Li Cai's "Fireworks in Half the City"

Li Cai

1

Every day when I walk through the streets and alleys of the small town of Jianshi, I always come across a touch of color that makes my eyes light up. . That is the color of the fruits and vegetables that farmers sell in cities.

Onions, scallions, Chinese cabbage, Chinese cabbage, spinach, lettuce, water spinach, cabbage, lettuce, asparagus, agaric, coriander, celery, yellow flowers, lotus root, leeks, mustard greens, cauliflower, purple Cabbage, purple horn leaves, potherb, beetroot, winter melon, cucumber, loofah, pumpkin, bitter melon, sweet potato, broccoli, tomato, eggplant, wild rice, yam, chrysanthemum, lettuce, bamboo shoots, tall bamboo shoots, green beans, cowpeas , peas, soybeans, red beans, plum beans, peanuts, sunflower seeds, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, mountain peppers, ginger, garlic sprouts, garlic sprouts, garlic, folded ears, carrots, white radish, green radish, young bracts, mushrooms, sheep tripe Fungus, oyster mushroom, wild fir tree fungus, cherry, cherry, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, apricot, plum, peach, pear, watermelon, loquat, pomegranate, kiwi, chestnut, walnut, date, jujube, August Melons, grapes, persimmons...

Green, green, red, orange, yellow, white, purple, brown... fruits and vegetables of various colors, sparse and dense, crowded together, scattered and lively Color and fragrance. Depending on the season, they dot the streets lined with tall buildings and busy with traffic, quietly melting away some hardness and coldness, and alleviating some of the noise and glitz.

The color of fruits and vegetables, the color of nature, the color of life. It is also the color of fireworks in the world.

Fruits and vegetables are placed by farmers in bamboo baskets, bamboo baskets, bamboo baskets, bamboo dustpans, or placed directly on the ground, stubbornly maintaining a kind of original vitality from the depths of the earth. . They carry morning dew, a little soil, conceal fiery love, hide long-lasting secrets, and wander around the small town casually and peacefully. Fruits and vegetables make a small town full of life without doing anything.

Throughout the year, fruits and vegetables grow vigorously in the mountains and fields, and then follow their owners to strange cities, waiting for new owners to take them home. It is difficult for anyone passing by them to ignore them. Especially for people like me who come to a small town from the countryside, all they need is a basket of cabbage and a few bundles of spring onions, and a green vegetable garden will appear in front of them; Fruit trees; or a bag of wild fir fungi or a few bunches of wild grapes, a deep forest must have popped up in my mind. At such moments, there is an almost mystical communication between people and fruits and vegetables.

I looked at those fruits and vegetables, and I clearly felt that some fresh beauty was gradually surrounding me, some gentle comfort was approaching me, and some subtle tranquility had already warmed me... In a daze, what I saw in front of me Fruits and vegetables, fruits and vegetables in memory are intertwined and intertwined, gently and quietly stumbling upon my steps. I enjoy the connection, stop, buy a little, buy a little more, and then return home with a full load. This is a completely different feeling than buying food in the supermarket. Those neatly arranged fruits and vegetables with clearly marked prices give people a strange sense of alienation, as if they have been blocked by something and have lost a lot of flavor.

Fruits and vegetables filled with the fragrance of the mountains are an irresistible temptation for people living in the city. I buy, you buy, he buys. Buy buy buy. In this way, amid the constant sounds of price exchanges and the leisurely movements of choosing vegetables and fruits, the days slowly retreated into the depths of time, and wisps of fireworks slowly rose and spread.

In the small town, every farmer selling fruits and vegetables is like a vague mystery. Their steps were slightly unsteady, their expressions unreadable. The deep wrinkles on their faces tell of the difficulty of life, and the thick calluses on their hands tell of the hardships of struggle. Most of them are not good at hawking, even if the "works" they made with their hard work are so outstanding. They are always accustomed to walking, standing or squatting in silence, and all their expectations are reflected in their eyes. They don't seem to care whether passers-by visit or not. Many dusk dusk, the farmers carrying leftover fruits and vegetables from the busy market to their homes quietly have always looked calm and mysterious.

It is these people who go in and out of the small town day by day, enriching the dining tables of the people of the city and enriching the fireworks of the city.

In summer, on the streets of the small town of Jianshi, you may encounter a beautiful temptation that is neither fruit nor vegetable, which is "magic tofu".

Godly Tofu is made by villagers in Daichengou Village near the city from a shrub called the Godly Tofu tree (commonly known as the Turtle Dove) that grows in this small village. This plant grows miscellaneously beside ditches and roadsides. Its leaves are picked, washed, blanched, rubbed, filtered, and creamed. After standing, they miraculously become fragrant, tender, crystal green "tofu".

This kind of tree has a special divine fragrance, and divine incense ash water is added during the production process, so people call it divine tofu.

The emerald-like appearance of the divine tofu is enough to make anyone’s heart flutter when you see it. Cut it into small pieces or long strips, put it on a plate, and sprinkle with a little red pepper, ginger foam, and sour garlic water. Wait, it’s ready to eat. There is a folk poem that goes: neither fruits nor vegetables nor rice grains, exquisite jade and emerald light. They competed to hold up all the pearls in the plate, and the wind in their armpits made their teeth and cheeks feel cold.

The magical tofu is a bit magical.

Whether it is a load of fruits and vegetables or a piece of magical tofu, they are all fragments of the fireworks of the small town. Thousands of flavors are at your fingertips.

At the beginning of the small town’s construction, the breath of fireworks that lasted for thousands of years was hidden deeply and bloomed lightly.

2

Let’s talk about the food-related shops in Jianshi City.

Let’s start with the breakfast shop. Various shops including fried pancakes and dumplings, fried fried dough sticks and fried dough sticks, fried bean curds and rice noodles, steamed buns and steamed buns, and boiled wontons, noodles, and egg crusts are located in various streets of the small town. The people who open breakfast shops all have their own unique tricks to cook all kinds of delicacies, just waiting for customers to come close.

Those who are in a hurry to get to work quickly buy two fried dough sticks and a cup of soy milk, or a few steamed buns or a fried dough cake, hold them in their hands and eat them while walking. People who have free time can either choose a favorite breakfast restaurant alone, sit down, order one, and taste it carefully; or they can make an appointment with two or three friends, gather in a certain restaurant, and chat while eating. That kind of leisure is something even gods would envy when they see it. That is the flowing smoke of human fireworks.

No one can resist breakfast. After eating breakfast, I have the strength to do the work I am destined to do in my life on a new day. A whole city of people, eating breakfast clearly and in a daze, filled the sky with the fireworks of a small town.

Who doesn’t have a favorite breakfast restaurant? This breakfast shop that everyone likes is a famous one in the small town.

For example, on Jianshi East Street, there is an old steamed bun shop named Cui. Three generations of people have made a living making steamed buns for more than 50 years. The craftsmanship has been continuously improved, and the taste is unparalleled. Every morning, the Cui family is very busy and there is an endless stream of customers. The Cui family makes pan-fried buns, which are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, golden in color and fragrant in aroma. Many people who come here are willing to wait in line just for a fried bun. A pot of steamed buns was cooked and steaming hot, and they were quickly sold out.

There is another restaurant called "Fat Luo's Noodle House", which used to operate in Dabeimen, a small town, but later moved to Guangrun Road. The boss, Fatty Luo, makes outstanding buns. The dough is as thin as a cicada's wing, the filling is soft and tender, the soup is clear and smooth in the mouth, and the fragrance is overflowing between the lips and teeth. It is unforgettable once you eat it. Although Fatty Luo is big, he is very flexible in his work. I saw him throwing the buns into the boiling water, and then quickly mixing the condiments in the bowl. After three to five minutes, he took the buns out of the boiling water, poured them into the bowl, and served them to the customers. Many people who come to this store too early are repeat customers. They come in and shout, "Fat Luo, come get a bowl of noodles!" "Okay! Large bowl or medium bowl?" Fatty Luo also has a loud voice.

Breakfast opens every morning in the small town, filled with the soft smoke of fireworks. The small town unknowingly faded away from the darkness and silence of the night, and became full of energy again. It was as if Xiaocheng had also eaten a mysterious breakfast, full of huge power, and Xinxinran wanted to do something.

The breakfast shop has not yet closed, and some specialty snack stalls have begun to tempt the taste buds of people in the city.

Roasted gluten, Kang potato, roasted sweet potato, pancake fruit, stinky tofu, sauce pancake, sesame cake, layer cake, hand cake, cold noodles, cold skin, jelly, rice cake, potato cake, buckwheat cake, glutinous rice, rice wine, rice cake Soup egg buns, hot and sour noodles... People who run these small businesses push special carts full of ingredients and condiments, and appear in the streets and alleys in twos and threes. The thick and light fragrance is floating around, teasing the passers-by, and spreading the hot dishes. The strong smell of fireworks.

In the evening, the streets became more lively. More food stalls popped up. They are covered with gradually brightening lights, accompanied by bursts of melodious square dance music, and welcome all kinds of footsteps walking into the night. They are extremely cute and quirky, vividly rendering the fireworks of a small town.

What I have to mention is a delicacy that is deeply loved by Jianshi people and is also original to Jianshi people - Jianshi pancake.

I don’t know which founder first came up with the idea to put a layer of compact soil in a large oil drum to make a stove for baking flatbreads. Later, the stoves made of oil drums were eliminated and replaced by specially customized stoves, which were still cylindrical and about 1 meter high, with a red charcoal fire burning at the bottom of the stove. Set up a chopping board next to the stove, put dough with moderate acidity and alkali and a pot of finely chopped and spicy meat fillings. Cut a small ball of dough, put the filling in the middle, and then use a rolling pin to roll it into a thin oval. Apply a little soy sauce evenly on one side, sprinkle with white sesame seeds, pick it up, turn it over several times with both hands, and use tension to roll it. The flatbread was rolled out even thinner, and then the sesame-free side was quickly placed against the inner wall of the stove. The flatbread was soon baked until it was crispy, and a rich aroma came out of the stove. Use tongs to pick out the flatbread and enjoy this unique delicacy!

There is a small stall selling Jianshi cakes not far downstairs from my house, called "Yu Dabi" (the owner's surname is Yu). The couple runs the business together. The women knead the dough, add stuffing, and roll out the cakes with quick movements; the men bake the cakes, busy but not messy. In the evening, people who came specifically to buy "Yu Dabi" and passers-by who couldn't resist the temptation came from all directions and gathered in front of the stall. One for you, two for me, and four or five for him. Some people buy dozens of them at a time to send to relatives and friends far away to try Jianshi’s special snacks. The customers chatted and laughed, the couple cooperated tacitly, and the fresh Jianshi pancakes were baked one after another. One group of customers left, and another group of customers came. The couple often work from afternoon to late at night. When they are too busy, they will bicker and blush, but as soon as customers come, they immediately greet them with smiles.

In addition to breakfast bars and snack bars, the food in many restaurants is also mouth-watering. Coir raincoat rice, steamed with rice and cornmeal, also has a very literary name - Fengjiaoxue; potato crispy rice, bright yellow and fragrant; stir-fried meat with taro and lotus stems, extremely delicious; steamed pork belly, tender and delicious... …the flavors are all different and there is no need to list them all.

When eating, you should eat casually, eat happily, and eat richly and colorfully. Food is the most important thing for the people. Eating is the reality of fireworks in the world.

In Jianshi, no matter what you eat, you are eating the taste of a small town and realizing the temperament of a small town. You will understand as you eat.

At the beginning of the construction of the small town, fireworks were everywhere and the flavor was endless.