1979 Golden Age

Qian Afa is an old man at Shanghai Film Studio and is mainly responsible for the food.

Before liberation, he worked in a Western restaurant. He had excellent skills and could cook a lot of foreign dishes. Unfortunately, he had no chance to show it now. Unless the factory entertained foreign guests, he could fry steaks and make soup.

But now the opportunity has come. The crew of "Life is Beautiful" has found 30 foreigners and has already checked into a foreign-related hotel.

Today is the first day. Breakfast is served in the hotel. The crew includes lunch and dinner. Qian Afa is gearing up, preparing materials early and preparing for a big fight...

"Dong dong dong!"

"Who?"

"I, Chen Qi!"

Qian Afa and his disciples looked at the time in confusion. It was only four o'clock in the morning. What was this man doing here? He quickly opened the door, and Chen Qi came in with a smile and said: "Master Qian got up early enough, hello everyone!"

"You're early enough. What instructions do you have when you come to my place?"

"The foreign actors are here. We are filming today. Let me take a look at your food preparations."

"It's been prepared. I can't embarrass you! Bring me the menu!"

Qian Afa's eyebrows were full of excitement, and he handed over a menu and said excitedly: "Two meals a day for two weeks. Each meal is different. There is fish and seafood in every meal. Let the foreigners eat it, and no one will say anything after eating it." !”

"Braised pork!"

"Lard mince trifle!"

"Sounding oil eel silk!"

"Big crab!"

"Drunk chicken!"

Chen Qi glanced down and said: "Thank you for taking the trouble, this is the menu..."

"Isn't it very impressive?"

"What a waste!"

Um? ? ?

Qian Afa blushed and said: "Chen Chen, Comrade Chen Qi! You can doubt me in other aspects, but you can't doubt my craftsmanship. If you don't make it clear today, I will go to the factory director for comment!"

"Don't get excited, don't get excited!"

Chen Qi sat down with the menu, crossed his legs, put his left hand on his knee, naturally revealed a Swiss imported luxury watch, and said: "The food standard for our crew is 70 cents per person per day.

But you must know that this thing is not about money. If you want to eat something good, the authorities will not approve it, and if you have money, you can't get fish. Now that foreigners are here, their food standards are high and they can eat fish, meat and seafood as they like. They cannot treat their international friends badly.

Yes, international friends should pay attention, but everything can be flexible so that everyone can take the opportunity to enjoy meat. "

"You mean to share the fish and meat given to foreigners with everyone?"

Qian Afa shook his head like a rattle and said, "It won't happen. If the leaders find out, it will affect the country's image. I can't afford it."

"You don't have to worry about it, I'll be responsible for anything that happens!"

"That's not possible. I prepare all the ingredients according to the menu and give them to everyone. What if the foreigners don't have enough to eat?"

"So I said your menu is a waste. If you give them such good food, what can those stupid foreigners do? Look, there are pork, eel, and crab... It's a waste if you can't eat it?"

Just deal with some chicken!

Foreigners may not like our food. They are used to eating American food and have their own tastes... Come on, let me tell you two dishes, one is called General Tso's Chicken! "

"Invented by Zuo Zongtang?"

"It has nothing to do with that, just listen!"

Chen Qi gave the instructions and said: "Cut the chicken into pieces, fry it first and then stir-fry it. Add some sweet and sour sauce, dried red pepper, onion and garlic. The taste is sweet and sour. This thing can be fried in a big pot and is easy to make.

There is also a dish called tangerine peel chicken. Can you make a sauce that tastes like orange juice? "

"It's easy!"

Qian Afa didn't say anything, but a disciple couldn't help but speak.

"That's good. It's fried first, stir-fried, and topped with sauce. The difference between it and General Tso's Chicken is that this one is sweeter. It's like taking a bite to boost your blood sugar, like taking insulin!"

Alas!

These people are all Shanghainese who are used to eating sweets. They were very excited after hearing this. Qian Afa was suspicious: "Is this possible?"

"Okay, absolutely okay! They like to eat sweet and sour food, and they also like to eat chicken. If you make more of this type, you can also create your own. I believe in your intelligence.

As for our own recipes, we should not be so conspicuous. Don't make meat dishes. Stir-fry meat and vegetables. The key is to let everyone eat meat. There are also crabs. Let’s make them drunk crabs. Foreigners won’t eat them, so give them to us. "

Chen Qi patted Qian Afa's shoulder and said, "Just do it and I'll take the responsibility, please!"

"Oh well!"

Chen Qi left.

Qian Afa tore up the menu and re-customized it according to this idea. As he wrote, he muttered: "What a nonsense, we have to change it now. It's only been two weeks. It's just adding to the chaos. I've never seen such a leader!"

"Then you don't want to have such a leader?" the disciple asked.

"I, I..."

Qian Afa snorted and became speechless.

…………

Shanghai, foreign-related hotels.

Marino woke up from his sleep, opened the curtains, looked at the outdated and outdated street scene outside, and curled his lips in disdain.

He is of Italian origin, and he has been playing a small role in Hollywood. He has made some achievements and is considered a star in the small role. I heard from my agent that the Chinese crew invited me to go to China for filming. I thought it was an international joke, but the price was relatively high because it was a long way away.

In a total of four weeks, I could earn several thousand dollars, so I agreed.

His character is an Italian and a customer of Zhou Jiasheng, doing some business in Shanghai.

Japan arrested foreigners and sent them to concentration camps. There were originally no Italian expatriates, just like the Axis powers. But didn’t Italy surrender later? Japan has also begun to arrest them - well, Italy can always take sides.

This character was miserable. He was beaten for hiding cigarettes and then thrown into the crematorium.

After Marino finished washing up, he went downstairs to the dining room. There were thirty foreign men and women, some older, all acting actors, led naturally by the most famous Ed and Amy.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning!"

Marino said hello, got a breakfast of bread, milk, fried eggs, etc., sat down opposite Ed Harris, and chatted: "I'm curious, why did you take on a Chinese drama?"

"I worked with their producers once, in Hong Kong, and the process was quite pleasant. They were generous, so why not?"

"This is the only advantage, and that's because we traveled a long distance. To be honest, the first time I came to China, I thought they still had braids!"

"Don't you watch TV? Nixon has already visited China." Ed was surprised.

"Why should I, an Italian, care about Nixon? I might as well care about Reagan. He was an actor before. We are on the same path."

Marino took a few bites of bread, looked around, and complained: "I already regret it a little. Poverty and backwardness are everywhere here. The waiters looked at us with novelty in their eyes, as if we were monkeys in the zoo."

"..."

Ed only laughed, but Marino became bored after chatting for a while and ran to another table with the plate.

"Stop dealing with people like this!"

Amy reminded quietly.

"I know, but one thing I agree with is that it is really poor here. There are not many cars on the streets, but they can provide a decent breakfast."

"I think I heard Chen mention that this is specially prepared for us."

"Well, Chen is still great. He is different from other Chinese people. This script is very unique. It can be seen that he is very ambitious. We can make friends with him."

After we finished our meal, a bus came to pick us up.

Marino complained again.

The bus carried 30 people and drove out of the city center to the suburbs, where there was a converted concentration camp.