Travel-stained wanderers, one by one returning from afar, waiting for the old lady at the head of the village, all eyes are tears of joy. I haven't seen my parents' dolls for a long time, and I have been holding the hands of my relatives who have returned from afar for a long time, for fear that my parents will walk away once I let go. The "flavor of the year" floated in the yard of my hometown with the smoke.
Some people say that the taste of a year begins with mother's greetings after the first snow. It is also said that the taste of a year begins with the steps taken home; Others say that the taste of Nian begins with the fragrance of kitchen smoke rising from hometown villages.
The geese return to the south, and the taste of the year is packed in a bulging bag. When the first spring breeze passed through the steamed stuffed bun shop in this city, a strong flavor of the year began to sprout in my mind. In the greetings of relatives, in the crowded crowd, in the hurry to go home, the flavor of the year began to linger in each of us, mixed with a touch of homesickness, and spread bit by bit.
The taste of the year in my memory begins with my mother's busy work. In the alley of my hometown, there was the hoarse cry of the old popcorn man and the delicious popcorn accompanied by the cry, and my hometown began to have the taste of that year. At this time, my mother will let me serve a gourd ladle of corn, a gourd ladle of rice and two buckets of popcorn. If it is not wet, it will be delicious until the new year.
In the flavor of my hometown, it is my mother's that can make me feel that the pace of Chinese New Year is getting closer and closer. When I am busy, I take the sweet potatoes stored for a winter out of the cellar early, wash them, and then cook sweet potato candy. When the sweet potato sugar is ripe, add rice flowers, stir-fry peanuts, let it cool, and cut into cubes, which is crisp and sweet. Sweet potato candy is children's favorite, which is made by my mother.
My hometown is in a remote village in southern Jiangsu. Although far from the city, the ancient Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal winds through the east of the village. The endless ancient canal has given my hometown, Northern Jiangsu, a land of green mountains and green waters, a land of plenty. Some people say that God is fair. It has given you a modern and comfortable life, and it has also brought us disasters caused by pollution and prosperity. However, this barren land is far from the city, which has made my hometown today. The taste of the year is strong and weak, which is related to the frequency of the mother's market. There are two markets near my hometown. One is that there are seven miles of land in towns and villages today, and the other is the inner fence not far from the canal, about four miles. Early in the morning, my mother always finishes cooking early, puts on the basket and walks to the market. At that time, it was my wish to keep up with my mother to go to the market. Although it's a long way to go, my mother won't take me because it's dangerous to take a boat. In fact, even at home, my mother will always buy me delicious food from the market. But the bustling crowd in the market, the bustling big market and the dazzling array of delicious food are still very attractive to me. Every time my mother goes to the market, she always fights with me, and she can't get rid of it. Spring Festival couplets, firecrackers, peanuts, melon seeds and some new year's goods. My mother caught up with the new year collection and bought new year's goods. I feel that the flavor of the year is getting stronger and stronger.
During the Chinese New Year, you must grind a pot of tofu. In the village where I lived as a child, tofu was an essential food for the New Year. My mother soaked beans the night before, and the next morning, she put the beans on the ground and cooked them in a pot. Finally, in the process of making tofu with plaster, my mother always steamed tofu brain for me all night, which was specially left for me by my mother. Because my father works in a coal mine, his family conditions are much better than those of ordinary rural families. Everyone keeps a pig at home every year, and everyone else sells it. Our family will kill it. Except for some pigs that were given away for sale, the pigs left over during the Chinese New Year must be delicious in the water. My mother will spend two days cleaning these up and then cook a pot of meat around the cauldron. A greedy cat is sure to have a full meal first.
Fried meatballs are a must-have food for people in southern Shandong. First, they are really delicious, and they have round symbols. My mother's radish balls are the best. One by one, the meatballs were squeezed out of mom's fingers and slid into the oil pan. After several tumbling, it is crisp and delicate, and tastes delicious. However, when my mother fried meatballs, we were not allowed to talk nonsense. It is said that this is right for the stove. On this day of off-year, my mother will light incense in front of the stove. I asked my mother why she kowtowed in front of the stove. Mother said, this is the Kitchen God asking heaven to report back to the Jade Emperor, asking him to say something nice on earth, "Heaven says something nice, and the lower world is safe", and then we will take Kitchen God back on New Year's Day. My hard-working and kind mother came from hard times. She knows the taste of poverty and hunger. At this moment, she can only pin her best wishes on Kitchen God.
With the efforts of my mother, the flavor of the year is getting stronger and stronger, and I, under the care of my mother, grow up gradually. When I was young, I left home to study alone with my mother's entrustment. At the end of each year, the strong flavor of the year pervades me and sometimes floats into my dreams. The noise and glitz of the city can't erase my expectation of the flavor of the year. I want to go home and become Qian Qian. No matter how busy I am, no matter how far I walk, I must go home on time. The taste of hometown has turned into homesickness, so I appreciate the taste of hometown year after year with my mother's ardent expectations. Going home during the Spring Festival, this reward has become my attachment.
Mother's river flows every year, but her mother is getting old day by day. I don't know when to start. My elderly mother can no longer cook for me herself. However, that waiting and expectation has become a part of the taste of the year. So my elderly and frail parents are often sent to the city for the New Year. Although there is no strong flavor of the year in my hometown, it is already me who stays with my mother.
As the saying goes, "the tree wants to be quiet but the wind does not stop, and the son wants to be filial and his relatives are not there." My mother is getting weaker and weaker. Finally, she left me three years ago, on the eighth day after the Spring Festival. Since my mother died, my father followed me to the city, and my hometown has become a dilapidated and depressed quadrangle. Without my mother's home, it is so lonely and desolate. Except for my mother's grave, I will go home for the New Year.
It's the Spring Festival again, and the flavor of the year is strong. I often visit my hometown and miss every Spring Festival with my mother. I have no desire to go home and my mother's expectation is gone. Going home has become a luxury, and sweeping my mother's grave has become the only reason for me to go home.
Smoke billowed in the distance, firecrackers rang, and the flavor of the year was strong. At this moment, I deeply realized that "Nianwei" is actually the taste of my mother.