Fried qianzi is a famous traditional snack of the Han nationality in Hebei Province. Chop the pork filling into a paste, add scallion and ginger, stir well with water, and then add refined salt, monosodium glutamate, five-spice powder, soy sauce, and Shaoxing wine for seasoning. This is the qianzi filling. Crack an egg into a bowl, add refined salt and water starch and stir well, then put it into a frying pan to spread out a thin "egg skin"; add another egg to the flour and mix into a paste for later use. Put the qianzi filling in the round egg skin, roll it into a salted egg roll, seal it with batter, and fry it in 50% hot oil until it is golden yellow. Remove it from the oil, cut it into "horse hoof sections", put it on a plate, sprinkle with pepper salt and serve.
My hometown is Qinhuangdao. Fried qianzi is an indispensable dish for the New Year's Eve dinner. Now, our family of five is sitting around the table. My son raised his glass and said, "I wish my great grandfather good fortune and longevity, and I wish my grandma and grandpa good health and smile all the time!" The five glasses clinked together, and everyone's smile was about to overflow. I said softly in my heart, Xiaojie, I am very happy now, are you well over there? Xiaojie is my boyfriend, and he may be the only boyfriend in my life.
The winter in Qinhuangdao is dry and cold, and the cold is pure. After the final exams of my freshman year, students went home one after another, and the campus seemed deserted. Xiaojie and I walked on the road on the campus. The big trees on both sides of the road were only branches left. The withered grass was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves, both red and yellow. They immediately broke into pieces when stepped on, and the sound sounded like people chewing potato chips. Wherever we went, a group of sparrows would be startled and fly into the blue sky. The school was built on the mountain, and the road was undulating. It was a bit strenuous to walk for a long time. The mountain wind blew through my long hair and blew my ears red. I put my hands on my face and shouted to him, "I'm freezing to death." He turned around to block the biting cold wind and put my hands in the pocket of his down jacket. Then he hugged me tightly, Xiaodan, will you be my girlfriend? I was a little breathless and said "OK" with a stuffy nose. "Then I can only bully you from now on!" He kissed my forehead gently. I should have closed my eyes and enjoyed this moment, but for some reason I opened them wide and saw dust flying in the light and shadow created by the sunlight penetrating the teaching building.
University life was warm and sweet. In his senior year, he was admitted to a graduate school in a university in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and I decided to go south to his city to work. After confessing our relationship to his family, his parents allowed him to go home for the New Year. On the 30th, we bought two bottles of wine, two fresh fish, and a basket of Yang intestines. When we knocked on the door, my mother was stunned for a moment, but still warmly invited us in. I noticed a flash of dissatisfaction in her eyes. Before the New Year's Eve dinner was served, my father and mother talked about something on the balcony.
The New Year's Eve dinner was rich, but the atmosphere was a little cold. I raised my glass and suggested that everyone toast Grandpa, wishing him good health and longevity. What should I do if I eat dead pork ? Grandpa hummed dully, drank the cup of white wine in front of him, and ate the plate of fried qianzi in front of him without saying a word. After grandma left, Grandpa became taciturn. Toasting did not break the coldness, so I picked up the plate of fried qianzi and served it to everyone attentively. "I fried the qianzi, everyone, try my craftsmanship." However, I took a bite and spit it out. The meat filling was too salty to eat. "Mom, who put the salt?" "I did, but it shouldn't be so salty." My father said that the meat filling had been salted this morning. "This is salted twice, why didn't you tell me?" My mother's voice was a degree higher. "You didn't ask me then." "It's just a waste of things. I've had enough of living with you!" A fierce war broke out between the two of them. Mother poured wine on father, father overturned the table, and grandfather sat there in a daze, wondering what to do with the dead pork , with his chopsticks holding a piece of fried qianzi. The overturned fried qianzi rolled onto my slippers and rolled down helplessly.
That night, Xiaojie said that there was an emergency at home and took the train home overnight. I knew that this was just an excuse. While cleaning the mess, I saw the gorgeous fireworks outside the window, and sighed that beauty and happiness are always fleeting. The sound of firecrackers downstairs made my eardrums hurt, and I covered my ears. Some things, once they happen, cannot be undone, just like this mess, even if it is cleaned up, everyone's memory cannot be erased. Later, my family arranged for me to work in a private enterprise in Qin City. I kept in touch with him through mobile phones, but the contact seemed to be getting less and less, until one day, he sent a message, let's break up.
I was so angry and in such pain that I couldn't help myself. I wanted to find him and ask him for the truth. My mother pushed me out of the house and told me that if I went to find him, I would never come back. I stood at the door and counted to ten, but she still didn't open the door. I rushed into the cold wind without looking back. I would jump even if there was a cliff in front of me. After running away, I found that I was only wearing a sweater and trousers, and cotton slippers on my feet. I didn't even take my phone or wallet. It was getting dark, and it started to snow sporadically. The continuous running made me forget the cold around me. I tried my best to avoid pedestrians on the road, fearing that they would talk about my dress. I didn't know how long I ran. A thick layer of snow accumulated in front of my cotton slippers. I saw a large truck about to leave the gas station. The license plate was Zhejiang XXXXX. I rushed to the front of the truck and asked the driver to take me to Zhejiang. I would do everything I could to give the money to him.
The driver was very enthusiastic and asked me to get on the bus. After I got on the bus, I found that there was a young driver who was sleeping. The young driver was woken up by me, and the three of us had a happy chat along the way. We passed a service area ahead, and the two drivers got off the bus to buy food. Dinner was bread, ham and freshly boiled corn. I ate it up in big mouthfuls. After eating, I felt dizzy. The old and the young took turns to do what beasts should do.
I was sold to a village in southern Anhui to be the wife of a bachelor who had sequelae of polio and walked with a limp. My parents-in-law were old and my mother-in-law was blind in one eye. I tried to escape several times, but there were many spies in the village and I was caught every time and beaten severely. My body was always covered with bruises. To escape, I had to gain their trust first, and the best way to gain trust was to have a child. For three years, my stomach didn't move at all, so I could only work hard to reduce the number of beatings.
The winters here are very cold and damp. My cough never gets better. I have several chilblains on my hands, which ooze yellow pus. I miss my father, mother, grandfather, and my hometown. Later, I killed my husband's family because they cut my hair, which was waist-length and waterfall-like. Near the end of the year, my husband got drunk and started to curse again: "I married you to carry on the family line, but who would have thought that after a few years, I would not even have a single egg." He grabbed my braid and pulled it hard, dragging me to the ground. "Be honest, be careful not to cut your flesh." The scissors were against my neck, and the coldness of the metal made me shiver. I could hear the sound of hair fibers breaking. "This braid can be sold for two bottles of good wine." He swung the braid in his hand and went out. I curled up on the ground and cried like a child. I used to treasure this long hair the most, and he also liked to touch my long hair. I remember which part, which strand, which strand was touched by his hand. This scissors cut off the last memory he left on me, and also cut off the last feelings I had for this family.
Among the bottles stacked against the wall, there was a brown glass bottle with a skull painted on it. I walked to the cold stove and poured all the remaining liquid in the bottle into the soy sauce bottle. This should be enough for them to drink a pot. Tomorrow is the 30th. In the evening, I made fried Qianzi. My husband and his family love it. Even though it is a snack in the north, people have a common feeling about food. The fresh pork from the farm was chopped into small pieces. I poured a lot of soy sauce, added onion, ginger, garlic and five-spice powder, and beat the soaked pepper and star anise water into the meat several times. I stirred the meat filling vigorously until it became sticky and chewy. The egg skin wrapped the meat filling and rolled it into long strips and fried it in oil. The fried Qianzi was golden and crispy, with a fragrant aroma, which was very tempting. There was still one dish left, but my husband and in-laws ate up the whole plate of fried Qianzi. They ate it with a sizzling sound and didn't leave any for me, but I'm used to it.
My husband's family groaned and twitched in pain on the ground, and finally kicked their legs and lay motionless. I retched for a while, and the white foam in their mouths made me sick. Everything was quiet. Thinking back to my experience, I suddenly felt ridiculous. I laughed and cried. I thought that I hadn't burned paper for my deceased relatives for three years (Qinhuangdao has a custom of burning paper on the morning of the 30th of the lunar year). I hope my grandparents and grandmother won't blame me. I searched the house for a long time and only found a few newspapers. I used scissors to cut holes for money in the newspapers and rolled them into four paper bags.
The next morning, the sky was still dark. I came to the crossroads at the entrance of the village, lined up four piles of paper money, knelt behind the first pile of paper money, drew a circle with my fingers, drew a cross in the circle according to the direction of the road, lit the paper money and said, "Grandma, please take the money! There is plenty of money here, please take the money during the New Year!" I burned the other two piles of paper money for my grandparents in the same way. The last pile I wanted to burn for Xiaojie. It is very unlucky to burn paper money for a living person. If I hadn't met him, I wouldn't have fallen to this point. I hate him. But I also love him. Without love, there is no hate. Only when you love to the point of heartbreak can you hate to the bone.
Burning paper flickered with orange-red flames, the smell of paper mixed with the aroma of ink, my eyes were a little smoked and I could not open them. I saw that familiar figure again. His face showed no trace of time, just like the boy who warmed my hands in the cold wind. "Xiao Jie?" "Xiao Dan, I've been looking for you." "Xiao Jie, I want to go home." "Come with me." He grabbed me and ran forward quickly, his palms were not warm at all. I asked breathlessly where we were going, and Xiao Jie said to find the nearest bus stop. "Xiao Dan, we have limited time, you must catch the earliest bus, and go to the police station when you get to the terminal, and then stuffed a ball of things into my hand." The wind whistled past my ears, and it was just dawn. We ran to a remote road, and there was a bus stop not far away. "Xiao Dan, I have to go. No one can bully you except me." He kissed my forehead, and the kiss was cold, like a snowflake falling on my head. Xiao Jie left in a hurry and disappeared in a moment. I found myself holding a one-yuan coin in my hand that I could squeeze out water from. Today, the wanderers far away from home are going home to celebrate the New Year.
After being rescued by the police, I found out that I was three months pregnant. My husband's family was saved because they found him in time. My family compensated them and never contacted them again. I learned from others that Xiaojie had died shortly after he started his graduate studies. After that, I never married again.