No Worries about Food and Medicine

Chapter 10: Vegetarian Finch

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Seeing the words "Qingluan Poetry Collection" written on the half-page torn book cover, Ji Hong felt hot to his hands, and was about to put it back where it was when a few pieces of paper suddenly fell out of the book. He picked it up and took a look. , are a few large characters that were copied temporarily, and the handwriting is a bit crooked, but it can be seen that the writing is very serious. He put the slip of paper away, and couldn't help flipping through it carefully. It can be seen that the book is very old, as if it has been turned over many times, and some words are even blurred.

It was only now that Ji Hong looked around. The room was small, with simple furnishings, a bed, a cabinet and a table, but there were two pots of unknown small flowers in front of the window and on the table. The small pots were only palm-sized and full of vitality. , It's a pity...the table is a little messy.

He sighed softly, tidied up the desk case, and finally looked at ease.

I don't know where the boy went. I was in a haze after drinking yesterday, and I only remember a cluster of warm firelight and a teacup exuding a sweet smell. Seeing a small inkstone on the young man's desk, Ji Hong waited for Yu Jinnian to come back in the room, spread out the book, took out a pen and sipped the ink, and filled in the incomplete words on the page one by one. This is also considered to be repaying the young man for taking care of him yesterday. Thanks for your kindness.

After reaching a certain page, the curve of Ji Hong's mouth gradually solidified, and he wondered in his heart, how could his second brother Ji Yan's poems be included here

Thinking of his second brother, his face became even more gloomy. The second elder brother is talented and rare to meet in a hundred years. Ji Hong once heard that there is an eminent monk in the mountains, who can use human beings to exchange spirits with resentful souls, so that he can return to the world. Over the years, he has often dreamed of his second brother's back, and he wanted to ask his second brother if he hated him and if he wanted to use his body to return to the mortal world. But the second brother didn't answer, just stared at him with a dark face without facial features, and then kept walking forward, leaving him far behind.

But last night... Ji Hong lowered his eyes, and his black eyelashes trembled slightly. He seemed to have grabbed the second brother's hand last night. Although he couldn't remember what he said to his second brother's ghost last night, he still remembered that the hand he held was not as cold as he imagined, it was even warm, like a living person. It's a pity that the second brother still didn't speak, and his face seemed to be covered with a layer of mist, so he couldn't see the expression clearly.

At this time, a faint fragrance of rice rises from the backyard of a bowl of noodle shop, and the comfortable sunlight pours into the window, casting mottled light spots on the pages of the book in your hand. The room is dark and quiet, but hearty smiles sometimes come from outside the window Someone called out "Brother Xiaonian" from a distance, and then there was a youthful voice in the middle of the noisy conversation, full of smiles.

When Ji Hong first met this boy under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree, Ji Hong went back to the day when his second brother picked wild osmanthus with him. Ji Yan was about that age. When Xiu Yingxiang walked over, he almost made him think that he was in a dream again. But it is still somewhat different, just like yesterday's osmanthus tea and last night's lychee wine, they always have a sweet taste, which can always make people feel lighter.

Ji Hong couldn't help but put down the book, picked up the coat and put it on his body, and walked outside.

The flower vendor in front was holding a bowl of glutinous rice porridge, and there were three or two diners standing beside him, all of whom raised their noses and wanted to share a spoonful with him, but the flower vendor naturally refused, and took a big mouthful of it when he picked up the bowl, which was dangerous. He choked, wiped his mouth after drinking, felt as if the sweat that was frozen in his body was slowly steaming out, and couldn't help saying comfortably: "It's hot and sour, so happy! It's called fairy porridge, and the whole person is warm!"

The few diners were very dissatisfied when they heard this: "You have become a fairy, and you have made us feel like a fairy!" Then he turned his head and begged Yu Jinnian, "Brother Nian, make us two dishes too. chant?"

Another person also persuaded: "In my opinion, with a skill like yours, Xiaonian, even the chef of the Chunfeng Deyi Building in the city can do it! Otherwise, the medical waiter of Shou Ren Tang will have no problem, so why bother to condescend?" Make a living in this small noodle shop?"

"Bah, bah, bah, if you go to Chunfeng Deyi Building, will a rough guy like you still have money to eat?" The people next to him mocked, and a group of people quickly stopped talking, regretting what they said wrong, and waved their hands repeatedly and said, " Can't eat, can't eat."

"Brother Wang," Yu Jinnian said in a low voice, looking at the flower vendor who had finished his porridge, "You two pots of pine pine, give it to me cheaper!"

Pinus quta is not really a good flower in Daxia. It often climbs on rocky hillsides in the wild. The soft and slender wisteria can be bent into various shapes, such as pellets, towers, and wealthy people wind it upwards to make a screen of vines, and when it blooms, the small flowers look like pentagons. The stars are embellished very beautifully, so it is also called "Jingpingfeng".

Yu Jinnian didn't like peonies and peonies, nor did he like the light and elegant chrysanthemums. On the contrary, lively and beautiful flowers such as winter jasmine, crabapple, and little rose caught his eyes more, so he saw them this morning. The pine pine on the flower vendor's cart couldn't move its legs, and wanted to get two pots to plant in the backyard.

If you say that good-looking people have privileges, the young man's bright eyes always feel a little pitiful when he wrinkles slightly, and he is very cute. The flower vendor's heart was shot, and he was suddenly shaken: "Well, look at you For the sake of this bowl of fairy porridge, I'll give you another five cents!"

As soon as he let go, the other diners who bought flowers and plants became unhappy. They all laughed at him because he ate other people's porridge, and then he was seduced by others, and clamored that it would be fair to give them five cents, which disturbed the people. The flower vendor was neither left nor right, just scratching his head and giggling.

Yu Jinnian achieved his goal of bargaining, so he proudly hugged the potted flowers and lay on the table, watching them fight and laughing softly.

Ji Hong opened the curtain, and saw a pot of pruned and twisted rattan grass that looked like a ball. The grass ball was dotted with a dozen small red or white flowers scattered like stars. The young man hugging flowers and laughing next to him is also as dazzling as the stars in the sky.

He was stunned for a moment, and suddenly a little thing ran past from under the rolling curtain beside him, and jumped straight into the boy's arms.

Ji Hong turned to the side, and saw that the boy pulled off the spike that had rushed towards him, put it on the small stool at hand, and dragged a plate of snacks from the side. Sui Sui's eyes lit up, she grabbed a goldfish fried dumpling and looked at it, ate the big goldfish tail in one gulp, licked up the sugar residue from her mouth, and then slowly shook her feet and said, "Um... Xiaonian Brother, what is that man doing standing there?"

"Huh?" Yu Jinnian looked back in the direction of Sui Sui's finger, and saw a beautiful young man wearing a jade green coat leaning against the wall, his eyes rolled, and he waved his hand at Ji Hong, "Master Ji, are you awake?" He also took a plate of fried sugar dumplings, got up and ran over.

The sunlight coming in from the front hall was very dazzling. Ji Hong squinted his eyes, and his eyes slowly focused on the young man running towards him from the backlight. He could smell the sweet bean paste faintly in his breath, but it was hard to tell whether the smell came from sugar or not. The transmission from the dumpling was from the young man's hand.

Yu Jinnian pulled him to sit down: "Try it."

Ji Hong looked at the plate of six small goldfish in front of him, shaking his head and tail very cutely, he picked up one, hesitant where to eat it. Seeing his frown, Yu Jinnian thought it was a hangover, so he quickly thought of taking out the jujube and yam soup that was stewed soft and fragrant in the small kitchen, and when passing by the backyard, he even grabbed a handful of dried osmanthus from the bamboo board and sprinkled it in.

"But what else is uncomfortable? Headache, chest tightness, bad mouth?" Yu Jinnian pushed the bowl over, and said, "Let's eat some yam soup, soothe your stomach. If you like it sweeter, I still have the jujube brewed earlier nectar."

Snow-white porridge, bright red dates, and gold-sprinkled osmanthus, take a spoonful of it, even if there is no jujube honey, the breath that melts in the mouthpiece is sweet enough, arousing Ji Hong's appetite that has been silent for a long time. When Yu Jinnian ran back to the kitchen to get jujube honey, he was surprised to see that the man had already finished the whole bowl of yam soup, and even ate several goldfish sugar dumplings on the plate.

Ji Hong wiped his mouth lightly, hesitated for a while, and asked in a deep voice: "It's delicious...can I have another bowl?"

Yu Jinnian laughed: "Naturally."

Throughout the morning, Ji Hong sat in the shop like an ordinary diner, watching the people coming and going, listening to the lively conversation, watching the bowls in front of everyone being full and empty, empty and full, watching From time to time, the boy came out to greet each other warmly, satisfying the strange needs of different customers, and brought out bowls of noodles that looked the same but were not the same.

In and out of the room, Yu Jinnian could not help noticing Ji Hong who was sitting in the corner. The man didn't talk or laugh, like an outsider in the world of mortals, quietly observing this small world. He has long passed the age of inquiring into other people's gossip, and he doesn't want to guess the story behind Ji Hong, but maybe he empathizes with him, and he always sees good people so lonely under his nose.

Just like giving some candied fruit to the flower girl in the carriage that day, he also grabbed a plate of melon seeds and walnuts, a plate of winter melon candy and orange peel, and planned to give them to Ji Hong for snacks.

Yu Jinnian recalled meeting a young girl in her previous life. There were always all kinds of snacks hidden in the drawer, and she always had a smile on her face. Take out a bag of snacks to give away, and say, just eat the depression in your heart!

Maybe food really has such a magical charm. Thinking of this, I feel that this plate of nuts may not be enough to offset the unhappiness in the man's heart. Turning around while thinking, Sui Sui followed me at some point , he stole the laziness and used two crackers as bait, coaxing Sui Sui to take the nut plate to Ji Hong first.

Pancakes are one of Suisui's favorite snacks. There is a Sunda Bakery at the entrance of Baihua Hutong, which is diagonally opposite to Yiwan Noodle Shop. The supply of pancakes baked every day is in short supply. It is not difficult to make it. It's just oil and sugar, knead the dough with well water, make a two-part thick round cake, and finally sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake in the oven. When the oven was turned on, the smell of the hot pancakes was longing for the fragrance to waft away. At this time, no matter how many times Yu Jinnian badly asked Sui Sui to run errands for him, the little girl would never complain.

After dispatching Suisui to deliver melon seeds and nuts, Yu Jinnian immediately went into the kitchen to make a special trick for the unhappy ice cube spirit.

He took the dried tofu he bought before, and the new bamboo shoots, and shredded them together with radishes and mushrooms. He crushed the fresh walnut kernels with the back of a spoon, and then took out the soaked beancurd skin, which is for Make a vegetarian oriole.

Vegetarian oriole is vegetarian, which means that this is not real oriole, but a fake meat. It is made of shredded vegetables, fried with soy sauce, sugar, and refined salt, and served as a stuffing. Afterwards, Yu Jinnian cut the bean curd skin into squares, rolled the bean curd skin obliquely into the shredded vegetable stuffing mixed with walnut kernels from the corner of the bean curd skin, rolled it into long strips, and skillfully tied the bean curd roll around the middle to make a "little yellow bean curd". Bird" came.

The knotted little squirrel will be fried again in the oil pan until it is golden and bright like the belly feathers of a squirrel. Finally, there is another process. Stew, once the soup boils, put the fried vegetarian oriole in and simmer for a while, wait for the soup to thicken, drizzle with sesame oil, it's time to take it out and put it on a plate.

There were a few orioles lying alone on the big white porcelain plate. Yu Jinnian had an idea, and quickly scalded a few small green vegetables, and placed them in a circle around the white plate, creating a scene of "orioles holding branches" Come on.

He went out with this vegetarian oriole dish, and cooked a pot of refreshing mint drink, which is a tea drink made from green tea, mint, and nectar.

As soon as she stepped into the front hall, she was taken aback. The little girl who was reluctant to give away a plate of nuts just now was sitting obediently next to the ice cube demon, with her cheeks on her hands and her mouth biting. A winter melon candy, waiting anxiously for Ji Hong to crack walnut kernels for her to eat.

Over there, Ji Hong found the legs of a low stool that he didn’t know where to find. He laid out the walnuts in a row on the ground, and knocked them like knocking on the forehead. There was a crack, and Ji Hong picked it up again, gently squeezed between his fingers gently, and a whole walnut fell into the palm of his hand.

Sui Sui happily took it, stuffed two Meimei into her mouth and ate it, and left the remaining two in the small plate in front of her, and slowly peeled the melon seeds.

Ji Hong rubbed his fingers, a little puzzled: "Why don't you eat?"

Sui Sui swallowed the walnuts, and then she was afraid of Ji Honglai again, shook her head and whispered, "Keep it for Brother Xiaonian. He hasn't eaten since he woke up this morning..."

Ji Hong was silent for a while, then stretched out his hand to touch Sui Sui's head, pushed the small dish towards her, and said, "You eat it, and I'll knock it for your brother Xiaonian again." Then he arranged the dishes on the ground again. Open four walnuts and pick up the bench legs again.

Seeing this, Yu Jinnian walked up with a plain oriole.

Hearing kuang kuang, only three knocks, the last one was knocked crooked, and the disobedient walnut rolled and ran out, Ji Hong stretched out his hand to chase after it. Yu Jinnian also bent down, picked up the escaped Mr. Walnut with no eyes, handed it back with a smile, and said at the same time: "I made a Daosu oriole, do you try it?"

Ji Hong raised his head and saw that it was Yu Jinnian, his expression paused, he was still holding an unrefined bench leg in his hand, he couldn't lift it or let it go.

"I'll try too." Yu Jinnian also sat between the two of them, picked up the walnut that Ji Hong had knocked out from the ground, and pinched it like he did just now. He has always been a walnut killer, and he has never cracked a walnut that is not broken. He was also laughed at by Er Niang for picking up dregs in the walnut skin to eat. I saw Ji Hong's operation just now, but he just squeezed it in a gentle and elegant way. I feel that high-achieving students like myself can definitely master it! ... As a result, he was naturally very angry. The walnut probably had a grudge against him, and he insisted on breaking it into pieces before giving up.

Ji Hong might not be able to stand it any longer, he suddenly stretched out his hand, and exerted a slight force on Yu Jinnian's hand.

"Oh...!" With Yu Jinnian's soft cry, a round walnut kernel appeared. He looked over and over excitedly as if he had made some great discovery.

Sui Sui has already eaten the vegetarian oriole unceremoniously, and Ji Hong also bites into one. There is a world inside the golden bean curd skin. The mushrooms are fresh, the wild rice is crispy, the radishes are colorful, mixed with chopped walnuts, which makes people even chopsticks. I want to lick the sauce on it.

After he finished eating one, he saw that Yu Jinnian was still studying how to squeeze walnuts, and there were already a lot of dead walnuts piled up in front of him. Ji Hong took a plain oriole and said helplessly, "Stop playing. Eat something, and I'll teach you later."

Yu Jinnian nodded unwillingly, but this little bit of trouble came and went quickly, and he felt relaxed again after eating a plain oriole.

On the other side of the noodle shop, the middle-aged man who sells flowers is full of noodles, and most of the cheap flowers and plants in the car have been sold. The remaining few pots of expensive flowers have to be taken to Dongcheng where rich people gather. After eating the noodles, he put the money on the table, looked around as if he was looking for someone, and after a while, he suddenly laughed and raised his hand and said, "Brother Xiaonian, thank you for the fairy porridge!"

Yu Jinnian raised his head, smiled and waved his hands: "Come again next time."

The flower vendor surnamed Wang walked out of a bowl of noodle shop contentedly, and led his proud gray donkey that had been watched all morning. Ji Hong watched him walk away, and thought of something in his heart, and said in a low voice: "That fairy porridge..."

Yu Jinnian: "Huh?"

"It's porridge, but it's actually medicine." Ji Hong frowned slightly, "Do you still understand medical principles?"

Yu Jinnian smiled and was noncommittal.

Ji Hong said again: "A doctor once said that all kinds of food can be used as medicine, and all kinds of medicine can be eaten. The porridge seems to be just a bowl of cheap porridge soup, but it is precisely the medicine that cures the disease. His illness is wonderful."

Yu Jinnian took a sip of the peppermint drink and asked curiously, "Master Ji seems to be someone who understands medicine too? Then I don't know what kind of medicine can cure Young Master Ji's illness?"

Ji Hong didn't answer, but smiled lightly: "I heard that doctors are all bodhisattvas with a heart. Seeing hunger and dying makes one feel sad, and hearing about pain makes one's heart full of melancholy. I have been taken care of by Young Master Yu for the past two days. It seems that Young Master Yu is also so boundless." A benevolent person, if you think about it, can be in a hurry and relieve someone in adversity..."

Yu Jinnian frowned, the more he heard this, the more strange it became. In the past few months at Yiwan Noodle Restaurant, he has not deliberately concealed his medical skills. Occasionally, when a neighbor has a headache but cannot delay the treatment due to various reasons, he will often knock on the door of the noodle restaurant, but most of them are in a hurry. , or are in a state of desperation, and some even have broken pots and smashed dead horses as living horse doctors.

Only Ji Hong acted like a noble son, and first talked with him for half an hour, boasting him so rare in the world that he looked like a reincarnated Bodhisattva, and it was indeed the first time he met him.

"Young master Ji." Yu Jinnian heard that he had no interest in life, and wished he could immediately ascend to immortality, so he put his cheeks on his hands and said sadly, "I only saw that you lacked energy in your heart, and your lungs and kidneys were weak, but I didn't see that you were still articulate There is something wrong with unclear speech." He changed his hand and continued to rest his chin, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Mr. Ji, who was labeled as "kidney deficiency" by the public, took a sip of sweet tea calmly, sitting upright in a solemn and solemn posture, with a white cup in his hands, and a calm demeanor, just like the style of your family. He stared at the cup The tea stalk floating in the middle, sighed lightly, and said: "To tell the truth. Ji...is homeless."

Yu Jinnian: "...???"