Meng Yan's Transformation

On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, Yunqing got up early and borrowed a small stone mill and tofu trough from Aunt Zhang's house. She began to grind the soybeans that had been soaked last night in preparation for making tofu.

Zhan Ziqiang was in charge of grinding the soy milk. Yunqing put soybeans and water into the stone mill and ground it for several hours. The soy milk was filtered with a cloth to remove the tofu residue, and then poured into a pot and simmered over a slow fire until a thin layer of soybean oil skin formed on the surface. Yunqing picked out the soybean oil skin and hung it up to dry, preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner. After the soy milk cooled, Yunqing began to mix brine with water and poured it into the soy milk. This is called adding brine. This is a technical job and the key to making tofu fresh, tender, smooth and delicious. Yunqing is an expert in making tofu adding brine in the village and is often invited to help others make tofu adding brine.

Yunqing slowly poured the brine into the boiled and cooled soybean milk to mix the brine and soybean milk evenly. After about 30 minutes, the tofu was almost solidified. The solidified tofu was put into the tofu trough while it was still hot. Ziqiang brought a large stone and washed it and pressed it on top. When the tofu was formed, Ziqiang took the stone off the tofu trough. Yunqing broke the tofu into small cubes and first gave a few pieces of fresh tofu to the neighbors and Aunt Zhang's family.

The fresh and tender tofu is placed in rows on a curtain made of sorghum stalks and placed outside to freeze. When the tofu is frozen as hard as ice, it is picked up and put into the bag.

At lunch, Yunqing cooked millet rice for the children, stewed tofu dregs, and added some chopped garlic sprouts before serving. It was white and green, beautiful and delicious. The children ate it with great relish, and their stomachs were full...

Zhan Yu's family and the people in the village usually don't have access to tofu. On the 25th, most families prepare tofu and store it, making it into frozen tofu, dried tofu, tofu shreds, tofu balls, etc. for consumption during the first month of the lunar year. At the same time, the "腐" in tofu is homophonic with "富" and "福". Tofu actually means "都福" and "都富". Grinding tofu on the 25th means a prosperous New Year and a prosperous life in the coming year.

According to legend, tofu was invented by Liu An, the King of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty. Xie Chuo of the Fifth Century recorded in "Song Shiyi Lu" that "the art of making tofu was unknown before and after the Three Dynasties, and it was not until the Han Dynasty that the King of Huainan invented the art." This is the earliest record of the inventor of tofu. Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in his poem "Tofu": "When I planted beans, the seedlings were sparse, my strength was exhausted and my heart was rotten. If I had known the Huainan art earlier, I would have been able to sit back and enjoy the spring cloth."

The custom of eating tofu dregs before New Year's Eve is due to the local legend that after the Kitchen God reports to heaven, the Jade Emperor will personally come down to the mortal world on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month to investigate and see whether each household is as reported by the Kitchen God. If the Jade Emperor finds that humans are not kind and thrifty, he will bring disaster to the new year. However, not all people are kind, and there are always people who do evil. So, on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, people eat tofu dregs and act like they are suffering in life to win the sympathy of the Jade Emperor. Seeing this, the Jade Emperor thought that humans were so pitiful, so he stopped punishing them. So the world escaped the disaster. So on this day, every family has to make tofu, eat tofu, and eat tofu dregs. Offering sacrifices to pray for blessings is called "receiving the Jade Emperor." Be careful in your daily life and words, strive to perform well, to please the Jade Emperor, and pray for blessings in the coming year.

In the afternoon, the villagers came to Zhan Yu's house with red paper and asked Yunqing to help them cut window flowers.

Yunqing's paper-cuts are well-known in the surrounding area. In Yunqing's imperfect hands, the paper is as soft as a rattan stick, and she cuts various shapes accurately. The scissors are like a paintbrush in her hands, flexible and free, interpreting various shapes like magic, amazingly showing the aesthetic charm of paper-cutting... The carp jumping over the dragon gate she cuts is vivid and lifelike; the little rabbit she cuts is vivid, naughty and cute; the phoenix she cuts has feathers like silk and spreads its wings to fly; the flying dragon she cuts has a strong body, as if it is galloping in the clouds and waves, ready to come out...

Mengyan and the children in the village watched Yunqing cutting paper-cuts with bated breath and wide eyes, afraid that they would miss the birth of a beautiful picture if they blinked!

After cutting the paper-cuts, the villagers took their favorite paper-cuts home to paste on the paper-cuts. Yunqing also led the children to paste on the paper-cuts...

The windows decorated with window grilles look brand new!