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Chapter 39

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    ?

    Eating "New Year's Eve dinner" is the most lively and happy time for every family during the Spring Festival.

    There are many famous venues for the New Year's Eve dinner, which are different from the north to the south.  Northerners are used to eating dumplings during Chinese New Year, which is a habit handed down from ancient times.  The life of the people at the bottom of the ancient north was hard. Not hungry all year round was already the greatest hope. Improving their lives could only be achieved during the "Chinese New Year". The "dumplings" listed as the best are usually the most difficult to eat, and only  Only during the Spring Festival can we have the opportunity to eat "dumplings".

    The "New Year's Eve dinner" in Sichuan usually has two things, one is hot pot and the other is fish.  The hot pot is boiling, steaming, warm and sultry, indicating that it is booming; the homonym of "fish" and "yu" symbolizes "auspicious abundance" and also means "surplus every year".

    Shu people cannot do these two things without the word "spicy".  But during the Yuan Dynasty, there was no chili.  Chili was brought from South America by western navigators during the Ming Dynasty, and spread from the lower reaches to the upper reaches along the Yangtze River. After arriving in Hunan, Sichuan, and Guizhou, it quickly became a widely grown and eaten food.

    So how was the spicy hot pot made in the Yuan Dynasty?

    In ancient China, there was a clear division of taste, and all tastes can be divided into five types - sour, sweet, bitter, pungent, and salty.

    And "spicy" is a kind of spicy flavor. Although there was no chili pepper in the past, there are still many ingredients that can produce spicy flavor. The common ones are dogwood, pepper, pepper, mustard, wasabi, etc.

    [1] "Recalling Brothers in Shandong on September 9th" Wang Wei. Poetry

    ? Alone in a foreign land as a stranger,

    ? I miss my loved ones every festive season.

    ? I know where my brother climbed to the heights,

    There is one less person to plant dogwood all over the place.

    The "cornel" mentioned in Wang Wei's poem is one of the main sources of spicy spices in Sichuan cuisine, and the ancients in Sichuan called it "Aizi".

    "Compendium of Materia Medica" records that eating Cornus officinalis "taste is pungent and bitter. The natives [referring to people in Sichuan and Hubei] began to pick it in August and September. After picking it back, it was pounded and filtered to get the juice, and it was mixed with lime.  Spicy rice oil. It tastes spicy and can be used in food."

    On the night of "New Year's Day", in addition to eating, there is an important ceremony to worship the ancestors: before the meal, first sacrifice to the ancestors of the world, thank God for the blessing, and at the same time send the thoughts of the ancestors from afar.

    Liu Haohao led a group of children and maids to prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner and ancestor worship activities. She asked Liu Ji to take Liu Kai to the streets to take a look at the customs of Langzhong's "New Year's Eve".

    [2] "Langzhong Works" by Lu You. Poem

    ?Hold on Zheng Yi to wash the dust,

    Langzhou Zhai brewing is absolutely fragrant and mellow.

    The old acquaintances of Yinghua are not strangers,

    Landscape once traveled is an old friend.

    Ao Le is always crowned in Bashu,

    The voice is getting more and more like Xianqin.

    ? I have debts left in my life,

    I wish to look at Xiaochun in the south of the city.

    Langzhong is like a wise old man: vertical and horizontal ancient streets and alleys, winding stone roads, exquisite and unique ancient wooden houses, exquisitely carved ancient doors and windows, ancient courtyards with winding paths, majestic and magnificent ancient buildings  ¡­

    When Liu Ji walked into the ancient city, he couldn't help being fascinated by her infinite charm.  Walking on the old streets soaked in feng shui, people seem to walk into the picture scroll of history; wandering in the pavilions, courtyards and temples, recalling the thoughts of more than three thousand years; staying in the antique inn, let people relive the unique  Thick and quiet In this place that has been active for thousands of years, once you come, you don't want to leave!

    Liu Jiji leans on a fence beside the ancient city and looks at the Jialing River: Although she does not have the turbulent waves of the Yellow River, nor the broad and stalwart banks of the Yangtze River, she does not lack the tranquility of a girl.  Her water is so still, it makes people feel as if you are the only one in this world. Under the breeze blowing, occasionally ripples appear in the heart; her water is so blue, as blue as  The sapphire full of infinite mystery and temptation makes people ecstasy; her water is so clear that people can see her pure chest and want to go into her arms to appreciate her tenderness; her water  Such a virtuous person, the virtuous one made Lu You, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, drink the wine and vinegar brewed from the river, and left behind the eternal swan song of "Holding Zheng's clothes to wash the dust, and the Langzhou Zhai brewing is absolutely mellow."

    Liu Ji is stationed on Jinping Mountain: the flowers and trees are like brocade, and the peaks are like a screen, more like a young, strong and colorful young man.  When you are on the scene, you can know the origin of the reputation of "Jialing's No. 1 Jiangshan". There are many pavilions and halls of celebrities in the past on the mountain.

    Looking out from the mountain, Liu Ji understands why Langzhong has been a treasure of Fengshui since ancient times: Jinping Mountain is unique and steep, Jialing River surrounds the city like a jade belt, and the ancient city is surrounded by water on three sides and mountains on four sides.

    Liu Ji's master and servant are dreamily permeated among mountains, waters and cities.In ancient times, there was an evil beast with four corners and four legs-Xi.  Due to the lack of food due to the heavy snow in winter, it often went to the nearby villages to find food. Because of its large body, bad temper, and abnormal ferocity, it brought great disasters to the villagers.  At the end of the twelfth lunar month, people organize their clothes, help the old and the young, and go to the nearby bamboo forest to avoid the "Xi".

    This year, when people in the village were packing up their things and fleeing, they encountered a child who was about seven or eight years old and died of hunger by the side of the road.  A kind old woman rescued the child and asked the child to go up the mountain together to avoid the evil beast 'Xi'.  The clever boy and the old woman followed the villagers to the bamboo forest behind the village.

    ?Because of the freezing cold in the bamboo forest in winter, everyone cut down bamboo to build houses and lit fires to keep warm.

    The child who was rescued by the old woman asked everyone curiously: 'This bamboo forest is so close to the village, isn't it afraid that Xi will come here?  '

    An old man replied to him: 'When I was young, I came here with my fellow villagers to escape the night.  In the years when the snow was heavy, it chased it because it was so hungry, but every time it saw the villagers cutting bamboo in this bamboo forest, it left in a hurry.  '

    The child thought about it for a while and told everyone: 'I have a way to get rid of Xi, so that everyone doesn't have to come out to escape every twelfth lunar month from now on.  '

    Everyone was very happy after hearing this, and asked what should we do?

    This clever boy told everyone: ¡®Cut more bamboo joints and take them with you, so that the whole village can go home tonight!  Hang a piece of red cloth outside the door of each of your houses, that's all right, after tomorrow dawn, Xi will never come again.  '

    The villagers listened to the child's words dubiously, and the old man in the village led them back to their homes.

    It was getting dark soon, and the villagers were afraid that "Xi" would come and no one dared to sleep, so they all hung red cloth strips outside their own doors, and they came to the open space in the middle of the village, guarding some bamboo groves brought back from the bamboo forest.  some broken bamboo knots.  The weather was cold and everyone lit a fire to keep warm, and brought out some food when they were hungry

    In the middle of the night, a loud roar was heard, and everyone huddled together in fear.

    At this time, the clever child suddenly stood up and told everyone, "I'll go and attract him, and then everyone threw the broken bamboo knots that we had guarded all night into the fire."  '

    Before the kind old woman reached out to grab him, the child had already arrived at the entrance of the village.

    The child saw that 'Xi' was rushing into the village and destroyed a lot of things, so he shouted loudly: 'You come every year, making the people unable to live and work in peace, I must give you something today!  !  '

    'Xi' heard the child's cry, and followed the sound to chase after it, but it didn't dare to enter when it saw red cloth strips hanging on the walls of every house, so it followed the child's voice and endured the hungry belly to come.  To the open space in the middle of the village here.

    At this time, the child said loudly: 'Folks, throw broken bamboo knots into the fire!  '

    But everyone had already stood there frozen because of fear.

    At this moment, 'Xi' picked up the child with his horn, and threw it heavily on the ground.

    The villagers didn't react until they heard the sound of the child falling to the ground, and threw bamboo knots into the fire one after another.  Since it was felled not long ago, the wet bamboo joints burst and crackled when they encountered a high fire!

    'Xi' turned around and ran away when he heard the noise, and did not damage anything in the village.

    It was dawn, and 'Xi' was scared away by the sound of cracking bamboo joints thrown into the fire.  The resident's house was saved because of the red strip hanging in front of the door, Xi did not enter.

    But people were not happy in their hearts, because the clever boy who saved the village was picked to death by Xi, and this day was the first day of the first lunar month.

    Because 'Xi' is not dead, so every year on the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, everyone waits at the Broken Bamboo Festival, hoping to get rid of 'Xi' as soon as possible.  But year after year, no one has seen 'Xi' again, only the firecrackers that everyone set off to prevent 'Xi' from coming and the red cloth strips hanging in front of the door.

    Since then, this legend and the customs of the New Year have been left to us: on the night of the 30th lunar month, everyone gathers together to have a New Year¡¯s Eve dinner, watch the New Year¡¯s Eve together and wait for the bell on New Year¡¯s Eve;  Health; when it was dawn, the villagers visited each other to see if they were injured, and said some auspicious and polite words. This is the "New Year greeting" on the first day of the first month.  "(Remember this site URL: www.hlnovel.com
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