Chapter 30 Yangzhou's Fuchun Flower Bureau, selling flowers and trees, and selling noodles

Anyone who has visited Slender West Lake, Pingshantang, Wuting Bridge, and Meihualing in Yangzhou must take the time to visit the famous Fuchun Flower Bureau to taste the taste of Yangzhou noodles.The author used to go to Yangzhou once or twice a year for business reasons. When I arrived at Chaoguan in Yangzhou, I always asked someone to send my luggage to my residence first, and then I went straight to Fuchun to drink tea and have a drink. Conscript, and then go to work. Fuchun was originally a flower bureau selling flowers and bonsai, so although Fuchun was famous in northern Jiangsu for its noodles, the door plaque has always retained the four characters "Fuchun Flower Bureau" engraved on water-milled bricks.It is said that because of the spacious terrain and the round arches of the corridors, the Fuchun Flower Bureau plans to sell pastries in addition to planting different flowers and pastries.Unexpectedly, as time goes by, the pastry career is booming, and selling flowers and trees and potted plants has become a sideline.

There are a lot of rich and leisure people in Yangzhou, coupled with the exaggeration of the literati's pen, the emperors of the past dynasties traveled in the palace, naturally, the way of drinking and eating, the pastry and cheese are so perfect.In the Yangzhen area, the noodle restaurant is a place where you can enjoy tea and snacks while talking about business. Therefore, the noodle restaurant must prepare good tea that can last for a long time in order to attract customers.Fuchun's tea is well-known for its long-lasting brewing. His tea is neither green nor red, nor is it Narcissus Fragrance, nor is it Pu'er Lu'an.The most wonderful thing is to refill the water three or two times, the tea taste is still light and strong, and the color and fragrance are still the same.

Once, the author was sipping a drink, feeling comfortable and at ease. Unexpectedly, Xu Xinfu, the famous director of Shanghai Dazhonghua Film Company, and Jun Lanjun, the twin sisters of the Gu family, also came here.The three of them have a preference for Fuchun's tea, because they were filming a film location in Jinjiao, and they drove across the river from Zhenjiang to drink tea and eat snacks.Xin Fu said: "Fuchun's tea is prepared by the owner of Fuchun himself. It is made of six or seven kinds of tea. The green tea from Yuanmenqiao Jinjitai is the main one, and the rest are bought from several tea houses. , and then mixed according to different amounts. This is a secret recipe that people have carefully researched, and we can't learn it." In this way, it is no wonder that some tea drinkers appreciate and praise Fuchun's tea.

Although the building of the Fuchun Flower Bureau is not a purple emerald house with carved jacarandas and curved sills, the willow-colored lotus, green banyan and pines are arranged in an orderly and ancient way.Like Suxi, Zhenning and other places in Yangzhou, they all pay attention to morning tea, so every morning when they arrive in Zhongshi, the three religions and nine streams in the city will come here in disorder, and their shoes are intertwined.Due to the variety of products, based on the theorem that like attracts like, among the tea guests who come here every day, there are old men who are old and wise, and old men who have cared for their lives gather together in the hall, all of whom are seniors, with the title of tea guest Gongxi. Day "Old People's Hall".Some of the Zanying family are a group of playboys who play the sun and the moon. Wherever they go, there are people in clothes and wine. They also use a bright and open pavilion as a place for gathering and laughing. hospital".Some people in the middle of the night, stepping on the tray, discussing deals, whispering, bluffing and drinking, with different postures, vying for a hair. These people are too noisy and disturbing, knowing that tea customers hate them, so they also set up another room in the East Wing , calling itself an "exchange".There is a small pavilion with a bamboo fence in the west chamber, elegant and unpretentious, relatively quiet, and it has become a place for couples to talk about love. Zhou Shoujuan called it the "Plunder Gallery" back then.He said that there is a "Mandarin Duck Pavilion" in Qiaojiazha Tangtuan Restaurant in Shanghai, which is very similar and elegant to the "Plunder Plaice Gallery", and the two can be compared in beauty.Unexpectedly, as soon as he was published in the "Happy Forest" supplement of "News", the "Plunder Gallery" became famous.

There are windows on all sides of the middle hall in Fuchun, which is relatively open. Most of the tea drinkers who do not belong to the four parties are received by the waiters in this hall to eat and drink. The Fuchun Flower Bureau is crowded with crowns and covers every day, with staggered toasts and variegated categories. Because each has a pan-ground, it is in order.As soon as the tea was brewed, some hawkers selling stewed beef, stewed gizzard liver, sauced chicken, sauced duck, peanuts, melon seeds, and broad bean crisps surrounded them with baskets and baskets. The boss of Fuchun was kind and kind. , Holding the mentality of me eating meat and you drinking soup, let them come and go, peddling at the table, and never expel them.Even selling cigarette holders, boxes, combs, bamboo sticks, ear picks, and toothpicks are also mixed in, and tourists from other places are overwhelmed here.This is the same as the teahouse on the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuchang, where someone carries an enamel basin to scald and pedicure the guests' feet, and it is a spectacle in the teahouse at the same time.

When friends come to Fuchun to drink tea, they must first come and sell (one customer calls one sell) Qiansi.The Yusi in Yangzhen is soft and tender, and the knife edge is perfect. When the apprentices of the Yangzhou noodle restaurant put on their aprons, the first thing they did was to learn how to cut thousands of silk and cut dried silk (Yangzhou manages the whole piece of uncut dried silk) It is called ganzi), and it must be equal to the thickness of the silk slices, and the cuts should be short and uniform, so that you can learn other crafts further!There is an unwritten rule when old local tea guests in Yangzhou invite their friends to have tea. To invite friends on the scene to show respect for the crown, one must cook a thousand silks. ".As for inviting some acquaintances who are more familiar and informal, most of them will be boiled instead of hot (the so-called hot means northern mixing).No matter whether it is boiled or hot, when it comes to toppings, there are many kinds of toppings, and the older generation of diners can call out more than ten kinds.Back then, Li Hanqiu, a famous novelist, could name more than 20 words of toppings in a bowl of noodles, which was really impressive.When the author came to Fuchun, I always felt that the boiled dry silk was too thick in oil and water, which was not refreshing enough. I like to sell hot dry silk with crispy chicken skin and fish. , the chicken skin is plump but not greasy, the crispy eel is crispy but not burnt, and it is served with thousands of silks that moisten the air and spread the fragrance. It can be said to be a small dish that is suitable for tea and wine.However, it would be a disaster if someone who claimed to be a big boss in Yangzhou treated them to tea. The waiter also figured out their habit of being ostentatious and trying to save face. It means adding one to the old ruler, and there is a sentence, "I know you always want it, so add it naturally", and then pour this bowl of sesame oil seasoning on Qiansi, the owner will certainly look bright and full of face.But guests like us who have always had a light taste and are not used to heavy oil and delicious food are really unlucky to enjoy it.Although the delicious food is present, I have no choice but to taste it, and dare not eat anything, otherwise I will not save money, and I will go to the toilet.

Jade Shaomai and Jade Steamed Dumplings are also delicacies in Fuchun pastry. Since it is called Jade, it is naturally a kind of dessert. The Jade Fruit is smooth and melted green.Shangjiaojing Gourmet Hall is calling for Huaiyang noodles, and the hands of the red and white cases are indeed recruited from Huaiyang with a lot of money. Except that the jujube paste pancakes they make are not out of shape, they are comparable to Fuchun. As for Jade Steamed Dumplings, they cannot be compared with Fuchun in terms of taste and shape. There are two kinds of noodles in Fuchun, although ordinary noodle shops do not prepare them, even Fuchun can only eat them in season!Every year when the wild duck season comes, his family has a kind of stewed wild duck noodles on the market.Famous Chinese physicians Xia Yingtang and Zhang Deran in Shanghai always advise the frail elderly to eat more wild ducks, saying that they can nourish Qi and nourish the heart, so stewed wild duck noodles have become a delicacy that is both good for food and nourishment.Fuchun is in the wild duck season, and the amount prepared every day will not be too much, it depends on how much wild ducks are purchased in that year.One year, a salt store on Zuowei Street invited some foreign guests to eat wild duck stewed noodles in Fuchun. .The car chela white noodle soup, the soup is boiled with eel bones, so the juice below is whiter than snow, and the soup is thick and flavorful, plump but not greasy.Dadong Restaurant in Taixian County has hoof noodles in white soup with glutinous milk, mellow taste and rotten meat. Both are popular noodles in the Lixiahe area of ​​northern Jiangsu.However, for us outsiders, we always feel that the chela noodles are fresh and refreshing, and the hoof noodles are mellow and thick.

Apart from major cities in mainland China, there are some simple, simple, ancient, elegant teahouses and restaurants in small and small towns, such as Wuyuan in Suzhou and Fuchun in Yangzhou, all of which have unique styles and special artistic conceptions.