The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

For Yang, who was six and a half years old, the winter solstice in the 21st year of Qin Wangzheng was unforgettable for him.

Yesterday, Zhongfu and his uncle used the newly made "treading pestle" to pound a stone of rice in one breath, of which two-thirds were indica rice and one-third were glutinous rice. It was not enough to pound it into brown rice, so they pounded it until the evening, sifted it several times, and finally removed all the rice bran and got white and clean rice.

Zhongfu took two buckets of the pounded indica rice and glutinous rice respectively, put them in a pottery basin and soaked them in cold and clear well water, then picked up Yang and his sister Yue in one hand, kissed each of them, and boasted that he would make delicious food for them tomorrow...

Just because of Zhongfu's words, Yang, who was at the age of greed, did not fall asleep until late, and kept thinking about what the delicious food Zhongfu was talking about.

"It's maltose! I heard that Zhongfu sent my uncle to the market to buy maltose!"

His sister, Xiaoyue, who was only five years old, opened her eyes wide. Yang seemed to see stars in her eyes under her forehead. They could only eat sweet and delicious maltose two or three times a year.

"It must be related to the rice." Yang thought so.

In his eyes, the pounded fine rice was already delicious. Yang was at an age when he was easily hungry. He could swallow it in big mouthfuls when eating rice without worrying about his throat being scratched by rice bran. But on weekdays, his father had to drag his injured leg to the fields, and his mother was very busy. She had to do housework, weave cloth, and take care of her grandmother. How could she have time to pound carefully?

In full of expectations, the two children fell asleep in a daze. When Yang opened his eyes again, it was already bright the next day. The winter solstice had arrived...

For their family, the winter solstice is not only a solar term, but also a special day.

The kind-hearted grandma always liked to hold Yang and Yue in her arms and talk about the past.

She said that Zhongfu was born at dawn on the winter solstice. Coincidentally, Uncle Jing was also born at dawn on the winter solstice two years later. His birth was purely accidental. When Grandma went to deliver food to Grandfather, he was startled by a rabbit running past him and suddenly came into this world...

So Grandma often joked about this, saying that Uncle Jing was born in a hurry in order to be born on the same day as Zhongfu.

Whenever Yang and Yue heard this, they would curiously ask, how was the child born, did he jump out of a stone? Or was he fished out of a well? Or was he transformed from that rabbit?

In this regard, the adults looked at each other and avoided talking about it.

But the aunt who lived in the village, who was illiterate but knew the "Daily Book" and often set dates and times for people, believed that people born on the same day and month must be connected by fate. Heifu and Jing were not only brothers, but also destined to live and die together... It sounded weird.

In short, the winter solstice was a little special for their family, and this year was even more special. All this was because of Zhongfu!

When Yang rubbed his eyes and walked out of the door, he found that his mother and aunt were busy in the kitchen, lighting a fire and setting up a pot, and there was a wooden steamer on the pot for steaming rice. After the water in the pottery pot boiled, they scooped the swollen and white rice into the steaming wooden steamer and steamed it over a high fire.

Soon, the kitchen was steaming, and the strong aroma of rice kept overflowing from the kitchen, making Yang drool.

At this time, Zhongfu also bent over and entered the kitchen. Their family had been poor for generations, and they didn't know the strange rule of "a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen". Zhongfu ignored the smoke and choked his nose, squatted beside the stove and fanned the fire with a fan, while paying attention to the temperature.

When he shouted "OK", his uncle and others came in together, lifted the wooden steamer, and poured the steamed rice, which was nine-tenths cooked, into the clean stone mortar while it was still hot.

Next, it was the most fun time for Yang, but he saw that his uncle took off his winter clothes, bare his upper body, holding a big wooden mallet, and Zhongfu stepped on the newly made "pedal pestle".

The two of them, one on each side, first smashed the rice in the stone pestle, then the uncle raised the wooden mallet and pounded it hard, and Zhongfu also saw his rhythm and stepped on it. You hit me, I hit you, the stone hammer and the wooden mallet fell into the mortar one after another, constantly pounding the hot rice, making a "bang, bang" sound, turning it into a sticky rice ball...

Oh, it shouldn't be called a rice ball, Zhongfu said to Yang, this thing is called "rice cake".

"I didn't eat it during the New Year, so I had to eat it during the winter solstice." Zhongfu said with a smile, but Yang didn't understand, if that's the case, why not call it "winter cake"? .

During this process, Zhongfu also allowed Yang and Yue, who had just woken up, and "Chen", the four-year-old daughter of his aunt and uncle, to grab a handful of glutinous rice from the stone mortar and run to the side to eat it with relish. The three brothers and sisters had sticky rice grains on their hands and mouths, and finally pointed at each other's appearance, giggled, and began to chase each other in the yard, and then the big yellow dog in the front yard also joined in.

Uncle was also surprised to see them laughing. Under normal circumstances, this child king would have come over to play with them, but at this moment, he was assigned a task by Zhongfu. Crouching beside them, every time the wooden hammer fell, Uncle quickly wet his palms with clean water, reached into the stone mortar, turned over the unpounded rice balls, and covered the pounded parts.

This cycle repeated over and over, and finally, it was pounded into a large, solid ball, and then it was considered pounded.

At this time, Yang saw that Uncle was already panting like a cow, saying that this work was really tiring, his arms were sore, and his palms were numb. On the other hand, Zhongfu, who was operating the treading pestle, was not red in the face or out of breath, as if nothing had happened.

But Zhongfu continued to direct everyone to knead the large piece of rice cake that had been pounded and placed on the long chopping board several times, then pinched it into several long strips, smoothed the wrinkles on it, and evenly applied a little hot paste. Finally, he used a knife to cut the long strips into dozens of roughly equal pieces, and then pressed them with a chopping board, and round rice cakes that looked like discs appeared in front of him.

Zhongfu even carved a seal with hail (radish) with interest, held Yang and Yue, and asked them to use their little hands to pinch the seal and press it hard on the rice cake. A round and moon-shaped stamp appeared on the rice cake...

"I want one too."

Xiaochen from my aunt's family was also brought to the table, and Zhongfu made one for her, and put it on the rice cake, leaving a five-pointed star...

"The round one is Yang, the curved one is Yue, and the five-pointed star is Chen. Isn't it fun?"

"Fun!"

Yang and Yue sat in Zhongfu's broad arms, and couldn't help but widen their eyes. Chen also rode on Zhongfu's neck and shouted happily.

For the first time, the children discovered that the rice they ate every day could become so interesting!

"Not only is it fun, it's also delicious." Heifu laughed with three children hanging on his body.

In the next two thousand years, the diet of China will gradually change, and millet will slowly withdraw from the main position. In the end, the north will become the world of wheat, while the south will always be the kingdom of rice.

Chinese people like unity, and there is no distinction between the north and the south in the country, but when it comes to food, there is a division between the north and the south, and fighting and party struggles.

In the eyes of northerners, southerners "rice soup and fish" are such a hard life, and they may even feel sympathy for them.

But if southerners themselves say that rice with delicious fish soup makes life full of flavor, and eating steamed buns and dry buns every day is boring!

For southerners, steamed buns and noodles can be used as breakfast and midnight snacks, but the main meal must be a bowl of hot white rice to keep them full for the day. In their eyes, rice is like an old wife, who goes hand in hand with them and never gets tired of eating it for a hundred years; noodles are like concubines, who serve outside and only need to taste them occasionally. Northerners think that this relationship is probably reversed...

To put it bluntly, the difference in diet is nothing more than the local water and soil nurturing the local people. No matter what is planted in the field, it must be made delicious and colorful. This is the true nature of a foodie country.

Similarly, northerners have their own way of celebrating the New Year, and southerners have their own routines of celebrating the New Year. Northerners have dumplings, and southerners cannot do without rice cakes.

Heifu was an authentic southerner in his previous life. Coincidentally, this Nanjun Anlu is also the southernmost county of the Qin State. In a thousand years, this place will be "Huguang is ripe and the world is full", and it can be regarded as a land of fish and rice. Crops are half corn and half rice, and there is even some glutinous rice, but wheat is less planted.

So Heifu recalled the scene of celebrating the New Year in his hometown when he was a child in his previous life, and copied the lively scene of pounding rice cakes more than two thousand years ago...

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to make a mill, so he couldn't grind the rice into powder before steaming it, and couldn't make a proper rice cake. These things in front of him were not so delicate, and it seemed more appropriate to call them "glutinous rice cakes".

However, the kind of New Year scene that Heifu wanted, where the whole family worked together to pound rice cakes, young and old, laughing and talking loudly, was real.

Children especially liked this scene. The three of them chased each other in the yard, shouting and yelling, eating and playing, and having fun.

A family must have real warmth and unity in mind, so that they can make sticky rice cakes!

"This is the life I want." Heifu couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

…

By this time, the physical work was almost done. Heifu picked out some rice cakes and asked his sister-in-law and elder sister to go back to the kitchen to steam them. After the hot rice cakes came out of the pot, they were soft and could be easily wrapped into rice cake balls.

Jing was impatient and stuffed a ball into his mouth, which was so hot that he screamed. Heifu blew it slowly to cool it down before putting it in his mouth. He couldn't help but close his eyes. The chewy and soft feeling made him feel very familiar and nostalgic.

In addition to eating it plain, you can also dip it in the maltose that he asked Jing to buy in the township market. It is so sweet when you put it in your mouth. The three children especially like it and can't stop eating it.

Xiaoyue also sensibly held a piece of rice cake dipped in maltose and handed it to Heifu's mother, saying in a baby voice, "Grandma, eat it." His mother took it with relief, but the rice cake was a little sticky and not very friendly to the elderly with loose teeth. The mother just ate a little and continued to serve the porridge. Looking at the scene of the family reunion, this is the best delicacy for a mother...

Of course, rice cakes can also be dipped in sauce or salt, but Heifu does not advocate that way of eating.

"Sweet rice cakes are orthodox, salty ones are all heresy!"

Heifu began to pull his nephews and nieces and say some strange things, but Jing, who was standing beside him, ate a piece of rice cake cooked with oil and salt in one bite in front of him, and smacked his lips and said that it tasted better than sweet...

Others also ate until their stomachs were full, and they praised the taste of the rice cakes, saying that they were glutinous, fragrant, and delicious.

In the past, they found joy in hardship, but today, they enjoyed happiness in sweetness.

The whole family sat together to solve this meal, although the nobles of this era practiced the system of separate meals, and each had a table in front of them, and the bells rang and the food was served. But Heifu's family has been poor for generations. They don't even have a table for eating. They just put a wooden stool in front of them and squat on the ground to start eating. Why are there so many details?

Heifu likes this atmosphere. This is also a deep-rooted thinking of later generations. He thinks it's good to sit in a circle. It's lively and intimate. After eating, they can sit opposite each other and chat. The alienation and quarrels between brothers in the noble family do not exist here.

Poem:

You are served with bamboo baskets and bowls, and you drink wine. Brothers are complete, and they are harmonious and happy.

A good wife is like playing the zither. Brothers are harmonious and happy.

Although there are no bells and tripods or wine here, the laughter of the family is more beautiful than any zither in the world...

The night is getting darker. Heifu is happy today and is still popularizing the N ways to eat rice cakes for his brothers.

"The remaining rice cakes can be stored for a long time if they are dried in the winter. When you want to eat them, just slice them, boil them, or roast them. Just three or five slices are enough to keep you full for the whole morning."

Heifu was talking excitedly, but his eldest brother Zhong smiled and listened for a long time, then suddenly said with some melancholy: "Since my father passed away, our family hasn't been so lively for a long time..."

For a moment, the whole family was silent. Indeed, in the past few years, many things happened to their family, and finally they fell from a good middle-class family to the poverty line.

Then, Zhong stood up and bowed to Heifu!

"Zhongdi told me in the county town that day that he would make our family's life better and better. I didn't believe it at the time, but now, Zhongdi, I really believe it!"

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