For the next month, Lin Wanqiu traveled tirelessly between various villages and towns. She went to Wangjia Town and visited Grandpa Zhang, who was skilled in making traditional rice wine. Grandpa Zhang's rice wine was sweet and mellow, with a lingering aftertaste, and was said to have nourishing and health-preserving effects. She went to Zhaojiatun and found Grandma Wang, who made the traditional pastry "Plum Blossom Pastry". Grandma Wang's Plum Blossom Pastry was beautifully shaped, with a crispy outer crust and a sweet filling, leaving a lasting impression. She also went to Qingfengzhai and visited Grandpa Liu, who was skilled in making handmade pickles. Grandpa Liu's pickles were salty and delicious, appetizing and perfect with rice, and came in a wide variety, including pickled cucumbers, pickled radishes, and pickled eggplants.
Lin Wanqiu visited each veteran artist with utmost sincerity. She not only brought them the finest ingredients but also patiently listened to their stories of traditional cuisine and helped them overcome life's difficulties. For those veteran artists who harbored doubts, she tirelessly explained her intentions and demonstrated her sincerity through concrete actions.
When Lin Wanqiu visited Grandpa Zhang, she learned that due to his advanced age and mobility issues, his family's brewery had long since ceased operations. Upon learning this, Lin Wanqiu proactively helped Grandpa Zhang repair the brewery and even took out some rheumatism ointment from her spatial storage to give to him, relieving his leg pain. Grandpa Zhang was deeply moved and not only agreed to cooperate with her but also entrusted her with his treasured brewing recipe, which he had kept for many years.
During her visit to Granny Wang, Lin Wanqiu learned that Granny Wang's grandson suffered from congenital heart disease, and the family had incurred considerable debt to treat him. Upon learning this, Lin Wanqiu secretly left some money and medicine, and contacted a hospital in the city to help Granny Wang's grandson receive treatment. Granny Wang was deeply grateful and taught Lin Wanqiu her unique technique for making plum blossom pastries without reservation.
During this process, Lin Wanqiu also encountered many difficulties and setbacks. Some veteran artisans were conservative and unwilling to pass on their skills; some people saw that Lin Wanqiu's food shop was doing well and became jealous, spreading rumors that she was a fraud and wanted to steal the skills of the veteran artisans; and some places were far away and inconvenient to reach, so Lin Wanqiu often had to walk dozens of miles to get there.
But Lin Wanqiu never gave up. She knew that passing on intangible cultural heritage cuisine was no easy task, requiring immense patience and effort. When faced with conservative older artisans, she always patiently persuaded them, moving them with her sincerity and perseverance; when faced with rumors, she never argued, but instead proved her innocence with practical actions; when faced with the hardships of the journey, she always gritted her teeth and persevered, filled with motivation as she thought of those traditional foods that were on the verge of being lost.
Seeing Lin Wanqiu leaving early and returning late every day, growing thinner and thinner, Shen Tingzhou felt very sorry for her. He took the initiative to shoulder the burden of the family, taking care of Grandma Shen and the children, and often went to the food shop to help manage the business, so that Lin Wanqiu could devote herself to the work of discovering traditional food recipes.
"Wanqiu, you've worked hard." Whenever Lin Wanqiu returned late at night, Shen Tingzhou would always prepare warm meals and foot bath water for her. "If you're too tired, take a few days off and don't push yourself too hard."
Lin Wanqiu leaned against Shen Tingzhou's chest, feeling his warm embrace, her heart filled with comfort: "It's not hard work. Just thinking about how those precious traditional delicacies can see the light of day again makes it all worthwhile."
Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianxi are also very sensible. They know that their mother is doing something very meaningful, so they never cry or ask her to stay with them. They also often help Grandma Shen with housework. Shen Nian'an also used his mathematical talent to help Lin Wanqiu organize the information about visiting the old artists and calculate the costs and profits of the cooperation.
After more than a month of effort, Lin Wanqiu finally unearthed more than a dozen precious traditional food recipes, covering multiple categories such as noodles, winemaking, snacks, and pickles. These recipes all have a long history and unique techniques, and are the culmination of the life's work of veteran artisans.
Upon returning to the Hongqi Production Brigade, Lin Wanqiu immediately began preparations for launching the "Intangible Cultural Heritage Food Inheritance" project. She first renovated the food workshop, creating a dedicated production area and purchasing the necessary production tools according to traditional techniques. Then, she selected a group of skillful and hardworking young people from the workshop's workforce, who were personally instructed by veteran artisans like Grandpa Li and Grandpa Zhang to learn the traditional food-making techniques.
During the teaching process, the veteran artisans generously shared their knowledge and skills with the younger generation without reservation. Lin Wanqiu learned diligently from the sidelines, while also making appropriate improvements to the traditional recipes by incorporating modern production concepts and consumer taste preferences. For example, when making plum blossom pastries, she reduced the amount of sugar to make the taste more refreshing; when making pickles, she adopted aseptic packaging technology to extend the shelf life.
To allow more people to learn about intangible cultural heritage cuisine, Lin Wanqiu set up a display area at the entrance of the food workshop, showcasing the traditional food recipes, preparation tools, and finished products she had discovered, attracting the attention of many villagers and passersby. She also organized an "Intangible Cultural Heritage Food Tasting Event," inviting commune cadres, villagers from surrounding brigades, and regular customers of the food workshop to sample the food.
On the day of the tasting event, the food stalls were bustling with activity. Tables were laden with various intangible cultural heritage delicacies, including handmade noodles as thin as hair, fragrant and mellow traditional rice wine, beautifully shaped plum blossom pastries, and savory handmade pickles. Everyone picked up their chopsticks, savoring these long-missed traditional flavors, their faces beaming with delight.
"These noodles are so delicious, even better than the ones I ate when I was a child!" an elderly woman exclaimed while eating the noodles.
"This rice wine is quite good. It's sweet but not cloying, with a lingering aftertaste, and it warms you up from head to toe," an old man said with satisfaction, holding a bowl of rice wine.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com