My mother always said, "it's so hot that people's hair is burning." I have always admired that vivid metaphor, which reminds me of the barbecue in my hometown: on the dark charcoal grill, strings of meat and vegetables are lined up, the shirtless stall owner skillfully brushes oil, scatters seasonings and fans, and the fire is bright, and the mutton skewers "pull" ... My mother grew up in the mountain city, which is an alternative to not eating Chili. Eager diners are still crowded in front of barbecue stalls and hot pot restaurants on a hot day, all kinds of people are waiting, and all kinds of scenes always make her vomit. But I really love this summer mountain city.
It should be bright and geothermal in summer, which is my opinion! Summer in the mountain city is hot and transparent. It collects all kinds of heat and produces it at the same time, which makes people feel comfortable and fearful about it. It also makes people in the trees, accompanied by endless cicadas, looking forward to the arrival of thunderstorms, but also worried about the flooding of rivers, constantly entangled with them; There are also "delicious", handsome men and beautiful women all over the street, happy gluttony in food stalls, pushing a cup for a change … as if this is what summer looks like in my heart.
one
My childhood was spent in my grandmother's house by Jialing River, which was an alley where dozens of families gathered. Summer is the busiest day in the alley. I still remember that children gathered in groups of three and five, holding bamboo poles, jumping up the mountain and onto the ridge of the field, playing with dragonflies and catching cicadas. I squatted in the grass, and he rode among the reeds, carefully grasping a slug and a mantis. My grandmother, who brought me up, always said that I was greedy and ran around in short sleeves. I simply think that only when I am free in summer can I see all kinds of insects in the grass, catch a few grasshoppers just sticking their heads out, pinch an unknown "weed" and coax my friends to treat their inexplicable "cold" and "fever".
Most of the houses built by the river at that time were dilapidated, and the neighbors were illiterate and rude. They will argue about a few small coins, they will hear the dispute between their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and they will hear the contradiction between Weng Xu. However, whenever summer comes, the neighbors are suddenly in high spirits. They shook their fans and joked with each other, complimenting each other on "being less angry and not angry", and conniving at our stubbornness in jumping up and down. At five or six o'clock, adults will instruct the children to clean the yard and the open space in front of the door again and again, splash water on the dry ground with buckets and washbasins, and then they will move out cool chairs and mats themselves, and various cooling tools will be scattered in the yard and in front of the door.
Summer life in the mountain city has just begun at seven o'clock. The family ate in the open space one after another, and the popularity of the whole street suddenly increased a lot: the bold man drank a bottle of beer with a few grunts, and Haibei Tiannan talked about the purchasing experience of various places; The virtuous housewife wears a sleeveless floral fan, holds a baby in her arms, shakes the fan and laughs with the grandmother next door, nagging at home; Neighbors who came home late were all carrying ice cream from the supply and marketing cooperative of the factory, and they began to show off before they entered the corner. We sat around the local tyrant's house, guarding his 25-inch Changhong color TV, shouting "Boy, give me strength!"
Many years later, when I read Peter Hessler's Jiangcheng again, I was somewhat surprised to find that life in a small town was almost the same as my riverside experience. Especially in summer, time becomes simple and slow, and life becomes soft and long. My ancestral home is Fuling, and most of the cities in the novel disappeared after the impoundment of the Three Gorges Dam. I will never set foot on my homeland again, but this feeling has been haunting my heart. Is there an invisible force that always calls inadvertently?
Grandma's house can walk to the river in more than ten minutes. In midsummer, there are always many people enjoying the cool, swimming and walking by the river. Standing by the river, looking up, you can see the steel bridge passing overhead, behind which are some shabby shacks under the summer sun. Today, I think this picture will appear alternately in Miyazaki Hayao's animation and Hongkong's old movie era.
I always remember grandma holding me, grandpa holding me, and I spent my childhood at a stop by the river. Many summers, I always pointed to the green hills at the end of the Huang Chengcheng River and asked my grandmother what was there. My illiterate grandmother coaxed me into saying that it was a "foreign country" and a far-away place. Go and have a look when you grow up …
It's a pity that winter goes and summer comes, and the steamboat on the river passes by, and the water waves ripple. I have traveled all over the mountains and rivers, but I have never left the land of China.
two
When I told my colleagues that in summer, we used a fan to cook hot pot in the scorching sun, and they always showed incredible expressions. However, in my memory, besides enjoying the cool by the river in summer, the smell of hot pot all over the street is an unforgettable scenery of this city. When the sun sets in the evening, the big tables and small stools in hot pot restaurants are placed on the street, under the bridge and by the river.
Jiugongge hot pot is original in Shancheng. It's cold in winter and hot flashes in summer, so the boatmen and trackers on the dock are in financial difficulties. They only throw cheap cabbages and animals into the water and cook them in spicy soup. In order to distribute evenly, they also painstakingly put a bamboo frame with the word "well" ... I wonder if the popularity and equality of hot pot since its birth have affected the decisive, frank and hospitable character of mountain people. However, eating hot pot in summer is really comfortable. Imagine that the dry Kun in the pot is tumbling over the river and all kinds of trivial things are thrown away. Drink a bottle of frozen old mountain city beer, order a cup of cool Wei Yi soybean milk, sandwich a few slices of hairy belly, dip in garlic oil dish, and guess each other's wine list, "Four Seasons Rich, 6666666666666, all open". For a long time, this scene was my whole understanding of summer fun.
The mountain city in summer is really sultry. However, when eating hot pot, we stripped each other of the greetings and greetings during the day, expressed the deepest feelings among the flowers and connected the deepest friendship in the boiling red soup. At this moment, street life also shows its approachability and simple feelings of ordinary citizens. My mother still told me that they stopped going to the river a long time ago. They will drive to the nearby ancient town, wade through the slow river, watch the dense wild flowers, and play mahjong and eat hot pot leisurely by the stream at night ... I always say, why do you just want to eat? ... in fact, I really envy you
three
In the summer after leaving the mountain city, I often miss the delicious food in my hometown. I have also thought about why we drink beer and eat hot pot even if we sweat freely in summer. Such hobbies may not only stimulate appetite, reduce fever and relieve fatigue. It is a kind of belonging, a kind of identification, and it announces the beginning of private life in a ceremonial way. It is called a friend, warm feelings, and it is a round pot. You have me and I have you. This is also the tolerance and diversity of a city, revealing the enthusiasm and simplicity of the citizens. No wonder hot pot is popular all over the country, and because of this tolerance, the wizards of the five lakes can be gathered together best.
It's only 35 degrees in summer of beijing. I always comfort my colleagues in the office calmly. I don't have to spit, and my heart is calm and natural. They always struggle to eat cold rice noodles or rice porridge at night. I have been trying to tell them that cool summer is drinking beer and eating hot pot …
It is said that they always mention distant food, either greedy or homesick.