fellow villager didn't say anything, just smiled and let Chen Fan observe him.

Seeing this, He Qingsheng didn't urge anyone to come in. He just grinned and kept smiling. He took out two large cloth bags from the cabinet and dumped them on the table. They contained a pile of melon seeds and a pile of peanuts.

After waiting for several seconds, Chen Fan said thoughtfully, "Are you from the zoo?"

(End of this chapter)