江蘇太倉(cāng)作家、世界華文微型小說研究會(huì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)凌鼎年的第61本集子《風(fēng)光旖旎的世界——凌鼎年微型小說精品》(雙語版)，2022年3月在美國(guó)華盛頓作家出版社出版。該書由澳籍中國(guó)學(xué)者鄭蘇蘇翻譯，是以西苑出版社2017年12月出版的《永遠(yuǎn)的簫聲》一書為藍(lán)本翻譯的，共收錄50篇微型小說作品，約16萬字。澳洲作家，曾任澳大利亞駐廣州總領(lǐng)館二等秘書Patrick McGowan(中文名字:麥高文)為翻譯集子寫了《逍遙游——發(fā)自澳洲麥高文的心聲》的代序。
凌鼎年的作品題材涉及面廣，故事精彩，寓意深刻，手法多變，語言精煉，閱讀之，既是文學(xué)的享受，也是輕松學(xué)習(xí)英語、漢語的好文本。
《風(fēng)光旖旎的世界——凌鼎年微型小說精品》(雙語版)定價(jià)13.5美元。亞馬遜網(wǎng)全球發(fā)行，美國(guó)、英國(guó)、德國(guó)、法國(guó)、意大利、加拿大、日本、澳大利亞、愛沙尼亞等國(guó)家有紙質(zhì)書與電子版書郵購(gòu)，荷蘭、巴西、墨西哥、印度等有電子版書郵購(gòu)。
華盛頓作家出版社主要出版英漢雙語紙本書、英文紙本書、中文電子書，出版后通過亞馬遜網(wǎng)站(Amazon)向全球發(fā)行，進(jìn)入圖書館采購(gòu)系統(tǒng)。
鄭蘇蘇在2019年翻譯過凌鼎年的微型小說集子《五彩繽紛的世界》，在美國(guó)南方出版社出版，亞馬遜全球發(fā)行。作為《五彩繽紛的世界》之姐妹集，為了組合成一個(gè)翻譯系列，本書取名為《風(fēng)光旖旎的世界》，鄭蘇蘇正在翻譯的凌鼎年的第三本微型小說集子取名為《撲朔迷離的世界》，預(yù)計(jì)6月完成翻譯。
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附凌鼎年原作與鄭蘇蘇翻譯的英文版
荷香茶(小說)
凌鼎年
周家世居古廟鎮(zhèn)好幾代了，早先是鎮(zhèn)上的大戶人家。到周寒冰父親這一代已敗落了，所幸的是周寒冰父親留給了他一棟平房。房是老房子，不起眼，院子很大，院中還有個(gè)小水池，依稀能見舊時(shí)私家園林的輪廓。
周寒冰最喜歡的是周敦頤的《愛蓮說》，認(rèn)為這是周家的驕傲。雖說查了幾次也未查到他是周敦頤一脈后裔的文字證據(jù)，但他自認(rèn)為至少是周敦頤的精神后裔。
有了這種想法后，他把業(yè)余時(shí)間全放到了種荷上。他把淤塞的小池拓寬拓闊，把池中之泥堆成土坡，坡上植梅，池中種荷。開春，他欣賞“小荷才露尖尖角，早有蜻蜓立上頭”的景色；入夏，他陶醉于“映日荷花別樣紅”的意境里；深秋，他體會(huì)“留得殘荷聽雨聲”的趣味。
漸漸，周寒冰不滿足于一般性地種一池荷花了，他開始搜尋荷花佳品。功夫不負(fù)有心人，他先后覓到了大灑錦、重臺(tái)蓮、并蒂蓮、紅千葉、壽星桃、千瓣蓮、大碧蓮、中日友誼蓮等名貴品種。像大灑錦，花型大，香味濃，顏色奇，白底紅邊藍(lán)鑲條，宛如荷花中的皇后。周寒冰對(duì)這亭亭凈植，香遠(yuǎn)益清的花中君子愛之日深。推而廣之，他又愛上了碗蓮，他種了一盆又一盆，其中有“白雪公主”“嬌客”“娃娃蓮”“醉杯”等皆是名品名種。幾年下來，他家里，院中有荷，池中有荷，窗臺(tái)有荷，書桌上有荷，大大小小，一百多盆，每到夏秋之際，周寒冰觀葉觀花觀蓮，真所謂其樂無窮。
他客廳里掛的是《墨荷圖》《菡萏圖》《接天蓮葉無窮碧》，書桌玻璃臺(tái)板下壓的是他自攝的荷花照片，他還請(qǐng)同邑的大書法家蘇人望先生題寫了“國(guó)香軒”的齋名，一看便知主人乃真正愛荷人。
常言道“物以類聚，人以群分”，周寒冰交結(jié)了一幫荷友，荷花盛開期間，隔三差五小聚賞荷。偶爾還有外地光臨小鎮(zhèn)的文藝界朋友慕名前來賞荷呢。
凡有客至，周寒冰必以上好的碧螺春茶待客。若是稀客，又是性情中人，若他提前三天知道的話，周寒冰就以荷香茶來待客。
據(jù)說荷香茶乃元代大畫家倪云林之發(fā)明。
周寒冰待夜色漫開，暑氣消散后，取龍井一撮，用潔凈的白紗布包之，然后選一朵晨來剛開的荷花，放在蓮房之上。荷花特點(diǎn)，朝開暮合，夜晚放入，那茶葉即被荷花瓣包裹住了，待清晨荷花綻放時(shí)取出。吸收異味乃茶葉之特性，尤以龍井為最，這一小包龍井茶經(jīng)一夜之吸收，荷香盡吸其中，花露也盡吸其中?？蓲礻帥鲋幜栏桑箒碓俜湃?，晨來再取出，再晾干，如是三夜。此龍井茶葉既得荷花之馨香，又得天地之精華。再用潔凈之水泡之，立時(shí)清香撲鼻，聞之荷香縷縷，呷之沁人心脾，即便最挑剔的老茶客也常常贊不絕口。
荷香茶有季節(jié)性，因此能在周寒冰家喝到荷香茶的并不多。
一日，婁城的攝影家裘一鳴打電話來說要拍些荷花照片。
裘一鳴以拍花鳥魚蟲照片見長(zhǎng)，特別是拍靜物，確實(shí)有自己獨(dú)特的心得。
這次海內(nèi)外數(shù)家單位聯(lián)合舉辦“2009國(guó)際荷花攝影大賽”，這是國(guó)際性大賽，裘一鳴自然看重，拍花本是他的強(qiáng)項(xiàng)，他一副志在必得的樣子。據(jù)說不少參賽者都涌到蘇州拙政園、南潯小蓮莊去取景頭了。裘一鳴尋思，園林里的荷不免大路貨，且你能拍，他也能拍，缺乏與眾不同的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力。如何發(fā)揮靜物的特點(diǎn)，又在取景上避免雷同呢?裘一鳴想到了周寒冰家的荷花。說起來僅一面之交，交情不深。不過無妨，裘一鳴甚至認(rèn)為有些事，淺交比深交好，君子之交淡如水嘛。
裘一鳴在婁城文藝界是有點(diǎn)知名度的。周寒冰對(duì)這位同道的拜訪，很是高興，已預(yù)先準(zhǔn)備了荷香茶。如今古廟鎮(zhèn)也用上了自來水，或許是水質(zhì)污染的關(guān)系，用自來水燒開后泡出的荷香茶那味總遜色好幾分。因此周寒冰都是用井水的。當(dāng)然，按古人說法，最好是無根之水，即天落水。也是巧，前天一場(chǎng)雨，周寒冰收好一小缸夏雨水呢。
裘一鳴一到，好客的周寒冰就要泡荷香茶待之。裘一鳴擺擺手說：“先別忙喝茶，早晨的光線最柔和，最適合拍帶露荷花。先拍攝，再喝茶，好不好?”
這種藝術(shù)家的敬業(yè)態(tài)度立時(shí)博得了周寒冰的好感。于是，兩人來到院中，周寒冰如數(shù)家珍地一一告知這盆叫什么名，那盆叫什么名，這盆以花型大聞名，那盆以香氣足傳世……
裘一鳴心不在焉地聽著，他的眼睛卻如鷹隼般掃視著每片葉，每朵花，從不同的角度捕捉著別具一格的畫面構(gòu)圖。“好花，太好了?！辈灰粫?huì)兒，他就沉浸在自己的發(fā)現(xiàn)之中，似乎已忘了周寒冰的存在。
周寒冰倒并不在乎他這種態(tài)度，他反認(rèn)為搞藝術(shù)的就該有這種癡迷勁頭。
裘一鳴拍了幾張后，發(fā)現(xiàn)周寒冰一直在身邊陪著就對(duì)他說：“你忙你的，我一個(gè)人拍，靜心些?！?/p>
周寒冰想想也是，怕干擾了裘一鳴的構(gòu)思，就悄悄回了屋。他泡好了荷香茶，只待裘一鳴拍好，一起賞荷品茗，聊上一聊。
裘一鳴整整拍了兩個(gè)小時(shí)才戀戀不舍地回到屋來，那臉上抑制不住興奮。他望著那滿院的荷花說：“如果我家有這么多荷花，每天早上來選景拍幾張，不獲獎(jiǎng)我不姓裘。”
“隨時(shí)歡迎你來拍。”周寒冰很真誠(chéng)。
“我走了，荷香茶下次來喝。我得趕緊回去沖印出來，所謂先睹為快?！?/p>
周寒冰雖覺遺憾，卻很理解他，一直把裘一鳴送到門口。
送走裘一鳴后，周寒冰才發(fā)現(xiàn)裘一鳴為拍攝到理想的荷花圖，做了不少所謂的藝術(shù)加工，諸如這盆摘掉一柄荷葉，那盆剪掉一朵荷花插在這盆里，或者剪了幾盆的蓮子，集中插一盆中……
周寒冰對(duì)荷花感情之深，有如生命，他甚至連殘荷都輕易不剪枝修葉，沒想到裘一鳴他會(huì)如此對(duì)待神圣的荷花。周寒冰對(duì)他的好印象一下喪失殆盡。周寒冰氣呼呼地回到屋里把為裘一鳴泡的荷香茶潑了，心里想，幸虧他沒喝，他這種人不配喝荷香茶。
荷香茶
The Lotus-Scented Tea
Having dwelled in Gumiaozhen Town for several generations, the Zhous used to be a rich and influential family. By the time Zhou Hanbing’s father inherited the family estate, the household had come down in the world. Fortunately, his father has left a one-storied house to him. Being an old house, it is not attractive in appearance but it has a large courtyard. With a pond in it, the courtyard now still faintly reveals the remaining charm of a private garden which existed a long time ago.
Zhou Hanbing is very fond of Ode to the Lotus Flowers written by Zhou Dunyi (a philosopher of the Northern Song Dynasty). He feels proud of this famous writer who wrote the beautiful prose. Though he has failed to find out, through repeated research, any written evidence that he is a real descendant of Zhou Dunyi, he still considers himself a spiritual descendant of this great writer.
Ever since he had this idea in mind, he has spent all his spare time on lotus growing. He has had the silted-up pond expanded horizontally and vertically and then, with the mud dredged from the pond, he has heaped up the earthen slope. He has planted plum trees on the slope and grows lotus in the pond. When spring begins, he enjoys the scene of ‘a(chǎn) new bud has just appeared in the shape of a tiny spearhead, whereas a dragonfly is already resting on this nice point.’ At the beginning of summer, he is intoxicated with the artistic ambience of ‘the lotus flowers in the sun appearing especially red.’ In late autumn, he savours the pleasure of ‘listening to the sound of rain pattering on withered lotus leaves.’
Gradually, Zhou Hanbing became less and less satisfied with the state of growing a pond of only ordinary lotus. He began to seek rare species of lotus. As hard work always yields results, he has found one after another valuable species such as Large Blotched, Heavy Lotus, Twin Flowers on One Stalk, Red Chiba, Longevity Peach, Thousand Petals, Big Lotus and Sino-Japanese Friendship Lotus. The species called Large Blotched has large flowers, overpowering scent and unique colour — its white petals are rimmed with red. All these splendid features make it appear as the queen of lotus. Zhou’s affection for lotus, the noble flower which stands straight and gracefully and spreads its sweet scent quite far, grows stronger and stronger. His fondness of lotus extends and he also loves its analogue — nelumbo nucifera. He grows one pot after another of this tiny lotus. The rare species he has collected include ‘Snow White’, ‘Charming Visitor’, ‘Baby Lotus’ and ‘Drunken Cup’. Several years’ collection and cultivation have seen lotus growing everywhere in Zhou’s home: in the courtyard, in the pond, on the windowsills as well as on his desk. Big or small, there are altogether more than 100 pots of lotus in his home. Every year when summer is changing into autumn, it is an immense pleasure for him to appreciate the beauty of lotus by viewing their leaves and flowers.
Hanging on the wall of his living room are three paintings — ‘Lotus Flowers Painted in Black Ink’, ‘The Picture of Lotus Flowers’ and ‘The boundless green of lotus leaves stretches far into the horizon’. Photographs of lotus flowers which have come from his own camera are placed under the glass top of his desk. He asked a famous calligrapher named Su Renwang, who is his fellow townsman, to write an inscription for his home which he calls ‘the House of National Flowers’. This name is a clear indication of the fact that the owner of the house is an authentic lotus lover.
As a saying goes, “Things of a kind come together, people of a mind fall into the same group.” Zhou has made friends with a group of lotus lovers. When lotus flowers are in full blossom, they often have casual get-togethers to feast their eyes on lotus flowers. Occasionally, there are people of the art and literary circles who, attracted to Zhou’s lotus garden by its reputation, have come from other cities to delight in viewing Zhou’s lotus flowers.
Whenever he has visitors, Zhou always brews best-quality Biluochun tea to treat his guests. If the visitor is a rare guest and also an unsophisticated person and if Zhou is informed of his coming three days in advance, he will prepare lotus-scented tea to treat this guest.
It is said that lotus-scented tea was invented by Ni Yunlin, a famous painter of the Yuan Dynasty.
Zhou waits until the darkness of night has prevailed in the sky and the heat in the air has dissipated. Then he gets a pinch of Longjing tea leaves and use a piece of clean gauze to wrap these leaves. He selects a lotus flower which has just bloomed in the morning and places the ‘tea-bag’ on top of the pistil. A lotus flower opens in the morning and closes at night. So if the ‘tea-bag’ is placed on top of the pistil in the evening, the tea leaves will soon be wrapped by the petals. Next day on early morning the ‘tea-bag’ will be taken out when the flower is in full bloom. Tea leaves have a specific property of absorbing a strange odour and Longjing tea leaves top others in this respect. This tiny bag of Longjing tea leaves, having breathed in and out overnight, has absorbed the fragrance of a lotus flower and has also taken in the moisture of dew which stayed on the petals. The wet ‘tea-bag’ can be air-dried in a shady and cool spot. When evening comes it will be placed on top of the pistil of a newly opened lotus flower; the next morning it will be taken out from inside the flower and then air-dried. The whole process will be repeated and when the third night is past, the Longjing tea leaves have not only absorbed the lotus aroma but also breathed in the essence of the universe. As soon as clean boiling water is poured into the container with this tea-bag in it, a delicate fragrance will assail the nostrils. The tea gives out the smell of fragrant lotus flowers. A sip of it makes you feel refreshed all over your body. Even the most choosy, experienced tea lovers very often cannot stop praising this unique tea.
The lotus-scented tea is a seasonal delicacy. Therefore, not many people have had the luck of tasting it in Zhou Hanbing’s home.
One day Qiu Yiming, a photographer from Louchen made a telephone call to Zhou Hanbing, saying that he would like to visit Zhou’s home to take photographs of lotus flowers.
Qiu Yiming is especially good at photography involving flowers, birds, fish and insects. His photos, still-life photography in particular, have a distinctive style of their own.
The ‘2009 International Lotus-Flower-Themed Photographic Competition’, which is jointly sponsored by various overseas and domestic organizations, is a major international competition. It is surely regarded as very important by Qiu. As still-life photography of flowers is his forte, Qiu is determined to win. It is said that quite a few competitors have swarmed to the Humble Administrator’s Garden in Suzhou or the Little Lotus Village in Nanxun. Qiu was pondering that the lotus flowers in public gardens are too common. Besides, everybody can take pictures of those flowers, thus making their photos lack competitiveness as they are not different from the common run. How to make full use of the characteristic of still life? How to avoid similarities in finding a view to shoot? Qiu Yiming thought of the lotus flowers in Zhou Hanbing’s home. Regarding their relationship, they had met only once and they were only on nodding terms.
However, Qiu reckoned that under certain circumstances a nodding acquaintance might be better than a close relationship, just as the saying goes, “A hedge between keeps friendship green.”
Qiu Yiming has some fame in the art and literary circles of Loucheng. Zhou felt very happy to know that this personage, also a lotus lover, was coming to visit him. He had prepared in advance lotus-scented tea. Now the residents of Gumiaozhen Town have running water to use. Probably because of water pollution, lotus-scented tea brewed by running water does not taste good enough. Therefore, Zhou always uses well water to make this special tea. Of course, according to the conventional practice of ancient people, the best way was to use ‘water without roots’, or in other words, ‘water coming from heaven’. It so happened that there had been rain the day before yesterday and Zhou had collected a jar of summer rain water.
When Qiu Yiming arrived, Zhou was ready to brew lotus-scented tea to treat him. Qiu waved his hand and said: “There is no hurry to drink tea. The morning light is soft and it’s good for taking pictures of lotus flowers with dew. Is it all right to take pictures first and then drink tea?”
This professional dedication of real artists immediately made a good impression on the host. So the two went to the courtyard. Having everything at his fingertips, Zhou told Qiu what species this pot of lotus was and what that one was called; this species was noted for its large-sized flowers and that one was famous for the overpowering fragrance of its flowers, so on and so forth.
Listening to Zhou absent-mindedly, the photographer, like a hawk searching for prey, passed his eyes over each individual leaf and every single flower. Viewing from different angles, he was seeking the best composition for a unique picture to be taken. “Beautiful flowers! Absolutely wonderful!” He was immersed in his own findings and seemed to forget Zhou’s existence.
Zhou did not care about Qiu’s attitude toward him. On the contrary, he considered this to be the kind of infatuation a real artist should have.
It was not until he had snapped several pictures that Qiu found Zhou had been by his side all along. He said to Zhou: “Don’t worry about me. I will be able to concentrate my mind if I take pictures on my own.”
Zhou considered what Qiu had said to be true. In order not to disturb Qiu’s concentration on his work, he quietly went back to his room. He brewed lotus-scented tea and intended to wait for Qiu to come to enjoy the tea together and have a chat as well when the photographer had finished his work.
Two whole hours had passed before Qiu reluctantly came back to the room. His face was beaming with excitement. Looking at the lotus flowers which could be seen everywhere in the courtyard, Qiu uttered: “If I had so many lotus flowers at home and I were able to take several pictures every morning, I would be a damned fool should I fail to win a big prize.”
“You may come to take pictures at any time,” Zhou said in all sincerity.
“I have to go now and I will taste lotus-scented tea next time. I should go home to develop and print the snapshots as soon as possible. This is what we describe as taking delight in seeing unknown treasure first in time.”
Though feeling a little regret, Zhou understood this fellow’s eagerness in seeing his work. He accompanied Qiu to the door.
Only after he had seen Qiu off did he find that this photographer, in order to get ideal pictures of lotus flowers, had done a lot of “artistic treatment”, such as getting rid of a lotus leaf in this pot or cutting a flower and removing it from that pot to another one. Worst of all, he cut lotus pods from several pots to put them together into a single pot.
Zhou cherishes a deep affection for lotus flowers and sees them as his own life. Even with withered lotus plants, he seldom prunes or trims their stems and leaves. He did not expect that this artist would mistreat the sacred lotus flowers. The good impression that Qiu left on him had suddenly vanished. He sailed into his room in a huff and threw away the lotus-scented tea he had made for Qiu. He said to himself: “Luckily he didn’t drink it. This type of person does not deserve to enjoy this noble tea.”
藥膳大師(小說)
凌鼎年
在婁城餐飲界，有個(gè)不成文的規(guī)矩：凡開張飯店的，你不請(qǐng)市里的頭兒腦兒可以，不請(qǐng)場(chǎng)面上露臉的那些款爺富婆可以，但假如你不請(qǐng)戚夢(mèng)簫光臨，不請(qǐng)他說幾句好聽的，那我敢打賭，你這飯店的生意必好不到哪兒去。
為何?
難道說這戚夢(mèng)簫比市長(zhǎng)還市長(zhǎng)，比書記還書記?
嗨，你還真的說對(duì)了一半，戚夢(mèng)簫在餐飲界的知名度牛著呢，外號(hào)“美食家”。據(jù)說其祖父是清朝皇宮里的御廚，其父親曾是上海國(guó)際飯店特聘掌廚。他本人呢，雖不是啥名廚，卻整理出版過一本《婁城歷代名菜譜》，還被《美食家》雜志特聘為刊物顧問，連省電視臺(tái)攝像人員也專程到婁城為他拍攝了《婁城美食家》的專題片。
由于他有如此知名度，婁城的那些老饕們自然十分注意他的動(dòng)向，他不肯捧場(chǎng)的飯店，他們自然也極少光臨。如果戚夢(mèng)簫在哪個(gè)飯桌上哪個(gè)場(chǎng)合說了某某廚師，或某某菜味道不錯(cuò)，那必有不少人會(huì)慕名去嘗一嘗。影響最大的一招是戚夢(mèng)簫閑來無事時(shí)還會(huì)寫篇千把字文，或介紹一只傳統(tǒng)名菜、或介紹一道特色名點(diǎn)，文中間或還會(huì)批評(píng)、表揚(yáng)一兩家飯店或起色了或滑坡了，這就使得戚夢(mèng)簫的一言一行在一定程度上影響著婁城的餐飲界。因此，賓館、飯店、酒家的老板誰不巴結(jié)他?只要他一到，“戚老，戚老”“老法師”“美食家”之稱呼就不絕于耳，必上最好的菜，最靚的湯，讓他品評(píng)，請(qǐng)他指點(diǎn)，唯恐怠慢了他，得罪了他。
卻偏偏有不識(shí)相，不拎行情的。這不，剛開張的大學(xué)士街的“王記藥膳菜館”，竟沒有請(qǐng)戚夢(mèng)簫。
據(jù)知內(nèi)情人透露，開張前有人提議不請(qǐng)誰都可以，戚夢(mèng)簫是非請(qǐng)不可的，誰知菜館的總經(jīng)理王一脈竟然大言不慚說：“酒香不怕巷子深”，似乎對(duì)戚夢(mèng)簫不屑一顧。
“王記藥膳菜館”的反常舉動(dòng)引起了媒體的好奇，他們很想知道菜館吸引顧客的絕招何在，就去采訪了王一脈。
王一脈告知記者：四百多年前李時(shí)珍來婁城拜訪其先祖王世貞時(shí)，請(qǐng)王世貞為《本草綱目》寫序，這本《本草綱目》在王世貞處一放就放了十年，直到1590年王世貞臨死前才看完了全書，寫出了序言。其實(shí)有一個(gè)細(xì)節(jié)外人不知，王世貞請(qǐng)人抄錄了其中的藥膳部分，共有400多個(gè)食療醫(yī)方呢，這個(gè)食療醫(yī)方成了他們王家的傳家寶。現(xiàn)在傳到了他手里，他正是根據(jù)這些食療醫(yī)方才開這爿藥膳館的——哇，來頭還不小呢，老記者們一個(gè)個(gè)頓時(shí)來了興趣，要請(qǐng)王總經(jīng)理詳談一下有關(guān)藥膳知識(shí)。
誰知這一問，問到了王一脈的脈上，他侃侃而談起來，什么“虛者補(bǔ)之”“實(shí)者瀉之”“寒者熱之”“熱者寒之”；什么“肺宜辛，心宜甘，脾宜苦，肝宜酸，腎宜咸”；什么“春不食肝，夏不食心，秋不食肺，冬不食腎”……
一套一套的，聽得見多識(shí)廣的老記者們也一愣一愣的。王一脈趁熱打鐵，邀請(qǐng)老記者們吃一頓便飯，嘗一嘗他的手藝，免得被人說“天橋的把式——光說不練?！?/p>
老記者們已被他說得口水都要滴出來了，都說：“你不請(qǐng)我們吃，我們也不走了?！?/p>
王一脈叫手下端來了玉米須燉龜、姜汁拌海螺、泥鰍鉆豆腐、百合鯉魚、天冬燉雞、陳皮扒鴨掌、杜仲腰花、荸薺獅子頭、枸杞汁熏麻雀；素菜類有琥珀蓮子、冬菇蘿卜球、口蘑椒油小白菜、釀煎青椒、韭菜炒胡桃、葵花豆腐；還有竹蓀芙蓉湯與茯苓烙餅小點(diǎn)心，最后上了芡實(shí)粉與山藥粥各一盆。
吃得老記者們一個(gè)個(gè)都說：“味道好極了!”
王一脈呢在邊上介紹如何選料、用料、配料，如何掌握刀法、器具、火候，如何做到形、色、香、味俱全，還一口氣說了要“不偏不倚，不過不離，不韌不糜，不老不嫩，不堅(jiān)不滑，不燥不寒，不澀不膩，不咸不淡，不艷不暗，不大不小”，聽得老記者們個(gè)個(gè)目瞪口呆，其中一個(gè)專跑飲食條線的老記者由衷地說道：“你王總才是真正的美食家，今天我們算是開了眼界，享了口福，飽了耳福?！?/p>
第二天，市報(bào)上一篇《訪藥膳大師王一脈》的專訪登了將近半版，還配發(fā)了照片。
電視臺(tái)則在《生活》欄播放了《別具一格的藥膳菜》；電臺(tái)則播了《真正的美食家王一脈訪談錄》；網(wǎng)站還把“陳皮野兔肉”“田七雞雜燉鯽魚”“東坡童子甲魚”“綠豆湯西瓜盅”“蟹黃魚翅”“當(dāng)歸枸杞雞”“壯陽烏龜湯”等盆菜的照片也上了網(wǎng)。
這股宣傳勢(shì)頭使得“王記藥膳菜館”一時(shí)名聲大噪，食客盈門。
戚夢(mèng)簫原本以為王記藥膳菜館早晚會(huì)請(qǐng)他的，但現(xiàn)在看來這種可能性很小很小，他有點(diǎn)坐不住了。他是個(gè)吃遍婁城皆上賓的美食家，現(xiàn)在如此美食品嘗不到，他渾身難受。從另一方面講，他也實(shí)在想去實(shí)地看一看、品一品，到底是名大于實(shí)呢，還是實(shí)大于名，可他又實(shí)在不好意思自己跑上門去吃?？偹阌腥丝闯隽说赖?，請(qǐng)了戚夢(mèng)簫去品嘗藥膳菜。
戚夢(mèng)簫去之前，特地翻了唐代孟洗的《食療本草》、南唐陳士良的《食性本草》、明代汪穎的《食物本草》等，以防到時(shí)出洋相。
無論怎么說，戚夢(mèng)簫乃老吃客了，嘴早吃得極刁極刁，但當(dāng)他品嘗了百花魚肚、香酥飛龍、柳蒸羊羔、蝴蝶海參、鹵猴頭菌、燕窩人參羹等藥膳菜后，一語不發(fā)。席散后，他突然大喊道：“你們把老板叫出來!”
請(qǐng)客者驀然一驚，怕戚夢(mèng)簫說出些不得體的話來，忙說：“戚老，你今天喝多了，走吧，走吧?！?/p>
哪想到戚夢(mèng)簫堅(jiān)持不肯走，非要見王一脈不可。
王一脈見是戚夢(mèng)簫，忙說：“失敬失敬!”
戚夢(mèng)簫也不客套，直截了當(dāng)說：“虛頭話不說了，拿筆墨來!”
筆墨拿上來后，戚夢(mèng)簫略一凝神，提筆寫下了“良廚有如良醫(yī)，誠(chéng)藥膳大師也”。落上款后，他筆一扔，頭也不回地走了。
藥膳大師
The Medicated Diet Master
In Loucheng catering circles there is an unwritten convention: when a restaurant is going to open for business, it is acceptable not to invite leaders of the municipal government to the dinner table for the celebration; it is also no problem not to invite those male and female moneybags who love to make a public appearance.
However, if you do not invite Qi Mengxiao to be present at the dinner party, nor do you ask him to say some fine words, I bet that the business of your restaurant is to be far from good.
Why?
Is Qi Mengxiao more powerful than the mayor? Is he more influential than the Party secretary?
Hey, you almost put it right! His fame in the catering circles is so high that he has earned the nickname “Gourmet”. It is said that his grandfather was an imperial chef in the palace of the Qing Dynasty and his father was specially hired as the chief cook by the Shanghai International Hotel. Though Qi himself is not anything like a famous chef, he has compiled and published a cookbook entitled “Loucheng’s Famous Recipes of All Ages”. He has been invited to be a consultant by the Gourmet Magazine. Even the cameraman of the provincial TV station made a special trip to Loucheng to shoot a television special about him which was named “The Gourmet of Loucheng”.
As Qi is so famous in Loucheng, those gourmands in this city naturally pay much attention to what he is up to. If a restaurant failed to get his support, it was only natural that this restaurant would be rarely visited by those people. If Qi, on this or that occasion, praised a chef or said that he had found a dish quite delicious, there would be many people who were attracted to the restaurant where that chef was cooking or that particular dish was on its menu. The most influential thing is his one-thousand-character essays which he writes in his spare time. In his essays he either introduces a traditional dish or recommends a specialty delicacy. Between the lines he may say something about one or two restaurants, praising a restaurant for making progress in its cooking skill or criticizing another for going downhill in its cuisine. All this has made what Qi says and does, to a certain extent, produce an impact on the catering circles of Loucheng City. Among the bosses of guesthouses, hotels and restaurants, which of them did not try to carry favour with him? Every time he comes to attend a dinner party, various respectful forms of address such as “venerable Qi”, “revered old Qi”, “Old Master” and “Gourmet”, one after another can be heard. Well-prepared dishes and very nice soups are presented to him for appraisal and advice. All these have to be done for fear that he might find them lacking in proper etiquette and respect.
Nobody expected that there would be somebody who was so tactless as not to follow the herd. Here it is: the newly opened Mr Wang’s Medicated Food Restaurant on Daxieshi Street, to everyone’s surprise, did not invite Qi Mengxiao.
It was revealed by an insider that before the restaurant began doing business somebody made a suggestion that it would be alright not to invite anybody else but Qi Mengxiao. He was the only one who should be invited. Quite unexpectedly, Wang Yimai, the general manager of the restaurant bragged unblushingly: “Good wine sells well even deep in an outlying lane.” It seemed as if Wang Yimai regarded Qi Mengxiao as unworthy of notice.
The unusual behaviour of Mr Wang’s Medicated Food Restaurant aroused the curiosity of the media. They were eager to know what kind of secret recipe this restaurant had to attract customers and interviewed him.
Mr Wang told the journalists such a story: More than 400 years ago when Li Shizhen came to Loucheng to visit Mr Wang’s ancestor— Wang Shizhen (a famous writer of the Ming Dynasty), the former asked the latter to write a preface to his book “Compendium of Materia Medica” (a classical work on Chinese materia medica compiled by Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty). This book remained idle in Wang Shizhen’s home for 10 years. It was not until the year 1590 when Wang Shizhe was approaching his end that he had just finished reading it and wrote the preface. As a matter of fact, there was a detail which was unknown by outsiders. Wang Shizhen asked someone to copy out from the book the medicated diet part. This part contained altogether over 400 food therapy prescriptions and became an heirloom of the Wang Family. It has now passed on to Mr. Wang. Based on these food therapy prescriptions he has established this medicated food restaurant. —Wow, what strong backing he has! The interest of all the senior journalists present was immediately aroused. They asked General Manager Wang to give a detailed account of what medicated food was.
By coincidence their query happened to be his favourite topic. He began to talk with ease and assurance. First he talked about various therapies: diseases of the deficiency type should be treated with replenishing methods; a sickness coming from overeating should be treated by a formula for purgation; symptoms caused by cold factors should be treated by giving thermal therapy; a heat syndrome should be treated with drugs of a cold nature. Then he related what kind of food was good for our organs: pungent food is good for the lung; sweet food for the heart; bitter food for the spleen; sour food for the liver; salty food for the kidney. He also stated what food should be abstained from what season: no animal livers in spring; no animal hearts in summer; no animal lungs in autumn; no animal kidneys in winter, and so on and so forth. One theory after another was released. Even those senior journalists who were experienced and knowledgeable were stunned by what they heard. Seizing time by the forelock, Mr Wang invited the journalists to have an informal dinner to test his cooking skill. He did not want other people to regard him as something like “the masters in Tianqiao, all for show and no real stuff.”
The journalists, whose mouths were already watering after hearing his narration, said in chorus: “Even if you didn’t invite us, we wouldn’t leave.”
Mr Wang told his assistants to bring in a variety of dishes. They were stewed turtle with corn tassel, loach dipped into bean curd, carp cooked with lily bulbs, stewed chicken with lucid asparagus, braised duck webs seasoned with dried tangerine peel, stir-fried pork kidney with bark of eucommia, meatballs containing water chestnut, smoked sparrows seasoned with Chinese wolfberry juice. There were also dishes mainly made of vegetables, i.e. lotus seeds cooked to have an amber appearance, meatballs containing mushroom and radish, green pepper stuffed with minced pork, stir-fried chives and walnuts, bean curd dotted with sunflower seeds. The dishes were followed by two desserts: bamboo fungus and egg soup, Fuling pancake. The last presented to the dinner table were a bowl of porridge of seed powder of gordon euryale and a bowl of Chinese yam porridge.
The journalists were so impressed by the food that they all uttered: “The taste is marvellous indeed!”
Standing by the dinner table, Mr Wang explained to them how to select, use and assort food ingredients; how to bring into full play the skill with kitchen knives; how to make better use of cooking utensils and how to control the strength and duration of fire in cooking; how to make every dish superb in appearance, colour, smell and taste. Then he rattled off the importance of being “just right in taste and flavour”, ‘just right in cuisine and food”, “neither tough nor pulpy”, “neither overdone nor too rare”, “neither using foodstuffs which may cause indigestion nor selecting anything that may induce lientery”, “neither containing food ingredients which may produce dry heat nor adding anything that may bring coldness into the body”, “neither acerbic nor greasy”, “just right in saltiness”, “neither too bright nor too dark”, “neither too big nor too small”, etc. Mr Wang’s narration dumbfounded all the listeners. One of them, a senior journalist who specialised in writing reports on catering topics said sincerely: “It is you, General Manager Wang, who can be regarded as a real epicure. Today’s experience is an eye-opener to us. Today we not only have the luck to enjoy delicious food but also have the gratification of listening to a wonderful lecture on food and cooking.”
On the following day a special article after the interview appeared in the city newspaper. Entitled “Interviewing Medicated Diet Master Wang Yimai”, this article occupied nearly half a page with photos attached.
The local TV station broadcasted in its “Life forum” a program “The Medicated Diet with a Unique Style”. The radio station put on air “An Interview with a Real Epicure Wang Yinai”. A website demonstrated to viewers various photos such as “hare’s meat seasoned with dried tangerine peel”, “braised crucian carp and chicken giblets mixed with pseudo-ginseng”, “Dongpo-style stewed young turtle”, “mung bean soup contained in the rind of half a watermelon”, “braised golden crab-spawn and shark’s fin”, “chicken cooked with Chinese angelica and barbary wolfberry fruit”, “tortoise soup for producing a viagra-like effect”.
This momentum of publicity has helped Mr Wang’s Medicated Food Restaurant shoot to fame overnight, and thus making it packed with customers.
Originally Qi Mengxiao had thought that Mr Wang’s Medicated Food Restaurant would invite him to its dinner table. However, it appeared that the possibility of his being invited was very slim. He began to fidget at this awkward situation. He is a gourmet who had tasted every delicious food which could be found on the menu of this or that restaurant in Loucheng and who had been treated by all the restaurants in this city as a distinguished guest. Now he did not have the luck to taste such wonderful food. He was feeling completely uncomfortable. On the other hand, deep in his mind he was anxious to go to that restaurant to have a look and try the taste of its food. He was eager to make an assessment to find out in this case whether the facts spoke louder than the fame, or vice versa. However, he would feel embarrassed to go to the restaurant on his own and dine there. Finally someone figured out what was in his mind and invited him to go to taste the medicated food.
In order to avoid making a spectacle of himself, Qi Mengxiao, before going there, specially skimmed through some ancient books, such as “Treatise on Dietetic Therapy” compiled by Meng Xi of the Tang Dynasty, “Treatise on Medicated Food” compiled by Cheng Shiliang of the Southern Tang Period, “Foodstuffs and Beverages with Medical Effects” compiled by Wang Ying of the Ming Dynasty.
Anyhow, Qi Mengxiao, being a fastidious eater, has long been extremely picky about what he eats. However, he kept silent after tasting the following medicated food presented to him: stir-fried fish maw arranged in the shape of flowers, crisp fried hazel grouse, steamed lamb fillet, stewed sea cucumber arranged in the shape of butterflies, spiced pot-stewed hedgehog fungus, esculent swift’s nest and sea cucumber broth. When the dinner was over, he suddenly let out a loud cry: “Tell the boss to come here!”
Stunned by the abrupt yelling, the host, for fear that Qi would make inappropriate remarks, hastened to say to him: “Mr Qi, you have drunk too much. Let’s go. Please go!”
The host did not expect his guest would firmly refuse to go. The latter said: “I won’t go unless Wang Yimai comes to see me.”
Seeing that it was Qi Mengxiao who wanted to see him, Mr Wang immediately said: “Sorry for being unable to greet you earlier.”
Not standing on ceremony, Qi said straightforwardly: “I am not going to say any polite formulas. Please bring me a writing brush and ink.”
The stationery was presented to Mr Qi. Holding the writing brush, he concentrated for a while and then wrote down: “A good medicated food chef is like a good physician. Your are really a medicated diet master!” Having signed his name, he left the restaurant without looking back to say anything.
