National Tide 1980

People often describe life as unpredictable and fickle.

This is how Mi Xiaoran feels about life today.

When she was in the capital, she never thought that she would get to know Zhao Hanyu.

After the two met, she never thought that she would marry Zhao Hanyu.

When she was utilitarian, she chose to use marriage as a springboard to study abroad.

I also never thought about how complicated the situation I would have to face after setting foot on a foreign land.

The difficulty of realizing the ideal and the difficulties that need to be overcome turned out to be far beyond my expectations.

However, it was precisely when she encountered the biggest obstacles and setbacks in her studies that she felt extremely frustrated.

But she was surprised to find that her husband had made unimaginable self-sacrifice in order to help her realize her ideal.

She was really moved!

I’m really excited too!

Who can say that this is not true love?

From this moment on, she began to realize that the true face of life may be that people are forever changing between disappointment and hope, and changing between sadness and joy.

Facts have proved that her perception was correct.

Because next, even the homesick meal that Zhao Hanyu took her out for at noon that day was full of drama and twists and turns.

The restaurant they went to was called "Huaixiangju".

The location is not in Manhattan's Old Chinatown, but in Flushing, Queens.

Flushing in 1984 had not yet merged with New York City.

Far from being the second largest Chinese community in New York a few decades later, it was just a northern town in Queens.

Chinese account for only about 20% of local residents.

The buildings here are lower, more like an economically backward area.

Moreover, most of the Chinese residents here are new immigrants who came to the United States before and after liberation.

The personnel structure is far more complex than that of Old Chinatown in Manhattan, where there are many Cantonese and Fujian people.

But precisely because of this, the cuisine style of this restaurant is different from the mainstream Cantonese and Fujian cuisine in Manhattan's Chinatown. It belongs to Sichuan and Shandong cuisine that is very rare in the United States.

After Mi Xiaoran entered the restaurant, he felt even more surprised.

The decoration is actually the most simple traditional classical style, without exaggerated colors like red and yellow.

Gray bricks, wooden tables, wooden chairs, palace lanterns, screens, tea cups, copper kettles, I'm afraid not all the time-honored brands in the capital are so complete.

The menu is similar to that in domestic restaurants. There is no fake Chinese food that mixes Chinese and Western food such as "Li Hongzhang Chop Suey" and "General Tso's Chicken". Just like the northern flavor revealed in the name of the restaurant, she feels more cordial and expectant.

So even if she listened to the waiter and realized that this store was probably owned by a Baodao compatriot, her political vigilance could not be raised.

I just feel happy and happy that I can finally communicate with people in Mandarin.

But the only bad thing is that the consumption level here is really not low, it is one or two times more expensive than most Chinese restaurants.

I'm afraid it's because of this that even though this store's location is quite ideal, its business is quite deserted.

Among the few guests, they were all middle-aged Chinese and not a single foreigner.

In view of this, as soon as he sat here, although Mi Xiaoran didn't want to leave, he was very cautious when ordering.

Out of frugality, she only ordered two home-cooked dishes: shredded pork with Beijing sauce and white pork with pickled cabbage.

The surprise is that there is fried noodles on the menu.

She couldn't resist the temptation and ordered a large bowl, and another bowl of white rice as a staple food for Zhao Hanyu, who didn't like noodles.

As for wine, neither of them wanted to drink, so they only ordered a Coke for Zhao Hanyu.

After ordering, I calculated in my mind that this meal alone, plus tip, would cost nearly fifty dollars.

That was almost equivalent to three days of food for them, which was quite a luxury.

But unfortunately, the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

After spending so much money and traveling all the way to eat the northern food, Mi Xiaoran was not satisfied with it.

Unlike Zhao Hanyu, who was born and raised in the United States, she just wants the food not to taste bad and to be able to eat it in a muddle-headed manner.

These are the dishes she has grown up eating, and what she wants is to reminisce about the taste of her hometown.

If the taste is not right, it will be eaten immediately.

For example, in this dish of sauerkraut and white meat, there is a lot of white meat, but the sauerkraut is not flavorful enough and is extremely bland.

There is no comparison with what Aunt Mi pickled at home.

One bite of white meat made Mi Xiaoran feel bored.

She originally planned to drink soup, but she suddenly lost her appetite, so she could only pick a few pieces of pickled cabbage and eat it reluctantly.

The shredded pork with Beijing sauce is even more difficult to say. The onions are right and the meat is right, but the sauce is wrong.

The serious shredded pork in Beijing sauce should be made with yellow sauce and sweet noodle sauce, but the stir-fried here actually tastes like three cups of chicken.

Mi Xiaoran ate a few chopsticks, but only found a 50% similarity.

But these two are still much better than fried noodles.

In fact, it was only when the noodles with soy sauce came out that Mi Xiaoran's mood really hit rock bottom, and she was so disappointed that she wanted to curse.

The fried soybean noodles here are just a big bowl filled with more than half a bowl of spaghetti and topped with a puddle of sauce.

The most outrageous thing is that the sauce is actually made from sweet noodle sauce, soy sauce and sugar, and is as thin as chocolate sauce.

The menu is there, just some fresh cucumbers, soybeans, and pickled white radish strips.

Seeing the bowl of fried noodles in front of him, Mi Xiaoran put down his chopsticks completely speechless and didn't move a bite.

She couldn't help but reflect deeply on why she had unrealistic hopes.

I actually expect people on the other side of the ocean to make food that tastes like home.

At this time, not to mention Zhao Hanyu, even the waiter who served the food could see her disappointment.

The waiter forced a smile, but actually walked away in embarrassment.

"My dear, I tasted quite a lot of their food here. I feel it tastes similar to the ones in Beijing. What are you dissatisfied about? Tell me. Or... why don't you take a look at the menu again and see if you want to eat more? What?"

Zhao Hanyu was stunned for a while, then cautiously asked tentatively.

These words naturally made Mi Xiaoran dumbfounded.

She said in her heart, still ordering food? Wouldn't that be a waste of money?

"Forget it, I'll just make do with it. Even the noodles here are not cooked right, so there's no need to order anything else..."

But Zhao Hanyu didn't understand at all, "Isn't fried noodles wrong?"

He thought about it for a while, and then nodded knowingly.

"I understand, it's the right way to use peanut butter. I ate it at your house in the summer. I still remember it was the yellow sauce, right? It doesn't matter, I'll ask them to make it again..."

Needless to say, he definitely mistook the sesame sauce noodles in Beijing for peanut butter noodles.

So Mi Xiaoran burst into laughter and quickly stopped him.

"You're really good, don't act nonsense. That's sesame sauce noodles you're talking about. Two different things."

After laughing uncontrollably for a while, she could give her husband a make-up lesson.

"Beijing Zhajiang Noodles are very particular. It's best to make the noodles by hand, and use yellow sauce and sweet noodle sauce for the sauce. When frying the sauce, add diced fat and lean pork. Put the diced fat pork into the pot first to drain out the oil, then add diced lean pork, green onions, Stir-fry the minced ginger over low heat until fragrant, then pour the yellow sauce and sweet noodle sauce into the pot. If you don't like the sauce too salty, you can add more sweet noodle sauce. When frying the sauce, first use high heat to bring out the bubbles in the sauce, then lower the heat to low. , stir the sauce in the pot with a spatula for about ten minutes, and the sauce is ready. In addition, you should eat fried noodles with various dishes. The dishes can change according to the season, the most common ones are cucumber, bean sprouts, and cabbage. Silk……"

At this moment, a stranger intervened unexpectedly.

"Also, when eating noodles with soybean paste, it is essential to have soybeans or green beans, and it must be eaten with raw garlic and vinegar. Right?"

Mi Xiaoran and Zhao Hanyu both turned their heads and saw a middle-aged man in his forties smiling kindly at them.

This man has a pair of gold-rimmed eyes, his eyes are very bright, his appearance is very elegant, his clothes are also very high-end, and he can give people a good impression.

So although his move was a bit rash.

It stands to reason that it is impolite to disturb others or eavesdrop on other people's conversations.

But Zhao Hanyu and Mi Xiaoran didn't mind too much because of the faint charm of this person.

Instead, she responded to his flirtation with a smile, curious about his real purpose.

"Are you..." Zhao Hanyu asked curiously.

The man introduced himself again and said, "My surname is Chang, and I am the boss here. I'm sorry that the taste of the food has disappointed you. Well, you two don't have to pay for this meal. Who asked us to cook it?" The taste is not authentic, but you are real experts. I feel guilty for accepting your money. As soon as you spoke just now, I knew that this lady should be from the capital of the Republic. Right? "

The mystery was revealed, but Zhao Hanyu and Mi Xiaoran were even more flattered.

Especially Mi Xiaoran, she didn't expect that her unexpressed dissatisfaction would actually fall into the eyes of her boss, and he would even take the initiative to apologize in a way that would avoid paying the bill.

So when Zhao Hanyu extended his hand to respond to Boss Chang's handshake, Mi Xiaoran couldn't help blurting out.

"How can you be sure that I'm from Beijing? Just because I told you how to make noodles?"

Boss Chang laughed again.

"Of course, everyone everywhere has a mark. If nothing else, I just said the word 'you' to you! I am sure of it."

This time it became a smile at each other!

However, the education Mi Xiaoran received since childhood prevented her from enjoying this special treatment with peace of mind.

"Boss Chang, you are too polite. You still have to pay for the meal, so there is no need to waive the bill. After all, we eat with chopsticks."

Mi Xiaoran waved his hand and declined at first, showing his generosity coming from the capital.

Then he couldn't help but raise a question, and he was a bit nosy like a Beijinger.

"It's just that I'm surprised. From what you said, I know the authentic taste. Then why don't you do it as you should? This...isn't this a bit..."

Boss Chang saw that Mi Xiaoran had misunderstood and quickly explained.

"Oh, this is because you think highly of me. In fact, I have never eaten authentic Republic food. To tell you the truth, all I know about the food in the capital and the mainland is what my mother told me since I was a child. She is an old man. He is from the capital. As for the chefs in this hotel, they are all apprentices taught by the original chef in our family."

"Although in terms of inheritance, their master is a chef who came out of Dongxing Building in the past, and his skills are definitely from the Eighth Building in the capital. But after all, the skills are one level away. And whether in Baodao or here, there is a lack of seasonings from the mainland. and ingredients. This leads to variation in taste.”

"If I hadn't met you two today, people living here would not care about this difference and can understand it. So please don't misunderstand us. We are not deliberately deceiving people under the guise of being authentic. We are not. The method is limited by the conditions."

"I'm not bragging, but we are considered a Northern Chinese restaurant in New York that is close to the original taste. If you want to order dishes like 'three-no-stick', 'fried shrimp', and 'dry croquettes,' we will not You will be disappointed. But when it comes to special seasonings, it is very troublesome. My mother also said that because the soy sauce is wrong, our 'lamb with green onion' tastes like Japanese sukiyaki."

In this way, Mi Xiaoran finally realized and understood Boss Chang's difficulties.

Well, if you don’t have anything, how can you cook?

These days, it’s hard to get a real taste of hometown on the other side of the ocean.

However, that’s all we talked about, and it’s such a special day.

A meeting between a girl from Beijing and half a fellow countryman in a foreign country would never end in a hurry with such a big regret.

In fact, while they were talking, Boss Chang's true sincerity and apology were served on the table.

Before Boss Qingqingchang came to apologize just now, he ordered the kitchen to make a tofu casserole with cabbage, tofu, and vermicelli as soon as possible.

You know, even though everyone in China eats this in winter, there is no cabbage for sale in the United States.

Supermarkets are full of cabbage brothers, and there are dozens of kinds of lettuce.

Speaking of which, this is a dish that is not on the menu. It is a hidden dish that Boss Chang enjoys.

So Mi Xiaoran was ecstatic when he saw it, and his mouth was drooling.

This meal of tofu casserole, which is common in China, is as luxurious as taking a bath in a water-scarce desert for Mi Xiaoran.

From the familiar and unfamiliar taste, she felt the fragrance, deliciousness and kindness that seemed to be as long as a hundred years ago.

This meal of transnational cabbage and tofu soup fulfilled Mi Xiaoran's purpose of coming here to eat today without any regrets.

The balance in her heart skyrocketed, and all the faint depression dissipated.

She even made up her mind that if she needed to eat in a restaurant again in the future, she would come back here as much as possible to take care of Boss Chang's business.

For no other reason than the taste here is unsatisfactory.

But because of Boss Chang’s personality and human touch, it was worth it.

It must be said that in this world, many of the fates between people are very clever, as if they are arranged by themselves.

Although Mi Xiaoran was already surprised that she and Boss Chang were half fellow villagers.

But in fact, the relationship between them is much closer than they currently think.

It's just that none of them know who is between them.

I don't know what they missed today.

In fact, just after Mi Xiaoran and Zhao Zhenyu left "Huaixiang Ju" with satisfaction, Boss Chang who sent them out entered a private room in the restaurant.

Inside, a lady wearing a sapphire blue cheongsam with graying temples was waiting for him to eat.

Don't look at the emerald bracelets on her hair, sapphire earrings in her ears, and a pearl necklace around her neck.

But there are not many luxurious dishes on their table.

It's just a casserole of cabbage and tofu soup, a dish of sweet and sour carp, and two plates of dumplings stuffed with three delicacies.

The only transcendent enjoyment worthy of Mi Xiaoran's envy is a plate of diced pheasant stir-fried with pickles.

"Mom, why are you still waiting for me? Look, the food is cold."

"Look what you said, this meal is just for the two of us. Am I still willing to eat alone on New Year's Eve?"

"Mom, why don't you want to meet that girl? You finally met someone from the capital, and you don't want to ask about the situation in the capital yourself? If you can find out about Ma's Garden..."

"Hey, I don't dare to ask even if I want to. The situation there in the first few years was too severe. Maybe if we ask, it will implicate him in being investigated. I have endured it for so many years, there is no need to rush. What's more, he should have already gotten married and had children, so he may not stay where he is. I can't put his life in danger just because I want to meet him."

"Mom, it's only after so many years that I know that you can't let go. How about I go there after the new year. Even if we find a chef for our restaurant, we can't continue to lose money like this. I'll take this opportunity, I can help you investigate in secret. No one will know."

"No, no, what's important about the restaurant? Why don't we just pay a few bucks? We don't have to rely on this restaurant to live. Although you are not my biological child, you are my only support. Your safety is the most important."