On the ninth day of August, Bailu is suitable for marriage.
Early in the morning, Yu Jinnian was woken up by the sound of firecrackers in the street. After waking up for a while, he got up and wanted to go out to have a look. When he opened the door, a chill came in, so cold that he couldn't help shivering. In the corner, there were two pots of flowers and plants that Erniang had been raising, and now they were condensing with dew. He moved the two pots of flowers to a place where he could bask in the sun, and looked up at the sky—seeing that it was autumn, and even the clouds All thinned out.
After washing the rough grass and warming the water in the kitchen, I ran to the front to watch the excitement. There were already many people on the street. After careful questioning, I found out that the owner of a pharmacy on Ye'er Street on the east side of the city married his daughter. I heard that the bride is a talented woman, and the groom is Qin Xiucai from the west side of the city. The person looks like a talented man and a beautiful woman, a wonderful occasion.
Because there were more people watching the excitement on the street, more people came in to eat noodles when they were tired from standing. Yu Jinnian had no choice but to hide back under the back kitchen before seeing the groom come out on a tall horse.
This busy work has been unknowingly busy for more than two hours, and he was finally able to catch his breath at the end of the day. However, there was no excitement to watch at this time. I had time to make something fresh to eat, but now I felt sleepy again and didn't want to move, so I sat in the shop alone, playing with a few chopsticks.
He squinted his eyes, and a boy with short arms and legs slipped in, sat on the seat opposite Yu Jinnian and sighed "Ai, Ai", like a little grown-up. He knew this kid, he lived in Yanzi Lane two streets away, his father was a dentist, he specialized in introducing business and brokering goods, his mother had a hot temper, and often chased this brat for three streets.
Seeing him sighing, Yu Jinnian thought it was funny, so he asked, "What are you worried about?"
Zheng Yu sighed again: "What else can you worry about, my mother is sick again!"
Yu Jinnian: "Are you making your mother angry again?"
"What do you mean I made her angry!" Zheng Yu said angrily, "I don't know what happened to me these two days, and I didn't sleep at night. This morning is fine, so I said a few more words to Ling'er at the door of the house She just came out with a broom and beat people without saying a word! She's so pale in a hurry."
Yu Jinnian gasped, "Who is Ling'er?"
Zheng Yu was immediately taken away: "Just the little granddaughter of Old Man Liu's family, the one with the big eyes, she got a new haircut today."
"Oh?" Yu Jinnian blinked, "You can tease little girls at such a young age, no wonder your mother wants to beat you!"
When Zheng Yu heard this, she hurriedly said: "I didn't! I didn't molested her..." Her voice weakened as she spoke, but her tone was still hurried, "How can you call molesting? Don't talk nonsense, or Linger will ignore me tomorrow. gone."
Yu Jinnian stopped teasing the child, and stood up with a smile and asked him, "Then do you want some noodles?"
"I want it." Zheng Yu said hastily, "My mother was angry and said that she didn't care about my lunch with my father and told me to come to your place to eat noodles. Last time my father came to your place to save some money, Just pick it up from there."
"Okay, I see."
After eating the noodles, Yu Jinnian saw that he was still frowning and his little face was bitter like a bitter gourd, so he grabbed some candied fruit from behind the counter and gave him to eat, while he tidied up the counter carefully.
After being bored with candied fruit for a while, Zheng Yu hesitated and said, "Hey, why don't you do something else, every time my mother gets angry and doesn't eat for a whole day, she just drinks cold water, where is that?" OK? She's tired of eating noodles, so you can make something else, whatever you want, people say that your cooking is delicious. The money...you can deduct it from it, okay?"
It turns out that children are considerate of their mothers.
"What's wrong with that?" Yu Jinnian smiled, he had nothing to do around him, and there were not many people in the shop, so he opened his mouth and asked Zheng Yu to wait at home, and coaxed his mother more on the way. When the side dish is ready, he will pack it in a food box and send it home.
"Hey brother Nian, please bring it later, just for dinner!" Zheng Yu poked his head back and shouted.
After Yu Jinnian accepted the money, Zheng Yu went back happily. He rested until there were few customers in the afternoon, and went into the back kitchen to make preparations.
It just so happened that Aunt Li from the market yesterday came to deliver vegetables, all of which were fresh and neat, but a few cabbages were pressed down and rotted. It was bitter melon, slightly different in shape from the bitter melon he remembered, but the essence was the same, bitter.
Erniang and Sui Sui didn't eat cold melons, and they didn't need them to make sauce. He was worrying about what to do with these two good cold melons. No, Zheng Yu hit the door.
He had met Zheng Yu's mother twice, she was a hot firecracker, and she would catch fire at one point.
Hearing what Zheng Yu said today, I guessed that she must have gotten angry because of women, otherwise, how could the lady of the Zheng family be so angry when she saw an eight or nine-year-old girl. The cause of this incident seems to be that Zheng Yaren of her family had something to say with the flower lady in the Goulan on Qingliu Street, and it was probably that she wanted to redeem the girl as a concubine—but I really don’t blame Yu Jinnian for inquiring about her. Gossip is really a lot of people talking, he didn't want to hear it, and the gossip of the three aunts and six women also went straight into his ears.
But after all, this is a family matter, Yu Jinnian took it easy, speculated that the Zheng family's wife might be angry because of her anger, and after trying to figure out the reason, he prescribed the medicine accordingly... Cough, he ordered the food according to it.
He used this pickled melon to relieve the anger of Mrs. Zheng's family. There is a saying in this medical text that the five flavors enter the stomach, and each of them returns to its liking, so acid enters the liver first, bitterness enters the heart first, sweetness enters the spleen first, pungentness enters the lungs first, saltyness enters the kidneys first, and qi increases over time, which is normal. This cold melon is cold in nature and bitter in taste, which can just relieve the inflammation of the heart and fire, and can also help clear the liver and eliminate troubles.
He did it as he said, first removed the head and tail of the washed bitter gourd, slowly extended it from both ends with a chopsticks spoon, carefully gouged out the inside of the melon, and then boiled it in hot water, omitting the bitter gourd itself of bitter taste. After boiling this side, he took mushrooms, radish and other vegetables, chopped them finely, mixed them with minced meat, and marinated them with scallions, ginger, cooking wine and salt. At this time, there is another little trick, which is to crack a fresh egg into the stuffing, so that the meat stuffing that will be steamed after a while will be more tender and smooth, and the stuffing will not be too loose.
The next step is to stuff the mixed meat stuffing into the cold melon shell. After the two ends are tightly blocked, it has to be steamed on a high-fired stove for about a cup of tea. , sesame oil and sugar to make a thin sauce. After a while, the cold melon was steamed and came out of the cage. He first cut a small piece and tasted it. He found it very refreshing, so he nodded and cut the rest into inch-wide evenly. Thicken the juice and you're done.
The well-filled cold melon is light green and bright, just looking at it is very beautiful. But this dish alone was not enough, so he started the pot again and made a lotus pond stir-fry.
The lotus pond stir-fry dish sounds refreshing and pleasant, but the ingredients are actually easy to use. Just stir-fry lotus root, yam, cloud fungus and lily with oil and salt. There is no need for other sauces to spoil the scenery. Most of these ingredients are heat-clearing and beneficial As for the spleen, lily can soothe the mind and calm the mind. Diners will know how sweet, crisp and refreshing these four ingredients are when they eat it.
With these two dishes, there is still a soup that moistens the throat and warms the stomach. Yu Jinnian calculated that it was still early, so he patiently cooked a celery porridge. This celery is cool in nature, calms the liver and detoxifies, and the rice porridge nourishes the stomach. It is very good for people with a strong anger like Mrs. Zheng's family. , If you have free time, you can drink juice directly from celery at home, which is also an excellent bowl of drink.
After finishing the two dishes and one soup, Yu Jinnian felt that he could do it. He served two other side dishes, and he was very satisfied to put the few dishes into the food box. After notifying Er Niang, he stepped out of the shop Open the door and go to Zheng's house on Yanzi Street.
As soon as he left the house, Sui Sui jumped up and chased him up. The little girl had short arms and legs, and she usually liked to stick to Yu Jinhou's head. Seeing him rarely going out today, she didn't go out to buy groceries, so naturally she wanted to play with her. Sui Sui was wearing the embroidered shoes that Er Niangxin sewed for her. She lowered her head for a while to be careful of the dust on the new shoes, and then had to look up to see if she would bump into someone. She almost fell down and was picked up by Yu Jinnian Get up and hug me.
On the side of the street, there are a group of little dolls dancing flower ropes in a circle, singing nursery rhymes: "The swan goose comes, the black bird returns, the white dew turns into frost and the autumn wind is cool..." Seeing Sui Sui is very envious, but the little girl is naturally timid, At this time, he dared not go to play, but only watched from a distance.
The two listened and watched, and couldn't help slowing down, walking to the door of Zheng's house.
The gate of the Zheng family is in Yanzi Alley, and there are two door gods, Yu Lei and Shen Tu, posted on the door. At this time, the door was half opened, and a dusty carriage was parked at the door, and the boy from the Zheng family was sitting on the threshold, looking bored, and seeing them walking past, one big and one small, jumped up. He waved vigorously.
Yu Jinnian glanced at the carriage, saw a small copper hook on the roof, followed Zheng Yu into the courtyard, and saw Zheng Yaren arguing with an unfamiliar boy under the porch, when they passed by, they could smell A sweet and smoky scent.
When he smelled this pungent fragrance, Yu Jinnian suddenly realized the function of the copper hook on the carriage - it was used to hang bell lilies. The so-called bell lotus is a small pendant shaped like a lotus and wrapped in a hollow bell. The shapes of each house are different. Miss Goulan hangs it on the car when they go out to serve guests. The jingling along the way is very pleasant. Conventional rules.
Just as they were talking, the lady of Zheng's family came out after hearing the noise, her eyes were red, she didn't know whether she was angry or sad, Zheng Yu didn't know whether to comfort her mother or persuade her father, stuck in place scratching her head.
Seeing that a fire was about to break out in the Zheng family's backyard, Yu Jinnian hurriedly brought the vegetables and rice into the house, added a few casual greetings, and ran away with Sui Sui.
After going out the door, a corner of the curtain in front of the carriage was lifted suddenly, revealing a beautiful but frowning face, suddenly seeing someone in front of the carriage, she was stunned for a moment, then nodded awkwardly, Yu Jinnian also nodded back After a ceremony, he said "Hello, girl", and the curtain was hurriedly drawn back.
It was rumored that the flower girl who had a good relationship with Zheng Yaren was a scheming woman, and she wanted to get a branch to marry her, but if she hooked up with Zheng Yaren, she would lose all face and skin, and would be stubborn. People don't let go.
Although Yu Jinnian didn't understand faces, but seeing the sadness on the girl's face was so genuine, she didn't look like that kind of sinister character. He stopped in front of the carriage, took out a few candied fruits from his sleeve, and put them on the carriage curtain gap in the curtain.
"Although it's just some dried fruit, it's still sweet." He smiled.
After a while, when the curtain moved, the few candied fruits were swept in, and there was a faint sound of peeling the sugar paper, and after a while, a slightly trembling voice replied with a smile: "Well, it's very sweet. ... Thank you, brother."
Only then did Yu Jinnian walk back holding Sui Sui's hand.
Everyone in the world has the difficulties of the world, the Erniang in the noodle restaurant has it, the Zheng family's wife has it, the flower girl in the carriage has it, and Yu Jinnian himself has it. He lowered his head to look at the carefree Sui Sui, maybe such a young child also has one? And all he can do is to quietly give her a candy to eat.
When passing through a fork in the Yanzi Alley, a fragrant and sweet smell floated in a trance, seemingly far away, like sweet-scented osmanthus, very attractive.
"It smells so good! Go and see, go and see!" Sui Sui shouted.
Yu Jinnian couldn't help himself to take a look, and led Sui Sui into the back alley of Yanzi: "Okay, listen to Sui Sui, go and have a look."
Yanzi's back alley is much narrower than the front alley, and the bluestone road is still uneven under his feet. He was afraid that Sui Sui would knock her, so he hugged her on his shoulders. After walking like this for a short distance, I saw a bunch of heavy branches coming out of the wall, and it turned out to be an early-blooming golden osmanthus tree with a silvery yellow color.
"Snowflakes come out everywhere and cut the light yellow, and the golden millet and a thousand bran are exposed. How big can it look, and how can it get a lot of fragrance?"
Sui Sui sat on his shoulder, stretched out her hand to pick one, and asked innocently, "What do you mean?"
Yu Jinnian smiled gently: "That is to say, this flower bone is so small, how can it hold so much incense?"
Sui Sui played a rogue because she couldn't understand the poem: "Of course it wants to be so fragrant! Why is there any reason?"
"Suisui is right." Yu Jinnian nodded with a grin, and patted the little girl's head, "How about we pick some back and make sweet-scented osmanthus tea at night?"
Sui Sui clapped her hands and laughed: "Okay, okay, let Mom have a taste too!"
The two of them snatched up a bunch of branches like dogs, picked off the golden and rich flowers, and hid them in their sleeves.
Just as he was picking it happily, Yu Jinnian turned around and suddenly saw a person standing not far away. Coincidentally, he was standing at the door of the owner's house where the sweet-scented osmanthus tree grew, looking at the two of them expressionlessly " Little Thief".
Yu Jinnian said "Oh!" "Sui Sui, we were caught, what should we do?"
Sui Sui was so frightened that she hurriedly rolled up the sleeves where the sweet-scented osmanthus was hidden, and opened her mouth in surprise, the poor little girl took a sip of the cold wind, gulped her saliva, and then hiccupped: "Brother Xiaonian, hiccup! … Will we be beaten?"
Yu Jinnian wanted to laugh when he saw her, but he couldn't steal the sweet-scented osmanthus in the yard, and was so presumptuous in front of the owner's house, so he walked a few steps quickly, and ran to the man leading the horse. This man was quite tall, and he Even if it is straightened, it only reaches the other person's shoulders, so I can only slightly raise my head to look at it.
The man was about twenty years old, wearing a jade-blue long-sleeved gown, with a straight and slender figure, and the light-colored clothes took some blood from his already fair face. He frowned as if he wanted to say something, his lips parted slightly, and then he pursed them heavily. He only lowered his eyes and looked at Yu Jinnian. His expression seemed to be separated by a thin layer of veil, with a kind of repulsiveness The deserted and melancholy outside is really unpredictable.
At this time, the sky was slightly dark, and the fragrance of the osmanthus trees became more and more apparent. In the silence, the thin figure of the man seemed to blend with the dim skylight, like a touch of charm between the distant mountains and thin clouds.
Yu Jinnian was stunned for a moment. He had met many men and women in his previous life, and many of them had good looks, but none of them could be like this man in front of him. It's not unreasonable that the earth is about to fly to immortals immediately.
He was thinking wildly, the man sullenly raised his hand suddenly—as if he was going to hit him.
Subconsciously, Yu Jinnian took a step back, the opponent's arm stopped, and the hand that was almost raised to his face stopped, and then slowly lowered slightly stiffly.
"Sorry my master, the sweet-scented osmanthus flowers in the yard are too fragrant, so I couldn't help but pick a few. If my master is not careful at night, come to the noodle restaurant at the gate of the west city ahead, and I will cook a meal for my master, and say yes …”
The man narrowed his eyes slightly, and heard the boy in front of him say this with a gentle smile.
Seeing the young man raised his arms again, he handed over his hands and made an apology.
In an instant, a sleeve of cinnamon.
In the distance, some children from somewhere are singing again: "The swan geese come, the swan geese come, the white dew turns into frost and the fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus..."