Father's Land Mother's River

Chapter 98 Taste
Under the eaves outside the house, steaming pigs' heads, trotters, knuckles, and pigs are hung side by side. They will gradually freeze in cold temperatures and can be kept fresh for a long time.

Pig heads are eaten on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and pig offal is eaten on the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar. In summer, kidney beans and potatoes are stewed with pickled pork ribs and girder bones.Killing a pig and eating it reasonably according to the season can make the life of the rural people live a happy life.

When Liu Xiaonan and Yue Xuelian walked into the courtyard, the heat from the stove wafted the smell of cooking meat and the fragrance of dried radish. The courtyard was filled with the freshest scent of the year that can only be smelled when slaughtering pigs in winter. The tangy breath of anticipation.

Cut the pork into large pieces and boil in clean water.When the pork is cooked, the clear water will turn into a large pot of broth. Put the dried radish or sauerkraut prepared in advance to absorb the smell of meat and oily smell. This is the so-called pig-killing dish.

Meng Xiangxiang came out of the house to hold firewood, and when he saw Yue Xuelian appearing in the yard, he was taken aback for a moment, and then happily called: "Teacher Yue!"

Liu Xiaonan said to Meng Xiangxiang, "I couldn't invite my Teacher Yue, so I had to invite your Teacher Yue."

Meng Xiangxiang wore an apron around his waist and a blue scarf commonly used by rural women on his head, unlike a college student who looked like a village girl.Yue Xuelian smiled and said, "Xiao Meng, you never thought that we would meet again in this courtyard."

If it was on campus, Meng Xiangxiang would have been cautious when he saw Yue Xuelian, but now he was very happy, and warmly invited: "Mr. Yue, come inside, it's too cold outside. Senior brother told me about the relationship between you two." .”

Yue Xuelian said: "I also know about the relationship between you and Xiaonan, so go ahead."

Meng Xiangxiang went to hug her firewood, Liu Xiaonan led Yue Xuelian into the house and introduced her to the family.

Grandma sat on the kang, looked at Yue Xuelian, looked at Meng Xiangxiang, didn't know what to say, her mouth was shriveled and she couldn't make a sound, so she could only stare at Liu Xiaonan.Liu Xiaonan rolled her eyes at her grandma and made a face, and her grandma raised her arm and made a gesture of hitting.

Liu Zhixin was pouring blood sausage. He looked at Yue Xuelian and said, "Your father was tall and handsome when he was young. You look a lot like your father. You have to come back often to see your father on New Year's Day and Sundays. He is very lonely. Sometimes in the When I met your father in Fuzhou City, he dragged me into a small restaurant without saying a word, and chatted for a long time. I don't have time now, and when I retire, we old brothers will get together again."

Not a single word was mentioned about Lin Yidan.

Yue Xuelian said happily: "When I was young, I often heard my mother mention Uncle Liu, but I never met him. I clearly remember that Uncle Liu bought me cantaloupe."

"It's okay not to mention the past." Liu Zhixin intentionally avoided such topics, he said: "You are your father's pride, and Xiao Nan is also my pride. When your father and I talk about your generation, we all feel for you Glad. You make us feel like we have hope in this life."

Yue Xuelian smiled and said, "Uncle Liu's tone of voice is exactly the same as my father's."

Liu Zhixin sighed: "Your father and I are both old and have been doing nothing all our lives. We can only place our hopes on your generation."

While speaking, Liu Xiaonan had already changed into another outfit in another room: long-waisted water boots, an old overcoat, cotton hat, and cotton gloves, as if looking for a big fight.He said to Yue Xuelian: "If you are not afraid of the cold, I will take you to fish."

Liu Zhixin said to his son: "You think that everyone is just like you, so you can just catch fish and shrimp."

Yue Xuelian was amused by Liu Xiaonan's attire, she stood up and said, "I'm not afraid of the cold, but I want to learn a lot today."

When they came to the yard, Liu Xiaonan picked up a pickaxe and a shovel with an empty bucket hanging on the shovel, and led Yue Xuelian to the pond.

Meng Xiangxiang followed to the yard, she really wanted to go fishing with her, she could help the elder brother with his pickaxe.But the elder brother didn't invite her, so he could only stop and watch the two people leave.I understand very well in my heart that there is still a difference after all.

While Meng Xiangxiang was not in the room, Liu Erya whispered to Jiang Changling: "Our family Xiaonan is very good, one brought back two. Sister-in-law, which one do you like?"

Jiang Changling rolled her eyes at Liu Erya and said, "You're still very happy. Xiaonan hasn't made a decision yet, so I'm worried about him."

Liu Erya laughed and said, "If there is anything to worry about, let me see it."

Meng Xiangxiang carried firewood into the house, and Liu Erya had no choice but to swallow the rest of her words.

The frozen land is covered with snow, and under the winter sun, the whiteness is pure and dazzling.Yue Xuelian followed Liu Xiaonan, her white scarf, light blue wool coat, and half-height black snow boots formed a sharp contrast with Liu Xiaonan.

Yue Xuelian looked at Liu Xiaonan from time to time, and said inquiringly, "Who is the person walking beside me? A farmer? A fisherman? Anyway, he doesn't look like a college student or a young writer in the future."

Liu Xiaonan smiled and said, "He is whoever you think he is."

"I think he is a complex, it is difficult for people to give a clear judgment."

"Playing slingshots, fishing and touching river crabs, swimming and fighting water fights, pulling pigweed and catching dragonflies. You must have never played with the things I played when I was young. Long ditches, bent over and waving a hoe, step by step like a snail Move forward, beads of sweat mixed with mud flow into your mouth. You have never experienced the feeling of youth being ruthlessly worn away by the land, and the feeling of looking up to the sky and crying without tears. I hated the land before, and the things written in my pen cannot be separated from the land. , Sometimes, I don’t know what kind of person I belong to.”

"Seeing your old house, seeing Uncle Liu, seeing this piece of flat land and winding river banks, I seem to be able to touch the track of your growth. I am curious, you took these simple things Tool, can it really catch fish?"

Liu Xiaonan said: "It's covered with thick ice, you don't know where the fish are hiding, you can only rely on luck and judgment."

At the edge of the pond, there are several deep pits dug by people when they fetch soil in spring. When the water level in the pond rises in summer, schools of fish will gather there.In winter, under the cover of ice and snow, schools of fish also gather in deep water.

As the ice thickened and the water level dropped, the water in the pit was blocked from the pond, and the fish were forced to stay in a fixed place with no escape.

The ice surface is also covered with a layer of snow, and the ice surface of those deep pits is shaped like a pot bottom, and it is not easy to stand firmly under slippery feet.Liu Xiaonan asked Yue Xuelian to stand on the embankment temporarily, waiting to see the result.

He walked up to the ice with the pickaxe and tapped it four times with the pickaxe.If there is a dull sound, it means that the ice layer is pressed on the soil layer, and there is no space, naturally, there will be no water and no fish; if there is a hollow sound, it means that there is enough space under the ice layer for fish to hide.

There was a deep pit in the ice, and there was a delightful hollow sound under the stroke of the pickaxe.Liu Xiaonan shoveled off the snow on the surface, waved a sharp pick to cut through the half-foot-thick layer of ice, and cut a circular hole in the ice.

Sure enough, there is water under the ice, and where there is water, there are fish.The water level is not deep, and you can faintly see schools of fish gathering together in different sizes.

Liu Xiaonan put down the pickaxe and panted heavily, shook off the ice chips from the cotton hat and coat, and said excitedly to Yue Xuelian: "I'll let you experience a different surprise."

Yue Xuelian has been observing Liu Xiaonan.He was like a fisherman wielding a pickaxe. Under the heavy impact of the pickaxe, the ice cubes splashed and scattered, shining crystal light, which was the perfect combination of power and beauty.

His arms were steady and powerful, his forehead was steaming, his feet slipped and slipped but he stood firmly, and his mouth spit out the ice shards that splashed in from time to time.

Who could have imagined that inside this shabby clothes, there was a thriving and simple heart beating, containing feelings of compassion.

She stared blankly, with mixed emotions in her heart, and only when she heard Liu Xiaonan's shout did she regain her senses.

Yue Xuelian was eager to see what surprises there were, so Liu Xiaonan asked her to wait.He used a shovel to scoop up floating soil on the sunny side of the pond, and cushioned it around the ice hole, creating a passage that was not slippery.

He took Yue Xuelian's hand and walked down the embankment, stood beside the ice hole, squatted down and used a bucket to lift water from the ice hole.Only four or five buckets of water were carried, and the ice cave was already full of fish churning, and the fish with their backs exposed were huddled together in panic.

Yue Xuelian stomped her feet and let out a series of exclamations, it was indeed a pleasant surprise, and it was so much fun.Liu Xiaonan held her by one arm, helped her to squat down on the edge of the ice hole, and handed an aluminum fence to her: "Now start fishing."

All crucian carp weigh half a catty for the big ones, and two or three for the small ones.There are many fish in the shallow water, although she is not very skilled, Yue Xuelian can catch three or four fish every time, and pour them into the bucket on the side.

The fish was bouncing stiffly in the fence, and Yue Xuelian also exclaimed incessantly, fishing harder and harder, not afraid of getting her clothes dirty, she kept saying: "Brother, you are so powerful, you can do everything well. This fish is so big. And more, it's so much fun."

She had never seen Yue Xuelian so happy before, the expression on her face was like melting ice and snow.Liu Xiaonan said: "True happiness can only be found in nature. No matter how much pressure and endless troubles there are, they can always be resolved by devoting themselves to nature."

Yue Xuelian stopped the fence in her hand, turned her head and asked Liu Xiaonan: "What other interesting things can Senior Brother show me?"

"Can you swim?"

"will not."

"That's a pity, otherwise I will take you diving. Diving into the bottom of the sea, you will see another colorful world."

"I can learn to swim with you."

"That will have to wait until the summer vacation."

"It's a deal. Don't refuse to go back on your word when the time comes."

The waterhole under the hole in the ice was cleared of fish and almost filled a bucket.

In order to see other places under the ice hole and whether there are any fish that have been missed, Liu Xiaonan put the handle of the shovel on the ice hole, leaned down and lay on the ice, relying on the handle of the shovel, stuck her head into the ice hole, Looked around again.

That posture is very similar to that of a polar bear sticking its head into a hole in the ice, looking for seals.

Yue Xuelian secretly covered her mouth and smiled, she was serious and thorough in everything she did, to the extreme, this was a side she didn't know before.It's no wonder that his words are always accurate in description, and his use of language is extremely tense.

Two men walked back with a bucket of fish on shovel handles.Yue Xuelian was in front, Liu Xiaonan was behind, and the bucket was close to his side, which made Yue Xuelian less tired.A thin layer of ice soon formed on the edge of the bucket, and the ice flakes shone coldly in the sun.

The hem of Yue Xuelian's coat was splashed with some mud, and now it was frozen into ice skates, and the snow boots were also covered with ice, snow and mud.But she didn't care, and her interest remained undiminished: "Brother, let's go quickly, don't freeze the fish to death."

"No, put it in clear water for a while, and it will come back to life in a while." Liu Xiaonan remembered an interesting incident when she was a child: "When I was young, I found that freshwater fish could not survive in summer, but they were alive and kicking without feeding in winter, so I made I did an experiment. One winter, I raised a few small crucian carp in a canned bottle. For three or nine days, the dripping water turned into ice, and I put the canned bottle in the yard at night. I went out the next morning and saw that the water in the canned bottle was frozen The small crucian carps were swimming and frozen in the ice layer. I took the cans home and slowly frozen them at room temperature. When the ice inside completely melted, the small crucian carp were still swimming freely."

Yue Xuelian smiled: "Are you thoughtful or mischievous?"

Liu Xiaonan said: "I like to speculate."

The two of them carried the bucket back home. Seeing so many fish, Meng Xiangxiang couldn't help cheering.As a direct participant, Yue Xuelian told Meng Xiangxiang about the process of fishing like an expert.

Jiang Changling said to Meng Xiangxiang: "Think about it, you pick a few big fish, wash them well, and let's stew them for lunch."

Just as Meng Xiangxiang was about to reach out her hand, Liu Xiaonan stopped her: "Let me do it, I'm already very dirty, so don't touch your hands anymore."

The dinner table at noon this day was as rich as the Chinese New Year.The whole plate of fat and thin pork belly and blood sausage is eaten with garlic sauce. It is fat but not greasy. It is the most extravagant meat dinner of the year.

Liu Zhixin added two more dishes, stewed crucian carp in clear water, cabbage heart and jellyfish skin cold salad, with a combination of meat and vegetables, and the house was full of fragrance.

Two tables were set up, and the table on the kang was surrounded by women.

Grandma no longer calls Meng Xiangxiang's niece and daughter-in-law, grandma is not confused; Jiang Changling tries her best to keep a bowl of water as level as possible, serving food for this and food for that, impartially; Which one is more suitable to be her niece and daughter-in-law; Liu Xiaonan's younger sister is more direct, she likes Meng Xiangxiang, she only jokes with Meng Xiangxiang, Yue Xuelian is a university teacher, she will only be kept at a respectful distance.

Meng Xiangxiang was naturally easy-going, Yue Xuelian was polite, and there was a diverse pattern at the women's dinner table.

Liu Xiaonan sat at a round table on the ground with a few elders. He seldom spoke, and only listened to the elders talking about their experiences in the countryside.When he hears something he is interested in, he will interject and ask, which is the source of his creation.

After lunch, Liu Xiaonan took Yue Xuelian to see the stele left by Mr. Guan.On the way to the back street, he asked Yue Xuelian: "What do you think of my dad's cooking skills?"

Yue Xuelian said: "Usually I don't eat freshwater fish, which has an earthy smell. The stewed crucian carp cooked by your father is very delicious without any earthy smell. The cold dishes are even more refreshing and delicious. I am very sure that I have tasted a familiar taste. "

The two looked at each other and smiled, that was the secret in their hearts.

The snow on the stele has melted, and the writing is clear.Yue Xuelian stood and watched, imagining how a rural teenager could obtain mysterious power from this stele, constantly improve himself, and have a unique, healthy and free personality.She sighed: "Brother, you have obtained a valuable spiritual wealth, and its significance is far beyond the stone tablet itself."

Liu Xiaonan said: "On the day Mr. Guan passed away, my grandma told me in tears that there would be no husband after Mr. Guan."

Yue Xuelian looked at Liu Xiaonan: "The reason why your grandma said that is because she didn't see you today."

(End of this chapter)