The grass kway teow made by my aunt in the spring of my hometown is a must-eat in my childhood!
She uses fresh grass and kway teow grass picked by hand, and when boiling the grass juice, she specially adds potato flour and water to mix well, and the condensed grass kway is solid and tender. When the grass is cooked out of the pot and sprinkled with specially bought coarse sugar, it is a must-have for summer heat.
At that time, we children held bowls and money every day, waiting for the shouts of Aunt Chun to appear in the streets and alleys.
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My hometown is in a small fishing village in Chaoshan, Guangdong Province, and in the summer of the year I graduated from primary school, my parents sent me back to the fishing village to be cared for by my grandparents because I was busy with work.
Although I lived in the village as a child, I still felt a little strange when I went back that time - the car entered the village, winding and turning in the cramped alley, the houses on both sides were low, and the nearby temples were incense and smoke. At the door of Grandma's house, several women with raw faces were gathering to chat.
After I settled down, the rhythm of my life would follow my grandparents. Because the village is close to the sea, most of the people in the village live by fishing, and Grandpa collects the net before dawn and pours all the fish, shrimp and crabs caught into a large basin. Even me, the family quickly began to sort, and when Grandma picked up the sorted fish and shrimp and rode on the small tricycle, the genius was blinded.
After a short busy morning, life in the small fishing village is calm again, and I often sit alone in the alley to watch the pedestrians. Whenever there was a long and long shout, I knew that the spring aunt behind the house had come out.
Aunt Chun is a special presence in the fishing village, she does not fish or sell fish, but sells grass and rice. Grass kway teow is a traditional snack in Chaoshan Province, a bit like black jelly, because of the cool taste, sweet and tender, people think that eating in the middle of summer can clear heat, detoxify, anneal fire.
Aunt Chun was an ordinary village woman, she was black and thin, dressed simply, with a neat short hair and a large straw hat, often pushing a bicycle full of rust and carrying a wooden barrel in the back seat in the alley: "Sell grass, sell grass!" ”
The shallow copper spoon in her hand knocked on the pottery bowl at the front of the car from time to time, making a crisp sound. After a while, adults and children ran out of the house with bowls and money, and immediately surrounded Aunt Chun, "Auntie, cut the bowl of grass!" ”
Aunt Chun stopped the car with a smile, went around to the wooden barrel in the back seat and lifted the lid sharply, scooped up a piece of black paste, cut it horizontally and vertically three or two times, and sprinkled it with white sugar powder and handed it over.
On that day, the diners gradually dispersed, and Aunt Chun returned to the car seat, and before she could step a few feet, she found me sitting in the alley. She said in surprise, "Ouch! My sister was born so big, Lu (dialect: you) only went to the county at this point, I almost didn't know Lu! ”
I was introverted and responded with only one sentence: "Hello old aunt." ”
Aunt Chun quickly stopped the car and quickly stuffed a bowl of grass for me, and before I could react, she had already gone away, "Old aunt is going to sell in the alley in front of me, go first!" ”
The grass kway in the bowl is still warm, the crystal black paste is frozen, the white sugar powder gradually melts, and the sugar liquid blends with the slowly oozing grass kway teow juice, which feels sweet just by looking at it. The wind blew, and a fragrance peculiar to plants wafted away, and I hesitated for only two seconds before deciding to start.
Almost no spoon scooping, just holding up the bowl and sucking, the tender grass kway quickly slipped into the stomach. The grass kway teow with powdered sugar is still a little bitter, but this taste I can't forget for a long time.
In the summer afternoon, the fishing village is peaceful and quiet, and everyone basically stays at home to rest. I was energetic, I always liked to run out and wander, and my aunt chun behind the house did not take a lunch break, so she had to prepare various utensils before leaving the stall.
After mixing, I often went around to Aunt Chun's house to chat with her and listen to her tell stories. Aunt Chun said the most is grass grits.
In those years, this small fishing village was designated as an ancient village, and tourists gradually increased, and grass and other special snacks were also sought after. The price of the original 5 mao bowl of grass kway teow rose to two or three pieces, and even the price of raw grass kway teow grass also rose.
The grass that Aunt Chun used was all picked by her own hands outside. One day, she showed me fresh grass, the leaves of which were oval in shape and jagged in the edges, a bit like mint, but the taste was completely incompatible with mint. However, to make grass, you have to dry the grass first, and those dark dead branches are really ordinary.
Aunt Chun said that when she was a child, grass was still rare, and adults were busy surviving, so they really didn't have time and energy to make snacks for their children. One day she rushed to work in the fields, and an uncle came from the village to sell grass, "The shovel is thin, the bowl is thin, and it is full in a few clicks. "She didn't have the money to buy it, she could only smell it from the sidelines."
Aunt Chun's mother would make straw. One year, in order to thank the villagers for helping them make potato flour, Aunt Chun's mother picked a lot of grass and dried it and prepared to entertain guests. Filtering the boiled grass juice, Aunt Chun's mother took out the newly harvested potato flour and water and mixed it well - the grass grits with potato flour water are easy to condense and have a more solid taste.
When the grass is out of the pot, sprinkled with specially bought coarse sugar, everyone sits at the table and tastes it carefully. In those difficult years, sweet and slightly bitter grass was a "luxury". However, the fact that there is grass to eat shows that this year is not too sad.
Grass kway teow, more or less has a bit of a bitter meaning.
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In July, Grandma carried a hoe and a wooden barrel to the field to collect peanuts, and told me to stay at home, but I still ran out and wandered out, catching aunt Chun making grass in the yard.
She squatted by the well to wash a pile of hay, and the scorching sun hit her back like a layer of gold. Hearing the noise, Aunt Chun looked up and beckoned me to sit in the door, but I sat in front of the well and looked at a large cauldron next to me. I joked that I had come to steal the teacher, and Aunt Chun was very happy, so she replied seriously: "That little sister should look at it carefully!" ”
She stuffed the washed grass into the pot, pressed it firmly, added water, and added some edible alkali to facilitate the glue. When the water boiled, Aunt Chun and I talked without a ride, and she told me to study hard and have a good job in the future, so as not to be so tired and tired as she was and could not earn a few dollars. She asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, and I shook my head and said I didn't think about it, and she said that it was good to do business, and her son was in business.
At that time, Aunt Chun's eldest son was in the foreign trade business, married a few years ago, had both children and daughters, and settled in the city. The younger son opened a chicken farm, made a gentle and virtuous girlfriend, and planned to get married at the end of the year. At the mention of the two children, Aunt Chun's joy overflowed into words.
The cauldron in front of her kept spitting out water mist, and Aunt Chun opened the lid and said while flipping it: "The branches are rotten." ”
The originally clear water became black and tasty, and Aunt Chun took the gauze filter residue and set up a large pot to prepare to re-boil. She poured evenly blended potato flour water into the boiling grass grits juice and began to stir, and when the grass grits became a little viscous, she extinguished the lid and waited for it to condense.
At that time, I was still young, and I didn't understand the principles, but I only felt that Aunt Chun turned water into cream and froze, living like a magician.
At that time, there were many elderly people in the village, and there were very few people of the same age, and I lacked playmates, so I went to the back of the house to see Aunt Chun "change magic", which was not tired of watching. Aunt Chun also likes me, as long as the grass is ready, the hottest and freshest, it must have entered my stomach.
But the grass is cold, don't be greedy, once I ate three bowls in a row, which led to several trips to the toilet in the middle of the night. Despite this, it is still difficult to change my love of grass.
The alley in front of Grandma's house was always bustling. In their free time, Xiu Yumu next to the house, The Spring Aunt behind the house, and the old aunts who come from nowhere will always get together to choose dishes and chat.
In the evening, the earth faded into the heat, the sea breeze penetrated the alley, and after the villagers took a bath, they sat in the alley with a fan and said "today's news": who gave birth to a child, whose daughter-in-law ran to hide from the supernatural, when the typhoon blew, and how was the sacrifice of the pearl lady prepared...
Of course, in addition to the shortness of parents, adults will occasionally talk about the taboo topic of "death".
In small fishing villages, people do not dare to talk about death loudly, thinking that "death" is too much, and will be heard by the gods in heaven, so they will only say vaguely: "The man has passed, gone, gone, and is old." ”
Some old people will quickly spit on the ground three times after speaking, "So that the gods will not count when you are not counting." ”
Xiu Yumu's old mother died a few months before I returned to the village, everyone said that it was a normal day, the old man said in the afternoon that he wanted to drink a bowl of white porridge, and when Xiu Yumu cooked it and brought it to the house, he found that she had fallen to the ground and her body had hardened.
Grandparents also said that the other day they went to the sea, and the "white plastic model" they saw in the distance was actually a female corpse floating on the surface of the sea. They whispered, painted, sometimes surprised, sometimes sorry, and their expressions were rich and changeable, like singing a big drama.
Aunt Chun also listened quietly, occasionally interjected a few words, she had a good temper, did not speak impatiently, never fought with people for red faces, and everyone loved to chat with her.
Someone advised Aunt Chun to stop making straw, "Enjoy the blessings well, don't toss yourself." ”
Aunt Chun smiled and replied: "Idle, always have to make some money to be steadfast." ”
Aunt Chun said that she was poor and afraid. Her father broke his leg while working when he was young, and because the treatment was not timely, he could not do the physical work of fishing, and the family had to rely on the fields to eat. In the case of bad harvests, there is only hunger.
Aunt Chun has two sisters and a brother, and her parents only provide for their sons to study. When Aunt Chun was 18 years old, she and her uncle went to the city to work, and in order to save travel expenses, she did not go home for the New Year for two or three years. The family relied on the money she sent back, and life was more relaxed. At the age of 22, her mother was paralyzed by an accidental stroke, her younger sister was still young, and her father had to do farm work, so he urgently called her back to take care of her. In order to treat her mother's illness, the poor family dug a hole, and someone told her that the man could give a bride price.
At the end of that year, Aunt Chun was married, and she had not seen the man a few times before marriage. A few days after the marriage, Aunt Chun took out the dowry money to treat her mother's illness, but her mother only survived for more than a month before leaving.
After marriage, Aunt Chun jumped into another life. The husband is an alcoholic, carrying a bottle around all year round, and even children dare to laugh at him. After the birth of the two sons, the cost became even greater, and seeing that her husband could not rely on it, Aunt Chun had to pick up her mother's former craftsmanship and make grass to supplement the family.
This is done for 20 years.
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Unconsciously, my summer vacation was gradually coming to an end, and a big thing had happened in the fishing village that had been quiet.
That day, Aunt Chun's family went out to eat a banquet, and when it was almost over, her granddaughter was clamoring to go home. Aunt Chun's younger son ate wine, felt that it was not a hindrance, and rode on an electric car to take the little niece away first. When Aunt Chun and her party returned home, they found that they were not there, and when it was more than 1 a.m., the people who went out to look for them came back and said, "Something has happened to someone." ”
It turned out that when the electric car was driving into a slope at night, a motorcycle suddenly rushed out of the intersection. The two cars collided, and Aunt Chun's young son died on the spot, and the owner of the motorcycle was seriously injured. When the ambulance arrived, Aunt Chun's granddaughter was covered in blood, her fingers moved, and there was no more movement, not even breathing.
The fishing village fell into a deep sleep, and the cries behind grandma's house came and went. Aunt Chun was paralyzed on the ground, crying so much that she could still faintly hear the cries until early in the morning.
This matter quickly spread throughout the village, and Aunt Chun's younger siblings also came, but they didn't seem to be close, gave some money, comforted and left.
I heard that the owner of the motorcycle was sent to the intensive care unit and died within a few days because of his injuries. The family came to the door to demand compensation, on the grounds that Aunt Chun's young son was drunk driving and could not see the road and the car before causing the accident.
At first, Aunt Chun's family disagreed, because the road was dark and unmonitored, and the owner of the motorcycle could not know whether there was any violation. The two sides argued, and finally some of the other's family members lay on the ground crying, and some pulled up and wrote: "Return my son!" "The banner, the scene is quite ugly.
After a few days of trouble, Aunt Chun's family was struggling and had to lose money. But Aunt Chun's eldest son is doing business, and the capital turnover cannot be opened, and he cannot take out the money for the time being. Aunt Chun had to lose most of her life savings.
Aunt Chun's family suffered a tragic misfortune, and the alley in front of Grandma's house seemed to have lost its former bustle and was covered with a layer of gloom. There is a kind of "tacit understanding" between adults that is difficult to explain, for example: when the neighbors of Aunt Chun's house are fine, they close the door tightly, and the people who usually chat together rarely come out, to be precise, they hide from Aunt Chun and sneak out the door, and then quietly discuss; people who used to pass by Aunt Chun's house also took a detour, even if the road was farther away...
Sometimes, Aunt Chun's grandson came out to play and ran to the door of someone else's house, and someone drove him away in a low voice: "Go, go, go home!" ”
Grandma also solemnly instructed me: "Don't go to her house during this time, if you accidentally pass by, don't look into the house, you go straight." If they give you something, you say no. Don't get wet with anything. ”
I learned that there is a custom in the small fishing village: if someone dies suddenly, outsiders, especially children, must not step into that family, let alone touch the people and things of this family. Even after the funeral ceremony is over, you cannot step in for half a year to a year.
In the eyes of the villagers, all people or things that have had close ties with the deceased are unclean and ominous, and passing on relics will cause disasters to the living and contaminate them with bad luck, evil and other bad things. I listened to the hairs in my heart, so I had to learn the appearance of adults and deliberately avoid Aunt Chun's house behind the house.
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Chaoshan has always admired the gods, and the small fishing village has retained quite a lot of old customs. For example, if there is any major event in the family, you have to ask the gods; if there is any small illness or disaster, you have to ask for the paper to burn ash and drink water; men and women must first meet the eight characters when they get married, and if the eight characters do not match, it is difficult to achieve a good relationship and marriage.
Worship is the daily life of the residents of the fishing village, the first and fifteenth worship the Jade Emperor; the third and seventeenth worship Mazu; the ninth and twenty-third worship Guanyin... Everyone prayed for peace, smooth wind and rain, and good health for the family.
Grandma was also one of them, she knelt on the cushion, holding the incense, looking serious and focused, her voice was low, and she read the words: "The old master's palace blesses and blesses, blesses the four directions to walk safely and smoothly." ”
Rather than superstition, when I grew up, I felt that it was more of a kind of self-consolation for people. You know, the fishing village is not far from the sea, and people are vulnerable in the face of the vast sea. It seems that as long as the rules are obeyed, the gods will fulfill all the wishes of the people.
In the last days of the summer vacation, I went with my grandmother to worship Mazu and Lady Pearl countless times, and also went to the Laoye Palace and the small altar on the side of the road that could not be named. At that time, shortly after I first came to menstruation, my grandmother asked me mysteriously before she went to worship: "Are you gone?" Can't go to kneel without going know? ”
I asked why, and Grandma said it wouldn't work, it wouldn't work, it wouldn't be auspicious, and she told me not to let the men in the family know that they were on menstrual leave. In this way, I feel contemptuous and inferior to my own menstrual period.
More and more customs and taboos have been derived from such long-term devotional offerings, passing on from generation to generation, and influencing generations from generation to generation.
Back in the small fishing village again, I am already in the second year of junior high school. After Grandma didn't tell me not to go to the house again, I thought that after such a long time, there should be no avoidance.
One day, there was a "clanging" sound in the alley again, and I guessed it was Aunt Chun, so I ran to the door to see it--before I was afraid to meet her, so I could only watch her from a distance in front of the door.
Aunt Chun knocked on the porcelain bowl and slowly stepped on the bicycle. In the past, whenever this sound sounded, adults and children would rush to the back of her car, waiting for her to scrape the grass from the bucket. But now, the alley is cold and clear, there is no shadow for half a day, and the sound emitted by the porcelain bowl is loud and empty.
Xiu Yumu told me that Aunt Chun didn't actually have to come out and run, "Her eldest son has money, where to use it to earn?" "After that incident, almost no one in the village bought Aunt Chun's straw, and she mostly sold it to tourists who came to the small fishing village to play." In the off-season, she went to town to sell, and it took ten minutes to catch a tricycle.
"It's that the house is too quiet, and I want to come out and find something to do." Staying at home is crying, most of the night people are panicked, and the ghosts are scared to death. Xiu Yum said.
Suddenly, a three- or four-year-old boy ran to Aunt Chun, "Old aunt, Wa wants to love (I want) to eat herbiva." ”
Aunt Chun smiled, and as she got out of the car, she said, "Old aunt please Lu (you) to eat, free money." ”
Aunt Chun scooped a bowl full of straw, almost beyond the rim of the bowl, and when she sprinkled powdered sugar, the little boy shouted: "More, more, more!" Aunt Chun sprinkled two large spoonfuls of powdered sugar, which looked like a small snowy mountain.
As she was handing the bowl to the little boy, a woman ran over with a scolding grin and called for the child to come home. The boy ignored it, and the woman smiled at Aunt Chun curtly, scolding the child for being hungry while pulling him behind him.
"It's okay, the child loves to eat for him, and he doesn't have much money." Aunt Chun happily stuffed the bowl of grass into the woman's hand, and the woman did not pick it up, but instead took a few steps back, "No need, he lost it without eating a few mouthfuls, it was too wasteful." ”
The little boy cried and cried, and Aunt Chun turned to stuff the bowl for him, but the woman took the bowl and put it back. Usually, everyone pushed and shoved several times out of courtesy, but the woman said that she would not accept anything, and the little boy's crying became louder and louder, and then he directly relied on it and did not leave.
Aunt Chun persuaded the woman to take it back to the child to eat, but the woman ignored it and only cared about pulling the child. I don't know whether it was intentional or unintentional, in the middle of the pull, the woman overturned the bowl of grass, the porcelain bowl fell to the ground and shattered, and the grass was sprinkled on the ground. The child was stunned and cried even more fiercely.
The woman was immediately furious, picked up her slippers and spanked the child's ass, scolding: "Every day I have to eat some dead people's things!" Perhaps remembering that Aunt Chun was still present, she did not continue to scold, and then turned to a rough and rude voice: "I'm sorry, go first." ”
The woman picked up the crying little boy and walked away quickly.
When the people dispersed and the alley returned to tranquility, Aunt Chun picked up the overturned grass and porcelain pieces, threw them in the trash, and stepped on the worn bicycle home. The bike was too old, and the sound of "squeaking" echoed through the alley, getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared.
After that, I never seemed to see Aunt Chun come out to sell grass and rice again. Some people said that she had lost all the tools used to make straw.
My mother wanted to go back to her mother's house to visit her relatives, so she stopped by the village to pick me up. She rarely came to the small fishing village and did not know much about the affairs here.
I talked to my mother about what happened to Aunt Chun, and she was surprised, but more of a fear, and then like Grandma, she told me not to go to Aunt Chun. I asked why, and my mother replied perfunctorily: "I don't know, the customs in the village are like this." ”
Leaving my grandmother's house, my mother dragged me to the market, passing behind the house. The mother obviously forgot where Aunt Chun's house was, and only cared to bury her head in the front, in fact, Aunt Chun's home was very recognizable, the whole building was yellow, and it looked very abrupt in the surrounding white wall.
I saw Aunt Chun washing things at the door of the house from a distance, and my mood became a little worried, and in front of my mother, I didn't dare to call Aunt Chun, and I was afraid that she knew that I was hiding from her, so I had to pretend not to see it. As the distance grew closer, a hoarse, low voice came: "Sister doesn't remember me?" "For more than a year, Aunt Chun Xu cried her throat badly.
I hadn't seen Aunt Chun up close for a long time, her face was haggard and sallow, she was much older, her expression was faint, she didn't smile, and that sentence seemed to be asked casually.
I wanted to care about Aunt Chun, but I didn't have the courage to be afraid that I would become an "ominous person" in other people' populations. My mother walked me straight past, and I didn't say a word, but I felt a sense of guilt in my heart.
Turning around from my grandmother's house, I went to my grandmother's house for a few days, accompanied my grandmother to the temple, and often met Aunt Chun. She didn't seem to mind what had happened before, and was still happy to see me, greeting me as if I were the only one who could talk to her.
When there were no adults, I dared to greet Aunt Chun. But he just shouted "old aunt" and then walked away quickly, not daring to say more.
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Busy studying and further education, the small fishing village is getting farther and farther away from me. In the WeChat family group, relatives talk about the recent situation of the neighborhood from time to time, and I know about Aunt Chun's family from here.
The younger son's girlfriend accompanied Aunt Chun for a year and was picked up by her mother's family, because of the interaction between men and women, and the unexpected death of her fiancé, the girl was still "left behind". She could not stand the gossip in the village, and could only choose to go out to work.
Since her youngest son had a car accident, Aunt Chun's husband increased the amount of alcohol he ate, and finally suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage on a drunken night. After his death, the eldest son took Aunt Chun to the city, and at first took her around to relax and participate in some elderly activities, but later he was busy with business and had little time to spend with her.
Aunt Chun's eldest son and daughter-in-law divorced, some people said that the personalities were incompatible, and some people said that they had already had contradictions, and by virtue of this car accident that lost their daughters, they completely broke out. Since then, Aunt Chun's grandson has followed his mother and rarely returned to Aunt Chun's house.
There was one after another unpleasant things, and there was no one around to talk, and Aunt Chun had nowhere to solve it, and finally she accumulated into a disease, and her health deteriorated. Her daily activity is to cook, wait for the eldest son to come back to eat, go to the small pharmacy to buy some medicine when she is uncomfortable, and lie in bed the rest of the time.
It didn't take long for him to die.
Some people said that her body collapsed, and some people said that she did not want to drag her eldest son down and take her own medicine. What the truth is, no one knows.
I went back to the small fishing village, and it had been four or five years since Aunt Chun had passed away.
Once low, dilapidated houses have been torn down and turned into buildings, modern elements are constantly pouring in, ancient villages are renovated, and dark green and damp facades have been trimmed and whitewashed, looking strange and abrupt.
The fishing village has a large population outflow, the streets and alleys are empty, and there is no memory of the noise. I stayed at my grandmother's house for a few days, catching up with the ancestor worshippers, only to see many relatives who returned to their hometowns, and a group of people gathered in the alleys to chat and chat.
We were having a good conversation that day, and a small car drove out from the back of the house and headed for the path next to the alley. Someone looked at the car, sighed, and asked whose house it was. The sharp-eyed man said that it was the car of Aunt Chun's eldest son, "I came back a few days ago." ”
The old neighbors said that Aunt Chun's house was basically uninhabited now, and the eldest son only brought his children back to worship during the New Year's Festival, and this time the eldest daughter-in-law also returned.
Someone asked, "Aren't they divorced, and why are they still together?" ”
"Who knows, maybe it's compounded."
Everyone can't help but sigh, if Aunt Chun is still there, it is estimated that she will be very happy to see this scene. As they spoke, everyone remembered Aunt Chun again.
"Alas, it was so pitiful for a while, and it was heart-wrenching to hear."
"Well, you can't drive an electric car after drinking alcohol, isn't this a family?"
"I think of Ah Chun's cry, and now I think of it all scared." No one is bitter, the most bitter is her..."
Those who used to hide from Aunt Chun and despised and hated her cries now gather together and say that she is kind and good,that is, her fate is not good, and the world is uncertain.
To Aunt Chun, I still feel regret and regret for my original ignorance and cowardice, and even simply think: "If I had talked to her more, would there have been a different result?" "But when I think about the atmosphere in the village, I am discouraged again, is Aunt Chun's situation really something that I alone can change?"
Author: Tunan
Illustration: Golo
Image: Network