Riding the wind of rebirth

"Don't always focus on his shortcomings. You need to see that both strengths and weaknesses have two sides, and some weaknesses can actually become strengths under certain circumstances," Zhou Zhi said with a smile. "Salt Mouse has a big kid's personality, and he's cheerful, outgoing, and funny. He likes to play little pranks and has an unusually strong interest in doing silly things, so he's bound to get along well with the students."

"He still has a lot of energy and enthusiasm. He's definitely a master at leading students in sports and organizing activities."

"Now that you mention it, it really does seem to fit his personality," Feng Xueshan said with a smile. "I just wonder if he really becomes a teacher and physical education classes are taken over, will he lead the students in a protest?"

Now it was Zhou Zhi's turn to smile wryly: "Don't be surprised, he really is capable of doing something like this!"

"Suddenly I feel like we've all gotten old." Yang He sighed. "It's only been a few years, and our conversations have turned into this."

Li Laosan finally spoke up: "Yang, you're asking for it. You're all old, so what am I?"

Zhou Zhi chuckled mischievously, "Third Brother, you're certainly still going strong for your age."

"go away!"

Everyone lay there lazily until the sun turned to sunset, feeling as if all the exhaustion from staying up all night had been recovered. Then, they called back Liang Hong and the others, who were still enjoying themselves, and together they went into town for hot pot barbecue.

There are many barbecue stalls in Liangshan now, but most of them are small skewer stalls. There is only one relatively large barbecue stall next to the stadium, which is the authentic "net barbecue".

Grilling with a wire mesh involves placing a wire mesh over a cast iron brazier, with burning charcoal underneath, and then grilling meat on the mesh.

The meat grilled at the fire pit barbecue is much more impressive than that from roadside stalls, and the most distinctive dish is the "black gold pig".

The so-called "black pig" is actually the Yazhou black pig raised at Aunt Gillie's pig farm, but it's free-range in the mountains and only raised for a few months. The tender suckling pig meat is delicate and juicy, making it a must-order for every table of guests.

Fire pit barbecue originated in Mianning County. In addition to roasted black pig, it mainly features roasted small intestines and roasted tofu with a crispy skin, which came from Yunnan Province. The dipping sauce is made of soybean powder and dried chili. It is characterized by its bold and unrestrained style, with a focus on consuming large amounts of meat.

The owner of this restaurant is also surnamed Zhou. After opening the barbecue restaurant in Xichang, he made many improvements to the barbecue, absorbing some of the special barbecue features from the surrounding counties and the small skewers from Xichang itself, and finally came up with the current "new style" barbecue with a wide variety of dishes.

The meat dishes include beef and chicken, and are further divided into various cuts. To make it easier for diners to cook themselves, the meat is pre-seasoned and sealed with oil to retain moisture. All guests need to do is take it to the brazier to heat it up.

Beef tongue, beef aorta, tripe, chicken wings, chicken tips, and chicken legs are all popular dishes.

Then there are vegetables. Nowadays, there are more off-season vegetables, and there are many more vegetables available in winter. Mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and lotus root slices, which were not available in Yi ethnic barbecue before, are now on the menu.

To reduce processing time, the restaurant pre-roasts small potatoes, sweet potatoes, and taro, so customers only need to take them and heat them on the fire pit, without having to grill them from scratch. In short, this approach caters to the diners' sense of participation while ensuring no disastrous mishaps, preserving the simple and rustic characteristics of barbecue while making the ingredients plentiful and the finished product delicious.

The dipping sauces have also become more diverse, divided into dry and wet sauces. In addition to roasted soybean powder, the dry sauce also includes peanut powder, sesame powder, cumin powder, and other spices, which together form the owner's "secret seasoning".

The wet dishes are divided into Sichuan-style spicy sauce, southern garlic sauce and seafood sauce, and northeastern Korean sauce and mustard sauce, offering a much wider variety.

There's also braised meat, which is grilled and then dipped in sauce. In Zhouzhi's opinion, this is quite unconventional, but there are quite a few customers who like to eat it this way.

Because of the excessive smoke, the barbecue restaurant is located in a large courtyard. Except when it rains, when the high roof is pulled up, it is usually open-air. Everyone gathers around the fire pit to eat barbecue and drink beer, creating a lively atmosphere.

If this were encountered by people who equate quiet with civilization, they would probably scoff at it. However, in Zhou Zhi's view, eating quietly, especially at a party, is a deliberate suppression of the benign emotions of social animals and is itself a manifestation of anti-civilization.

The reason is simple: since primitive times, banquets have been a product of the group's excitement after a great harvest or the hunting of a giant prey, and they should be lively and bustling.

For guests who prefer quiet, they shouldn't come to such places at all and express any unusual opinions. They should go to quiet dining venues to show their unique taste, instead of criticizing lively gatherings or even labeling them as "uncivilized."

Their reasoning was that this kind of lively dining would be disruptive, especially for guests who don't like crowds, who would be bothered by the noise.

However, they forgot the premise of the design logic, which is that such places are inherently places that can tolerate noise. By coming here to dine, you are implicitly condoning such behavior.

You can choose not to come or participate, but you shouldn't think that you're more civilized or sophisticated because of it.

It's especially laughable that many people use it as a dividing line between Chinese and foreign civilizations.

Zhouzhi has been to island nations and found that many places there are just as noisy, such as the brothels in Roppongi. Zhouzhi has also been to North America and found that people who dare to sunbathe naked on the lawns of Central Park are not exactly civilized.

However, even these two behaviors can be interpreted by the colonists as "tolerating differences is also a sign of civilization." This is a clear double standard, the most ignorant and foolish behavior, and a far cry from civilization.

Ultimately, it's because they haven't been out enough and haven't seen enough. They just believe whatever others tell them. There's a saying on the internet that goes, "The biggest mistake of soil-based agriculture is soil itself, and then agriculture," which is absolutely true.

Li Laosan really enjoyed the lively atmosphere and especially missed the row of dai pai dongs (open-air food stalls) on Stanley Street in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, after the kidnapping case that shocked Hong Kong last year, it was no longer possible to sit down at the old-established Ai Wensheng restaurant and enjoy a delicious meal. Occasionally, when he wanted to satisfy his craving, he would ask his driver to take him, but the food he brought back was never the same.

The sight of over thirty braziers filled with diners reminded Li Laosan of his middle school days, when his housekeeper secretly took him to a street food stall for a treat. (End of Chapter)