Love for Diqulian

Speaking of Diqulian, I think many people over the age of forty or fifty will know or have eaten it. In that era when people relied on wild vegetables to survive, the taste of Diqulian was comparable to braised pork.

Diqulian is also known as: Dier, Dipicai, Di fungus, wild fungus, Di Juanpi and many other names. As the name suggests, it grows on the ground and is an algae plant. It grows wherever it grows. Most of its origins are in the south, and it used to be common in the hilly areas of western Henan. The best time to eat it is after the Qingming Festival and before the Beginning of Summer. The Diqulian after the Beginning of Summer will be infested with insects due to heavy rain and high temperatures, so it cannot be eaten.

It was in the late 1970s. After the Qingming Festival, there was more rain, and the grass and buds sprouted on the hillside. The weather was getting warmer, and the ground lilies were beginning to move. It was during the lean season when there was not enough food to eat, so we relied on wild vegetables to satisfy our hunger. We often went hungry. After a new rain, I will take a basket and look for it all over the mountains and fields. The white grassland is the most suitable for it to grow. If you are lucky, you can find a basket. When I got home, I took a rice sieve and sifted it to the river, put it into the pool, poured the Diqulian into it, and washed the dirt inside again and again. Because it grows directly on the ground, it is difficult to clean. It often needs to be washed ten or eight times. When you get home, you have to boil water again, then control the water, put oil in the pot, add green onions or leeks, and clear salt. Stir-fried (our family couldn't afford seasonings at that time), it tasted incredibly delicious. It can also be mixed with cornmeal and eaten steamed, or mixed with leeks and scallions to make dumplings. It is a delicacy in the world.

My mother said that Diqulian was transformed from cow dung, because the places where Diqulian is found are places where cows often graze. Furthermore, eating too much Diqulian will cause chronic diseases. Although these words have no scientific basis, they still make me feel a little jealous. I remember I asked my brother at that time, is it really made from cow dung? Brother replied, not necessarily. It was just a coincidence that Diqulian was found in places where cows often graze. Maybe the growth of Diqulian requires some nutrients in cow dung. The words of my fourth brother, who was in junior high school, made me overturn my mother's teachings, and then I kept my brother's words in mind, because I was a cultural person, and what he said had different connotations and was of a high level.

After five and a half days of classes at school, on the afternoon of Saturday, shortly after it rained, the fourth brother ran back from the rural junior high school in a hurry. When he entered the house, he shouted: "Mom! I want to eat ground." Qu Lian!" Mom, who was weaving, saw my brother and smiled brightly: "I just want to eat when I come back! There may be some dried bean dregs cake in the mat when I'm hungry, go ahead and eat it! Qu Lian. "

"Then I'll go and cook it myself when I get back." Brother put down his schoolbag, picked up a basket and left. I shouted from behind: "Brother, wait for me, I'll go too. "The two brothers and sisters were chatting and laughing, running all over the slope. It was pretty good. They quickly picked up most of the basket. It seemed that it was almost enough for the whole family, so we started to go home.

When we got to the river, my brother was waiting. I went home to get a sieve and started to wash. I don’t know how many times I washed it, but it felt clean before we returned home. My brother lit the fire, and I went to the slope on the right side of the yard to pick up some wild garlic sprouts, wash them and cut them into sections. My brother poured oil into the pot, and I lit the fire. My brother is the cook. I don’t know how many of us ate half the basket of treasures in a pot.

The fourth brother and I each shoveled a big bowl. Smelling the delicious smell and looking at the fungus-like Diqulian, I really couldn’t bear to eat it. My brother asked me to give it to my mother to try. My mother was a little deaf and she didn’t respond when I shouted, so he brought it to her in front of the loom. Mom stopped, added a piece and put it in her mouth, "Yeah, it's delicious. Your brother is willing to add oil. Eh? Didn't you wash it well? Did you use a seal to soak it in water when you came back?"

? "I still need to use it. What is Naoshuinao? "I don't know. "Silly girl, just boil a pot of water and sprinkle some noodles, pour the Diqulian into it, turn it over twice, take it out, and then wash it with water." "Oh! What should I do if I don't have it? Can I eat it?"

"You can't eat it if it's not clean. It's not good for your stomach if you eat it. Put it somewhere first. I'll clean it up for you later."

? I agreed and went out. The taste was so tempting. I couldn't help but eat while walking, completely forgetting what my mother said. By the time I got to my brother, half the bowl was left. Fortunately, I only had two pieces of food that were not washed and might hurt my teeth. Brother is even more greedy, his bowl is empty. Before I could say anything, my brother spoke up: "I wanted to eat another bowl, but there was sand when I ate it? I didn't wash it."

"Brother, our mother told her to free her hands and she would clean it up. You’re not allowed to eat. Then when you finish eating, I’ll finish eating too.”

That's still funny when I think about it now. Although I rinsed my mouth for a long time after eating, the taste of Diqulian that time was comparable to the Pearl Jade White Jade Soup that Zhao Kuangyin drank.

The successful convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out a new direction for farmers. The continuous land contract responsibility system brought us hope. With the efforts of my father and brothers, we had a bumper harvest in the first year. Corn cobs were everywhere in the house. My second brother said that after peeling sweet potatoes, there were at least eight pieces. Tons, I know that the sweet potatoes have been stored in three big cellars and have not been finished. In the end, I had no choice but to slice and dry the remaining sweet potatoes.

? With surplus food, we no longer go hungry in the spring. Diqulian gradually fades out of our belly-wrapping ingredients, and we occasionally pick some to satisfy our cravings. Time flew by in the lush greenery, and in the spring of 1984, the second sister-in-law returned to her parents’ house that day and asked me to play together. Since my second brother was away working and away from home, my mother agreed to let me accompany my second sister-in-law back to my parents' home.

The second sister-in-law’s natal family is far away, and there are more than ten miles to climb over two mountains and cross a river. We climbed the last section of the winding trail and turned a few corners before arriving at the second sister-in-law's parents' house. It was almost noon. The second sister-in-law was not tired either, so she took me and her little sister and went up to the hillside behind the house to pick donkey and camel cloth bags to eat. This forest is sparsely populated, with only six or seven families living there. No one picked the red bags of donkeys and camels on the mountain. After a while, we returned home with a full load.

When we got home, our uncle and aunt were waiting for us to eat at home. Lunch was very sumptuous, including sweet persimmon steamed buns rolled in white flour (we called flower cakes), peanuts boiled in rice soup, scrambled eggs with wild leeks, and two large bowls of dumplings.

We washed our hands and were about to take the dumplings to eat. My aunt said, "These two bowls of dumplings belong to your sisters. Eat them while they are hot." I saw that there were only two bowls, and I felt embarrassed to eat them. . My aunt saw what I was thinking, and then said: "Eat quickly, we have all eaten early in the morning, and here you are, there is still some stuffing, so I wrapped it up for you two to try. What do you think it is?"

Although my aunt is said to be from the mountains, she is kind-hearted and treats me kindly every time I go there. The second sister-in-law didn't care about so many things. She just picked up the bowl and ate. While eating, she said, "It's delicious, Yin Ling. Eat it quickly. What do you think it is?" I could clearly smell it from the dumplings that the second sister-in-law bit open. That very familiar, long-lost smell...ah! Diqulian!

? I didn’t refuse, picked up the bowl, added each one and took a bite...the stuffing was mountain leeks, eggs and that kind of dark brown stuff, yes, it was Diqulian, I haven’t eaten it in several years. It tasted so delicious... I don't know whether it was because I was really hungry, or the spirit of Diqulian attracted me, but I ate it all in one breath...

? I raised my head, and then I found my uncle and aunt looking at us with a bewildered smile, and my neck suddenly felt swollen with embarrassment. Looking at the second sister-in-law, she was also holding an empty bowl and laughing. It turns out that her food is not much better than mine. Looking at her, I couldn't help but laugh. It was the second sister-in-law who spoke up and said, "Where did you find Diqulian? I couldn't even pick it up even if I wanted to eat it." The second sister-in-law's sister pointed to the hillside opposite her house and said, where she was grazing cattle, she saw a nest of ), I picked it up and carried it back with my clothes. There were two liters. After hearing this, the second sister-in-law said that she would come back next year to pick it up.

? More than forty years have passed, but the smell of Diqulian that I dream about always reminds me of it, so much so that I have no appetite for mushrooms and fungus, but I can no longer relate to it. No chance. When I returned to my parents' home that day, I saw my fourth brother and mentioned Diqulian, which made me feel emotional...