Original Ma Liang Shuyuan State
In difficult times, there is no food, and eating a full meal is the biggest luxury in life. What was the meal of Mr. Ma Liang, a famous scholar of local culture in northern Jin? Readers, let's also taste it...
— Editor's Note
A beautiful meal in the Countryside of Hunyuan in the 60s
Ma Liang
▲ Mr. Ma Liang
In 1960, I was under 14 years old.
That summer, the school was closed, and I went back to the village with my luggage.
When I came back, I was sad for my mother. There was no food at home, the few bitter vegetable cakes that the team canteen gave were not enough to eat, a few younger brothers and sisters were hungry and skinny, plus my half-sized child, didn't they all have to starve to death? Studying at school, although I don't have enough to eat, I still give you something to eat every day. How can we spend this holiday when the holidays are over, the grain formalities are in school, and the village canteen does not give meals? The next day, my mother said to me, our family has no food, go to your grandfather's house, see if your grandfather can think of a way, if not, you will live in your grandfather's house for a month, and then come back when school starts.
My grandfather's family is in Shalingpu Village, Hunyuan County, in the east of Hunyuan City, 18 miles away from Hunyuan City. Our village is in the west of Ying County, 12 miles away from Ying County, and Hunyuan and Ying County are exactly 100 miles away from the city. That is to say, from our village to grandpa's village for a full 130 miles, there was no transportation at that time, how far to walk, all by two legs on foot.
I listened to my mother's words, in the morning ate a bitter vegetable cake, and took a vegetable cake, my mother also gave me 1 dime, because 1 day can not go through 130 miles, the middle also has to live in the hotel, that 1 dime is the room money for the hotel.
At 6 o'clock in the morning, I set off from home with a coat in my hand (a self-defense tool in the suit, which has an iron tip when taken off, very sharp), because the crops are high, afraid that a person will touch a wolf. This coat is very light, half a foot long, and weighs 2 pounds. At that time, although the whole country was starving, there were no bad people, but wolves were still frequent.
Because I was often hungry, I was very thin and walked very briskly. I took off my shoes, put them on my shoulders, and walked barefoot on the country road (in order to save shoes, I took off my shoes and walked barefoot for a long walk). Because I used to go to my grandmother's house with my mother, I knew the way. At noon, I arrived at Luozhuang Village on the border of Yinghun, found my classmate Liu Shun's house, went in to drink a bowl of water, rested for a while, and then continued to hurry.
In the evening, I rushed to Xixinzhuang Village in the west of Hunyuan City and stayed at the Chema Shop on the side of the road. The owner of the shop is a middle-aged woman who has lived in this shop in previous years and recognizes it. When she saw me coming alone this time, she was very surprised and said, "Such a small child, adults dare to let it out, and they are not afraid of wolves eating it?" "At the time, I looked like I was about 10 years old. On this day, I walked more than 80 miles. At that time, there was an advantage - you can't go out and touch a car, not to mention a day, that is, walking on the road for a year, you can meet a car is lucky. There was nothing in the shop, just a plate of kang, covered with dumplings, no luggage. The owner heated the bitter bread for me, gave me a bowl of hot water, and ate it. I took off my clothes, rolled my shoes together as a pillow, and fell asleep.
The next morning, I got up and continued to hurry, and since there were not many roads left, I arrived at Shalingpu Village at noon.
Grandpa was more than 60 years old at the time, he was a bare stick in the village, grandma had long since died, and several uncles were working in the field. The production team took care of him and let him watch the scene. Because the summer harvest had passed, the autumn harvest was approaching, and there were still crops on the scene, he ate and lived in the field room. I came and ate with him and lived in the field room. There is nothing good to eat, hungry, full, not starving to death. Every day I had nothing to do, no books to read, and I spent the whole day wandering around the mountains, looking for food in the wild, such as sweet potatoes and melons.
One night, I drank a bowl of slimy paste and fell asleep. In the middle of the night, I was woken up by my grandfather, and the original few people who watched the field scooped back a basket of yam (potatoes) from the field, let the grandfather cook and eat it in the room, and one person also took back an fennel white (cabbage) from the vegetable field, and grandpa originally had the skill of cooking, washed a basket of yam, boiled it in a pot, and then chopped a fennel white and salted raw pickle, there may not be any oil, sauce, vinegar and the like. When the yam was ripe, several people sat around the kang and tried to eat it. Of course, I was not polite, eating one after another until I couldn't put my stomach down. Throughout the summer vacation, I ate that full meal beautifully. When school was about to start, I walked back to Ying County alone.
Later, during my work, the big and small point leaders, often in the hotel to accompany the guests to eat, their own day in the south sea north chaotic turn, what chicken, duck, fish, raw seafood, Chinese, foreign, ate over and over again, but after eating to forget, there is no impression. It has been almost 60 years now, but the boiled egg in 1960 is like engraved in the brain, and I can't forget it.
The original article, "A Good Meal," was published on page 204 of Meditation on The Book of Meditation (by Ma Liang).
Proofreader: Xue Fang
Editor: Xing Xuelin
About the Author
Ma Liang, born in October 1946, from Ying County, Shanxi, is an associate editor. After participating in the work, he successively served as the deputy director of the Ying County Government Office, the director of the County Chronicle Office, the director of the County Cultural Relics and Tourism Bureau, the chief editor of the first and second rounds of The Ying County Chronicle, and the chief editor of the "Three Jins Stone Carvings and Ying County Volumes". He is a member of the Chinese Cultural Relics Society and the Chinese Yanhuang Culture Research Association, a director of the Shanxi Provincial Local History Society, a standing director of the Shuozhou Sanjin Cultural Research Association, and nearly 30 works such as "Ying County Chronicle" have been published and distributed.