Liaozi bloom Jiuquxiang

Every May, Polygonum hydropiper in Bashan always blooms inadvertently. This kind of Polygonum flower is very common in Bashan mountain area of southern Shaanxi. Its stem is not high, its leaves are not big, and its flowers are not bright. Polygonum multiflorum Thunb can always be seen on the hillside, by the river, at the head of the village and in the countryside.

At first glance, Polygonum hydropiper has the shape of a dog's tail grass, but when you look closely, it is completely different. Between the soft green branches and leaves, striking purplish red particles protrude to form spikes of flowers. Whenever we meet, we always feel that the world has added a lot of kindness and beauty.

Every time Guo Zi goes to blossom, my mother always says to my eldest brother and me, "Ping Wazi, Li Wazi. Get up early tomorrow, pick the Polygonum hydropiper and cut the thatch. " We know that mom is going to make wine songs. Soon, we will drink sweet rice wine!

However, as soon as I went up the mountain, my eldest brother and I had a quarrel about picking Polygonum flowers and cutting thatch. We are all scrambling to pick the flowers of Polygonum hydropiper, unwilling to cut those thatched and serrated leaves that make us wet, cut our hands and make our hair hot and painful. Therefore, every time we quarrel, we ignore each other. Finally, only the most average method was used: each person picked a basket of Polygonum cuspidatum and cut a bundle of thatch. We brought Polygonum cuspidatum home. Mother always smiles and praises our two brothers. Then we should quickly wash the Polygonum cuspidatum flowers together, spread them on bamboo rafts, dry them in a dry and ventilated place, and then remove the stems or stems of the Polygonum cuspidatum flowers. After that, put the rice wine (glutinous rice) prepared in advance into a wooden basin, mash it with Polygonum cuspidatum flowers, spread a white cloth on the bottom, and still spread it on the bamboo raft. Crush last year's yeast distiller's yeast, sprinkle it evenly in glutinous rice flour of Polygonum cuspidatum, and then stir it evenly. Then knead it into a ball the size of a walnut and put it on the washed and dried tender thatch to form a circle. I remember when my mother made distillers' yeast, she always made a lot. Use a flat wooden barrel, lay a layer of thatch and a layer of distiller's yeast. At the top, cover it with a piece of paper and hold it down with a piece of wood. After a pair of fermentation (24 hours), the thatch was uncovered, and a fine layer of white hair would grow on those spherical koji, and the koji was finished. The wine blends a strong thatch fragrance with a faint scent of Polygonum flowers, as well as an attractive rice fragrance. Every time koji is baked, we all think it is the most unique fragrance in the world.

After the koji is finished, sprinkle it in the bamboo raft to dry. When finished, put it on with fine hemp rope and hang it on the wooden beam like beads. There are often many strings, so one or two will look good. Holidays, the most used. However, in any case, my mother will keep some wine songs and be the mother and son of wine songs next year. Throughout the year, with the number of wine songs on the string, we can basically judge the festivals of that year.

With wine songs, rice wine will be brewed when needed. This kind of rice wine is difficult to grasp. First, rice is very particular. It is best to use glutinous rice (glutinous rice). I don't know where my mother got the energy. Every New Year or Dragon Boat Festival, she always trades something else for a few kilos of rice (glutinous rice). At this time, in good weather, soak the rice for three or four hours, then cook it and drain it, and steam it in a steamer on the stove with an open flame. When steaming, wrap the steamer with a towel or white cloth to prevent air leakage. When the hot air reaches the top, guess for a few more minutes. When the glutinous rice becomes soft, loose, sticky, soft and transparent, it can be taken out of the pot. Then spread out the glutinous rice and air it until it is warm. Mix the crushed distiller's yeast evenly, and finally put it in a jar or porcelain basin, then pour in water at a proper temperature and put it on the desk. If it is summer, rice wine will stay overnight. If it is winter, put a towel, clothes or quilt on it. It is best to put it in the charcoal pool of the underground stove. Brewing rice wine, the temperature is not enough, the time is too long, and the rice will even become moldy; Too high, rice wine will turn sour. As far as I can remember, my mother always grasped the temperature, and the rice wine brewed was always just right in sweetness. Every Dragon Boat Festival and Spring Festival, mother will brew rice wine. I remember that during the Lantern Festival, my mother would also wrap jiaozi with sesame seeds, orange peels and sugar carefully left at ordinary times. And every time we cook dumplings, we put rice wine on them and cook them with rice wine, which has become our best expectation and memory. My mother is very hospitable. On traditional festivals, when guests come, my mother always cooks a bowl of sweet wine for the guests, so that the guests can feel the joy and intimate homesickness of my family.

I lived in the countryside when I was a child. Around the school where my mother teaches, most of them are peasant families, and they are at a poor age. A few strings of distillers' yeast and rice wine on traditional festivals made mother famous far and near. Many farmers also want to learn to make wine songs. My mother always takes pains to introduce methods, but few people really learn how to do them. In fact, we know: where do they have enough food to make wine songs and sweet rice wine? On the contrary, some people cook rice wine during the Spring Festival, mostly asking their mothers for wine songs, and their mothers always give them whatever they want. It's just that when I make music next year, it will increase year by year. In this way, my eldest brother and I cut thatch and collect Polygonum flowers, which is also doubled year by year.

As far as I can remember, I was always short of clothes and food. Making sweet wine with rice and glutinous rice is almost the greatest luxury. Many times, my mother tried to make sweet rice wine with bean dregs, corn rice and wheat. Almost all the foods that can be tried have tried to make sweet rice wine. It's really a miracle. Every sweet rice wine tried by different grains has its own unique sweet wine flavor. However, the most common rice wine is bean dregs. Because on holidays, soybeans are also produced locally, and tofu is the most important and essential dish. After tofu is done, bean dregs can't be wasted. This kind of bean dregs often turns into a dish, so my mother makes sweet wine with bean dregs, which tastes good and is not wasted at all, making the food delicious to the greatest extent.

In the early 1980s, with the transfer of parents' work, we moved to the county seat. At first, my mother was also a wine yeast. Later, the dew wine song was sold in the street, so it was done less. However, my mother can't forget her neighbors in the countryside. On holidays, no matter how hard the economy is, or on weekends, she calls children from rural areas who come to the city to attend high school and junior high school together, have a meal and drink a bowl of sweet rice wine, so that the children can improve their lives. Decades have passed, and most of those children have become the pillars of Pingli. But every time we meet, we will mention the past when our mother invited them to eat and drink sweet rice wine, and we are always full of gratitude and admiration for our mother.

Mom is a teacher. Whether in rural areas or in county towns. She loves her work and dedication. In those difficult years, according to the regulations at that time, she never stayed in the central school of the district office in charge of her father, but took us to teach in schools in different communes and even small villages, and worked hard to raise our four brothers. And work conscientiously, meticulously teaching and educating people. I remember that when she was teaching in Chengguan Primary School, she often left the backward children who were poor in learning and could not learn after school. Consultation after consultation. We sometimes don't understand that every time we go home for dinner. Looking at these disappointing children, I am a little angry. But she never complained, willingly, just pulled many children to the average level of the class. Year after year, year after year, it is the same.

I remember the year when my mother died, the twelfth lunar month. Mom is going to cook rice wine for the Spring Festival again. Maybe there is a sign in heaven. Mother made rice wine three times in a row, but she didn't make it all three times. We never imagined that my mother suffered from an incurable disease because of her hard life on the podium every year, her hard life in the countryside for decades and her work dealing with chalk dust. From the first month of that year, I found that my mother survived the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and finally the winter moon.

Twenty-six years have passed, but every time I see Polygonum cuspidatum, I can't help thinking about my mother. Mother's smile seems to be hidden in the flowers of Polygonum multiflorum in the mountains and plains. I know that my mother is like a spicy pepper, mixing truth, goodness and beauty into the wine, like yeast, and all the children who have been educated and cultivated by her own hands, like the rice wine brewed, have the most authentic, pure, straightforward and kind beauty in the world, emitting unparalleled pure beauty, sunshine and natural fragrance of heaven and earth. (Chen) According to