Chương 1: Rebirth in 1984

"I heard that the girl Zhou Yan saved this morning is the niece of Deputy Factory Director Lin, who's visiting. She's a city girl, and she's incredibly pretty."

"Nonsense! Zhou Erwa, a landlubber, saving people? Like a toad jumping off a cliff, trying to become Batman?"

"Zhou Yan was doing well as an apprentice in the textile factory canteen, why did he open his own restaurant? His half-baked cooking skills are terrible; the dishes are either undercooked or bland, he can't even make proper fried rice. He doesn't get more than three customers a day, he'll probably go out of business in three months."

"Young man, all talk and no action. I don't know whose spell he's been cast on, accumulating a mountain of debt to open this restaurant, dragging his whole family down with him. If it really goes bankrupt, he'll only be able to sell hooks."

" Is this news reliable? Zhou Yan is a famously handsome young man for miles around!"

"Second Sister-in-law Lin, you really are..." The stone bridgehead was practically the town's intelligence center, with several middle-aged women chatting idly while washing clothes, indulging in all sorts of banter. Near the bridge, there was a stir-fry restaurant with a sign that read "Zhou Erwa's Restaurant," but the door was tightly shut, with only a wisp of smoke puffing from the chimney.

In the kitchen, Zhou Yan was burning paper money in the stove; the words "last will and testament" stood out vividly in the firelight, illuminating his handsome face. The laughter of the boisterous older women drifted in from the half-open window, their bawdy jokes making one's mouth water. But the older women were right about him; Zhou Yan was definitely not Batman. But he didn't jump off a cliff; he jumped into the Qingyi River. That landlubber, after a few leaps, was instantly killed.

When Zhou Yan, a promising young man from Generation Z, opened his eyes, he saw a pair of pale arms floating in front of him, and he himself had choked on water several times, almost unable to breathe. Zhou Yan, who grew up by the sea and was known as the "White Streak in the Waves," immediately grabbed the arm and pulled the person out of the water. He then supported her head from behind and floated her ashore, pulling her ashore. A group of people rushed over and hurriedly carried the girl away.

One second Zhou Yan was worried about the impact of the US-China tariff war on his three-figure bank account, and the next second he had hit the jackpot and been transported to 1984. His mind was a mess; he didn't even see how beautiful the girl was, only remembering that she was very fair and tender, and her screams were soft. Of course, none of that mattered.

Following his memories back to the restaurant, Zhou Yan spent half a day digesting all the memories belonging to the other 'Zhou Yan' in his mind, accepting the fact that he had transmigrated into a parallel world and inhabited the body of a young man with the same name as him. The original owner was twenty years old this year and had been learning to cook at the canteen of the Jiaozhou Silk Factory across the street for two and a half years.

Two months ago, he was fired because of a conflict with the canteen director, Wang. This kid, along with his father, scraped together 868. 52 yuan, adding it to his father's 500 yuan savings, and bought a shop near the factory gate to open a restaurant, boasting that he would bankrupt the factory canteen. However, he overestimated his culinary skills, and his management was a complete mess. The factory canteen didn't collapse, but his restaurant was on the verge of collapse.

The borrowed money ran out, his boast became a joke, and yesterday he was even mocked by Director Wang. Rent was due in a couple of days, and the pressure-sensitive Zhou drank all night, wrote a suicide note, and jumped into the Qingyi River at dawn. Zhou Yan looked at the IOU in his hand and resisted the urge to throw it into the stove and burn it. What the hell was this? Zhou Yan, who grew up in an orphanage, loved money extremely much; only money could give him a sense of security.

And he had always lacked a sense of security. Having worked countless part-time jobs since childhood, he ventured into social media after entering university. With his humorous yet sarcastic commentary style and undeniably handsome looks, he became a moderately famous food blogger with millions of followers, saving up enough money to open his first restaurant. Just when he thought he'd turned his life around, he was back to being penniless in 1984! Zhou Yan: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻ The good news is he has a restaurant.

The bad news is he not only inherited a nearly bankrupt restaurant but also a mountain of debt. Before his time travel, this money would have been enough to film a single meal. But this is 1984, and the handwritten menu hanging on the wall reads: Garlic Pork Belly 3. 5 cents, Salted Braised Pork Belly 4. 5 cents, Twice-Cooked Pork 6 cents, Dongpo Pork Knuckle 1. 2 yuan… A full-time employee at the neighboring Jiaozhou Silk Factory only earns 38. 5 yuan a month.

Along with the IOU are 3 yuan 87 cents, two meat coupons, and three grain coupons. Food bloggers are divided into… There are two types: one is a natural-born culinary genius, skilled at sharing cooking tips, thus winning the love and admiration of fans. The other is a natural-born "rice-eating genius," adept at nitpicking and sharing food with precise reviews and exaggerated expressions, enticing fans to open those wicked pornographic apps in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, Zhou Yan belongs to the latter.

He doesn't possess the ability to simply roll up his sleeves and casually show off his skills to revive this restaurant in a small town in southern Sichuan and make it a booming success. However, the situation isn't too bad. He shifted his gaze from the stove, and with a thought, a control panel appeared in his field of vision: [Player: Zhou Yan] The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. [Occupation: Chef] [Wealth: -858. 52] [Occupational Skills]: Knife Skills (Intermediate): 8604/10000 (Your knife skills are sufficient for most dishes) Cooking Techniques (Beginner): 668/1000 (You still need to practice) Seasoning (Beginner): 695/1000 (Please be gentle, Salt King) Eloquence (Advanced): 88888/100000 (A pig's head sticks out of the door curtain—all thanks to its mouth) [Dishes Mastered]: Salted Pork Belly (Beginner): 26/1000 (Little brother goes out for a walk, walk, bro) Twice-Cooked Pork (Beginner): 55/1000 (The newly paved road is smooth, no pebbles) Dongpo Pork Knuckle (Beginner): 12/1000 (Practice makes perfect) Cucumber Salad (Intermediate): 1871/10000 (Chef Huang, you're so capable!)... [Main Quest: Become a Culinary God! Become Famous Throughout the World!] [Newbie Task: Please bind a restaurant. Task Reward: Newbie Gift Pack.] [Wealth Mall]: Unlocked when wealth points reach 1000. This was the player panel from the chef training game advertisement that Zhou Yan had just accepted. The dedicated player had even played it for two days, never expecting it to follow him into this world.

The data panel showed his current skill level, comprehensively explaining why Zhou Erwa's restaurant was facing bankruptcy. His superb knife skills, but lackluster cooking and seasoning abilities, indicated that Zhou was only a clerk, not a chef. Of the menus on the wall, only the cucumber salad was acceptable. His culinary skills were truly appalling. However, the system's evaluation style was so sarcastic; was it even personalized? [Latest novels first published on 69shu. com!] Zhou Yan, like the other Yan Zu present, usually enjoyed reading online novels and was no stranger to transmigration and systems, quickly accepting the idea. While watching, he cursed angrily: "It's the system again!" But when it landed on him: "It's so good!" 1984 was too far away for Zhou Yan; there were no filters, no memories. However, he had filmed many time-honored restaurants and interviewed many self-made restaurant owners.

Making the stories behind the food the highlight of his videos was one of his specialties. Opening a restaurant in the 1980s meant being among the first to try something new after the liberalization of the individual economy, much better than digging for food in the fields. Zhou Yan had worked part-time as a waiter in a restaurant, worked as a food blogger for four years, and even prepared for opening his own restaurant for half a year.

Except for his lack of cooking skills, he basically had the ability to open a restaurant. And this system could fill that gap for him. Zhou Yan stood up and chose to bind. [Ding! Zhou Erwa's restaurant successfully bound, newbie gift pack issued, please claim!] Zhou Yan used his consciousness to open the gift pack: [Dry Mixed Beef Noodles], [Braised Beef Noodles], [Spare Rib Noodles], [Kimchi] —four dishes popped up at once. Zhou Yan's eyes lit up.

Three noodle dishes, plus a side of kimchi—was this a prelude to turning him into a noodle shop owner? The richness of this beginner's gift package exceeded his expectations. He used his mind to tap, and four recipes appeared simultaneously. His mind buzzed, feeling as if a lot of information had been stuffed into it, causing a brief moment of dizziness. Soon, a look of joy appeared on Zhou Yan's face. It wasn't four dry recipes, nor was it an online course video in his brain; knowledge directly entered his mind!

From dough preparation to noodle pulling, from beef processing to braised beef, from bone broth simmering to noodle seasoning, it was a complete set of experience, as vivid and seamless as the memories he had inherited from Xiao Zhou. Zhou Yan was a qualified food blogger, and having inherited the basics of cooking from Xiao Zhou, he could tell from the recipes in his mind that these three noodle dishes wouldn't be bad. He had learned how to make three types of noodles, but that wasn't all.

Looking at it another way, double-pepper minced beef is a perfect dish to eat with rice, and braised beef with bamboo shoots is a classic Sichuan dish. Who can resist tender, fall-off-the-bone braised pork ribs? Zhou Yan studied at university in Chengdu for four years and is a food blogger who started by filming Sichuan cuisine; he knows Sichuan food very well. Good noodle shops all have a skilled Sichuan chef in the kitchen.

When it comes to their love of noodles, Sichuan people are no less enthusiastic than northerners. Here, everything can be used as a topping; he's tried ginger duck noodles, pork intestine noodles, eel noodles, chicken giblet noodles, pork liver noodles, rabbit noodles… and the outrageous tofu pudding noodles. One major problem with Zhou Erwa's restaurant was that it expanded too much, but Zhou didn't have the corresponding capabilities, leading to disaster.

A guy who only knew how to make cucumber salad created a menu of thirty or forty dishes; the daily ingredient costs alone were enough to bankrupt this already struggling restaurant. Of course, one dish like cucumber salad can't sustain a restaurant. The restaurant's monthly rent is 15 yuan, plus management fees and other expenses, totaling 20 yuan. This restaurant isn't exactly a lucrative business; in most people's hands, it's a hot potato.

Now that Zhou Yan has learned three noodle dishes and a refreshing pickled vegetable dish, he has a way to break the deadlock. Stepping out of the kitchen, he ripped the handwritten menu off the wall and crumpled it into a ball. From today onward, every new dish on Zhou Erwa's restaurant menu will have to pass his approval first, no exceptions. Starting tomorrow, noodles! Rent is due in three days; he needs to earn that first.