i have a mountain

Chapter 118 Anecdotes about Chinese New Year (Part [-])

Yesterday was the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. It is also a day to sacrifice the kitchen stove in the north. Yu Fei has a vague concept of the new year. He only remembers a proverb about offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove.

The three, four, five, and six mentioned here refer to 23, 24...26 in the twelfth lunar month.

When Yu Fei was young, he asked his mother in doubt, our family is not an official, why do we sacrifice three?Why do bastards and turtles still sacrifice to the stove?
His mother told him that every family wants to live a good life, and being an official is of course the best way out, so most people would choose 23 to worship the stove, which represents a kind of good wish. , you can't be too lazy.

……

As the saying goes, 28 to make noodles and 29 to steam steamed buns. Although this saying does not apply to all regions, in the north, people will experience this experience every Chinese New Year, but the time is different.

In Yu Fei’s hometown, it is normal to steam steamed buns five times on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. It takes a day and several pots to steam. In addition to preparing steamed buns for two or three weeks, steamed buns, steamed buns, steamed buns, jujubes mountains and such.

Buns and steamed buns are used for eating, and big buns are used for offering sacrifices and visiting relatives. They are specially used when girls return to their natal homes. Therefore, in Yu Fei’s hometown, daughters are also called so-and-so’s big buns.

Big buns are normal steamed buns that have been steamed and cooled. Put a layer of dough on the outside, put a miniature steamed bun on top, put red dates on it, put it in a pot and steam it again, and wait for the outer layer to be cooked. Once it is done, it will form a big steamed bun that is a circle larger than ordinary steamed buns.

The steamed buns are used by the mother's family to be used as a frame. If you leave your daughter's big steamed buns, you have to let her take them home and order something.

Zaoshan is an enlarged version of steamed buns, and there is a base made of noodles at the bottom, which is used for offerings. Only one layer of grates in the ground pot can be steamed. Can you imagine how big it is? Bar.

……

As the end of the year is getting closer, more and more people are rushing home. Every day, you can see a few familiar faces in the village that you haven’t seen for a long time. You can see three or two people chatting.

Yu Fei walked in front with a big pot lid, and Guo Guo followed behind with a huge bamboo grate, which was almost as tall as her height, and when she walked and shook it three times, the rabbit ears on the hat followed. shaking.

Originally, Yu Fei planned to carry the pot lid with one hand and the grate with the other, but the little girl refused to let her do it, so she insisted on holding it herself.

The ground pot at home usually only needs one layer of steamed buns. Because of the Chinese New Year, there are more steamed buns, so a large grate and a large pot cover are needed, so that one pot can steam two layers.

This kind of big pot cover is woven with sorghum stalks, reeds and hemp rope. Its tall, wide and wide body allows it to cover more area. It usually weighs several kilograms dry. After being soaked in water vapor, Every time the pot is lifted, it will get heavier.

This kind of pot cover is also called pot shot in Yufei's hometown.

Although there are special steamed steamed steamed buns, which are made of stainless steel and are easy to use, they are not as delicious as steamed buns made by this primitive method, so Yu Fei gave up steamed steamed buns after using them once at home.

Walking all the way, saying hello all the way, meeting someone with a good relationship, he would stop and chat for a few words, after Yu Fei stopped for the Nth time, Guoguo finally broke out and kicked him: "Can you go away?" Already? Grandma and aunt are still at home waiting for the buns to be steamed!"

Looking at the impatience of his daughter, Yu Fei smiled and apologized to others, and led her back home.

"He just came back from other places, why did Dad say a few words to him?"

"Steam buns at home."

"Just like the man just now, you should call him uncle, he is a few years older than Dad..."

"Steam buns at home."

……

No matter how I explain it to my daughter, the little girl always replies with one sentence every time, which is unsolvable.

Leading the daughter in, the house was very lively, the eldest sister was on vacation at school, the second sister came back from out of town, both families came, Yu Fei's mother even called her own sister, Yu Fei's third aunt, over, The buns she made are the most beautiful.

"Guoguo, come and give me the grate, go and play with the kids." Yu Fei's eldest brother-in-law smiled and took the grate from Guoguo's hand.

After the little girl handed over the grate, she patted her little hands and let out a sigh of relief, as if she was very tired, she was a big kid, and made a lot of people laugh.

Yu Fei found a taller square stool, patted the pot on it, and would only use it after putting the buns in the pot, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and handed it to Er Er who had just come out of the kitchen. Brother-in-law, eldest brother-in-law has never smoked.

The second brother-in-law's name is Wei Wei, and the Weizhuang next door is about a mile apart, and the two villages are next to each other.

"I heard from our mother that your farm is doing well." Wei Wei said, "Judging from your raptor, it should be a lot of money, right?"

"It's okay, I can only say that it's enough to eat and spend enough." Yu Fei said.

Yu Fei's eldest brother-in-law is Zhang Peng, who wears a pair of glasses and is dressed in a standard teacher's attire. Hearing Yu Fei say this, he continued: "It's too general, you can say this to others, you have to know yourself."

"That's right, it's become increasingly difficult to do business in other places in the past two years. If possible, I can follow you at home." Wei Wei said.

Yu Fei thought for a while, his two brother-in-laws are real people, and they are also good to him, so it doesn't hurt to tell them the truth.

"Now the greenhouse produces about 30 catties a day, a small part is sold at 40 yuan per catty, and the rest is sold at [-] yuan per catty. When the grapes mature next year, there will be more income."

After all, he is a teacher, Zhang Peng did some calculations in his mind, and said in surprise: "You can earn 10,000+ in one day!"

"This is what happened for more than a month. The previous output was not so large." Yu Fei said.

"That's terrible!" Wei Wei seemed to be shocked just now: "I've worked so hard outside for a year and it's not worth your two days' income."

"Why are the same dishes sold at two prices? Wouldn't you be able to earn more if they were both sold for [-]?" Zhang Peng pondered for a while and said.

"Things here are a bit complicated. Although it seems that I lost money by selling [-], I made more money in other aspects." Yu Fei said with a smile.

Both of them have struggled in the society for many years, and they understood after a little thought.

At this time, Yu Fei's eldest sister came out of the kitchen and directed the three of them domineeringly: "Zhang Peng, you go chop firewood, Wei Wei, come in and cook the pot, and Xiao Fei brings in the pot. You are here for work. It's not for you to chat there."

Zhang Peng hurriedly found an ax, and started chopping firewood in a decent manner, no longer the wise appearance just now, Wei Wei also sneaked out and ran into the kitchen, and Yu Fei obediently walked in with the pot.

The leavened dough was rolled into round doughs and placed neatly on the grate in the pot. Yu Fei clapped the pot to cover, and his mother wrapped a circle around the bottom with a soaked hemp braid to seal it well.

Mother ordered Wei Wei to burn it up, and it will be out of the pot in half an hour.

The eldest sister and the second sister continued to make dough and make buns, and the third aunt started to make steamed buns, kneading the dough into a long strip, and evenly plated it on the chopping board, then clamped it into various patterns with chopsticks, and kneaded it again A long strip surrounds the surrounding area, and finally put a few soaked red dates on it, and then steam it in a pot, and a steamed bun will be formed.

"It's still the third aunt's ingenuity, the buns are beautifully made." Yu Fei complimented.

"Xiaofei still has a sweet mouth, Nuo, this is to reward you." Aunt San smiled and stuffed a red date into his mouth.

The soaked red dates are not very tasty, they are just decorations to make the steamed buns and jujube mountains look better, after Yu Fei gnawed them around, he spit out the date pits.

"Where's my dad?"

"Your father said that he went to school, and he didn't know why there are so many things during the Chinese New Year?" Mother said with an unhappy face.

"Then what should we do when the steamed buns come out of the pot later?" Yu Fei also had a headache.

According to the customs of my hometown, the first pot of steamed buns needs to be taken out of the pot to worship the gods of all walks of life. This is the main job of the family. This year, my brother and sister-in-law came back late. If my father is not there, I have to play by myself But he really didn't remember what his father said every year when he worshiped God.

Moreover, the steamed buns cannot be eaten before worshiping the gods. Only when the worshiping of the gods is over can the whole family eat it.

"Your dad said he would come back soon." Mother said, and then said to Fei: "I will be with your dad later, don't know anything by then."

"Oh." Yu Fei scratched his head and realized that these are things that a man must learn, otherwise he will not even be able to do this as a patriarch in the future. Isn't that a joke?
……

After a while, my father came back in a tricycle. The first pot of steamed buns should have been cooked. I could already smell the aroma of the steamed buns. My mother checked the time and asked Yu Fei to go into the kitchen to take the pot away.

The moment the pot was lifted, a large cloud of white steam rose up, and the steamed buns inside the pot were fat and white, and they looked very appetizing. , it became very heavy, and I needed to straighten my arms to lift it up, otherwise I would get wet all over.

As soon as the pot was put away, my father took a freshly steamed bun and stood at the door of the kitchen. Yu Fei, who remembered his mother's instructions, came behind him without saying a word.

The father didn't look at him, and said something, he broke off a piece of the steamed bun in his hand and threw it aside. It was not over until half of the steamed bun was broken, and he took another bite and ate the rest of the steamed bun. Hand it over to Yu Fei behind him.

He subconsciously followed his father's example and stuffed a piece into his mouth.

"Do you remember everything?" Dad asked suddenly.

"Ah?" Yu Fei was stunned, what did his father say just now?The memory just now seemed to be swallowed down with the mouthful of steamed buns.

Seeing him like this, my father understood, didn't say anything, just shook his head and walked past him.

Yu Fei broke another piece of steamed bun and stuffed it into his mouth. What did his father say just now?

(End of this chapter)