My house is located in the highest place in Zhujiacun, and there is a steep slope to climb from the bumpy road. Usually, we have to breathe heavily when we walk home empty-handed, and it will definitely be more difficult if we carry the burden. Therefore, many shoulder-shouldered vendors just shout at the top of the main road in the village, and no one wants to climb up with the burden. But a fat Li selling tofu in our upper yard will visit our "top floor" in particular.
? Our top families are not rich, and everyone is more economical. In my impression, pork was a catty in 4.5 yuan at that time, while tofu was only 51 cents a piece, and two pieces of tofu could be fried into a big bowl. In contrast, it is much more cost-effective to buy tofu than to weigh meat. Fat Li didn't want to come up before, but once, for most of the day, there was still a lot of tofu that he didn't sell. He ran to the main road in our yard and shouted for a long time, but no one took a reason, so he had to climb up with it. I remember it very clearly. It happened to be summer, and the weather was unbearably hot. Following the sound, I saw a short and chubby man waddling towards our house with a load of tofu. His white shirt was soaked, his face was covered with sweat, and there was no dry yarn on the towel hanging around his neck. He stopped the load on my porch and asked me for water. We are the only family living above that has a rocking well. Strange to say, the terrain is so high, but the water is abundant, even in summer, it never dries up.
I saw that he was too hot, so I gave him a spoonful of water, but he gulped it down. After drinking, I didn't forget to wipe my mouth with my hand, fiddled with the mole on his mouth a little, and then began to shout, "Want tofu? Want tofu?" .
At this time, it's almost past 1: 11, and all the adults have come back from the fields to spend the summer and prepare lunch. My aunt came up with a hoe and said jokingly, who wants your tofu at this time? If you don't come to sell it early, what's the point of selling the rest? Fat Li has a characteristic. He is very cheerful and loves to laugh. He called my aunt's nickname with a smile and said, "Then I'll give it to you for nothing. Do you want it?" Knowing that she was definitely not so kind, the aunt replied, "No, it's a dog. "I listened to burst out laughing. After the two adults talked to each other, several families living around came back. They all just came to our house to shake the well water. When they saw Fat Li here, they began to make fun of him. "Why are you so fat? You eat too much tofu. You can't sell it at this time. It must be that tofu is mixed with a lot of tofu residue, and everyone is afraid of it." Fat Li is not angry, and has been reckon. When the adults talked about it, he interjected: "I will give you all the tofu today to see if it is tofu residue." After hearing this, the aunt next door snorted, if you give us tofu, I'll read the name backwards. Li fatty continued to argue with his mouth wide open. Today, I'm going to read your name backwards, so I really won't go. After that, I walked into my room to get a bowl, conveniently put a piece of tofu in the bowl and asked me for a few pieces. My mother quipped, "Don't be a ghost. You'd better take this tofu back."
It's estimated that my empress's sweat has stopped, so I stood up and talked to Fat Li. Anyway, your tofu is no longer sold, and it's spoiled when you take it back. Just sell it to us cheaply. Usually, it's one yuan and two tuo, but today it's one yuan and four tuo. If you give it to us for free, doesn't your wife want you to kneel and rub the washboard? "Everyone was amused by the aunt's words and laughed from ear to ear. Fat Li also laughed, but it was not so natural, and then two words popped up casually: deal! Seeing his sincere attitude, everyone agreed to share the rest of the tofu, and soon a large plate of tofu was scraped away by us. We are very happy. Fat Li is even happier. He hummed a minor and walked down the slope.
Everyone tried their best to keep their own tofu for a long time, frying tofu, sweetened tofu, and even came up with a clever way to put fried tofu in the jar. In the long run, we gradually developed a good impression on Fat Li. Fat Li is not the kind of person who is particularly snobbish. He is willing to pass by our house in the morning or at noon, and then he pulls his voice up. We are all used to his appearance, but later it is said that he went to work in the south and never saw him again.
Now that I think about it, it's worth remembering not only the white tofu, but also the laughing scene in the neighborhood and the fat man Li.