The story of a cook

Chapter 38
On the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, I took the train back to Beipiao at [-]:[-] am, arrived at Beipiao Bus Terminal at [-]:[-] pm, waited for two hours, took the [-]:[-] bus, and started to go home.

Near nostalgia timid.

From the moment I got on the bus, my heart was excited, looking at the scenery outside the window, so familiar and kind.

As we got closer to home, the sky outside began to darken. The days in winter were short, and it would be dark just after five o'clock.I can't see anything outside anymore, and I wonder what my mother is doing at home now, has she eaten yet?Are you sitting on the kang and watching TV?still waiting for me--
After turning over the girder in front of me, I arrived home. My heart was beating so hard that I wished I could see my mother right away.

The car finally stopped, got out of the car, took a breath of air, and smelled the smell of home.

Walking home with my bag on my back, all the houses in the camp were lit up, looking at the lights coming out of the yards, listening to the sporadic sound of firecrackers, and two dogs barking from time to time, I stepped up. pace.

Pushing open the courtyard door, I saw the old house. Warm lights came out from the windows, and a warm current flowed through my heart.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door, walked through the outer room familiarly, and pushed open the door of the inner room.

My mother was sitting on the kang watching TV, when I saw me entering the room, I was stunned for a moment, a little stunned.

"Mom, I'm back." I said to my mother who was in a daze with a smile.

Mother came back to her senses, rubbed her eyes and said, "I think you should be back these two days. I didn't think about it and you got home today. Did you come back by the evening bus?"

"Well, tonight." I replied,

"Haven't you eaten yet?" Mother asked, and she was about to go to the ground.

"Sit on the kang, you're not hungry yet." Stopped my mother.

"The noodles I rolled haven't been put into the pot yet." Mom said.

"Mom, you stay here, I'll do it myself."

When I came to the outhouse, my mother got off the kang and followed in.

I said, "You go into the house, I can do it myself."

Mother didn't come into the house, and said, "Can you find anything?" After speaking, she went to get the rolled noodles on the chopping board.

Seeing the noodles rolled out by my mother and the sauerkraut and tofu stew, I knew she was waiting for me.

My mother didn't know when I would come back, she estimated that I would be home in the next two days.Roll out the noodles in advance and wait there. If I come back, she will be happy to cook in the pot.If I don't come back, she will sit on the kang in a daze, and she won't feel hungry, she will say to herself: "I won't be home today, but I should be home tomorrow—"

Then I would get off the kang, stagger to the outhouse, cook the noodles by myself, take out the noodles and put them in a bowl, pour pickled cabbage and tofu stew, and eat slowly.

No taste in my mouth, thinking of me——
my mother.

The fire in the stove was very hot, roasting my face, very hot.

Tears rolled from the eye sockets.

Watching my mother put the noodles into the pot, the water in the pot was boiling and steaming.

Put the table on the kang, go to the outhouse and bring in the tofu stew and put it on the table.Mother took the noodles out of the pot, and I brought them into the house. Mother took a bowl of chili sauce and put it on the table, then put her slippers on the kang, and sat cross-legged by the table.

Put a bowl of noodles, add marinade, and serve it to my mother.

"It's so much, it's late at night, I don't dare to eat more, I can't digest it." My mother said.

"It's okay, I'm back, eat more." I said.

"You won't eat much when you come back."

He filled a bowl of noodles, sat on the kang and picked up chopsticks to eat.

The white noodles rolled by my mother are mixed with buckwheat noodles, which taste very chewy.

My mother's sauerkraut tofu stew is my favorite.Chopped the sauerkraut pickled at home, cut the old tofu in brine into small cubes, put chopped green onion in the pot, sautéed the soy sauce until fragrant, poured the minced sauerkraut and diced tofu into the pot together, slapped it twice, put it for a while Scoop the water with water, simmer on low heat, add a small spoonful of home sauce and simmer for a while, and then the taste will come out, full of fragrance.

Mix pickled cabbage tofu stew with noodles and eat it with big mouthfuls.

My mother said: "This year's cabbage is not good, so I pickled a pot of sauerkraut."

I said, "One jar is enough for you to eat."

"As much as I can eat, your sister and the others will come back to eat."

"Mom, did you buy this tofu?"

"Your second brother-in-law made it. When it's done, bring me a plate. There's still plenty left." My mother said, "Sometimes I don't like to cook, so I just dip a whole piece of tofu in some sauce and eat some rice."

"Why don't you cook, you have to cook for yourself." I said.

"It's easy for me to deal with it at home alone. Sometimes I don't want to cook because I'm too lazy. If I cook too much, I can't eat it. You're not at home. Cook a dish for a day."

Hearing my mother say that is not a taste, it is uncomfortable.

My mother pushed the chili sauce towards me and said, "I made some yesterday. Don't you like it? The noodles are delicious."

I love to eat chili sauce made by my mother. I can’t do without noodles and dumplings. I use chopsticks to put some in the bowl, mix it with the noodles, and take a bite. It still tastes like my mother’s.

Seeing that I was eating well, my mother said: "Eat more, I dare not eat too much at night. Your fifth sister said that people like us should eat less at night, which is good for the stomach. You put all the noodles in a bowl Li, don’t leave any left over, the noodles won’t taste good if left over.”

"Mom, don't worry, I can eat it all."

"I'm fat, because I'm working in a restaurant. If I'm fat, I eat delicious food all day long, right?" My mother looked at me and asked.

"I haven't eaten anything delicious, but I'm not tired, and I'm a little fat."

"It's better to be fat, and don't be too fat. You see, those who suffer from high blood pressure are all fat people. A thin person like me will never suffer from high blood pressure for the rest of his life."

"Mom, you are in good health. I think you are fatter now than when I came back in summer." I said with a smile.

"I don't do any work in a day, I go to eat and sleep, and I'm not fat." My mother said: "My physique is not bad, but those in our camp who are over 60 years old are not good. Either high blood pressure or cerebral thrombosis, waist pain Those with good legs and bad legs have to take medicine every day. In the last two days, the grandson hall is gone. He is only 63, one year older than me. Don't take your breath away, go over there and enjoy your blessings."

I said, "He's an old patient. I was always sick when I was at home."

"Yes, I told my son about his daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law—huh! That's just a person, if it wasn't for everyone, he would have been strangled to death, and the old man was kicked out, and he lived in the grass hut in the front yard, and didn't give him food— - He died to enjoy the blessing." said the mother.

"What about his kid, don't he care about his wife?" I asked.

The mother sighed and said: "Then he should be called a boy, a wimp, if he can manage a little bit, he won't be able to live in his father's thatched house. In this winter, he will freeze to death."

My mother stopped eating after finishing a bowl of noodles, so she scooped up the noodles in the bowl and poured them into my bowl, saying, "I ate too much today. You ate all of them, and it's only one bowl."

"Okay, I ate them all."

"It's delicious when mixed with chili sauce. When your fifth sister eats noodles, she will look for chili sauce. You and your sisters are the same. You both like to eat it. It's strange that you eat it spicy. It also stimulates the stomach." Mother muttered, and put the tofu in the stew. I pushed in front of me, then sat back a little, looked at me and said: "Eat slowly, I won't eat, don't worry about eating, it's a long night, what time is it, every day at this time I still watch Little Swallow Woolen cloth."

"Mom, you also look at Huanzhugege." I asked.

"Look, it's very pretty. Little Yanzi's big eyes are the same as your second sister's Qiuping." Mother said.

"It's almost the same, they all have big eyes."

The second sister Jia Qiuping looks a lot like a little swallow.

"The last time you went back to work?" asked the mother.

"Well, go back to work." I replied.

"Still in that hotel?"

"Yes, it's still in that hotel."

"That's okay. Don't change places all the time. You don't know where to post a letter or anything." My mother said.

"No change of place."

"You said in your letter that your salary has been raised again?"

"It's increased by one hundred, now it's six hundred."

"I don't need to send money home all the time, and I don't spend it. I keep some for myself. Anyone who makes friends outside has to spend money." My mother said.

"I have enough money to spend."

My mother said: "I am an old lady who doesn't spend much money at home. I only pay the electricity bill a month, and I spend a little money on soy sauce. Your sister will bring me vegetables, rice and white noodles. I can't eat by myself. In the last two days, your eldest sister was in the last episode, and she left some hairtails for me when she passed by, and I don’t want to clean them up, so I’ll wait until you pack them up and eat them tomorrow.”

I said, "OK, I'll do it tomorrow."

After eating the noodles, I went down to clear the table, and took out the cotton shoes I bought for my mother from the bag.

"Mom, buy you a pair of shoes." Send the shoes to the mother.

"Buy me some shoes. The ones you bought last year are still in the closet."

"You can wear the ones I bought for you. What are you doing in the closet?" I said.

"I'm an old lady who has a pair of shoes at home. The shoes are new and I keep them for going out."

My mother said "save it for going out" and I was so sad.

"What kind of leather is this? It's so soft." My mother asked while touching the upper.

"I bought the soft ones. These are moccasins, suitable for you elderly people." Then he said, "Mom, try it and see the size."

Mother put the shoes on her feet, took two steps on the kang, and said, "It fits pretty well, and it's not hard at all. I saw your old aunt wear double leather ones for the past two days. Hers are not as good as this one, and they are hard." He sat back on the kang, took off his shoes and held them in his hands to watch.

"It's okay to die this time, and I have to wear leather shoes."

"Mom, let's see what your old man said."

Mother laughed and put the shoes on the windowsill.

"There is no one who is immortal, I am enjoying the blessing."

"You have to enjoy more."

"Well, then we have to wait until we have a daughter-in-law. It's no good without a daughter-in-law."

I didn't dare to say anything.

"Those classmates of yours, that Lin Qingguang, got married last month, and even picked me up. Look at their daughter-in-law, it's real."

"Mom, don't worry, I'll find you a real daughter-in-law tomorrow."

"Don't talk about authenticity, even if it's a small one, you can take it back and blow it from there." My mother glared at me and continued: "I'm not in a hurry, I can live for a few more days, don't care As for the daughter-in-law, I just want Qingguang’s daughter-in-law to be good, if I have such a daughter-in-law, what can I say.”

I looked at my mother and smiled.

"Put the shoes on the cabinet, I'll wear them tomorrow morning."

(End of this chapter)