Is this where our ancestors lived?

The endless loess earth, the strong wind wrapped in sand, the tributaries of the Yellow River flow through this village, and it is like a flowing golden river under the sun.

Zhoukoudian is actually a village, which made Zhou Yi quite surprised, originally thought that it was at least a town, at least he couldn't see the slightest shadow of business here, and felt a little unworthy of the name.

"Aren't you a little disappointed? It's because of poverty that your grandfather ran away from home back then. According to your grandfather, the army of refugees stretched for dozens of miles, affecting tens of thousands of people, and some people died of starvation and disease on the road.

Zhou Maotong was a little embarrassed, took his son's hand and walked towards the village, nagging as he walked: "But no matter how poor and bitter it is, as long as it is not the kind of drought that is rare in a century, the Zhou family who live in Zhoukoudian will still have a stutter." Do you know why? Because it's a 'shop' and it's backed by a business."

"What, it's really a store here, and there are business exchanges?"

Zhou Yi stammered when he heard it.

Looking around, except for some spring wheat that has not yet reached the harvest season, it is a corn field that has just been sown, and most of the villagers live in caves built along the slope or mountain, and there is no sign of farming, there will be commercial activities here?

"Of course there is, this is our old Zhou's braised vegetable industry"

The old man held his head high. He said proudly: "The braised vegetable stunt passed down by the ancestor of our Zhou family and the first generation of imperial chef Zhou Gyro, understand, kid?"

"It's the first time I've heard you say it, tell me about it."

Braised vegetables originated north of the Yellow River and are a common delicacy on the table. There are countless kinds of braised vegetables, especially braised pig's head meat and pig water; although it is a coarse food, it is liked by many people because it is easy to carry and store, even on the banquet of red and white ceremonies. Zhou Yi remembered that his father made it when he was a child, and it tasted very good.

Since getting the almighty idler system, Zhou Yi has lofty intentions. Occasionally show a few hands, but also in the famous dishes of the various departments of the circle, and this braised dish is very troublesome to make, first of all, you have to adjust a certain amount of marinade, it is not cost-effective to do less, and he is not ready to open a braised vegetable shop, so he has never done it, this time to listen to my father in advance, but to come to interest.

Originally, this place was not called Zhoujiadian, but was named after the surname Zhou. Or because of Zhou Yi's ancestors and great-ancestors. At that time, Cixi's old witch Xi fled to Dayuan, and finally had a magistrate to take over. When the old woman fled, she didn't bring vegetables and meat and no cook, and she drank stick noodles porridge all the way to survive, this time it can be regarded as seeing her relatives, and she immediately ordered to find a cook to cook, she wants at least four dishes and one soup!

Now the magistrate is worried, his own Jiangnan celebrity chef must not be offered, otherwise Lafayette wiped his mouth after eating, and said What? You can afford such a skilled chef, let me drink stick noodles porridge on the road? Greedy~ dirty, right? Pull it out and cut it! This girl is in a hurry to get hot along the way. It's all unprepared

The celebrity chefs of the major restaurants in Ohara Castle are also not successful. These people are well-informed, and they are usually under their own pressure, in case Lafayette is happy, blowing wind next to her ear or something, they will also have trouble.

After thinking about it, the magistrate finally found Zhou Yi's ancestor. Zhou Yi's ancestor has good skills, and he was also a famous chef back then. And he is honest and dutiful, and he has cooked for this magistrate, and he has a good character and can be trusted. That's what happened to you. Gao Zu had this opportunity to take over and became the 'imperial chef'. How else to say that no matter what you do, you must first learn to be a person and cultivate morality?

So Zhou Yi's ancestor brought his great-ancestor to make a table of dishes for Cixi, and the ancestor was old, and it was the great-ancestor who really did it. This table dish is mainly Lu cuisine, a 'carp back', the old woman and the little emperor are happy, bite their tongues three times on the spot, this is mainly because of the great ancestor's good craftsmanship, of course, Cixi is also hungry, even drink more than a month of stick noodle porridge, she is eating everything fragrant at this time.

If you eat well, you naturally want to reward it, but Cixi has no money. This time she fled to Shanyin, she just calculated the little money in the pocket of the Jin merchants, can she still have money to reward people? So she rewarded a picture of the words - "The Son of Heaven is close to the kitchen"!

After appreciating this one word, the Zhou family has completely cut off their livelihood. The close cook of the Son of Heaven, who would dare to invite, isn't this the crime of killing the head? She finished eating and patted the Feng ~ Milk Fat Hall and left, but the Zhou family had no rice to put in the pot.

There is no way, Zhou Yi's great-ancestors and ancestors had no choice but to sell their houses in Dayuan and move to live near 'Zhoukoudian', but the Zhou family is a culinary heirloom, where will they farm? On the Loess Plateau, the old crops can only be mixed with half a full child, let alone their half-bottle vinegar. In the end, there was really no way, Zhou Yi's young great-ancestor had an idea and came up with the idea of making braised vegetables;

So since then, the people of the Zhou clan have mostly made braised vegetables for a living, and even today, there are braised vegetable shops opened by the children of the Zhou family in Dayuan City. And this place, which was originally called Sanshanwa, was renamed 'Zhoujiadian' because it produced braised vegetables.

"So that's what happened"

Zhou Yi nodded: "Dad, then why didn't you open a braised vegetable shop later?"

"Nonsense. At that time, I was catching up with the early days of liberation, and the whole country was exterminating capital~ Capitalist little tail, I must not be criticized for opening a braised vegetable shop~ Dou Ah? Besides, at that time, you had to ask for meat tickets to buy fatty meat, and there was no place to find ingredients to go, and then the reform and opening up, the materials were abundant, who still opened a braised vegetable shop, and your second sister would not inherit the ancestral business to open a restaurant?"

Zhou Maotong smacked his lips: "But our Zhou family's pickled vegetables, there is nothing to say." This year, every shop in Qingming Zhou has to make braised vegetables, let's hurry up a few steps, and when you arrive at the entrance of the village, you can smell the fragrance of braised vegetables."

Zhou Yi didn't understand what the Qingming Festival had to do with making braised vegetables. But he has a smart nose and doesn't need to go to the entrance of the village. When I arrived at a place half a mile away from the village, I smelled the rich aroma of meat. Not to mention, it's really gluttonous.

"Third uncle, can you wait for you, cangwa, call grandparents, call uncle"

This section of the road is all loess mountain roads, with potholes, so I didn't let Director Hu send it over just now. At this time, Zhou Yizheng was thinking about walking over with his mother on his back, and saw a man and a woman walking towards him, and the woman hugged a five or six-year-old boy. The man was about forty years old, with a white turban wrapped around his head, a white cloth jacket, his exposed arms covered with pimples, and a wheelbarrow in his hand.

"Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle"

The boy held a shiny pig's trotter in his hand, screamed, and then lowered his head and began to gnaw on it intently. Zhou Yi was a little puzzled. I heard my father say that my grandfather was forced to leave Chudu by my grandfather, and even the ancestral fish scale purple gold pot was lost, and it is said that my family should be an unwelcome guest. Why are there still people coming out of the village, it looks quite hot.

"Xiao Yi, this is your big pillar brother. His father was recognized as his godson by your grandfather, and he also changed his surname to Zhou."

Zhou Maotong said that Zhou Yi understood. I remember my father mentioned that the Zhou bloodline in his hometown is divided into three branches, one line for the eldest grandfather, one line for his grandfather, and one line for the third grandfather. After the third grandfather married a wife and had children, he left home to become a soldier, and he never came back, and his family guessed that his old man was glorious on the battlefield; Now it is a seedling in a thousand acres of land.

In addition to these three bloodlines, the Zhou family is more of an outsider who has successively invested in the Zhou family's store. In the early years, the war continued, the peasants' life was not easy, the Zhou family had the craft of braised vegetables, and relied on the Dayuan Mansion, the business was very prosperous, and slowly some nearby villages or other villages fell into the Zhou family, and the Zhou family just needed labor. So let them change their surnames. After dozens or hundreds of years, these have become members of the Zhou family, some of whom have a good relationship with the Zhou family's bloodline, and all of them have recognized their relatives. It is estimated that this Dazhu brother's father is like this.

"Hello Brother Dazhu, this is your child, why is it so small? ”

This kid reminded Zhou Yi of Xiao Yezi, and when he came, he temporarily entrusted Ye Zi to Liu Rongrong, and he didn't know if this little ghost would be naughty.

"Hello uncle, Cangwa wants candy. ”

As soon as he heard that there was candy to eat, the boy's eyes lit up, and he didn't care about being born, so he threw himself into Zhou Yi's arms, shouting non-stop. Zhou Yi's face flushed, where did he have sugar? But he couldn't be honest with the child, so he hurriedly took out his wallet, took out 200 yuan and stuffed it into Cangwa's hand: "Uncle give money, Cangwa will buy candy to eat." ”

The five or six-year-old child already knew that the 'old man' could be exchanged for candy and toys, and Cangwa was not stupid, so she shouted: "Thank you, uncle" and looked at Zhou Maotong and the old couple again.

"This kid is really funny" Li Xiufen looked at Cangwa, her eyes narrowed into a slit with a smile, and she also took out five hundred yuan.

"Hey, don't you dare uncles, aunts, and big brothers, you can't be used to children like this. ”

Zhou Dazhu was in a hurry, and hurriedly stopped Li Xiufen, and wanted to snatch the money in Cangwa's hand and return it to Zhou Yi, which made the child teary-eyed.

"Dazhu! This is for the child, what are you doing with it? If you don't accept it, you will look down on your uncle. In the end, it was Zhou Maotong who glared, and Zhou Dazhu hesitated to accept the money.

After putting away the money, Zhou Dazhu smiled more honestly. Letting Zhou's father and mother get on the wheelbarrow, he pushed the cart, and the family walked in front with the child in his arms, chatting with Zhou Yi all the way, and walking towards the village.

The closer you get to the village, the stronger the smell of meat, Zhou Yi is the nose of the chef god, you can know which meat is almost cooked, which meat is missing ingredients, which one is the most authentic, it is not the best taste of the fragrance in three miles, but it comes from the cave at the highest point in the village.

Zhoujiadian is leaning on the Taihang Mountains, so the caves are added in rows. There are twenty or thirty caves at the highest point, but they are surrounded into two courtyards, all of which are red walls and blue tiles, and black lacquered gates with a height of two meters. The aroma of braised pork wafting from these two can be said to cover the whole village, and it is more than one step higher.

"Don't look at it, it's your uncle's house, and next to it is your second uncle's house, all of which are in your grandfather's vein. After dinner, I'll take you to visit. It's one thing whether the relationship is good or not, the etiquette is to come, otherwise it will be picked on by others."

Zhou Maotong snorted. He came all the way and informed the big pillar before, and the big pillar was designated to tell the two cousins, but the old one didn't move, and the little one didn't come out, which made him very unhappy.

"Uncle, if you want a goose, you won't go. The geese have not been taken care of by them over the years, and they have not been bullied, and the geese will not go. I advise you not to go. ”

The big pillar snorted angrily: "Everyone is braising meat, and after three days, the ancestors will choose three animals, and the goose will focus on the pig's head." When the goose wins, you won't have a seat in front of your ancestors' graves, and you don't have to stand far away."

It turned out to be a sacrifice to the ancestors and the selection of three animals, no wonder every family was riveted with braised meat. Zhou Yi looked at the big pillar and shook his head secretly, there is no need to compare, as soon as he smells the taste, he knows that the braised meat in the whole village is the good of the uncle's family, and it is obviously not a level. But what did Brother Dazhu say just now? When worshipping ancestors, my father had to stand and watch from a distance. What are the rules?

But he was thinking in his heart, Zhou Yi didn't ask carefully. I'm afraid of upsetting my father.

"Hmph, that's not necessarily"

Zhou Maotong was panting heavily, and he didn't know if he was tired or angry, it was said that sitting on the wheelbarrow, he was so tired that it should be Zhou Dazhu.

"Big! Goose is back" (the locals call Daddy 'Big')

Following Zhou Dazhu up a mountain beam, the wheelbarrow stopped in front of a small and small farmhouse yard; before the car could stop steadily, seven or eight children poured out, the eldest was thirteen or fourteen years old, and the younger one was slightly older than Cangwa, and the children looked curiously around Zhou Yi's family. The eldest child suddenly cried out, "Yes, the goose knows the master."

"Big brother, make you laugh. My brother was poor in his early years, and he married his daughter-in-law late, so he didn't have many children, counting the cangwa, there were only nine in total" Zhou Dazhu looked ashamed.

"Uh, nine, not much."

Zhou Yi saw a glimmer of longing in the eyes of his old mother. Immediately, I was shocked, and I knew that I must not continue to talk about this topic, otherwise it would be very troublesome. Hurriedly took out a stack of 'old man's heads' and sent one to a child, and said to the eldest child with a smile: "Baby." What's your name, can you take your uncle to see your cave?"

The caves in San'in are called 'Shinseong Caves'. It is said that it is warm in winter and cool in summer, even in the cold winter, the temperature can be kept above 10 degrees, and it is not dry or damp, which is more comfortable than living in a villa. Zhou Yi has long wanted to see and learn, and in addition, it is also to stay away from the children, so as not to be caught and educated by his mother again, and tell him the importance of passing on the ancestry

"Chunsheng, take your uncle with you, it's time to eat when you come back. ”

Zhou Dazhu's daughter-in-law, He Xiuxiu, was also very happy to see Zhou Yi's generosity. In the village, it is natural for the elders to give gifts to the juniors, which is not to look down on people, and Zhou Yi gives just right, except for the youngest cangwa, a child is a hundred.

"Uncle, come with the goose, take you to see the best cave of the goose family" Zhou Chunsheng got the benefit and immediately became intimate with Zhou Yi.

"Hehe, you're fourteen this year, aren't you? Why didn't you go to school?"

"Goose said, it's good to graduate from junior high school, let Goose go to the city to work next year" Zhou Chunsheng was a little gloomy.

"Really?" Zhou Yi was stunned and touched Chunsheng's head: "What you said is not right, you should still go to study, okay, this matter is wrapped up in uncle, is this the cave? ”

Zhou Chunsheng's house also has four caves, all of which are five feet out of the kiln, which is used as a rain eaves, and the rest are in the mountains. As soon as I walked to the door, there was a warm current blowing in my face, which made people very comfortable, unlike the hot air blown by the air conditioner, although it was also warm, but it was very dry.

There are tables and beds in the cave, and some simple household appliances, although there is no decoration, but it is very clean. Zhou Yi sat in the cave for a while, smelling the unique mud fragrance of the yellow earth, and was a little intoxicated for a while, feeling that this place was both strange and familiar, as if he had been here many years ago.

Is this an induction with the ancestors? Zhou Yi smiled, he was not superstitious, and He Xiuxiu's shout also sounded, and it was time for lunch.

When I walked into the courtyard, I saw that Zhou Dazhu and his wife had already set up two tables. According to the rules of the farmhouse, Zhou Dazhu accompanied Zhou Yi's family to sit at a table, and He Xiuxiu took the children to sit at a table. Because Zhou Chunsheng is the eldest son and is about to become an adult, he was able to sit with Zhou Yi and them, which is higher than his mother's status.

The dishes are also very rich, in addition to a few seasonal vegetables, there is also a large plate of spicy fried chicken, although it is not as good as the craftsmanship of the famous chef, but it is better than the big pot and stove, the real firewood and grass fire, this taste is stronger than that of the general restaurant;

Zhou Dazhu opened the altar of home-brewed grain wine, first toasted Zhou Maotong and his wife, and then smiled at Zhou Yi: "Big brother"

"Haha, Brother Dazhu, you just said it, I know the rules"

Zhou Yi laughed: "You have to drink three bowls first, right, you can't eat vegetables if you don't finish drinking?"

The old man is old, and Zhou Yi knows that Dazhu has to find him to fight for wine, and he has already been prepared.

"Ha, the big brother is a person who understands, so come on!"

Zhou Dazhu opened three big black bowls in front of himself and Zhou Yi respectively, poured the wine full, and said with a smile: "Brother come first!"

Zhou Yi was stunned, this bowl is half a catty, just drink it like this? Fortunately, it is himself, this is going to change others, and he doesn't have to eat vegetables today, it is estimated that he will have to lie down directly after drinking three bowls of wine

ps: Thank you for the monthly pass support of book friends such as "One Shot Full of Sky", "Swordsman Swordsman", "Super Dark Xiaobai", "Century Leader", "Fifty-one Stones", "The Intersection of Light and Darkness", "Discontinued", "Yi Sui", "TX002" and other book friends :)

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