A doctor who travels through two eras

Chapter 64 Differences in Diet between North and South

Lin Sanqi looked at Mao Xiaotong in front of him in astonishment. Oh no, it was Pan Ye.

The little girl was seen holding a bowl of noodle tea in one hand, pouting her lips, and taking advantage of the hotness, slurping the tea along the edge of the bowl, drinking it in one gulp.

How can you make such a sound? Where is your ladylike demeanor? This, this, this...

Lin Sanqi didn't dare to slurp it. Under the contemptuous eyes of the people around him, he took a spoon and took a bite.

Miancha is a traditional snack in old Beijing. It is made from millet flour or millet flour cooked into a paste. Sesame paste is then picked up and stretched into threads and poured on the miancha in circles. The sesame paste flavor is very strong.

But Lin Sanqi is from the south and doesn’t like sesame paste very much, so he took two bites and decided to throw it away.

Pan Ye slurped up half a bowl of noodle tea, then straightened up contentedly, blinking his big eyes at Lin Sanqi:
"You, why don't you eat? I'm sorry, did my eating manner scare you? It's really been a long time since I had noodle soup."

Lin Sanqi burst out laughing:
"People in the south are particular about not making noises when eating, so I've never seen anyone making noises while eating something mushy. If that happened at home, my dad would slap me in the face."

Pan Ye's face turned red when he heard this.

A saleswoman came over with five sesame cakes in a small bamboo basket. She put them in front of Lin Sanqi and Pan Ye with a slam, looking very unhappy.

"Young man, are you still disgusted by the way other girls eat? Let me tell you, this is the authentic way our beautiful Peking girls eat. Look at you, eating noodles with a spoon and frowning all the time, you look like a country bumpkin."

Several diners nearby also laughed and cheered:

"That's right, this is the way to drink noodle tea. This girl is great. She understands our old BJ's diet and doesn't waste food."

"Can the snacks in the south compare to those in our city? This is under the feet of the emperor."

Seeing that he had angered everyone, Lin Sanqi quickly stood up and begged for mercy:
"Dear uncles and aunts, I was just joking with my friends. I really didn't mean to make fun of you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry~~~"

Seeing that Lin Sanqi's apology was sincere, everyone stopped talking and just happily ate their breakfast.

The breakfast offered by this Xidan restaurant is quite rich in variety. In the pre-commercialized world, all breakfasts are prepared in traditional ways without any technology or hard work, and the taste is particularly authentic.

Lin Sanqi doesn't like sesame paste, nor does he like salty tofu pudding. He doesn't like eating greasy fried liver and fried tripe early in the morning, and he can't stand the soy milk that tastes like rotten foot washing water.

So in the end I ordered a bowl of vegetarian noodles to get by.

When paying the bill, Lin Sanqi was not worried about the money, but about the food coupons. He only had 5 jin of food coupons given to him by Old Man Fu, and he used up 9 liang of it for breakfast.

Pan Ye ate breakfast very quickly. He finished a bowl of noodle soup in one breath and could not finish three more buns. He looked at the remaining two buns reluctantly.

Lin Sanqi didn't hesitate to wrap the two pancakes in oil paper and stuffed them into her PLA bag without saying a word.

"Are you full?"

Pan Ye burped and covered his mouth embarrassedly: "I'm sorry for making you pay so many food coupons and money. Wait for me, I will pay you back later..."

If it were 2023, Lin Sanqi would definitely say: Don’t give it back to me, just give me your body in return.

But if someone said something like that in the street in 1959, he would be taken to the police station by the crowd. Even before he saw the people in the breakfast shop, they already disliked him.

"Okay, I'll go to your house after we finish eating. I'll go and get to know the place."

"Ah, going to my house, what for?"

Lin Sanqi rolled his eyes and said, "Stupid, didn't I say I wanted to buy your clock? I have to know where your home is so that I can deliver the food." Pan Ye secretly stuck out his tongue, not knowing why he trusted this little brother he had just met, so he smiled and nodded:
"My home is over there at the shipping warehouse..."

"Shipping warehouse? It's not far from my house. It's on the way. Let's go!"

What Lin Sanqi didn't know was that as soon as the two of them walked out of the restaurant, his remaining bowl of noodle tea was quickly snatched away by a few beggar-like children.

The diners and the waiter nearby did not chase them away and just sighed when they saw this.

The two of them took the No. 3 bus from Xidan and staggered towards the shipping warehouse.

In the crowded car, Pan Ye was still holding tightly onto her broken clock, which made Lin Sanqi feel very sorry for her.

"Okay, stop holding it. It's broken. Just find a trash can and throw it away."

The little girl was very stubborn: "I can't throw it away. This is something my great-grandfather brought back from France. It's very beautifully made. It can not only tell time, but also be used as a home decoration. Even if it's broken, I can still use it after repairing it."

Lin Sanqi smiled evilly: "Are you afraid that I will turn against you and not take your clock or give you food?"

Pan Ye's face turned red again when he saw his little secret was exposed, and he murmured:
"I'm sorry, my family is in great need of food..."

Lin Sanqi wanted to touch Pan Ye's head affectionately, but found that it seemed inappropriate to do so, so he could only take the package awkwardly:
"Then let me hold it. It's quite heavy. Don't be embarrassed. You study at Capital Medical College and I work at Kuanjie Chinese Medicine Hospital. If you are assigned to Kuanjie Chinese Medicine Hospital, maybe we can be colleagues in the future."

When Pan Ye heard Lin Sanqi's words, his vigilance dropped a lot, and he was even a little surprised.

"Really? You're from Kuanjie Chinese Medicine Hospital. We'll be colleagues in the future."

"Ahem, to be exact, I won't start work until next month. I've already been assigned to the purchasing department, but my whole family works at the Chinese Medicine Hospital..."

If Lin Sanqi's identity was an unemployed vagrant or a black market gangster, no matter how much Pan Ye liked him, he would still be wary of him.

But if Lin Sanqi is also an employee of a regular unit, and is in the same industry, then the sense of closeness will be even stronger.

The two of them got off the train at Haiyuncang Station, chatting and laughing. Pan Ye pointed to the entrance of an alley and said:

"My home is right here, in the front yard of Courtyard No. 15."

Lin Sanqi recognized the way and said goodbye with a smile: "Okay, I'll remember it. I have something to do later. When I'm done, I'll come over at noon and bring some food with me."

Pan Ye was relieved at this time and nodded gently: "Okay, thank you Lin Sanqi."

Lin Sanqi was so touched by these words that his bones softened. He waved his hands repeatedly:

"Okay, okay, why are you being so polite to me? Just go home. You've been busy all night. It's better to go to Chaoyang Park than to the black market in the future."

The two men waved goodbye, and Lin Sanqi walked westward towards Daqudeng Hutong. The two places were three miles apart and close enough to walk.

Pan Ye still returned home holding the clock.

Mr. and Mrs. Pan had been waiting with their necks stretched out, and when they saw their daughter come back, the old couple breathed a sigh of relief.

But when they saw their daughter taking the clock back, they looked at each other and sighed heavily at the same time.

If I didn’t sell the clock, it meant I didn’t get any food coupons in exchange. How would my family survive in the future?

(End of this chapter)