National Tide 1980

There is an eternal truth that applies to people wherever they go.

When you get better at it, strangers will never compliment you too much.

Even former acquaintances, people who didn't think much of you before, are no exception.

It’s still the last day of 1980.

After buying the hat, Liu Weijing looked at his new watch and realized it was time to have lunch.

She and Zhang Shihui left the mall to prepare for dinner.

Ordinarily, there are quite a few restaurants near Xidan.

There are not only famous restaurants such as Quyuan Restaurant, Yuhuatai, Tongchunyuan, Hongbin Restaurant, and Sichuan Hotel.

There are also two famous snack bars, Qingfeng Baozi Shop and Yingchun Dumpling House.

Especially these days, the consumption level is also very low.

Generally, as long as you have a few dollars in your pocket, it is basically enough to treat guests at a big restaurant.

For example, the mutton skewers at Xiyuan Restaurant with big sticks are only a dime per skewer.

Tongheju's "Shao Er Dong" is only 80 cents.

If you have one yuan and fifty cents, you can order a dish of yellow croaker in an ordinary restaurant.

As long as two people put together five or six yuan, they can have a standard Western meal including beetroot soup, braised chicken, salad and bread at a Moscow restaurant.

Even at a famous restaurant like Quanjude, the signature dish of Beijing roast duck only costs eight yuan.

Therefore, considering the financial conditions of Zhang Shihui and Liu Weijing, they naturally did not need to think too much and went straight to a big restaurant, but they could just be more energetic.

But the only problem is that these days, the service industry in Beijing is still in a stage where it is overwhelmed by the population returning to the city and is overwhelmed.

Eating is not something that just costs money.

Even in a place like Xidan where there are many restaurants, even though it is still a working day.

But if you go to any restaurant during the meal time, you will still not be able to eat after waiting for an hour.

To put it bluntly, there are more people standing waiting to be seated than sitting down to eat and drink.

Look, Zhang Shihui and Liu Weijing entered Quyuan Restaurant and Yuhuatai successively, and were frightened by the overcrowded scene inside.

This is no longer possible.

Being unable to eat for a while, the two of them had no choice but to go to the "Zhengyi Hao" and queue up to buy two kilograms of Beijing's most famous "roasted chestnuts with sugar".

First he made do with grinding his teeth to keep his mouth occupied, and then he held the hot chestnuts in his hands while eating them.

Fortunately, most people's time is very tight these days, and they don't have so much leisure time when eating.

By the time they came out of Tongchun Garden and strolled to Hongbin Building, meal time was almost over and the situation had eased a lot.

When I walked in again, I saw that in this Jinmen-style halal restaurant, there were only a few people standing on stools waiting to be seated.

They stayed and found a seat to eat.

You know, these days, restaurant conditions are generally limited, and single rooms are not popular in the entire capital.

The so-called elegant seating is actually a place where a large round table is separated by a screen.

Moreover, if no one takes a seat at such a table, individual guests can still share the table.

So in the end, Zhang Shihui and Liu Weijing found a seat with a wide space on such a large round table.

Why is the gap so large?

Because it can be seen that this was the original position of three people, but two stools were taken away by someone unknown.

So there is enough space for the two of them to sit, they just need to add some stools.

So Zhang Shihui stopped talking nonsense and asked Liu Weijing to sit down first, while calmly asking the waiter to bring him the menu.

I ordered a mandarin duck fish tofu, a coriander puffed pill, and a sweet honey, plus two bowls of rice and a liter of beer.

After issuing the invoice and paying the money, he went to look for a stool by himself.

Don't tell me, it's so evil that Zhang Shihui turned around and couldn't find it.

There were not even a single extra stool, and any free space was occupied by others waiting for others.

No, he saw a master sitting on one stool with his feet on another stool, looking around and waiting for someone.

Perhaps because he has been with Ning Weimin for a long time, Zhang Shihui's mind has become quite lively now.

He was unwilling to give in. As soon as he thought about it, he came up with an evil idea.

With the intention of harming others but not benefiting himself, he walked over and quietly threw a dime on the ground to the left of this person.

Then he patted the man on the left shoulder again, pretending to be a good guy.

"Hey, the money dropped."

"Ah?" This guy looked down and saw that he was really greedy.

"Thank you, thank you..." without thinking too much.

As a result, he took advantage of this person to move his feet away, turned around, and lowered his head to pick up the money.

Zhang Shihui took away a chair, absolutely clean and crisp.

When this person turned around again and found that the stool was missing, he was instantly dumbfounded.

Zhang Shihui is proud of this matter.

He took the chair back and sat next to Liu Weijing. He was still playing, and he was so happy.

I didn’t even bother to try the coriander popsicles that had just been served and were best eaten while they were hot.

But as the saying goes, God is not as good as man.

Zhang Shihui never expected that the stool he brought over was very clearly marked. He hadn't sat down for two minutes before the person who had lost the stool found him.

The stools in Ganqing's shop are all made of ash, and his stool has been repaired and is the only stool in the shop that has two stool legs replaced with red pine.

While chatting with Liu Weijing, Zhang Shihui felt someone behind him tap his shoulder, and an unfamiliar voice called him angrily.

"Boy, I asked you whether you damaged it or not? You actually lied to us about the stool. Don't talk nonsense, get up quickly and give it back to us."

"Who are you? What are you talking about?"

Of course Zhang Shihui quit, and he would act pretentious when he turned around.

Unexpectedly, life is often unpredictable and full of coincidences.

When he turned around, he was face to face with the other party.

Good guy, both of them were stunned at the same time!

They both looked familiar to each other.

"Huh? You? You... Zhang Shihui, right?"

The other party spoke first.

For a moment, Zhang Shihui blurted out the other person's name.

"You...are Li Haisheng?"

"That's right, hey, it's a coincidence! Unexpectedly, really unexpectedly, how come I met you here?"

The other party is indeed.

Zhang Shihui completely remembered that Li Haisheng, who had a mole on his forehead, was a transfer student who came to his class in the third year of junior high school.

This boy's father is the section chief of the Municipal Grain Bureau, so he is very impressive in the class.

They belong to the "nobility" that teachers and even principals need to treat differently.

For example, one time Zhang Shihui and Li Haisheng were on duty as a team, and this kid ran away directly after school.

Zhang Shihui also had no intention of doing it seriously, so he just made do with it once.

Unexpectedly, the next day because the blackboard was not wiped clean, Zhang Shihui was criticized by the teacher and was fined to do it again.

But Li Haisheng didn't do anything wrong, and he made fun of him for several days afterwards.

Li Haisheng's unique privileges were carried out almost from the time he transferred to another school until he graduated from middle school.

Therefore, few students in the class have a favorable impression of this "Li Yanei".

But having said that, no matter what, they are classmates after all, and the two of them "bumped" over the stool.

So whether it was out of courtesy or to calm things down, Zhang Shihui always had to offer him a cigarette and say a few perfunctory words.

But this time when I passed the cigarette, things were different.

You know, what Zhang Shihui took out was the "Three Five" just bought from the Friendship Store, which was a box of foreign exchange coupons worth one yuan each.

Li Haisheng was a discerning shopkeeper, and he was surprised as soon as he took the cigarette.

"Oh, man, that's awesome. Are you smoking all the foreign cigarettes?"

Then he glanced at the dishes on Zhang Shihui's table, and his expression changed again.

"Such a big show? Dude, you're doing well! Where do you work?"

Zhang Shihui took out a match and struck it, lighting a cigarette for Li Haisheng.

"Forget about my work, it's definitely not as good as yours..."

Li Haisheng exhaled a puff of smoke and shook his head.

"It's boring. Look at your outfit, you are much more respectable than me..."

Zhang Shihui lit it himself, flicked out the match and threw it away.

"Listen to what I have to say. I can't work well, but I can make extra money. I have a way to get some cool stuff, home appliances, cigarettes, alcohol, etc..."

"Really?" Li Haisheng was even more surprised. "Don't blow it, can you handle the four-horn Sanyo?"

Zhang Shihui smiled confidently.

"Blow? It's a joke. But it can be done, but the price is definitely a little more expensive than what's on the market."

"How much does it cost? Is it original?" Li Haisheng was serious.

"It's 20% more expensive. Of course it's original. What? Do you want it?"

Zhang Shihui asked casually and didn't take it seriously.

Unexpectedly, Li Haisheng became completely excited.

"Of course, I want it. No kidding, how about getting one for me? But, we are old classmates, can't you give me 20% more?"

Well, just like that, the matter of the stool was put aside unknowingly, no one mentioned it again, and the two of them actually started a business deal.

Soon, they reached an agreement at a 10% higher price and agreed to pay and deliver the goods this Sunday.

For this reason, Li Haisheng happily bought two bottles of soda and gave them to Zhang Shihui's table.

Zhang Shihui was also very generous. The whole box of "San Wu" that he just opened went to Li Haisheng.

Look what happened.

The two classmates, who had barely spoken to each other during school, now seemed like close friends.

At the end of the day, when Zhang Shihui and Liu Weijing finished eating and left the restaurant first, Li Haisheng chased him from the table and walked a few steps away.

At the door of the restaurant, he held Zhang Shihui's hand and asked her.

"Brother, please take the trouble. The key is my girlfriend. She was worried that it would be difficult to buy the original machine, so she urged me to do it. Otherwise, I wouldn't be so impatient..."

"Don't worry, leave it to me, it will be right."

Zhang Shihui then joked again. "You're so funny, you have your dad here. Is there any need to rush this matter?"

It would have been fine if I didn't say this, but once I said it, it completely aroused Li Haisheng's complaints.

"Oh, my buddy, it's not as good as it was back then. The Grain Bureau has long since lost its popularity. There's no other benefit than getting some worthless souvenirs."

"I'm still thinking about transferring my job and how I can go to foreign trade. Unfortunately, my father can't speak well, and it's very difficult to do it because they require foreign languages..."

"Damn, this is thirty years in Hedong and thirty years in Hexi. What kind of world is this..."

Zhang Shihui was too lazy to listen to this, waved his hand and turned to leave with Liu Weijing.

"Okay, no more words. Just wait for my call. I will contact you as soon as the things arrive."

But just like that, Li Haisheng shouted several more times at the backs of Zhang Shihui and Liu Weijing.

"Thank you! So what... do you want some sesame oil? It's done, I'll give you a few pounds..."

"Hey, if it's hard to make a call, you can go directly to our house to find me. Anyway, I won't be going out these days, so I'll just wait for you."

"Do you remember where I live? Building No. 5 in the Grain Bureau Courtyard..."

Then the boy crossed his arms and shivered before running back to Hongbin Tower.

It shows how much attention and desire they have.