Chapter 9 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Gu Long once wrote that if a person has no other way out and wants to commit suicide, let him go to the vegetable market.That means, as soon as he enters the vegetable market, this person will definitely lose all his troubles and rekindle his love for life-although the words are exaggerated, the meaning is not far from the same.There are so many inspirational movies, the bosses are down and out, and when they go down to the market, they regain their vitality, or change their minds and decide to retire from the arena, or revive their morale to make a comeback.Stephen Chow's "God of Cookery" is a good example.

The vegetable market is a wonderful place.Those who are in the husband's market are also the place of the market.The Jade Emperor and Yan Luo of the Five Palaces, once they enter a market like a place that only recognizes scales, they have to admit defeat even if they have all kinds of supernatural powers; the husband's vegetable market is the most magical place in the market, and all the people who buy vegetables and cook are grandmas. , thoughts like flying, tongue like electricity, eyes like torches, in the vegetable market, there is intrigue, and every business is wide or tight, and there is warmth and murder hidden in it.The market is mixed, and there is nothing more tempering than the vegetable market.

My grandmother used to say that the hawkers in the vegetable market are all eels, which are slippery and hard to peel.But if you think about it carefully, there is a mystery in it.Mr. Hou Baolin talked about a few cross talks, and briefly mentioned that during the ban on entertainment in the Qing Dynasty, famous Peking opera fans went to sell vegetables.It looked easy, but it was actually miserable.For example, vegetable sellers carry loads and get water first. The so-called "fresh fish and water vegetables" carry hundreds of catties of vegetables, and the shoulders are sore.When an old lady came to pick cucumbers to eat, she had to taste them first, and then she bought the sweet ones, and when she heard the bitter ones, she turned around and left.

In the Jiangnan vegetable market, those who sell fruits and pastries generally emphasize "try before you buy".Those who sell watermelons open half or cut some triangular slices, the red sand flesh is attractive; those who sell grapes pick colorful and plump ones, and sprinkle some water on them, rolling on the cheeks of beauties with heavy makeup like dewdrops.However, there are no princes and grandchildren who are interested in appreciating and appreciating things in the vegetable market. They are all quick-mouthed and fast-handed "I will taste it first": when buying bayberry, pick the big one first; eat corn, and half of it will be gone if you are not careful. .My grandfather is a big belly man, and the bed shakes like a boat when he snores.When he tried to eat watermelon, he could eat half of it by accident.The stall owners are often furious, and those with bad tempers will fight and snatch it away, angrily saying, "Don't try it if you don't eat it!" In our place, some people who eat food just live by "tasting food".The newly opened stall came upon hearing the news.The new stall owners are generally friendly and make money. After a few greetings, half of them are eaten by the wind and clouds.I have eaten three or five like this, and I am full for a day.

However, there is no business without adultery, and it has been the same since ancient times.My father was once sent by my mother to buy fruit. He mumbled his displeasure and dragged me all the way to the bayberry stand.Where we used to sell bayberry in baskets, a basket of bayberry water and leaves, all purple and round.My dad squatted down and took me to try it together.After eating two or three, I thought it was very good, so I brought a basket without haggling.The father and son ate while walking, but before they arrived at the door, they found something wrong: after eating the sweet and sour bayberry on the upper layer, there was a dry, pale and white pile on the lower layer. My dad and I couldn't help but sighed.Later, the two of us summed up: it is not easy for others.It is more difficult for a red bayberry basket to be placed so dignifiedly, so skillfully and without showing any traces, than the girls in the old English manor who can't afford to live without rice and decorate the front for marriage.Therefore, the attentive hawkers who do not change their smiles after watching you eat happily are already prepared to fall into the trap.The so-called you have a Zhang Liang plan and I have a wall ladder, that's what it means.

The layout of the former Jiangnan vegetable market seems to have a common tacit agreement.The state-run grain and oil store is listed at the entrance, and the clerks look like iron bowls, leisurely, and often visit the door; frozen food, bean products and other packaged products are on both sides; the vegetable and fruit market overlaps at the entrance, and they are eager to sell; In the case of the distribution of pork, the burly uncles or the broad and round aunts stood up like swordsmen, looking down on the vegetable sellers with disdain.The poultry sellers are often in the corner, and the chickens, ducks, and geese in the cages complement each other. It is really the so-called chicken talking to the ducks. Everyone watching the stalls sits calmly waiting for business, unaware of the poultry smell in the air; the aquatic product sellers You are the most noble existence in the vegetable market, fresh fish and vegetables, big pots and tanks, the water is overflowing, the fish are swimming, and the fish sellers wear gloves and aprons, majestic and majestic. Without looking for a moment, he picked up a live fish from the water with a whoosh.The technique is so precise and gorgeous that I applaud every time - I have both hands and arms, and it is difficult to hold a live fish. How can they be so bright-eyed and their technique is like electricity?

I have been around the vegetable market for a long time, and I know that the hidden dragon and crouching tiger are real people who don't show their faces.There used to be a so-called oil seller in the legend, who could drip oil like a thread through the eye of a copper coin, and finally summed it up modestly as "only hands and ears are familiar". , Just show off your skills in different ways.Weigh Mi Rufei, you say ten catties, take out a few spoonfuls, put the bag on the scale, it is exactly ten catties.Before you have time to praise him, he has already calmly and dignifiedly drank "next".

Such so-called "one catch" and "one measure" are common tricks in vegetable markets.For example, if you say "I want a chicken about five catties", I will immediately catch you a five catty one or two in the vast sea of ​​"chickens"; Pick it up, you don't have to look for the money after you take it.Those who are in charge of using knives look down on this kind of "one-shot" method, and think it is too sour and fake.My grandma used to work as a vegetable market for duty, and the master who sold the eel was like a quack, with three willows and long beards, and his eyes were like gods. He boasted that he got it from eating eels, and advised us in a Yangzhou accent: "Children should eat more Braised eel in braised sauce!" He killed the eel, lifted it up with his hand, cut it with a knife, cut it open, and launched it into the water. It was as graceful as a dance, and everyone was dazzled and praised.The uncle sitting in the meat table in the distance is masculine, and he is quite famous in Guanxi. He cuts the meat with a knife, and his hands are like wind, but he has a bad temper. They cut the slag of the chopping board into it!"

The most powerful thing in my memory is an old man who sells horseshoes - in our place, horseshoes are commonly known as water chestnuts, which are crisp and sweet, better than pears.But the skin of water chestnuts is difficult to deal with, so the vegetable market often sells skinless water chestnuts.It is not difficult to peel the water chestnuts, but it is trivial and labor-intensive. If you use too much force, the water chestnuts will be flattened, and you will lose money.There was an old man at the end of the vegetable market in my old residence. He often wore blue cloth clothes, a blue cotton hat and sleeves, and sat on a small bamboo stool.He holds a water chestnut in his left hand and a short, thin knife in his right.Each water chestnut costs almost one knife - the left hand and the right hand each turn a wonderful arc, and the water chestnut skin falls off in the blink of an eye.This is extremely graceful, a snow-white water chestnut can jump out in an instant, and it looks like a poem and a painting.We children have never seen the world, and Yun thought he was a master of the world, watching him, and every time he bought a lot of water chestnuts and went home to eat.Thinking about it now, I am still amazed at the graceful and beautiful, flying hands, and the snow-white jumping away.

However, the vegetable market does not only sell vegetables.This is quite similar to factories in the old days: the factory building is the main body, the production base is the soul, but what makes the factory full of vitality is the crackling sound of mahjong in the staff dormitories, bathrooms, canteens and chess and card rooms.In the same way, for children, the soul of the vegetable market is an invisible and intangible business—vegetables and meat purchased must be cooked in a pot and served on the table before they can be considered a serious feast.The visible and tangible skin and flesh of the vegetable market are the food stalls and sugar man shops that are full of the vegetable market.

Snack shops are scattered in and out of the vegetable market, with various functions.The old ladies in the north and south wake up early and love to go to the morning market. They believe in "the pork in the early morning is fresh" and "the vegetables in the morning market are delicious". The dead husband who doesn't know how to eat, who is hated by thousands of people and scolded by thousands of people, is a big slob, and then takes home steaming gossip, buns and fried dough sticks.The buns and fried dough sticks are fresh, but the gossip is often old.So at the dinner table, the old man always yelled at him sharply: "You only know how to ask for gossip!" People in Jiangnan call children "old and young", so the elderly and children are treated similarly and are easy to be coaxed.Food stalls and candy shops are designed to attract both types of people.When we were young, the sugar figurine shop was mobile. The stall owner carried a haystack with seven or eight bamboo sticks stuck on it. They were sugar figurine versions of Monkey King, Guan Yunchang, Bao Qingtian, Seven Fairies, gods and Buddhas of the heavens, legendary monsters, gathered together, Translucent slightly yellowish in sunlight.The children clamored to buy it, but the adults reluctantly paid for it, and told them "don't eat it" thousands of times.Then after turning around twice and coming back, I saw that the bamboo stick was empty, and the child was licking the candy stains at the corner of his mouth in an attempt to destroy the corpse.I ate a sugar man once when I was a child. It was slightly crunchy, very sweet, and had a strong sugar taste.Thinking about it later, it’s actually not tasty, it’s just aroused by the prohibition of adults.How many children are so fascinated by the process of making sugar figurines that they drag their mothers to the department store to buy a box of plasticine after shopping for groceries, so that they can make a handful when they get home. The food stalls in the vegetable market are basically given the function of half a nursery.When the adults go out to buy vegetables, the children are worried about leaving them alone at home and take them with them; when they go to the vegetable market, dragons and snakes are mixed, chattering, the sky is dark and slippery, and the ground is full of traps and mud.If you are not careful, the child will dare to step on any pile of fish scales and gnaw on the mud.Moreover, children are afraid of being annoying, and they are so fresh. When they see colorful and fragrant food, they obviously can't walk.Therefore, parents often send their children to familiar snack shops, and ask the stall owner to be the head of the nursery: "Come back to pick it up later." With squeaky sounds, children are the most coaxed.When I was a child, I watched the stall owner make shredded radish pancakes, and saw that the baishengsheng was kneaded into a yellow and crispy thing. It was crispy on the outside and crispy on the inside, which was really fresh and interesting.After the owner of the wonton stall gets to know me well, he can pay on credit. I agreed with my parents, don’t let the children bring money to eat, and just settle the bill once a month. It doesn’t seem like I’m afraid that I’ll run away. It’s my turn to order wontons When it's time, double the amount of shredded tofu in the soup. Everyone in the vegetable market has its own peak period and low tide period.The morning market lasts until before lunch, and from three to five in the afternoon, it is always the busiest time.At that time, everyone was overwhelmed and overwhelmed, shouting and drinking.The young man was anxious, gave the first person change with his left hand, picked vegetables for the second person with his right hand, greeted the third person with a rough voice, as if arguing, and slapped his forehead in a hurry: "Fucking miscalculated the money again!" Older people who are taller are much more chic, with drooping eyelids, but they listen to what they count and receive what they hear, they watch six directions, their ears listen to all directions, they hold a scale in their hands and glance at it tremblingly.It is said that Jiangnan people are petty and have good calculations, at least with the hawkers.The accounts are all in the old man's mind, and there is no mess.At most, after a little meditation, he can spit out numbers fluently like big pearls and small pearls falling on the jade plate.Of course, there are exceptions. For some reason, people here generally believe that those who sell scallion and ginger are from Shandong—probably Shandong scallion and ginger are very good.Ginger is not a big business, and it is often made as an accessory, but it can still be sold with pride.For example, when selling vegetables and fruits, there will be no change in the end. During the busy peak period, the stall owner is so anxious that he grabs a handful of green onions and ginger and stuffs them into the buyer's basket.The Shandong Dahan stuffed with ginger is extraordinarily heroic, which can scare the old gentleman and the buyer to say "I can't use so much"! However, after the busy period, the vegetable market has a leisurely and elegant style of fisherman singing and answering each other.Near noon, some big men yawned and went to catch up on sleep. The few in good spirits chatted, played cards, played chess, bragged, and left the stalls where they were.The vendors at the food stalls are kind, and sometimes they are responsible for looking after several businesses. If you come to onion, ginger, and eggplant, you can also quote a price and collect money.They are all acquaintances, so there is no doubt.Of course, there are also those who play poker into their hearts, which is quite scary.It is said that an uncle who sold sanzi who had bought vegetables for more than ten years in our family was very addicted to cards, and he sold sanzi with a pair of mahjong tiles every day.In the afternoon, the table call was called, and the game was in full swing.At this time, when I went to buy his sanzi and greeted the stall owner, he never looked back, either happy or angry or surprised or pretending not to be surprised.You ask loudly, "What's the price of the sanzi?" He raised his hand and said, "Give it to me!" He doesn't care about the scattered sanzi anymore. Take it easy. After nightfall, the vegetable market turns into a night market snack street when people go to spread out.In the past, when the all-round fried rice, noodles, and food stalls were not prosperous, the night market snacks were basically instant soups such as tofu curds and wontons, with some snacks such as shredded radish pancakes and oil-sanzi.The hawkers in Jiayuan often solve their meals on the spot. The man who sells sanzi and the uncle who sells tofu can often sit side by side.After nightfall, everything becomes warmer, even the uncle who sells pancakes will give you an egg for free, and the dim yellow light shines on the oily wrinkles. After leaving home to go to university, renting a house, cooking by myself, and going to the vegetable market by myself, I felt that my eyes were darkened.In the past, my mother always went to the vegetable market with confidence, as if the banquet that night had already been balanced into a chemical equation by her, as long as she bought it according to the amount.And the first time I entered the vegetable market alone, I was provoked by the cries, like entering a maze.When I met the vegetable and meat sellers, I couldn't tell what I wanted, and I was waiting for Ai Ai, which made the elders and aunts on the opposite side who had every inch of their time and every inch of money cold, and almost ordered me to "clear my mind and come back"!At the end of the day, after stumbling around and buying everything that I suspected to be buying, I went home to cook, only to find that I was short of this and that.Thinking back to the precise and sharp distribution of ingredients and seasonings by my parents and grandma, I suddenly feel that the mountains are standing still.Later I talked with my mother on the phone, and my mother asked about the price, and I could hear the stamping on the other end of the phone: "It's expensive, it's expensive, it's expensive!" When I went home during the Chinese New Year, I accompanied my dad to buy the vegetables that I needed to use before the year. I also went to the vegetable market to eat sesame biscuits and mutton soup by the way. As soon as you smell the smell of fish, vegetable leaves, fresh meat, sesame seed cakes, shredded radish cakes, stinky tofu, cheap perfume, you hear the sound of yelling, chopping meat, the rattling of the fishmonger's sink, and the driver of the delivery truck. Shouting "Let's go! Let's go!", the sound of children crying, looking at the crowds of people in the market and the white steam floating on it—breathing out, steamed buns— —I feel like I'm back in a secure place again.Like the wonton shop after the vegetable market was closed when I was a child, the familiar warmth permeated in the hot soup and warm yellow light.At that time, people turned into mud and melted into a huge, messy but gentle mud.The so-called fallen leaves return to their roots, which is generally true.