The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 390 Encountering Grandma Zhang Xiangdong on the Road

When returning from his hometown to the provincial capital, Lao Tan did not take the expressway, but the national highway.

He is not in a hurry, he just wants to get home after dark, and when the weather is good, he can enjoy the scenery along the way and relax by the way.

There are many mountains in western Liaoning, and the road undulates and circles among the mountains.

The trees on both sides of the road are green, and the grass on the hillside is green.Because God has not rained, the farmers' land has not been planted, and the depressions are still yellow in ridges.

When crossing the border of Montenegro, Lao Tan stopped at the site of the Battle of Montenegro.

The hilltops that had been leveled by artillery fire were covered with green pine trees, and so were the slopes.At the foot of the mountain is the martyrs cemetery, densely packed tombs are neatly arranged, and the entrance of the cemetery is a solemn monument.

I heard from the old man that when he used to farm on the mountain, the plow stick could always plow out bullet barrels and shell casings, as well as broken human bones.Later, all the pine trees were planted in returning the farmland to the forest, which can be regarded as respect and comfort to the martyrs.

There are five scattered families at the bottom of the mountain.Lao Tan remembered that there were eight households in the past, all of which were adobe houses.The current five families are all Beijing one-story houses, surrounded by spacious courtyard walls made of hollow bricks, the gate building is neatly repaired, and the black iron gates are open to each other.

Looking from a distance, there are stacks of firewood piled up at the door of each house, cars parked in the yard, the pear trees in the garden are snow-white, and one or two dogs barking and chickens crowing faintly can be heard.

Lao Tan was sitting on a stone by the roadside smoking a cigarette, the sun was lazy and warm, and the wind was not strong, making it comfortable to blow on his body.

He said in his heart that these five families must be safe, and they are protected by the People's Liberation Army halfway up the hillside, who would dare to mess with them.As the saying goes, yin does not suppress yang, let alone a righteous soldier.

Looking up at the surrounding mountains, any place that can become a blocking battle is a traffic fortress, and this place is no exception.To the north is Yixian County, and to the south is Jinzhou. When the People's Liberation Army besieged Jinzhou, it was here that the defense line was set up to block the Kuomintang's support for Jinzhou.

The battle was fierce, with countless casualties, and the entire mountain was flattened. It was a bit like the battle of Shangganling on the Korean battlefield later, but on a smaller scale.

After the liberation of Jinzhou, the troops went south, and many wounded were treated on the spot. Some returned to the army after recovering from their injuries, and those who were disabled and could no longer go to the battlefield were taken in by the local government.

Lao Tan's village only accepted one, the second old Zhang who taught Lao Tan how to mix wine in elementary school.

The second old Zhang, from Shandong, was injured on his leg.He has a eccentric personality, erratic behavior, and a very violent temper. He dares to scold the township head and party secretary, but the two have to be obedient and greet each other with a smile on their faces.

The second old Zhang lived in two five-guarantee houses built by the village government.Old Tan knew this old man with a long beard and a curly accent as long as he could remember.My father is sick and cannot go out to work in the mountains, so he stays at home all year round.The second old Zhang is a five-guarantee household, and the village is in charge of it, so he doesn't go out of the mountain.

The second elder Zhang has chess. When he sees his father in good condition, he goes to play chess with him. His father is the only person he can talk to in the village.

The second old Zhang is good at wine and knows how to mix wine.When Lao Tan was in elementary school, he would pick apricot, pear, and mountain peach blossoms for him at this time of year, and he dried them to make wine.

Soaking wine is exquisite, and requires medical knowledge.The compatibility of the main ingredients and various auxiliary medicinal materials between the monarch and his ministers must be done according to their own needs, and there must be no sloppy.Otherwise, Ah Qiao's health wine would not be so delicious and popular with guests.

The second Lao Zhang often told Lao Tan about the Battle of Montenegro when he was teaching him how to mix wine. Because it was a personal experience, the words were natural and vivid.At that time, Lao Tan thought that one day he must go to Montenegro to see what it was like.

The green mountains and pine waves roar for thousands of miles, and a piece of heroic towns and rivers.

That's it!

The car drove forward, turned over the hill, and went downhill, not far from the Qingyan Temple of the old mother with a crooked neck.

Qingyan Temple in Beizhen is a famous Buddhist holy place in Northeast China. It is divided into upper and lower courtyards.The upper courtyard is located in a horizontal fractured stone crevice in the middle of the northern mountain peak. The stone crevice is more than [-] meters long, nine meters wide and less than one meter narrow.

There is a cave dug in the middle of the stone crevice, in which Avalokitesvara of the South China Sea is enshrined, and there are eighteen arhats beside it.According to legend, in the early years, the monks in the temple asked craftsmen to make a statue of Avalokitesvara. After the statue was finished, the monks carried it into the cave, but at the entrance of the cave, they found that the statue was too high to enter.

A monk said that Guanyin would enter if he tilted his head.Unexpectedly, as soon as the words fell, the Avalokitesvara statue appeared and tilted its head. All the monks were overjoyed and kowtowed to thank them, and then smoothly carried the Avalokitesvara statue into the cave and placed it.

It may be that the monks were so happy that they forgot to turn the head of the Avalokitesvara statue, so it became a statue with a crooked neck, called the old mother with a crooked neck.

The legends are not credible, but people worship the merciful and compassionate Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, and the incense burns continuously, but it is also at its peak.

It should be one day 20 years ago, coincident with the temple fair, the old mother with crooked neck appeared again, and the dharma body appeared in the sky above the temple, with benevolent eyebrows and kind eyes, which lasted for a long time.Seeing the spirit of the old mother, people knelt down and worshiped, and since then the incense has become even better.

Whether this is a rumor or a mirage, no one has studied it. If men and women are sincere, people will be more willing to believe that it is Avalokitesvara.

Lao Tan wanted to pay homage to Crooked Neck's mother, so he drove down the road and headed for Qingyan Temple.

Today is not a temple fair, and there are not many people burning incense, but there are also many.

Lao Tan burned incense and kowtowed to his mother. It was noon when he came out of the cave. He came out early in the morning. He didn't eat much. He was a little hungry and wanted to find a restaurant to eat.Unexpectedly, the price of several shops after I went was astonishing, and the attitude was arrogant. I didn't have any good mood left after burning the incense, and I was full before I had a meal.

He came out of "Kongyuan Noodle Restaurant" angrily, and there were two diners with him, one old and one young.The old one is my mother-in-law in her seventies.The few are young men in their twenties.

"Don't eat here, go to the town ahead." Old Tan said angrily.

He went into the noodle shop and wanted to eat a bowl of noodles with fried sauce. The chubby boss said that a bowl was 35, and it had to be accompanied by a side dish, otherwise he would not make it.

"What's wrong? Buy and sell by force?" Old Tan asked.

"I can't start a fire just because you eat a bowl of noodles at noon. Do you know how much coal is expensive now? Is the food expensive? Water doesn't cost money? I don't have to pay for a bowl of noodles." The boss is justified, but he is quite reasonable.

Lao Tan was so choked that he saw the sky-high price of noodles in front of the legendary Buddhist scenic spot, a bit like the sky-high price of food in front of a well-known ancient temple in the country uploaded on the Internet.

After the boss finished speaking, he ignored Lao Tan, turned around and asked the old and the young, "Have you decided to eat or not? If you don't eat it, I'm still entertaining others."

"What are you talking about?" the young man was anxious.

"Why, I still have to sing and talk?" The boss raised his voice.

"Hold on, there's no reason to be angry, let's go." The mother-in-law grabbed the young man and walked out.

One old and one young went out, and the boss asked Old Tan with his nose and face: "What are you doing, do you want to eat?"

"Don't eat!"

So there was a picture of three people walking out of the noodle shop.

Lao Tan went to the car and was about to get in the car. The young man saw that Lao Tan's car had a provincial license plate, and asked Lao Tan if it belonged to the provincial capital, and Lao Tan said yes.The young man said that he was also from the provincial capital, and he brought his grandma to burn incense.

Old Tan said: "Just going back to the provincial capital, let's go together. I know there is a town ahead, and there is a restaurant that makes good noodles. Let's go after eating."

Lao Tan drove the car and led the way. Two or 10 minutes later, he came to the front town street, stopped in front of a restaurant, and the three of them got out of the car and walked in.

Three bowls of noodles for three people, two side dishes, all for [-].

"Your accent doesn't sound like that of a provincial capital." The young man's grandmother asked Old Tan.

"My hometown is Beipiao, and I live in the provincial capital." Lao Tan said with a smile.

"Oh, no wonder." The old lady was relieved.

"What's your brother doing?" the boy asked.

"Cook, you work in restaurants." Old Tan said.

The young man asked, "Did you drive it yourself?"

"No, work for others."

"My cousin owns a restaurant, a dumpling restaurant on the first day of the new year, a chain store, you know?"

Old Tan was shocked, he didn't expect to meet Zhang Xiangdong's cousin here, needless to say, the old lady was Zhang Xiangdong's grandma.

(End of this chapter)