Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 315 Years

Duan Yun's hometown is in Hongqigou, Shiqiaozi Town, Benxi, Liaoning. Uncle Duan Yun's family still lives here.

In my memory, the last time Duan Yun went back to his hometown for the New Year was when he was in the third grade of elementary school, and he never went back since then.

During the hard times, the old family helped Duan Yun's family many times. During the difficult period when the people in the country generally did not have enough to eat, the uncle and grandpa once delivered several bags of sorghum rice and corn to Duan Yun's family twice a year. With these grains, Duan Yun's family is not difficult to live.

Over the years, her mother and her hometown have been keeping in touch with each other by letter. This year, Duan Yun returned to the city to work in the factory, so Gao Xiuzhi decided to go back to her hometown to have a look.

Gao Xiuzhi brought some Daxing local specialties this time, two bags of dried apricots, and a barrel of sesame oil. If it wasn't for too much luggage, Gao Xiuzhi would have brought more local specialties.

But for Duan Yun, he thinks these things are troublesome. In his opinion, money and food stamps are the most affordable. Before leaving, he exchanged more than 200 catties of food stamps on the black market and brought a few cash One hundred yuan, with so much money, it is enough for their family of three and people in their hometown to have a good year.

After sitting on the train for two full days and three nights, Duan Yun's family finally got off the train at Benxi Station.

After getting off the train, Duan Yun felt the bone-chilling chill brought by a gust of cold wind.

Although Daxing is also a northern city, it is still warmer than the northeast. But even though it is cold here, seeing the white snow on the roof and the platform makes me feel a little excited.

Afterwards, they took the bus, took a donkey cart from a fellow villager, and finally arrived at the uncle's house when the sun was setting.

"Xiaoyun is already this tall, and Xiaofang is now a big girl..."

It was the uncle Gao Qingping who stood at the entrance of the village to greet Duan Yun's family of three.

Duan Yun's great-uncle, Gao Qingping, was a native farmer with a burly and tall figure. Although he was over [-] years old, his body still looked tough and he spoke with great vigor.

Gao Qingping has two sons and three daughters, all of whom are now married. The two sons now work in the Benxi Iron and Steel Plant, and the daughters are also married. Except for the eldest daughter who is married to Mengjia Village not far away, the other two daughters are also married now. To the workers of Benxi Iron and Steel Works.

After receiving Gao Xiuzhi's telegram, Gao Qingping's family made preparations in advance.

Gao Qingping has a row of mud-grass houses in the village, with a large fenced yard, a well in the middle, and a stone mill and a chicken coop made of mud-grass on the edge of the yard. Corn is hung on the roof, full of the breath of life.

Duan Yun's family was settled in a house on the east side. The inside had been cleaned up in advance, and the roof had just been pasted with a shed.

Paste shed was a relatively common decoration job in the Northeast countryside in the 70s, and it is similar to the decoration of the roof of the house now.

The house is built, but it is not a problem to see the beams as soon as you look up in the house. It is neither elegant nor hygienic. Therefore, anyone who can live a decent life and loves to be clean hangs a shed. Naturally, the shed is not a ceiling or something. Besides, the countryside at that time could not afford this.To save trouble, some families pulled a large piece of plastic sheeting inside the house as a roof, while more people used sorghum stalks to smear yellow mud to hang the roof.

After the hanging shed, some waste newspapers and book papers were found and pasted up, and it became a so-called paste shed.Pasting a shed is a handicraft job, so it must not be careless.At that time, there were several types of people who were very popular in Northeast China: one master of ceremonies, two carpenters, three bricklayers, and four yin and yang, and the shed builder should be ranked fifth.

Gao Qingping has been widowed for many years, and usually lives alone, and his children often take turns to take care of them. Thinking about the Chinese New Year, the two sons will return to the village with their wives and children. The family reunion is very lively.

In Duan Yun's view, the New Year's flavor in the countryside seems to be much stronger than that in the city.

On the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, the second day after Duan Yun's family entered the village, uncle Gao Qingping began to slaughter the New Year pigs in the yard.

Slaughtering New Year’s Pigs is a very important activity during the Chinese New Year in the rural areas of Northeast China. Pigs must be slaughtered on the coldest day of the twelfth lunar month. The main reason is to facilitate storage. The meat will spoil if the weather gets hotter.

This year pigs are the main source of meat for the villagers during the Chinese New Year.

Butchering pigs is a troublesome period, and neighbors need to work together to complete it. After the fat pigs are slaughtered, some meat will be given to the neighbors who helped butcher the pigs, which makes the pig-killing dish more social.The meat, bones, internal organs and even blood of various parts are important ingredients.

There is a famous dish among pig-killing dishes, which is blood sausage. Put a little salt water in a large pot, and then release the blood when killing pigs. Stir the blood to prevent coagulation, add a little seasoning and pour it into the casing.In addition to blood sausage, there are also blood tofu made from coagulated blood clots, or steamed pig blood directly to make a dish.Although blood is an auxiliary, blood sausage is an indispensable delicacy regardless of any version of pig-killing dish. Needless to say, blood sausage with sauerkraut and white meat, steamed blood sausage alone, dipped in soy sauce and garlic, is also delicious to satisfy hunger.

More advanced than butchered pig stew is sauerkraut white meat. The white meat used is actually the trough meat from the neck of the pig. This piece of meat is considered the fattest and tenderest piece of meat on the pig. People generally lack oil and water these days and eat it all year round. The meat is less than a few times, and the smooth and tender slotted meat in this dish is cut into almost transparent slices, and it is served with the unique sauerkraut in Northeast China, which is very enjoyable to eat.

Entering the twelfth lunar month, in addition to killing the New Year pigs, every family will also make sticky bean buns, which is one of the favorite staple foods of northerners.The black land is rich in yellow rice. The yellow rice is cleaned, rolled into powder, sieved, and made into noodles. It is warmed on the hot kang head, and then wrapped in cooked red bean bean paste, and a bean bag is made.Whether it is steamed or fried, it is very fragrant.In the old days, the old lady led the girls and daughters-in-law to make bean buns. In order to prevent sleepiness, the old man told "nonsense" while making bean buns, and the saying "winter buns and bean buns tell ghosts" came into being.

As for drinks, the locals use sorghum rice to exchange for one catty of wine at the brigade commune. Two catties of sorghum can be exchanged for one catty of wine.

The sound of firecrackers is everywhere in the village, and the Chinese New Year is undoubtedly the happiest day for children.

Younger sister Duan Fang had a great time playing outside these days, wearing a bright red padded jacket with walnuts and other dried fruits in her pockets, dancing rubber bands with the girls in the village, and her uncle and grandpa took out an ice cart from the woodshed Every time Duan Fang went skating on the ground, he was always bumped by a group of boys and turned back and forth, his little face flushed from the cold was full of excitement.

Duan Yun also enjoyed the warm and happy New Year in the village, but for Duan Yun, besides celebrating the New Year, the most important thing for Duan Yun was to find his parents and girlfriend from his previous life...

(End of this chapter)