Chapter 62 Sour Plum Soup To be honest, the villagers still felt pressured when Zhou Yimin proposed to open a school cafeteria. You know, the food has to be taken from the village canteen, which means that there is less food in the village canteen. Now, Zhou Yimin plans to get a batch of grain for the school, so the villagers don’t need to worry about it for the time being. This obviously relieves a lot of pressure, and they are of course happy to see it happen. The old branch secretary ordered two young men to carry the box to Zhou Yimin's home. Zhou Yimin also went back with him. Grandma was in the vegetable garden. She lifted up a corner of an upside-down box and saw that the bean sprouts were already as long as two or three fingers. She estimated that they could be eaten tomorrow. She smiled with satisfaction. When she learned that her grandson wanted to eat bean sprouts, she would open the shelf and take a look almost every day. While no one was paying attention, Zhou Yimin put the box of stamps into his store backpack.
He was thinking about what kind of food he should prepare for the school. First, potatoes, then some sorghum and corn! They are all coarse grains. It's not that Zhou Yimin is reluctant to give up rice, flour and other fine grains, but it's unnecessary. He believed that if he took out the fine grains, everyone might not be happy! After all, how much coarse grain can one pound of fine grain exchange for? "Don't drink raw water." Zhou Yimin said to the person who was drinking water with a ladle. I've told him two or three times, but he still won't listen. No matter what era it is, most diseases can be avoided by drinking boiled water and eating well-cooked food. The ancients said that diseases come from the mouth, which is absolutely true. "Brother, I'm very obedient. I always drink hot water." Lai Fang immediately showed himself in front of his brother. Laicai had no choice but to put down the water scoop and said in defense, "I forgot today. I drank hot water yesterday and the day before yesterday. My mother can testify to that." Zhou Yimin saw the worm spots on Lai Cai's face and felt that the boy had worms in his stomach. He thought about buying some pagoda candies tomorrow and letting all the children in the village get rid of the worms. As we all know, pagoda candy can be used to treat parasitic infections caused by poor dietary hygiene, especially ascariasis and pinworm disease. Pagoda candy has existed in China for several years. In 1952, China and the Soviet Union had friendly relations. The big brother presented us with 20 grams of precious Artemisia annua seeds and also provided advanced drug extraction equipment and technicians to support China's independent cultivation of Artemisia annua and extraction of drugs. Pagoda candy was born in that context. It is said that the pagoda shape is not without purpose. In the long history of my country, pagodas have always been regarded as a symbol of warding off evil spirits. Considering that its therapeutic effect is similar to that of pagodas, experts specially named this medicinal candy "pagoda candy". "Brother, what shall we eat?" "Make some sour plum soup and come over to make a fire." Zhou Yimin summoned the boy who was making the fire. The weather was extremely hot, which made Zhou Yimin lose his appetite, so he made some "drinks" to relieve the heat and help digestion. If it was just for him, there would be no need to go through all the trouble and just buy a bottle in the store in his mind. But he also wanted to make some for his grandparents.
The elderly are old and their digestion is not very good. So he thought of sour plum soup. Sour plum soup is a traditional summer drink. Its main ingredients include black plum, hawthorn, tangerine peel, osmanthus, licorice, rock sugar and other ingredients. The "Tugong Meijian" recorded in ancient books is one of the oldest sour plum soup. For example, the "salted plum water" mentioned in "Wulin Jiushi" of the Southern Song Dynasty is also a refreshing drink similar to sour plum soup. In the Qing Dynasty, it was improved by the imperial kitchen and became a royal drink. It is known as "the imperial black plum soup, a rare treasure of the Qing Palace", because of its effects of removing heat, cooling down, relieving heartache, removing phlegm and relieving cough, warding off epidemics, and promoting body fluid and quenching thirst. Later, it was introduced to the general public, and stalls selling sour plum soup could be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys and in front of dried and fresh fruit shops. Lai Cai was very happy because no one could take his "job" away from him, not even his brother Lai Fu. He would get angry with anyone who tried to make the fire. "Don't use such a high fire," Zhou Yimin reminded. He washed the dried fruits such as black plums, put them in the pot, threw in some rock sugar, and boiled them with water. The correct way to do it is to soak it for one or two hours. Zhou Yimin thought it was too troublesome and just boiled it directly, which did not affect the effect, and there were not so many particulars in those days. Zhou Yimin cooked half a pot. Seeing Lai Fang waiting anxiously beside him, Zhou Yimin gave her two dried plums and sent her away, “Go see your sister.” Laifang got the food and immediately jumped to look after Qianqian. During the day, the two siblings basically looked after her, and Aunt San also had to work. I could do it with my back to the work, but it’s too sunny outside now so I don’t dare to do that. She would come back from time to time to change Qianqian's diapers, feed her, etc. Laifang only ate one and kept the other one to take home and hide later. So far, she has hidden a lot of candies and other things given by her eldest brother. Only her mother noticed that this girl had the habit of hiding food, but she was not in a hurry to expose her. She waited until she hid more food and then took all of it away. Before long, the people who were building the house smelled the scent of sour plum soup. "Uncle Sixteen has made delicious food again." "It seems to be sour plum soup. I haven't had it for a long time." "It must be refreshing to drink a bowl in this weather." Zhou Zhiming glared at him: "Eat, eat, eat, all you do is eat. Hurry up and get back to work. Besides, drinking that stuff makes you hungry quickly. Do you think you're too full?" He is not wrong. Sour plum soup is supposed to help digestion, and nowadays everyone wants the food in their stomach to stay longer. After you drink this bowl of sour plum soup, you will immediately feel that you have wasted a day's meal. Everyone was silent. Although what you said makes sense, I still want to eat it. After about an hour, the sour plum soup is finally cooked. Let it cool down first. Zhou Yimin served a bowl to his grandmother: "Grandma, take a couple of sips and try it."
"Okay!" The old lady nodded with a smile. In fact, she also thought: After drinking this sour plum soup, it would be like skipping lunch. However, it was hard to refuse the kindness of her grandson. Lai Cai and Lai Fang also vied for a drink. They don't care about anything else. As long as there is food and drink, they want to put it into their stomachs. Children really like to drink it, it tastes sour and sweet. The flatterer came online again, leaving Zhou Yimin unable to complain. He filled a half basin with water and brought it out: "Brother Zhiming, I made some sour plum soup for everyone to drink to cool down." "Okay!" Zhou Zhiming responded. Then he said to the people he was working with, "If you want to drink, go and drink now." Anyway, he didn't want to drink, so he had to hold it in. Although he wanted to drink, he was afraid that his stomach was empty tonight and he wouldn't be able to bear it. Reason told him that he should not indulge in momentary pleasure. Others still couldn't resist the temptation of sour plum soup, so they just drank it first. Zhou Yimin's grandfather came back from a stroll and drank a bowl of wine. There was no shortage of food at home, so there was no need to hold back, so he could drink whenever he wanted. "Don't run around. I'll cut your hair later." Zhou Yimin called them over. The two brothers' hair had grown a little long. Thanks to brother Wanshiruyi1 for the 100 reward! (End of this chapter)