After a simple rebirth

During dinner time, Fourth Aunt came over to call Fu Ying and Fu Zhe. Her family's brother Kui and sister Ling went to help, so the whole family could go to the banquet without worrying about other people's gossip.

The family's home was at the junction of the new and old roads, not far from Fu Ying's home.

When they arrived, the first round of dining had already started. Fu Ying and her friends went to pay their respects first. Fu Ying took out some money and reported Fu's father's name, and saw the man write down Fu's father's name and the amount of the gift with a brush.

Then they waited on the sidelines for round two.

The yard in front of this family's door is not as big as Fu Ying's. There is no table in front of the door, but two large stoves are set up to cook food. On the two tables next to them are large steamers with rice in them. The table a little further away is where the social interactions take place.

His family set up tables on the first floor, and it seemed that there were only seven or eight tables at a time. As for cooking, they borrowed the yard and first floor of the neighbor's house next door.

This is how it is in the countryside. No one goes to a restaurant to have a banquet, and there is no such venue. People set up stoves in front of their own doors to cook. If there is not enough space, they borrow the yards of their neighbors on both sides.

Therefore, the relationship between neighbors must be good. No matter how much they don't get along, they will not really fall out to the point of not communicating with each other.

Here, no matter whether it is a wedding or a funeral, it is busy for three days. The first day is mainly busy in the afternoon, basically buying things, preparing food, and borrowing pots, bowls, and chairs from various houses. Generally, relatives and friends come to help.

The second day is the wedding day. Most meals are taken at noon, but some are taken in the evening. Some are more generous and have two meals, depending on the arrangements of the host.

On the third day, we are only busy in the morning, especially for happy events, which means inviting relatives who have come from afar and friends and relatives who have come to help to have a meal. After the meal, they wash up and go back to their respective homes, and that's it.

Each family sends one person, and those who are very close send more people. The Fu family can only send Fu's mother to help now. Kui's family sends two people, because Kui is the one who directs. He has more experience in how to arrange, when to arrange the dishes and eat, what to buy, and how much to buy. People around him are used to listening to him. As for Lingjie, she is the one who helps on behalf of her family.

Men do heavy work such as moving, cooking, and serving food, while women do washing vegetables, dishes, and serving food, etc. They have their own division of labor. For weddings, each person is given a pack of cigarettes, a towel, and food; for funerals, each person is given a pack of cigarettes, a birthday bowl, and food.

In fact, the really busy time is not long, it is around lunch and dinner time. In the afternoon, when there is free time, many people will gather together to play cards, and some will play mahjong.

This family has a dinner party, and the first round starts at 5:30. The first round is usually for those who come early and the helpers, and the rest are arranged according to the rounds of dishes served as the seats are filled.

While Fu Ying and the others were waiting, some people came to ask for favors and waited for their meals, while others came out after eating their fill.

Seeing that there were two or three empty tables, Brother Kui came out and prepared to invite people in to eat. He happened to see their group and told them to go in and sit down.

When Fu Ying and her friends sat down, the table had not been cleared yet. There was not enough space for them all together to fill a table, so they had to wait for someone.

This is an old-fashioned eight-person table, a square table with four rectangular stools. Generally, 10 people can sit at the table, so fat people can sit with two, and thin people can sit with three. Children within one meter are not counted in the number of people, unless a parent brings three children, then they can sit on one stool by themselves, and there is no need to add others.

Fu Ying and Li Xingying sat on one side, Fu Zhe and Li Xingyun sat on one side. Originally, Fourth Aunt was sitting on a stool by herself, but then a family with children came, so Fourth Aunt came over and sat next to them.

There were two adults in this family with four children. The adults looked like the grandmother and mother. I wonder if they were all brothers and sisters. The oldest one was probably in junior high school, and the youngest one was about one year old and needed to be held in the arms to eat. The older boy sat with two elementary school students, while the grandmother and mother held the children and sat on one side.

In this way, their table was large enough and no more seats were needed. As expected, some people who missed their table would pass by and leave if they felt it was not a good place to sit.

At this time, a young wife came over quickly to collect the dishes and chopsticks, wiped them, and then an aunt who was about the same age as Fu's mother came over and quickly distributed chopsticks and bowls to them according to the number of people.

Fu Ying took a look and found that the last round of people had basically finished and the tables had been almost cleared. There were still one or two tables that were not full, so they should be able to eat soon.

Fu Ying was secretly looking forward to it. Who isn’t a food lover?

The food and taste of my hometown, if rice noodles are ranked first, then this big bowl of wine has to be ranked second. Fu Ying never understood, is it because the big pot rice has heavy ingredients, how can the dishes in the big bowl of wine be so delicious!

After a while, the first dish was served, which was fried peanuts.

The banquets in the countryside here are not so particular. They don't specifically require four meats and four non-vegetarian dishes. Nor do they have nice names, such as colorful platter or festive feast. As long as there are abundant dishes, including cold dishes, meat dishes and soup dishes, it's fine.

The specific dishes are affected by the host’s financial resources and the season, and people buy whatever is available.

For example, in his previous life, Fu Zhe got married in the first month of the lunar year, so when Fu's mother was booking the banquet, she could only choose seasonal vegetables, such as bamboo shoots, cabbage, and radishes.

But some dishes are basically a must-have, such as the fried peanuts just served. This is the first dish, which is served first for everyone to enjoy.

Although fried peanuts are just one dish, they are also a cold dish, which is a test of the chef's skills. The peanuts are washed and dried one day in advance, fried at high temperature that morning, and sprinkled with salt and mixed evenly after they are out of the pan. So how to keep the crispy taste and not burn it when serving after it cools down really depends on the chef's experience and touch.

Fu Ying took a bite and found the saltiness was just right and the peanuts were crunchy. To use the words of a drunkard, these peanuts are delicious when eaten with alcohol.

Just then, a big brother came over to serve drinks. Seeing that most of the people at the table were children, he gave them all drinks. Fu Ying took it and thanked him.

The family is willing to pay for the red Wanglaoji. The drinks also reflect the host's financial strength and importance. The wealthy buy more expensive canned drinks like Wanglaoji, as well as six walnuts. Those who don't want to spend so much money will choose yogurt in cartons, or even cartons of unknown brands, just to ensure that the guests have something to drink.

A custom here is that the banquet is mainly pork. The pig is killed when the banquet is held, so the banquet usually uses the meat of a big pig. It is a bit like the pig-killing dishes in the north, so this may be one of the reasons why the wine bowl is delicious. There is no meat processing plant here, which specializes in buying and selling meat. They set a date, ask whose pigs are ready to be slaughtered, make a reservation in advance, and then bring them over to slaughter the pigs and pay according to the market price.

After a while, the fried pork with bean sprouts was served. Fu Ying took a chopstick and it was delicious! The bean sprouts here are yellow bean sprouts, which are relatively thick and long. They are super fragrant when fried. The fresh pork is cut into thin slices and fried to be fragrant. It is even more fragrant when soaked in bean sprouts and lard!

The sister who was serving rice came to their table, and Fu Ying felt that she could eat a few more bites with the rice.

Here, there is a special person who serves rice with a steamer or a large basin, and goes back and forth between the tables. If he sees someone with less rice in their bowl, he will ask if they want more. The more enthusiastic ones will just give you a spoonful without asking.

There were two spoonfuls of rice in Fu Ying's bowl. Fu Ying kept saying that it was enough. Even if she couldn't finish it, she had to leave some space for some vegetables.

Another dish was served, cold-mixed zheergen, a dish with a very southwestern flavor.

Houttuynia cordata is a vegetable that grows between ridges of the ground. It can also be understood as a weed. People who don't know it really think it is a weed. The dried Houttuynia cordata is also known as Houttuynia cordata. It has medicinal effects, but people in the southwest eat it as a daily vegetable. For example, cold Houttuynia cordata and Houttuynia cordata dip.

Those who like it, such as Fu Ma, want to eat it every other day, even if it's dried zheergen. Those who hate it, such as people from other provinces, can't accept it because they are not used to the taste and they shout that they can't accept it and resist it resolutely.

Fu Ying is the type who doesn’t mind having it, she’ll eat it if it’s available. But she really likes the cold-mixed Houttuynia cordata in Jiu Da Wan. She doesn’t like the Houttuynia cordata, but she likes the kelp mixed with it.

This kind of kelp is not the green and thick kelp in the sea, but the kelp produced in inland lakes. To be precise, it is seaweed. People in inland areas yearn for the sea and insist on calling it kelp.

Fu Ying has always liked eating this seaweed, especially when mixed with Houttuynia cordata, it is super delicious. Among the dishes in Jiu Da Wan, Fu Ying thinks that the seaweed mixed with Houttuynia cordata ranks first in terms of taste, and the fried pork ranks second.

Just then, a big brother suddenly came to the three children and asked them to squeeze together. He was going to sit down and eat together.

Fu Ying was speechless. The next round would be coming soon. Why did they have to squeeze in here? And some dishes had already been served.

When the mother saw the older brother sitting down, she didn't know what to say, so she asked one of the children to sit between her and the grandmother so that it would not be so crowded.

This big brother has typical characteristics of a local. He is extremely sociable. If he doesn't have a bowl, he will ask someone to get him one. Even while he is eating, he will not forget to call someone to fill his rice bowl. He will thank them loudly and continue eating.

The dishes continued to be served, including pork belly, stir-fried bacon with garlic sprouts, stir-fried meat with dried bamboo shoots, sauerkraut soup, stir-fried potato strips, mushroom soup, carrot and pig's trotter soup, and red rice (glutinous rice).

The last soup is the crispy pork and pea tip soup, which is made from the tenderest part of the pea leaves. It is very sweet and fresh when cooked into soup.

Fu Ying likes this very much, one is that this soup is very sweet, and the other is that she likes to eat small crispy pork. Sliced ​​small crispy pork is boiled in the soup and dipped in a little chili sauce. It is delicious and goes well with rice.

In fact, Fu Ying didn't know whether it was called Jiu Da Wan or Jiu Da Wan. The name was passed down orally, not in writing. If it was Jiu Da Wan, not many people drank, but if it was Jiu Da Wan, there were often more than nine dishes. For example, this meal had eleven dishes, and when Fu Zhe got married, it seemed that there were twelve dishes.

Those who eat fast have already finished, such as Fu Zhe and his friends. As for the eldest brother, he is like a whirlwind, picking up everything into his mouth, chewing it twice and swallowing it.

Fu Ying told herself that she couldn't be a mysophobe. It was good enough to have a big bowl of wine. She hadn't had that in her last life! Food was important.

Fu Ying quickly picked up a few pieces of food with chopsticks and put them into her bowl. After taking a few bites, she immediately put the bowl down and left after finishing her meal.

A group of them left the room where the wine table was set up. When they came out, they happened to meet Fu's mother, who asked them if they had eaten. Fu Ying nodded, and when asked if she had eaten, she said she would go in and find a seat to sit down and eat.

Fu Ying and her friends went back home. Fu Ying got some coal ready and boiled some water to prepare for a bath in the evening. School would start tomorrow, so taking a bath today was just the right day.

After Fu's mother came back, Fu Ying asked her to help set the alarm clock and then prepared to rest.