Chapter 14 Section 14 Cut Melon

I watched the movie "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" when I was young. I like to learn how the bad guy eats watermelon. He punches the watermelon while holding it, breaks it open and eats it in big mouthfuls. It tastes like a cool word.In summer, people yearn for watermelon. The sweet melon juice really quenches thirst and promotes body fluids. Eating a piece of melon can relieve the heat of the day.It is a joy to fight against the heat with watermelon and mung bean soup.I remember that there were three kinds of watermelons when I was a child. One is the most common watermelon, with light green and dark green ripples on the body. Red cotton is sweet, light red is sour and sweet, and this thing has not changed until now; one is dark green melon skin, mostly dark red sandy flesh, this melon is very sweet, but the skin is very thick, cut it when you were young Cut it in half, dig it out with a spoon, wear the melon rind on your head as a helmet, engrave a five-pointed star or the word "August 1" on the front with a pencil sharpener, stick to a branch as a submachine gun; one is cylindrical and light green, A bit like wax gourd, this is watermelon with yellow sand flesh, sweet and full of sugar, the sand flesh can melt like snowflakes when it touches the mouth.Cylindrical watermelons with yellow sand flesh are very large in size. If the family has a small population, a square opening is made on the melon, and the flesh is scooped out with a rice spoon and eaten in a bowl. After digging, cover it with the original seal.The watermelon in Beijing Daxing feels like it is between cottony and sandy.

Now I like to cut the melon in half and eat it with a spoon. When the weather is hot, I shaved the flesh of the melon and bought a few popsicles to put in it. It tastes icy and sweet.It is not so easy to cut into pieces and eat. You have to finish eating a piece of melon.I went to Xiashitan Village, Qizhou Town, the hometown of literary critic Hu Feng, to eat watermelon. There is another way to eat watermelon calmly, which is to cut the watermelon into round slices, like a big cake, and break the watermelon into small pieces in your hand. While eating, people would sit on stone door plinths and bamboo chairs, chatting about the past while eating. The sun was setting to the west, cocks were crowing and dogs were barking, and cicadas were singing on the willow branches.These are not as surprising as the first time I ate watermelon in Beijing. The host cut the watermelon into small triangles and picked it with a toothpick to eat!I went back to Hubei and told people about this as news, hehe, they picked watermelons with toothpicks to eat!

Watermelons originated in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa, and first spread from Africa to South Asia. More than 2000 BC, watermelons have been widely planted in Egypt and Libya.In the 4th century BC, Alexander spread it to India during his expedition, and it was introduced to China around the 10th century, and it was introduced from the west, called watermelon.However, in ancient China, melons could not be cut casually. According to the "Book of Rites · Qu Li", there are strict grades for cutting melons. When cutting melons for the emperor, first cut four petals, then cut them into eight pieces horizontally, and cover them with fine kudzu cloth. To cut a melon for the master, first divide it into two pieces, then divide it into four pieces, and cover it with a thick Gebu; pedicle.When ordinary people eat melons, they just go to the stalks of the melons, don't cut them, and eat them with gnaws.I figured knives were probably expensive back then.