Chapter 13: Cloud Shadow in September 1993
Cloud Shadow in September 1993
The autumn wind has not yet begun to blow, and the villagers have already started to dig ginseng potatoes as food in the fields. The ginseng potatoes in the new year are growing very well. Others dug up the ginseng potatoes in the fields. The smallest ones are the size of eggs, and the bigger ones are bigger Big fist, that's what I've been eating all the time.
When the ginseng potatoes were just dug out, they were very fresh, rich in water, and the skin was thin and tender. It felt very similar to new potatoes, and the sour taste was light inside. Rub it on the linen clothes and put it in the mouth, take a bite and the juice is overflowing. The children also like to eat those small ginseng potatoes as snacks.
Roasting fresh ginseng potatoes in the fire is also a rare delicacy. It is full of starch and has a unique flavor compared to baked potatoes.
God knows why the freshly harvested ginseng potato is so tender and delicate, but after a period of time, the fibers inside become inexplicably rough, and the sour taste that grows with storage time is really annoying.
It is only now that I know that the freshly harvested ginseng has almost no sour taste, and it is much more delicious than the ginseng that has been stored for a long time.
The ginseng potatoes were being dug up from other people's fields, and I couldn't help but start harvesting ginseng potatoes from my own field.
Compared with the barren soil in their fields that is heavily hardened and requires tools to slowly excavate ginseng potatoes, the soft soil on my side is simply too easy to handle. Standing next to the ginseng potato plant, I bend over and grasp its sturdy trunk. Pulled, the developed root system was peeled off from the fallen soil with a plump ginseng potato.
"Wow!!" Several of the onlookers were as wide-eyed as I was!
We were all stunned.
This is too exaggerated, isn't it? I couldn't even pull its entire root system out of the soil, the largest four or five ginseng potatoes were almost bigger than the sweet potatoes I usually see at the vegetable store, and I couldn't believe it was really ginseng potatoes. Not to mention the bunch of smaller ginseng potatoes on the root system a little further away, they look small, but they are all bigger than a fist!
I could barely lift the tubers from a ginseng potato.
The onlookers exclaimed again and again, and the others were almost running to tell the truth. People who were busy in other farmlands put down their work and ran to watch the fun.
There is no doubt that the village was a sensation!
I bent down and went out to clean up the ginseng potatoes in the soil. The village, men, women and children all came to watch. They had eaten ginseng potatoes all their lives. It’s not that they have never dug bigger and more ginseng potatoes from the wild, but they have never seen anyone who can grow them. One ginseng potato grows so many and so plump tubers!
In the envious eyes of people, I gathered the harvest of one ginseng potato into a pile. This is the output of other ginseng potatoes that can't keep up, almost enough for me to eat for half a month. The villagers generally do not dig out all the ginseng potatoes at once, because once the ginseng potatoes are dug out, they will quickly lose water and become hard and sour. Therefore, from the end of summer to the whole autumn, everyone will harvest the ginseng potatoes every three to five, and keep it to the greatest extent. of fresh flavor.
The output of my forty-nine ginseng trees is estimated to be enough for me to eat for several years, but the ginseng cannot be stored for that long. The rest were harvested one after the other and stored in my little shack.
No one else has been in my shack. They don't know how much my shack has dug down and how many ginseng potatoes can be stored.
The ginseng potatoes I hid in the shack are all meant to be taken to the other world, and the same goes for those dried lilac seeds. Before the end of the month, I stepped up the harvesting of yellow lilac seeds. I picked a large plastic bag full of fresh fruits. After the Shimen opened at night, I threw them and a lot of ginseng through the Shimen.
More than 50 catties of ginseng potatoes, 5 catties of dried fruit, and nearly 10 catties of fresh yellow lilac seeds were brought back to my own home. Considering that they died the moment they crossed the Shimen, they could not be stored for a long time. Also can only deal with them overnight.
Even if 50 pounds of ginseng is exhausted, I can't mash it all overnight to make bread, so I just cut them all into pieces, boiled them, and hung them on a plastic sheet outside to make them like dried sweet potatoes. Stuff, deal with it a second time later.
I put a small amount of golden lilac seeds in a canning jar and sold them as dried fruit like last time, while the bright yellow and sour dried fruit and fresh fruit were all washed and boiled in a pot, boiled first. Boiled until pulpy in the middle of the night, then added a lot of sugar, and kept stirring to make a thick jam.
The first time I made jam, it was alright. The taste was sweet and sour. The sesame seeds also retained their original flavor. It was quite successful. I poured them all into hot water canned jars and waited for the label to be placed on the shelf. On sale.
When my parents woke up at five o'clock in the morning, I had already filled the first pot of jam. I just boiled a whole pot of sixteen bottles of jam, and each bottle was going to be sold for 8 yuan, minus the cost of sugar. Money, you can earn a hundred dollars.
My parents have absolutely no idea where I got the dried fruit and so many ginseng potatoes in the middle of the night. They asked me, but I didn't want to explain to them at all. I just told them that there was something to eat and sell, don't ask more of.
The two of them ate breakfast suspiciously, and every time they wanted to ask me, I said that there would be nothing left to eat, and they reluctantly agreed not to ask further.
Their breakfast today is porridge, pickles, ginseng potato chips with jam. The sweet and sour jam is soft and glutinous on the ginseng potato chips. It is even more delicious than dessert. Both are fragrant.
The success of the first pot of jam gave me a lot of confidence. I went to school in the morning to ask for leave, bought more sugar, and ran home to make jam.
My parents didn't stop me when they saw it. They knew that I was not expected to go to school, and usually I obediently go to school and never arrive late or leave early. It's not a big deal to ask for a vacation every now and then.
Anyway, the small shop was cold and the two of them had nothing to do, so they helped me to cook the jam. My dad was more powerful, and he used a rolling pin to stir hard in the big pot. The jam was more even and stickier than the first time I cooked it myself. Thick and looks better too.
The book I read said that the amount of water in the jam determines the shelf life of the jam, and the viscous jam with high sugar content can even be stored for more than ten years if it is sealed well enough.
The quality of the jam we made the second time was quite good, although only twelve jars were made, it was noticeably more mellow and sweeter.
There is not much left in the third pot of yellow lilac, and it is boiled with the remaining sugar to make a jam. It can be packed into two cans. Because it is more skilled, this time it is the most evenly boiled and has the best appearance. We leave it here. eat by yourself.
Yellow lilac jam is very delicious on ginseng and potato bread. It is a perfect match with millet and cowpea porridge. If you have to add a boiled egg and some side dishes, it is definitely a hearty and delicious breakfast. Sometimes I am too lazy to cook at night. When it comes to dinner, thanks to my parents who are not picky eaters, the various meals I half-learn and half-create every day make them full.
The commissary's business is still very light, but this time the new dried lilac fruit sold out quickly, and even the jam was selling well. Everyone who bought it said it was good, and some people even bought it for relatives to taste.
Several neighbors who have bought dried fruit and jam are very curious about what "Huang Lizi" is and where it comes from. I can't tell at all. I only tell them that it is a wild fruit produced in the mountains. It may be the season next year. Also, they even looked forward to it after hearing it, and they all told me that they would buy dried fruit next year.
I have eaten a lot of liangzi. In my opinion, its sweet and sour taste is not as good as that of hawthorn, but it is somewhat similar to the sour jujube we have here. Its finely crushed seeds are a bit like "kiwi fruit", but they are more crunchier and more fragrant than kiwi fruit seeds.
I haven't eaten kiwi, and I don't even know what kind of fruit it is, but it doesn't prevent me from remembering to prune and fertilize those lilac bushes, hoping that they will bear more abundant fruit next year.
Another thing I didn't expect was that our dried ginseng potato was sold.
I thought I had to make ginseng potato bread before I could sell it, but I didn't expect that an old lady in the neighborhood would become interested after seeing the piles of dried ginseng potato on the plastic sheet of my house, and came up with this idea. Money to buy home cooking.
When I found out, my mother had already sold five kilograms of dried ginseng potato. She said that Mrs. Liu in the alley would pick up the dried ginseng potato and taste it, and then buy it. The 2 yuan per pound of dried ginseng potato was bought back by the old lady. The pork and vermicelli are stewed together. It is said to be very fragrant. The sour taste is completely covered up. It is more fragrant than radish and potatoes. That night, it was also called a full five pounds.
My mother was still a little uneasy, and asked me if it was a loss for me to sell a pound of dried ginseng potato for two yuan. She knew that I could only make a pound of dried ginseng potato after steaming more than four pounds of ginseng potato. For four cents, she regretted it a little and wanted to raise the price, but she was afraid that no one would buy it.
"It's okay, the rest are a little more expensive. Anyway, there are not many left. We can't sell them. Let's eat them ourselves." Jin ginseng dried potato, the remaining four dollars a pound, the food is so small, no one wants us to eat it by ourselves.
I don’t understand how some people don’t like the soft texture of potatoes, and like to eat dried ginseng and potatoes with a sour taste. When I asked Mrs. Liu, she shook her head, and even said that we young people don’t know how to cook, and the potatoes are soft. It's sloppy, even if it has been fried specially, the taste of the stewed meat is far worse than that of white radish and Manjing. Now that the local good radish has not yet come down, these "dried kohlrabi" are good ingredients for stewed meat this season.
I still don't understand, I said that I also eat dried ginseng and potatoes, and the stir-fried vegetables and stews are always sour and astringent. Can this stuff be delicious?
"Little Housheng, it seems that you won't be able to open your eyes." Mrs. Liu decided to invite me to her house for a meal, and I gave her the remaining four kilograms of dried ginseng potatoes from my family as a gift. and tuition fees.
We lived in an alley for so many years, and it was the first time I went to her house.
She has a grandson who is two years older than me. She is a sophomore in high school. She can often be seen outside, but we never said hello. He was surprised to see me suddenly at home this time.
Mrs. Liu's family has three sons and two daughters. Their living standards are much better than mine. The kitchen is spacious and the stove is clean.
The old lady really had two strokes. I was in a good mood today and wanted to show off my skills. First, I soaked the dried ginseng potato bought from my house in warm water, and then used a large steamer to steam the soft dried ginseng potato again. Let the dried ginseng and potatoes lose their excess moisture and dry them out, and then fry them in a frying pan.
Because a little lard of her own cooking was added to the vegetable oil, it tasted very fragrant. Soon a strip of dried ginseng potato was fried to a golden brown. She pinched two for me as snacks. The sour taste of potatoes, on the contrary, is a little tough because of the fiber inside, which is very delicious. Mrs. Liu's grandson also sneaked in and took a bowl and put it in a small bowl, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and then went back to do his homework contentedly.
Mrs. Liu said that she often fried potato fries and sweet potato fries as snacks for her grandson. This "rutabaga" is starchy and delicious when fried.
Such delicious fried ginseng fries, it's no wonder that they will be fragrant when they are stewed. Today, Mrs. Liu made a lot of money and made our local famous dish "Pork Ribs Stewed Vegetables", with large pieces of pork ribs and fragrant ones. The sauerkraut is so fragrant and fragrant. The fried ginseng fries replace the potato pieces in the stewed vegetables to absorb the soup and become very full. The ginseng fries are powerful because they have more fiber than potatoes and sweet potatoes, and they are clearly stewed crisply. Rotten, it almost melts in your mouth, but when you use a spoon to mix the stewed vegetables, it will not be mixed into a paste. With one chopstick, you can put the ginseng fries and sauerkraut into a rice bowl, and serve with a piece of crispy spare ribs. , it's simply unbelievable.
Mrs. Li's son and daughter-in-law grinned happily. I heard that the ginseng fries were bought at my house. The ginseng fries are delicious. They are more fragrant than potatoes when they are added to the stewed vegetables. Mrs. Li's grandson also had a great appetite. He even ate three bowls of rice, thanks to his physique that he didn't get fat. Otherwise, with such a grandma who can cook, ordinary people would really have to feed them into balloons.
It was my first time to eat with someone I didn’t know very well, but the food tasted really good. I’ve also eaten restaurant food, but it’s too far from the food from Mrs. Li’s house. I even think Today, this table of dishes is enough to open a restaurant.
After I was full, Mrs. Li also asked me to bring a bowl of pork ribs stew to my parents. My parents also ate it very deliciously. I heard that I wanted to learn how to cook with Mrs. Li, and I was looking forward to it. , repeatedly said that if I can't get into high school, I can learn the skills of Mrs. Li and open a small restaurant.
I really wanted to learn how to cook with Mrs. Li, so when I got home, I took a notebook and recalled the order of Mrs. Li’s cooking and took notes. Two times, I plan to try it twice first, and then bring a gift to ask Mrs. Li to learn some real skills after I am familiar with it.
Stewing dried ginseng potato as dried radish into the meat is really fragrant, especially after steaming and drying it once and then deep-frying, it completely removes its own sour taste and absorbs the broth.
Jam is not in line with the eating habits of locals, but after all, our family sells it cheap, and the sweet and sour taste of yellow lilac is really popular, so all 28 bottles of jam were sold in less than a month. Going out, not only did our family have a little more money for food and water, but my father and my mother no longer sighed because things were difficult to sell or had no money to buy.
When I passed through Shimen at the end of the month, I took three oversized woven bags. The season for yellow lilac seeds is coming to an end. I want to bring back some more ginseng potatoes and sell them in the canteen.
Not only the woven bag, but this time I also took three ham sausages with their skins peeled off. They are gifts I brought to the big dog in the village. We are old friends. They help me take care of the fields and the hut and save me a lot. To worry about it, I could only give it some ginseng potato or a little bit of catfish and shrimps. Now I have plenty of money, so I have to thank it.
The solidified time returned to flow, I stuffed the woven bag into the low door of the hut, and whispered, "Hello~Hello~".
The big dog doesn't even have a name. As the only dog in the village, its name is "dog". I used to think that "dog" was its name, but after I learned more about it, I realized that it was just a general term.
I don't know where the big dog is patrolling and soon heard the movement and trotted over. It's really big. When I'm bored, I will grab its two front paws to make it stand up, and its two paws are on my shoulders. On, can be three heads taller than me.
The peculiar aroma of the ham in my hand quickly attracted its attention. It tilted its big head and smelled it by my hand, and its big broom-like tail was shaking excitedly. It was obviously very fond of this smell.
But the big dog is really a gentleman. He never takes food from others. I handed the sausage to him. He took it out, raised his head and swallowed a few mouthfuls.
The sausages tasted good, and the big dog devoured it, so he licked my hands once before giving up.
I want to sleep in the hut, but the big dog is in a good mood. I guess he wants me to accompany him and rub his head against my legs. I have to sit on the stone that is usually used as a stool by the door and hug him, so as to cultivate a relationship with him.
The night wind was very cool, and it was very comfortable when it blew on my head. It was not too hot to hold a big dog with a thick mane. When I looked up, I could see the stars and the terrifyingly large moon.
In my old world, the moon was just a shiny thing the size of a beer cap in the sky. In this world, it's much bigger, shining almost bigger than a jeep tire, blurry outlines of the atmosphere, dark green shades of desert forests, azure oceans and even white The glaciers of the glaciers were all in sight, and I even suspected that I was looking at another Earth from outer space.
There is no doubt that the "moon" above my head is a planet with life. If I hadn't looked up at the moon, my eyes would have been sore. I really doubted that if I was careful enough, I would see the traces of the city above.
Will people live on the "moon"?
I didn't know that even intelligent beings could look completely different from humans. Besides, I'm not on Earth, and it's not the moon at all.
The big dog got up after being scratched and continued to go to the "duty patrol". I also scratched the mosquito packs on my arms and legs and got into the hut to rest.
It is a habitual job for the big dog to patrol the village every day. In fact, there is nothing to patrol in this season. The turbulent curved river and the towering cliff-like mountains completely isolate the small village from the outside world. No one or large animals can pass through the natural environment. Barriers come to disturb the village. If the river water does not become shallow after cooling down every year, the village will be able to communicate with the outside world for more than a month. This place can be called a paradise.
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