Folk tales (origin of pine flower skin eggs)

Once upon a time, there was a bachelor named Shui Ge in Dongting Lake, who herded ducks for a living. Brother Shui originally had a home, but because he buried his mother, he sold out all the furniture of the house. In this way, the duck shed became his home, and a hundred ducks were his entire possession.

In the autumn of this year, Shui Ge went to the hilly area to release ducks. One day, as soon as he had set up the duck shed, he saw a girl coming with a duck in one hand. The girl came over and asked, "Look at the duck's brother, did you lose these two ducks?"

Brother Shui looked at the duck in the girl's hand, hurriedly walked to the duck fence, counted, and if there were really two fewer, he reached out and took the duck. But when Brother Shui reached out and touched the duck's food bag, it was swollen and bulging, and he returned the duck to the girl, saying, "Girl, this is not my duck, my duck food bag is still empty!" The girl said, "These two ducks went into my vegetable garden to eat vegetables, and the food bag was empty when I caught it." I was afraid that it would not lay eggs when it was hungry, so I fed it two handfuls of grain. ”

Brother Shui still refused to accept it, he said, "My ducks were lost elsewhere, and these two ducks were lost in another passing duck shed, right?" The girl was so touched that she blamed The water brother: "You man, these two ducks are yours!" I haven't had a duck shed in the past two days!" Brother Shui said, "Well, I put these two ducks in the shed, and if these two ducks are called, and the ducks in the enclosure are also called, then these two ducks are mine, and if the ducks are placed in the enclosure and join the ninety-eight ducks, then these two ducks are mine." Just stand here and watch, please bear witness!" When he finished, he went inside the shed. The girl really couldn't do anything with Brother Shui's strength, so she had to stand where she was and watch.

Brother Shui put down the two ducks, only to see that the two ducks were barking, and the ducks of the ducks were also calling; As soon as the two ducks were put into the flock, they made love to the other ducks. The girl clapped her hands happily: "Brother Duck, you can rest assured now!" Brother Shui asked the girl's name and where she lived, and the next morning, he took ten duck eggs to reward the girl. This girl's name is Song Mei, and she lives on the opposite hillside. At this time, Songmei's father went to the field to harvest rice, and only Songmei and an old mother who was sick in bed were left in the family. Song Mei not only did not accept the eggs sent by Brother Shui, but also left Brother Shui to eat breakfast.

Brother Shui was even more reluctant not to thank Song Mei for sending the duck. It was dark this day, he drove the ducks back to the shed and passed by the vegetable garden of Song Mei's house, and found that the two ducks had run towards the vegetable garden again yesterday. He was overjoyed: "Good! Let these two ducks lay eggs in the garden! If Sister Song picked it up and sent it, and I didn't admit it, then she would have to pick it up and go home, and her mother was sick and needed nourishment!" From this day on, for fifteen consecutive days, Brother Shui let the two ducks burrow into the vegetable garden of Song Mei's house the night before, and the next day just after dawn, he drove them out again.

Brother Shui did this every day, and he was not discovered by Song Mei.

Song Mei has been in love with Water Brother since she gave the duck. He used to send chili peppers to Brother Shui and firewood. One day when it was raining, she saw that Brother Shui's umbrella was rotten, and she even sent the only oil-paper umbrella in the family.

Unconsciously, it is half a month. Although Song Mei has the meaning of love, she still dares not say it, but the honest and loyal water brother has not noticed it. Soon he will be relocating. On the day of Shui Ge's relocation of the shed, Song Mei found thirty duck eggs in a kang filled with lime in the vegetable garden, which was immersed in lime water. Song Mei immediately found Brother Shui and said that the duck egg was born by his duck and insisted on returning it to him. Brother Shui had no choice, so he said, "Sister Song, will you treat these thirty eggs as if they fell from the sky?" I'm leaving today, so you've boiled the eggs that fell from the sky, and with your mom and dad, let's have a meal, okay?" Song Mei had to agree to Shui Ge's suggestion. When she broke the egg, the inside of the egg and the yellow and white changed color and condensed into a clump. She licked it with the tip of her tongue, and it was very fresh! All four were overjoyed. The clever Song Sister said, "Brother Shui, don't you leave, let's make this kind of egg, maybe it can sell for money!" Brother Shui saw that Song Mei left him, and he was reluctant to leave, so he made this kind of flavored egg with Song Mei. Inspired by the lime puddle in the vegetable garden, they bought a pot of lye water, filled it in a jar, added it with lime water, stirred it well, and put in a hundred duck eggs. In less than a month, most of the eggs have become the kind of delicious eggs, and some of the egg whites have a beautiful flower on them! When Brother Shui and Sister Song took the egg to the street, they were embarrassed: this kind of egg has never been, what is the egg called? She said to Brother Shui, "Brother Shui, the flowers under the egg white are like pine flowers, and the egg whites form a layer of skin, I think it is called 'pine flower skin eggs'."

Soon, Shui Ge and Song Mei got married. Because people love to eat pine blossom skin eggs, their business is getting better and better, and their lives are getting richer and richer every day. Later, they passed on the method of making pine flower skin eggs to others. As a result, the reputation of Songhuapi Egg spread in Yiyang and Dongting Lake.