Reborn in 1977

Amidst the gazes of admiration, Chen Fan waved his sleeves and took away a large carp.

The carp was still unwilling to give up, jumping around in the basket, only to be knocked unconscious by a flick of his finger.

At this moment, the basket already contained 4 carrots, two pigeons, and a large carp weighing over 3 pounds. With the main course secured, he just needed to find some side dishes to make a complete meal.

But where could he buy side dishes?

Just then, an older woman passed by, and Chen Fan quickly asked for directions, "Auntie, excuse me, could you tell me where the nearest vegetable market is?"

Upon hearing this, the woman's face immediately blossomed into a smile, "Oh my, young man, you sure know how to talk! Calling me 'Auntie'? At my age, you should call me 'Grandma.'"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "I really can't tell how old you are. I'd guess, at most, thirty or forty?"

The woman's eyes disappeared completely with laughter, and she waved her hand, "I'm way past that! Look at my attire, I don't look like someone in their thirties or forties."

Then, she sized him up and her eyes lit up, asking, "Do you live around here too?"

Chen Fan shook his head, "No, no, I'm here visiting relatives. My relatives live in a hutong near Dashilan."

The woman felt a little disappointed. So, he was from out of town. In that case, it wouldn't be easy to introduce him to her daughter. A Beijing residency and a formal job were the minimum requirements, and she couldn't lower her standards.

Then, she was surprised again, "Dashilan? You've gone way too far! This is Nanluoguxiang. It's several miles away from there. You should go to Zhengyang Market, or Hepingmen Vegetable Market, they're closer."

Chen Fan raised his eyebrows slightly, "Oh, so this is Nanluoguxiang?"

The woman turned and pointed to a large area of courtyard rooftops, "That's right. This whole area is. If you're talking about the street within Nanluoguxiang, it's the one in the middle of this area. The other hutongs run east-west, only that one runs north-south, it's easy to find."

Then, she looked at Chen Fan again, "Why, do you know someone here?"

Chen Fan nodded with a serious face, "Yes, I have a friend who's a cook. He said he lives at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang Courtyard."

The woman immediately waved her hand, "Then your friend isn't being truthful. He's just making things up. Nanluoguxiang is indeed a hutong, but it runs north-south. The houses in this area used to be inhabited by wealthy families, even princes. Their houses are basically all facing south, distributed in the transverse hutongs. Even if a few doors face east or west, those are single-family houses built later. There are no courtyards like that!"

Chen Fan's eyes were a little doubtful, "Really?"

The woman pointed to the east, "Go and see if you don't believe me."

Chen Fan really went to take a look.

Anyway, it was right in front of him, it wouldn't take much effort, would it?!

The Nanluoguxiang of later generations was a crowded internet-famous street, even more bustling than Dashilan, but now it was deserted. Both sides of the road were basically the side walls of large courtyards, with nothing interesting at all!

Moreover, due to the recent earthquake, almost every hutong roadside had piles of broken bricks, gravel, and tiles, like an unfinished construction site.

However, Chen Fan still discovered a surprise.

At No. 29 Nanluoguxiang, a small house, whether it was a remodeled one or a privately built one, had actually been transformed into a steamed bun shop?!

Wasn't it said that the Yuebin Restaurant, which opened in the 1980s, was the first individually-run restaurant? It's only 1978 now, and there's already a private steamed bun shop?

Why was he so sure it was a private shop?

Because there was no signboard!

At the very least, state-owned stores had a large sign that said "State-Owned Breakfast Shop", but this place had nothing. Moreover, according to the rules of state-owned stores, they wouldn't be open at this time, but its door was open.

Chen Fan swooshed over and peeked inside. The pot for steaming buns was already empty, and the stove was cold.

Just then, a man walked over, his face full of a friendly smile, "Hello, comrade, are you here to buy buns?"

Chen Fan turned to look at him and smiled, "Do you still have buns here? What's the price?"

The owner said with a smile, "There are still a dozen or so, but they're all cold. If you want to buy them, you'll have to heat them up when you get home, or you can wait a few minutes and I can steam them for you here. The price is the same as the state-owned restaurants: 8 cents for a large meat bun, 5 cents for a vegetarian bun, and 5 cents for a steamed bun."

Chen Fan asked curiously, "This shouldn't be a state-owned restaurant, so where do you get your meat and vegetables from?"

The owner had a pretty good temper, perhaps because too many people had asked, and he answered skillfully, "Pork isn't as scarce as it was a few years ago, and many educated youths are returning to the city. The street committee is calling on the educated youths to be self-reliant, to first find ways to make a living, and then arrange jobs later.

There are educated youths in our family, and with an extra mouth, there are a few more mouths to feed, which is also worrying. After thinking about it, the family felt that making buns and steamed buns wasn't too complicated of a skill, and buns and steamed buns were something everyone had to eat, so they opened this steamed bun shop.

After the report was submitted, the street committee issued a certificate, and then we took the certificate to the vegetable market management office and reported the meat and vegetables we needed every day. We just have to take the money to buy them the next morning, without using coupons. We don't need coupons to buy meat and vegetables, and we don't need coupons to sell them, which is considered a preferential policy given by the street."

Chen Fan blinked. So, he didn't have a business license, and didn't have a food hygiene permit?

He came back to his senses, took out a cigarette and handed it over, "What's your surname?"

The owner took the cigarette with both hands, "You're too polite. My surname is Cheng, Cheng Qiyou."

Chen Fan, "Sorry to bother you, Boss Cheng, how many buns do you have left? I'll take them all."

Uncle Zhang is from Shandong, Uncle Li is from Cangzhou, Hebei, Uncle Lin... he didn't say, anyway, after staying in the capital for so many years, and partnering with two people who eat wheat, he can definitely eat noodles too, so why not just heat up these buns at night, saving the effort of cooking rice.

When Boss Cheng saw that he was buying everything, he was overjoyed, but he still carefully corrected, "Don't call me boss, I'm just a steamed bun seller, and the street committee is in charge of me, I'm also serving the people!"

Chen Fan quickly changed his words, "Sorry, sorry, I misspoke, it should be Director Cheng. I wish you all the best in being incorporated soon, and you can also become a shop director."

Boss Cheng was satisfied now, smiling so wide that he couldn't close his mouth, "Thank you for your kind words, thank you for your kind words! Wait a moment, I'll pack them up for you."

Saying that, he took out a large dustpan from the cupboard in the corner, and tore off a large sheet of newspaper from the table behind him, putting all the buns on it.

Chen Fan's eyes twitched when he saw it, wrapping buns with newspaper? This thing has lead!

After a while, Boss Cheng folded the newspaper and handed it to him with both hands, smiling, "10 meat buns, 5 vegetable buns, 3 steamed buns, a total of 1.2 yuan."

Happy is happy, but the money can't be less, it's all small business, can't afford to lose.

Chen Fan took it and put it in the basket, and touched it with his hand by the way. Fortunately, it was hard, it shouldn't stick.

Then, while paying, he asked, "Is yours the only one on this street, or are there other shops?"

Boss Cheng put away the money, one one-yuan bill, one two-mao bill, without even counting, directly stuffed it into his pocket. Then he smiled, "There are more than just my shop, there are twenty or thirty of them."

He pointed to the south, "If you go south along the hutong, they are all roadside shops, you can see them while strolling around. There are places selling tea, tailors, ready-made clothes, tofu makers..., and there are also those who sell steamed buns and steamed buns like me, and those who sell noodles."

Saying that, he looked at Chen Fan, "By the way, there are also two private restaurants, but they are not large in scale, similar to my shop, with only two tables. If you don't want to cook, you can go to their house to eat, they have meat, fish, and vegetables, saving you the effort of doing it yourself."

Chen Fan turned to look at the sparsely populated street, his mind a little muddled.

This is a bit of a subversion of his impression?!

Is it really 1978 now?

However, it seems that in the past year, things that have subverted his impression have happened almost every day, and this is no exception.

Chen Fan came back to his senses, looked at Boss Cheng and asked, "Are all these twenty or thirty shops you mentioned privately run?"

Boss Cheng chuckled, "Isn't that right? If you count the state-owned stores, there are many more shops on this nearly 800-meter-long hutong, at least thirty categories.

This area was built in the Yuan Dynasty. In order to facilitate the high-ranking officials living here, there have been many shops on this street since then, covering various industries such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation.

Even in the past few years, there have been no fewer state-owned stores. Not only are there grain and oil shops, vegetable shops, and meat shops, but also many catering companies have opened branches here.

However, since the end of last year, with more and more educated youths returning to the city, the street committee has encouraged educated youth families to be self-reliant. Those with the conditions, like our family, rely on the houses facing the street to open shops. Those without the conditions go to set up cooperatives with other educated youths. Some sell tea at Qianmen, some supply boxed lunches in parks, and some have started as 'peddlers', setting up stalls at various flea markets, all for the sake of life."

Chen Fan suddenly realized, so that's how flea markets came about?!

At this time, Boss Cheng sighed again and said, "Although life is okay now, I still feel uneasy. Our shops are all arranged by the street committee. When they say something, they may be gone."

Chen Fan blinked and asked, "So, none of you have gone through the procedures?"

Boss Cheng was a little strange, "What procedures?"

Seeing Chen Fan look at the shop, he immediately reacted and quickly waved his hand, "We say that we are private shops, but there is still a difference from the previous small business owners. This shop is a house modified by the family. Doing this little business is also approved by the street committee, and even guided by them. A certificate from the street committee is enough."

Besides, if we were to go through the formalities, who would we even go to? And under what name? There's no procedure for any of this!”

Hearing this, Chen Fan understood again.

In other words, the Yuebin Restaurant was only the first self-employed business to get a license, not truly the first self-employed business.

It was like how at this very moment, the private economy in many parts of the South had already awakened, just waiting for an official order to move from underground to above ground.

And in the underground stage, it wouldn't be counted or recorded.

Boss Cheng's steamed bun shop, and the twenty or thirty similar shops, were like this!

They were still waiting to be incorporated by the street committee and become formal employees with a position.

...

Carrying the now quite full basket, he continued walking forward, and before long, Chen Fan indeed saw two restaurants not far apart.

They also didn't have names, and similarly, they had opened a door in the side room facing the street to make a shop.

It wasn't yet 5 o'clock, and there weren't many people eating, so Chen Fan walked around in front of the two restaurants and then chose one to go into.

A good-looking female comrade was calculating accounts at the counter, and upon hearing the sound, she immediately looked up, a smile on her face, “Hello, comrade, are you here to eat? We can stir-fry home-style dishes, as well as Sichuan and Shandong cuisine. Would you like to try some? I guarantee you'll be satisfied.”

Chen Fan looked up at the blackboard hanging on the wall, then looked down at her, “As long as it's Sichuan or Shandong cuisine, you can make any dish?”

At this moment, a middle-aged man in a white chef's uniform lifted the door curtain and walked out of the kitchen, raising his head and saying, “Yes, as long as it's Sichuan or Shandong cuisine, we can make anything.”

Chen Fan turned his head to look, oh, full of arrogance, quite confident.

It's good to be confident, that way you won't cry when you're hit.

He immediately smiled and said, “Then what if you can't make it?”

The chef's expression changed slightly, and his eyes narrowed, “As long as it's a proper dish, if I can't make it, you can smash my signboard.”

Chen Fan laughed and waved his hand, saying, “It's not that serious. If you can't make it, just do me a small favor. Don't worry, I won't let you suffer.”

The chef carefully sized him up, emphasizing again, “What I mean by proper dishes are those that must exist, not something made up off the top of your head.”

The woman behind the counter also had a change in expression, sizing up Chen Fan, then looking at the chef, with some worry in her eyes.

Chen Fan put the basket on the nearby table and smiled at the chef, “Trouble you, master, please make me a Water Boiled Fish Fillet, without any bones, a Crispy Fragrant Prawn, and a Lotus Root Meeting Reed Catkin.”

The chef immediately frowned, “What nonsense is this? Sichuan cuisine only has Water Boiled Pork Slices, where does Water Boiled Fish Fillet come from? And what's Crispy Fragrant Prawn, or Lotus Root Meeting Lotus, I've never even heard of it.”

He raised his head and looked at Chen Fan, his eyes full of hostility, “Little brat, where are you from, daring to tease your grandpa?”

Chen Fan wasn't angry, just rolled up his sleeves and was about to walk inside, “You can't make it doesn't mean it doesn't exist, today I'll show you a thing or two,… ”

He stopped, looked at the arm in front of him, then turned his head and smiled, “What, you don't dare?”

The chef narrowed his eyes and stared at him for a few seconds, then straightened his arm, “Please…!”

After Chen Fan entered the kitchen, he also followed in.

The woman also quickly ran out from behind the counter and watched from the kitchen door.

Fifteen minutes later…

Chen Fan performed a series of operations like a tiger, came out of the kitchen, patted the oil smoke on his body, and pulled out a cigarette, “You don't have prawns here, and no reed catkin chicken, so those two Shandong dishes can't be made, but this Water Boiled Fish Fillet is almost the same, are you convinced?”

Just kidding, Water Boiled Fish Fillet is a new Sichuan dish that only appeared after the 90s. Later, Sauerkraut Fish was derived from it. Relying on the Water Boiled Fish dish, Sichuan cuisine rampaged from south to north, from east to west, establishing its position as the number one “Jianghu Cuisine.”

Asking a Sichuan chef to make this dish at this time is making things difficult!

As for those two Shandong dishes, they were also two new Shandong dishes that were later updated and continuously innovated.

In 2021, Shandong held a creative cuisine competition of “New Era, New Shandong Cuisine”. Using authentic Shandong cuisine techniques to make innovative dishes, the creative dish “Lotus Root Meeting Reed Catkin” developed and produced by Wen Shang chef Zhuo Deyong was one of them.

As for that Crispy Fragrant Prawn, it was what Chen Fan prepared to release water.

As a professional chef, you know how to make this dish as soon as you hear the name. Even if you can't 100% restore it, it's considered passed if you can make the “crispy and fragrant” taste.

But unfortunately, this store doesn't have prawns!

A few minutes later, Chen Fan walked out of the store with a basket full of meat and vegetables in one hand and a bag in the other.

When he was cooking just now, the chef was watching from the side. If his skills weren't bad, he should be able to restore seven or eight points, so he made a big profit.

Fortunately, that person was arrogant but knew the rules. He insisted on kowtowing to Chen Fan to become his apprentice, but Chen Fan decisively refused. When he heard that Chen Fan wanted some meat and vegetables, he almost packed all the ingredients and sent them out.

In the end, Chen Fan picked a part. He originally wanted to give money, but he resolutely refused, so this matter was settled, and anyway, both sides didn't lose out.

As soon as Chen Fan left the restaurant, a fragrance blew out with the wind.

Several people who were preparing to eat smelled the fragrance and drilled inside, “Chef He, what delicious thing did you make today, it smells so good, hurry up and bring it out…”

Chen Fan looked back, smiled, and walked back carrying the vegetable basket.

When passing the front door, he indeed saw several tea stalls, and he even went over and asked, “Is there someone here named Chen Qi?”

A female comrade with a big braid brought over a bowl of tea and asked curiously, “Who is Chen Qi? Is he also an educated youth who just returned?”

Chen Fan handed over a penny, took the tea and drank it in large gulps, returned the bowl, and smiled, “Ah, yes, I heard that he is also selling large bowl tea, if he's not here, then forget it.”

Then he waved his hand and left in the reluctant eyes of a group of female comrades and the jealous eyes of male comrades.

...

Young people just walk fast. Before long, he returned to the small alley next to Da Shi Lan.

Lin Yuanxiang was pacing in the yard. Seeing him come in, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, “Oh, my little ancestor, where did you go to buy vegetables?”

Saying that, he raised his wrist, “It's almost half past five, why did it take so long?”

Chen Fan raised the vegetable basket and shook it, smiling, “So many things, it has to take a little longer.”

Old Zhang supported himself with a crutch, and Old Li swung his empty sleeves, walking out of the main room together.

The two old men looked at the full basket and couldn't help but be surprised.

Before they could ask, Chen Fan put the basket on the ground and took them out one by one, “This is dried tofu, potatoes, carrots, round radishes, soybean sprouts, pigeons, carp,… ”

Finally, he picked up a knife of meat, raised his head and smiled, “How about making braised pork with this two jin of pork belly?”

Seeing so many things, the three old men looked at each other. Even Lin Yuanxiang was mentally prepared, but he was also frightened by this basket of things.

The old men had been honest and upright all their lives. If they didn't ask about this, they couldn't eat it.

Lin Yuanxiang lifted his trouser legs and squatted down, asking Chen Fan, “Xiao Fan, you have to explain clearly, where did these vegetables come from? How much money did you spend, where did you get the tickets?”

Chen Fan laughed and didn't say much, just explained to them one by one, “This round radish was bought on the square, oh, the basket too, it cost 3 cents, you see this pigeon, does it look like a homing pigeon? I bought it as a meat pigeon, and Old Man also asked for a high price, two yuan a piece.

But this big carp was caught by me, the situation at the time was like this…”

After Chen Fan finished speaking, the three old men looked at each other again.

He caught a big carp by just borrowing a fishing rod?

He exchanged so much meat and vegetables for a dish?

Why does it sound so mysterious?

Chen Fan didn't care whether it was mysterious or not. After explaining, he took the things into the kitchen.

Then he turned on all the firepower, and dishes were brought into the main room like flowing water.

An Eight Immortals table, four people just happened to sit on one side, Chen Fan naturally sat at the lower seat, introducing the table of dishes, “This is Hunan-style braised pork, which Mr. Li loves to eat, this is Cherry Meat, which is actually also braised pork, but it is another way of making it,

This is Water Boiled Fish Fillet, potatoes and soybean sprouts are all underneath, I have removed all the fish bones, don't worry about fish bones, this is Braised Pigeon,… ”

Looking with their eyes and listening with their ears, the three old men couldn't help but swallow.

Lin Yuanxiang suddenly stood up, turned around and ran to his room, and Old Zhang also reacted, hopping on one foot to the kitchen.

Before long, Old Zhang held a stack of bowls, and Lin Yuanxiang also brought back two jars of wine, put one jar on the side coffee table, and directly opened the other jar, pouring wine into the empty bowls.

Old Man Li was still a little hesitant, “The health doctor said last time that I can't drink too much wine.”

Old Zhang didn't even raise his head, “Give it all to me if you don't drink it.”

Old Man Li didn't hesitate anymore, and immediately coughed, “We advance and retreat together, there is no reason to be a deserter, fill it up!”

Chen Fan smiled happily at the lower seat.

Just kidding, with him here, it's just a meal of wine, what could happen?!

Then, three of the four people got drunk.

Chen Fan smiled bitterly as he cleaned up. Well, he originally wanted to stay at the Cultural Federation Guesthouse today, but it seems he can't leave.