The Golden Age of Basketball

() (The second update on Mid-Autumn Festival ri, I will go to work tomorrow, and I will resume the first update. Thank you for your red tickets and collections, let them come more violently.)

On the earth in 1981, the trend of global warming was not yet obvious, and San Francisco in December had already entered a cold winter.

Today is Sunday, Gan Guoyang woke up early and sat up from the bed, but a chill hit him instantly.

He got under the covers again, looked at the alarm clock by the bed, it didn't matter if he didn't look at it, but it turned out to be past nine o'clock in the morning!Usually he gets up at 05:30 in the morning and goes out for a run, whether he is at school or at Gan’s Restaurant.

"It's terrible, why did I get up so late? Dad didn't call me." Gan Guoyang slandered, while lifting the quilt, regardless of whether it was cold or not, he hurriedly put on his clothes and prepared to wash up. go downstairs.

Today is Sunday, Gan Guoyang returned to San Francisco by car with Gan Guohui and Chen Xing after the game yesterday.

Gan Guohui and Chen Xing chattered endlessly along the way, especially Gan Guohui, although he only saw 2 minutes of the game, he saw the most intense and exciting part, and he admired his big cousin.If the whole car hadn't been looking at him with contempt, Gan Guohui would probably have spit all the way.

Thinking of the exciting game yesterday, Gan Guoyang still feels his heart is burning.In the split second after the game, he could hear his name chanting throughout the stadium.

"Gump! Gump! Gump! Gump! Gump! Gump! Gump!" The shout still seems to be echoing in Gan Guoyang's ears. Of course, he knows that the audience is not calling him "idiot," but cheering with reverence and excitement.

Gan Guoyang splashed cold water on his face, and the cold tap water in this winter pulled him out of the memories of yesterday's game.

"It's just a game..." Gan Guoyang thought this way.Indeed, it was just an invitational tournament for the state high school league.On the car home yesterday, no one knew him, only his cousin and Chen Xing communicated their excitement with him in Chinese that others could not understand.

And after returning to Gan's Restaurant, the business inside is still booming, full of locals sitting in the lobby and private rooms, and no one cares that a high school player just played a great game.

Even Gan Youwei, Gan Guoyang's father, didn't care how his son was playing. He just made some side dishes for his son after closing time to help him replenish his energy.

At that time, Gan Guoyang realized that he was still nothing but a relatively good high school basketball player.

If this game is the nba finals, no, the playoffs, no, as long as it is a regular season, then he will also be highly anticipated, receiving flowers and applause.

However, when Gan Guoyang turned on the TV, he realized that even if this game was the NBA finals, on December 1981, 12, no matter how great a victory was, it could not match the magnificent career of a great fighter end.

On that day, all television stations in the United States were broadcasting the news that a boxer had decided to retire, and that person was "Champion" Muhammad Ali.

After Gan Guoyang brushed his teeth and washed his face, he put on his shoes and went downstairs with his head down. Gan's restaurant was already too small for him.

Going downstairs, Gan Guoyang saw today's newspaper at the counter, and the headline on the front page was the news that Ali announced his retirement yesterday.Seeing this, Gan Guoyang thought of the retirement of his idol Yao Ming in later generations, but Yao Ming has not yet been born, so it is not certain who will be his idol in the future.

"Guoyang is up? Come, come in and have some breakfast." It's not meal time yet, Gan Bingguang, who was wandering in the store, saw the tall Gan Guoyang standing in front of the counter, as if he was afraid that he would scare the customers away, so he beckoned him to come. Inside to have breakfast.

"Cousin, I got up late...Yesterday, I said that I would get up early today to help the store..." Since Gan Guoyang went to high school, whenever he had the opportunity to visit Gan's Restaurant, he would do odd jobs and help in the store. Apart from playing basketball I really have no interest in other entertainment activities.

"Oh, Guoyang, there are enough people in the store. It's rare for you to come back. How can you do some work? Hurry up, go have breakfast, it's almost time for lunch!" Gan Bingguang urged Gan Guoyang, saying To be honest, with his father here, the business of Gan's Restaurant has improved a lot, so how can he be allowed to do odd jobs again.

Gan Guoyang had to lower his head and go to the staff's lounge to have some breakfast. In Gan's restaurant, he felt more and more like he was locked in a small cage. What.

With Gan Youwei bringing another part of Gan's Cuisine to Gan's Restaurant, it is now one of the most famous Chinese restaurants in San Francisco's Chinatown.

In addition to some old customers living in Chinatown who come here to eat, there are often Chinese and non-Chinese outside the street to treat guests here.Even some diners from other parts of the United States will come to this small restaurant to taste the unique Ganjia cuisine.

Ganjia Restaurant specializes in Huaiyang cuisine, which is the cuisine from Huai'an to Yangzhou in Jiangsu.In San Francisco's Chinatown, Cantonese cuisine has always been the main cuisine, because most of the immigrant Chinese are from Guangdong and Fujian.Therefore, Gan's Restaurant is unique in Chinatown.

However, before Gan Youwei came, the Huaiyang cuisine in Ganjia Restaurant was not complete. They mainly cook Huaian cuisine, and there is no chef to take charge of the more important part of Yangzhou cuisine.The arrival of Gan Youwei made up for this shortcoming, because he can cook all the dishes of Gan's family, including Yangzhou dishes.

Gan Guoyang sat at the counter after breakfast, picked up the newspaper and began to read the news about Ali's retirement.

Ali's name, Gan Guoyang, is still known. A legendary boxing champion, his reputation is not only derived from his superb boxing skills and brilliant records, but also from his extremely controversial remarks and arrogant personality.

He won the Olympic champion, but threw the gold medal into the sea because of racial discrimination; during the Vietnam War, Ali opposed joining the army and opposed the war. He said, "I will never go thousands of miles away to murder those poor people. If I want to die, I will die here, let's fight to the death."

As a result, Ali's boxing business license in the United States was revoked, and he may even be thrown into prison. He is unemployed at home and can't fight.

But he finally came back, returned to boxing, defeated Foreman in Kinshasa to regain the boxing gold belt, and won the title ten times in a row since then!In the end, he had to quit boxing because of Parkinson's disease, and officially announced his retirement yesterday.

Looking at the description of his deeds in the newspaper, Gan Guoyang couldn't help but think of the movie "Boxing King Ali" he watched in later generations. In it, Will Smith vividly showed Ali's legendary life, fighting life, and brilliant life.

"I don't know if I can become a person like Ali?" Gan Guoyang closed the newspaper and thought while looking at the ceiling.He himself is also a minority in the United States, and more importantly, he is not an American yet, but a Chinese.He doesn't know whether he will become an American citizen in the future. If so, it means that he will not be able to play for the Chinese basketball team.

Just when Gan Guoyang was thinking wildly like this, a voice outside the counter interrupted his thoughts.

"Hello, are there any available seats?" It was spoken in Mandarin with a distinct Hokkien accent, which is very common in San Francisco's Chinatown.But judging from the tone of his question, it should be the first time he came to Gan's restaurant.

Gan Guoyang immediately stood up from the counter and saw that the person who was asking the question was a gentle-looking young Chinese man, wearing an ordinary khaki jacket and jeans, and a sun hat on his head.

"There is a seat, come with me!" It was already noon, the business in the store was very good, there was no seat at first glance, and the waiters were also very busy, but Gan Guoyang knew that there were still some small single tables in the store.

But the young Chinese didn't move. Apparently he was startled by Gan Guoyang who suddenly stood up and emerged from the counter, because Gan Guoyang was so tall that he almost reached the lamp on the ceiling.

"Good~ good~ thank you, thank you." The young Chinese quickly reacted from his surprise, thanked him with a smile, and followed Gan Guoyang to an empty seat.

"Sir, what do you want to order?" Gan Guoyang acted as the waiter.

"Uh... I've heard that the Huaiyang cuisine here is very famous. I want to know which dishes here are your most distinctive and unique?" The young man thought for a while and asked.

"Oh, the more famous ones are lion's head with crab powder, crystal meat, squirrel mandarin fish, three sets of duck..." Gan Guoyang reported a bunch of Huaiyang famous dishes, all of which were his father's specialties.

"Is there any story or special place in these dishes? For example, what does the three sets of ducks mean?" The young man did not order, but continued to ask.

"Three sets of ducks refer to three sets of raw materials put together. There is a domestic duck on the outside, a wild duck stuffed inside the domestic duck, and a pigeon stuffed inside the wild duck. It is called three sets of ducks together." Gan Guoyang explained. .

"Oh, then, what does that squirrel mandarin fish mean? Why are there squirrels?" The young man asked again.

Gan Guoyang was a little speechless now, this guy just asked questions and didn't order food, he treated this place as a museum of dishes.

Seeing that Gan Guoyang didn't speak, the young man was also a little embarrassed, knowing that he would make the big man in front of him a little helpless by asking questions without ordering food, so he explained: "Sorry, I will definitely order food when I come here, but I'm not just here to eat."

"I am a film production student, and I am from New York. This year I made a short film about Chinese food, but I found that as a Chinese, my understanding of Chinese food seems to be very superficial. So I want to know more Something about Chinese food. There is also a Chinatown in New York, but most of them are Cantonese restaurants. Recently, I went to San Francisco to collect news and heard that there is a very famous restaurant here that specializes in Huaiyang cuisine, so I came here to learn about Huaiyang cuisine. story."

When Gan Guoyang heard it, he turned out to be a literary youth who was engaged in movies. He thought that there is no distinction between style and style, and he is a sportsman, so he would satisfy this literary and artistic youth and tell him the history and allusions of Huaiyang cuisine.

Before Gan Guoyang had the memory of his descendant Dang Lei, his biggest dream was actually to be a chef.His father learned cooking skills, but had nowhere to play, and became an accountant.Therefore, Gan Youwei wanted to continue to pass on his skills to Gan Guoyang, so that he would have the opportunity to carry forward the Gan family cuisine.

Now, Gan Guoyang has determined to become a basketball player, and goes further and further on this road.However, he has not lost his knowledge about Ganjia cuisine and Huaiyang cuisine.

So he stopped greeting other guests, and sat down to have a good chat with this literary youth about Huaiyang cuisine and Chinese food.

The two of them chatted from noon to the afternoon, from the bustle of Gan's restaurant to the empty chat.Every time Gan Guoyang mentioned a dish, the literary youth felt that as long as he found it interesting and interesting, he would order this dish to have a look and taste it.One noon passed, and various dishes were already placed in front of him.

Finally, the young man also realized that if he continued to order like this, not only would he not be able to finish his meal now, but he would still be able to eat it for a long time even if he took it home.Besides, his financial situation is not rich, and this meal cost him a lot of money.

And he didn't expect the big man in front of him to be so knowledgeable and versatile. Not only did he know everything about Huaiyang cuisine, but he also had a little bit of knowledge about many other things.

Especially for some understanding of movies, he is almost like-minded.For example, regarding how a Chinese director should survive abroad, this big man put forward the idea of ​​"maintaining the national character, first the national, then the world", which greatly inspired the literary and artistic youth.

"Thank you very much. I didn't expect to have such a big harvest here today. But I think I have to go, otherwise I won't be able to pay for the meal if this continues." The literary youth smiled embarrassedly Laughed, then got up and went to the counter to check out.

Gan Guoyang had nothing to do in the restaurant, so he took this opportunity to have a good chat with this literary youth, and he felt much more at ease.Because after coming to 1981, he found that he couldn't share many things with the people around him, and he couldn't reveal many concepts and ideas.

Today, he made a good vent in a more reserved way, conveying many future concepts and ideas in reasonable language.Moreover, Gan Guoyang discovered that this literary youth is not a fake literary artist, but has his own unique views on art and movies. Some views even Gan Guoyang thinks are very forward-looking. He is a person with the memory of the 21st century.

"What a talented guy, I wonder if he can become a great director in the future?" Gan Guoyang thought in his heart as he sent the literary youth away.

"Oh, by the way, here is my business card. You keep it. It has my mailing address on it. If you have the opportunity to come to New York in the future, you can come to me." The literary youth just remembered when he was about to leave. I chatted with this big man for several hours, but I didn't even introduce myself.

"Okay, but I don't have a business card. I'm a student at Palo Alto High School. My name is Gan Guoyang. I play basketball! I hope you can make a basketball movie in the future."

Gan Guoyang also introduced himself. After waving goodbye to the literary youth, he looked at the business card given to him by the other party, which was all in English.

The name of this literary youth is -lee..." Looking at this name, Gan Guoyang always felt a little strange.

In fact, as long as he reads the name backwards, he will understand that this person is "Ann Lee", a famous Chinese director in the future, and the first Chinese and Asian director to win an Oscar.

This chatting experience at Gan's Restaurant will play a role that cannot be ignored in the film and television creation career of this future great director.