Reborn in 1977

Chapter 463: Don't Blindly Believe in Authority

In the kitchen, Chen Fan stood in front of the stove. Seeing the large pot heat up and smoke, he added some oil, then ginger slices and shallots. When the aroma filled the air, he poured a bamboo basket of small assorted fish into the pot, and then stirred and fried it constantly with sizzling sounds.

Liu Dan and Huang Li stood by the stove, dumbfounded. Not to mention the four other girls, their eyes were already wide with astonishment.

Yang Mei tilted her head and whispered to her sister, "If the fish meat is all stir-fried into pieces, can we still eat it?"

Yang Ju's expression was a little conflicted. "I've never seen him make fish jelly before. Maybe it's a special method."

They absolutely didn't believe that Teacher Chen couldn't make fish jelly.

But the way he stir-fried the fish was indeed unexpected.

Could it be that he was going to cook the meat and bones until they were soft, and then mix them with the soup to freeze into fish jelly?

But wouldn't all those little fish bones be troublesome!

Chen Fan glanced at them and said seriously, "This dish is called 'Mashed Stir-fried Assorted Fish.' The key is the word 'mashed,' so you must stir-fry the fish until it's mashed. It's not delicious if it's not mashed."

Although Liu Dan and Huang Li, who were learning cooking from him, didn't understand, they still nodded repeatedly, indicating that they had remembered it.

Seeing their expressions, Teacher Chen shook his head repeatedly, "You guys, you guys, I'm going to give you a lesson today."

Seeing that the six girls were all energized, Chen Fan handed the spatula to Huang Li, "Continue stir-frying."

Then, he signaled Liu Dan and the others to stand in a row, and paced in front of them with his hands behind his back, "Do you know what kind of behavior this is?"

Including Huang Li, who was stir-frying, all six of them shook their heads.

Chen Fan snorted twice, "This is called blindly believing in authority. 'Mashed Stir-fried Assorted Fish'? The fish is all stir-fried into pieces, and the pot is full of bones. How can you eat it? Are you trying to choke yourselves on purpose?"

The six of them were dumbfounded. Wasn't it you who said it was 'Mashed Stir-fried Assorted Fish'?

Chen Fan glared at them, "Are you still unconvinced after I told you? Is whatever I say the truth? If I said the earth is square, the sun is cold, and what's falling outside isn't snow but rain, would you believe it?"

Yang Ju blinked wildly and turned to look at the pot, "Then what is this pot of fish for?"

Chen Fan walked to Liu Dan, "You tell me."

Liu Dan frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly her eyes lit up and she raised her hand, saying, "I know, it's for Ba Liang to eat."

Ba Liang was the cat that Chen Fan had prepared for Jiang Tiantian, planning to send it to her in a couple of days, so it could keep Ban Jin company.

But Chen Fan rolled his eyes, "Do I need to personally make cat food?"

Huang Ying's eyes darted around, and she immediately raised her hand, "I know, it's to make fish jelly."

Chen Fan took two steps back, grinned at her, "You're really smart."

Then, with a stern face, he glared at her and said, "I said I was making fish jelly from the beginning, did I need you to say it?"

Huang Ying pouted and decisively lowered her head.

The others also remained silent, indicating that they were scared.

At this time, Huang Li, who was stir-frying, looked thoughtfully at the residue in the pot, "Could it be to make fish broth?"

Chen Fan suddenly turned around to look at her, paused for two seconds, and then asked with a smile, "Continue."

Huang Li shrank her neck and said timidly, "I just smelled that it's getting more and more fragrant. If I add boiling water at this time, the fish soup will definitely be very fresh."

Chen Fan nodded, "Then why don't you add boiling water."

Huang Li quickly said "Oh" and scooped a few ladles of water from the large pot next to her into the fish pot. Before long, the soup visibly turned milky white.

Chen Fan watched the fish soup begin to boil, and then said with his hands behind his back, "I know that Xiaomei, Xiaoli, and Xiaolu, your academic performance isn't good, that's why the team leader asked you to come here, hoping you can learn some skills, so you can have a way to support yourselves in the future.

If you just want to be ordinary winemakers, chefs, or tailors, then as long as you work hard and practice diligently, you can probably earn enough to support your families.

But in these hundreds and thousands of industries, if you want to go deeper and more refined, to become great winemakers, great chefs, or great tailors, you need to constantly learn, study, and accumulate your own knowledge base."

The three girls who were named couldn't help but look at each other and silently lowered their heads.

They were thinking in their hearts that they just wanted to learn a skill and be done with it. They hadn't thought about going deeper or more refined.

But they didn't dare to say it.

Chen Fan didn't know what these three little girls were thinking. He pointed to the boiling white soup in the pot and said to Huang Li, "Do you know why fish soup turns into fish jelly?"

Huang Li tilted her head and thought for a while, and said softly, "Because the weather is cold?"

Chen Fan chuckled twice, "Cold weather is one aspect, but why doesn't vegetable and tofu soup freeze?"

Huang Li's eyes were blank. She hadn't thought about this.

She cast a look of help at her sister, "Help me!"

Huang Ying was also thinking hard. She really wanted to say it was because of the fish, but she was worried that Teacher Chen would ask why.

Where did she know so many whys?!

Without waiting for an answer, Chen Fan wasn't surprised, and continued, "The reason why fish soup turns into fish jelly is because the collagen protein in the fish skin melts into the soup. When the temperature drops to a certain level, it will undergo a solidification phenomenon..."

Chen Fan explained a bunch of things, but the six people next to him were completely confused.

What is collagen protein? They didn't understand at all.

Finally, Chen Fan pointed to the fish soup and said, "So, knowing the principle, you can innovate on the fish jelly dish, instead of just doing it the same way as before, first making a bowl of fish with soup, eating the fish, and then leaving the remaining soup overnight, and you can eat fish jelly the next day.

It's not that this kind of fish jelly isn't delicious, but at best it can only be considered a home-style dish, and even a leftover dish. As a professional chef, it's not very good to put leftovers on the table, even if you didn't touch the dish from the beginning, it can't stop others from thinking that way.

But using a completely new method to make this fish jelly will not have this problem."

As he said that, he pointed to Huang Ying and the others, "Just like blindly believing in authority, if you don't know how to be flexible, you can only get stuck in fixed thinking and can't find a new way out. Whether you are studying literature or science, it is a very fatal flaw."

Huang Ying and the others nodded quickly, not daring to breathe loudly.

However, everyone had no objections in their hearts. They all saw that Teacher Chen was teaching them a lesson.

Not to mention, they estimated that they would never forget this teaching method in their lives.

Yeah, and they also learned how to make fish jelly using this method.

Afterwards, Chen Fan added seasoning to the soup, and asked Huang Li to bring a large earthenware pot, the kind that was as big as a washbasin, and then put a clean bamboo basket on it, and then spread two layers of gauze in the basket.

Only then did he pick up a large water ladle, scoop up the soup and fish together, and slowly pour it on the gauze.

The fish meat and fish bones of the assorted fish were isolated on the gauze, and the milky white soup quickly seeped down, falling into the earthenware pot.

When the entire pot of fish soup was scooped up, Chen Fan clapped his hands, "Xiaoli, gather the assorted fish and use it as cat food for Ba Liang."

Liu Dan next to him: You still said it wasn't for Ba Liang to eat!

The pot of fish soup was naturally covered and taken to the cupboard to be stored, waiting to be eaten tomorrow.

At this time, Huang Ying's eyes turned slightly, and she greeted Chen Fan, "Teacher Chen, I'm going back for a while."

After saying that, she ran out.

Chen Fan walked to the door, looked at her back and shouted, "What are you going to do?"

Huang Ying ran down the slope without looking back, "I'm going home to make this kind of fish jelly too."

Chen Fan saw her back disappear down the slope, and Yang Ju and Liu Dan next to him were also eager to move, so he couldn't help but shake his head and sighed at Huang Li, "Your sister is in trouble."

Huang Li was holding a bowl of assorted fish, preparing to feed the cat, and couldn't help but be stunned when she heard this, "Huh?"

Chen Fan curled his lips, "Using this method to make fish jelly, two jin of assorted fish will be wasted, and can only be used to feed cats. We don't care about these two jin of assorted fish, but do you think your parents care?"

Hearing this, Huang Li's hair stood on end, she shoved the bowl of assorted fish into Liu Lu's hands, and ran out, "Sister, sister, don't stir-fry it..."

Chen Fan shook his head, hoping she could catch up.

Then, he looked at Yang Ju, who seemed to have lingering fears, "We fished today, when will we dig lotus roots?"

Yang Ju came back to her senses, thought for a while and said, "It's definitely too late today, probably tomorrow."

After a pause, she raised her head and smiled, "If you want to eat new lotus roots, it's very simple. I'll go back and tell my dad later, and he'll arrange for a few people to dig some lotus roots out tomorrow. Anyway, they all have to be dug, so there's no difference between doing it a couple of days earlier or later."

The pond in Lujiawan was not only used for raising fish, but also had a ring of lotus roots planted around its edge. However, to avoid affecting the growth of the fish, only a small number of lotus roots were planted, limited to the pond's edge.

Every year after the pond was drained and the fish were caught, the lotus roots would be dug up immediately afterward.

Chen Fan also wanted to watch the digging of lotus roots, but tomorrow he had to attend the celebratory banquet and then take An Quan to the prefectural committee to catch a boat... Oh well, maybe later.

...

The next day at noon, the courtyard of the brigade headquarters was filled with distinguished guests. Besides the students who had been admitted to universities, their parents and the team leaders of the production teams were also there to accompany and observe the ceremony. In addition, there were the district committee members in charge of education and educated youths from other places who had been invited to attend the university admission banquet.

Originally, there were more than thirty educated youths from other places who had hoped to be admitted, but this batch was basically from the first universities to issue admission notices, either key universities or well-known undergraduate institutions. Therefore, only 13 people were invited to come. The others who had not yet received their admission notices were too embarrassed to attend.

Even if they were admitted in later batches, they felt inferior and really had no face to show.

No matter how An Quan tried to persuade them, it was no use. He could only bring those who had received their admission notices to the banquet.

Secretary Yang also took good care of them, knowing that they were not familiar with the other people in Lujiawan. He specially vacated the study room and set up two tables for them, and arranged for An Quan, who was considered half one of their own, to accompany them. The etiquette was impeccable.

However, while the main hall outside was lively and jubilant, the atmosphere at the educated youths' table in the room was not so enthusiastic.

One of the educated youths, who looked to be in his thirties, raised his glass to An Quan and took a big gulp before even saying anything.

An Quan looked him up and down, "What's wrong with you? You got into university, shouldn't you be happy?"

Then he picked up some food for him, "Eat something to calm down."

The man's features were squeezed together, he forced the wine down, and let out a long breath, but he didn't even look at the food in his bowl, his face full of sorrow, not knowing what to say.

An Quan frowned slightly, turned his head to look at the others with different expressions, and seemed to guess something. He also raised his glass and drank it all in one gulp, put down his chopsticks, sighed, and silently took out cigarettes and passed them around.

In a few seconds, the place was filled with smoke, and the dishes that had just been steaming hot had now lost much of their heat.

After a few seconds of silence, An Quan finally raised his head and forced a smile, saying, "No matter what, being able to get into university is a good thing."

As he said that, he raised his glass again, "Come on, let's have a toast."

Only then did everyone cheer up and raise their glasses, clinking them together in a flurry, and each took a sip of wine.

After putting down his glass, the educated youth just now raised his head and said with a wry smile, "I've been here for many years, three years as a sent-down youth. I finally waited for the opportunity to be transferred and became a clerk in the commune, and I gave up the idea of returning to the city.

Then came marriage and children. Now I'm already 29, and I'll be 30 next year. I'm getting old. I didn't expect to get into university and be able to return to the city!"

He raised his hand and took a puff of smoke, turned his head to look at the crowd, his face unreadable whether he was crying or laughing, "I will never give up this opportunity, but what will happen to my wife and children if I leave?"

Hearing this, the others all had wry smiles on their faces.

There were not many educated youths from other places in Nanhut Commune. Over the years, some came and some left, and there were only more than 30 people left. Most of them had already settled down here. This time, regardless of gender, they all signed up for the exam.

Whether it was to vent their anger and give themselves an explanation, or to fight to the death and never give up the opportunity to return to the city, in short, they all walked into the examination hall.

But when the results came out, the scores were unexpectedly good, and these people became confused instead.

They were married, had wives or husbands, and had children. As long as they were not unfeeling and unrighteous people, they could not be without concerns in their hearts.

So, should they not leave for the sake of their families?

Impossible!

It would be fine if there was no opportunity, but since there was an opportunity, and it was still the infinitely bright future of a university student, one by one, no one would give it up.

For example, those who went to support the third-line factories, didn't they also leave their families and run to the remote mountains and forests? Many people were indeed out of a sense of collective honor and social responsibility, thinking of contributing to the construction of the country.

But there would definitely be no shortage of people who signed up just to gain experience and gild themselves.

For the sake of career and future, family can only be put behind!

Then, should they just leave?

Their conscience wouldn't allow it!

So, when they entered the courtyard one by one just now, they were still laughing and talking, but when there were no outsiders here, they could no longer laugh.

One of the educated youths said to An Quan, "I used to envy you two, both educated youths, and Shanghai and Hangzhou are not far away, so you can be considered half fellow villagers. You can be said to be 'well-matched in social status and have similar interests'.

Now I envy you even more. You two took the college entrance examination together and were admitted to key universities together. You can fly together."

As he said that, he shook his head, picked up the wine bottle and poured wine, and said with a wry smile, "I can't do it. My wife only has a junior elementary school education, and there are two children in the family. It's impossible to even take her to the college entrance examination."

One person next to him hesitated for a moment, looked at him and said, "Does your wife support you going to university?"

Before he could answer, another person said, "Your father-in-law is the deputy team leader of the Red Star Brigade. If he doesn't agree, I'm afraid it won't be so easy for you to report to the school."

The man shook his head lightly, raised his head and looked around at everyone, and said softly, "My wife is very supportive, saying that she'll take care of the family and I don't need to worry about it. My father-in-law was originally unwilling, but my wife talked to him and he agreed."

As he said that, he suddenly smiled, "He's been bragging everywhere these past two days, saying that a university student came out of his family."

An Quan looked at him and smiled, "That's great, what are you still worried about?"

The man shook his head with a wry smile again, but didn't say anything more.

What he was thinking about was his parents far away in Shanghai. If he went to university, would his parents still recognize this daughter-in-law?

On another table, Ding Qian rested her chin in her hand, her face full of helplessness, "Ya Nan, your family is so good, both of you are educated youths, and you're both from Shanghai. One by one here, only An Ge's family is similar to yours."

Lu Yanan picked up some food for her and comforted her, "Don't worry too much, didn't you say it yourself, it's just that your parents-in-law don't agree, your husband still supports you."

Then she smiled again, "Your school is the best here, that's Tongji University! It would be a pity if you didn't go!"

The others nodded in agreement, but they didn't know where to start to persuade her.

Their situation was similar, they were admitted to good universities, but they had to face the hurdle of family.

The road of life, why is it so difficult?

Chen Fan didn't know that the room separated by a wall was full of gloom. He looked at Zhang Wenliang with a speechless expression, "Isn't it just a fish jelly? When your team catches fish later, you can make a bowl yourself. Is it necessary to snatch it?"

Zhang Wenliang didn't care, and happily put the last piece of fish jelly into his mouth, "Fresh, really fresh, delicious!"

This was the first time he had eaten fish jelly without fish, and the color was milky white. At first, he didn't feel any appetite when he looked at it, but thinking that it was brought by Chef Chen, the taste shouldn't be bad, so he gave face and tried a piece.

This taste was amazing.

After he finished the second piece, there was only the last piece left in the bowl, so he quickly poked it away with his chopsticks.

As for the others, they naturally went into the mouths of Secretary Yang and the others, but he didn't dare to say much, so he could only give Chen Fan a look, as if to say, why are you only talking about me and not them?

Chen Fan squinted his eyes, I don't dare either!

The brigade leaders are all on this table, and there are district committee members at the same table. With outsiders present, of course, you have to be low-key.

While eating, people kept coming to toast him, and even if he had a good capacity for alcohol, he couldn't stand being poured so much.

After a few rounds of drinking, he took the opportunity to run to the study room next door. As soon as he pushed the door open, a cloud of smoke spewed out.

He was so frightened that he took two steps back. Good fellow, is this a fire?