Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 882 881 Animals Also Have Dialects
The summer solstice is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Counting the third Geng day after this day marks the beginning of the hottest period of summer (Sanfu). (What is a Geng day? Those who know can explain it; looking it up might leave you confused—it's quite obscure.)
The summer solstice is now just a solar term, but in the earlier agricultural era, it also served as a festival, and even a statutory holiday.

The Song Dynasty once explicitly stipulated that "starting from the summer solstice, all officials shall have a three-day holiday."

Back then, holiday economics wasn't popular. The summer solstice holiday wasn't for officials to go out and stimulate consumption, but for worshipping gods and ancestors and praying for disaster relief and a bountiful harvest.

In China, almost every festival has a corresponding food, and the Summer Solstice is no exception, though they are not all the same.

For example, people from Guangdong and Guangxi like to eat dog meat and lychees on the summer solstice.

But in Beijing, people eat purslane in addition to cold noodles on this day.

Although Beijing doesn't have many gourmet foods, it has a lot of authentic local cuisine. To make eating purslane more culturally significant, it has been given a nickname: Longevity Vegetable.

Who doesn't want to live to be a hundred?

When Tang Zhitong arrived home, Zhang Guifang had already dug up the purslane and was just waiting for her son to come back so she could make a cold salad.

"I ran into an apricot vendor today and bought some ripe apricots. Fengzhi, wash them all; we'll have some fruit after dinner tonight." Tang Zhitong also wanted to eat lychees, the fresh kind, but with the current refrigeration and transportation systems inadequate, some people in Beijing might be able to get some, but definitely not her family.

Before the wedding, when Xiao Wang first formally visited the Tang family, he brought two cans of lychee among the canned goods. Although the two younger sisters ate them with gusto, Tang Zhitong always felt that they tasted like rotten sweet potatoes.

Those in the know understand that it's because the lychees weren't fresh.

Thinking about this, Tang Zhitong felt that he could go to his "brother's" hometown during the holidays to help local farmers increase their income and bring back some lychees to taste.

"Fengzhi, don't sneak any. Be careful when you wash them, don't rub them raw." Zhang Guifang reminded her daughter, then started nagging her son: "Wenwen likes to eat apricots? Save your money to buy Wenwen what he likes to eat, don't waste money."

Faced with her mother's obvious favoritism, Tang Zhitong couldn't very well criticize her. She could only reason with her: "Mom, these apricots are ripe and won't keep, and they didn't cost much. I bought Wenwen what she likes, but I can't neglect you and my sister, can I?"

This time, Tang Zhitong wasn't lying. The ripening of wheat and the yellowing of apricots became a concrete image. After entering the city through Yongding Gate, he actually encountered several vendors selling apricots and peaches.

Although Tang Zhitong didn't buy any, he inquired about the price and found that ripe apricots weren't expensive.

“Okay, okay, you’re right. The postman delivered two letters to you today.” Zhang Guifang smiled and shook her head, not arguing with her son.

Now that her son has become a cadre, when she goes out to enjoy the cool air, the neighbors all praise him. Even the mailman is all smiles and exceptionally polite when he comes to deliver the mail. Zhang Guifang feels that her son has made her proud.

Tang Zhitong took the letter back to the side room, first taking out the apples and peaches he had prepared for Xiao Wang and putting them away, before tearing open the letter.

The letter came from Wu Haiyang and Ma Kejian. They both agreed to wait until Liu Yue gave birth before getting together again. In addition, they expressed their concern for Xiao Tang's life and their willingness to lend a helping hand.

"Who sent the letter?" Xiao Wang asked as he entered the room, just in time to witness this scene.

"Yang-ge and Third Brother, about Liu Yue's postpartum gathering. Fengzhi has washed the apricots, go over and have a bite. These peaches and apples are prepared separately for you, keep them in the side room and eat them slowly." Tang Zhitong waved the letter and tossed it on the desk, planning to make some sauce first and reply to them later when he had some free time.

These two guys have better benefits at their workplaces, but they also have their own relatives to take care of. Even if Tang Zhitong didn't have the space, she didn't plan to let them take care of her material life, especially since she had the space to rely on herself.

"Don't always buy things for me separately, it's not right." Ms. Wang put down her handbag, lightly punched her husband, and looked a little embarrassed.

“I won’t let them down, but you also have to try to accept the change of your new identity. Don’t always think that you are a daughter-in-law or a sister-in-law and have to take care of this or that. You also have to think that you are going to become a mother.”

Whether it's what I prepared for you or what your mother saved for you, it's all out of concern for you, concern that you're not getting enough nutrition. If you're well, we'll have less to worry about, right?

Seeing that Xiao Wang was not as resistant as she had been a few days ago, Tang Zhitong began to reason with her.

To get the whole family to eat more, I have to appease both sides.

"You're full of twisted logic." Xiao Wang listened, but her mindset didn't change so quickly. She grabbed her husband's hand and swayed it from side to side like a swing, saying coquettishly, "I don't want to become selfish. Give me some time, I believe I can find a way to balance things out."

"If you want, I'll just write a couple more songs. One song a month, and the royalties will be enough for the whole family to eat fruit." A woman who knows how to be charming has the best life. Tang Zhitong couldn't stand that, so she could only add more burdens to herself. She worried about everything, but in the end, she didn't have much money on hand.

"Here, the royalties for 'The Little Girl Picking Mushrooms' were just collected today. Take this and buy some fruit." Speaking of the royalties, Ms. Wang took ten yuan from her bag and handed it to her husband.

"Okay, I'll buy some fruit for the family and also buy some for you separately. Don't be modest anymore." Tang Zhitong collected the money quickly, planning to eat up the fruit during the summer when it was plentiful, and then reduce the supply to the family when the fruit supply decreased.

"Okay, hurry up and make the braised meat. I see Mom is rolling out noodles." Xiao Wang nodded in agreement and urged her husband to go outside.

When Tang Zhitong returned to the main room, Fengzhi very proactively held up an apricot and handed it to him: "Brother! Have an apricot, it's sweet!"

"Hmm, eat two less, or you won't be able to eat cold noodles tonight." Tang Zhitong was disgusted by the apricot with worms in it at the last celebration banquet. He took the apricot, broke it open with his hands, removed the pit, and put it in his mouth only after confirming that it was not infested with worms.

"Brother, I know, I know." Fengzhi acted as if she hadn't heard her brother's instructions. Seeing that Tang Zhitong had eaten the apricot she had handed her, she began to make demands.

"These apricots are a bit hard on my teeth. Is it too late for me to spit them out now?" Tang Zhitong teased his sister.

"Isn't this disgusting? Hurry up, before it gets dark. Maybe we can catch a couple more before dinner." Little Wang nudged her mischievous husband, making her sister-in-law giggle.

Tang Zhitong stepped forward to make the gluten, and Zhang Guifang didn't say a single word of "no".

After the gluten was made, Xiao Wang took his two younger sisters to catch cicadas with a bamboo pole, while Tang Zhitong picked two scallions, two eggplants and a handful of chili peppers in the yard to make a sauce.

Last year, we could peel the eggplants and use the peels to feed the chickens. This year, we don't have any chickens at home, and supplies are tight, so Tang Zhitong gave up the idea of ​​peeling them. However, the eggplants are tender right now, so it's fine to eat them with the peel on, as a way to supplement anthocyanins.

The first dish Tang Zhitong made was cold purslane salad.

Give the purslane a one-minute hot water bath, take it out, squeeze out the water, and cut it into sections. Mix together minced garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and oyster sauce, stir well, and pour the mixture over the purslane. Let it sit aside to cool and absorb the flavors.

Next up is the sauce for tonight's cold noodles.

Melt a small spoonful of lard in a pan. Test the oil temperature by adding shredded scallions first, then add the diced eggplant and toss it around. Keep tossing until the eggplant shrinks noticeably, then add a spoonful of soybean paste for seasoning.

Finally, pour in some boiling water, cover the pot, and simmer for about ten minutes, until the eggplant is soft and mushy.

This method doesn't look very appealing, but it's easy to mix evenly after being poured over noodles. You don't need to specifically pick out the eggplant when you eat it. One bite gives you noodles, eggplant, and broth. The taste can be summed up in two words: authentic!
After making the eggplant, Tang Zhitong made a simplified version of stir-fried pork with chili peppers.

It's still a small spoonful of pork, then add a small half spoonful of the stir-fried salted pork that my mother made last time, put all the chopped chili strips into the pot, pour a small half spoonful of soy sauce around the edge of the pot, and keep tossing the pot to let the chili be heated evenly and let the flavor penetrate into it.

This dish doesn't need to be cooked for long. The cooking time depends on the heat. The peppers should be cooked until just tender; overcooking will affect the taste.

"Anzi, I'll make some noodles. Go and call them back for dinner." Zhang Guifang immediately assigned her son a new task after he finished his work.

"Okay!" Tang Zhitong happily accepted the task, a completely different attitude from when he accepted the task from Ruan Yan.

Once outside the gate, Tang Zhitong and Tie Lugu asked Zhu, the director of the information center, about the whereabouts of Xiao Wang and his two classmates.

Following the directions given by Grandpa Zhu, Tang Zhitong wandered around Baiqiao for a while before finally spotting the three figures.

"How many have you stuck on?" Tang Zhitong shouted from a distance.

"Two!" Fengzhi held two cicadas high in the air, one in each hand.

The cicada tried to flutter its wings and escape from Fengzhi's hands, but it was too weak and could not fly out of the small Five Finger Mountain.

The cicadas, unable to escape, let out hoarse, mournful cries in Fengzhi's hands. It was unclear whether they were alerting their accomplices nearby or trying to beg for a mate before being eaten.

Regardless of what it was trying to do, Tang Zhitong found the commotion rather noisy.

"This amount is a bit small." Tang Zhitong walked over with a smile, looked up at Xiao Wang's operation, his hands were a little unsteady, and before the gluten could be brought forward, the cicada flew away.

"Why don't you give it a try?" Little Wang was a little discouraged. He had come with great interest, but the three of them only managed to stick two sticks, which wasn't even enough to cover the cost of the flour.

"Let's give it a try." Tang Zhitong was seized by a playful mood and temporarily forgot his mother's instructions to call him for dinner.

If calcium milk biscuits were the afternoon tea of ​​the princess of Lu, then cicadas were the royal snack for the men of Lu.

For Tang Zhitong, a young man who grew up in Shandong, cicadas have been an inseparable part of his life since childhood. He would catch cicadas during the day and touch cicada nymphs at night.

Compared to the cicada infestation across the ocean, the cicadas in Shandong are practically a disease of scabies. Any cicadas chirping in the trees are deliberately left by the people of Shandong to breed for the coming year.

As for the demand gap, the shortfall will be made up by the production capacity of artificial breeding.

Tang Zhitong weighed the bamboo pole, found the center of gravity, and followed the sound from the tree to determine the target. With a calm mind, steady hand, and sharp eyes, he caught two in less than five minutes.

"Brother is amazing!" Fengzhi exclaimed sincerely in praise of Tang Zhitong's culinary skills.

"Alright, stick two more, then we'll head back. Mom's noodles are probably done cooking by now." Tang Zhitong watched as Xiao Wang handed two cicadas to Fengzhen, intending to stick a couple more for her to play with.

"Brother, let's stick them on a little longer, maybe we can make a dish." After sticking two more on for Xiao Wang, Fengzhi was still unwilling to go back.

"That would take forever. Be careful you don't get home late, or Mom will slap you." Tang Zhitong wouldn't let his sister have her way. He'd rather go home and eat cold noodles than eat the cicada's flesh.

On their way home, each of the three girls held two cicadas in their hands, and the six cicadas seemed to be competing with each other, each more excited than the last.

“We humans have dialects, and so do cicadas. I’ve heard that the cicadas in Yunnan Province are really crazy; their calls are like a siren going off incessantly.” Listening to the piercing sound of cicadas, Tang Zhitong thought of the issue of animal accents.

"Really?" Fengzhen was a little skeptical. She could understand that people had different accents because of their dialects, but how could such a small creature as a cicada have a dialect?

"Now that you mention it, it does seem to be true. When I was a child, the cicadas I heard were short and urgent, and the sound was like they were constantly calling out 'fly, fly, fly!'" Xiao Wang recalled his childhood, and the sound of cicadas in Nanniwan was very different from that in Beijing.

“A particular environment not only nurtures its people, but also its animals. Not only do cicadas have their own dialects, but other animals do too. I’ve heard that the sounds of roosters crowing vary greatly.” Speaking of sounds, Tang Zhitong thought of the roosters from the Korean side.

The roosters over there crow very briefly, lasting only three seconds, with a strong Korean flavor.

"Why don't you learn one and let me hear it?" Little Wang urged from the side.

"No way, I can't learn that. I'm not a ruthless tyrant." Tang Zhitong refused without hesitation. There wasn't enough time; a real man couldn't do it!
Upon hearing the name Zhou Bapi, Xiao Wang and his two sisters-in-law all laughed.

The story of Zhou Bapi comes from "The Rooster Crows at Midnight," a work by soldier-writer Gao Yubao. In 1951, his novel of the same name began to be serialized in military newspapers, causing a great sensation and earning him a meeting with the highest leaders.

In 1955, the novel of the same name was officially published and became a bestseller, so Xiao Wang, Fengzhen, and Fengzhi all knew the story.

When I got home, the pot was sitting on the stove, the water inside bubbling away.

Zhang Guifang only started making noodles after the children returned.

Of course, there were bound to be a few complaints, but Fengzhi didn't take them seriously and showed off the cicadas to her mother.

"Noisy." Zhang Guifang stirred the noodles with her chopsticks while glancing back at the cicada in her daughter's hand.

"Mom, there are only six, we won't be able to cook them properly, will we? I asked my brother to stick a couple more on, but he said it was too much trouble and wouldn't let me!" While worried that they wouldn't cook properly, Fengzhi didn't forget to complain.

"What kind of ears do you have? All you can think about is food. I mean, the cicadas in your hand are making a lot of noise. Tear off their wings. When the noodles are ready, I'll grill them for you." Zhang Guifang poked her daughter's forehead with her finger, a mix of anger, amusement, and heartache.

"Oh~ Time to eat cicadas!" Fengzhi was hit with a finger, but she didn't take it to heart. Instead, she personally performed the "dismemberment" technique on the cicada. The process was cruel, but it tasted delicious when roasted.

(End of this chapter)