Grandma’s fried rice

Grandma is very frugal. Every time she cooks rice, she saves the extra rice water (Old way to cook rice is to put rice in a pot with a lot of water, after boiling a while, take out the extra water, and cover the lid with small fire until it is well cooked). After the cooked rice is scooped out of the pot, regardless of whether the pot bottom is burnt or not, she pours the saved rice water back into the pot and simmers it on low heat to make "crispy rice porridge," which she eats without leaving a single grain. Even when leftovers become rancid and taste strange, she doesn't throw them away, but puts them in a pot, boils them, and eats them. Mom tells her not to eat rancid food for fear of getting sick, but she says, "Grain is hard to come by, and it's a shame to waste it. Wasting food will attract the hit from thunder and lightning."

When I was young, things were scarce, and children had virtually no snacks to eat. Only during holidays and birthdays could we buy a lollipop. Sometimes, before the Chinese New Year, popcorn maker would come by. Adults would teach children to take two or three pounds of rice to popcorn. The popcorn maker would put the rice in a black iron cylinder like a shell, cover it, rotate it on a rack with fire underneath for about ten minutes, put it in a burlap bag, step on the bag-wrapped iron cylinder, pull the lever with their hand, and with the children's screams, a sudden loud bump and a white cloud burst out of the bag, the popcorn would magically fill the bag, with the aroma wafting over. The children caught it in basins or buckets and happily ran home with it to eat.

  

But after the new year, we children had nothing to eat again. In those long days, we dreamed every day of delicious food. Grandma had a way of turning waste into treasure. There was no refrigerator at that time, food was kept in room temperature. If there were leftover rice that had gone bad, she wouldn't throw it away, but put a little oil in a pan, pour the leftover rice in, and slowly stir-fry it over low heat. Then add some salt and keep stirring. Slowly, the water in the rice evaporated, and the smell disappeared. She kept stirring for half an hour or up to an hour until the soft, white grains of rice turned into hard, brown, crispy grains in the pot, rolling around and making a "hissing" sound, giving off the aroma of crispy rice, similar to crispy rice porridge. She called these crispy grains "fried rice." After frying the rice, she served it in a small bowl, let it cool, and let me and two brothers to eat it. It was crispy and fragrant, and it was my favorite snack. Whenever Grandma fried rice, we eagerly waited in front of the pot, watching her stir-fry at a steady pace. Holding back the saliva that was about to flow, we hoped that the rice grains would turn into brown crispy grains quickly. As soon as they were done, we would immediately scoop up a small bowl, unable to wait for it to cool, and put it into my mouth. The taste was more fragrant than any snack bought in stores today.

Grandma's teeth have almost all fallen out, so she can't eat fried rice anymore. She just sits there kindly watching me eat mouthfuls of crispy rice grains.

Grandmother never fried good rice, only fry rancid rice. We sometimes hoped that the rice would be rancid so we could have fried rice. There was always not enough food to eat, and it was really rare to have rancid rice, so the days when we could eat fried rice were of course few, no more than once in three or four months.

 

Grandmother always said that she was getting old and wanted to go back to her hometown. She said that she had to throw her old bones on the land of her hometown before she could close her eyes. When the Cultural Revolution began, because the situation was too chaotic, my parents sent my younger brothers to my grandmother's place and let grandmother go back to her hometown.

After my grandmother left, I often imitated her and made "pot rice porridge" to eat, which tasted very fragrant. Sometimes I also used leftover rice to make fried rice like my grandmother did, but because of refrigerator, I used rice that had not rancid. Later, after graduating from university and starting work for a long time, I had two occasions where I had leftover food, and I fried the rice in a small pot in the collective dormitory building, which made the whole building smell delicious. Colleagues and friends around came over one by one, smelling the fragrance and wondering what delicious food I was making. They said they had never seen fried rice made like this before and wanted to try it. After eating it, everyone liked it very much and thought that it was really a good way to turn waste into treasure.

Wang Yaba and Master Zhang

From the 1950s to the 1970s, Wang Yaba was a well-known figure in Zhijiang Normal School. He was paralyzed from the waist down and couldn't speak. He often walked around the campus with a crutch. Few people knew his full name, where he was from, or whether he had any relatives. They only knew his surname was Wang, so they called him Wang Yaba. Yaba is 啞巴 in Chinese, means mute, or dumb.

It is said that Wang Yaba used to be a college student with major in architecture. After graduation, he worked for a construction company and quickly became a manager because of his outstanding work. At that time, he was handsome and had a promising future. He was particular about his dress and always wore a smart suit with shiny leather shoes and neatly combed hair.

In the 1950s, his company took on the project of building a building for Zhijiang Normal School, and he was in charge of the project. One time, he climbed onto the roof under construction to check on the work despite his smart attire. Unfortunately, he slipped and fell from the roof. Although he survived the accident, he became paralyzed from the waist down at around 30 years old.

Due to the work-related injury and the fact that he fell while working on the Zhijiang Normal School project, after consultation, Zhijiang Normal School took on the responsibility of supporting him for life. From then on, he became a special employee of the school.

His throat and tongue were severely damaged, so he could make sounds but couldn't speak. It also affected his swallowing, so he ate slowly. He had good hearing and could understand what others said. He could recognize characters and read letters and newspapers. Although he couldn't speak, his mind was very clear. As the saying goes, "A dumb person eating dumplings still knows the number."

However, his limbs didn't obey him. When walking, he needed to exert a lot of effort to swing one leg out like someone who had suffered from severe polio, shift his weight, and then swing the other leg. One hand was always holding a crutch to help him maintain his balance. His hand couldn't stretch straight and had a slight tremble, so he couldn't hold things properly. However, if someone asked, he would occasionally write his name or answer a question with his trembling hand. When he wanted to express something, he would open his mouth and say "Ah, Ah," while gesturing with one hand. If you guessed correctly what he was trying to say, he would smile, nod, and say "Ah, Ah." If you guessed wrong, he would shake his head.

The person who could understand him the most was Master Zhang. Master Zhang's full name was Zhang Yinshan, and he was from Henan. He was born in the early 20th century, about 20 years older than Wang Yaba. Although he was named "Yinshan"(Yin means silver, Shan means mountain) his family was very poor, so he didn't go to school. Due to financial pressure, when he was young, he became a soldier for the Nationalist government. Later, he worked as a handyman in Zhijiang Normal School.

Master Zhang was kind and easy to talk to. Whenever there was something that others couldn't or didn't want to do, people would go to him. There were no clear rules about who should take care of Wang Yaba or how he should be taken care of. The responsibility of taking care of him fell to Master Zhang. This included taking care of Wang Yaba's daily living, including helping him dress, bathe, wash clothes, and buy food at the canteen. Day after day, and year after year.

Despite being disabled, Wang Yaba pays great attention to his appearance. His hair is always combed to one side, and his clothes are always clean. He takes a bath every few days, but he needs the help of his assistant, Master Zhang, to do all of these. Master Zhang himself doesn't care much about his appearance. He has a tall figure with a slightly hunched back, fluffy hair, and deep wrinkles on his face. He always wears shabby work clothes, with a bunch of keys hanging from his waist that clinks as he walks. He looks like a hardworking laborer.

Wang Yaba subscribes to newspapers and reads them every day. He has poor eyesight and needs a magnifying glass to read. Since he cannot communicate with others, no one knows what kind of content he likes to read.

Eating out is his main hobby. Before the Cultural Revolution, Zhijiang Normal School was in the city, and he would go out to eat one or two times a week. Zhijiang city is not big. There are restaurants 200 meters away from the school gate and more in the city center, 500 meters away. However, he walks very slowly, and it may take him forty minutes to get there, while others only need ten minutes.

Not only does he eat, but he also drinks a few ounces of wine if the food is good. The bosses and waiters of the restaurants he frequents know him well and know what he likes to eat. If they mention a few dishes, such as stir-fried pork liver, spicy stir-fried meat, or deep-fried peanuts, he nods his head and they understand what he means. He slowly drinks and eats by himself. Since he has difficulty swallowing, he takes more than an hour to finish a meal. After finishing his meal, he picks his teeth slowly with a toothpick and then limps his way back.

Occasionally, he meets acquaintances on the road, and he will "ah ah ah" to "chat" with them. People near Zhijiang Normal School, all know him, and adults warn children not to bully him. If children try to make fun of him, he will wave his crutches to scare them. The children won't go too far, and they will run away after playing for a while. Wang Yaba will smile at their backs and let them go.

In the winter of 1965, Zhijiang Normal School moved to Wood Oil Hill, east of the airport, and was surrounded by fields and houses belong to Seven Li (7 Chinese miles = 3.5 Kilo meters) Bridge village, the location of the Japanese surrender memorial. Wang Yaba and Master Zhang also moved to Wood Oil Hill with the school.

The following year, the Cultural Revolution began. After overthrowing the leaders of the school, the Red Guards wanted to attack Wang Yaba for his past job as a manager, and labeled him as a "reactionary authority." That day, when they came to criticize him, Wang Yaba was really angry for the first time and protested loudly. The Red Guards wanted to hang a "reactionary authority" sign around his neck, but he refused. With trembling hands, Wang Yaba raised his cane to strike someone, but was knocked over by the Red Guards and tied up. He then began banging his head against the wall, causing blood to flow from his face and head. Later, Zhang, the master carpenter, intervened and pleaded for his release, and the Red Guards eventually untied him. Thanks to Zhang's comforting words, the steadfast Wang Yaba did not take his own life. He could endure his disability, but could not bear to lose his dignity.

The Red Guards ordered various groups to parade in public, and Master Zhang and Wang Yaba were among them. Because Master Zhang had once served as a soldier for the Nationalist Party, the Red Guards labeled him a "military thug," and Wang Yaba was labeled a "reactionary authority." It was probably thanks to Zhang's intervention that Wang Yaba was allowed to sit on a flat cart, pushed by Master Zhang, to participate in the parade.

Later, the Red Guards either had a change of heart or found no pleasure in harassing them, so they stopped bothering them.

Although their spirits were at peace, their lives were still very difficult. They received only one pound of planned meat and four ounces of oil per month, which was mostly kept in the cafeteria. The area around Wood Oil Hill was called Seven-Mile Bridge because it was seven miles (Chinese miles, 1 mile = 3.2 Chinese mile) from the city. It was surrounded by farmland and farmhouses, with no marketplaces, let alone restaurants.

Just when people thought that Wang Yaba's habit of going to restaurants was a thing of the past, they were surprised to find that on warm and sunny days, he would sometimes hobble with his cane across the abandoned Zhijiang Airport and walk to the city to eat at a restaurant. This distance normally took a person 45 minutes to walk, but Wang Yaba not only walked slowly, he also had to stop every few dozen meters to catch his breath, so he needed several times more time to walk this distance. No one ever calculated how long he took, but including the time to eat, a round trip would take about ten hours. People were afraid that he would collapse halfway and not be able to get home, but he always managed to walk back by himself. However, occasionally he would encounter heavy rain on the way back, and there was no shelter for miles around the airport, so he had to endure the rain and wind, return home completely drenched, and then be bedridden for several days.

Sometimes he went once a month, and sometimes once every month and a half, but he could not go in the winter. Every time he went, he was dressed neatly, with his hair neatly combed. It was not until the end of 1968, when Zhijiang Normal School moved back to the county town, that Wang Yaba no longer had to travel so far to go to a restaurant.

In the 1970s, Wang Yaba became increasingly weak and could no longer go out to eat. Occasionally, Master Zhang would go to the restaurant to buy his favorite dishes and bring them back for him to eat. Later, he could not even walk, and Zhang had to help him with his bodily functions. Around 1976, he passed away, and from then on, people no longer saw Wang Yaba hobbling along with his cane.

Wang Yaba lived to be over 50 years old, more than 20 of which were spent with a disability. Fortunately, he met Zhang, the master carpenter, and even more fortunate, he died before Zhang, which could be considered his good fortune. Zhang retired in the late 1970s at the age of over 70. He has a wife and an adopted daughter who treat him well in Zhijiang, and they live in harmony as a family. In the late 1970s, after he retired, he took his wife back to his hometown in Henan Province for the first and only time since joining the army. In the mid-1980s, Master Zhang passed away at the age of over 80.