Father's "string of incense"
Author | Feng Enchang
My father was an authentic old farmer who had worked all his life in the fields, and he did not drink tea, but he was an alcoholic. From a young age, he drank the skewered liquor brewed by the Qinchi Distillery with dried sweet potatoes, and drank it until he was 90 years old, and then he went away with the aroma of wine.
String fragrant wine, and have an extremely deep affection for his father. Every day before he went out of the slope, he drank a pot first, then poured a small flat bottle, carried it in his arms, tired of working in the field, sat down with his back to the mulberry tree on the weir, took out the bottle and drank a few sips to his mouth, "Ah" a sound, the squinting eyes opened, and in a moment his body surged with strength, and he stood up and worked hard. Father drank wine and did not care about dishes, a plate of toon sprouts pickles, a plate of fried cicada chrysalis or silkworm pupae, two or three oil-cooked dried fish, can make him drink with relish. Stringed fragrant wine is the best medicine for his fatigue after labor. He likes to drink "dusk wine" under the gourd shed in the courtyard of his family. After a day's work, when he came back from work, washed the dust off his face, sat on a small bench under the shed, smoked a bag of cigarettes, and his mother put a few small wine dishes on the table, and he drank the wine leisurely. At this time, he had no different thoughts, quiet and quiet, the speed of drinking was very slow, it seemed to be enjoying the flowers, and it was like enjoying the moon, enjoying the elegance and beauty of farm life. His "dusk wine" was often drunk for an hour or two, until the faint aroma of wine faded with the sound of insects at night, and then he entered the house and fell into a sweet sleep.
The string of fragrant wines of Qinchi Distillery, accompanied by long years of life, became the god of life of his father. Once he could not drink this string of fragrant wine, he was restless, upset as if he were seriously ill, and he could not live in fear. During the "Cultural Revolution", my family's life was difficult, sometimes there was no money to buy or no melons to change for strings of fragrant wine, my father was in a hurry to change the group, so he risked being criticized and fighting, went to the ravine at night to open up the wasteland, planted half an acre of sweet potatoes, harvested in the autumn and cut into dried melons, in preparation for the next year to change the string of fragrant wine to drink, fortunately, the neighbors had a good relationship with him, did not give him a complaint, and only then was the disaster averted. When my father talked about skewers of incense wine with his relatives and friends, he always praised it with a flying eyebrow: "The skewers of incense wine have a spirit, tired to drink to relieve fatigue, hungry to understand hunger; sleepy and sweet, cold drink two cups can not get up." It is my pension soup, drinking every day, making my 90-year-old man, the body is still hard! One year, his eldest grandson went on a business trip to Sichuan, specifically for him to buy back a barrel of bulk Wuliang liquid for him to taste, he drank a cup, smacked his mouth and said: "This high-end wine, it is better to string incense!"
Feng Enchang was born in 1937 in Linqu, Shandong. He once served as the deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the county party committee and the chairman of the Literary Association, a member of the Chinese Writers Association, a member of the Chinese Folk Artists Association, a director of the Shandong Prose Literature Association, a standing director of the China Vernacular Poets Association, a famous poet and writer of the National Pastoral School, a representative of the "Rural Small Courtyard School", and was known as the god of Oriental poetry. His works have won many awards at home and abroad, and have won the honorary title of lifetime achievement of the highest award of folk literature in the Asia-Pacific region, "Golden Flying Eagle Award", and have been named the title of world cultural celebrity and national first-class artist, the inheritor of the legend of Feng Weimin, and has published 23 literary monographs, "Sugar Gourd" and "Hometown Cicada Song", which have been selected to read textbooks in full-time middle schools nationwide.