Qifengchi

I remember my mother said that when things get better in the future, my mother will make you some salted shrimp to eat and make you full. However, at that time, it was enough for us to eat 20 cents a spoonful of marinated shrimp, and we don't want to eat the marinated shrimp sauce made by our mother anymore.

A few years after my mother said this, great changes have taken place in my family. First of all, in the first year, the eldest sister became a soldier, and in the second year, the second sister went to the countryside. The five idle people in the family suddenly lost two mouths, and then my mother went to work in the 57 th brigade of the factory, and our days of starvation soon got better.

From then on, my brothers and sisters got up in the morning and went to school, so they didn't have to put pickles in their eyes when eating corn flour. When we went out in the morning, my mother gave my brother and sister five cents each. We took half a piece of steamed bread and went to eat tofu brain happily. At that time, bean curd was very cheap, 50 cents for a big bowl and 20 cents for a medium bowl. You'll be full if you buy 20 cents of tofu brain, and you can still buy an ice cube with 30 cents left to eat after school.

Our days are so quietly and vigorously developing. After that, my mother really stopped buying that two-cent spoonful of marinated shrimp sauce.

In the early 1970s, sea goods on the market were very cheap. The best hairtail is only 30 cents a catty, and the big clam is 50 cents a shovel. Few people eat Pippi shrimp. Korean fish and beef fish with skin are only 10 cents a catty, and no one wants to buy them.

Mother bought shrimp from a seafood stall, saying it was shrimp, but it was actually bigger than the current shrimp of 20 yuan a catty. They only give their mother a few cents a catty.

Mom bought it and washed it at home. She picked out the intestines from the shrimp's back with a big needle stubble, not the small one. Mother chopped the shrimp with a knife, added two handfuls of salt, stirred it evenly and put it in a jar. The canned bottle is not full, there is still a little space on it, and the rest is put in another bottle. I don't know what my mother did and what she meant. Mother sealed the shrimp paste in the bottle and told me to put it on the windowsill in the yard to dry. After twenty days, the shrimp paste in the canned bottle changed color, full and covered. Shrimp sauce slowly turns brown from the initial cyan. Mother picked up a bottle and opened it. There is a layer of shrimp oil floating on it. Mother smelled it and said to herself, it's delicious.

At noon, my mother brought a Chinese cabbage, leaving the upper part with many leaves, cutting the lower part into cubes, putting a spoonful of ivory lard in the cauldron and sprinkling a handful of chopped green onion. After the chopped green onion was fried, my mother scooped a spoonful of shrimp sauce made by herself from the jar and put it in a large pot for frying. There was only a ding sound, and the whole room immediately smelled of fried brine shrimp. At that time, the doors and windows of the house were not closed tightly, and the smell of fried brine shrimp was squeezed out from the cracks in the doors and windows. Suddenly, the smell of fried brine shrimp filled the hutong. Later, my mother poured diced cabbage into the pot and stir-fried, then put the soaked bean sprouts into the pot and scooped up a scoop of water. Stewed shrimp and cabbage sprouts are bubbling in the pot. After cooking for about ten minutes, my mother sprinkled a few handfuls of corn flour in the pot. After that, the shrimps and cabbage beans stewed in the pot became porridge-like, and the color was dark red. Later, my mother pulled the fire out of the stove, put the stewed shrimp, cabbage and beans in a sauce-colored coarse porcelain cauldron, and then ordered my brothers and sisters to go to the neighbor's aunt's house to ask for a bowl and send it to each family. My brothers and sisters jumped up with joy and asked for a bowl at my aunt's house. My mother gave each family a bowl and asked them to send it back.

At noon, we ate steamed shrimp, cabbage and bean sprouts steamed bread. When we were eating, my mother sat in the corner of the kang and watched us eat. Her expression seemed calm, revealing a trace of happiness and relief.

Mother called her brother's name to ask if it was delicious, and asked her sister if it was better than before. They didn't swallow all the food in their mouths and said it was delicious.

Mom asked again, do you remember what I said before? We all shook our heads. Mom slapped YaHuaZi with a smack and said, "Everyone knows how to eat. As I said before, when the days are better, my mother will give you the marinated shrimp. " .

At this time, I remembered what my mother said when I was a child. She bought 20 cents of stewed shrimp to make cabbage for us. While we were eating, my mother muttered to herself, man, keeping promise is making a wish, and making a wish has to be fulfilled.

We listened to our mother while eating. When we were all full and wanted to go out to play, my mother picked up my brother's cut clothes, wiped them on her scalp with needles and sewed them up one by one.