Chapter 5

Jianguo Road is the final stop of the Da Yi Road eastward. Not far ahead is the bus stop for Route 304.

When Ning Weimin got off the bus, it was already bright.

The street was already quite busy with people and vehicles, making the road very lively.

What moved Ning Weimin the most at this moment was not only the warming temperature and the pleasant sound of bicycle bells, but also the aroma of fried dough cakes and soy milk wafting through the air, penetrating his nose.

Not far from the bus stop, the breakfast shop had already opened, and many residents from the neighborhood were holding steel pots to buy breakfast.

There were no takeaway boxes back then, so people brought such pots, filled them with soy milk, and used the pot lids to hold the fried dough cakes.

When they got home, the food was still warm, and it was quite convenient.

This kind of breakfast shop was the most typical convenience food store on the streets of the capital during this era.

The advantage was that the food was cheap and good, very cost-effective, but the downside was that the variety of offerings was relatively limited.

The breakfast in the morning was relatively rich.

At least there were fried dough cakes, pepper salt buns, sesame sauce buns, sugar ears, and soy milk, as well as corn porridge to choose from.

The offerings at noon and in the afternoon were very simple.

They mainly sold fried pastries, fried meatballs, and buns and pepper salt buns.

However, it must be said that further east, there were only factories and farmland.

So describing this breakfast shop as "once you pass this village, there will be no such shop" was not an exaggeration.

Especially considering Ning Weimin's special job, he needed to ensure sufficient energy, and he wouldn't have any opportunity or appetite to eat or drink until the end of his shift in the afternoon.

Therefore, he couldn't afford to miss this place and had to eat and drink his fill here.

His eating style was also quite unique, usually choosing the most luxurious combination.

That is, the special way of eating that Old Kang taught him, a favorite of the older generation in the capital—pepper salt buns with fried dough cakes!

Some might think it's strange to eat two types of flour-based foods together.

They might wonder, "Is it really that good? Isn't it like a big pancake wrapped around a steamed bun, which sounds silly?"

But those who think this way are actually the ones who are rare and strange.

Without mentioning other places, at least in Shanghai, there is a similar way of eating—big pancakes with fried dough sticks.

Think about it, the tastes in the north and south are different.

Yet, people in these two major cities have similar eating habits in this aspect, so it can't be that their brains are all wired wrong.

There is a reason for eating this way.

What is the reason?

Well, the fried dough cakes satisfy the craving, and the pepper salt buns are filling.

Putting the two together is the most satisfying and cost-effective way to eat.

The pepper salt buns cost two liang of grain tickets and five cents, and the fried dough cakes cost one liang of grain tickets and seven cents.

So, the total cost is just three liang of grain tickets and twelve cents.

If you want to order, you don't need to explain in detail; just say, "One set," and the breakfast vendor will understand.

This is also a characteristic of the era.

As for the specific way of eating, it is quite similar to a hamburger in Western fast food.

You break open the freshly baked pepper salt bun and put the hot fried dough cake in the middle.

The taste is unquestionably good.

The pepper salt bun is originally crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Once the golden fried dough cake is added, the texture becomes crispy—tender—crispy.

The pepper salt bun absorbs some of the oil from the fried dough cake, making the combination less greasy and adding the aroma of the fried dough cake to the pepper salt bun, creating a perfect flavor.

Finally, it's best to add some pickles to the fried dough cake and have a bowl of warm, sweet soy milk to go with it, which makes it even better.

For Ning Weimin, he fell in love with this way of eating the first time he tried it.

He also liked to describe his experience in a more literary and emotional way.

That is—

"The pepper salt bun, with its strong exterior and soft interior, tightly embraces the fried dough cake that has been through the fiery frying, using its soft interior to absorb the excess oil from the fried dough cake."

"The fried dough cake, on the surface, resists the embrace of the pepper salt bun, but in reality, it is burning with desire, wishing every part of its body could be tightly pressed against the pepper salt bun."

"The fried dough cake tries not to affect the simple nature of the pepper salt bun, but ultimately, they complement and blend into a whole, where you are in me and I am in you."

"Such a combination of an innocent girl and a reformed rogue truly makes one experience the ultimate charm of a romantic drama in a single breakfast, achieving a profound enlightenment!"

Of course, besides the pepper salt buns with regular fried dough cakes, there are also pepper salt buns with sweet fried dough cakes, which are also very delicious.

When eaten hot, they are crispy and flaky.

When eaten cold, they are sticky and sweet.

So now, Ning Weimin usually has a "set" of either sweet or savory in the morning, along with a bowl of "sweet soy milk."

This ensures that his stomach will not be hungry for a long time.

...

It was around seven in the morning when Ning Weimin completed the final kilometer of his walk and finally arrived at the East Suburban Garbage Dump.

This area, located between the future Third and Fourth Ring Roads in the east, is a vast, desolate open space of several thousand square meters.

Looking around, there were hardly any low-rise houses nearby, only farmland and crisscrossing ditches.

In the garbage dump, there were continuous mounds of garbage like small mountains, with dozens of unevenly spaced trees scattered among them.

Due to the limited conditions and lack of environmental awareness at the time,

The garbage dumps in the capital were all open-air.

There were no modern incineration or landfill methods, and no measures to prevent seepage or overflow.

Only a simple mixed stacking method was used.

The garbage was left to ferment and heat up under the sun to achieve the purpose of sterilization and killing insect eggs.

As a result, the stench could be smelled from a great distance, and even the nearby villagers were unwilling to approach the area.

However, on the other hand, because large trucks frequently dumped garbage here, both during the day and at night, and most of the trucks came from nearby factories, the resources available for scavenging were particularly rich.

Although the state had regulations requiring factories to transport their waste metal to designated recycling stations,

The workers, who didn't own the factories, couldn't be expected to strictly follow the rules.

Thus, it was common for copper, iron, lead, and aluminum to be mixed in with the daily garbage in the workshops and dumped here due to the workers' "carelessness."

This made the East Suburban Garbage Dump the most valuable "mine" among all the garbage dumps in the capital, a rich resource without dispute.

This "mine" brought both joy and hardship to Ning Weimin.

On one hand, he was glad to have found a place where he could truly make money.

On the other hand, making money here wasn't easy.

Not to mention the overwhelming stench, which was several levels worse than the garbage bins in the city, making it hard to eat and impossible to adapt to even now.

Therefore, even when he arrived at the "mine," he couldn't dive right in and start working; he had to prepare thoroughly first.

Because, from the perspective of health hazards and the risk of disease transmission, his job was a dangerous one.

Ning Weimin, familiar with the routine, went down into a deep ditch beside the garbage dump, which reached up to his chest.

In the ditch, he took out a mask and a pair of swimming goggles from his clothes and put them on.

Then he opened the canvas travel bag he had brought.

He took out a set of dirty clothes, a broken straw hat, and a pair of dirty, worn-out cotton shoes.

After putting on the clothes, changing his shoes, and placing the straw hat on his head,

He took out a two-pronged iron hook from the bag and held it in his hand.

Finally, he put on a burlap sack, picked up the large bag, and climbed out of the ditch.

He had transformed into a highly professional "scavenger."

This outfit not only provided thorough protection for hygiene but also ensured that even if any familiar person stood in front of him, they wouldn't recognize him as Ning Weimin.