January 24, 1982, the New Year’s Eve of the Renxu year of the lunar calendar.
That night, the lights on all the buildings along Chang'an Street in the capital were lit up.
But in the Great Hall of the People, when a New Year group gathering from all walks of life in the capital was held, everyone only had a cup of tea in front of them.
This is a new charter that started last year, so when one of our national leaders chaired the meeting, he said this.
"What is before us, comrades, is still a cup of tea. Compared with last year, is there any difference? I think there is one difference, that is, our country is improving rapidly. Although the tea on the table is still there, the face of the country is always new.
"
This immediately aroused applause from all those present.
It should be said that this is indeed not an empty talk.
Because judging from the living conditions of the people in the capital, this can be fully confirmed with too many practical examples.
First of all, since the reform and opening up, the greatest achievement we have achieved in terms of people's livelihood is that so far, the four major items have been basically popularized among workers' families.
Even due to the increase in industrial production capacity, the state has taken the initiative to lower prices for some commodities with relatively large output and nearly saturated consumer markets.
For example, mechanical watches have become common commodities.
Due to oversupply, the Second Ministry and the First Bureau have jointly issued the "Notice on Lowering the Price of Domestic Watches", with a reduction of 20%.
For example, the price of the Shuangling brand produced in Beijing has dropped from 120 yuan to 85 yuan.
Huhai brand waterproof and shockproof men's watch has been reduced from 125 yuan to 100 yuan.
The price of Seagull men's watches in Jinmen has also dropped from 122 yuan to 90 yuan.
It was at this time that many people got their own watches.
The same goes for radios.
Not only have traditional tube radios been basically replaced in the market by compact, easy-to-carry transistor radios, but they also caused overproduction and excessive inventory. In January 1982, prices were lowered.
Specifically, in the capital city, the prices of various brands of radios produced in this city have dropped by an average of 8%.
For example, the retail price of Peony 749 radio has dropped from 29.50 yuan to 28 yuan per unit.
The retail price of Global 722 radio has been reduced from 94.50 yuan to 80 yuan.
But that's not all. In the market, sewing machines have also seen a sharp decline in sales due to an imbalance between supply and demand.
I don’t know how much it has to do with the appearance of the clothing night market in Xidan.
Anyway, years ago, many residents in the capital no longer sewed their own clothes or mended old clothes, but instead purchased ready-made clothes and clothes made by external processing.
This directly results in the fact that sewing machines are no longer a hot spot for households.
In short, this is equivalent to saying that among the "four major items", in addition to bicycles, which can still maintain a strong position, watches, radios and sewing machines, which have been booming in production and sales for many years, have now begun to turn around.
Secondly, during the Spring Festival of 1982, the food supply was also particularly abundant.
When people prepare New Year's goods, they don't have to wait in long queues for the first time.
Because of the emergence of farmers' markets, as long as you are willing to pay, you can buy negotiated goods. In fact, purchase restrictions no longer mean much to some people.
As for the specific situation, there are still 20 kinds of non-staple food products supplied to the citizens by the commercial department of the capital on the basis of vouchers.
However, compared with last year, the rations of all restricted items have increased accordingly.
Especially the supply of vegetables and meat has changed most obviously.
As for vegetables, whether they are water chestnuts, winter bamboo shoots from the south, mushrooms or mountain delicacies from the northeast, or cucumbers, eggplants, lentils, and leeks produced in the suburbs of Beijing, they are all available on the market, and the variety is quite rich.
Although the price is expensive, it is still beyond the reach of ordinary people.
But compared to the sky-high price of fifteen yuan a pound that Hong Yanwu bought at the Caishikou wet market in 1978, it was more than half cheaper, which is no longer so outrageous.
As for meat, the ticket supply of pork has been completely eliminated since last year.
If you are a Beijing citizen, you can buy enough affordable pork in any non-staple food store.
Although the purchase of eggs is limited to three kilograms per household, those are fresh eggs.
As a supplement for the holidays, frozen eggs specially prepared from other places are not within the scope of the restriction.
There are also tobacco, alcohol and tea. Although the prices have increased, the ration for each person has also increased greatly.
Anyway, generally speaking, the capital’s New Year’s market shows that the market is gradually becoming prosperous and positive.
Under such circumstances, if we turn our attention to the east courtyard of Guanyin Yuan, it would be normal for the four neighboring households to take their food to a new level this year.
Like Aunt Bian, who earns several thousand yuan a year because of her son's meritorious service, she is as generous as burning buns.
He actually got half a pig and gave it to Qieba to distribute to various families.
Guanghong's family left behind more than ten kilograms of meat, which can be stewed in at least two large pots.
As for Lao Su, he distributed a box of Cantonese oranges from "Zo Cun" to Su Jin and several large packages of foreign candies presented by the embassy customers as New Year's gifts.
Even Lao Ding paid attention to it this time. This year he did not give out snacks and dregs, but changed them into whole pieces.
Although it is overcooked, it can be considered a small improvement after all.
And the dried fruits he fried have also been upgraded.
This time I didn't get cheap soybeans, except for flowering beans, which were reserved items, but I fried a lot of spiced peanuts and salt-and-pepper walnuts.
The food for everyone was delicious, the children jumped up and down, and the adults gave a thumbs up.
As a result, no one was even interested in the six taels of peanuts and half a catty of sunflower seeds distributed by the government.
Of course, these advanced materials were provided by Hong Yanwu. Lao Ding was limited to contributing technology.
As for the New Year gifts that the Hong family distributes to each family, they mainly include various cans of "Polar Bear".
But the cans are not ordinary cans. They are high-end goods that are exclusively for the Great Hall of the People and Diaoyutai State Guesthouse and cannot be bought outside.
In addition, the Hong family brought back two boxes of quail eggs from Longkou Village. They were considered extra fresh items and they were divided into several kilograms by each family.
This was Zhaoqing's new way of making money. After careful consideration, he avoided the vicious competition of eggs and raised quails instead.
The hatching has just reached a scale of 600. Although the market did not catch up with the Spring Festival, they will be sold in the city in the beginning of next spring.
He didn't even need to send it to the farmer's market. Hong Yanwu had already contacted the "Polar Bear" business department for him, and the factory directly collected it for canning.
Of course, in the end we can’t help but mention the New Year’s Eve dinner.
Needless to say, the most unique and high-end Guanyin Temple this year is the Hong Family.
This is because Wang Yunlin specially stewed the bird's nests given to her by the Shou family to share with her family.
In fact, to be honest, the taste of this stuff is very bland, and it is often difficult to detect its taste with the tongue and lips.
It just has some protein scent and a delicate and smooth taste, not too much of a bite.
However, its fame spread throughout the world, as well as its crystal clear and elastic appearance, can make people happy and satisfied through a psychological effect.
No, the children of the Hong family ate it all with excitement.
Then it was like filming a commercial, everyone was smiling and praising me.
No matter how it tastes, the atmosphere is there anyway.
As for the other three families, what is impressive are the two jokes they made.
The first one is universal and comes from steamed buns.
In the past, due to the tight food supply, everyone did not have enough polished rice and white flour to eat. During the New Year and festivals, the ration of one and a half kilograms of Fuqiang noodles per person was only enough to make dumplings.
And this year there is a bargaining price for grains, so everyone has plenty of white flour at home, so they are thinking of steaming steamed buns with Fuqiang flour.
But you must know that Fuqiang powder is compared to standard powder.
A wheat flour extraction rate of 85% is standard flour, and a wheat flour extraction rate of 73% to 78% is rich and strong flour. Its whiteness and gluten quality are higher than standard flour.
In the past, steaming steamed buns was more troublesome, unlike today where baking powder is available.
You have to use flour fertilizer as a primer first, and then use edible alkali to neutralize it.
The most important thing when steaming steamed buns is the temperature of kneading and rising the dough. So standard flour and Fuqiang flour are definitely different.
As a result, several families are operating according to the old methods and old experiences. Can the results be good?
It was really good when I opened the pot, everything was white and noisy.
But I couldn't help but put this thing away. Just after five minutes, it looked like it was deflated and deflated.
Hey, it shrunk to half in the end. It looked shabby and lacked energy.
Well, several families have personally caused the biggest failure of the year. Whoever cooks is blamed.
As for the second incident, it happened at Lao Ding's house and was related to eating roast duck.
Fortunately, this year, Lao Ding’s eldest son’s factory issued a ticket for “Judequan” roast duck.
The eldest brother came up with it as a contribution, saying that he would add a main dish to the family for this year's thirtieth dinner, so that everyone could try this popular Beijing famous food.
Unexpectedly, after Lao Ding went to the "Hepingmen Roast Duck Restaurant" with his ticket that day to pick up the roast duck, he saw that he had to queue up separately to get the sauce and rolls, mistakenly thinking that they were things he had to pay for.
After thinking about it, I decided that it was really not worth it to eat roast duck.
He just acted like a chicken thief and didn't ask for it, so he came back without the sauce and pancakes.
Think about it, can it be delicious?
As a result, when everyone gathered around the table and tasted it with great anticipation, they thought why this roast duck was so greasy and fat.
They all say that the name is just in vain and it is hard to swallow.
The child even vomited after taking one bite, and no one was willing to touch it again.
Only Lao Ding had suffered from poverty all his life and was reluctant to mess with things, so he kept trying to get rid of them.
In the end, the answer to the mystery was revealed by Bian Baoguo, who came to play chess with the boss of the Ding family.
When he saw that the duck in the Ding family was not eating properly, he asked why there was no sauce or pancakes? He said that my brother invited us to eat, and I remembered to get pancakes rolled with sweet flour sauce and duck, otherwise it would be boring?
Well, the two sons of the Ding family continued to interrogate and found out that it was their stingy father who had cut corners.
Just because I was greedy for small things, I ended up wasting a good thing in vain.
Hey, what does one misstep lead to eternal hatred? Even if Lao Ding has fallen into the trap.
From then on, the last thing he wanted to do was go to a roast duck restaurant with his family.
Because as long as he sees this dish, his "glorious history" will definitely be taken out and squeezed again, and his family will make fun of him.
Where is the dignity of me? Where is the dignity of the head of the household?
Damn it, who invented this unfortunate way of eating!