Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 854 Hand in homework

"It's for you."

Chen Fan took out a rose and handed it to Jiang Lili.

Jiang Lili's eyes immediately curved into two crescent moons, filled with surprise and delight. "What is this?"

She took the flower and held it up to her eyes. It looked a bit like a rose, but much larger and more compact. It resembled a beautiful wine glass.

"Rose."

Chen Fan moved to a chair, crossed his legs, and said, "Today is February 14th, which is Valentine's Day in Western countries. Red roses represent love, so I'm giving you a red rose."

He coughed twice as he spoke, "It's just that in the dead of winter, only plum blossoms can bloom. This is made of paper, just a token."

Chen Fan had given Jiang Lili flowers before, back in Shanghai last year, also on Valentine's Day. However, instead of roses, he gave her mixed flowers from a flower garden on Chongming Island.

Actually, my country also had roses at that time, and there were quite a few varieties. In the Northwest, roses were used to make wine and pastries.

For a long time before, apart from large-scale celebrations, people in many parts of the mainland rarely saw exquisite flowers. Instead, they mostly saw common green plants in bloom, such as peonies, chrysanthemums, and roses.

Roses only became popular in mainland China after the 90s, as the custom of celebrating Valentine's Day gradually spread. It's normal that Jiang Lili had never seen roses before.

Listening to Chen Fan's explanation, Jiang Lili held the red paper rose, smiling as brightly as a flower. She secretly glanced outside the door, and when no one was around, she leaned in and kissed it, whispering, "The paper one is even better; it can be preserved forever. I really like it."

Chen Fan chuckled, "I'm glad you like it."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a series of footsteps approached.

The two turned to look and saw Zhou Yali running over excitedly, leaning against the door frame as she was about to speak. But when she saw the roses in Jiang Lili's hand, her eyes widened in surprise, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Where did these roses come from in the dead of winter?"

Jiang Lili lowered her head shyly, "They're not real flowers, Xiao Fan folded them from red paper."

Zhou Yali turned her head and glared, "Don't Chinese people celebrate Western holidays?"

Chen Fan remained calm and said, "Those who are barbarians but Chinese should be treated as Chinese, and those who are Chinese but barbarians should be treated as barbarians. Only by being inclusive can we achieve greatness. If we want to create an international company, then celebrating Western holidays is perfectly normal."

Zhou Yali gasped, then said thoughtfully, "Is this what Dad always said: if you want to make money, you can't have any shame?"

"The right of interpretation belongs to the person concerned."

Chen Fan coughed lightly and looked at her, asking, "Is something the matter?"

Zhou Yali blinked and pointed downstairs, "Dad wants to talk to you about how to celebrate the New Year tomorrow."

Chen Fan patted his thigh. "Okay, let's go down now."

Jiang Lili quickly put the red roses in her hand into the cabinet and then prepared to go downstairs.

Zhou Yali blocked the doorway, saying, "Wait, pick a flower for me, I want one too."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan was immediately startled. "Are you kidding me? Red roses are for lovers, you can't have them for me?"

Zhou Yali quickly waved her hand, "I didn't want roses, I meant other flowers. Hey, is picking roses all you know how to do?"

Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief and patted his chest. "Thank goodness. If you dared to ask for the roses, I would have gone to your dad to complain."

Zhou Yali rolled her eyes. "Stop being so conceited. Only Lili treats you like a treasure. Hurry up and fold some flowers for me."

Chen Fan didn't hesitate. He pressed her shoulders and pushed her forward, leading her to the large study across the street. They finally stopped in front of a bookshelf.

Then, pointing to several books, he said, “Look, ‘One Hundred Examples of Origami,’ ‘The Complete Book of Origami’… these books all teach origami. If you want something, just follow the instructions in the books and fold it slowly.”

(Origami books from the 70s, as well as paper-cutting books)

Zhou Yali rolled her eyes. "I want you to fold it for me, not to teach me how to fold it."

Chen Fan patted her shoulder, "Sweetie, play by yourself."

After that, he walked out.

Zhou Yali glared fiercely at his back. "Hmph, if you want to fold it yourself, then fold it yourself. I'm not asking you."

He then pulled out a book of origami and started reading.

Chen Fan and Jiang Lili went downstairs together. Zhou Zhengdong and Zhao Wanru were sitting on the sofa in the living room drinking tea. As for the little one, he was wrapped in a swaddle and lying flat on the side, listening intently to the radio.

There were two golden monkeys nearby, obediently peeling peanuts and feeding each other.

Upon seeing Chen Fan approach, Zhou Zhengdong immediately put down his teacup and said, "Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and we're going to your parents' place to pay our respects tonight. Do you have any thoughts on this?"

Chen Fan walked over and sat down, picked up the teapot and poured two cups of tea, saying at the same time, "You mean, you're going directly to the old house in the city for the New Year?"

Before Zhou Zhengdong could speak, he turned to look at Jiang Lili and said with a smile, "Okay, in that case, I'll take Lili back to the Jiang family for a reunion dinner tomorrow at noon, and after the afternoon worship, we'll go back to the old house for the New Year's Eve dinner."

Jiang Lili's eyes flickered slightly, and her expression became somewhat excited.

Although I've married into this family, it would be best if I could go home with Xiaofan for the New Year.

Moreover, this arrangement will not affect celebrating the New Year and having a reunion dinner at the Chen family home.

Zhou Zhengdong smiled and said, "That's what I meant too. If it weren't for that old house, I wouldn't have brought this up. Since we have the means, let's try our best to take both sides into consideration."

Don't forget what you said yourself: marrying Lili isn't her leaving home, it's two families becoming one. You also need to try your best to take care of her parents.

Chen Fan smiled and nodded, "That's fine. The old house is our family anyway, so it's normal to spend the New Year there."

He paused for a moment, then said, "I've taken care of everything here. I've already informed everyone who needed to. Even if you hadn't mentioned it, I was planning to leave on the morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year anyway."

"Now, let's just pack our things and go there tonight, so we don't have to travel tomorrow, which is the Lunar New Year."

Taking a speedboat to Yunhu only takes about half an hour, and then changing cars at the pier to go home takes only ten minutes. The whole trip takes less than an hour, which really doesn't take much time.

Zhou Zhengdong was immediately taken aback, "You're just leaving like that?"

Chen Fan smiled and shrugged, "Since we have nothing else to do, why don't we just leave?"

Zhou Zhengdong and Zhao Wanru exchanged a glance, then nodded in unison, "Okay, let's go today."

Chen Fan turned to Jiang Lili and said, "Go upstairs and pack your things. I need to talk to Yang Mei and the others to make some arrangements."

Jiang Lili nodded and was about to speak when Zhou Yali suddenly rushed in with books in her hand, angrily saying, "You rascal, you're lying! These books don't teach you how to fold flowers at all!"

As she spoke, she shoved the book in front of Chen Fan, saying, "Look for yourself, where is it? I mean, the kind of flower you folded looks just like the real thing, not this kind with sharp edges that looks obviously fake."

Chen Fan pushed the book back directly, "You have to learn how to fold this kind of angular one first. Once you've learned it, I'll teach you how to fold it just like the real thing." Of course, there's no realistic origami art right now. That's something he developed himself after learning it, using his genius ideas. It's guaranteed to have absolutely nothing to do with the skill board.

Zhou Zhengdong sat to the side, his brows furrowing slightly. "Xiao Fan has important business to attend to, so don't disturb him. We're going to the Chen family's old house today and will spend the New Year there tomorrow. Hurry up and pack your things; we'll be leaving soon."

"Huh? Let's go now?"

Zhou Yali turned to look at the group, and seeing that they didn't seem to be joking, she decisively turned and left, saying, "I'll go pack my things first."

As he spoke, he waved the books in his hand, "Brother, I'll take these with me."

It was just a few old books, and besides, he had already learned the contents of them long ago, so Chen Fan naturally didn't care.

He waved his hand, "Do as you please."

Then everyone got busy, while he went outside and whistled.

The myna bird quickly flew over and landed on his shoulder. "What do you want? What do you want? What do you want?..."

Chen Fan interrupted the bird with a dark face, otherwise the bird would have kept talking. "Go and call Yang Mei, Huang Li, and Liu Lu. Only call the three of them. Don't call anyone else."

When searching for people within Lujiawan, he used myna birds most often.

What else could he do? There was no telephone installed in this house, and in this freezing weather, he didn't want to make another trip.

The myna bird was quite the show-off; upon receiving the mission, it immediately flapped its wings and took flight, still loudly calling out, "Mission accomplished, quack..."

Chen Fan's face darkened. "You're a myna, not a crow, what are you cawing for?"

It's not so bad that it imitates crows; sometimes it even imitates dogs barking. At first, the villagers were not used to it at all. Where did the dogs in the sky come from?

After hearing about it more often, everyone knew it was a myna bird kept by Teacher Chen, and some people jokingly called it a dog bird.

Chen Fan also thought that this bird was indeed quite a scoundrel.

While there was still some time, Chen Fan went into the panda enclosure and comforted the pandas. Then he went to the backyard, greeted the two horses and two sheep, and told them to behave and not be naughty.

As for the dog and the bird, just say something.

Zhou Yali's two gyrfalcons were naturally to be taken along, as were Jiang Lili's bodyguard cat sister. However, when Chen Fan saw the two golden monkeys, he wondered whether he should take them along as well.

The myna bird was fast; in no time, Yangmei and the other two came running over.

Chen Fan led them to sit in the living room, looked at the three of them, and said, "I've been quite busy these past few days since I got back, and haven't had time to chat with you all alone. I'm going back to the old house in Yunhu soon, and I'll be leaving right after the New Year. I won't be coming here anymore, so I called you over to see if there are any problems."

The three looked at each other, and after a moment, Huang Li nervously shrank her neck. "Everything else is fine, but I haven't thought of the homework you assigned me yet."

Chen Fan blinked, wondering what homework he had assigned her.

Fortunately, he had a good memory. After thinking for several seconds, he finally remembered what it was about.

When I left after the Chinese New Year last year, I actually assigned her some homework.

At that time, Liu Lu returned from further studies in Shanghai and became the head of the garment factory, while Yang Mei became the head of the Lujiawan Winery.

One of them studied tailoring, and the other studied winemaking. They both combined their skills with industry, and their business will grow bigger and bigger in the future.

Only Huang Li followed him to learn cooking skills and later became the head chef of Lujiawan Restaurant.

But no matter how big the restaurant becomes, and how many helpers she has, it still has nothing to do with industrialization.

So Chen Fan told her to think about it carefully: how can something like cooking be associated with industry?

It seems that the oriole hasn't come up with any good ideas yet.

After a moment of thought, Chen Fan picked up his teacup, took a sip, and looked at her with a smile, "Have you thought about this? You can share your thoughts."

Huang Li immediately said, "At first, I thought of food factories and cooked food factories. I wondered if we could make the dishes well, then use the packaging from the food factories, and sell them outside, so that people could buy them, heat them up, and eat them."

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow. So this is pre-made food? He didn't expect her to think of this.
Before he could speak, Huang Li continued, "But I tried making a batch of dishes at a food factory, and I found it very difficult to do well. There are two main problems: one is the shelf life, and the other is the taste."

Shelf life can be managed by adding preservatives, but regardless of whether preservatives are added, reheated food will taste significantly worse. And stir-frying in a large wok will never taste as good as stir-frying in a small pan.

After listening to her, Chen Fan remained noncommittal. "Anything else?"

Huang Li swallowed hard, chuckled awkwardly, and said, "Also, like Liu Lu, we could run a tailoring training class, teach more people cooking skills, and after they pass the training, we could open restaurants and arrange for them to work as chefs in different restaurants. Wouldn't that count as expanding the scale?"

She paused for a moment before stammering, "Just... just these two ideas, nothing else."

Chen Fan laughed and looked at her, saying, "Not bad."

Hearing Chen Fan's approval, Huang Li's confidence soared. The weight that had been hanging over her heart for a whole year finally lifted. She opened her eyes wide and asked, "Master, are both of these okay?"

Chen Fan nodded and smiled, "The first method you mentioned is called pre-cooked food. People in the United States have been doing this for over thirty years, and they've done it quite well."

As for the taste you mentioned, it's really not a problem. It's okay if the taste is a little off; it leaves room for future product improvements.

However, there's no need to do this right away. You can report this idea to Secretary Yang and the others. If possible, when the time is right, it would be best to go abroad for an on-site inspection. Doing so will give you a better chance of success.

As for your second method,”

He paused for a moment, then thought for a moment and said, "We can start right now, but you must remember to control the quality and standards of the dishes just like in a factory. The dishes can't be made too badly, nor can they be made too delicious."

"what?"

Huang Li looked at him with a puzzled expression, "Can't it be made too delicious?"

It's understandable if you can't do a good job, but why can't you do a delicious one?
Chen Fan looked at her and said seriously, "There are many examples of training chefs and opening many restaurants abroad. In professional terms, it is called 'chain restaurant'. The biggest problem with this kind of chain restaurant is that the taste and quality of the dishes are inconsistent."

For example, we now have ten Luwan restaurants, some in Beijing and some in Shanghai. If you eat at one in Beijing and feel it's not as good as the one in Shanghai, how would you feel?

Huang Li immediately blurted out, "The chefs at the Beijing branch are no good."

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly realized, "That's why it's necessary to require that the dishes made by chefs in different restaurants taste almost the same, so that customers won't feel that the chefs in one place are good and the chefs in another place are bad."

Chen Fan nodded and smiled, "Pre-made meals and this chain restaurant actually have the same core requirement: it's not about how delicious the food is, but the standard of measurement must be consistent."

He turned to look at Liu Lu and Yang Mei, who were deep in thought beside him, and said seriously, "This is the core of industrialization, called 'product standards'."

The three of them nodded in unison, "Understood."

(End of this chapter)