Zhang Yun's ancient life

The two came to the kitchen with a bucket, Aunt Dong asked them to pour the bean-water mixture in the bucket into the pot, and then started to heat it up. After the bean water in the pot boiled, skim off the foam floating on it with a spoon come out.

After boiling for about two or three minutes, Aunt Dong took out all the firewood in the stove at the bottom of the pot. After the temperature in the pot cooled down, she took a bowl from the pot table and dipped the liquid in the bowl with the cooker. , evenly on the soybean water mixture in the pot.

Seeing that Zhang Yun was curious about the contents of the bowl, Uncle Guan said to him: "Your Aunt Dong put Lushui into the pot, and that stuff can solidify the bean juice, but Lushui is poisonous, and if you take too many prescriptions, it will poison people." , If you put less, you can’t order tofu, this amount can only be mastered by those who make tofu all the year round.”

Zhang Yun nodded when he heard the words. Aunt Dong had already finished ordering Lushui and said to them: "Brother Guan, the bean juice in this pot has to solidify for a while. I'm going to wash the gauze. Help me go to the yard." Bring the tofu rack here."

Uncle Guan and Zhang Yun came to the yard upon hearing the words, and brought over the two wooden shelves standing by the wall. Inside the house, Aunt Dong was vigorously scrubbing the white cloth in her hands. Seeing them coming in, she said, "Please come and help me."

When Uncle Guan and the others heard the words, they put the wooden shelf next to the stove, and Aunt Dong handed them the gauze in their hands, and asked the two to unfold the cloth, stretching one side to unfold the cloth, and then led them to the stove.

Zhang Yun looked at the cloth in his hand. It was very thin and translucent, but very resilient. It was a bit like the cage cloth we use when steaming things, but it was longer than the cage cloth, about one meter.

Aunt Dong asked them to lift the cloth to the top of the iron pot, and she lifted the lid of the pot. The bean juice in the pot had already changed its shape, becoming a ball of cotton wool floating in the water.

Aunt Dong scooped out the cotton-like stuff with a ladle, and poured it into the center of the cloth that Zhang Yun and the others were holding. A large amount of water quickly escaped from the gaps in the cloth, leaving only the cotton-like stuff in the air. brie.

Repeated this several times, when about half of the contents of the pot were separated, Aunt Dong put down the ladle in her hand, walked to the opposite side, lifted a spare iron pot, and put two wooden sticks on the side of the pot , and then put the wooden shelf that Uncle Guan and the others brought from the yard on the wooden bar, took the cloth that Zhang Yun and the others were pulling over, folded it left and right to wrap the cotton-like substance inside, and put it into a rectangular Inside the wooden frame, a thick wooden plank was built on it, and then Zhang Yun and Uncle Guan worked together to lift a large stone weighing about [-] to [-] kilograms and press it on the thick wooden plank.

Afterwards, Aunt Dong took out another big white gauze and took Uncle Guan and Zhang Yun to repeat the series of actions just now. When the second boulder was pressed onto another plank, Aunt Dong said to them: " Alright, now just wait for the stone to press out the water in the bean curd, it will take about half an hour, let's go to the Westinghouse, my head has already made tea, and I'm waiting for you to go there."

The two came to the West Room with Aunt Dong, and drank tea and chatted with Uncle Dong. After about half an hour, it was already dark, and Aunt Dong got up and said to them: "It's almost time, let's go see the tofu Are you ready?"

Everyone followed her to the kitchen, Zhang Yun stopped Uncle Guan and moved down the boulder on the wooden board, Aunt Dong lifted the wooden board, took off the wooden frame outside, and wrapped the gauze Untie it, and a whole rectangular piece of tofu soon appeared before people's eyes.

Aunt Dong took out a kitchen knife, carefully divided a whole piece of tofu into bowl-sized pieces, and put them in the wooden bucket that Uncle Guan brought over.

After dividing one piece, he went to divide another whole piece. Soon the two buckets were full. Zhang Yun carried them to the carriage with the buckets. Uncle Guan and Uncle Dong went to say goodbye again. The carriage returned home with its mount.

When Zhang Yun and Uncle Guan arrived home, dinner was ready. Zhang Yun carried two buckets of tofu into the kitchen, while Uncle Guan unloaded the carriage into the yard, and led the two mules and horses to the barn.

After dinner, Aunt Guan came to the kitchen, took the tofu out of the barrel, put it in a basin prepared aside, set aside some to put on the chain, and put it in a cool place in the yard for freezing. Tofu, the remaining ones were marinated with coarse salt and saved for Chinese New Year and New Year's Eve.

On the day of Xiaonian, Guan Jing came to the county in Uncle Guan's car. After getting off the car, the uncle was going to pick up goods, and told him to wait for him at the east end of the county when he returned.

Guan Jing agreed, and first went to the tailor shop to pick up the clothes. After the clerk brought the clothes, Guan Jing took a general look and found that there was nothing wrong with it, so she paid the rest of the manual money, thanked the shopkeeper, and picked up the clothes. Put on clothes and go out to visit the market.

I have bought almost all the things at home, and the rest are firecrackers and fireworks. Those things have always been bought by Uncle Guan. I believe my father will definitely buy them back soon.

Guan Jing first went to the grain store to weigh four catties of flour, and then walked all the way, planning to buy some mutton from the mutton shop in front of the market.

Guan Jing carried the clothes and the flour sack, and kept changing hands left and right, wondering if she had been too lazy recently, and now she felt tired even holding such a little thing.

Stopped and walked to the butcher's shop, heard someone arguing there from a distance, the voice sounded familiar, Guan Jing followed the sound and saw Guan Rong standing in front of the butcher's shop with arms crossed He said loudly to the boss: "What mutton costs 38 Wen a catty. I bought it from you a few days ago and it was still 35 Wen a catty. Do you think I am so foolish?"

The butcher shop owner looked at the teapot-shaped Guan Rong and was not frightened by her attitude at all, but said helplessly: "Madam, you also said that it happened a few days ago, what time is it now, It’s a new year, and every household, rich and poor, has to buy some meat and go back to make dumplings. I have to spend a lot of money to buy a sheep. If the price does not increase, do I have to go to drink the Northwest Wind? .”

Guan Rong seemed to have something to say, but the butcher said to her behind, "Brother Jing, are you here to buy meat?"

Guan Jing heard the words and walked over and said, "Yes, Brother Sheng, I want to buy some mutton and go back to make dumplings."

Guan Rong turned her head abruptly when she heard the voice, and saw Guan Jing standing behind her. She seemed to be very concerned about being seen as preoccupied by him. Guan Rong blushed and turned away without saying a word.

Seeing that she was ignoring her, Guan Jing didn't bother to talk to him or her. She walked up to the counter of the butcher's shop and said to the boss, "I'm really sorry, Brother Sheng, I messed up a business."

The butcher shop owner smiled and said, "It's okay, I'm the only one who sells mutton on this street, and she will come back if she wants to buy."

"That's good, please help me weigh three catties of mutton, half of which is thinner and half of which is fatter." Guan Jing said, "Okay, I'll cut some meat from your back, that piece is the thinnest, But Xiaojing, if you want to make dumplings, you should make them fatter." The butcher shop owner said while weighing Guan Jing's meat.

Guan Jing heard the words and replied: "The fat ones are for making dumplings, and the thin ones are for stewing and eating."

Brother Sheng said the meat was finished and handed it to Guan Jing, Guan Jing paid the money, took the meat and put it in a basket, thanked the butcher shop owner, then left the market and went to the east end of the county .

When I arrived at the east entrance of the county, I saw Uncle Guan and several villagers waiting for him in a carriage. Guan Jing put all the things in his hand on the carriage, greeted the neighbors, and everyone got into the carriage together. , rushed to the town.

After returning home, Guan Jing distributed the clothes to the family, and then began to mince meat, knead noodles, and make dumplings with her mother.

When Zhang Yun came back, the dumplings had already been made. Seeing that he was back, Aunt Guan put the dumplings in the pot and said to Zhang Yun, "Go into the house to clean up, and come out to eat dumplings later."

Zhang Yun went back to the house, wiped his face, and changed another piece of clothes. When he came out, the dumplings were just served. Zhang Yun took an empty bowl, put some soy sauce and vinegar in it, and asked the people in the room: "I'm going to hammer a few cloves of garlic into the seasoning bowl, is there anyone who won't eat it?"

Someone in the room replied: "Have a mallet, eat it all."

Zhang Yun brought the prepared seasoning bowl into the room, and Uncle Guan moved an empty seat from the table and asked him to put down the seasoning bowl.

Zhang Yun put the seasoning bowl in his hand on the table, then turned onto the kang, sat down cross-legged, and began to eat.

Aunt Guan's craftsmanship is very good, the dumplings are very delicious, the skin is thin and the filling is big, and there is broth in it after a bite. Zhang Yun only feels that the nose is full of fragrance, and the mouth is lingering. He takes one bite, one person After eating a big plate, he patted his bulging belly and said with a long sigh of relief: "I've made it, I've made it, now I won't be able to sleep again tonight."

Uncle Guan heard the words and said: "Then it's just a matter of time to go to the field with me for activities, and accompany me to send the Stove King and Grandma Stove King away."

Sending off the Kitchen God in the new year is a folk custom for a long time. It is said that on the night of the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God and the Kitchen God’s grandma will go back to the Heavenly Court together to report to the Jade Emperor the achievements and demerits of the world this year. If you say good things, you will put sesame candy on their mouths when sending them off, so that they can say more sweet words in the sky.

One of Zhang Yun's favorite things to do when he was young was to steal the sesame candy made by his mother to sacrifice to the Kitchen God. Although every time he was discovered, he would inevitably be lectured, but when he gave the Kitchen God the sesame candy in the second year It will still be a lot less.

Zhang Yun and Uncle Guan came to the kitchen and took the New Year pictures of Grandpa and Grandma the Stove God that had been pasted on the stove. Then Uncle Guan dipped his hands in the sesame candy that Aunt Zhan Guan sent and painted them on the grandpa and grandma of the Kitchen God. On the mouth of the grandma, she painted and said: "Grandpa and Grandma the Kitchen God have offered sesame candy. I hope you will go to heaven to say good things, and you will be safe next time. When you return to the sky, you should say more good things and less bad things." ah."

After wiping the sesame candies, Uncle Guan came to the yard with the New Year pictures, while Zhang Yun took out a lot of hay and horse feed from the stables, piled them up in the center of the yard and set them on fire.

Uncle Guan threw the New Year pictures in his hands into the fire, and then threw some dried fruit snacks into it as a tribute. When the fire was about to burn out, he led Zhang Yun to kowtow a few times, and then got up while carrying the dirt on his body. On the one hand, he asked Zhang Yun: "How is it? Do you still feel exhausted after a lot of activities?"

Zhang Yun rubbed his stomach and returned: "I ate too much, but I still have some."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Guan brought out the chessboard and said: "It's okay, then go to bed later, we two will play a few games today."