The literary era since 1979

Chapter 178 So beautiful!
"Why are you all here?"

Gong Xing looked at Zhang Yu on the left and Zhao Jing on the right.

Zhao Jing said in front of Wang Zengqi and Fang Yan: "Mr. Wang and Teacher Fang are big eaters. We can enjoy delicious food by following them!"

"That's right, that's right."

Zhang Yu smiled innocently and said, "This opportunity is so rare."

Gong Xing noticed that Wang Zengqi and Fang Yan were looking at them, and said politely, "I'm sorry to have caused trouble for Mr. Wang and Teacher Fang."

"You're welcome. This is just a courtesy."

"When we were in western Guangxi, you took Cunbao and me to eat the local delicacies. Now that we are here, it is also my second hometown, and I should also do my best to be a good host."

Fangyan looked into her eyes with a smile on his face.

Zhang Yu couldn't help but wonder what they both ate in western Guangxi.

Wang Zengqi also found it strange and asked as he walked:

“Is there any delicious food in Nanning?”

"Laoyou noodles, rice noodles..."

Gong Xing spoke out all of them like a treasure trove.

"What is Laoyou Noodles?" Wang Zengqi asked.

"Sour bamboo shoots and shredded pork in soup."

The dialect explained: "People in western Guangxi love to eat sour bamboo shoots. Their pursuit of sourness can be said to be extreme. There is nothing they can't make sour. It seems that 'everything can be sour'."

Gong Xing nodded and said, "It was only when I arrived in western Guangxi and ate 'sour pickled fruits' that I realized that fruits can be eaten in that way."

Wang Zengqi listened to the two singing the same tune and couldn't help but sigh: "If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely go to western Guangxi to experience their bitterness."

“There’s definitely a chance.”

Fang Yan laughed and said, "There should be an episode in A Bite of China that specifically talks about the five tastes of 'sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty'."

Wang Zengqi said: "Guixing alone is probably not enough. When talking about the representative of sourness, how can we miss vinegar?"

Zhang Yu said: "People in western Shanxi are very jealous."

"No!"

Wang Zengqi said that one year he went to Taiyuan. When celebrating the Spring Festival elsewhere, the supply and marketing cooperatives all supplied good wine, but here there was a note posted saying, 'Supplying old vinegar, one pound per household.'

Vinegar is a big deal in western Shanxi!
"In fact, speaking of sourness, you can also shoot in Northeast China and Fujian."

Dialect says: "For example, people in Liaodong love to eat pickled cabbage and pork hot pot. On a cold day, they eat pickled cabbage and pork at the same time, which is very delicious."

When Zhao Jing heard about the hometown dishes, she was very excited: "Mr. Wang, Mr. Fang, will A Bite of China be filmed in Liaodong Province?"

"Of course, how can we miss Northeastern cuisine in Chinese cuisine?" Wang Zengqi said, "Let's talk about 'sour' first. Next, let's talk about the other four flavors: sweet, bitter, spicy and salty."

Watching them talking about food, Gong Xing listened quietly. His frown gradually relaxed and his steps became lighter.

At this moment, Wang Zengqi suddenly asked:
"Xiaoxiang, you Shanghai people like sweet food, right?"

"like."

“Have you ever tried Suzhou cuisine?”

"No."

Gong Xing shook his head and listened to Wang Zengqi say that Suzhou cuisine is sweeter than Shanghai cuisine and has a sweet but not greasy taste.

"As for sweets..."

Fangyan said: "I heard that people in Wuxi are the most fond of sweets."

"Not bad. Compared with Wuxi, Suzhou cuisine is bland."

Wang Zengqi said seriously.

Zhang Yu and Zhao Jing looked at each other, watching the old and the young talking about food, just like an old naughty boy and a young naughty boy, without the condescending air of a great writer, on the contrary, they were very down-to-earth.

"I didn't expect them to be like this, Mr. Wang and Mr. Fang."

"This is called 'accepting vulgarity while being elegant'."

Gong Xing stared at Fang Yan and laughed from the bottom of his heart. The trip to western Guangxi had shattered the filter he had for Fang Yan's teacher.

It is because he is such a real person that he is easy to get close to.

Along the way, Fangyan and Wang Zengqi talked about all kinds of flavors from sour to sweet, and then to bitter, salty and spicy.

"I think what we just talked about can be filmed in A Bite of China, what do you think, Xiao Fang?"

Wang Zengqi walked leisurely.

"Not only that, I think I can write an essay or two."

Fangyan could already see that the destination was not far away.

"No, no, if it's prose, it's still missing a sentence or two to add the finishing touch. Otherwise, it'll look more like a recipe."

Wang Zengqi said: "Just like what you wrote in A Bite of China, 'Food from all over the world is nothing more than a bowl of fireworks in the world'."

"How about this sentence? If life is a banquet, sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty are the various flavors in life. Sour symbolizes the bitterness and ups and downs of life, sweet symbolizes the happiness and beauty of life, and bitter symbolizes the hardships and difficulties of life..."

Fang Yan glanced at Gong Xing and said what Lin Qingxuan said.

The ups and downs of life?
Gong Xing frowned, feeling that there was something else behind his words.

"It's good, but it's not elegant enough."

Wang Zengqi savored it, "It would be better if it was a little more elegant."

"Then how about 'All kinds of tastes are life, the ups and downs are life'?"

Fangyan walked to the door of the store with the sign "Chang'an Restaurant".

Wang Zengqi paused and uttered a light exclamation.

Zhang Yu lowered her voice and asked, "Sister Gong Xian, is there anything special about these two sentences? Why don't I notice it?"

"The first half of the sentence is Mr. Feng Zikai's life experience."

Gong Xing watched Fang Yan walk into the restaurant, "The second half of the sentence should have been added by Teacher Fang himself."

Zhang Yu asked: "Is that a good idea?"

"It's not a question of whether it's good or not, it's really that kind of thing, that kind of thing that's very special."

Gong Xing always felt that these words were very suitable for enlightening himself.

Zhao Jing and Zhang Yu couldn't help but be amazed. They had only been on the road for a short while, but it seemed that an essay was almost finished. It was too fast.

Teacher Fang, how can you be so fast!

………………

In Chang'an Restaurant, the waiters were gathered around the radio.

It plays "Song of the Week", a national music column program.

Every day from 12 to 12:6 noon and from 6 to : pm, seven days a week, one song every day.

Li Guyi's "Homesickness" was spread all over the country through the "Weekly Song" program. As soon as he saw the five people, he invited them to sit at an empty table.

"There are some rules to follow when eating mutton soup with steamed buns."

Explaining in dialect, "For example, 'single walk' means that the steamed bun and soup are served separately, and you break the steamed bun into the soup to eat, and then drink a bowl of fresh soup after eating. This is called 'each has its own taste'."

"A mouthful of soup... a dry pull..."

"As for the water surrounding the city, it means to cook it in a wide soup, put the cooked steamed bun and meat in the center of the bowl, and let the soup surround it. Doesn't it look like water surrounding the city?"

"But Mr. Fang, we don't know how to break the bun."

Zhang Yu blinked.

"You can order 'go alone'."

According to the dialect, this is the most diverse way of eating. You can take out the mutton, spread it with oil and chili and eat it with soup, or you can break the steamed bun apart and soak it in water. If you want, you can even eat the soup while biting the steamed bun.

Gong Xing and the other four followed suit: "Go alone, two cakes!"

The dialect is different, what is eaten is the soup.

Wang Zengqi watched him skillfully break the steamed bun into two halves, then pick up one half and slice it into two halves along the grain, then tear it into soybean-sized pieces with his fingers and started to imitate him.

After Gong Xing broke off half of the bun and was about to break the other half into pieces, Fang Yan stopped him and said, "This half should be eaten differently. You should break it in half and put the meat inside, just like a roujiamo."

Zhao Jing asked curiously, "Isn't this too bland?"

“So there’s still one soul missing.”

The dialect tells them to add the right amount of chili oil, "This chili is to people in northern Shaanxi what vinegar is to people in western Shanxi."

Everyone did as he said and praised him highly.

Wang Zengqi smiled and said, "This is so authentic!"

"Mr. Wang, you can't say that. There is no such thing as a tunnel here."

The dialect says that there are ancient tombs all under the ground, so there is no need to build tunnels.

"Pfft!"

Gong Xing laughed out loud, and the depression in his heart dissipated a little.

"You, you, what should I say?"

Wang Zengqi cursed with a smile.

“It’s, in a way, ‘very beautiful.’”

Fangyan smiled and said, "You can also say, '咥泡馍'."

"bite?"

Gong Xing, Zhang Yu and others looked at each other.

"Adding a 'zhi' to the side of the word kou, it is derived from the original meaning of zhi, which means eating to the extreme, eating to happiness, eating to joy, eating to happiness, eating to satisfaction..."

While breaking the steamed bun, the speaker talked about how eating can bring happiness to people.

Wang Zengqi said: "That's true. Even when you are feeling down, eating can bring you back your happiness."

Gong Xing was stunned and stared at him.

After chatting in dialect for a while, my soup was finally served. As soon as I took the first bite, I couldn't help but say:
"Very beautiful!"

Seeing that expression and that accent, Gong Xing couldn't help but smile knowingly. His appetite was aroused and he devoted himself to eating the mutton soup steamed bun.

Fangyan took a few bites and licked his lips:
“Sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty, these are the tastes on the tip of the tongue, and also the taste of life. The bitter ones are scars, the sour ones are muddy, the sweet ones are the mood, the spicy ones are tenacity, and the salty ones are striving.”

Then he looked at Wang Zengqi and asked, "What do you think of this sentence compared to the previous one?"

"It's beautiful! This sentence is even more beautiful!"

Wang Zengqi tapped the bowl with his chopsticks.

"I wonder if we can focus on this theme and selectively add the 'sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty' food we just talked about to A Bite of China. As for the title of this episode, I'll stick with the name from my essay, 'The Harmony of Five Flavors'. How about that?"

Fangyan looked around and asked for opinions.

Wang Zengqi's eyes lit up, and they decided that they would work together today to create a secondary work based on the original prose manuscript, and then take it to the symposium after tomorrow's screening to have a thorough discussion.

There will be a discussion session after the screening?!

Zhang Yu looked confused. According to their schedule, the only item on the schedule was to watch a sample of "A Bite of China" in the morning, and in the afternoon they would follow the delegation to the revolutionary base in northern Shaanxi.

"Teacher Fang, should we..."

There was a hint of disappointment in Gong Xing's tone.

Fangyan shook his head and laughed, saying that the symposium had organized many people from film studios to attend in order to learn and exchange the new documentary concepts and techniques presented in "A Bite of China". Anyone who is willing to come can come and listen.

"That's really great!"

Gong Xing and the other two's faces changed and they were extremely excited.

"Stop chatting for now, let's eat while it's hot."

Wang Zengqi reminded: "If the soup gets cold, it won't be delicious."

After a while, there was very little soup and steamed buns left in everyone's bowls.

"Are you full?"

Fang Yan said, "Do you want me to take you guys to eat something else?"

"I can't eat any more. If I eat any more, I'll get too full."

Gong Xing secretly touched his round belly, with a look of satisfaction and joy on his face.

Fangyan half-jokingly asked, "Are you beautiful?"

"Very beautiful!"

The three beauties, each with their own unique characteristics, spoke in unison, and then burst into clear laughter like silver bells, filling the room with a happy atmosphere.

The laughter infected Gong Xian, and the unhappiness that had been lingering in his heart slowly disappeared. He finally relaxed his brows, but suddenly he burped.

"Hiccup~"

The sound was very soft, very light, but it was still detected by the dialect.

Under his gaze, Gong Xing lowered her head shyly.

My heart was pounding and my ears were red as if bleeding.

At this moment, the radio was playing Xue Fei's version of "Jasmine Flower", with a melodious melody.

"What a jasmine flower,

What a beautiful jasmine flower!

No flowers in the garden can smell as sweet as this one.

I have the heart to pick one and wear it,

I’m also afraid that people who see the flowers will scold me…”

(End of this chapter)