A doctor who travels through two eras

New Year's Eve, 1964.

Lin Sanqi never dreamed that he would spend his time not in his new home in Baishan Villa, Xiangjiang, but in Daqing, 3400 kilometers away.

One is the southernmost point of the motherland, and the other is the northernmost point of the motherland; they seem like two different worlds.

Lin Sanqi couldn't even make a phone call home because the multiple transfers were too difficult; it would take him at least an hour to make a single call.

Faced with a line of oil workers eager to call home, Lin Sanqi had no choice but to give way.

By 18 p.m., it was completely dark.

Lin Sanqi stood at the entrance of the canteen, watching groups of oil workers heading to the auditorium to watch a movie, and felt particularly uneasy.

Minister Zheng also sighed:
“Comrade Sanqi, your criticism during the day was correct. No matter how arduous the task is, we won’t miss a day or two. During the Spring Festival, our workers should have a rest instead of working day and night.”

As a result, Lin Sanqi said a few things out of the blue:
"The predecessors planted the trees, and the successors enjoy the shade. These respectable and lovable people dedicated their lives to the Great Northern Wilderness. But decades later, they have only made a bunch of spendthrifts. They have forgotten their original aspirations."

Minister Zheng was filled with questions, thinking, "I'm talking about now, why are you talking about decades from now?"
But officials are all quite shrewd, and Minister Zheng didn't believe Lin Sanqi would make such a remark without reason, so he went along with it:

"Comrade Sanqi, do you think that decades from now, our country will be able to be self-sufficient in oil supply?"

Lin Sanqi thought to himself, “If I told you this, you’d be terrified. Decades later, my country’s annual oil imports will reach 5 million tons, which is fifty times the current national oil production.”

Moreover, this oil gap is not getting smaller; on the contrary, it is increasing year by year.

Then the two oil giants, which monopolize the national supply of refined oil, have been losing money every year after year. It's truly a bizarre and surreal society.

"Minister Zheng, who can say what will happen decades from now? But with such lovely oil workers as us, I believe all problems will be solved."

Minister Zheng burst into laughter upon hearing this:
"Yes, the future is to be handed over to the next generation. We hope that each generation will be stronger than the last, so that our country can prosper and flourish."

Lin Sanqi curled her lips. In a sense, each generation is better than the last, for example, the speed at which they spend money.

Right there, Director Wu emerged from the cafeteria, excitedly shouting:
"Minister Zheng, Minister Lin, the New Year's Eve dinner is ready. Let's begin."

Lin Sanqi was delighted upon hearing this and jogged towards the cafeteria.

"Ha, good, good, I heard you've prepared a lot of wild game, so I'm in for a feast today."

As you enter the cafeteria, you'll see a large round table with platters of steaming dishes, and the aroma will instantly fill your nostrils.

Lin Sanqi ran up, drooling.

"Wow, this smells so good! What kind of meat is this?"

Director Wu knew from Lin Sanqi's excited expression that he had successfully flattered him with the lavish dinner tonight.

To prepare this meal of wild game, he made phone calls to various communes in the nearby Anda County, urgently collecting all the wild game that the local people had brought in, and it was all the freshest, not frozen.

"Minister Lin, this is roe deer meat, this pot is yellow sheep meat, and this pot of dry pot meat is rabbit meat. They are all wild game that were just hunted today."

And this is another dish; it's venison. However, I won't prepare deer blood for Minister Lin, otherwise, if he drinks it, he definitely won't be able to sleep well tonight.

hahaha~~~
Today, the whole table was filled with men, and they all wore knowing expressions, tacitly understanding each other.

After Director Wu finished laughing, he continued:
"But don't worry, Minister Lin, we've already prepared the deer antlers. Consider it our way of thanking you for all the gifts you brought today, haha."

Lin Sanqi's eyes were fixed on the other pot of frogs, her face filled with terror:
"No, Director Wu, this is a whole basin of frogs, and you haven't even cut them open or taken out their internal organs. How could you just cook them like that? This is just too unhygienic."

The people around him almost laughed again, and Director Wu cheerfully introduced:

"Minister Lin, you're mistaken. This is called a forest frog, a specialty of Northeast China. It's incredibly delicious and doesn't need its internal organs removed."

"Because the frog's belly has two roe-containing organs on each side that absolutely cannot be removed. They are very nutritious and delicious. Minister Lin, you absolutely mustn't miss them!" Lin Sanqi swallowed hard. Although he was from Guangdong and ate everything, the thought of eating a whole frog made him a little apprehensive.

Because these frogs have a lot of parasites in their stomachs, if you bite into one and swallow it all, you don't know what diseases you might get.

Just then, the chef brought out a basin of new dishes, and Lin Sanqi smiled as soon as she took a closer look:

"Oh, I recognize this dish, it's chicken stew with mushrooms, right?"

Decades later, the most representative Northeastern culture on television, besides Errenzhuan (a traditional folk art form), is this chicken stew with mushrooms.

Director Wu nodded repeatedly, flattering him:
"Minister Lin has a good eye indeed. Chicken stew with mushrooms is a very common home-style dish in Northeast China, but it is famous for its delicious flavor. This grouse meat paired with these hazel mushrooms is so delicious it'll make your eyebrows fall off."

Lin Sanqi was a little surprised:
"Wait a minute, chicken stew with mushrooms doesn't use ordinary domestic chickens, does it? And what's this 'flying dragon'?"

Director Wu explained very patiently:
"You can use regular chicken as an ingredient, but the most authentic ingredient must be grouse."

The hazel grouse, also known as the hazel grouse, is a unique forest resident bird found only in the Greater Khingan Mountains. Its meat is snow-white, tender, nutritious, and delicious, earning it the reputation of "dragon meat from the sky," a rare delicacy even in Northeast China.

"Old Zhang, don't you still have a few live flying dragons? Bring them over for Minister Lin to take a look."

Upon hearing this, Chef Zhang immediately picked up a "bird" from behind, which was about 40 centimeters long and smaller than a typical domestic chicken.

Lin Sanqi could tell from the pattern and color of the feathers that it was almost certainly a beast destined to spend its life in jail.

I thought to myself, thank goodness this is 1964. If this were 2016, no matter if you were a minister or a department head, this one meal would probably be enough to get you sentenced to ten years in prison.

Before he could even finish complaining in his mind, another dish was served from the kitchen.

At this moment, Director Wu said, as if showing off a treasure:
"Minister Lin, this is the grand finale of tonight's meal: braised bear paw. Our chef spent a full eight hours cooking just this one dish."

Lin Sanqi was sweating profusely, thinking to himself, "Well, it's really bad luck for wild animals in Northeast China to run into me."

But the aroma of braised bear paw wafted over, making his mouth water involuntarily.

Minister Zheng then said with a smile:
"Come, come, Comrade Sanqi, please take your seat. Our comrades from Daqing Oilfield went to great lengths to welcome you, our God of Wealth, and searched through several nearby counties to get these wild game. I'm just basking in your glory, hehe."

Lin Sanqi thought to himself, "Old Zheng, we'll have company when we go to jail."

"Alright, then I'll gladly accept your offer. These are all precious treasures, I need to eat them quickly, they might be protected animals in a few years."

Director Wu then poured wine for Lin Sanqi and Minister Zheng, before raising his bowl and saying:

"It is an honor to spend the Spring Festival with Minister Lin and Minister Zheng tonight. Come, comrades, let us drink this toast to our motherland, to our petroleum industry, and to Minister Lin and Minister Zheng!!!"

“Okay~~~”

The atmosphere when northerners drink is incredibly lively, instantly enlivening the entire cafeteria.

Lin Sanqi had witnessed the drinking parties in Shandong before, so he was naturally very wary of this kind of reckless drinking, because the feeling of being drunk was just too unpleasant.

So after finishing a bowl of baijiu, Lin Sanqi covered the bowl with his hand.

Director Wu even insisted on pouring him some wine:

"Minister Lin, it's a rare opportunity for you to visit our Daqing Oilfield. We must make sure you have a good meal and drinks. You've only had one bowl of wine. Does that mean you're not satisfied with our hospitality?"

Lin Sanqi looked at the table full of people who had been imprisoned for life and thought to himself, "You've prepared this meal with great care."

If you were to prepare this meal decades later, he would suspect that some troublemaker was trying to harm him. (End of Chapter)