I ate a lot of food when I was a child, most of which are gone and forgotten by me, but what is certain is that some of them have grown into my bones and flesh. ...

The night when zongzi is fragrant

Text/ginger

The leaves of elm are tender, and when the sun shines, every leaf is gilded and dazzling. In early May, on an evening before the Dragon Boat Festival, my mother, who was cleaning zongzi leaves at the riverside pier, looked up and saw all this.

Mother rolled up her trouser legs and stepped barefoot in the water. The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and the coolness of the river makes people feel very comfortable. Slates washed frequently are very clean. My mother spread the leaves on it, brushed them back and forth with a brown brush, and then turned them over and brushed them back and forth. Brush it several times and rinse it in the river. Mother threw it hard, and the water drops fell back into the river carefully and intensively, causing a group of "minced bones" (nickname of small fry) on the water to flee everywhere. Then, mother put the washed zongye in the tray. The tray is shallow, because of frequent use, the primary color of the wood at the bottom has been a little bare, and the original red paint has disappeared. Mom often uses it to make seasonal foods such as jiaozi, Zongzi, and pimples during Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Winter Solstice.

Brush the leaves of zongzi and put them neatly in the tray. Mother began to clean the rope that wrapped the zongzi, sometimes straw, sometimes hemp skin. They are as big as zongzi leaves and have been soaked in water by their mother in advance. Now it is necessary to pick out the rotten straw or clean up the hemp skin.

After washing these two things, mother wiped the towel with clear river water, wrung out the water and washed her face. Rub it again and take it casually, and the towel will become a "hat" to wear on mom's head. Ducks with smooth feathers swim lightly in the upper reaches of the river, and the cry of "quack" is crisp and loud. Large chunks of aquatic plants floating on the river are green and dotted on the river like blankets. They are excellent pig feed. Mother bent down to pick up the tray, leaned against her waist, held it in her hands and walked up step by step. The towel on her head seems to have two ears, shaking with her walking posture. The sunset drew a silhouette in front of my mother.

Mother put the tray on the stove. Hurriedly took it and scooped up glutinous rice, then hurriedly took a red footbath and began to wash rice, overflowing like milk.

This is my mother in my memory at dusk one or two days before the Dragon Boat Festival every year.

In the past, it was quiet and serene, like the soil of my hometown, deposited in the depths of my memory. Because of the arrival of the Dragon Boat Festival, I suddenly seem to have found my soul and brought me back to my childhood. I saw myself and my younger brother when I was a child, my parents when I was a child, and my old grandfather ... The warmth of home surged up like a flood, and the river surged in my heart, without sadness or sadness. The warmth penetrated into my blood gently and slowly.

Every year on the Dragon Boat Festival, my mother is busy making zongzi and celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival every year.

It is often the day before the Dragon Boat Festival, when you have a good supper, the bean-like lights are flashing orange. The square table was properly packed, and mother put the rice leaves, straw and hemp skin on the table, as well as dried pumpkin, golden dates and black cowpea. The two stools were put together, and mother put the tray on the stools. The glutinous rice that has been washed in the washing basket absorbs enough water and becomes chubby and round. After pouring them in, my mother quickly began to cut off one end of the leaves with the handle, not much, just like leaving a small fan on the table of the Eight Immortals. We can help, tear the hemp skin into strips and cut it into sections for later use.

Ready, start making zongzi.

Mother picked up a Zhang greatly Zongzi leaf, rubbed it back and forth on the edge of the tray to make it soft and radian, then made it into a triangle, put a handful of glutinous rice in it, compacted it, added a golden jujube, put one or two handfuls of glutinous rice in it to cover the golden jujube, and then compacted it. Then roll up the extra leaves of Zongzi, wrap them with glutinous rice to prevent leakage, and then wrap them with hemp rope twice and tie them tightly.

After a while, my mother packed four. We tied them together with every extra twine. Later, my mother wrapped pumpkin and black cowpea zongzi, divided into five or tied with straw. I only buy golden dates once or twice a year. They are light yellow and super sweet. When mom wasn't looking, we threw a candied date into our mouth as if mom had never found it. Now that I think about it, it was my mother who deliberately kept silent and made our "trick" succeed.

Mom is an expert in making zongzi. Each triangular zongzi is hard, with three sharp corners, and it hurts to stab her in the hand. Everyone can stand firmly on the table, strong and beautiful.

Grandpa or dad uncovered the big pot cover, scooped water in the big iron pot, put the zongzi wrapped by mom in it, then covered the pot cover and began to cook. When there is a fire in the big stove, hard materials such as mulberry branches must be used Burning zongzi takes a long time and the firepower is fierce. Soon, the smell of zongzi floated in the room all night, and the smell of zongzi leaves and glutinous rice were intertwined, which was very delicious. Our long-suffering glutton has been lured out again. God knows, in the autumn of the previous year, when my mother was planing an old pumpkin to bask in the sun, our gluttons began to open their eyes happily. We completely forgot our sleepiness, moved on, and went to the stove to check Zongqing one by one. The night is as dark as ink, and the village is sleepy and quiet; Mosquitoes and moths fly around in the light, and mother's big cattail fan blows cool air to drive away mosquitoes; The stars in the sky blinked and looked at us secretly until we ate one, and we were trapped contentedly.

In the long wait, a zongzi, which seems too ordinary and unremarkable now, has become an unforgettable "food" in our childhood and a beautiful memory accumulated over time.

The past is gone, and it disappears into turbidity if you are not careful. And the mother, wrapped in zongzi, is still so young, so bright smile, condensed the taste of home, through the years of poverty, you can chew slowly with the present time, such as the rising sun.

The delicious food my mother and I cooked together, such as Zongzi, can be answered by a high praise on the Internet about forgetting to read: I ate a lot of things when I was a child, most of which are gone forever and forgotten by me, but what is certain is that some of them have grown into my bones and flesh.

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