Chapter 12: The Aftermath of War (11)

Early in the morning, Princess Jiang Huaxiu woke up, sat up on the bed, and a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl walked in: "Miss woke up, do you wash now or later?" Jiang Huaxiu paused for a moment, this is really treating herself as a princess! Last night, I slept really well, or I was tired, or I was no longer in the hostel, so that I found the feeling of home, it seems that it was the furnishings in the embroidery building that made me sleep peacefully, especially the column of requiem incense by the wall, which was exactly the same as my hometown in Ningbo, and the owner here had a heart.

"Let's wash up now!" As soon as Jiang Huaxiu's words fell, a few big girls and little daughters-in-law walked into the door, taking alkali and taking alkali, and basin and basin, so it was not lively, and Jiang Huaxiu was stunned.

Squeezed the toothbrush of toothpaste, someone handed over the water cup, and then someone handed the empty basin in front of Jiang Huaxiu, this formation was to complete the rhythm of washing on the bed. Jiang Huaxiu hurriedly wanted to lift the quilt and get up, but someone had already handed over the cotton robe to the side and served her to stand up. Jiang Huaxiu was a little uneasy, for her own sake, she embarrassed the master's family.

Finally escaped in the hands of a group of girls and daughters-in-law, Jiang Huaxiu was able to walk out of the embroidery building, breathe a breath of cool air, and did a few morning exercises. Seeing Jiang Huaxiu waving her hands and legs, her mother-in-law was already asking for instructions on the side: "Is Miss going to have breakfast, or is she going to eat after practicing kung fu here." ”

Kung fu, Jiang Huaxiu almost squirted out, this can still be called a successful husband, then a walk will become a race! Hurriedly said, "If it's ready, eat it now!" ”

The mother-in-law walked sideways in front to lead the way, and took Jiang Huaxiu down the embroidery building. I didn't pay attention to it when it was dark last night, but today I looked, this small garden is really good, although there is no Suzhou garden's elegance, but there is also a literati elegance, a small pond dug by hand, with bamboo to attract a stream of water, flowing in the water, rippling layers of ripples, underwater, there are a few small red carp, although the autumn water is cold, but also swim happily. At the edge of the pond is a pavilion, with windows on all sides, but embedded with transparent glass, chestnut tones, which are lacquered raw. A corridor, zigzag and graceful, leads to the Moon Gate to the south. There are some bamboo trees scattered in the yard, perhaps because the current homeowners don't know how to take care of them, and some of them are not prioritized.

Walked through the moon gate and walked to a clean room in the backyard, a table of eight immortals was empty, and the mother-in-law asked Jiang Huaxiu to sit for a while, and then brought breakfast up.

The first thing that comes up is a cup of authentic local orchid tea, Yuexi is located in the mountainous area, rich in high mountain tea, this tea is made of one bud and two leaves with uniform bud head, Seiko roasting. The tea buds resemble the first bloom of an orchid, the color is bright green, and the finesse is revealed. Drinking and tasting is mellow and refreshing, tender and long-lasting, refreshing, and is a local characteristic. It has become a custom for men to drink sealed wine and for women to drink blue tea. The tea was served by a middle-aged woman, different from the previous mother-in-law, this woman was wearing fashion, a Western-style suit, a simple bun, and a light powder on her face. Jiang Huaxiu didn't pay much attention to this woman at first, and only raised her head and stood up after hearing the little girl on the side call "madam". In this courtyard, the one who can be called a lady must be the mistress of the courtyard.

"Miss Jiang, please take a seat." The lady smiled and said: "My name is Xu Liyun, I am the wife of Li Pinhe, director of the party department of Yuexi County, I am from Rong County, Guangxi, and I don't speak Chinese very well, which makes Miss Jiang smile." ”

"Madame, please be seated." Jiang Huaxiu hurriedly sat down.

"Miss Jiang can come to our mountainous area of Yuexi, which really makes us amazed, if there is anything inconsiderate, please also ask Miss Jiang to bear with me for the sake of the difficulties of the Anti-Japanese War." Xu Liyun's Chinese is not as unbearable as she herself said, as a Cantonese-speaking person, it is already rare to be able to express the meaning very fluently in Chinese. Some high-ranking officers of the Gui and Cantonese departments, all of whom could only speak Cantonese and could not speak Chinese, including Sun Yat-sen, said: "Gentlemen, we are all Chinese!" After the National Government established the capital of Nanjing, it also made every effort to promote the Chinese language, based on the northern dialects, inclusive of the common accent of the Yangtze River and Yellow River Valley, and tried to create a language system that can be easily communicated. Compared with the official dialect of Guangxi, the Chinese language is not the same thing at all, and the Chinese language of the Mrs. Xu in front of her does not contain too much Guangxi official dialect, but is closer to the Chinese language, and even speaking with the enemies, it is very different. Jiang Huaxiu's first reaction was that this Mrs. Xu should be well educated, otherwise she has a very high talent in language.

After Mrs. Xu sat down, the girls began to serve large and small plates of food, and after a while, the table was full.

"There are so many things, the two of us can't eat them all." Seeing the dazzling array of food on the table, Jiang Huaxiu smiled.

"We didn't know Miss Jiang's taste, so we ate some of them in a mess, and if we liked to eat, we ate a little, and if we didn't like it, we sent it to the front yard. There was a large group of diners, and there was not much enough for them to consume. Mrs. Xu said as she began to introduce the food in front of her.

The first thing that was placed in front of Jiang Huaxiu was a small bowl of something similar to soup, Jiang Huaxiu knew that the bowl containing the soup was a good blue and white small bowl, but the contents of the bowl were in a fog.

"This is Yuexi's famous five-grain soybean cake." Mrs. Xu said: "Sou Shen Ji" once recorded that there was a filial son named Dong Yong in Tianzhu Mountain, who was filial piety, and filial piety moved the heavens, causing fairies to go down to earth to match, and the story took place in the Tianxian River not far from the heavens. Five-grain soybean cake is a clever fairy with five grains as raw materials, with pure and sweet Tianxian River water, hand-made and carefully made. The raw material is natural cereals, the taste is delicious, the eating method is simple, and it is the traditional food and delicacy of the people on the bank of the Tianxian River. Miss Jiang might as well give it a try. ”

The beautiful legend aroused Jiang Huaxiu's appetite, gently scooped a spoonful, sent it into his mouth, and took a sip of it, it was really delicious, overflowing with a trace of fragrance in the light, melted in the mouth, not greasy or oily, it was the top grade in the morning.

"It's glutinous rice balls." Mrs. Xu gave Jiang Huaxiu an oval-shaped ball-shaped cloth and said, "This is a must-have dish for Yuexi people before the New Year's Festival. It means reunion and happiness. ”

Jiang Huaxiu nodded and took a bite, it was fragrant on the outside and fresh on the inside, it was not the lion's head in Jiangdong at all.

"Try this one again." Mrs. Xu took another plate and introduced: "This is Pingpo powder, but it is not a characteristic of Yuexi, it is a kind of stone grinding powder in Pingpo, Rongxian County, Guangxi, my hometown, which is ground with a stone mill, steamed in a tray, rolled into strips, cut into sections, and then served with juice, it is like this, I don't know if Miss Jiang will like it." ”

Jiang Huaxiu ate a product, which was delicate and smooth, but it was not just a powder flavor, there was a strong meat aroma, and asked, "The taste of this powder is gravy, right?" ”

"Miss Jiang is really everyone, you can understand it as soon as you eat." Mrs. Xu slapped a sycophant and said: "I like to eat this thing, after arriving in Yuexi, I asked the local stonemason to make an ancient mill, specializing in grinding rice milk, at first, only I can make it myself, and later, the kitchen people also learned, I will no longer do it." This sauce is a pig's knuckle juice, a pig's knuckle with spiced star anise, simmered for a day and a night, so that the meat is completely rotten in the soup. Pick out the bones and pour the soup over the flat slope noodles, this is the taste. ”

"Madame, what a gourmet man!" Jiang Huaxiu couldn't help but praise.

"I can't afford that." Mrs. Xu was a little proud, and said: "It is our duty to wait for women to teach their husbands and children at home, and to let our husbands eat well." As for things like running a city and fighting on the battlefield, let them do it as men. ”

Jiang Huaxiu shook her head and said that she didn't dare to agree, but she couldn't say anything deeply, so she could only express her pity to the lady in front of her. In her opinion, when the national crisis is at hand, people regardless of men and women should serve the country, do things for the people, and have the ability to stay in the boudoir, which seems to be inconsistent with the current general trend. Whether the Grand Prince of Chiang is in southern Jiangxi or President Chiang is in Chongqing, they are both promoting the New Life Movement and promoting the artistic, productive and militarized life of the whole people. Mrs. Chiang Mei Ling, who has spared no effort to promote the "New Life Movement", admits that "most women in China not only do not have the opportunity to receive education, but most of them still live the old life of hundreds of years ago." But he tried very hard to appeal to the women of the country: "Women with higher knowledge should instruct their neighbors on how to discipline their children, how to handle household chores, and teach the women around them to read and write." For Xu Liyun's lifestyle, she can only sigh in her heart.

"Madame must have read!" I couldn't help it, Jiang Huaxiu asked.

"I can be regarded as having read it, I studied at Wuzhou Girls' School for six or seven years, and then my family urged me to get married, so I dropped out of school and went home to get married. Since then, I no longer dare to say that I have read books. Xu Liyun said with a smile: "My current level of Chinese language is just to be able to read family letters." In the past two years, the child has gradually grown up, and I have some time, occasionally reading books and newspapers, reading Mr. Zhang Hatshui's novels, and following Mr. Zhang Hatshui to have fourteen dreams. ”

"To be able to accept ten four dreams, that's already remarkable! Mr. Zhang Hatshui wanted to finish his eighty-one dreams, but the situation was difficult, and he could only wake up after fourteen dreams. I remember that Mr. Zhang was a native of Anqing, and his works should be very popular here. When Jiang Huaxiu said this, the words changed: "Madame, don't you think about going out of the backyard, going out into society, and doing something for the benefit of the country and the people?" ”

"What can I do?" Xu Liyun shook her head, and it could be seen that she was actually very hopeful when she said so.

"Do you know about the Women's Salvation Society?" Jiang Huaxiu asked.

Xu Liyun shook her head.

Jiang Huaxiu put down the chopsticks in his hand, picked up a handkerchief and printed it on his mouth, and said very seriously: "In the twenty-fourth year of the Republic of China, North China was autonomous, and the anti-Japanese sentiment in the whole country was high, and Shen Zijiu, Shi Liang, Wang Xiaoying, Hu Ziying, Du Junhui, Chen Boer and others initiated the organization of the Shanghai Women's Salvation Association, and then expanded to the whole country. If my wife is interested, she can establish the Yuexi Women's Anti-Japanese Salvation Association in Yuexi County, and I can submit a report on the establishment of the Yuexi Women's Circle. ”

Xu Liyun looked at Princess Jiang very seriously, a little bit not believing that she could do such a big thing.

Jiang Huaxiu stood up and said, "Didn't Madam say that there is still a group of diners in the outer hall, we might as well go out and listen to their opinions." ”

didn't wait for Xu Liyun to agree, pulled Xu Liyun up and walked out.