Grandpa's great writer

Chapter 882 Cat City Story

"Today is Lidong, and World Youth Day is the day after tomorrow." Zhang Chong came out of the kitchen with a smile, holding a plate of dried dumplings in his hand, "Come on, wash your hands and prepare to eat. Grandpa and grandma will be back soon."

"I'm coming."

Pengpeng jumped up excitedly, this girl is the most active in eating.

After she came back from washing her hands, she leaned on the edge of the table and asked Zhang Zhong, "Dad, what does Lidong mean?"

"Lidong Lidong means the beginning of winter." Xu Yuhan explained with a smile.

Pengpeng tilted his head to express his doubts, "But it's not cold at all, it doesn't feel like winter at all."

"Winter is not necessarily very cold, and it is divided into regions. We are not cold here, but it is already a bit cold in the north. And the beginning of winter is the meaning of welcoming winter, but it is not sure whether winter will arrive or not. It may also be on the way. But after the beginning of winter, the days will obviously get shorter and the nights will get longer. It's really going to be cold here, and we have to wait until the winter solstice." Zhang Chong explained with a smile.

"I know about the winter solstice." Pengpeng said proudly.

"Then do you know what the winter solstice and the beginning of winter are?"

"I heard from grandma that it's solar terms."

"Then do you know how many solar terms there are?" Zhang Zhong asked again.

"I don't know." Peng Peng shook his head, expressing that he didn't know.

Zhang Zhong laughed, "There are 24 solar terms, you must not know which 24 there are?"

"I know Lidong and Winter Solstice." Pengpeng said.

"It's not enough to just know these two. I'll write down the 24 solar terms later, and then you can memorize them all, okay?" Zhang Chong arranged a task for Pengpeng with a smile.

"Is it okay if you don't recite it, 24 is a lot." Pengpeng said with a sad face.

Zhang Zhong had expected that she would not be able to simply agree, so he also thought of a countermeasure. He said in a bewitching tone, "I let you recite the 24 solar terms for your own good."

"For my own good?" Peng Peng looked puzzled.

Zhang Zhong pointed to the plate of dumplings just brought on the table, and said with a smile, "solar terms are the signs of the seasons, food is the most important thing for the people. When the seasons change, the first thing we think of is to eat. For example, today is Lidong, we are going to eat dumplings here."

"Why do you want to eat dumplings?"

"Eating dumplings can also be called eating jiaozi. When the seasons intersect, people like to eat dumplings. Not only Lidong, but also the winter solstice. We also eat dumplings. There are other things, such as summer bamboo shoots during Lixia, Both peas and broad beans are delicious, don’t you like to eat peas, and you can eat the best peas near Lixia.”

"Another example is Gu Yu, on March [-]rd, shepherd's purse is used as a panacea."

"Shepherd's purse is not tasty." Peng Peng shook her head, she doesn't like shepherd's purse very much.

"It's okay if you don't like shepherd's purse. There are other things, like mushrooms in March, chicken in April, and chickens in September. Do you remember the mushrooms that your uncle sent before?" Zhang Chong laughed.

"Remember, remember, stewed chicken with pine mushrooms is the best, but there are too few pine mushrooms brought by uncle." When talking about pine mushrooms, Peng Peng couldn't help swallowing.

Zhang Zhong patted his daughter's head, "Rare things are more expensive, otherwise you think they are so delicious? Your uncle went out early in the morning and came home in the afternoon. He picked more than a catty of pine mushrooms and gave them away. Come here, you're fine, it's too little."

"Because it's delicious."

"Then when the season comes next time, I'll send you to the mountains to pick them up by yourself, and let you be a little girl picking up mushrooms. This is called doing it yourself and having enough food and clothing."

"Yes." Pengpeng agreed.

Seeing that she agreed so simply, Zhang Zhong said with a smile, "You think picking up mushrooms is easy, just walk and bow your head? You will know next time I send you there."

"I can definitely do it." Pengpeng was full of self-confidence, and then pulled Zhang Zhong's arm and said, "Dad, Dad, tell me what kind of solar terms you have, what can you eat?"

But Zhang Zhong braked in time, "Stop talking, I'll talk about it after you memorize all 24 solar terms."

"Ah." Peng Peng looked disappointed.

"Now I know I didn't lie to you. Knowing these solar terms, and remembering the corresponding time of each solar term, you can remember what delicious food is available." Zhang Zhong said.

Xu Yuhan gave Zhang Zhong a thumbs up at the side.

Zhang Zhong thought she was praising him for his good parenting, but he didn't expect Xu Yuhan to say, "You know so much about food, yet you can still be so thin, amazing."

They were talking, when Hu Huifang and Zhang Xingjun opened the door and came in.

When the old couple came in, they were a little surprised to see a large table of dishes.

Hu Huifang asked, "What day are you cooking so many dishes?"

Pengpeng raised his hand and replied, "Grandma, today is Lidong, and Lidong wants to eat dumplings."

"Oh? I don't care if it's Lidong today." Hu Huifang said.

Generally, people who live in cities seldom pay attention to the 24 solar terms, because they are useless, except for relatively important ones like Qingming.

People who pay more attention to solar terms are usually farmers who grow crops, because solar terms have a great impact on crops, and what solar terms do are fixed.

So even though they knew that today is Lidong, Hu Huifang and the others were still very surprised.

"Just because of Lidong?"

Lidong has never been celebrated in their family.

"Well, it's Lidong, you guys wash up and prepare to eat, Pengpeng is probably going to be hungry." Zhang Zhong said with a smile.

Peng Peng immediately agreed, "Yes, grandpa and grandma, hurry up, the dumplings will be cold soon."

……

During the meal, Hu Huifang mentioned the weekend meal.

"Son, have you booked your hotel? Don't delay until you can't book a hotel."

"It's ready." Zhang Chong replied.

"Where is the order, how is the grade, have you ordered the dishes? Have you ever eaten there?" Hu Huifang asked several questions in succession.

Zhang Zhong replied one by one, "I ordered from the folks in the village. Last time I went to eat with Shen Jian and the others. It tasted very good. It was in the form of private dishes. The outside of the restaurant looked ordinary, but the interior decoration was quite good."

"Why didn't you book it in a bigger hotel, don't neglect your uncle and aunt."

Xu Yuhan hurriedly said, "No, no, he said it's fine if it's delicious. Auntie, it's not the first time we've met, so don't worry about the pomp."

Hu Huifang smiled and said, "Yuhan is right, the main thing to eat is to have delicious food, and everything else is secondary."

She looked at Zhang Zhong again, "Then you have to pick up your uncles and aunts when they come back."

"They drove back by themselves," Zhang Zhong said.

"Oh, you don't need to pick it up."

……

Hu Huifang questioned Zhang Zhongde for about ten minutes just about eating at the restaurant on the weekend, which shows how much they attach importance to this meeting.

Zhang Zhong was even more sure that his guess was correct, and he didn't have to be so particular about it if he just had a normal meal.

Even Xu Yuhan felt that something was wrong this time. If it was just a casual meal, she didn't need to take it seriously. In addition, Zhang Zhong had just proposed to her, so she also had the same guess as Zhang Zhong.

But at the dinner table, she was too embarrassed to tell her guess.

After the meal, Zhang Zhong went to the study, Xu Yuhan followed and asked about it, "Is there something else about the weekend meal? Why do I feel that Auntie attaches so much importance to this meal?"

Zhang Zhong just turned on the computer, and when he heard what Xu Yuhan said, he raised his head and looked at her with a smile, "You just realized it."

"Ah, what do you know?"

"I don't know, I'm also guessing, but I guess it's probably close to ten, you should be mentally prepared."

Although there was speculation just now, Xu Yuhan immediately became nervous after hearing what Zhang Zhong said, "I didn't tell my mother or the others."

"You think your parents are as inexperienced as you. When my mother called before, she had already explained the matter clearly, and your mother understood it, but you didn't understand it." Zhang Zhong said.

Xu Yuhan's head was full of question marks: "Is there?"

She was there when Hu Huifang called her mother to make an appointment for dinner. The conversation between the two was very simple, and they didn't mention marriage.

"Of course, do you still remember my mother saying 'the children have been together for so long, we should worry more as elders'?"

"Remember, isn't this just a simple greeting?"

"Well, it sounds like a simple greeting at first glance, but then your mother replied, 'Old sister, you are right, Yuhan is not sensible, so I want you to worry about it'."

"Isn't this just talking too fast?"

Zhang Zhong laughed, "I should have recorded their calls at the time, so I can analyze them sentence by sentence for you now. Anyway, don't worry, your parents know what they are going to talk about when they meet this week. If you don't believe me, you can turn around." You can ask them."

Xu Yuhan quickly shook his head and said, "I'm not going to ask, I'm so embarrassed."

"What's so embarrassing about that?"

"It's embarrassing anyway." Xu Yuhan pinched the corner of her clothes, saw Zhang Zhong turning on the computer to work, and asked, "Are you busy with work?"

"Don't be busy. I'm writing next week's courseware. It's an old lesson. Just make some revisions according to the template." Zhang Zhong said.

"If you're not busy, don't do it. Come with me." Xu Yuhan pulled Zhang Zhong's arm and pulled him up from the seat.

Pulled by her, Zhang Zhong asked, "Why are you going?"

Xu Yuhan pointed upstairs, "You forgot, you still have tasks to complete."

Seeing her pointing upstairs, Zhang Zhong suddenly realized that he still had a task to complete, which was the painting for Xu Yuhan.

But because the proposal has already been completed, he simply forgot about it.

"Don't think that if I agree to your marriage proposal, you can quit this matter." Xu Yuhan pouted.

"Didn't you say you came to remedy it?"

"I am the one to remedy it, so you should also help by the side."

"Help, that's easy to say."

……

Zhang Zhong originally thought that helping was just passing things around, but he didn't expect that the workload exceeded his imagination.

Xu Yuhan didn't do anything at all, he just directed at the side, and let him do all the work.

Xu Yuhan will tell him how to color, how much paint to apply, and where to use it.

The most important thing is that originally Zhang Zhong only needed to draw Xu Yuhan alone, but Xu Yuhan felt that such a large wall should be fully utilized, so he added some designs and put Zhang Zhong in it, and added a painting next to the two of them. some views.

The workload suddenly doubled several times.

Zhang Zhong estimated that according to her plan, the job would take several weeks.

Xu Yuhan smiled and comforted Zhang Chongdao, "There is no need to rush now, we can take our time."

Zhang Chong wanted to cry but had no tears. This is a hole he dug himself, and he filled the hole he dug himself, so he can't blame others.

……

The next day, when Zhang Zhong woke up, he recalled a book he had smoked before going to bed last night.

He hasn't picked up a book for a long time, and he has published two books of his own in a row, so he has accumulated a lot of points.

With an idea of ​​"playing around", he picked up a novel about "playing around".

What he drew was a science fiction novel, an atypical science fiction novel.

If someone told him in advance that he would draw a science fiction novel, he would think of many famous science fiction novels, but he would never think of the book he was drawn.

This book is called "Cat City Tale", and the author is Lao She.

That's right, this science fiction novel is written by Lao She, who wrote "Camel Xiangzi", "Four Generations Under One Roof" and "Tea House".

If you haven't read "A Tale of Cat City", I am afraid most people will not associate Lao She with science fiction.

Of course, some people think that "Cat City" is not a science fiction novel.

But Zhang Zhong felt that most people with this kind of thinking had too much prejudice against science fiction themes.

"Cat City Tale" is a No.1 novella. The story mainly tells the story of "I" flying to Mars in a plane, but the plane crashed at the moment it hit Mars, and only "I" lived down.

Here, "I" met a group of aliens with cat faces and was brought to the cat city by them.

Cat people have a long history, with a civilization of more than 2 years.

After "I" arrived in Cat City, I witnessed a war with my own eyes, and the war ended with the overthrow of Cat City.

Many people think that "Cat City Tale" is somewhat prophetic. This book was published in 1932, but it accurately predicted some things that happened later.

Of course, these prophecies have nothing to do with theology, but Lao She's prediction of the future based on the current situation at that time.

In Zhang Chong's view, although "Cat City Tale" seems to reflect the era at that time, this book has the universality of the era. Even now, it is still a great work. Obsolete due to age.

In other words, even if you read this book regardless of that era, you can still feel the power of this book.

The issues reflected in the book should be considered by people of every age.

The full text of this book is about [-] to [-] words, and it is in Zhang Zhong's mind, but he is not in a hurry to copy this book out, because he has other things to do today.

Hilde, the chairman of the World Science Fiction Association, came to Jiangyang. This time he came to discuss with Jiangyang's Science Fiction Association about the branch of the World Science Fiction Association.

This had nothing to do with Zhang Zhong, but the Jiangyang government might think that it would be better for Hilde to come over in person and invite Zhang Zhong to come over.

Because it took less than a day in total, Zhang Zhong agreed.

By the way, when they are discussing the branch, they can also talk about the cooperation between the Jiangyang Science Fiction Association and the World Science Fiction Association and the Juwang Exhibition Hall.

(End of this chapter)