Mantra

Chapter 41

The reason why I know the so-called "Huogong language" is from when I was a soldier.

I remember that one day when I was learning cooking with the old squad leader until the third year, he suddenly asked me a question.

"No two, what do you think the food is for? Is it just for eating?"

The old squad leader laughed as soon as he finished speaking, it was a kind of smile that I didn't understand at all.

That question immediately confused me.

At that time, after thinking about it carefully, I seriously replied to the old squad leader: "I don't know!"

The squad leader continued to smile kindly.

Then, without warning, he told me something that shocked my jaw.

The squad leader said that he has taught me all the kung fu in cooking. What I lack now is experience and experience. As long as I persist, I will definitely become a great Shandong cuisine master.

When the old squad leader said this, he patted me on the shoulder and told me very solemnly: "Tian Buer! You are now a disciple, and from now on, you will be the cook of Shandong cuisine 'Confucius Temple'. Learn to stand alone!"

The words of the old squad leader flattered me, and made me suddenly feel heavy on myself.

I served as a soldier for three years, and almost learned how to cook with the squad leader for three years.But I never thought about "becoming an apprentice", let alone what a "Confucius Temple" is.

At that time, I even felt that I was like a newborn baby who hadn't learned to walk at all, but his old squad leader hurriedly let go of his hand and let me learn to run by myself.

That sense of helplessness overwhelmed me for a moment.

So, I begged the old monitor, I said that I am not good at anything, and I want to continue studying with the monitor...

But the old squad leader's answer made me feel ambiguous.

He shook his head and told me, "There's really nothing to teach. Cooks are just about the three words 'knife, fire, and skill'. They specialize in internal and external training. Eight big characters. Everything remains the same, you already know the superficial things, but the secret rules... those rules are not very useful, and you may not want to learn even if I teach you."

I didn't even think about it at the time, and immediately begged the old squad leader to continue teaching me the so-called "hidden rules".

I don't know what are the rules on the surface and what are the rules in the dark. I only know that there are things that the old squad leader didn't tell me, and it is always good to learn more.

Finally, under my begging, the monitor taught me some "secret rules" among cooks.

To be honest, after I learned these secret rules, I found out that it is the same as what the old squad leader said...it is really not very useful.

Because those rules are always explaining a sentence over and over again: "Food is not only for eating, they can be sacrificed, cured, poisoned, harmed, divined, summoned... In short, they are all kinds of things other than 'eating'. 'Fantastic skills and obscenity'."

I don't know what other people think, anyway, after I learned that, I regret it so much.

Sure enough, as the old squad leader said, those hidden rules are really useless, and I always think that the matter of gods and ghosts is more of a dual effect of subjective stimulation and special circumstances.

What's more, the mysterious things that the old squad leader told me were not cooking skills at all, but just telling me about the development of Chinese cooking and the history of taboos!

But it's useless to regret it. I must have begged someone to teach me, and I have to learn it anyway, even if it goes in the left ear and goes out the right ear.

And among the content that didn't interest me at all, the only thing I was more fascinated by was this set of Huogong language that only cooks in the "Wu Zang Temple" knew.

Speaking of the once "flash in the pan" Huogong language, it actually has quite a historical origin.

The old squad leader told me that before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the world was chaotic and everyone was in danger, so many disadvantaged occupations also learned the style of robbers and gangsters to form cliques to make a living as a group and take care of each other.

For example, beggars have the "Beggar Gang", merchants have the "Chamber of Commerce", prostitutes have the "Lantern Festival", grave robbers have the "Mojinmen", and even widows once had gang-like self-guided groups such as "Black Lantern Photo" and "Chaste House". protection organization.

Among these complex folk associations, some flourished and blossomed everywhere as the waves washed away the sand, some were short-lived and disappeared in the long river of history, and some retired after success and were replaced by more formal official or semi-official organizations. .

In those years, in the catering industry, there was such a loose gang organized by cooks, called "Wu Zang Temple"!
Master specially told me: "In slang, Wu Zang Temple also means 'eat'."

Why is it called Wu Zang Temple?The squad leader told me that in ancient times, especially in the era of Emperor Zhou, cooks had a high status, and eating was considered a very solemn thing.

How solemn is it?It is clearly recorded in "Zhou Rituals" that eating (banquet) is a part of "rituals", and it is elevated to the same important content as sacrifices.

That era was the golden age of legendary cooks!Their status can be compared with the ministers and officials in charge of the world.

Therefore, cooks in that era paid attention to a "knife, fire, work, and ritual".Compared with the cooks who come out of the modern chef school, they have learned one more word "ritual".

Times have changed, and although "eating" is not so important now, there are still many "vocabularies" left to confirm the traces of that era, such as "sacrificing the temple of five internal organs", "sacrificing teeth", "sending the kitchen god" and other slang words related to eating. Vocabulary, all have a vague connection with offering sacrifices to gods and ghosts.

In short, it was a sentence from the old squad leader:...the cooks at that time were all respectful of the rules. Even after thousands of years, they always thought of themselves as the ceremonial officer of the emperor of Zhou, and they always believed that 'food can psychic'!
Therefore, in order to elevate their status, the cooks in the old society all called themselves burn incense (ring the bell) in the five internal organs temple, to remind themselves of the "high status" they had in the past, and to distinguish themselves from laymen. When we meet each other, say this sentence to increase the sense of identity, and it is good to have a help.

"Wu Zang Temple" has gradually become synonymous with cooks.

If you are a person in the world, once you hear this sentence, you will know that this person is a cook, and he is a cook with a heritage.

The so-called Huogong language is a code word invented in Wuzang Temple by imitating the "black language" of bandits and thieves.

When the old squad leader said this, I was actually quite strange, because I can understand that the industry is united and takes care of each other, but the cook is not a "special profession".

I even joked and asked the monitor: "Isn't this black talk in the cook circle prepared for us to open a black shop in the future?"

The old squad leader smiled and said: There is really such a consideration.

I was stunned when I heard what the old squad leader said.

Such a shameless question, but he actually admitted it shamelessly?
Later, the old squad leader told me: The reason why Wuzang Temple invented a set of Huogong language that laymen can't understand is because the era was too chaotic and the cooking industry was not peaceful.

China is such a big country, and the chef industry is divided into four factions: "Sichuan, Shandong, Guangdong, and Huaiyang". In addition, there are those who open unscrupulous restaurants, those who make trouble in the shade, the contradiction between palace chefs and private chefs, and even Chinese and Western food. , The open and secret struggle of Japanese cuisine can almost write a martial arts novel.

In short, at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the cook business was a mess of fish and dragons for a while, and the atmosphere was smoky!

Among them, especially the four most mainstream temples "Sichuan, Shandong, Guangdong, and Huaiyang" are even more fiercely fighting each other.Even in the early years of the Republic of China, there was a tendency to rely on warlords and tear each other down. Everyone was wasting their internal energy, but they could not carry forward Chinese cooking skills.

But later, some sensible people gradually emerged from the four major factions. In order to keep the "Wu Zang Temple" prosperous and avoid fighting, those capable people divided the territory and specially formulated this kind of firework code word.

The emergence of Huogong language can strengthen the internal connection of Wuzang Temple, convey some topics that are not easy to be exposed on the bright side, and at the same time increase the sense of identity and act as a lubricant.

So, with curiosity, I learned this set of "Huogong language" from the old squad leader.

In fact, when I first learned these, I just felt a little interesting.And my original intention of learning this is very "impure motivation".

Because I was a soldier at that time, I always saw those people in the reconnaissance company and the sharp knife company doing "reporting exercises".

When I watched the performance, I felt that the equipment was cool, and the sign language and code language gestures were very exciting. I wanted to learn carefully but there was no one to guide me.

In desperation, I had no choice but to learn the cook's code word "Huogongyu" from the old squad leader, so I could comfort myself.I always feel in my heart that maybe one day I can meet the "same disciples" of the Wu Zang Temple, learn from each other, and have a good time.

But what I didn't expect at all was that after being discharged from the army for several years, although I have worked in many restaurants and met "famous chefs in charge" at many exchange meetings, I have never had the opportunity to use the firework language. It was in this inconspicuous little "service station restaurant" today that I met the characters of Wu Zang Temple.

When I recalled this, I couldn’t help shouting at Wang and the others in disappointment: “It’s just that the master of Wuling Temple is not a good person! If you don’t rely on your craftsmanship to open a shop, sell five hundred and one plates of fried noodles instead, killing customers. played."

What I said immediately made Wang Hou suddenly realize the meaning, he immediately patted his head and said to me:
"I see. Let me tell you what you said to that little Jiuer back then...Two Ancestors Temple, Confucius Temple or something! It turns out that little Jiuer is also the cook of Wu Zang Temple! You are in the same group!"

What Wang Hou said made me anxious at the time, and I immediately responded to him:

"Get out! What do you mean that Xiao Jiu'er and I are in the same group? She is just a mental patient who ran out of the 'Two Ancestor Temple'! It is estimated that she was released after the temple wall fell down."

While talking, Hongye asked me incomprehensibly, what is the Temple of Two Ancestors, and why do I always call myself the Temple of Confucius.

I chuckled and told him that this was the division of factions within the "Temple of Five Viscera".It's about a cook who came out of the four major systems of 'Sichuan, Shandong, Guangdong, and Huaiyang'. "Two Ancestors Temple" refers to the Huaiyang faction, and the Confucius Temple is our Shandong cuisine faction.

I stretched out my hand and pointed to my nose as a metaphor:
"For example, my master Zhao Haipeng is a cook of Shandong cuisine. I learned from him, so I am also a cook of Shandong cuisine."

And because there are "sages" from Ludi, the cooks from Ludi admire Confucian virtues, and they all call themselves disciples of Confucius, and they also learn the old sage's "moderate" harmony in cooking, so...we call ourselves "" Confucius Temple".

This Confucius Temple is also known as the "Northern Xuanwu Sect", one of the four major sects in the Wuzang Temple.As for boasting, I won't say it, it's too nasty...

"Oh!" Hongye suddenly nodded and said, "So, the 'Wuling Temple' you mentioned just now is a cook of Cantonese cuisine! Because Wuling is a landmark mountain range in Guangdong and Guangxi! And Cantonese cuisine originated in Guangdong..."

I clapped my hands, and immediately praised Hongye: "The little girl is very smart! She knows how to draw inferences from one instance..."

But before I gave him a detailed explanation of the remaining origins of the four temples, the middle-aged boss who had gone to the "abbot" earlier had gone and returned.

When the middle-aged boss came back, there were suddenly seven or eight men in white cook costumes beside him.

And under the respectful protection of those cooks and bosses, an old man who looked very old was pushed out in a wheelchair.

The old man had gray beard and hair, and he couldn't tell his exact age, but there was shrewdness and vigor in his brows.Seems to be in good shape.

After the old man came out, the middle-aged boss pointed at me.

Immediately afterwards, the old man laughed loudly.

While we were looking at each other, the white-haired old man rolled his wheelchair, slowly cupped his hands, and said to me:

"This brother, you burn incense in the Xiawuling Temple! I don't know if you are an eagle or a tiger, why are you wandering?"

(End of this chapter)