Chapter 43 Home Chef

After middle age, people often have more memories of the past when they were young. It is like reading a novel or watching a movie. The whole plot may not be remembered clearly, but some individual plots are very real. vividly.The "home cooks" mentioned here can be regarded as my "big friends" and "old friends" in my childhood. Although more than forty years have passed, they have not been forgotten in my memory. Although my great-grandfather and uncle-great-great-grandfather were prominent figures in modern Chinese history, my grandfather stayed away from political whirlpools since middle age, immersed himself in piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and lived in an apartment.Although the family was in decline, they were able to maintain a relatively comfortable and peaceful life, and this environment lasted until the eve of the "Cultural Revolution".My grandfather died of cerebral hemorrhage in the early 1950s, but the family's lifestyle has not changed much. Although certain "simplification" measures have been taken, the number of servants is still three or four at most, and at least there are three or four servants. Two people, among them there is always a master who is in charge of the stove.Mencius said, "A gentleman stays away from the kitchen." I no longer received such traditional education when I was young.I grew up with my grandmother, who had her own activities and was neither very pampering nor controlling and gave me a lot of "freedom".I have neither the consciousness of being a "gentleman" nor strict supervision, so the kitchen has become a place for me to play.I like to go to the kitchen to play. I definitely don’t have any interest in cooking, and I don’t want to taste it first, but I think it is a happy space where I can be unrestrained, free, and chat with the master chef.I think we were the only real "big men" in the family at the time.When they are free, they can dance swords and sticks with me.Such a man's topic and man's deeds, how happy it is.

From my birth until I was fourteen or fifteen years old, there were four master masters in my family. When I was two or three years old, Xu Wentao had already left my house, so it can be said that I have no impression of him in my memory.But in the following years, Xu Wentao's shadow never left my house.Whenever it comes to the topic of eating, adults will mention Xu Wentao's name.The guests who have come to my house for dinner will also mention Xu Wentao at the table and praise his superhuman skills.Xu Wentao bought many cooking utensils in the kitchen, such as what dishes to serve on which dishes, what seasonings to use for which dishes, as well as wooden molds for making dim sum, picks and pliers for peeling crabs.Some rules in the kitchen were also made by Xu Wentao.Every time he changes a master master, his grandmother will always tell him how Xu Wentao is. Although these successors have never met Xiao He, no matter how capable they are, they try their best to follow Xiao He as an example, or verbally promise to obey him. Follow Xiao He's rules.In fact, no one can achieve Xu Wentao's achievements, especially the high reputation and reputation after Xu Wentao left.

Xu Wentao is from Huai'an. I can't tell when he came to our house. It seems that he has been in charge of the stove for more than ten years.He is a master chef of Huaiyang cuisine who has been specially taught. His specialty dishes include braised lion's head in braised sauce, fried saddle bridge, fried shrimp with water chestnuts, fried egg, fried shrimp cake, and vegetarian stew.Desserts include crinkled shepherd's purse wontons, fried Yifu noodles, jujube cake, walnut cheese, Huaiyang siu mai, fried three mud and so on.Xu Wentao is quite receptive to new things. Tomatoes have only been popular in China for 60 to 70 years. In the 1940s, my grandfather resolutely refused to eat tomatoes, even the tomato sauce and red cabbage soup in Western food. It is also respectful.Xu Wentao improved a stir-fried shrimp and made it into tomato shrimp, which is sweet and sour.At that time, unlike today, tomato sauce was sold everywhere. Xu Wentao's tomato sauce was made by himself, that is, fresh tomatoes were peeled and seeded, and then stir-fried with a slow fire and added with seasonings.When frying, there is only paste and no excess soup. It is a bit like the practice of frying diced meat in sauce, and it is never mushy.My grandfather has since approved of tomatoes.

Xu Wentao's walnut cheese is a must. This dessert is made of high-quality large walnuts, firstly remove the hard skin and peel the walnut kernel, and then carefully peel off the tender skin outside the walnut kernel, and mash it like mud.Then take the big red dates and boil them, peel off the skin and core, and mash only the flesh of the dates into mud.Grind the soaked glutinous rice into a paste soup with a small stone mill, put it together with walnut puree and jujube puree and boil it over low heat for a certain period of time.There are walnut and jujube fragrance in the mouth, and it is smooth and delicate.This dim sum has been handed down to my nephew for three generations, and the style remains unchanged till now.

The first successor of Xu Wentao's dishes should be said to be my grandmother, and later passed on to Xu Wentao's successor master chef by my grandmother.This is a bit like the veterans of the Yu School in Peking Opera. Is there anyone alive today who has really been taught by Yu Shuyan?Meng Xiaodong and Li Shaochun also passed away successively. The Sri Lankan people have gone, and the elegant rhyme is no longer there. What is left is to pass on to disciples or private disciples.When Xu Wentao's dishes were ordered by his successor, only God knows how many of them are authentic and how many are off-the-wall.

There is another problem, that is, the inheritance relationship of Xu Wentao's cuisine is still a mystery.Which dishes from my family have been passed down to Xu Wentao, and have been improved and developed by Xu; and which dishes from Xu Wentao have been left to my family?According to my grandmother, she taught Xu Wentao some snacks, such as the sesame cake that has been out of stock for more than 30 years in my house. My grandmother insisted that she taught Xu Wentao.It is made by mixing heavy oil (pork suet), black sesame seeds (fried and crushed) and white sugar, and knocked out with small flower molds.My grandma likes heavy oil and sweets very much. I have seen her put a lot of suet and sugar into the recipe with my own eyes. I also helped her use small molds for fun. After all, they are different, put a small piece of oil paper under the cake, and stack them layer by layer.After entertaining regular guests at home, they always say: "It's too sweet, too boring, you are not as good as Xu Wentao." Every time she hears this kind of criticism, her grandmother will always say: "Xu Wentao was also taught by me!" People from Yangzhou, not far from Xu Wentao's hometown, belong to the same Huaiyang cuisine, so it is possible to learn from each other.

Xu's successors would occasionally say to my family when they made a favorite dish: "Try it, how is it better than Xu Wentao's?" Of course, most of them were denied.For many years, Xu Wentao has been a ruler, a mirror, and an idol.Until today, half a century later, I, who have only heard the plays of Yu Shuyan's disciples, still enjoy talking about the "Yu faction" to my wife! Xu's departure is a pity.Regarding his departure, it is said that it was only because of a quarrel, and the cause was also because of a dish.My grandfather never took care of housework, and the power in the family was naturally in the hands of my grandmother.Xu is a proud person, especially under the high reputation, he can't accept criticism.The words were not harmonious, Xu was impulsive and left angrily.Later, both parties regretted it, but it was hard to get over the water, and it was irreparable.My grandmother was a self-willed person who was unwilling to admit her mistakes, but whenever she talked about Xu Wentao's departure, she would always say: "Xu Wentao's temper is too great, I can't say it, but I can't say it." I think, this is She has reached the limit of her mistake.

Feng Qi was a "big friend" of mine in childhood. Feng Qi came to our house when I was four years old. He was only thirty years old at that time. If he was here, he would only be eighty years old this year. Feng Qi is a native of Shunyi County in the east of Jingdong. When he was young, he was an apprentice in a Japanese restaurant and knew how to cook some Japanese dishes.My family members don't know how to eat Japanese food in terms of emotion and taste, so Feng Qi is useless.Fortunately, there are usually some home-cooked dishes, which he can handle, but compared with his predecessor Xu Wentao, there is a world of difference.Feng Qi has an improved Japanese rice, which is often eaten in my family. It is called "Oya Kou" (written in Chinese characters as "parent-child well"). The tureen is served, and each person has a large tureen.The bottom is stewed rice, topped with a sauce of egg flower, vegetables, and onions, and served with a large fried prawn on the side.The shrimp was cut open in the middle of a large prawn, flattened, coated with egg white and bread crumbs, and fried, one for each person.Prawns were cheap in the 1950s, about the same price as pork, so it was not a luxury diet.Everyone says that Feng Qi can cook Japanese food and is a master chef of Japanese food. In fact, I have only eaten his skill. The name "Oyakou" is always associated with Feng Qi, but I don't know what it means. It was not until two years ago that I found out the Japanese writing and meaning of this word from a friend who lived in Japan.

Feng Qi is good at making pasta. What impressed me the most is his baked box and hot noodle dumplings stuffed with prawns.I can’t remember what the stuffing was in that box, but the dough was extremely thin, only the size of a teacup. I saw him use small rice bowls to pop them out one by one.This kind of box is baked without oil, but dry baked in a cake boring machine. When it is cooked, there are only yellow spots on both sides, which are neither mushy nor raw.Shrimp Hot Noodle Dumpling is my favorite noodle dish. It is made of prawn meat cut into small cubes and stuffed with fresh tomato. After stirring thoroughly, the shrimp meat and tomato are mixed into one.The skin is made of hot noodles, slightly larger than ordinary dumplings, and it is ready to eat after steaming.One bite, the bright red tomato juice and shrimp oil will flow into the plate.Since the fresh prawns are only diced, the texture of the prawns is quite evident.

When Feng Qi was in my house, it was the period when there were the most helpers in the house. There were four of them in total, and the meals were eaten separately. That is to say, after the meal was opened for us, Feng Qi started to cook the meals for the four of them, with an interval of more than an hour.They are all from the north and mainly eat pasta, and Feng Qi is the best at making pasta, such as buns, pancakes, and noodles, which makes me envious.The rice that Feng Qi cooks for us is mostly southern taste, and the rice all year round is unappetizing, but their rice is very tempting to me.Every summer, Feng Qi always likes to bake some homemade cakes. The baked cakes are crispy and soft, with a golden color. Needless to say eating, just smelling them makes people drool.Served with a large pot of cucumber, mixed with Sanhe oil and garlic paste, it is very refreshing.Occasionally, I would go to Puyun Tower to buy pork head wrapped in lotus leaves or something, and eat it with hot homemade cakes.These are "coarse meals" that I usually can't eat, but for me, they are the foods that make me the most jealous.Then there is Feng Qi's stretched noodles. It seems that he has received some "white case" training. The stretched noodles are really fast, and the dough is superb in his hands. In an instant, a piece of noodles becomes dozens of noodles in the pot. .Feng Qi also occasionally made noodles for us to eat, but the noodles were cut out, and they were very thin filaments. They tasted soft and bad, and they didn't have the strength of their stretched noodles.It is mixed with sesame sauce in summer and marinated in winter. There are many yellow flowers, fungus and fat slices in the stew. Each person holds a large bowl and eats it with garlic cloves. There is an indescribable heroism.

In order to participate in Feng Qi's "group meal", I figured out a way, either to say that I was not hungry when it was time to eat, or to taste a little bit of embellishment, and then sneaked into the kitchen to eat their meal.At that time, the kitchen was in the outer courtyard, and there was a layer of courtyard in the middle. The family members would not find it, so I used this habit for a long time.It wasn't until a visiting guest found out and asked my grandmother: "Why do your children eat in the kitchen in the front yard?" did the adults discover my "unruly" behavior.Of course, this kind of behavior is forbidden, and the method of "curing the root cause" is adopted, which is to ask Feng Qi and others not to receive me, let alone give me food.In fact, for me, it’s just that I don’t go there very often. Occasionally I see them eating pasta, and I will still patronize them. They have no choice but to always say: “Go away after eating, don’t make trouble here, and I have to take it for you. " Feng Qi was good-looking and young, and he was especially popular among the maids. He was also complacent about it, and he always cleaned up neatly after cooking.He and Lao Xia live in the same room, but the relationship is not very harmonious, and there is no common language.Apart from cooking, Feng Qi has another skill, that is, he can sing single strings, and his level is not low.There is always a Sanxian, a Zhongruan, and a Kangle Qin hanging above his bed.Kangleqin is no longer known to young people today. It was a simple musical instrument that was very popular in the 1950s. It had about four strings and some small scale keyboards on it. The plucked plucked piano is only two feet long and is very light. It was an indispensable instrument in factories, mines, and military entertainment rooms at that time. Today, it can be regarded as a cultural relic.Feng Qi is very proficient at playing the Kangle Qin, and he often hears his piano playing in the outer courtyard after dinner.Singing a single string can be regarded as a big move, and I seldom play and sing usually, probably because I lack a bosom friend.He has a cousin who also works in Beijing. He visits him occasionally. Whenever the cousins ​​meet, the main activity is to discuss playing and singing skills. It can be regarded as an "elegant gathering". Cousins ​​seems to be able to play but not sing, but is very addicted to it.Feng Qi's voice is very clear, and his singing is full of charm. He always sings some single-string divertimento, mostly descriptions of scenery. I can't remember the words, but there always seems to be some sentences like flowers, grass, wind, rain, etc. I can't quite understand it.He can also sing some songs at a large cost, such as the very humorous "Poor Grandma Visiting Wanshou Temple". He sang and talked, but it was also very popular, which left a deep impression on me.Feng Qi is also a "starchaser". I only know one of his idols, and that is the single-string actor Rong Jianchen.Feng Qi can also sing a few drum tunes, but the level is far inferior to his single strings and chant tunes.I heard him sing a few lines of "Wind and Rain Returning to the Boat" and "The Great Western Chamber". Although the words are correct, none of them can be sung completely from beginning to end. Feng Qi is my "big friend", he can play with me.At that time, there was a kind of painted face, which was a mask made of paper pulp, painted with Peking opera masks, and then painted with tung oil. There was an elastic band behind it, which could be worn by heads no matter how big or small.There are two holes in the eyes of the face, so you can see the road when you wear it.I have a lot of masks like this, so I changed them with Feng Qi, and then fought with wooden knives, guns, swords and halberds. After the two sides "started a war", they were able to chase all over the yard. Sweating. The kitchen in the outer courtyard is Feng Qi’s workshop. I remember it was a very traditional old-style kitchen. There was a big stove with three or four burners on it. What impressed me the most was the big soup pot next to the burner. , and the stove is connected as one.There is a cover on the soup pot, and there is always hot water in it. As long as the fire is not extinguished, the water will not be cold, and the water in the soup pot seems to never run out.Feng Qi has the right to be in charge of the soup pot. Maids like to scoop hot water there, but they must ask Feng Qi's permission in advance.The water in the soup pot is not for drinking, and the water temperature is always at 60°C to 70°C, which is just right for washing hands and face.The maids who fetched hot water were always pleasant to him.If the soup can is Feng Qi's "patent", then the jujube tree outside the kitchen seems to be Feng Qi's "private property".There is a big jujube tree outside the kitchen. Every early autumn, the jujubes turn from green to red, and the whole tree is hung.I have never seen Feng Qishi handle jujube trees, but he has absolute possession of the fruits, and no one dares to harvest dates until they are ripe or without his consent.Until one day, Feng Qi thought that he could "catch them all in one go", so he tied two long bamboo poles together, and let him beat them with the poles. Lao Xia and the maids were picking them up under the tree, and the falling dates fell on the ground with a crackling sound. On the heads of the people, everyone screamed, but Feng Qi smiled contentedly.Of course, I was also in the jujube-picking team, and sometimes I wanted to ask Feng Qi to let me play a few shots, but it seemed that Feng Qi had never handed over the power in his hands to let me have a good time.A tree of jujubes can be harvested in a big washbasin. Feng Qi has no interest in eating jujubes, but he never neglects the right to distribute them. I think he distributes them fairly, but his share is very small. It is this share that is sometimes distributed to the children outside the hospital.My family and I have never eaten jujubes from the kitchen in the outer courtyard. The matter of the soup pot and the jujube tree made me feel that Feng Qi is a person with a lot of "real power". At the end of the 1950s, Feng Qi found a good home. He worked as a cook at the home of a chief executive who later served as the vice premier of the State Council. Feng Qi has always worked in his home.After Feng Qi left, he came to visit us two or three times. He was still neat and tidy in his cadre uniform. I don't know what Lao Xia's name is, and no one calls him by his name. Except for me who calls him "Uncle Xia", the whole family calls him "Lao Xia".Lao Xia was alone, no one knew his life experience, until he died of illness in my house, I didn't know that he had a distant niece.Since I was born, there has been Lao Xia in my family. He seems to have worked in my family for more than ten years. The old Xia I saw was already in his sixties.He always shaved his head in Wudong Lixia, and wore a double-breasted Chinese jacket and cloth shoes.Although Lao Xia's activity space is mostly in the kitchen, strictly speaking, he has never been a real master chef, or just a helper in the kitchen.In addition, it is to use a large suitcase to send the food from the kitchen in the outer courtyard to the dining room in the inner courtyard when the meal is served.That kind of carrying case is rare today. It is made of bamboo lacquerware with three upper and lower layers. Meals and soup can be placed in the carrying case separately. It can carry three or four items at a time, and it also plays the role of dustproof and heat preservation. .Lao Xia has been doing table setting and serving for more than ten years, and there is no change year after year.Then there is sweeping the yard, and helping Feng Qi to buy things and purchase food.Later, Lao Xia became more and more old, and the task of serving food in the box was changed. The rest of the work was to sweep the yard and water the flowers, so he had a lot of time to play with me. Lao Xia has never been serious and lives by the rules. No one jokes with him, and he never jokes with others.Feng Qi and the maids don't like him, and he doesn't like their "frivolity" and "publicity".Lao Xia loves to be clean, and there is a barber who walks around the streets and has a friendship with him. He comes to shave his head and face every ten days and a half months. I often see him sitting in the corner of the front yard in the afternoon, wearing a white cloth around his body and shaving his head and face. , with a serious face, or with his eyes closed, it seems that he is not shaving his head, but Mr. Guan is scraping his bones to cure poison.Whenever everything was tidied up, Lao Xia would pat and pat his body, took out a dime from his body and handed it to the barber, and then made a bow and said, "Take care! Don't worry!" The barber would always say, "This What are you talking about, don't give it." He said and put away the dime and the shaving tools.I have read this set of notes countless times, and I still give what I give, and I still want what I want.Although Lao Xia's face is full of wrinkles, his head is always shaved and his chin is shaven.In winter, he wears a navy blue Chinese-style trousers and jacket, and in summer he wears a moon-white trousers and jacket. No matter how hot it is, Lao Xia will never show his chest or back. Lao Xia seldom speaks, and always looks cynical. I later learned that Lao Xia has a stomach for words and a head of his own thoughts. To confide in his "colleagues".Lao Xia has some culture and has studied in private schools for several years. His "learning of classics and history" probably comes from Mr. Dong Hong of the private school, while the interpretation of moral standards and etiquette and righteousness mainly comes from old novels.Lao Xia loves to read, but he doesn't have many books. To be precise, there is only one lithograph thread-bound book that has been torn apart, and he loves it like a boss.Lao Xia didn't read "Water Margin", and he slammed "Water Margin".When I was a child, I had a set of comic books, which were the Water Margin comics drawn by Bu Xiaohuai. They were well edited and drawn, and they are still collectibles today.There are twenty-one books in that set, and I can read them over and over again.Once Lao Xia saw it and said to me: "Who bought this book? Go and tell your father that this is a bad book and you can't read it." I was confused, so I had to tell my father, who just smiled and said: " "Water Margin" is a good book, don't listen to him!" So I told Lao Xia this again, and Lao Xia was so angry that he sighed and said, "Your father is a new brain, so don't read "Water Margin". Your father doesn’t even understand the reasoning.” Why should I read “Water Margin”?” I was confused and couldn’t figure it out, and I only found out after a few years that Lao Xia was probably afraid that I would become a robber.It's not that Lao Xia has never read "Water Margin", but he "criticized" it after reading it well.He said to me: "How can there be such a thing in history? The robbers who gathered in the mountains and robbed their homes, but later went to work for the court, conquered the four bandits, and got a wife and son. They are all rogues who do not make progress Come out to deceive people!" When I grew up, I realized that this was not Lao Xia's invention, Yu Wanchun, who wrote it, had already said it, I think Lao Xia must have read it, and it must have relieved his hatred for him! I don't have much contact with Lao Xia on weekdays, but when I get sick, Lao Xia is someone I can't live without.When I was five or six years old, I often suffered from some minor illnesses, such as inflammation of the tonsils, indigestion, colds and so on.At this time, I always ask Lao Xia to accompany me, and the main content is to tell me about comic books.I have a big box of villain books, all kinds of subjects, Lao Xia will pick and choose for me, and at the same time know what books are in my box?After the "Water Margin" comic book, Lao Xia suddenly paid attention to my education in "ideology". He said that he would go with him when buying comic books in the future. Lao Xia meant what he said, and he often took me to buy books after recovering from illness.There is a private bookstore in the alley opposite my house called "Caoji Bookstore". The owner is a father and daughter from Shanxi.Because I often go to buy books, I know the father and daughter very well.At that time, Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House’s “Romance of the Three Kingdoms Comic Books” had just started to be published. There were only a dozen kinds in a complete set of 60 copies. newly arrived.There is a kind of "Tiger Hunting", which is in addition to Bu Xiaohuai's "Water Margin" comic strip. It tells the story of Jie Zhen and Jie Bao who beat tigers and were wronged, and later helped Liangshan to rob prison. I really want it, but Lao Xia insists on not giving it. I bought it, and then I had to beg someone to buy it for me, and I hid it so that Lao Xia could not see it.I still remember that the books Lao Xia selected for me include "Besieging Wei and Rescuing Zhao", "Chong Er Restores the Country", "Blood Stained Changping", "Renew and Encourage", "Eliminate the Three Pests", "Wang Zuo Broken Arm", "Zhu Xian Town" and so on.There are two other types of books that Lao Xia did not choose. One is fairy tales, probably because of "the son does not speak strange and chaotic gods"!There is also a category about love stories, probably Lao Xia also thinks it is "not suitable for children", and he can't tell it for me, so it is also not selected.But there is a book "Meng Jiangnu" that I chose, because there is no content about Meng Jiangnu and Fan Qi Liang Qingqing in it.When I was young, I had no contact with "Feng Shen Bang", probably related to Lao Xia. Lao Xia's lectures focused on education. When he talked about "Wang Zuo's Broken Arm", he highly praised Wang Zuoshe's patriotic spirit of taking righteousness with his arms; when he talked about "Blood Stained Changping", he let me learn from Zhao Kuo's war on paper and lead to a great defeat. , I don't quite understand these big principles, but I gradually realized some flavors. Later, there was an incident that attracted Lao Xia's attention, and he decided to explain the "Three Kingdoms" systematically for me, and he still talked about "Xia's criticism of the Three Kingdoms". I don't know who gave me a little book called "The Death of Guan Yu". This book was published much earlier than the 60 comic strips published by Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House.This little book is very thick, the thickest of all my little books.At that time, I liked thick books. The thick books took a long time to talk about, while the thin ones would finish after a while.This book "The Death of Guan Yu" starts from when Zhuge Jin crossed the river to propose marriage to Guan Yu's daughter, after the seven armies were flooded, scraped the bones to heal the poison, and ended when Lu Meng crossed the river in white clothes and Guan Yu was defeated in Maicheng.The image of Guan Yu in the comics is a typical example of not accepting opinions, being unreasonable, cruel and self-willed.In the end, the head is in a different place, and the country is wronged.Somehow this book was seen by Lao Xia. I thought it was a book from the Three Kingdoms, and Lao Xia would happily explain it to me. I didn’t want Lao Xia to fly into a rage after flipping through it, and his face changed color. I have never seen him so terrible.He was so angry for a long time before he could speak: "Which bastard compiled this little book? Master Guan is written like this, and this will be retribution. Let me talk about the title of the book first, what is it called "The Death of Guan Yu", Master Guan is dead Is it? Not dead! That means he has died, he has become a god, Master Guan is still showing his holiness on Yuquan Mountain after his return to heaven! There are only two saints in China, the sage of literature is Confucius, and the sage of martial arts is Master Guan. Died?" Lao Xia's words terrified me, and after more than forty years, I can still remember them verbatim today, which shows how deep the impression is.The fate of this book was confiscated by Lao Xia. Later, I found it in the trash basket in the outer courtyard, picked it up, and never dared to let Lao Xia see it again, and hid it like a "banned book". "Xia's criticism of the Three Kingdoms" was spoken very slowly, and the details of the annotations were far beyond the reach of Mao Zonggang and Jin Shengtan.He started from Taoyuan's three knots, and he didn't need to follow the script, all the stories were in his head.Lao Xia's views and likes and dislikes are too clear, one matter is one thing, one person is one group, but when it comes to Guan Yunchang, he is always in awe.If you sit and talk, you must stand up at this point.When it comes to Guan Yunchang reading "Spring and Autumn", he must make a gesture, holding the scroll with one hand and stroking his beard with the other.Later, when I grew up, I found the source of this gesture in the Guandi Temple.Lao Xia said that the Three Kingdoms must enshrine Western Shu as Zhengshuo, Cao Cao is a traitor, and Sun Quan is a hero.Dian Wei and Xu Chu are incompetent idiots; Zhou Yu and Lu Su are nothing but clowns.Although he had criticisms against Zhang Liao, because he had friendship with Guan Yu, Lao Xia didn't scold him very much.Guan Ping, Zhou Cang, Wang Fu, and Zhao Lei all had no great abilities, but because they lived and died together with Guan Yu, Lao Xia did not hesitate to praise them.Lao Xia doesn't like Liu Bei, whoever asked Guan Yunchang to help him, Lao Xia has to recognize his head.Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun are brothers of Guan Yunchang, and Lao Xia is naturally a hero, but he has a good sense of proportion, that is, no matter how powerful he is, he can't beat Master Guan.I once had a cold and a fever, just in time for Lao Xia to talk about Guan Yu passing five passes and beheading six generals. This was Lao Xia’s excitement. Test the watch, it's almost forty degrees. This "Three Kingdoms by Xia" has too many branches, or Lao Xia himself has played too much. Later, I also understood that after all, a Three Kingdoms revolves around Guan Yunchang. After talking about going to Maicheng, Lao Xia did not I got excited, and I was really impatient and in awe.At that time, my family had a small warehouse, and there were always piles of things that had not been used for many years.At that time, Lian Kuoru was broadcasting on the radio, and he was really talking about the Three Kingdoms, so how could he crookedly criticize like Lao Xia! Lao Xia has been a handyman all his life. He doesn't smoke, drink, gamble, and has no bad habits. He has never heard of dirty words in his mouth. He is kind to others, but he doesn't talk much. He is a responsible person.He also has people who admire him. Guan Yunchang is a god, elusive and far away from him, but the characters in the play are closer to him. I heard him talk about Mo Cheng in "A Handful of Snow", "Nine Ma Yi in More Heaven, he said that if there is such an opportunity, he will do it like Mo Cheng and Ma Yi.Lao Xia thought it was his responsibility to teach me. He forbade me to go out to play with the children on the street. When he saw me fighting crickets, he would say that it was a plaything. If he found out that I went to a theater or a movie, he would always say: "Seldom go to that kind of playground, and have time to read and write." I still have some sundries for Lao Xia.Once I went in and found a set of opera props, which were the handcuffs and chains worn by Yang Yanhui when "Si Lang Visits His Mother".It just so happened that I had just watched "Siro Visits His Mother", Ma Lianliang's return to Ling Shiro, I put on handcuffs by myself after I came back, turned the copper chain upside down with my left and right hands, or threw it into the air and then followed it with my hands, "a pillar facing the sky", I thought I was very similar to Ma Lianliang.This incident alarmed Lao Xia again, and he went to my grandmother as a big deal and said, "You have to take care of it. I told him he wouldn't listen. How can anyone wear the 'Wang Fa' on his body? What's wrong with playing?" , This child’s play is fresh!” Grandma said: “Children can play as long as they want, so there’s no need to make a fuss.” Facing this “declining morale”, Lao Xia could only shake his head and sigh. Lao Xia does not accept new things and does not understand modern civilization, but he has rich historical knowledge. He can clearly explain the change of dynasties from Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and he has his own opinions on the reasons for the rise and fall of the past dynasties. Treating me as the only person who can talk to him, he has talked a lot, but I am only six or seven years old, so I can't remember what he said.Lao Xia was born in Beijing, and it is said that he has never been to any place except a trip to Tianjin with his old master's family in the 1930s.But he is very familiar with Beijing's Sijiucheng, and has deep feelings. He loves to talk about things in his old age, and he always talks about what happened in the former Qing Dynasty.I can't remember the people and things he said, but the only thing I remember is one thing he often said, which is about the whole story of Zhang Xun's restoration. Zhang Xun's restoration took place in the fifth month of the Ding Si year, that is, in June of the Gregorian calendar in 1917. Lao Xia was only in his twenties at that time. According to him, he was working in the old master's house at that time. Who was his old master?What does it have to do with the restoration of Zhang Xun?I don't know, but from what Lao Xia knew, this incident was a major event in his life.Lao Xia respected Zhang Xun very much, and when referring to Zhang Xun, he always referred to him as "Dashuai Zhang" or "Dashuai", and never called him by his first name.However, the attitude towards Li Yuanhong is quite different. Li Yuanhong has always been the long-term and Li Yuanhong is short, and he does not hide his name.In particular, he disapproved of Li Yuanhong hiding in the Japanese embassy during the incident. He once said: "Li Yuanhong is worthless. If you are capable, don't hide with the little devils." Accusations, and will describe in detail how "Dashuai Zhang" detoured to the Dutch embassy.About how Zhang Xun went from Xuzhou to Beijing, got off the train and entered the palace through Donghuamen with his braided soldiers, Lao Xia could talk vividly for more than an hour, just like he talked about the Three Kingdoms.Lao Xia denied the statement that dragon flags were hung in the whole city during the twelve days of Zhang Xun's restoration. He said that it was nothing. Flag, there is no change in other places, I think Lao Xia will not talk nonsense, maybe it has some historical value. These topics of Lao Xia and the propaganda about "loyalty, filial piety, integrity, righteousness" have no market among servants, and he never pays attention to the trivial matters of mother-in-law and mother-in-law. Everyone thinks he is a withdrawn person.Lao Xia does his own thing dutifully, and he has his own opinions about everything in this world, but these opinions are revealed unconsciously.Today, I can no longer see people like Lao Xia. In the twelfth lunar month of 1957, Lao Xia suffered from pneumonia, and my family sent him to the hospital. At that time, I was suffering from measles. I missed Lao Xia very much, and hoped that he could chat with me and talk about the Three Kingdoms, Yue Fei, and Zhang Xun. Those who entered Donghua Gate... After five days, Lao Xia left this world forever. After Feng Qi left, Fujian Xiang succeeded him. Fujian Xiang's wife is my mother's wet nurse, and Fujian Xiang came to our house as a wet nurse.Because Feng Qi left and couldn't find anyone for a while, my mother's wet nurse recommended her husband.Fujian Xiang came and stayed for seven or eight years, becoming the person most closely related to my youth. No one knows about Fujian Xiang's life experience in his early years, only that he was a bannerman. As for which banner?Have your ancestors ever been an official?I don't know.When he was young, he studied tailoring. After his middle age, due to excessive drinking, his hands shook badly, so he couldn't be a tailor, and his life was very poor. He had to go to the electric light company to work as a waiter, and learned some cooking skills there.When he came to my house, he was about sixty years old.He is short and fat, with a big head and a big belly, but short legs.Fujian Xiang couldn't speak very well, stuttered a bit, and it took him a long time to express a sentence clearly, coupled with the constant shaking of his hands, at first glance, he looked like a stroke patient.Not long after he came, everyone thought he wouldn't last long, and relatives and friends also advised my grandmother to quickly find a decent cook, and making do with Fujian Xiang was not the answer.Besides, Fujian Xiang is very sloppy, he doesn't pay attention to hygiene, the gown he wears is always dirty, and he doesn't like to cut his fingernails.Since Fujian Xiang came, the kitchen was always messy and messy. At first, a maid helped to clean it up. Later, he found that Fujian Xiang had a very temper and didn't want others to "interfere in internal affairs", so he let it go.The more important thing is that Fujian Xiang's craftsmanship is really not flattering. They are all taught by the "Er Hun Shop", and none of the dishes can be served on the table.Although the pattern of four dishes, one soup, one meal and one porridge for each meal is still maintained, the content is quite different from that of Xu Wentao and Feng Qi's era.Even the dishes for family treats or New Year's festivals have been discounted a lot since Fujian Xiang came here.During those years, every time I felt tired of eating at home, or to satisfy my hunger, I always went to another old grandmother's house to improve my life.That old grandmother loves cleanliness very much and pays attention to tidiness. Since Fujian Xiang became a master chef, she has never eaten here again.When it's time to eat, she must go back to her own home to eat. 天下的事就是这样奇怪，往往一件看着似乎维持不下去的事，或者一个明明不称职的人，凑凑合合地反而延续下去很长时间，我的祖母正是一个能将就、爱凑合的人，福建祥就在这样的状态下一直干了下去。 福建祥接替冯奇不久，老夏便去世了。我家的生活也发生了一些变化，我的父母不久又离开了这所院落，搬到西郊机关大院的宿舍中去住，院子里只剩下我和祖母两个人。那时祖母在区政协活动很多，每周有两次学习、讨论，还有些文娱活动和社会交往，经常不在家，我得到了极大的“自由”。偌大的院落，就剩下我和福建祥，我们成天混在一起，成为“莫逆之交”。 现在闭上眼睛，总能马上回到那个小小的庭院：石子和方砖铺成的雨路，爬满窗棂的一架凌霄花，绿荫匝地的海棠树，挂满晶莹紫珠的葡萄架，还有一棵不结果实的梨树。最使我不能忘怀的是院中的老杏树，每年初夏结满了又大又甜的大白杏。冯奇走了，我长大了，上树摘杏是每年最大的快乐。远端的够不着，就用竹竿打，下面的人用床单子拉开接着，不至于掉在地上摔烂了。福建祥与另一个人一起拉个床单在下面接，他笨手笨脚，问题总出在他那里，不是接不着，就是中间松了手，连刚才接着的也滚到地上摔烂了。每年的大白杏可以收获五六草筐之多，淡黄色的皮，一口咬下去香甜的汁水立刻直入口中，沁人心脾。我会将杏子分给院外邻居的小朋友们，享受着当年冯奇分配外院枣子的权力。福建祥很小气，总是把摘下的杏子藏起一两筐，留着给我慢慢吃。那时还没有电冰箱，家中只有一个土冰箱，每天有送冰的来换冰，那么多杏子也放不进去，两天后杏子就开始烂了，为了挽救这些果实，福建祥就把开始腐烂的杏儿洗干净熬杏酱，那杏酱的香甜，超过今天大商厦卖的进口黄梅酱。 福建祥会说许多歇后语，比如我背着书包下学回家，会直奔厨房对福建祥说：“我饿了！”福建祥会立即看我一眼说：“瞧你就不善！”“饿”与“恶”同音，所以他说我“不善”。有时我会明知故问地对他说些什么，他就会说：“你这是怀里揣马勺。”马勺是用来盛饭盛粥的器物，揣在怀里，就是“盛心”，与“成心”同音，意即说我是故意捣乱。还有许多类似的歇后语，后来我还没有听别人说过。 我给福建祥捣蛋的时候很多，也爱气他。常常把他即将下锅的东西偷偷拿跑，他专心一意地看着油热，等油冒烟了，回头一看，下锅的菜却不翼而飞。那时没有煤气，不能立即关火，他只得把热油锅撂在地上，一手攥着炒勺满院子追我，好容易把我擒获，夺回了下锅的菜，油却凉了，还得重热。如此两三次，福建祥气疯了，赌咒发誓说这饭他不做了！那时祖母常不在家，害得他“状”都没地方告。 有一程子我特别喜欢上房玩，堆煤的小院中有一把梯子，但不够高，我就将梯子竖在煤堆上，顺着梯子上了房，能从北房爬到西厢房顶上。后来更有甚者，发展到在房顶上玩儿火。这下福建祥急了，我的人身安全，房屋的安全和邻居的安宁等责任都系于他一身，他既急又气，其结果是一次用木板子揍了我的屁股；一次是干脆等我上房后撤了梯子，害得我在房顶上蹲了两个钟头。 我与福建祥经常打架，有时候打得不可开交，他告我的状，我也告他的状，甚至一两天谁也不理谁。可是两个人又好得不得了，谁也离不开谁；一个六十开外，一个十一二岁，一种特殊的环境把我们拴到一起，像在一个孤岛上，有时候我是鲁宾逊，他是礼拜五；也有时候他是鲁宾逊，我是礼拜五，那就要看是什么事情上了。 福建祥不像老夏那样会讲，也不像老夏那样崇拜关云长，但他却很懂戏。年轻时也看过不少名角的演出。 他赶上了看杨小楼、看余叔岩、看陈德霖、看龚云甫、看程继先，他常常向我讲他看过的好戏。那时我家有一部留声机，是手摇的钢针唱机，斯时还不算落伍。戏曲唱片有两百来张，高亭公司、百代公司、蓓开公司、物克多公司的都有。福建祥喜欢老生唱段，特别珍视余叔岩、王又宸、王凤卿、时慧宝的唱片，他不大喜欢高庆奎和言菊朋。那时候也没有电视机，留声机就成了当时一个最好的玩艺儿。每到这种时候，福建祥就是鲁宾逊，我就成了礼拜五。摇把上弦，换钢针，翻唱片都是我的事儿，他坐在那儿闭着眼、晃着脑袋听，手还在大腿上打着板。有一套梅兰芳、杨小楼的，共四张八面，是稍后的长城公司出版的，音质也要比高亭、百代的好，且取消了前面的报幕人。高亭、百代的片子大多有人报幕，如“高亭公司特请余叔岩老板唱《桑园寄子》”、“百代公司特请马连良老板唱《审头刺汤》”等等，翻过来就一句“接唱二段”。这种报幕人多是请琴师或文场报，也有干脆是演员自报的，声音则是“烟嗓儿”，十分不雅。后期的长城公司就取消了这种做法，净化了唱片艺术。那套长城公司的梅杨合作可以说是空前绝后的精品，福建祥还替我在隆福寺订做了一个套子。 我这大半生与戏曲结下的缘分，真可以说与福建祥不无关系。我的祖母虽也极好戏，小时候带我去剧场看戏，但大多是以青衣、花衫戏为主，引不起一个孩子的兴趣。我的幼年曾看过四大名旦中的梅、尚、荀，四大须生中的马、谭、奚，但家里却没有人给我讲过戏。而真正使我对京剧发生浓厚兴趣的人，则是福建祥。记不得开始与福建祥一起去看戏的情景了，那时主要是去东安市场的吉祥戏院看戏，以看马连良的戏最多，这一时期马连良常演的戏有《十老安刘》、《胭脂宝褶》、《四进士》、《火牛阵》、《群英会借东风》等等。谭富英演出较少，但也看过他的《定军山》、《战太平》、《失空斩》等。这些戏或是有头有尾，或是剧情为我熟悉，因此兴趣就大多了。让我最感兴趣的，是看叶盛章的戏，他的《徐良出世》、《酒丐》、《三盗九龙杯》使我如醉如痴。小时候就是不喜欢以旦角为主的戏，但是也有些例外，像尚小云的《双阳公主》、荀慧生的《荀灌娘》等，还是饶有兴趣的。我印象最深的是有一年的暑假，祖母参加了政协组织的农村参观和劳动，福建祥居然大胆带我去护国寺的人民剧场连看了好几天戏，好像有李盛藻的《打督邮》，娄振奎的《敬德装疯》以及李少春和叶盛兰等人的戏，这些戏是平时在吉祥很少看到的。 除了寒、暑假外，平时是不允许晚间去看戏的，即便是寒暑假，福建祥要做晚饭，也难得有几次能在晚上带我出去。有一年暑假机会来了，那是李万春与徐东明、徐东来姊妹组织了新华京剧团要去西藏之前，也许是后来到内蒙古之后，他们常在朝阳门外的一个剧场演出，而且多是日场，即下午一点半开戏，四点半散戏，这段时间是福建祥最闲的时间。我们那时几乎天天步行到朝外去看戏。另外还有两个原因，一是新华京剧团戏码儿不翻头，二是票价很便宜，好像每张票只卖两毛钱。彼时李万春被错划为“右派”不久，在团里什么戏都演，甚至武戏中上下手的活儿也干。李庆春、李小春倒是担纲主演，加上徐氏姊妹和关韵华等人，角色也还算整齐。李万春也主演一些戏，只是无论戏报或门口的水牌子上都不写他姓名。遇上这种时候，福建祥就会高兴地告诉我“今儿个来着了，万春的大轴儿，真棒！”有次赶上李万春的《火烧草料场》，还带五色电光。 那次李万春格外卖力，把一个英雄气短的林冲演得惟妙惟肖，至今留在我的印象中。偶尔李元春、李韵秋兄妹那个团也来演过，我还记得有次李韵秋的《无底洞》，打出手时碰破了鼻子，流血不止。我最喜欢的戏是李小春、李庆春的《五鼠闹东京》，小春的白玉堂、庆春的蒋平，使我脑子里的变得形象化了。 看戏看得入了迷，平日里也爱和福建祥逗，有次在厨房的门板上用粉笔写上一行大字：今日准演全本《龙潭鲍骆》。然后下面又一行小字：嘉兴府、刺巴杰、酸枣岭、巴骆和。接下去又一行字：福建祥饰骆宏勋。招得家中客人都驻足观看，气得福建祥揪着我的耳朵让我用水擦干净。偶然一次叶盛兰来家里吃饭，福建祥竟然兴奋了一天，那天的菜做得出奇的好，可以说是超水平发挥，他出出入入几趟去饭桌旁转悠，人家走后他伸着大拇指对我说：“你看看，人家那才是角儿呢！” 还有一次闹得出了圈儿。那是看了《刺王僚》后，觉得福建祥的职务和相貌都像专褚，就想着为他安排一次“恰如其分”的行动。正好赶上家中请客，福建祥做了一道干烧鱼，那鱼很大，是整条放入盘中的，我趁他不注意，将一把水果刀捅进了鱼肚子里，从外表上是一点儿看不出来。这下给福建祥惹了麻烦，菜上桌吃了一半儿，大家才发现鱼肚子里的刀，那次又恰巧我并没在家吃饭，祖母质问福建祥，他竟没有想到是我干的，糊里糊涂承认了自己的疏忽，可又纳闷儿那刀是怎么进了鱼肚子的。我真奇怪他这个老戏包袱怎么就忘了《鱼藏剑》的典故呢？事后我虽然向祖母和福建祥都认了错儿，可也气得福建祥两三天没理我。 除了做饭之外，福建祥还兼任采购，每天清早去东单菜市或朝阳菜市，总是八点多钟出发，十点多钟回来，有时也去东单的华记食品店（即今天的春明食品店）。他在买菜时结识了一个好朋友，是龙云家的厨师，两个人好得不得了。三年自然灾害期间，这位龙云家的厨师帮了福建样不少忙。龙云自“反右”后虽已不得意，但仍然享受着高干待遇，他家的厨师能去“特供”购买食品，因此福建祥沾了不少光。许多外面见不到的东西，福建祥居然都能拎回家来。那时汽锅鸡这种云南菜在北京尚不十分流行，福建祥也从“龙主席”家的厨房里弄来一只汽锅，竟做起汽锅鸡来。福建祥虽然手抖得厉害，但多年来从未戒过酒，除了每饭必酒之外，每天清晨外出采购，必在外面的酒铺里喝上二两。他在酒铺喝酒从不就座，也不要菜，就打上二两最便宜的白酒，站在那里两三口喝光，只是几分钟的功夫。福建祥虽爱杯中之物，但却从来没喝醉过。除了喝酒，他每天还要抽一包烟，最有意思的是，每天晚上都用这包烟的包装纸背面写账，这是他做得最认真的一件事，那烟纸是横用竖写的，别看他手那样抖，字却写得十分工整，完全看不出是颤抖的手写出的字。项目、数量或分量、金额等写得清清楚楚，一丝不苟，做的是那样认真。写好后总要亲自送到我祖母手中，其实我祖母从不看，接过来就放在一边了。他也知道我祖母不看，但写还是照常写，数年中无一日间断，绝不潦草。往往隔一程子收拾旧报纸时，总能发现一大堆香烟包装纸，翻过来看看，全是福建祥写的账单子。我想，如果能完整地保存至今，应该是一份很珍贵的当时物价佐证和社会生活史料了。 岁月荏苒，转眼间我上了中学，似幼年时那种捣乱的事儿少多了。那些与福建祥一起在院子里使用刀枪剑戟打把子的勾当也成为童年的往事。小时候那些挎在身上的宝剑、腰刀，别在背上的鞭和锤，手中提着的枪和刀，曾被福建祥讥为是《甘露寺》中的贾化，现在都扔在厨房的角落里，落上了厚厚的灰尘。寒暑假里，我们也一同去戏园子里看戏，但却很少找到前几年去朝阳门外花两毛钱看李万春的感觉。 上中学以后，父母对我的教育开始关心起来，尤其对我与祖母、福建祥住在城里的“自由”很不放心。那时福建祥每星期去一趟西郊，为母亲送些食品，而我也是周末出城，与父母相聚，周日下午又回到城里。父母却极少进城来。那时我在课余时间开始看些小说，也看翻译小说，记得有段时间连续看了傅雷译的巴尔扎克著作《欧也妮葛朗台》、《夏倍上校》、等。有次去西郊，母亲突然问我：“好看吗？能看懂吗？”我奇怪极了，母亲怎么会知道我在看巴尔扎克的？还有一次母亲问我是不是上星期二晚上去看电影了？看的什么片子？我发现母亲对我在城里每日的生活了如指掌，类似每天什么时间睡觉，下学后有没有出去过，有没有同学来找，看什么课外书等等。我恍然大悟，这都是福建祥汇报的结果，而且侦察之细微，出乎我的意料之外。事隔多年之后，母亲对我说出真相，那时福建祥确实肩负“监视”我的使命，为此母亲还给他一份小小的“特殊津贴”呢！ 福建祥的“特务”行为引起我的反感和警觉，但并没有伤害我们之间的友谊。 在我的幼年时代，福建祥给了我许许多多的照顾，也为我背了不少黑锅，如果我们一起做了些出格的事，受过的多是他。但是我也为他做过一件很“仗义”的事。母亲有一把珍爱的茶壶，是她的老师、原辅仁大学西语系教授杨善荃先生送给她的礼物，那是英国十九世纪维多利亚时代的瓷器，颜色和造型都十分漂亮。不知怎的被福建祥碰破了壶嘴，嘴口上少了一厘米。那次他很懊丧，也很紧张。我主动承担了这个过失，向母亲说了谎，告诉她壶嘴是我不小心打破的。那次母亲确实很不高兴，骂了我好半天。看到福建祥如释重负，我心里是快乐的。后来我们将这把残破的茶壶在当时人民市场后面的“老虎摊”上镶了一个白铜镀金的嘴，与壶盖儿和壶身上的描金竟浑然一体，整旧如新。不久前整理杂物，突然发现了这把旧壶，那嘴上的镀金已经发黑、变色，重新又勾起了童年那些已经变得暗淡了的记忆。 上高中后，我彻底搬到了西郊，永远地离开了那座铺满绿荫的院落。偶尔去看祖母，见到福建祥。那间厨房变得昏暗了，被油烟熏黑了的墙壁上挂满了蛛网，堆在墙角上的刀、枪、剑、戟和“岳云的双锤”都不见了。福建祥老了，人变得龙钟和迟钝，手也抖得更加厉害。那年腊月，我用攒了半年的零用钱为福建祥买了一瓶茅台酒，我想他一定会开心的。当我兴冲冲地把酒给他送去时，他只是淡淡地说了一句：“我不喝曲酒，你放在那儿吧！”我的心一下子冷了，说不出话来。在我的印象中，这是福建祥对我惟一的一次伤害…… 时光流逝，四十年间多少沧桑巨变，而童年的往事，却总是无法在记忆中抹去或淡忘。