Chapter 767 763. Sweet, Really Sweet
A newspaper package, opened, revealed a bundle of folded broad-leaf chives.

It has been wrapped in paper for more than a day. Now when I open it, the folded chive leaves bounce back by themselves and can be spread out.

How bright.

When unfolded, it is more than half a meter long, with broad leaves, short stems, and round pointed tips. When opened, the smell of leeks fills your nose.

It is the winter chives that are a specialty of Tianhan.

Mr. Zhang hasn't seen this kind of leek for many years.

He stroked the chive leaves and praised them repeatedly, "Good, really good, they are grown very well, and they taste great."

"Isn't it?" Master Wang said proudly, "Today we will have steamed buns with leeks and eggs as the main dish, and we will also cook a pot of fragrant rice porridge using the fragrant rice from Xigou Village in Yang County."

As he said this, he put down another bun. "The finishing touch to the vegetarian filling of leek and egg is to add walnut kernels. These are walnuts grown in the Qinling Mountains. They are small and very fragrant. Peel the walnut kernels, grind them up, and fry them in soybean oil. They are even more fragrant."

"Pick the leeks and peel the walnuts. I'll go knead the dough."

Only Master Wang can say this, he is old enough.

It's just like visiting relatives from my hometown.

Mr. Zhang and Grandma Zhang happily followed the instructions, picked up the leeks and started picking them.

Luo Yihang and Secretary Cao were responsible for sandwiching the walnuts.

Continue chatting while working.

Let's talk about the mountains and waters of my hometown, the village with smoke rising from the chimneys, the small bridge made of stone slabs, and the homesickness in my memory...

After chatting for a while, I just felt a little sad.

After finishing kneading the noodles, Master Wang came out with a small pottery jar. "Look, I made the rice water with all the spicy vegetables. I have some noodles left. Mr. Zhang, I'll roll some noodles and make you a small bowl of rice water noodles. Can you eat it?"

Zhang Lao happily looked into the jar and took a deep breath, "This juice is good and clear."

Just looking at it makes me think.

"Okay, just have a small bowl per person. It won't take up too much space." Master Wang took the jiangshuicai back to the kitchen.

Luo Yihang took the opportunity to talk about Jiangshui again, "Master Wang's Jiangshui is really good. My family's Jiangshui is not good. My family is very weird. Every time we make it, it will be bad. Every summer, we have to rely on my uncle's family for help."

Mr. Zhang laughed out loud when he heard this. "To make rice water, you need to use a pottery jar and a primer. We use fermented glutinous rice water as a primer. The rice water we make is clear and a little sour. Add a few drops of chili oil and it's delicious. Very delicious."

Talking about the Jiangshui dish that every household in Tianhan makes, Mr. Zhang has a lot to talk about, and his hometown accent comes to mind.

Luo Yihang immediately gave him a thumbs up and said, "You are really an expert. I will try it when I get back and also use fermented glutinous rice water as an initiator."

At this moment, Master Wang came out again with a big bowl in his hand.

"What's delicious? There's something delicious." "I have rice water and some vegetable tofu. Mr. Zhang, do you want tofu in pieces or fresh tofu?"

This time he changed his strategy. He didn't ask whether he could eat it, but only asked which kind to eat.

Mr. Zhang really fell for it and replied, "A piece of tofu."

Master Wang said with a smile: "You still eat baby rice, the tofu is good and chewy."

Block tofu and live tofu are two versions of Tianhancai tofu. Block tofu is pressed, shaped, and relatively firm, which is liked by young people; live tofu is not pressed, is relatively broken, and soft, which is loved by the elderly.

The fact that Mr. Zhang eats tofu shows that he is still young.

As he spoke, Master Wang placed the big bowl in front of Mr. Zhang and took away the selected leeks. "Pick out some beans, the wrinkled little beans. They look ugly, but they taste delicious."

Master Wang assigned another job to Mr. Zhang.

Anyway, your hands can't be idle.

The process of making vegetable tofu starts with making soy milk.

The beans are not soaked yet, for fear that they will go bad if soaked in advance.

But it doesn’t matter, you have a soy milk maker with you, you can grind it directly, at most there will be more bean dregs, which is actually better, vegetable tofu needs to use bean dregs.

Mr. Zhang was picking beans happily and couldn't stop talking. He told you all the different kinds of vegetable tofu, including fine vegetable tofu, coarse vegetable tofu, sour tofu and sweet tofu.

Not long after, Master Wang came out again, this time with a basin of washed leaves and an empty basin.

Leave it to Luo Yihang.

He smiled and said to Mr. Zhang: "Since I have already made tofu, I will make some magical tofu. Add more minced garlic and vinegar, and add a few drops of sesame oil and a little chili oil. It will be smooth, fragrant and delicious."

Then he handed the thing in his hand to Luo Yihang and took away the peeled walnut kernels, "You have strong hands, you can squeeze the leaves of the fairy tree into soup."

The leaves are from a tree called the Fairy Tree, which is also called Tofu Chai. The juice of the leaves is added to alkaline water and solidified into a jelly-like substance called Fairy Tofu.

It is a specialty snack in Yangxian and Foping counties, and is loved by men, women, young and old.
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simply put.

Master Wang comes every now and then.

Add this, add that.

It’s all Tianhan, especially the local characteristics of Yang County.

Before I knew it, there were more than a dozen of them.

Mr. Zhang didn't pay much attention at first, but then he realized it.

When Master Wang came over with another basket of vegetables, he waved his hands repeatedly, "That's enough, that's enough, I can't eat any more."

How could he not eat it? The original purpose of this trip was to let Mr. Zhang taste the flavors of his hometown, so of course there had to be as many varieties as possible.

Master Wang waved his hand and pointed at Luo Yihang, the ready-made scapegoat.

"This kid has a big appetite, he can eat a lot."

Luo Yihang cooperated by curling up his arms and showing off his muscles. "I'm a farm kid, you have a big appetite. I can clean up all the dishes today. We'll eat up everything we brought today."

Old Zhang smiled and patted Luo Yihang's arm, "The boy is strong and can eat well. It's a blessing to be able to eat." This meant he agreed.

Master Wang then put the dish on the table. "Mr. Zhang, can you pick the peas? Let's stir-fry half of them and make soup with the other half. This is a good thing. It's also a new variety cultivated by this kid."

The last dish.

Master Wang also sat down, and everyone chose the food together.

And chat about the world.

"This pea has a very high yield. Last year, we had a big problem. The yield was too high. One acre produced several thousand kilograms. We couldn't sell them, so the price of grain was low and the farmers suffered."

Old Zhang's daughter, Grandma Zhang, actually knew about this and asked in surprise, "This pea-shaped bean was also raised by Xiao Luo? I heard the child say it was a cat... a cat..."

"Maomaotou is the company I founded. It's actually called Qingyin Agriculture. The trademark is a cat I raise. When it was spread out, it became Maomaotou." Luo Yihang introduced.

"Haha, yes, that's right, Maomaotou, this name sounds nice." Grandma Zhang is also a relative of the same generation, so she praises everything.

But Mr. Zhang didn't know, and asked hurriedly, "What happened next? Was it sold?"

"We sold it, we sold it," Secretary Cao replied. "Later, the whole country called for people to support farmers by eating their way out of the crops. People all over the country worked together to eat up all the extra production. The price stabilized at a suitable level, and the farmers did not lose money."

"That's good, that's good." Mr. Zhang felt relieved.

Luo Yihang picked up a pea head and said, "This thing is most suitable to be cultivated now. There is a nationwide transportation network and a fast and developed logistics system, which makes it possible to ship such tender leafy vegetables to the whole country. Otherwise, even if it is cultivated, it will rot in the fields because it cannot be transported out, and help farmers becomes harm to farmers."

Everyone nodded in unison.

Master Wang laughed and said, "So, it's just right that you make it now. There are so many tender vegetables in winter that we can't eat them all. The whole family, young and old, can eat leafy vegetables for every meal. The little kids' faces will be green from eating them. Hahahaha~~"

As he was talking, Master Wang suddenly became happy and laughed heartily.

Luo Yihang didn't quite understand.

Mr. Zhang understood it all too well. "Look at what we are talking about now. We can't even finish eating all the tender vegetables in winter. Alas, 20 to 30 years ago, there were no vegetables in winter. It was so difficult to eat some green vegetables. A few decades ago, there was no full meal. If we could have some porridge to drink, it was considered the New Year..."

After saying that, he also laughed happily.
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Let’s talk and chat.

I have some work to do.

Let's work together to prepare the dishes.

Luo Yihang helps Master Wang.

Chef Wang used all his skills to prepare a large table of dishes.

They all taste like home.

Mr. Zhang tasted them one by one and was filled with emotion.

I haven’t experienced the homesickness for decades.

The meal lasted until three in the afternoon.

There was a large table of food, which was cleaned up thoroughly, and most of it went into Luo Yihang's stomach.

Mr. Zhang was particularly happy today and had a good appetite. He drank a bowl of porridge, ate four steamed buns, a small bowl of noodles, a big piece of fish, and quite a few vegetables.

But the old man is old after all.

After a tiring day, I need to rest.

After dinner, Luo Yihang cleared the dishes and washed them.

The three of them said goodbye and left.

Just like Luo Yihang said before, eat everything you bring.

On the surface, I only left half a jar of jiangshuicai for the old man, which had already been opened.

Take away all the other boxes and miscellaneous items.

Now I know your address. He is really going to send you some local specialties. Luo Yihang will mail them monthly. I can't refuse them when they are delivered.

After Luo Yihang and his group left.

Grandma Zhang was cleaning the house when she found a bag behind the door.

"Dad, look..." Grandma Zhang took the bag to the living room.

No need to ask, it must have been Luo Yihang and the others who left it secretly.

Mr. Zhang’s first reaction was to ask Grandma Zhang to chase after him, but then he thought it had been a while and he must have gone far away.

"Oh, let's take a look first."

Only then did Grandma Zhang open the bag.

He took out a letter from inside, and the content of the letter was just an introduction to these gifts.

"The foot bath medicine bag contains angelica and ginger that Xiao Luo grew himself. The doctor of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department of the city hospital prescribed the recipe. The other herbs are also from my hometown. It is said that soaking in the water before going to bed will make you sleep more comfortably."

"There are also millet, corn residue, and peppercorns..."

"And this, Tang? It has a cat head painted on it, which is Xiao Luo's own. The cat is wearing a space suit..."

At this point, Grandma Zhang paused, and suddenly raised her voice a little, and said in surprise, "Dad, the candy from our hometown has gone into space. The astronauts took it to the space station. It is Xiao Luo's candy."

Hearing this, Mr. Zhang sat up straight and said, "Bring it here for me to see."

Grandma Zhang immediately took out a box of candies, opened it, and handed it to Mr. Zhang.

Mr. Zhang took it, turned it over and over, looked at it carefully, poured out one and put it in his mouth.

His eyes narrowed slightly, "Sweet, so sweet..."

(End of this chapter)