"Cloud. Travel" people in Huai'an (End Chapter) Goodbye, Huai'an

In two days, I will go back to Beijing to report on my work. I feel a little tangled because I left Huai'an this time and I don't know if I will come back.

My colleagues and friends in Huai'an knew that I was going back to Beijing, so they invited me to drink together as a farewell party. In fact, we drink wine all the time, every week, but now we have a ready-made reason, and there is no reason not to drink it.

I have been in Huai'an for nearly a year and have feelings for it. Except for Beijing, I have never lived in another city for such a long time in my adult life. If you think about it, when Huai'an was mentioned to me a year ago, I might not be able to figure out its location, and I might even confuse it with several cities in Anhui that have the word "Huai" in them. But now, I have basically... I walked through the towns and villages of this city. My feelings for this city are mixed with the footprints I left here.

When I first arrived in Huai'an, it was the middle of winter, and the cold weather in northern Jiangsu really gave me a disincentive. But the enthusiasm of people in Northern Jiangsu is best shown in winter. I thought that this place was close to the south of the Yangtze River, and the people would be more gentle and tactful. They would not have to socialize at the wine table like those in the Northeast or Inner Mongolia, but I didn't expect that this northern Jiangsu was born to be a wine town.

Huai'an is often said to be "three ditches and one river". If you are new here, someone will tell you such anecdotes at the wine table. At first I thought they were talking about some common sense about geography, but later I realized that my understanding was either correct or incorrect.

Even though it is a bunch of place names, the opportunity that brings them together is wine. The three ditches are Gaogou, Tanggou and Shuanggou, and the first river is Yanghe. Listen to these names, and you will be able to find their place among the eight or ten famous wines in the country. The Yanghe Daqu we are familiar with He Shuanggou Daqu is at ease among them, and the Jinshiyuanjiu often drunk in Huai'an comes from Gaogou Town in Lianshui, Huai'an.

In this way, how can life in Huai'an be separated from the fragrance of wine?

The emotional journey between me and Huaian began with the small white porcelain bowl, the white porcelain spoon, and the small white porcelain half-money cup.

When the banquet begins, the host first fills the small bowls fairly, and then everyone uses the spoon to pour the wine in the small bowls into small cups while chatting and laughing. Afterwards, the host led them to toast together and have a happy gathering, and then they caught and killed each other. The small white porcelain cup is exquisite and clear, filled with Yanghe, Shuanggou, or Jinshiyuan, which is crystal clear and flowing. When people pick it up, they seem to have irresistible pride.

Don’t be busy! Another rule on the Huai'an wine table is that good things come in pairs, so after toasting one cup and adding two bites of food, one must follow up with another cup to complete the toast. What follows is a sequence of drinking glasses, one after the other. You offer him two glasses of wine, and he drinks two glasses of wine in return. Only after drinking two glasses of wine in a circle can they fulfill their respective duties, and then come again.

People from Huai'an or Northern Jiangsu are so sophisticated that they can calculate how much they want to drink when the banquet begins. If they don't have the capacity for four or five bowls of wine, it's probably difficult to serve such a large table. Friendly.

Now that I think about it, my first impression of Huai'an people is that they can drink.

Fortunately, with these delicious and fragrant three ditches and one river, I can also find the simple and honest enthusiasm of the Huai'an people in the cold winter. That enthusiasm cannot help but leave home for a long time. people are moved.

In the morning, I called my work unit in Beijing, but no one answered. Just when I was about to blame these government-sponsored colleagues for being so irresponsible, someone told me that today was Saturday and that I was confused. I called the landlord again and made an appointment for the next day to check out.

In the afternoon, I felt a little dizzy, so I went back to my residence and slept for a while before going to the office. When Mr. Xu came back, it was already very late. We talked about some things in his office, but we had many differences and were not very happy.

After a while, Xiao Zhang came back, carrying a stack of tea steamed gift boxes half as tall as a man. Lao Xu said that they were a specialty of Chuzhou, and asked Xiao Zhang to make a detour to buy them for me. I was looking at the report data attentively and only verbally thanked him for his kindness. But I really don’t want to take too many frivolous things. After all, there are still large and small bags of luggage that I need to carry on the train.

Lao Xu was also thinking about things at work. He frowned as if there was a disaster at home. He was walking around restlessly in the room like a tiger on display in the zoo, which made me feel Annoying. But he was the leader, and he was wandering around in his own cage. I couldn't let him stop, so I had to stare at the data in the computer and let the screen fill my field of vision, as if the tiger was no longer there. Xiao Zhang, on the other hand, stood there awkwardly for a long time while holding the tall pile of tea dumplings, and then quietly asked, "Where to put them?"

The tiger with thick eyebrows and big eyes that kept strolling suddenly noticed the embarrassment of the tea steamer, stopped and said to me solemnly, "ei, it's for you." I had no choice but to be sincere and humble once again. Lao Xu didn’t know whether my return to Beijing this time would be meaningful or not, so he didn’t know that I would need to carry many large and small bags. This pile of tea dumplings half a person’s height, It's like a useless existence to me.

He opened a box and let me taste it. It was really flaky and crispy, and very delicious. When drinking tea in Huai'an, any place that's a little bit picky will serve you Xiaodie rice dumplings and make snacks.

In Huai'an's vegetable market, I often see stalls selling fried pork, which is a bit like the fried steak forks that Beijingers like, except that they fry thin noodles arranged like springs. Usually the hostess of the stall wraps the long and thin noodles between her four fingers. The man then uses long chopsticks to pick off the wrapped noodles, stretch them slightly, roll them into a shape, and put them in the hot oil pan. Inside, fry until golden brown and crispy.

Nowadays, this snack can be given as a gift, and the box is labeled "Chinese Famous Snack". Lao Xu felt that no matter whether the work talks were pleasant or not, this pile of tea dumplings shouldered his heart and made him have the responsibility to go to Beijing with me. Although he still had his thick eyebrows furrowed as if there was a disaster in the family, he told me seriously, "You have to accept this. This is the deep affection of the people of Huai'an. When people from Huai'an go to Beijing, they even bring rice dumplings to Mr. Zhou." *The manager gave me a gift."

In Huai'an, as long as you let a master who makes tea steamed buns know that you are from Beijing, he will tell you that when the leaders of the Huai'an County Party Committee went to Beijing for a meeting, they would bring Huai'an tea steamed buns to everyone in Huai'an. Born Prime Minister. He said it with such sincerity, as if the tea steamed buns given to the Prime Minister were made by their shop, and my family lives next door to the Prime Minister's house.

"But the Prime Minister is a noble man and did not accept the gift." I looked up and said to Lao Xu jokingly.

"So you know." Old Xu also laughed, and he finally looked like he was smiling.

"Okay, I will accept the deep affection of the people of Huai'an, but when I arrive in Beijing, I will send you two pieces of mail from the Central and South China Sea, so that you can also taste the deep affection of the people of Beijing. Hou Yiha."

I discussed with Lao Xu again that I would check out tomorrow and leave some things with him. He said that he would not rent a house again, but just get a room in the company. My mood was a bit complicated, I wanted to say goodbye but couldn't say it, like a deserter who had been defeated.

I longed to go home, but there were too many passionate feelings in Huai'an that I couldn't let go of. I was speechless about Lao Xu's concern for a while.

After that, everyone went to drink together again. Sitting in the drinking place, I could see outside the window, the night was low, the dim lights reflected the slowly flowing Grand Canal, and the busy Grand Canal. There are shadows of boats on the canal, and the sound of roaring motors is endless.

This is the most common sight this year, and now I have to say goodbye to this sight. Everyone often jokes at the wine table, drink quickly, drink quickly... If you don’t drink, I will throw you into the canal and let you swim back to Beijing. Now I have to say goodbye to such a group of people. When I was most lonely in Huai'an, I often looked at the north through the canal. Now I am going back to the north. Will I miss it?

In the evening, when I returned to my room, I wanted to continue packing my things, but I always felt that I should write something for this day, but I couldn’t figure it out, so I jotted these down and wrote to Leave it to Huai'an.

Goodbye, Huai'an.

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