Chapter 77 Coke
The three days of the college entrance examination were spent tensely in the hot weather, until the last day, the afternoon of July 9, when Song Yuanchao, after finishing his last exam, walked out of the examination room and breathed a sigh of relief.
The current college entrance examination mainly tests five subjects, namely Chinese, mathematics, politics, physics, chemistry, and English.
However, English is not a necessary examination subject for other majors except for language majors. It is up to the candidates to decide whether to apply for the exam. The full score of each of the other five subjects is 100 points, and the total score of the five subjects is 500 points.
The full score for English is also 100, but the English score is calculated in the total score of other majors at a ratio of ten to one. That is, if you get 100 points in the English test, 10 points will be added to the college entrance examination score, and the total score will be 510 points.
Song Yuanchao took the exam for all six subjects. In fact, he was not the only one. Gu Jie and Li Xiaoyun also took the English exam. Although compared with Song Yuanchao, their English foundation was very poor, especially Gu Jie, who had never learned English. When he first started reviewing, he couldn't even recite the 26 letters fluently.
But even so, Song Yuanchao still encouraged them to take part, because the total score in the college entrance examination is extremely important. One more point means more hope. Why not take the exam and try your luck?
After leaving the examination room, Song Yuanchao rode his bike straight back home. When he arrived at the door, he found that Gu Jie and Li Xiaoyun were already waiting for him. The three of them were in three different examination rooms, not together. Song Yuanchao's examination room was the farthest away, so he came back the latest.
"Brother Yuanchao, why did you come back just now? I was almost dying of the heat waiting for you." Seeing Song Yuanchao finally coming back, Li Xiaoyun's little face flushed as she complained. The sun at two or three o'clock in the afternoon was the hottest, and they had come early and had been waiting for more than ten minutes.
"It's my fault, it's my fault." Song Yuanchao hurriedly smiled, took out the key to open the door, and then asked Gu Jie to take Li Xiaoyun upstairs first. He parked the car at the door and turned to go to the store outside the alley. He originally planned to buy a few popsicles, but he saw a few bottles of drinks on the counter when he glanced around. His eyes suddenly lit up.
"Comrade, how much is this Coca-Cola?" Song Yuanchao asked hurriedly.
That’s right, the drink on the counter is the famous Coca-Cola. 1978 was an important year for Coca-Cola’s return to China. In early 1979, Coca-Cola Company returned to the Chinese market again after a thirty-year hiatus.
What Song Yuanchao saw now was the first batch of Coca-Cola that had just been put on the shelves of grocery stores. The packaging was an old-fashioned glass bottle shaped like a woman's body, with a bright red bottle cap and the English logo of Coca-Cola printed in white on the glass bottle.
"Fifty cents a bottle, five cents for a returned bottle." The sales lady was chatting animatedly with a colleague next to her. When she heard Song Yuanchao's question, she glanced towards the counter and said.
"Comrade, give me ten bottles!" Song Yuanchao was overjoyed and quickly took out the money.
"Ten bottles? Can you drink so much by yourself? This stuff is very valuable." Hearing that Song Yuanchao wanted to buy ten bottles at once, the eldest sister looked at him in surprise.
"I have guests at home, and I'm not the only one drinking. How can I finish ten bottles by myself? By the way, comrade, do you have any chilled ones?"
"Chilled ? No, no." The elder sister shook her head. Refrigerators are rare nowadays. There is only one freezer in the store and the cooling effect is not good. It is almost full of space for popsicles and other things in the summer. Where is the place to put this thing?
Song Yuanchao was a little disappointed, but after thinking about it, he asked if there were any ice cubes, and if so he could buy some.
There are ice cubes. The store makes some edible ice every day and sells it to nearby residents. Residents use this edible ice to chill the salty soda distributed by the company or their own sour plum soup at home. It sells very well.
Song Yuanchao spent six yuan to buy ten bottles of Coca-Cola and a square piece of ice cream the size of a brick. He picked up the ice cream in his schoolbag and rushed home. When he got home and went upstairs, Song Yuanchao shouted and yelled at Gu Jie to find the thermos at home.
"Brother Yuanchao, what is this?" Li Xiaoyun, who was standing in front of the fan enjoying the cool breeze, saw Song Yuanchao coming back with a bunch of things in his arms, and immediately ran over curiously.
"Good stuff!" Song Yuanchao smiled at her and motioned for her to help take the Coca-Cola away and put it on the table. After the Coke was taken away, Song Yuanchao took out the wrapped ice cubes, then found a towel to carefully wrap them up, and then found a hammer to smash them.
After hitting it a few times and opening the towel, the ice inside had broken into pieces. At this time, Gu Jie also brought over the thermos.
Song Yuanchao poured the crushed ice into the thermos bucket. When there was some ice left, he closed the lid of the thermos bucket and asked Gu Jie and Li Xiaoyun to get cups.
Under the gaze of the two people, he first put a handful of crushed ice in three enamel cups, then picked up a bottle of Coca-Cola, bit open the lid directly with his teeth, and then poured the Coke inside into the enamel cups.
After making three cups, Song Yuanchao was immediately happy when he saw the two of them staring blankly at the black Coca-Cola that looked almost like cough syrup and was bubbling.
"Come on! Let's drink, and wish us success in the college entrance examination!"
Song Yuanchao picked up a cup and motioned to them. Gu Jie and Li Xiaoyun looked at each other, wondering what this was. Could this black thing be drunk?
But looking at Song Yuanchao's expression, he didn't seem to be joking, especially the anticipation and eagerness in his eyes, as if he was very excited about this thing. After hesitating for a moment, the two men picked up the teacups and clinked their cups with Song Yuanchao's.
Song Yuanchao couldn't wait to take a big sip. When the cola with crushed ice went down his throat, Song Yuanchao felt that all the pores on his body seemed to open up in an instant, and he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
"Cool!"
Song Yuanchao praised sincerely that today's cola is indeed countless times more delicious than that of later generations. This is definitely not an illusion, but the raw juice and ingredients used in today's cola are very different from those of later generations.
The formula of Coke is the old one and has not been changed. The concentration is twice that of later Coke. In addition, it is made with sucrose instead of the substitutes of later generations. It is extremely delicious. Fatty Happy Water is indeed worthy of its reputation. Friends after 2000 will never be able to experience this kind of enjoyment.
Seeing that Song Yuanchao looked like he was enjoying himself, Li Xiaoyun carefully picked up the teacup, put it to her mouth and took a small sip tentatively.
Just this small sip made Li Xiaoyun's eyes light up instantly. Then she took another sip in disbelief. When she was sure that the taste was right, Li Xiaoyun showed the same expression of enjoyment as Song Yuanchao, and started drinking from the teacup in big gulps.
"It tastes good, really good!" After finishing half of it in one breath, Li Xiaoyun couldn't help but burp. It seemed that all the heat in her body was discharged with the burp, and she felt much more energetic all of a sudden.
Gu Jie was in a similar situation, holding the teacup and drinking from it in big gulps, with a smile on his face as he drank and praised the tea for being really good, delicious and refreshing.
"Brother Yuanchao, what is this? How come I've never drunk it before?" After Li Xiaoyun finished drinking, she looked eagerly at the remaining bottles beside her. Seeing her like this, Song Yuanchao smiled and poured her another bottle with ice cubes. This time, Li Xiaoyun drank much slower than the first time, and asked as she drank.
"Coca-Cola, it's from America. It used to be available in old Shanghai." Song Yuanchao said with a smile.
"It's really delicious. It's much better than salty soda. No wonder it's called Coke. By the way, why didn't I see anyone buying it before?"
"Silly girl, this thing has not been seen on the market after the liberation. It has just been resumed for sale in China this year. It's just a coincidence. I went to the store to buy popsicles just now and saw it on the counter, so I bought a few bottles and brought them back for you to try." Song Yuanchao explained with a smile.
Li Xiaoyun asked about the price, and was shocked to find out that the Coke cost 50 cents a bottle, and even if the bottle was returned it would still be 45 cents.
Forty-five cents. She didn’t even have that much pocket money for a week before. A bottle of Coke was actually worth this much. It was too expensive.
But then she thought, it wasn't her money anyway. Song Yuanchao was a big dog owner with plenty money. Even if others didn't know, she didn't know? Isn't it natural for a big dog owner to eat and drink? Immediately, Li Xiaoyun continued to pick up the teacup and drank happily.
