Recently in the south of Shanxi, the first snow in 2020 brought the message of winter, the mountains and rivers are wrapped in silver, a faction of northern scenery, photographers naturally will not let go of this year's few opportunities, Saturday early in the morning the shadow friend Z teacher came to call, invited to go into the mountains to take snow scenes, more than 2 hours later we appeared in the Lvliang Mountains on an ancient road called Xiachuan.
Our destination is an ancient village in the mountain pass, maybe by chance, the car just stopped in the sky and began to fall snowflakes, we and this ancient village should be more than 5 years ago, since the first step into the ancient village we were attracted by this stone village, every year to come two or three times, one or two to facilitate the stay in the stone village of a farmer Brother Li became a good friend, today's snow day, we must have a different taste.
The ancient village was built on a mountain bag, and although the stone buildings have partially collapsed, they still look like a complete stone castle, and everyone used to call it "old castle". Teacher Z is a person with a heart, and before leaving, he specially bought 20 pounds of sweet pomegranates in the county town, which he wanted to bring to Brother Li, which was also a gift to Big Brother. Everyone was familiar with the road, from the foot of the mountain along a curved path into the castle, turned 3 corners into the home of Brother Li, the guests and hosts met very happily, the eldest brother said that we came really coincidentally, he was making "flag noodles" at home, inviting us to eat together.
Brother Li now lives alone in his own stone courtyard in the ancient castle, almost all year round he lives here alone, two baskets of red peppers hang in the yard, the smell of firewood smoke wafts out of the stone house, everything looks so natural can no longer be natural, the rare primitive farm life is a scene that we like to shoot.
Unveiling the south room where Brother Li lives, we see that there are 2 people of the same age as him sitting inside, the big brother surnamed Wang on the kang, the big brother surnamed Li sitting on the chair, it was a little embarrassed to see us come in, Brother Li introduced that we are his friends, these two big brothers are working in the ancient castle today and it is inconvenient to go home on a snowy day, just rub rice at his house to eat, he treats the two as guests to entertain, specially made the "flag noodles" that people in the mountains like to eat, you meet to eat together.
Li big brother lives alone, Kangtou built an earth stove, the mountain people call it tongkeng stove, both can cook and provide thermal heat to the kang, in order to cook conveniently the big brother's earth stove is two stoves, when cooking one boiling hot water, one stir-frying. While cooking, he did not forget to entertain us, and specially took out the pecans picked from the mountains and gave them to us to eat.
Although the two big brothers who rub rice are younger than Brother Li, they are also the same age in the local area, their homes are more than 10 miles away in other villages, recently the stone castle to develop tourism, they are coming to work, one person can earn 130 yuan a day, in order to seize the time to complete, they still continue to work here on snow days, if they go home for lunch, the snow day road is slippery and slippery, and then run on the road and delay time, and then proposed to rub rice at Brother Li's house, Big Brother Li is hospitable and helpful, Very happy to entertain two peers, specially made a pot of "flag noodles" for them.
Local mountain people in the winter very like to eat "flag noodles", the so-called "flag noodles" is actually similar to the braised noodles we eat, first the radish cabbage and pumpkin in an iron pot hot frying, and then pour in cold water to heat, and then add rolled short noodles, cooked to eat. Brother Wang's diet is a bit strange, he said that he does not like to eat radish but like to eat instant noodles, Brother Li first used boiling water to brew a package of instant noodles for him, and then took out his only two eggs to flush in the bowl, he said that in winter work only eat instant noodles have no physical strength, eat two eggs to supplement the best.
After greeting Brother Wang after eating instant noodles and beating eggs, Brother Li began to make "flag noodles", he put the radish pumpkin cabbage in the iron pot and began to fry hot, after a burst of cheering sound in the hot oil, the aroma of stir-frying in the small stone house drilled into people's noses, and the long-lost aroma of firewood and rice awakened our taste organs. The other elder brother Li had been sitting in a chair smoking a cigarette, quietly waiting for the meal to be ready, just like a person who walked relatives.
Big Brother Li cooked quite sharply, not a little kung fu, the iron pot flag made of firewood was out of the pot, opened the lid of the pot and began to scoop rice, and invited us to eat a bowl of hot "flag noodles" together, everyone thanked him for his kindness, only to see him scoop out two bowls of noodles and start to have lunch with the big brother with the same surname.
Maybe the big brother really treated himself as a guest, not at all polite, sitting at the small table waiting for a bowl of hot noodles to be delivered, and the ground began to eat. In order to make the same surname brother eat well, Brother Li also specially took 2 steamed buns and put them on the table, saying that he was afraid that people would not be accustomed to the noodles he made. Brother Li with the same surname also did not speak, the two people sat together to eat, looking like a pair of brothers, more like a family eating, in the cold stone house, a large bowl of hot noodles down to the stomach directly to the heart, it must feel very warm.
After eating, the three eldest brothers sat together to rest and chat, and the eldest brother in the middle even smoked an after-dinner cigarette, presumably he must have eaten very comfortably at Brother Li's house today, so that he could enjoy the immortals after the meal. Teacher Z jokingly asked Brother Li, do they pay for you to eat? The eldest brother said, "Villagers, what money do you pay?" Although they are not a villager, they are all familiar with each other, and it is appropriate to help each other when they have difficulties, and it is common for people in the mountains to eat the same pot of rice. ”
This is where the two eldest brothers work, this was originally a small ancestral hall in the old castle, because of the disrepair, the small stage on one side has been somewhat damaged, I heard that it was going to engage in tourism development, so it began to rebuild, the tourism company specially hired local villagers to do the foundation work.
During the conversation, Brother Li was lively outside the house, it turned out that the peasant brothers who came to work had eaten and came, and in the afternoon they were going to start working, Brother Li said that he was a little old and did not participate in this project, the people in the mountains were very realistic, although it was calculated by the day, everyone was very conscious, after eating, they worked, to be worthy of the 130 yuan wages, and the day that could be done would not drag on until the next day.
To leave, Brother Li deliberately led the way in front, insisted on sending us out of the castle, looking at his back, we felt the thickness of the people in the mountains, 2 eggs 1 package of noodles and 1 iron pot hot noodles, ate out of the kindness and truth of human nature, hot noodles in winter not only warmed the hearts of the two big brothers, but also warmed the hearts of those of us who are outsiders in the mountains. Did you say yes or no? [If you want to see more stories of the people, please click on the top right corner to follow]