The second shift of the Mid-Autumn Festival, I will go to work tomorrow, and I will resume a shift. Thank you all for your red tickets and collections, so that they can come more violently. ）

In 1981, the trend of global warming was not yet obvious, and San Francisco in December had 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 into the bed again, looked at the alarm clock at the bedside, it didn't matter, it was already more than nine o'clock in the morning! Usually, whether he is at school or at Ganjia Restaurant, he gets up at half past five in the morning and goes out for a run.

"It's terrible, why are you up so late? Dad didn't call me a word. Gan Guoyang scolded while lifting the quilt, and he didn't care whether it was cold or not, and hurriedly put on his clothes and prepared to go downstairs after washing.

Today is Sunday, and Gan Guoyang took a car back to San Francisco with Gan Guohui and Chen Xing after playing yesterday.

Along the way, Gan Guohui and Chen Xing chattered endlessly, especially Gan Guohui, although he only saw the two-minute game, he saw the most intense and exciting part, and admired the eldest cousin. If it weren't for the carload of people looking at him with contempt, Gan Guohui would probably be spitting saliva all the way.

Yesterday's exciting game, thinking about it now, Gan Guoyang still feels that his heart is burning. At the end of the match, he could hear his name being shouted from the entire gymnasium.

“Gump！ Gump！ Gump！ Gump！ Gump！ Gump！ Gump！ The shouts still seemed to echo in Gan Guoyang's ears, and of course he knew that the audience was not calling him "stupid," but cheering with reverence and excitement.

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

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

And back at Gan's restaurant, business is still booming, full of locals sitting in the lobby and private rooms, and no one cares that a high school player has just played a great game.

Even Gan Guoyang's father, Gan Youwei, didn't care about how his son played, but just made his son some side dishes after closing to help him replenish his energy.

At that time, Gan Guoyang felt that he was still nothing, just a relatively powerful high school basketball player.

If this game is the NBA Finals, no, the playoffs, no, as long as it's a regular season game, then he'll be in the spotlight and greeted with flowers and applause.

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

On that day, all the television stations in the United States were broadcasting the news of a boxer's decision to retire, and that person was "The King of Boxing" Mohammed Ali.

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

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

"Guoyang is up? Come inside and have some breakfast. It was not yet a meal, and Gan Bingguang, who was wandering around the store, saw the tall Gan Guoyang poking in front of the counter, as if he was afraid that he would scare the customers away, and beckoned him to go inside for breakfast.

"Uncle Cousin, I'm getting up late...... Yesterday, he also said that he got up early today to help the store...... "Gan Guoyang has been in high school since he went to high school, as long as he has the opportunity to go to the Gan's restaurant, he will help the store with chores, he is really not interested in other entertainment activities except playing basketball."

"Oh Guoyang, there are enough people in the store, it's rare for you to come back, where can you do your work." Hurry up, let's go to breakfast, it's almost time for lunch! Gan Bingguang urged Gan Guoyang, to be honest, with his father here, the Gan family's restaurant has been much better in business, where can he do chores again.

Gan Guoyang had to lower his head and go to the rest room of the staff inside to have some breakfast, in the Ganjia restaurant, he felt more and more like he was locked in a small cage, and every time he moved, he had to pay attention to whether he would touch anything or bump into something.

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 who live in Chinatown, there are often Chinese and non-Chinese people from outside the street who come here to eat. Even some diners from other parts of the U.S. will come to this tiny restaurant to try the unique Ganjia cuisine.

Ganjia Restaurant focuses on 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, as most of the immigrant Chinese are from Guangdong and Fujian. Therefore, Ganjia Restaurant is unique in Chinatown.

However, before Gan Youwei came, the Huaiyang cuisine of Ganjia Restaurant was not complete, they mainly cooked Huai'an cuisine, and the more important part of Yangzhou cuisine did not have a chef to take charge. The arrival of Gan Youwei made up for this shortcoming, because he could cook all the Ganjia dishes, and Yangzhou dishes were naturally not a problem.

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

Ali's name is still known to Gan Guoyang, a legendary boxing champion, whose fame comes not only from his superb boxing skills and brilliant achievements, but also from his controversial statements and uninhibited personality.

He won the Olympic championship, but threw the gold medal into the sea because of racial discrimination; During the Vietnam War, Ali opposed joining the army and opposing 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 had his boxing license revoked in the United States and could even be thrown into prison, where he was left at home with no punches to fight.

But he eventually came back and returned to boxing, defeating Foreman in Kinshasa to regain the belt, and going on to win the title 10 times since! In the end, he had to retire from boxing because of Parkinson's disease, and officially announced his retirement yesterday.

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

"I wonder if I can be like Ali?" Gan Guoyang closed the newspaper and looked at the ceiling and thought. He himself is also a minority in the United States, and more importantly, he is not an American now, but a Chinese. He doesn't know if he wants to become an American citizen in the future, if so, it means that he has no way to play for the Chinese basketball team.

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

"Hello, do you have any empty seats?" It's a Mandarin with a pronounced Hokkien accent, which is very common in San Francisco's Chinatown. However, judging from the tone of his questioning, it should be the first time to come to the Ganjia restaurant.

Gan Guoyang immediately stood up from the counter and saw that the person who was questioning was a mild-mannered-looking young Chinese man, wearing an ordinary khaki jacket and jeans, and a sunhat on his head.

"There's a place, you come with me!" It's noon now, and the business in the store is very good, and it seems that there is no seat at a glance, and the waiters are very busy, but Gan Guoyang knows that there are still some small single tables in the store.

However, the young Chinese man did not 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 ceiling lamp.

"Okay~Okay~ Thank you, thank you." The young Chinese quickly reacted from surprise, smiled and thanked him, and followed Gan Guoyang to an empty seat.

"Sir, what do you need to order?" Gan Guoyang played the role of a waiter.

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

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

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

"Three sets of ducks means that the three raw materials are set together, the outermost duck, the duck is stuffed with a wild duck, and the wild duck is stuffed with a pigeon. Together, they are called three sets of ducks. Gan Guoyang explained.

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

Gan Guoyang was a little speechless now, this guy just asks questions and doesn't order, when this is a food museum.

The young man was also a little embarrassed when he saw that Gan Guoyang didn't speak, knowing that he would definitely make the big man in front of him a little helpless if he didn't order food and just ask questions, so he explained: "I'm sorry, I'm definitely going to order food and eat here, but I'm not just here to eat." ”

"I'm a filmmaking student, and I'm 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 wanted to know more about Chinese food. There is also a Chinatown in New York, but most of them are Cantonese restaurants, and I recently went to San Francisco to collect the style, and I heard that there is a very famous restaurant here that specializes in Huaiyang cuisine, so I came here to learn some stories about Huaiyang cuisine. ”

When Gan Guoyang heard it, it turned out to be a literary and artistic young man engaged in movies, he thought that there was no separation between culture and sports, and he was a sportsman, so he would satisfy this literary and artistic person, and tell him about the history and allusions of Huaiyang cuisine.

Before Gan Guoyang had the memory of Dang Lei in later generations, his biggest dream was actually to be a chef. His father learned a lot of cooking, but he had nowhere to play and became an accountant. Therefore, Gan Youwei wants to continue to teach his skills to Gan Guoyang, so that he has the opportunity to carry forward Gan's cuisine.

Now, Gan Guoyang has aspired to become a basketball player and is going further and further on this road. However, he did not lose the knowledge about Ganjia cuisine and Huaiyang cuisine.

So he didn't greet the other guests, so he sat down and chatted with this literary young man about Huaiyang cuisine and Chinese food.

The two of them chatted from noon to afternoon, and from Ganjia Restaurant to Menkeluo. Every time Gan Guoyang says a dish, literary and artistic young people feel that as long as they find it interesting and interesting, they will order this dish to take a look and taste it. One noon passed, and his front was already full of various dishes.

Finally, the young man also realized that if he continued like this, not only would he not be able to finish eating it now, but he would be able to eat it for a long time even if he packed it back. Besides, his financial situation is not well-off, and this meal can eat him a lot of money.

And he didn't expect the big man in front of him to be so knowledgeable and talented, not only did he know Huaiyang cuisine well, but also touched on many other things.

Especially for some understanding of movies, I am simply like-minded with him. For example, for how a Chinese director should survive abroad, this big man put forward the view of "maintaining national character, first the nation, then the world", which greatly inspired the literary and artistic youth.

"Thank you so much, I didn't expect to have such a big harvest here today. But I think I'll have to go, or I'll not be able to pay for my food if I continue like this. The literary youth smiled embarrassedly, and then got up and went to the counter to settle the bill.

Gan Guoyang had nothing to do in the restaurant, but he took this opportunity to have a good chat with this literary and artistic young man, and felt much more comfortable. Because after coming to 1981, he found that many things could not be said to the people around him, and many ideas and ideas could not be revealed.

Today, he made a good vent in a more subtle way, and conveyed many future ideas and ideas in reasonable language. And Gan Guoyang unexpectedly discovered that this literary young man is not a pseudo-literary artist, but has his own unique views on art and movies, and some views even Gan Guoyang feels very forward, he is a person with memories of the 21st century.

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

"Oh, by the way, here's one of my business cards. You can keep it, it has my mailing address on it, and if you have the opportunity to come to New York in the future, you can come to me. The literary young man was just about to go out before he remembered that he had chatted with this big man for several hours, and he hadn't even introduced himself.

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

Gan Guoyang also introduced himself, and after waving goodbye to the literary youth, he looked at the business card that the other party gave him, which was all in English.

The young man, named Ang-Lee, is a master's student in film production at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

"Ang-Lee, Ang-Lee..."Gan Guoyang looked at the name, always feeling a little strange.

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

This chat experience in Gan's restaurant will play a role that cannot be ignored in the future director's film and television creative career.