For the people born and raised in Dongying, no food can be so fragrant and attractive, and its fragrance lasts for nearly a hundred years; no memory is as carved as the plow blade. Rooted in our minds, even though we are thousands of miles away in a foreign land, we immediately have the same language when mentioning it.
This kind of delicacy is Dongying’s specialty—Lijin fried buns.
In 1982, our family spent all our money and pieced together things to finally build seven adobe houses. After that, the whole spring left me feeling hungry, and I could often only eat one meal a day. My parents have gone to work, my brother has gone out to play, and my sister and I are sitting at home. The bare walls of our house resemble our empty stomachs. My sister said, brother, I’m hungry. I said, bear with me, my mother is going to cut vitex (a wild plant that can be used to make baskets and baskets, commonly known as red willow). In the afternoon, if we exchange some money to pay for it, we can buy buns for us (the local name for fried buns). . My sister said, I get even hungrier when you talk about buns. I said, then lie down and sleep. If you don't move, you won't be hungry. If you run like my brother, you will definitely be too hungry to come back at noon.
I couldn't sleep at all at this time, and I couldn't help but secretly hate the "state-owned" hotel in Fuwo's ??"state-owned hotel". There are so many kids around who call themselves "state-owned", why should they open such a big restaurant? Do you still sell fried dumplings on the fourth day of the lunar month (the ninth day of the fourth lunar month)? The delicious food comes out of the pot with a hot aroma, soft noodles, brown coffee, and green leek filling. It has already been salivated before you even take it into your mouth. This kid called "State-owned" has to eat fried buns every day! Let's take some time and call a few people to give him a good lesson. Let's see whether our children who eat stick noodles and steamed buns have stronger bones or those who eat fried steamed buns!
It is useless to think about it. Hunger is like a nasty fly that lingers around you and you can't get rid of it. Every Fuwoji is a major festival for our children. I guess when my mother was about to get home from the market, we all craned our necks to wait, just to eat those fried buns bought from the "state-owned restaurant" and wrapped in oil paper! It was rumored that Captain Wang of our small team made a bet with others and actually ate an entire pot of steamed buns in one meal (there were 72 buns in one pot at that time. I could eat more than 20 in high school, but now I can only eat 8 at best)! Wouldn’t it be better to stop eating for a few days? And it didn’t cost a penny, it was a really good deal!
In the autumn when I was eight years old, my brother walked with his friends early in the morning to attend the temple fair in the "big city" Chenzhuang Town. After breakfast, my sister also pestered me to go to Chenzhuang for a meeting. Finally, my mother gave me fifty cents (one yuan to my brother) and asked me to take my sister there. Our family is 25 miles away from Chenzhuang Town. My brother and the others are like monkeys walking around Suozhen Village and walking to Hannan Village to get closer to a few miles away. I don’t know the road at all. I only know that the Chenzhuang Temple Fair is from Fuwo to the west and south. My five-year-old sister couldn't walk just after arriving at Fuwo, so she had to go to the "state-owned hotel" and buy 10 steamed buns to take home. She felt filled with a huge sense of accomplishment. Each person ate two on the way, and each ate one when he got home, leaving four for his parents. I couldn't help being greedy, so I had to cover the pot, lock the door, and go out to play. My parents didn't say anything when they got home. They didn't eat any of the buns and seemed to be crying.
With the improvement of living standards, Lijin fried buns have become a very popular food, but I can still smell the fragrance of my childhood from time to time, and sometimes I can’t help but shed tears. This feeling is from other places. Human beings cannot understand. At the high school class reunion a few days ago, a few of them still remembered the fried buns meal I used all my savings to treat them to at the Liangsuo Restaurant in Chenzhuang Town after the college entrance examination!
Lijin fried buns will always be noble in my eyes! I also hope that this little article of mine will be spread all over the world with you!
Huang Qijun
? Written on July 13, 2017 (June 20 in the ancient calendar), published in the 32nd issue of "Dongying Weekly" in 2017.
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