Free Days in Siheyuan

Chapter 21 Mid-Autumn Festival ([-])
Since yesterday, my sister-in-law has reminded Zhang Yu several times that today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and at noon, the windows have to be glued.

This is an old custom in Beijing. Because the weather gets cooler after the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is said that the windows are pasted at noon during the Mid-Autumn Festival, so that the sunlight can be filled in the house, and the winter is not cold.

Although my uncle found someone to buy glass for him, the windows are now filled with glass.But taking advantage of the fact that the moon cakes had just passed the test and the sun was in the middle, Zhang Yu found window paper and pasted it symbolically, as a custom.

There are a lot of people in the yard today. The reason is naturally that the three-day holiday has been given since the day before yesterday. From the [-]th to the [-]th, students do not have classes, and many factories are also closed.

The neighbors in the courtyard saw that he was pasting the windows. They all looked at the sky and took out the window paper to paste it again.

Even though the supply was tight this year, before the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1958, all the food markets in Beijing were bustling.

Various supply and marketing cooperatives, food stores, and butcher shops in the city have prepared a variety of festive food for customers to purchase to celebrate the festive season.

In order to let people have a good Mid-Autumn Festival, the supply is particularly abundant these days, so many people plan to take this opportunity to buy more things for their homes.

No, my sister-in-law helped herself to paste the window, and then went out with a basket on her shoulders. She went around to see if she could buy something that she couldn't usually buy.

Time passed quickly and quickly, the sun went down without knowing it, and the night of August [-]th arrived.

On the night of August [-]th, the sky rose, and the tranquility was sprinkled on the ground with the light like silver mist.

Today's moon is particularly clear and transparent, sprinkled with silver light that is as clean as water, with a few small stars, hovering in the night, adding a touch of color to people's reunion season.

However, many people don’t care about admiring the moon, because they have prepared a lot of dishes that they usually don’t want to eat at home for the festival. light.

In addition to various customs today, there are also rich delicacies. My sister-in-law also cooked the meal early and set up a table. The whole family, excluding Zhang Yu, drool over the sweet-scented osmanthus duck.

The sweet-scented osmanthus duck is bought by my sister-in-law from a master chef. Every year around the Mid-Autumn Festival, the duck is the best time. The meat is tender and fat. It just happens that the sweet-scented osmanthus has just come down at this time, so every year the master will make a batch of sweet-scented osmanthus duck at this time. This year Zhang Guifang managed to snatch one.

I have to say that the craftsman of the master chef is really good. The sweet-scented osmanthus duck is a must, with charred outside and tender inside, and the meat is fat but not greasy.

In addition, he killed a chicken, made taro chicken, fried lotus root cakes, stir-fried the snails he picked up a few days ago, stewed the fish he caught and raised in the aquarium, and...

Looking at the pile of delicacies on the table, Zhao Wenzhuo couldn't help but took out the sweet-scented osmanthus wine he made last year from the bottom of the cupboard and said to the family: "Try the sweet-scented osmanthus wine I made last year. It is completely integrated into the wine, and the taste is dense and not irritating at all.”

Opened the sweet-scented osmanthus wine, poured it into a cup, and found that it was exactly as it was said.

The sweet-scented osmanthus wine is that kind of light amber color, accompanied by the light fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus. Zhang Guifang couldn't help but tasted it. The taste was mellow and soft, with a long aftertaste. Good food on the table."

"Of course, it doesn't matter who made it." Zhao Wenzhuo was triumphant, but he also knew that he would accept it as soon as he saw it. He really offended Zhang Guifang, and then he turned his head and put the vegetables into Zhang Guifang's bowl while stilling Greeting children. "Eat quickly! The dishes made by your mother today are very delicious."

Hearing this, the children below secretly smiled, because of Zhao Wenzhuo's "knowledge".

"Why are you laughing? Eat quickly, there are so many good things, you still can't stop your mouths." Zhao Wenzhuo was a little annoyed and ashamed.

Seeing that he was really in a hurry, the children below hurriedly scratched their heads, pretending that I didn't see anything.

But today's food is really delicious, and Zhang Yu eats to his heart's content.It goes without saying that the sweet-scented osmanthus duck is charred on the outside and tender on the inside. Roasted chicken with taro, the soft taro absorbs the aroma of the chicken, and it is a must after a bite.The lotus root cake was golden on both sides, and it was very crispy after one bite. He ate two of them before changing to another dish.

After I was [-]% to [-]% full, I focused on the stir-fried snails. I inhaled hard, and the fat snail meat and the strong sauce flavor entered my mouth. I couldn't help eating one after another.

After dinner, I prepared things for worshiping the moon. In addition to moon cakes, I also prepared pomegranates and grapefruits.

Mid-autumn is the time when pomegranates are ripe, and there are six huge pomegranate trees planted in the courtyard, and they have produced a lot this year, so each family has several.The variety of pomegranate is particularly good, not to mention big and round. The pomegranate seeds inside are red, like agate, taste sour and sweet.

Move the table into the yard and set up the offerings. Because of the custom of "men don't worship the moon and women don't worship the stove", only the women in the family worship the moon. After the moon worship, they chatted with the neighbors in the courtyard for a while, and then began to eat. Enjoy the moon with moon cakes.

The yard is especially lively during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The older children and the younger ones are playing and playing in the yard as long as they can run. The adults in the family are especially pampering to the children during this reunion season. , and got angry at the children.

People who live in a courtyard house have many pacifiers in the yard that were used to prevent fires. During the day, the elders in the yard call on the young people to clean the urns, dry them in the sun, and then fill them with water. , Look at the reflection of the moon in the tank.

These few naughty children, while the adults were not paying attention, threw a few stones into the Taiping tank, disrupting the shadow of the moon in the tank.Regarding this, the adults just waved their hands: "Go, go, play while you're at it, don't make trouble here."

The children laughed and ran around, from the backyard to the front yard, and then into the alley from the front, chasing the moon in the alley, yelling, and the adults next to them were not as idle as they used to be. They were noisy, and they called the children's behavior "chasing the moon".

The children were playing and the adults were watching, and the atmosphere was harmonious.

At this moment, a neighbor chatted about gossip, "Do you know what happened to Jia's family in the courtyard next door?"

"I know, why don't I know, isn't this all over the place?" Another neighbor replied.

"What's the matter, why don't I know?" asked a neighbor who had been busy all morning.

Hearing this, the neighbor who brought up this topic became excited, "I tell you, this morning, a woman brought a few brothers to make trouble at Jia's house..."

(End of this chapter)