Reborn in 1977

Driving to the Dashilan Hutong, Chen Fan parked the car in front of the courtyard and got out.

It was the time when workers were heading to work, and seeing a strangely shaped car parked in the hutong, some people even forgot about going to work and hurried over to watch the excitement.

Coincidentally, a few people also came out of the courtyard. They had seen Chen Fan before. The one in the lead was surnamed Yan, and he worked as an accountant in a nearby shop.

Seeing Chen Fan at this moment, he greeted him politely first, then looked at the van, his eyes glued to it. "What kind of car is this? I've never seen it before."

As soon as he said this, more than a dozen onlookers stared at Chen Fan expectantly.

Although the Yunhu Automobile Factory's two models had appeared in newspapers and periodicals many times, those were basically industrial journals, and the newspapers only published them in Yunhu and Jiangnan Daily. Moreover, not many cars had been sold in the past two months, so most people had never seen this type of vehicle.

Chen Fan held the key in his hand and said with a smile, "This is called a van, and it's produced by Yunhu Automobile Factory. However, there are more than a dozen other automobile factories in the country that are also producing it. It was just launched on the market in July, so there aren't many cars, and that's why you haven't seen it before."

Uncle Yan nodded thoughtfully, "So it's a van."

He shook his head, "It looks quite like a bread."

Then he looked puzzled again, "Then why isn't it called a 'mantou car'? I think it looks quite like a knife-cut mantou?"

Mantou can be round or knife-cut straight. Indeed, compared to bread, it does look more like a straight mantou.

Chen Fan was a little speechless. He didn't expect this uncle to have such a unique way of thinking, so he patiently explained, "The name 'van' is also a direct translation from English. Foreigners call this kind of car 'minibus,' which sounds like bread, and it also looks like bread, so it's called a van."

Uncle Yan widened his eyes, "Mini what?"

Chen Fan's eyes twitched slightly, "English, English, it means a small passenger car."

Uncle Yan still didn't understand what 'what' meant, but he understood that it was a foreign word, and the key point was passenger car.

Chen Fan didn't want to talk nonsense with him anymore, so he raised his hand to say hello and entered the courtyard.

The surrounding people not only didn't disperse but became more and more numerous. Uncle Yan even put on the appearance of a learned man and began to popularize science to the neighbors, "Do you know what kind of car this is? A van, just because it looks like a bread. Why isn't it called a mantou? There's a reason for that."

Chen Fan, with a head full of black lines, turned into his master's small courtyard and closed the courtyard door behind him.

The three masters were sitting in the living room drinking tea. Seeing him come in, Lin Yuanxiang immediately asked, "What's all the noise outside?"

Chen Fan walked to the Eight Immortals table and sat down, took a glass and poured himself a glass of water, and then said, "I borrowed a car from someone and planned to take you to Grandpa Liu's place, but it was surrounded by people. They had never seen it before, so I said a few words."

"Oh."

Lin Yuanxiang nodded, then asked curiously, "What kind of car? They haven't seen it before?"

Zhang Xuansong drank his tea in one gulp, wiped his mouth, and stood up, leaning on his crutches, and said, "It's already at the door. Wouldn't we know if we go out and take a look?"

With that, he walked outside.

Lin Yuanxiang thought it was right as soon as he heard it, so he put his hands behind his back and walked out happily with Li Shangde.

Only Chen Fan was still sitting on the stool. Seeing that they had all left, he quickly drank the tea that was still a little hot and then followed quickly.

When he came out, Li Shangde locked his own courtyard door and walked out of the doorway, and saw the van parked next to the inverted house.

Zhang Xuansong greeted the neighbors while walking around the car for half a circle. When Chen Fan came out, he signaled him to open the door.

Lin Yuanxiang had already been waiting by the passenger door. When Chen Fan unlocked it, he pulled the door open and got in without saying a word. Zhang Xuansong didn't win the fight and had to sit in the middle row with Old Li.

Chen Fan's model was based on the Wuling Sunshine, and the interior space was larger than the early vans. Lin Yuanxiang wiggled his butt, then turned his head and looked around, and finally nodded lightly, "Not bad."

The surrounding crowd, seeing that they had all gotten into the car and even started the engine, dispersed with lingering interest, watching the car slowly drive away.

Chen Fan drove the car onto the main road and headed straight north.

More than ten minutes later, they arrived at the door of their house.

Then they picked up Zhou Yali and the other two, making it exactly 7 people, and drove to Grandpa Liu's house together.

As last time, only Grandpa Liu and the guard were at home.

Although Grandpa Liu is now basically retired due to illness, his wife is still working in the unit, even often working overtime until very late before returning. The secretary is also stationed in the unit, but he comes here every day to report on work and receive instructions.

So when Chen Fan and the others came over, this quiet little courtyard immediately became noisy.

When Chen Fan came last time, he underwent a security check. This time there were three girls, and the guard comrade was immediately in a dilemma, whether to search or not, he blushed greatly.

In the end, Grandpa Liu heard the movement and spoke to let them in, which solved the problem.

That morning, they had been chatting with Grandpa Liu here.

Especially Zhou Yali, like seeing an idol, kept asking about the experiences of the battles back then. Grandpa Liu was not angry, but in good spirits, telling her the stories of those years.

On the other hand, Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili were a little restrained at first, even afraid to speak. As Grandpa Liu told the stories, they slowly relaxed and listened as intently as Zhou Yali.

As for Chen Fan, he first chatted with everyone, and by the way, he did a diagnosis for Grandpa Liu.

Well, compared to the last time he came here, his body had obviously improved, indicating that the medicinal diet was working.

It's not that Chen Fan's medical skills are much better than the national masters in Xiyuan, it's just that the old man's body is almost riddled with holes. Originally, at this time, he would have needed to rest in bed all year round, even often falling into a coma. Many treatment methods could not be used, otherwise, it would have the opposite effect.

The medicinal diet is different from prescriptions. It mainly focuses on nourishing on weekdays, and the medicinal power is not obvious. It is mainly reflected in slow conditioning, so it will not cause too much burden on the body.

After nourishing for a year or two, not to say that there can be a significant improvement, at least it can reduce pain and slightly restore some physical strength.

At that time, the medicinal diet formula can be adjusted to gradually increase the efficacy to see if there is a chance to nourish the body well.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Chen Fan went to the kitchen again and made a table of improved Sichuan cuisine, which the old man ate with great enjoyment.

After that, he accepted the meat tickets and money given by the old man before saying goodbye and leaving.

When he went out, Chen Fan was a little regretful that the other old man didn't come today.

But that's right, now is the time when he is burdened with many things, and there are still many major events waiting for him to decide, so there is indeed no time.

……

After sending the three masters home, Chen Fan drove home. He looked at the rearview mirror and asked, "Let's go to the hutongs later?"

Zhou Yali was still immersed in the excitement of meeting and eating with a legendary figure. After two seconds, she came back to her senses, raised her head and said, "You decide. Anyway, I don't know much about this place, so you decide."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "How should I put it? If you want to talk about the cultural characteristics of old Beijing, it must be the hutongs. It's just that the current hutongs are very different from the past."

Especially the Siheyuan (courtyard houses), most of which have become communal compounds, with many families living in one courtyard. For example, the once magnificent Prince Gong's Mansion, which successively served as the residence of the powerful officials He Shen and Prince Qing Yonglin, later became the property of Prince Gong Yixin, hence the name.

Therefore, there is a saying: 'One Prince Gong's Mansion, half the history of the Qing Dynasty.'

Such historical buildings should have been protected, but now more than two hundred households from eight different organizations reside within.

Even Prince Gong's Mansion is like this, so you can imagine what other places are like."

Hearing this, Zhou Yali couldn't help but feel puzzled, "Then why did you bring me to the Hutongs?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "To understand the culture and customs of a place, you must start from where the common people live. The Hutongs preserve the complete culture and customs of Beijing. Although the environment is a bit poor, it is the easiest and most direct way to experience them.

According to national policy, the higher authorities have decided to develop the tourism industry, so these Hutongs will be renovated sooner or later.

After the renovation, the environment will definitely be much better than it is now, but when residential areas become tourist attractions, some things just won't be the same."

Many people think that there was no tourism industry in China before the reform and opening up, but that's not the case. China opened up to inbound tourism as early as the 1950s, but the management was relatively strict.

Later, under the attention of Director Zhou, the unit responsible for tourism even formulated a long-term tourism development plan. In the first two years of implementation, it achieved very good results, with a significant increase in inbound tourism revenue.

Unfortunately, before this plan could be fully implemented, a typhoon swept through, almost wiping out the tourism industry.

Except for city parks, many scenic spots in later generations were basically in a state of disrepair. Only a few famous mountains and rivers with historical significance could attract tourists from other places.

However, thanks to the attention of the director, inbound tourism was finally preserved. Every year, about 4,000 foreign tourists enter the country, spending an average of about $1,000 per person, creating millions of dollars in foreign exchange for the country.

This foreign exchange is even more than the product exports of most provinces.

Those foreigners wandering around the Forbidden City in the 60s and 70s basically came this way.

In addition, the mainland also specifically opened up independent travel to Hong Kong and Macao tourists.

They only need to submit an application and basic information to China Travel Service in Hong Kong or Macao. As long as it is not a special case, such as a well-known figure involved in gangs, they can basically get approval and be issued a pass.

(China Travel Service in Macao in the 1960s)

Independent travelers take the pass and apply for a 'Return Home Introduction Letter' at the border. Every time they arrive at a place, they must first report to the police station. The household registration police will stamp a household registration seal on the pass. When leaving, they will stamp a cancellation seal.

During this period, tourists can use this stamp to get food stamps from the street office.

This pass is also the most important thing for tourists, equivalent to a national letter of introduction.

In addition, tourists also need to keep all their tickets and accommodation certificates as proof of their itinerary. This proof must correspond to the household registration stamp on the pass. If there is any error... I'm sorry, if you can't explain it clearly, you probably won't be able to go back.

Therefore, when Chen Fan parked his car at home and then called Liu Juan and Ma Lan to stroll around the Hutongs by Houhai Lake, he could often see some foreign tourists and backpackers from Hong Kong whose clothes were obviously different from those of mainlanders.

Their group of five girls and one boy also frequently became the focus of attention for pedestrians.

However, Chen Fan didn't care. He just put his hands in his pockets and wandered around the Hutongs in 1978, looking for traces of the future bar street and food street.

Well, he really couldn't see any signs of it.

It wasn't until the 1990s that a man named Lao Qi, who loved to drink, opened the first bar here. It's still early days yet.

Chen Fan was right about one thing just now. Although there is no business here, it has the most unique charm of old Beijing.

Zhou Yali followed behind her younger brother, looking around curiously along the way.

The mottled courtyard doors, the different portals, and the patches of blue bricks and gray tiles, and the broken stone lions in front of the doors, all made her very curious.

In the Hutongs, you can often encounter groups of women gathering together, each busy with things in their hands, some with sieves sifting rice.

That is, pouring the rice on the sieve and picking out the small stones and barnyard grass one by one.

In this era, there is no such thing as refined rice. It is all loose rice, and you have to bring your own rice bag to the grain store to weigh it back.

Naturally, this kind of rice will inevitably have a few small stones and uncleaned barnyard grass in it.

If it is not picked clean, it can easily break a tooth.

Jiang Lili looked at it with a bit of curiosity. Naturally, she was not curious about sifting rice. This kind of thing, for children in the south, they have almost known since they were 3 years old, and she is no exception.

What she was curious about was why someone would be sifting rice here. She couldn't help but approach Chen Fan and asked in a low voice, "Isn't it said that northerners eat pasta, why do they also eat rice?"

Chen Fan explained with a smile, "There are also places in the north that eat rice. For example, Tianjin was the largest city and port in the north during the Republic of China, and there were many people coming and going. Later, many southerners stayed, so there are many people in Tianjin who eat rice.

Beijing is about the same. When the People's Republic of China was first founded, Beijing could be described as a city waiting to be rebuilt. At that time, hundreds of thousands of people were arranged to go to Beijing to support the construction, including many southerners. Maybe this family is one of them.

In addition, Beijing also has rice-producing areas, and the rice in Northeast China is also very famous, so it is not surprising to see people sifting rice in the north."

Jiang Lili nodded suddenly, "I see."

Then she took her sister's arm and went to watch people peeling corn kernels.

Chen Fan would not find these scenes boring either. Peeling corn is still relatively common in later generations, but sifting rice and making soles for shoes have gradually become rare after he grew up. At this time, it also has some fun.

They wandered around the Hutongs, occasionally passing by other tourists.

Maybe they have seen it a lot, and the residents here are not surprised. The tourists visit the tourists, they talk about themselves, and they often comment on the tourists who pass by.

"Hey, hey, look, those girls are really good-looking."

"Where, where... Oh, five girls and a young man? How can he be embarrassed to walk together?"

"Hey, maybe they are also from Hong Kong. Look at the girl at the front, you can tell she is different from us at a glance. That dress and that hat are really pretty."

"It's a pity that they are not locals. Otherwise, I would have to go over and ask if she is married. If she is not married, she would be a perfect match for my third son."

"Tui, you don't even look at what your third son looks like. If you ask me, my eldest son is the most suitable."

Well, as they spoke, their voices became louder and louder, and they quarreled loudly.

Listening to their voices, Chen Fan grinned silently.

Even though Zhou Yali had a carefree personality, she couldn't help but blush, punched her younger brother angrily, and strode away quickly.