Liu Donglai rose through the ranks like a rocket, Xiong Bingwen fell into obscurity, and the Lijiapo brigade remained as stable as ever.
Of course, some were unhappy about the disbandment of the production team, while others were happy.
Most production teams were split up, and the members of each household were overjoyed.
They changed their previous lazy and sluggish work habits, and now they went to work on their own small plot of land every day from dawn till dusk, truly living up to the saying "rising early to tend the weeds and returning home with hoes under the moon".
This was the first time since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee that the development of the individual economy was permitted. Local governments were allowed to approve some unemployed laborers with formal household registration to engage in individual labor in repair, service, and handicrafts, but hiring workers was not permitted.
So, in addition to working in the fields, everyone started to use their unique abilities to do different things.
Shoe repairmen, clothing sellers, hawkers of needles and thread, menders of bowls and basins, sharpeners of scissors and knives, sellers of steamed buns, fryers of dough sticks, and ice cream vendors carrying boxes from village to village—whenever they had free time, everyone was willing to do some small business to earn some pocket money.
More and more individual vendors are coming to Baiyanghe Food Factory to wholesale canned goods, crushed instant noodles, and snacks and candies.
As everyone's wallets grew fatter, business in Lijiapo became increasingly easier.
In order to expand sales, Li Xiangdong made a special trip to Qin Province.
For the aquatic product sales market, Shaanxi Province is still a vast blue ocean.
Why?
The main reason is that people in Qin Province at that time did not eat fish or other seafood at all!
Li Xiangdong once heard a joke from an older brother who was a big-time farmer in Yangtian County. It was when the farmer was a child and he went with his family to attend a relative's wedding in the county.
There were eight dishes on the table at the wedding banquet, and in the middle was a sweet and sour fish with eyes, body and tail. But after the whole meal, everything else was cleaned up, but the sweet and sour fish remained intact.
It's not because people don't like sweet and sour fish, it's mainly because this fish is made of wood!
Everyone laughed so hard when they heard it, and then someone immediately told another funny story.
This man went to Chang'an Restaurant and ordered a five-willow fish. When the fish was served, it was decorated with beautiful green and red peppers, scallions, ginger, and garlic, looking lovely and smelling delicious.
This fish has no bones. I scooped up a spoonful of the "fish meat" and put it in my mouth. It was soft and fluffy, and tasted just like potatoes!
It turns out this "Five Willow Fish" was made with mashed potatoes!
These two jokes show that even in the capital city of Qin Province, people rarely bought fish, let alone seafood, in the 1980s.
Li Xiangdong's purpose in going there this time is to develop the huge market in Qin Province!
He made thorough preparations this time, first preparing more than a dozen boxes of various kinds of canned fish, as well as various kinds of salted fish and dried shrimp, fresh fish and shrimp, and he also brought Li Chang and his son Li Guoqing along.
Before the Lunar New Year, the Lijiapo Brigade purchased two Dongfeng 140 trucks, which made it convenient for Li Xiangdong's trip.
After everything was prepared and packed, the bumpy journey to Chang'an City in Qin Province took more than ten days.
Along the way, Li Xiangchao and Li Xiangdong took turns driving, trying to keep the car running even when they had to rest. So when they arrived in Chang'an City, they were both exhausted.
The group was immediately stunned by the magnificent city walls.
Oh my god!
How could there be such thick and tall city walls!
Once you enter the city, you get a different feeling from other places. Here, you can find both the prosperity of the city and the weight of history.
The coexistence of old-style brick and tile houses and newly built high-rise buildings does not seem out of place. Buses with white upper and red lower sections and buses with white upper and blue lower sections, along with bicycles, shuttle along more than 150 straight roads, creating a scene full of the atmosphere of the times.
Having endured wind and rain all the way, Li Xiangdong didn't look for accommodation as soon as he entered the city; he went straight to the state-run noodle shop!
The room was bright and clean. The four of them found a seat by the window and each ordered a bowl of noodles they wanted. Li Xiangdong ordered oil-splashed pulled noodles, Li Xiangchao ordered hand-pulled noodles, Li Chang ordered Qishan minced meat noodles, and Li Guoqing ordered donkey hoof noodles.
We also ordered a plate of cold beef salad and a bowl of specialty cold dishes.
A short while later, a waitress with a slim waist, big hips, a round face, and big eyes brought out the cold beef salad and other specialty cold dishes.
Pick up a piece of beef with your chopsticks; it's savory and chewy. The special cold dish is made with lotus root, green beans, frozen meat, dried bean curd, and peanuts, seasoned with persimmon vinegar, soy sauce, and chili oil. One bite, and the sour and spicy flavors explode in your mouth, whetting your appetite.
Once my appetite was whetted, I got even hungrier, just then the waiter brought over two bowls of noodles on a tray.
A large bowl contains soup noodles, with yellowish-white noodles topped with diced potatoes, carrots, wood ear mushrooms, minced meat, and diced dried tofu. A tangy and refreshing aroma wafts up. This is Qishan Saozi Noodles from Lichang.
The other large bowl was Li Xiangdong's oil-splashed pulled noodles. The pulled noodles were incredibly chewy, each strand coated with chili powder and scallions. The freshly poured hot oil was fragrant and delicious, and there were also large chunks of meat inside. The sauce completely coated the thin noodles, making each bite a truly blissful experience.
Hand-pulled noodles mixed with stir-fried green peppers and shredded pork are chewy and delicious.
Donkey hoof noodles are made with a mixture of wheat flour and buckwheat flour. The noodles are shaped like donkey hooves and are very firm. They are topped with chili powder and chives, then hot oil is poured over them, and finally mixed with soy sauce, vinegar, salt, and MSG. They are chewy and thick, fully demonstrating the boldness and generosity of the Qin people!
The four of them devoured a bowl of noodles with garlic cloves in a whirlwind, then ordered another bowl, and finally burped with satisfaction.
Li Xiangchao patted his slightly bulging belly and praised Qin Sheng's noodles, "How can they make noodles so delicious! The noodles are fragrant, and the vegetables are fragrant too!"
"That's right, when it comes to noodles, Qin Province is undoubtedly the best in the south!"
Li Guoqing asked, "What is Nanbowan?"
Li Xiangdong explained to him, "It means first place!"
Li Chang began, “In the land of Shaanxi, noodles are number one, and it has been for thousands of years!”
After finishing their noodles, the group headed straight to the Chang'an City Native Produce and Grocery Store Company, which sold pork, beef, mutton, rice, flour, cooking oil, and various other groceries.
After knocking on the door of the store manager, Li Xiangchao and his group laid out canned fish, salted fish, dried shrimp, several nearly dead freshwater prawns, small green lobsters, perch, and lively grass carp, crucian carp, common carp, black carp, and silver carp.
Manager Miao, who was in his fifties, was taken aback by this large commotion. "What's going on here?"
"Manager Miao, it's almost dinnertime. I'd like to borrow your kitchen so I can cook you a meal."
"ah?"
...
The local specialty products company has its own staff kitchen, but the cooks are now all too preoccupied with watching Li Chang fry and cook on the stove.
Three hours later, all eighteen dishes were ready: braised carp, grass carp and tofu stew, grass carp slices with tomato and pickled cabbage, steamed silver carp, stir-fried silver carp with pork, grass carp balls, yam and crucian carp soup, fish bones removed, braised crucian carp, fish noodles, fish ball and spinach soup, garlic prawns, boiled prawns, scallion-braised prawns, baby lobster with garlic vermicelli, baby lobster steamed egg, baby lobster seafood porridge, and spicy anchovies (ribbonfish).
Looking at the crowded dishes, Manager Miao secretly swallowed a few times.
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