Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 1443 Cooking, Giving Gifts, and Inviting Guests

At 11 a.m., Fang Yan's courtyard house.

On her way back from outside, Fang Yan also stopped by the market to buy some vegetables.

This trip to Shanxi went unused; neither the ticket nor the money was spent.

Not only were the tickets and money I had with me useless, but I even had some extra money after I came back.

They were all given to me by Xiao Hanxi before.

So when we passed by the farmers' market earlier, Fang Yan simply went to do some shopping.

Back home, with nothing else to do, he decided to show off his skills.

Since my sister-in-law went to Renmin University to continue her studies, Lao Hu has been basically in charge of arranging the meals at home during lunchtime.

The Yanjing Hotel was transformed into a cafeteria by Fang Yan's family.

Fang Yan came back at noon today, marking the first time the Fang family kitchen had been cooking at noon in a while.

Although Peng Chunxia was sent as a personal assistant, Fang Yan always asked her to focus on taking care of Zhu Lin and not worry about anything else, except for keeping an eye on the safety of the yard.

The main reason is that Peng Chunxia cooked a meal once before, and everyone felt it was just average. The main reason is that the chefs that the family has been able to contact in the past year are all top-notch. Even for the simplest stir-fried cabbage, different chefs can make a big difference in taste.

Even the eldest sister's cooking skills are now better than Peng Chunxia's.

So she never gets to cook.

When Fang Yan returned home today and started cooking, Peng Chunxia came to help. Unexpectedly, Fang Yan was so quick and efficient, it was as if she had been trained by a real chef. She could cook very well without Peng Chunxia having to help at all.

Even Peng Chunxia felt that she couldn't keep up with the pace of the dialect.

While preparing the ingredients, Peng Chunxia saw that Fang Yan was almost making afterimages with a knife, and the "clattering" sound in the kitchen never stopped.

Seeing Fang Yan's fast hand speed, Peng Chunxia exclaimed in amazement:

"When did Director Fang learn to cook?"

Fang Yan said while working:
"It's a personal hobby. I studied it on my own when I was working in the countryside in Sichuan."

As he spoke, he had already chopped a potato, his hands moving without stopping, as if he were a professional at it.

If you didn't know what Fang Yan did, you would think he was a chef who had been learning since childhood.

Peng Chunxia said:
"That's amazing! It's like you've been trained under a master chef. I really didn't expect that..."

Fang Yan said with a smile:

"You never expected that a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner like me would know this trick, did you?"

Peng Chunxia said:
"Yes, that's right. Generally speaking, it's already quite remarkable for someone to excel at one thing. After all, a person's energy is limited, and learning too many things will scatter one's focus. But you are different from ordinary people. I didn't expect your cooking skills to be so amazing as well as your traditional Chinese medicine skills."

He said jokingly in dialect:
"I haven't even cooked anything yet. Maybe I'm good at preparation, but when it comes to actually cooking, I'm not good at it?"

Peng Chunxia shook her head and said:

"No way! I'm sure you're a great cook too."

Sofia, standing to the side, said:
"Master's cooking is even better than the food at the Beijing Restaurant!"

After spending a lot of time with Fang Yan, she and An Dong realized that Fang Yan was quite capable in many ways. Not only was she good at cooking, but even her calligraphy was recognized by professionals. Last time, a calligrapher who specialized in calligraphy saw Fang Yan's calligraphy at her home and said that the calligraphy was really good.

In addition, he is also top-notch in martial arts, driving, trace evidence analysis, and even shooting.

So Sofia felt that dialects were practically omnipotent.

Hearing his apprentice's words, Fang Yan smiled and said:

"Haha, alright, stop flattering me."

"Anton and I are fine in the kitchen, you guys go outside."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the dog in the yard started barking, indicating that someone had arrived at the gate.

Fang Yan said to Sophia:
"Let's go see who it is?"

Sofia nodded, and then went out with Peng Chunxia.

After the two of them went out, they quickly returned, followed by Lao Hu and Lao Cui, the bodyguard carrying a bag.

Old Hu came into the kitchen and greeted Fang Yan:
"Oh, you're cooking lunch yourself today?"

He said in dialect:

"It's been a long time since I've cooked, and I happen to have some free time at noon today."

He glanced at the bag in bodyguard Lao Cui's hand and asked again:

Where have you been?

Lao Hu said:

"Oh, I went to the Friendship Store and bought some things."

Fang Yan frowned and asked:

Is there anything else in the house?

Old Hu leaned closer and lowered his voice, saying:

"These are for the two nurses and Peng Chunxia. Giving them small gifts will make them take better care of them, won't it?"

"The things on the market are too ordinary, so I bought them from Friendship Store."

Fang Yan suddenly realized what was going on and praised him:

"You're so thoughtful."

Old Hu waved his hand:
"Sigh, that's all I know. It's all about business, dealing with people and social niceties..."

Fang Yan smiled and, while rinsing the chopped potatoes in water to remove the starch, said:
"By the way, since we have some free time these days, I think we should get the children's godparents arranged. We might not have much time later on, and it's getting colder and colder, so people don't really like going out in the middle of winter."

Upon hearing this, Old Hu immediately said:
"Okay, then you pick a time?"

As he prepared the new chopping block and knife to cut the meat, he said in a dialectal voice:
"I checked the time, and tomorrow is perfect, it's also the weekend. Let's sort things out now and see who we can invite, and then we'll go invite them this afternoon."

Old Hu watched Fang Yan operate the device and nodded, saying:
"Well, I suggest inviting some people who live nearby. Don't invite those who live a little further away or those who are usually busy. The main reason is that Huijie is currently in postpartum confinement, and it's not easy for her to bring the baby out. We can invite them over after the house next door is renovated, and we can announce it at the same time. Also, you usually have to invite people a week in advance. If we invite them only a day in advance, people who aren't very close to us might think we're too casual and lack manners."

Fang Yan thought for a moment and said:
"Okay, we'll do it your way. I'll go invite them this afternoon."

"Think about who you want to invite over."

Old Hu said, "I'll probably invite Director Liao, Vice Minister Li, and the families of Cui Changshou and Li Chuanwu. You can invite the others."

He doesn't have many people he can trust here.

Fang Yan nodded and said:

"Okay, I'll ask my family again when we eat later."

At this moment, Anton, who was standing to the side, said:

"Master, please invite my dad and his family too, he's coming back this weekend!"

Upon hearing that the old man was free, Fang Yan nodded and said, "It would be good to invite him over."

"Is that so? Then please invite your family over as well."

Upon hearing this, Anton immediately smiled and nodded:

"Hey, good!"

……

At lunchtime, the family enjoyed Fang Yan's cooking again. Compared to the food at the Beijing Hotel, Fang Yan's meal, with its diverse flavors from all over China, was a completely different experience.

In addition, he made slight adjustments based on his understanding of his family's tastes, so everyone always felt that dishes cooked in the local dialect tasted better.

Even the postpartum meals prepared by Fang Yan were more to Zhu Lin and Huang Huijie's liking than those from the Yanjing Hotel.

Both of their tastes had been thoroughly understood by the dialect.

The only people whose tastes haven't been revealed yet are Peng Chunxia, ​​who takes care of Zhu Lin, and the two nurses who take care of Huang Huijie.

However, they just kept eating at the dinner table without saying a word; their eating habits alone showed that they appreciated Fang Yan's culinary skills.

When they were almost full, they began to praise Fang Yan's cooking skills.

They were quite satisfied with their meal when they arrived at Fangyan's home.

Most of the time, they ate food prepared by chefs from the state banquet at the Yanjing Hotel. Now they can also eat food cooked in local dialects, and they feel that the quality is no less than that of chefs from the state banquet. Even the plating is quite exquisite. Now they feel that this job is simply wonderful.

At least in terms of food, that's already the limit.

After they finished eating, an even bigger surprise awaited them.

Old Hu asked Old Cui to put the canvas bag on the octagonal table. When the zipper was pulled up, the contents were revealed one by one, which immediately made the eyes of the two nurses light up.

In 1978, the Friendship Store was not a place that ordinary people could enter. The items inside were either imported goods or special editions, and each item was a rare find that was hard to find on the market.

Old Hu immediately gave each of them a watch. Although it wasn't a big gold Rolex like the ones Fang Yan received, they were all watches worth around a hundred yuan.

In addition, each person also received a scarf, a pair of leather shoes in their size, and imported body lotion for winter.

A watch is one of the "three major items" in the Chinese wedding dress. Ordinary families might not be able to afford one even if they saved up for half a year, let alone a model that costs only a hundred or so yuan. Add to that imported lotion, leather shoes, and a scarf, and this is no "small thing" at all; it's a truly generous gift.

“Mr. Hu, this…this is too valuable, we can’t accept it!” The older nurse quickly waved her hand, her face turning red. “We’re just doing our job, how can we accept something so expensive?”

Another nurse nodded in agreement, staring at the gleaming watches with a look of deep emotion in her eyes, but still forced herself to say, "Yes, the watches are too valuable. We don't usually need such nice ones for work. You should take them back."

Peng Chunxia had seen a lot in life, but she was still a little embarrassed when presented with something.

Although it doesn't explicitly say that you can't accept gifts, these days people really feel a bit pressured to accept such a large gift.

Old Hu chuckled and stuffed the gifts into their hands, saying in a hearty tone, "Hey, what's so valuable about this? It's just a small token! You two take care of two adults and two little ones, working day and night, even more diligently than us, the heads of the household. What's a little something like this?"

He picked up a silver-faced watch and handed it to the older nurse: "Nurse Wang, you often work night shifts, so it's convenient to have a watch to tell the time. This watch keeps accurate time and is lightweight."

He then picked up a gold-faced watch and handed it to another nurse: "Nurse Li, you're young, this looks good on you, and it goes with all your clothes."

Finally, he picked up a watch with a fine pattern and handed it to Peng Chunxia: "Xiao Peng, you've worked even harder, helping to take care of the children and being responsible for the safety of this place. You can keep this watch; it'll be convenient for you to check it from time to time."

Then the scarves and leather shoes were distributed. The imported moisturizing lotion came in a transparent bottle, through which you could see the milky white cream inside. It had a light, pleasant fragrance and was much more luxurious than the clam oil available on the market.

"These leather shoes were all bought to your size, so they will definitely fit."

"The scarf is pure wool, it will be warm to wear in winter. You can use imported lotion on your hands and face. You take good care of your hands while taking care of people."

Fang Yan chimed in from the side, "Just accept them. It's a kind gesture from Lao Hu, and these things are really useful. We've all seen how well you've taken care of your family; you deserve this."

Finally, the rest of the family chimed in, and the three girls couldn't refuse any longer. Looking at the gifts in front of them, they felt both touched and apprehensive, since these things were really expensive.

Nurse Wang took the watch with trembling hands and put it on her wrist. In all her years of working, she had never worn such a nice watch before.

Nurse Li picked up the leather shoes and examined them from all angles. The black uppers were shiny and the workmanship was exquisite. They were an imported brand and looked much better than the shoes she was wearing now.

Peng Chunxia held the scarf, her fingers stroking the soft wool. She was a tall, robust woman, and the scarf, when paired with it, gave her a slightly more feminine look.

The three then thanked Lao Hu.

"No need to thank me, it's all my duty." Old Hu waved his hand. "Just work hard from now on and take good care of the two little ones and the two new mothers."

"Don't worry! We'll definitely put in even more effort!" the three girls quickly assured them, their smiles barely concealed.

Everyone says that overseas Chinese businessmen are generous, and now I've finally met one.

However, they could also see that Lao Hu and Fang Yan were practically family. Peng Chunxia, ​​who didn't take care of Huang Huijie at all, was treated the same by Lao Hu.

This shows how close the two families are.

Of course, the fact that one can live in a courtyard house in Fangyan already speaks volumes about their relationship.

……

In the afternoon, Fang Yan went to invite people: Dean Cui Jingyi from Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Director Hu from the Department of Gynecology (her mother's direct superior), and Comrade Lao Dong, the former dean and now Director.

In addition, I went to the research institute and invited He Puren, Zeng Luquan, and Meng Jimin.

Finally, the Tao family father and son, Lao Fan, Yuan Qingshan, Vice Dean Zhao Xiwu, Professor Cheng, Yue Meizhong, Wang Yuchuan, Fang Yaozhong, Liu Duzhou, their B-share major shareholder Chu Qiaonan, their own senior classmates, Xiao Li, Director Chen and his wife who are on vacation tomorrow, and Ma Wenying who is studying at the school were also invited.

Finally, Fang Yan also invited Director Feng from the neighborhood office.

That completes the process.

These people alone will keep Fang Yan and his family busy tomorrow.

Fang Yan invited these people not only to have a meal with them and tell everyone about the paternal kinship, but also to get some of them to give him some opinions on expanding the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

This selection process is no less rigorous than the entrance exam for a graduate program.

P.S.: There are still 4000 left this afternoon.
(End of this chapter)