I am a Gansu native, a northwest girl born and raised on the high loess slopes.

I feel ashamed to say that I have never visited many places in Gansu. This is my second time to Lanzhou. As a province that always drags down the country’s GDP, we Gansu people always encounter some doubts about children’s shoes that have not learned geography well.

"Which province is Gansu in?"

"Isn't Lanzhou a province?"

"What? Lanzhou is in Gansu?"

"Are you short of water? Do you live in the desert?"

In an underdeveloped place, it is inevitable that people will be misunderstood and discriminated against. But poverty cannot erase the various charms of a place. On the contrary, I think it is the underdevelopment of a city that can better preserve its original flavor. The rural and the modern need to be reconciled.

Lanzhou, it is not an exaggeration to call it a city that lives in the cracks.

A long city grew out of a gap in the bare mountains, relying on the water of the Yellow River. Looking down at the night sky, where the lights flickered, there must be fireworks on earth.

The first time I went to Lanzhou was in the third grade of junior high school, to take the exam for the High School Affiliated to Northwest Normal University. I didn't pass the exam. I only remember writing a solution under each question on the math paper. Except for the exam that ended in a hurry, Lanzhou in my memory was digging and expanding roads everywhere, and then there was a traffic jam and I missed my car home. This time I went to Lanzhou and was still digging and building the subway. It has been four years since.

The moment I walked out of the airport, I told my friend who picked me up that Lanzhou was still the same. It hadn’t changed at all. As usual, my heart was frozen. As usual, I couldn’t wait for the bus. When I waited, I couldn’t squeeze in, but it still cost one dollar. Sit wherever you want, it's very friendly.

This time I went to Lanzhou to see the Yellow River, eat beef noodles, drink mutton soup, and meet good friends.

Perhaps it’s because I’m originally from the northwest, and I’m used to the loess and water in the northwest, the slightly harsh accent in the northwest, and the bald mountains as far as the eye can see, especially the evergreen pines and cypresses in winter. My head turned khaki and I was used to being dirty and poor, so I joked that I had no travel experience at all in Lanzhou.

So what?

Friends who have been together for ten years are here, curling up in bed and watching movies together, sharing each other's lipstick before going out, making skewers and eating hot pot together, no need for any travel guide, no need for any politeness. No small talk is needed.

I am very at ease with everything.

During the ten days we stayed in Lanzhou, except for the last day when we were driving, my friend and I never left the house before 12 noon. The reason is laziness and coldness.

The temperature difference is huge in the northwest, and the temperature difference in Lanzhou is even greater than that of my home. If you come to Gansu in summer, you must eat Yellow River honey, the sweetness will penetrate your heart, then drink Yellow River beer, and then lean on the Zhongshan Bridge and listen to people shouting and bragging.

The northwest in winter is a different feeling. The already bald Baita Mountain appears whiter and less green. The water of the Yellow River at the foot of the mountain is blue, paired with the Iron Bridge over the Yellow River, and the whistling north wind makes it very solemn and depressing.

The temperature in the northwest is not as low as in the northeast, but the wind in the northwest can drill into people's bones, cut off their ears, and turn their faces red from the cold.

When the sun shines in in the early morning in winter, you don’t feel much temperature, just light. Small icicles can form on the glass if you breathe.

It gets much warmer at noon, which is suitable for going out and doing activities. Pedestrians on the road are tightly wrapped, and large cotton-padded jackets and masks are standard equipment. People who are exposed for extended periods of time must have earmuffs and gloves.

When I was in Lanzhou, I was rocking a single woolen jacket and threatened that I would never go out without a warm vest. A little cutie gave me his own warm jacket, haha!

Tell me about a small warm vest.

I have never liked wearing warm clothes, which made me uncomfortable and unable to eat. So, when my friends and I go out to eat, they make sure I wear a warm vest, so that I can save everyone food and drink!

In Xiguan at night, there are stalls everywhere with shiny glass lamps. The young stall girls wear coquettish makeup, with flat eyebrows, thick black eyelashes, turned-up noses and red lips. She is delicate but not pretentious, her voice is very caring and her tone is full of Lanzhou dialect, and most men from the south of the Yangtze River cannot afford to offend her or bring her down.

When I go out in Lanzhou, I usually eat a bowl of beef noodles to fill my stomach first. As one of the three major food giants in the country - Lanzhou Ramen, Braised Chicken and Rice, and Shaxian Snacks, Lanzhou Ramen is considered a favorite among many people. I know Lanzhou.

But no one in Gansu calls Lanzhou beef noodles Lanzhou noodles, just beef noodles. What's more, Lanzhou Ramen and beef noodles are two different things.

I was also surprised after going to Nanjing that Lanzhou Ramen can be added with ingredients such as tomatoes, eggs, and pickled vegetables. The noodles are different and the taste is completely different.

The noodles of beef noodles range from thick to thin, second-thin, third-thin, thin, capillary, and have a buckwheat rib; from wide to narrow, there are large-wide, second-wide, and leek leaves.

Buckwheat ribs are like triangular prisms. I have never eaten them before and always found them difficult to digest. This time I had a bowl of buckwheat ribs on the recommendation of a friend. It was not as hard as expected and was very chewy; I I don’t like to eat capillaries, they are too thin, about the thickness of 4 or 5 hairs put together, and the noodles are smeared in the soup before I take two bites. The width of leek leaves is about the same as that of leek leaves, so it is suitable for people with poor digestion. People eat.

You can also eat beef noodles dry. Sprinkle some oil on the noodles. The process is the same as the soup, except that the soup is in another small bowl. It is also delicious when mixed. It is ok if it is too hot in summer. Eat dry.

Beef noodles should be one clear, two white, three red, four green and five yellow.

The soup is a clear soup made from beef bones;

The white radish slices are used to remove the mutton. I like to eat the thick radish in the soup. I don’t want the meat. Ask for more radish slices;

Red is red oil spicy food. After buying a ticket, there is a super big bowl to hold the oily spicy food. The chef takes a long spoon and draws a parabola, and there is a big bowl. A touch of red;

Green is chopped green onion, and I like noodles with a lot of chopped green onion.

Yellow is the color of the noodles. The master has to pull a ball of noodles many times, and finally wraps it in his hands several times. The ring noodles are extremely long, which also tests the skill of the ramen chef.

When we eat noodles, we like to eat them with raw garlic and garlic sprouts. Although the taste is very strong in our mouth after eating, it is spicy and spicy, which is perfect with noodles.

Of course, you can have a few side dishes and a braised egg to eat. I like to put the egg in a bowl and eat it with the soup. The small pieces of beef in the bowl are not enough to fill your teeth. I will come back if I have more money. A plate of beef, this is called meat and eggs, life is perfect.

If you go to Lanzhou, there is a three-story super large beef noodle shop called Yunfeng Beef Ramen by the Yellow River at Zhongshan Bridge.

I would also recommend a beef noodle shop called Tashan Banpo. I fell in love with buckwheat noodles here. I went directly to the second floor to order a set meal, one plate of ordinary beef and one plate of beef shank. An egg, a cup of tea, and a portion of potato slices. The meat is first moistened in the soup. The beef tendon meat melts into small pieces in your mouth, and you eat until your belly is round.

The rice in the northwest is heavy on oil and salt, and the noodles are more oily and spicy. There will be a layer of oil under the plate after finishing the dishes. Friends who like light food may not be used to it.

Lanzhou is quite close to Dingxi. I seriously doubt that all the potatoes from Dingxi are sold to Lanzhou. The streets are full of potato cubes, small potatoes, potato chips, and fried potatoes.

I recommend Masan potato slices, ten potato slices, ten bean skins, a bowl of wide noodles, add a portion of pancake, put the potato slices into the pancake, it is oily and spicy, and delicious on earth. In Lanzhou, I ate five meals of potato chips, and my friends laughed at me for not seeing the world.

Every city has a so-called snack street. Confucius Temple in Nanjing, Muslim Street in Xi'an, Hubu Lane in Wuhan, and Hefang Street in Hangzhou. Lanzhou is no exception. After 10 pm in the winter in Lanzhou, few stores are closed, but Lanzhou Zhengning Road Night Market is still steaming at 12 pm. The night market usually starts around dusk when there are sporadic lights on the streets, and all the stalls are opened by Hui people.

Small potatoes are soft and spicy, just right to resist the cold; in general, sweet sauce is brushed on grilled rice cakes in places, but in Lanzhou you can brush spicy sauce; in winter, you can eat stir-fried jelly and stuffed skin, and in summer, you can eat jelly fish and fish to relieve the heat. Good, but I think the fried jelly is not as delicious as my roadside stall.

When you go to Zhengning Road, you must drink fermented glutinous rice with milk and eggs, otherwise your trip will be in vain.

Ever since the milk and egg glutinous rice made by Grandpa Whitebeard was featured in "A Bite of China", there have been several more milk and egg glutinous rice stores in the night market, and more and more people are queuing up.

Boil a small pot of milk, beat three eggs into it, and finally sprinkle with raisins, chopped peanuts, and sesame seeds. Drink a hot bowl, lick the corners of your mouth, and walk out comfortably with a shy belly. Oil paper shed.

There are many local goods on Zhengning Road. Dongguo pear can be regarded as rock sugar snow pear. Put the large rock sugar and pears in the hot pot and heat them together.

It reminds me that when I had a cold when I was a child, my mother would always wake me up in the middle of the night to eat steamed pear flesh. My favorite drink was the sweet water at the bottom of the bowl to moisten the lungs and relieve coughs.

For soft pears, freeze the pears and hide them in the cellar. When you buy them and defrost them in a heating room, the pears will become soft and watery. The effect is similar to that of winter pears. ?

There is a Nature Barbecue near the night market. The first recommendation is the grilled chicken feet, which amazes everyone. The chicken feet are cooked to perfection, sprinkled with chili noodles, brushed with oil and grilled, they melt in your mouth and the bones can be picked clean in your mouth. If it's too spicy, I'll drink a bowl of mutton soup, take a bite of fried pancakes, and take a sip of Huanghe beer. Is there anything else in the world that I can’t imagine!

There is a milk tea shop on Zhengning Road that I like very much, called Fangha.

Fangha means letting go in our case. Have a drink and let it go, then let it go when you go out, let go of the past unwillingness, let go of all the unbearable things, the crazy man drinks and sheds tears, the resentful woman cuts off the love with a knife, the sinner changes his mind and starts over.

I think there is a reason why he is called Fangha.

His specialty is sweet milk tea, which contains wine bran. Whether in winter or summer, it is only available cold and with ice, and large bowls are cheap. A full cup of 500ML costs 13 yuan more. Drink it to the point of feeling chilled, drink it to despair, and then let it go, let go of the depression in your heart. During the few days I was in Lanzhou, whenever I passed by Fangha, I would buy a drink.

In addition to the signature sweet milk tea, I also like the names of their other drinks.

Blue Lanzhou, black Lanzhou, red and black, three forts. There seems to be unknown stories in the streets and alleys in every cup, mixed with the Yellow River water and the soil of Tashan Mountain, mixed into a cup of bitter water mixed with the cold northwest wind to make you drunk.

It is true that the folk customs in the northwest are tough.

If we say that high-rise buildings are no match for Xi'an, if we talk about neon lights, they are no match for one-tenth of Shanghai.

If you talk about feasting, drunkenness, unshaven beards, guessing games and wine, Lanzhou will not be discouraged.

On the first day I went to Lanzhou, I saw a group of gentlemen stripping off and swimming in the Yellow River, while I was wrapped up with only one eye left. Lanzhou dialect is inherently full of evil spirits.

When I was eating in the restaurant, the waiter also spoke in Lanzhou dialect. I always spoke weakly and was a little timid, haha.

In the weather of minus 18 degrees Celsius, an uncle wearing leather pants squatted outside the store and ate beef noodles with green onions. The steam from the hot noodles lingered in the uncle's hair.

Most Gansu smokers must have smoked Lanzhou, so much so that Song Dongye sang in "Miss Dong": "Stranger, please give me a Lanzhou."

Red Lanzhou, yellow Lanzhou, blue Lanzhou, Ruyi purple, black Lanzhou, auspicious and flying Lanzhou. The prices of these 7 or 8 types of cigarettes range from low to high, and the cigarettes carried in your pocket are a symbol of status. Men in the northwest are probably more chauvinistic. They yell and drink outside, but they are just carefully protecting their own face.

Smoking has become a social tool for men. When meeting acquaintances on the street, they always take out the cigarettes in their pockets. No matter whether they smoke or not, the etiquette must be maintained.

I have also heard at adults’ dinner parties that someone has a blue Lanzhou in his left pocket and an auspicious Lanzhou in his right pocket, watching people pass cigarettes.

When I was a child, I always saw my grandma smoking blue Lanzhou. Nowadays, red and blue Lanzhou are rare and have faded out of sight. There are also many roadside aluminum alloy stalls in Lanzhou. The glass is lined with packs of cigarettes and lighters, and there are instant noodles that can be sprinkled with seasoning packets for one yuan.

Times have changed and I rarely see people passing cigarettes to each other on the streets. This is a good thing and a bad thing.

The semi-arid climate in the northwest and strong ultraviolet rays make it easy for people to get dark. Strong men don’t even bother with skin care, they always feel too girly. Therefore, there are mostly men with dark skin.

I saw a tall man wearing Martin boots and a leather coat on the Zhongshan Bridge, who looked like a Westerner. He roared and sang folk songs, while his girlfriend next to him was recording with an adoring look on his face.

I was thinking that this Yellow River water, this iron bridge, this barren mountain, I am afraid that I have long been used to seeing the change of dynasties in the world, the fighting of warriors and horses, the joys and sorrows of separation and reunion.

When I started writing this article yesterday, my classmate said that there was nothing to write about in Lanzhou, just a bowl of noodles, so don’t embarrass yourself if you can’t continue writing. I managed to squeeze out more than 4,000 words.

Lanzhou is different from other cities. It’s really bad when it’s bad, and it’s really good when it’s good. You won’t know until you go there (please go there in the summer).

People complain about the smog in Beijing. In fact, winter smog in the northwest is also serious.

When I passed by Xi'an when I went home last year, the sky was so gray that I couldn't even see the buildings. The same was true in Lanzhou.

This remote city in the northwest, which cannot access the Internet, is having a hard time developing and cannot retain people. But this city is the provincial capital of my hometown, where my best friends live, and where I love to eat chicken feet.

I was chatting with a senior student yesterday, and he said that Lanzhou is like a river.

We are all people who have drank water from the Yellow River.

Well, it was Jianghu in a blink of an eye.

The Yellow River is yellow and the Tashan Mountain is white.

Eat a bowl of beef noodles and a bowl of mutton soup.

Order a cup of Black Lanzhou and another cup of San Paotai.

Go to Lanzhou and listen to "North by Northwest" while standing on the Zhongshan Bridge.

? Author | Hu Ran

Chou Chou pictures | Hu Ran took in Lanzhou