The 103rd article of Qi Fan Qi Wei Lecture, 2,349 words, totaling 185,724 words, "Characters of Medicine Capital" is one of the fine novel series edited and published by People's Literature Publishing House in July 2018.

Bozhou, the medical capital, is a unique place with steep mountains, crisscrossing clear streams, and mountains and rivers.

Taking advantage of the beauty of the land, the treasures of things, and the prosperity of the market, over thousands of years not only have great heroes such as Laozi, Zhuangzi, Hua Tuo, Cao Cao, Zhang Liang, Chen Tuan, and Hua Mulan been produced, but also many of them have emerged in the market.

There are so many amazing people out there.

The author Yang Xiaofan was born in Bozhou, Anhui Province in the 1960s. He admired his hometown for its stories, laughed at its fun, admired its name, and felt the elegance of yesterday. So he wrote about everyone and everything before the Republic of China in the style of a novel, and named it

It is called "Characters of Medicine Capital".

Yang Xiaofan is a member of the Chinese Writers Association and has published more than 4 million words of works. He is the author of the novels "Jiu Shang", "The Narrow Gate", "Destiny" and "Property Market", as well as short and medium story collections "Joke", "Joy", "Passing Faces" and "Longwan".

Notes" etc.

His works have won the China Reportage Award, the Anhui Provincial Government Literature Award, the "Chinese Writers" Outstanding Work Award, the Lu Yanzhou Literature Award, the Dianchi Literature Award, the Bing Xin Book Award, etc.

"Characters of Yaodu" contains 68 short stories, all of which are about Yaodu characters. The author also uses delicate writing methods to describe these legendary figures, and combines the historical allusions, market legends and the lives of three religions and nine streams in Yaodu Bozhou.

Tragedies and comedies are also vividly described, allowing readers to appreciate the charm of the folk culture of the ancient city of Bozhou while appreciating his short novels.

Yang Xiaofan created many images of folk artists in these short novels.

Among them, I think the most vivid ones include Li Yidao, Mu Guokui, Qianjinhu, Hua Lianwang, Yi Jingsi, Yang Fengzhang, Liang Wenshan, etc.

Those skilled craftsmen who walk the streets and make a living with their skillful hands, with their exquisite craftsmanship and neither humble nor arrogant personalities, have inherited the extensive and profound folk crafts of the Chinese nation.

These people are no longer simple craftsmen and businessmen. They rely on their astonishing and extraordinary technical means and scheming to transcend themselves from ordinary and dull daily life, and leap into the world, life and death.

In the great realm of the unobstructed 'Tao' between them."

"Mu Guokui" describes the famous snack Guokui in Bozhou and restores the food culture of Bozhou, the medical capital.

The novel shows readers the making process of Guokui in extremely concise language: "Clean your hands", "Clean your hands again", "Mu Guokui took a piece of dough, kneaded it, piled it, kneaded it, and repeated it one hundred and eight times until the dough piece was cooked.

, it just became a round ball, and then he used the pear wood rolling pin to spin it in a circle. The dough was exactly one inch thick and three feet in diameter. Then, he grabbed a handful of sesame seeds, twisted his wrist, and covered it with sesame seeds thinly.

Layer. ?At this time, the fire under the large pot is white. The skill of Mu Guokui described in the novel is not surprising, but the wonderful skills and spiritual persistence of the folk artist are even more awe-inspiring.

"Mu Guokui has two rules: first, if the heat is not enough, no matter how much the buyer urges you, he will not sell it if you want it urgently; second, he only sells three cakes a day, no matter how powerful you are, no matter how powerful a wealthy businessman is, you can pay more."

Never make more. ?" The eight imperial chefs in the Qing Dynasty heard that Mu Guokui was unique in the world and wanted to try it.

Due to the missed time, the third Guokui was sold out. No matter how he tried to please the Jiang family's housekeeper, "Mu Guokui didn't even look at him", he said a word, "Please be early tomorrow", "After that, he turned around and entered the store.

".

Mu Guokui regards his own rules as gods, and speaks of the ancient saying that "people cannot stand without faith".

"The rules are as big as the sky." Don't break the rules because of anyone. It is not only a kind of persistence, but also a commitment to one's own skills. As Mu Guokui said to his apprentice, "You are still young and the rules have changed.

Mu Guokui is no longer Mu Guokui!" This is what makes Mu Guokui so awe-inspiring.

Works describing the folk delicacies of Yaodu include "Wu Laoyi", "Master Feng", "Ning Tianquan", "Mian Zhou'er", "Chu Mutton", etc.

From this work, we feel that eating is not only a daily life, but also a pleasure in life and a cultural enjoyment.

?Various folk delicacies, their exquisite taste, complex production techniques, and craftsmen's almost strict adherence to their own rules constitute the unique food culture in his novels.

Although "Li Yidao" focuses on the description of the wood carvings of Huaxi Tower, it does not describe Li Yidao's exquisite carving skills from the front, but shows them through a series of side descriptions.

?First of all, he wrote about Li Yidao's "high prices" for making wood carvings: using wood slag and gold and silver, "one tael of wood scraps for rough work will be given one tael of silver, and one tael of wood scraps for fine carving will be given one tael of gold", which makes people gasp.

Air conditioning.

?Then it is described that Li Yidao spent a hundred days just sharpening his knife.

?This novel of only a thousand words is full of suspense and surprise at every step.

It took Li Yidao four full years to carve the wood carvings. The entire wood carving work includes "ninety-nine, eight hundred and ten figures, plus mountains, rocks and trees, palaces and pavilions, Yao flowers and grasses, wind, rain, thunder and lightning, and waterfalls."

The fountain, the towers, the sun and the moon, the civil servants and generals, the flags of the war horses... the whole place was so quiet that only the sound of the heartbeat could be heard." At the end of the novel, when Li Yidao left without taking any payment, it was even more amazing.