I chose to take the overnight train to Yangzhou in late spring. The train was three hours late, so inform our conductor that this has not happened for more than a year. I was very hungry all the way, but I still insisted on going to Dongguan Street for a picnic.

For brunch, I chose Sixi Tangyuan, red bean paste, black sesame, pork and shepherd's purse, which are completely strange to me. The store is small, so I need to spell the table with strangers. The local old lady patted the chair next to me and told me that there was no one here and sat here.

Salted dumplings are a wonderful taste bud experience. Although psychologically prepared, it tastes completely different from the imagination. On second thought, it can only be described as delicious.

As you can see, in the kitchen without doors, some elderly aunts are carrying jiaozi in their handbags, which are not round, and some pinch small corners to distinguish tastes. The glutinous rice skin is thick, I'm afraid it's not easy to digest, and only half of it is left.

Go out and keep walking until you have to queue up to buy lotus root starch balls forever. The seats and standing space in the house are crowded with people and packed in plastic bowls to take away. Go around the back alley and find a stone bench to sit down and eat slowly. Big glutinous rice balls, with lotus root starch rubbing the translucent skin, bite without adhesion and are elastic. The stuffing is a genuine five-kernel stuffing, which is mellow but not sweet. There is osmanthus sauce and sugar in the bottom soup. When you eat one and take a sip, fine sweat comes out from your forehead, but there is a sense of satisfaction.

In many stalls selling Huangqiao biscuits, the small biscuits are smaller than the palm of your hand, and there are sweet and salty choices. I met some tourists and bought gift boxes of various flavors. I only bought a freshly baked sesame seed cake, which was very small and I ate it in a few bites. The crispy shell is sandwiched with soft and salty meat floss, and the white sesame seeds on the surface are delicious, and a small piece is full.

Seeing the peanut and sesame souffle seller, I bought half a catty and put it in my bag, ready to eat while walking.

The first stop for sightseeing is the garden, and the rockery mansion is exquisitely set. I have never been to the scenery in the south of the Yangtze River before, and I really realized the true feelings of treading on thin ice that I read in books for many years. After living in a dense office building for a long time, I feel much more comfortable when I see large green bamboo forests and blooming flowers.

The building is made of gray masonry, narrow alleys, and wet stone roads are covered with moss, as if stepping over time.

I walked around the slender yard and came out to taste the local famous crab-yellow soup packets. After ordering the food, the boss steamed it and waited for a long time.

The skin is so thin that you can see the soup overflowing from it when you clip it. Put it in a small dish, let it cool, bite it open and drink soup. This is a wonderful enjoyment. At this time, the aged vinegar and oil chili pepper are poured on the plate, which can remove the fishy smell of the meat stuffing, and the meat stuffing is very enjoyable to eat. I like the part where the skin of the steamed stuffed bun is connected with the stuffing. The skin is full of soup, soft and waxy.

Because Ge Yuan and Heyuan are not far away, I choose to walk. Crossing the narrow road and crossing a small river, the river is an ancient small bungalow, dark and heavy, but with the peace of Jiangnan.

Through the small garden of the Wangs, it is also the mansion left by salt merchants in the past. The porch has elegant calligraphy plaques, showing elegant feelings. Sunlight shines into the room through the wooden window, and dust can be seen in the light column.

Walking into Pishi Street, I saw a husband and wife stall, making big oil biscuits on a large iron pot. It is said that this is the best scallion sesame seed cake in Yangzhou, and it is hard to find one. At first, the boss told me that I couldn't buy a booth for couples, and I had to wait for an hour and a half. The proprietress asked me to buy some, and it happened that there was another one in this pot that was about to be baked. ?

I am very happy.

In the process of waiting, many locals rode electric cars to ask, and when they bought them, they were more than a dozen. The boss said it would take more than an hour to book it, with dark skin and simple smile. Pinch the dough skillfully in your hand and mix the chopped green onion and pork stuffing into the cake.

First, put the cooked bread on the iron plate and fry it in oil, making an attractive sound. The proprietress is responsible for turning over the bread. When it is fried, she puts the bread in the mud stove under the pot to dry. Make the dough crisp and the inside soft.

The boss handed me a new one and thanked me happily. The first bite almost burned my lips, and chopped green onion was sandwiched between layers of spiral bread. The entrance is very fragrant, occasionally eating sporadic meat foam, and the tongue feels like a surprise of winning the prize. It is said that the strong aroma in the fire is caused by lard, but once you eat it, you can ignore those calorie restrictions.

The style of Heyuan is quite modern, with Chinese quadrangles and western-style mansions, and the layout inside is also a combination of Chinese and western. The European-style fireplace is facing the Chinese classical coffee table, but it doesn't seem abrupt. In the past, wealthy businessmen had a prominent family background, brought forth the old and made great contributions.

When I came out from Heyuan, I passed Dingjiawan. It looks like an old sign archway, with white stone pillars and a gray roof. The words Dingjiawan are written in regular script. Walking in is a traditional alley in the south of the Yangtze River, which is more compact than Hutong Road in Beijing. Passing the abandoned old sofa, there is a wooden chair on the edge, a mass of Regan Noodles is basking on the bamboo mat, and sheets and clothes are basking outside the window. Occasionally, a bicycle passes behind me, so ring the bell to remind me. The walls outside the house are painted gray, and the outline of the eaves has classical beauty in the sunset. I took out the crisp candy from my bag and sat on the concrete steps to eat it. A backpacker passing by the old alley pointed his camera at me.

Around a big circle, go to Ganquan Road. A small commercial street with a strong flavor of life, with small shops and delicatessens on both sides. At night, people who come off work come here to buy staple food and vegetables, and some people come to buy daily necessities. Steamed buns, sesame cakes and sesame seeds are all pasta that looked warm and tasted familiar when I was a child. I remember seeing local people queuing in front of trolleys to buy salted geese on a TV program. It is easy to see such a scene in the street.

I walked into a soda fountain and sat down to have a rest. As there were no guests, the clerk took a nap at his desk. I ordered a lemon smoothie and took out the book in my bag to read. Walking too much makes my legs ache after a short rest.

When I came out of the shop, it was already dark, so I followed the map around the National Day Road. Turning from an alley, I met a lively little restaurant. Ancient frontispiece, like many years. My chubby boss greeted me outside the door and asked me what to eat in the local dialect, which I couldn't understand. She stuttered about Mandarin, and finally asked me, are you traveling?

I ordered Yangzhou fried rice and boiled dried silk, and wanted to try Huaiyang cuisine in ordinary shops. I feel uncomfortable looking at the menu, mostly around 10 yuan, and all the dishes are full. ?

Yangzhou fried rice tastes completely different from the past. The rice grains are hard and chewy. Take a bite slowly and savor the rich flavor of red, green and green side dishes during chewing. The bottom soup of boiled dried silk is mellow, and it must not be the flavor of seasoning blending. Add enough mushrooms and shredded tofu, each spoon is full, and eat in a small bowl.

It was less than nine o'clock when I got back to the hotel, and all the shops passing by had closed one after another, and there were fewer passers-by on the street.

I felt like a quiet town, so I had an early rest.

2

This is a city that wakes up early. People ride electric cars, have breakfast in their favorite restaurants or buy freshly baked cookies and buns for their families. The restaurant selling morning tea is going to open early to welcome guests.

I went to Jiangjiaqiao near my residence and ordered three steamed buns and a thousand layers of oil cakes. It's all unheard of. There are diced bamboo shoots, mushrooms and lean meat in the three-dimensional bag, which is very big. In order to avoid overdose, I deliberately stopped eating halfway. The steamed stuffed bun of that meal is still fresh in my memory.

Go west along Dongguan Street. Caiyi Street is an old street. When I saw the prune cake, I bought another one to try. The sesame seed cake is bigger than the face, rolled very thin, with dried plums and minced meat in it, and baked in the furnace, which is crisp but not greasy. It is said to be a special pasta in Zhejiang.

Driving to Slender West Lake, it rained heavily all the way, but there were still many tourists. The plants in Slender West Lake look greener in the rain. After the heavy rain stopped, the flowers were washed clean, and the big peony bent the branches and hung heavily one after another.

It's nearly noon to turn from the south gate to the north gate. After coming out of daming temple, I went back to Jiangjiaqiao and ate the signature jiaozi noodles, a big bowl, half noodles and half jiaozi-like small wonton. The weight is enough. I'm full for only five yuan. Probably a cheap shop, many local old people and students came to solve lunch.

It's cloudy, and the rain will continue. When passing the intersection of Pishi Street, a noodle restaurant has freshly baked crab shell yellow sesame seed cake, which is very small. The golden surface is covered with white sesame seeds, and there are delicious prunes inside.

Walking into a small shop with a strong literary style seems to be a bit out of place with the quaint style of the whole street.

This is a bookstore and a coffee shop. The young male boss is chatting with his friends in the shop. I sat in the room. There are many kinds of books. The boss said I could choose any one to read. You can see the yard outside through the window. It will rain heavily soon.

I took a copy of Six Chapters of a Floating Life to read.

When it rains a little less, I want to go to Guangling Road.

Once again, I went back to the noodle restaurant, and it was nearly dinner time. Many people line up to buy fried rice cakes. I bought a piece to eat. It turns out that the fried rice cakes here are salty. As a northerner, I was surprised to eat it.

Wandering in the street until dinner time, I found a small shop and ordered smelly stew and lion's head. The stinky circle looks like ordinary home-made tofu, but it tastes like stinky tofu. Stewed soup is very rich, and it is very enjoyable to eat with rice. Most of the rice in Yangzhou is difficult to cook, and it won't paste into a ball when mixed with vegetable soup. The lion's head is cooked with mushrooms, fresh mushrooms and rape, and the taste is very delicious. With a cold dish to eat, such a sumptuous meal, I can't go to 30 yuan when I check out. Think about it. If you come here to live, you must be comfortable and satisfied.

Seeing that it was still early, I didn't want to waste time in the hotel, so I found another cafe. I drove in the alley behind the food court and rented the first floor of a hotel. The whole decoration is log color, and the spacious wooden table is my favorite feeling. A whole wall of bookshelves is the boss's private library. I've studied it carefully for a long time and it suits my appetite.

Next to the bookshelf is a photo taken by the boss when he traveled around the world. His dark skin and teeth are exposed in the desolate mountain forest, smiling.

Feeling a little cold, I asked for a cup of hot chocolate. My boss made beautiful flowers and chatted with me for a while.

There are no other guests, and the sound of gently turning pages can be heard clearly.

Later, a friend of the boss came over, and two people sat next to him to talk about literature and travel. They took out their cigarettes and began to smoke. I looked up and asked him for an ashtray. The boss smiled and said that we haven't smoked for a long time.

I nodded with malicious intent.

3?

The scorching sun has come out in the early morning, and it takes more than ten minutes to walk from the hotel to the breakfast stall at Dongdaemun Bridge. An old couple's shop, with shabby wooden benches. The price list is written in red paint on the white facade, which is mottled by the weather, and the whole storefront is full of vicissitudes of life. I sat on the nearest table and ordered a bowl of dry mixed noodles, soybean milk, three-dimensional steamed buns and tofu buns. The old lady is old and always asks me three times if I want to put sugar in soy milk.

In the corner of my desk, there is an old transistor radio and an obscure opera. The boss hummed with the fried dough sticks and looked like an interesting old man.

Dry mixed noodles look like ordinary boiled noodles, with shrimp sauce, lard, chives and other ingredients under it. Mix them evenly with chopsticks and taste different.