happy looking back

It's so spicy, but it's not as good as Li Xiqing's wine tasting.

"Haha, that's because you don't know enough about wine." Grandpa Zhang stroked his snow-white beard and looked at Li Xiqing sitting beside him with a smile.He has always been the one to CT others, but today he was given a perspective by Grandpa Zhang, and Li Xiqing's body was a little unnaturally tense.

"I've been drinking this first brew for 13 years, and I still don't know enough?" As long as a drop of water is mixed into the wine, my father is confident to distinguish it, so my father is a little bit unconvinced.

"You've only drank the first shochu, but have you ever drank wine?" Grandpa Zhang asked his unconvinced father while taking a sip of the shochu.

"No." Father shook his head in a daze.I haven't even seen grapes these days, let alone wine.

"Have you ever had beer, whiskey, or brandy?" Grandpa Zhang continued to ask.

"I've never heard of it." My father was dumbfounded. It turned out that there was so much alcohol besides shochu.I, who was playing with the beads next to me, rolled my eyes fiercely at my father: a frog at the bottom of a well.

"Have you ever drank?" Grandpa Zhang looked at Li Xiqing, although he was puzzled, his eyes were firm.

"En!" Li Xiqing nodded, but stared unblinkingly at the emerald green surface of the bamboo cup, with a rather shocked expression.

"Show me! Show me." I followed Li Xiqing's eyes suspiciously and saw that this elegant bamboo cup was actually carved with landscape paintings and rows of beautiful small characters. I got up in surprise and clung to Li Xiqing's arm He just wanted to hold the bamboo cup in his hand, but with his small body like bean sprouts, he couldn't reach the palm of his hand even if he stood on tiptoe.

"Baby, you want everything." The father bluffed, giving full play to the rights he should have enjoyed as a father. Usually, this right was forcibly banned under the arbitrary hegemony of grandpa.So when there is no grandpa, my father always likes to blow his beard and stare from time to time.Blame it, but my father still took out another identical bamboo cup from the side and handed it to me.

"It's so exquisite, Dad carved it?" Looking at the delicate bamboo cup in his hand, which is less than eight centimeters high and only four or five centimeters in diameter, there is a vivid picture of herding cattle carved on its surface: a child with a horn on the back of a strong buffalo Playing the flute, willows hang down behind him, fertile fields.

I was shocked that the strong rural atmosphere outlined in this square inch is so realistic, as if the melodious and melodious flute of the cowherd boy is ringing in my ears.

"Father doesn't have such advanced bamboo carving skills, this is your grandpa Zhang's craftsmanship." Dad touched my head, and there was a strong sense of pride in his words.

"In traditional Chinese ink painting and bamboo carving, you now have [-]% of my skills, but you are already superior in three-dimensional sculpture of characters." Grandpa Zhang took out a palm-sized bamboo carving from his arms and handed it to Li Xiqing.

"Baby!" Li Xiqing looked at the bamboo carving in his hand in surprise.

"Ah?!" Hearing someone call baby, I agreed reflexively, but found that everyone's eyes were focused on Li Xiqing's palm.Curiously, I stretched my neck and climbed onto Li Xiqing's arm. I saw a pink baby staring ahead vigilantly with big watery eyes. His chubby little hands and feet hugged the big feeding bottle on his chest. , Grinning his two small front teeth fiercely, with a domineering look on his face: whoever dares to snatch me, I will bite.

"This is my feeding bottle!" I pointed to the feeding bottle in the baby's hand and shouted loudly.This bottle has been with me for more than a year, how could I forget it.

"Haha~~~" The four men couldn't help laughing when they heard my words, which shook the entire empty cave to amplify such laughter without limit.I looked at the crazy man in front of me inexplicably: Is this so funny?

"Look at this again." Grandpa Zhang wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, and took out another bamboo-carved baby from his arms and put it on Li Xiqing's palm. This chubby baby

He was about four or five years old, wearing a short sweatshirt and shorts, with his waist up, his chest up, and his eyes rolled arrogantly. He tried his best to appear like a little adult, but instead added a childish innocence and naivety.

"These are handicrafts from peace, with a lifelike look, and the knife carving technique has reached the pinnacle, which is beyond my reach." Grandpa Zhang and You Rong stroked their beards and looked at Dad kindly.

"Ah! I want my father to carve it too." Since I was a child, I felt that the small animals carved by my father were vivid, and I had never seen such a lifelike expression on the carved figures.This is a great traditional folk art in China, which is wealth in the 21st century.I looked at the bamboo carving in Li Xiqing's hand greedily, and desperately shook my father's arm to play a rogue.

"This is your grandpa Zhang's modesty. Dad learned this skill from your grandpa Zhang. This skill is enough for your dad to study for a lifetime." Dad waved his hands again and again, and his resolute face turned crimson. I don't know if he is ashamed. Or the effect of alcohol.

"Boy Li! Still holding onto it, coveting my baby!" Grandpa Zhang blushed, grabbed the bamboo carving from Li Xiqing's hand, carefully put it in his pocket, and looked at Li Xiqing's reluctant face with drunken eyes. Smiling happily, "If you like it, let Heping do it. Isn't this a ready-made mold." Grandpa Zhang stretched out his arms and squeezed my mumbling mouth.

"Okay, I'll make a carving for you next time when I have time." Dad looked at the hopeful eyes cast by me and Li Xiqing, and agreed helplessly.

"Don't worry about talking, come here, let's see what delicious food Heping has brought this time. Heh! Pancakes! Huh——" There were seven or eight baked brown pancakes and a plate in the package spread out on the mat. Stewed broad beans.Grandpa Zhang picked up a piece of pancake and bit it down with difficulty, but the pancake couldn't be bitten down, but instead covered his teeth with a painful expression.Looking aside, I felt like my front teeth were sore.

"When these batches of wheat come up, I'll make pasta—" Dad couldn't bear to see Grandpa Zhang's sore and unbearable look.The pancakes made with old sorghum flour and corn flour are crispy when eaten hot, but hard to bite like cowhide bands once they are cold.

"Soak it in boiling water later, the taste is quite good." Grandpa Zhang waved his hand to interrupt his father's guilt, rewrapped the pancake in his hand, squeezed a broad bean and put it in his mouth Chewing carefully, the expression of enjoyment on his face seems to be eating not ordinary old broad beans, but a rare delicacy in the world.

"Don't worry, I'll boil some water later." Seeing that his father was a little worried, Kimura said reassuringly.

"It's getting late, peace take the child back." Grandpa Zhang rolled up his sleeves carefully, revealing an old-fashioned round watch on his skinny wrist. There are traces of heavy needle stitching.The glass cover of the meter head has spider web-like shatters, which seriously affects the accuracy of viewing time.

"Grandpa Zhang, Uncle Kimura, what do you want to eat? Next time Dayong will bring it to you." I ran up to Grandpa Zhang and Uncle Kimura and asked innocently with my head tilted.We can't get white rice, and other game is not a problem.

"Grandpa Zhang doesn't want the baby to bring anything, as long as the baby brings this." Grandpa Zhang pinched my mouth, and the pink and moist mouth opened a wide arc.I blinked my eyes and deliberately pretended to be innocent. In fact, I was so moved that it was difficult to express in words, because Grandpa Zhang hoped that I would be happy and happy all the time.

"Uncle Kimura still owes the baby's meeting gift. If the baby is given food to the uncle, what should the uncle give as the baby's meeting gift in the future?" Conceal the sincerity between the lines.I think I don't mind this person's blood as much as my father, just because we have struggled in this era.

"Next time, I'll come with my dad to see Grandpa Zhang and Uncle Kimura. It's very late today. When I go back, I have to sleep and eat well. Don't lose weight." Grandpa Zhang stood up and pushed Dad and Li Xiqing who was holding me. To the outside of the stone gate.

"If you don't mind, let's come together next time." Grandpa Zhang seemed to admire Li Xiqing very much, he patted Li Xiqing's shoulder lightly, and smiled kindly.Li Xiqing was stunned for a moment, then nodded heavily, turned around and went into the cave without looking back.

Climbing out of the stone chamber, the dark sky outside is still full of moonlight and stars, and the sound of insects chirps, making it a barren place.Only then did I notice that there was a large area of ​​water behind the stone chamber, and below the water area should be an underground cave.

"Baby, what would you say if grandpa asks you when you go back?" Dad held my little clothes in his hand, and returned to Xiaohe Village with Li Xiqing the same way.It seems that I am worried that I will leak my words, so I made a confession in advance.

"I don't know! Hmph!" He rolled his eyes and turned his head away from the young father.Under the watchful eyes of everyone, regardless of my young heart's ability to bear, they ruthlessly cut my face. Until now, I still feel the burning pain in my buttocks.

"Baby is angry." Dad came around from behind Li Xiqing, shyly put his face under my eyelids, and said softly.

"Don't be angry." She turned her head away arrogantly and continued to ignore her.

"I originally planned to take the baby to dig crabs tomorrow night, but now the baby is still angry with Dad, it seems that I can't go tomorrow." Dad shook his head regretfully.

25

25. I smile smugly...

"Digging crabs?!" I suddenly turned my head and looked at my father.

"Yes, crabs like to climb out of the hole to bask in the sun. Dad originally planned to make fried crab cakes for the baby, but now it seems that there is no chance. In fact, the crabs are boiled in water, and then put some red pepper flavor