A doctor who travels through two eras

Chapter 72 Food is becoming increasingly scarce

Lin Jiageng and Lin Zhenzhen were on summer vacation, and before Lin Sanqi officially started working, he became a "temporary nursery teacher."

The teacher has to work half a month later and Lin's mother retires before the two of them can switch roles.

Early in the morning, when everyone else in the family went to work, Teacher Lin took his nephews and nieces to have breakfast.

It was still the Red Star Hotel at the entrance of the alley, and it was still Chef Zhao. When he saw Lin Sanqi coming, he waved from afar:
"Comrade, are you here for breakfast again?"

Lin Sanqi pointed at the two little guys and said, "Morning, Master Zhao. The two kids were making a fuss and wanted to eat outside, so I had no choice but to bring them here."

"What do you want to eat? Just order it, haha."

After Master Zhao greeted him, he said softly:

"Eat quickly. It won't be long before our hotel stops serving breakfast. You won't be able to eat even if you want to."

Lin Sanqi was a little surprised and asked in a low voice:
"Why? You're the only restaurant in these alleys. If you close, where are we going to eat?"

Master Zhao sighed heavily:
"There's nothing we can do. Look at the weather. It hasn't rained at all from last year to this year. I heard that the Guanting Reservoir is almost dry. How can we grow crops without water? If the harvest is not good this year, it looks like a disaster is coming.

We have received an internal notice that all small restaurants like ours will be closed. Brother, if you have any connections, stock up on food now, as the situation won’t improve in the next few years.”

Lin Sanqi is a time traveler, so he naturally knows the destructive power of "three years".

But Lin Sanqi could not have imagined that a chef from a small restaurant at the entrance of an alley could infer the future food supply situation through a few small things. It must be said that there are experts among the people.

Lin Sanqi felt a little bitter in his mouth, thinking that if the city was like this, how would the people in other areas live...

Lin Sanqi was still worrying about the country and the people, but the two kids couldn't stand it anymore and started to quarrel:

"Uncle, I want to eat big buns~~~"

"Uncle, I want to eat more sesame cakes~~~"

"Okay, okay, let's order right away. But let's make it clear that we can only order as much as we can eat. Don't waste it, okay? And, Master Zhao, give me three bowls of tofu pudding without any seasoning."

Master Zhao was surprised when he heard this:

"Hey, you're just going to eat tofu pudding without any seasoning? That's so tasteless. Listen to me, at least add some soy sauce."

Lin Sanqi waved his hand and said, "We southerners don't eat salty tofu pudding. Look, I brought some sugar with me. I'll just add it in later."

Several waitresses nearby frowned in disdain when they heard Lin Sanqi's words:

"Whose unlucky child is this? White sugar is so precious, why did he use it to add tofu pudding?"

"That's right, it would be great if I could exchange this sugar for mine. You really don't know how expensive firewood and rice are until you manage the household!"

"If it were my son, I would make him so handsome that his grandmother wouldn't recognize him."

Master Zhao waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, he must be from some wealthy family. He was the one who replaced the brown sugar last time, which means he has plenty of sugar to eat, unlike us."

A few people were muttering there, but Lin Sanqi and his nephew were enjoying their meal.

Pancakes, fried dough sticks and tofu pudding were considered a top-notch breakfast in 1959, but the good days were clearly over.

When they had almost finished eating, Lin Sanqi stood up to pay the bill. Originally, he should have paid the bill first and then eaten, but Lin Sanqi was a "child of a wealthy family" and had face.

"Master Zhao, how much is it?" "One pound and two ounces of food coupons, plus 4 cents."

"Okay, thank you, see you later."

After leaving the restaurant, the two children were burping happily, while Lin Sanqi was a little worried. Why? His food coupons were getting less and less.

I used to have 5 jin of food coupons, but after two breakfasts, now I only have more than 2 jin left.

Given the way Lin Sanqi was spending his money lavishly, this amount of food coupons obviously wouldn't last long. If he went to a big restaurant, he would probably spend it all on a single meal.

But where to get food coupons is a bit of a headache.

Lin Sanqi has already observed the black market and found that not many people actually use food coupons and meat coupons to trade. Eating is the most important thing now.

On the contrary, there were quite a lot of bicycle tickets, watch tickets, and radio tickets, but people were unwilling to exchange them for money and only agreed to exchange them for food coupons or food, mainly for food.

Lin Sanqi had no shortage of food. The food in the time-space gate was enough for his entire village to have a feast.

He was greedy because he knew from watching documentaries that 1959 was the last glorious era of traditional catering, because there was still public-private partnership at that time and the skills of the masters were not lost.

In fact, traditional catering is like traditional Chinese medicine, and its inheritance has been interrupted from generation to generation.

Traditional cooking requires a master to guide you through the process. How much can a little chef, like you, learn by reading a book on your own?
For example, a little salt, how much is a little?

For example, if you fry it until 7% done, what does 7% mean?
These real skills that can only be understood and not explained in words are the experience gained by master chefs over decades of experience. They are not something you can learn by reading books for a few days.

So Lin Sanqi prepared to hurry up and eat at some of the famous eight buildings, eight residences, eight halls and eight vegetarian restaurants in old BJ.

The “Eight Great Halls” are: Huifeng Hall, Juxian Hall, Fushou Hall, Yunfu Hall, Huixian Hall, Fuqing Hall, Qinghe Hall and Tonghe Hall.

The “Eight Buildings” are: Dongxing Building, Zhengyang Building, Hongxing Building, Taifeng Building, Zhimei Building, Xinfeng Building, Anful Building, and Chunhua Building.

The “Eight Great Residences” are: Shaguoju, Tianxingju, Dingheju, Guangheju, Yishengju, Tongheju, Tianranju and Huixianju.

The "Eight Great Springs" are: Shanglin Spring, Luming Spring, Qinglin Spring, Huaiyang Spring, Xinlu Spring, Dalu Spring, Tongchun Garden, and Chun Garden.

It is a pity that so many time-honored traditional restaurants have finally disappeared in the long river of history.

For example, of the eight buildings, only Dongxing Building, Taifeng Building and Zhimei Building will remain in 2023.

Others, such as Hongxinglou, which was famous for its dumplings, Zhengyanglou, which was once as famous as Donglaishun for its shabu-shabu mutton, and Chunhualou, the only Jiangsu and Zhejiang restaurant among the eight buildings, have all disappeared.

Don’t wait until you lose something to cherish it. You must try them all while you have the chance.

Just when Lin Sanqi was thinking about how to get food coupons, the two kids started waving their hands again:
"Uncle, look over there, there's a soda stall..."

Lin Sanqi took a closer look and saw a row of sodas at the entrance of the street supply and marketing cooperative. The orange color was particularly eye-catching. It was a luxury snack of that era - Arctic Ocean soda.

Lin Sanqi didn't care, "Would you like some soda?"

The two children nodded repeatedly: "Yes~~~"

"If you want to drink it, uncle will buy it for you. If you don't drink it now, you probably won't be able to drink it anymore. This is such a jerk of God."

(End of this chapter)