Chapter 285 An unexpected surprise

When Liu Yao saw Ning Xiyue smiling at her, she also smiled back and raised the things in her hands high and asked.

"Xiyue, do you think this fish is better braised or steamed? Is this duck better stewed or fried? Do we not need to catch ducks anymore? Both the fish and duck are very fat, so they should be enough for us to eat."

Before they came, they had already agreed that if they really caught a duck today, the five of them would have dinner together and have a meal together as a preparation for the busy work that was to come.

"This fish weighs more than a pound. You can braise or steam the whole fish. We all like strong flavors, so it will taste better if we add more chili and a stronger flavor. As for the duck, I have an idea. I will braise it with my rice wine. It will definitely taste good. If we add some side dishes, it will definitely be enough for us."

Ning Xiyue has been coveting this duck for a long time. She starts drooling just thinking about it. The bowl of duck meat that Chen Yechu gave her yesterday not only failed to satisfy her craving, but made her even more greedy.

When she arrived here, she saw the meat, which was so delicious that her eyes lit up and she would not want to eat as much as she wanted.

Ning Xiyue looked at the time on her watch again. It was almost four o'clock.

"I think it's almost time, and we've made some gains. Let's stop here today and find a place to process the ducks and fish. Then we can go back and start cooking. How do you think?"

Ning Xiyue looked at everyone and asked.

She had to go to Zhang Jianguo's house to learn how to make wine this afternoon and didn't have much time to hang out outside, so she asked this question.

It would be easier to learn how to brew wine as soon as possible.

"Okay, I'll listen to my little sister. We have fish, ducks and eggs, which is enough." Ning Qingyuan was the first to speak.

Others had the same idea and were easily satisfied, so they all nodded in agreement.

The five people left the reed marsh and found an empty river beach to process the fish and ducks.

The water in this place is very shallow. In most places, the water just covers the ankles, and in slightly deeper places it only reaches the calves. The water is full of rocks and the bottom is clear.

Not far above, there are several large stone piers blocking the water. The stone platform blocking between two of the stone piers is lower, and the water level above is higher than that stone platform. The water flows down like a waterfall.

The water here is constantly flowing, but by the time they reach the riverbank, the flow has slowed down to the point where they can just feel the water flowing slowly.

It is very suitable for them to squat on the river bank to clean fish and ducks. The water is clean and can carry away the blood.

Yu Zhiyu was processing the fish and Ning Qingyuan was processing the ducks.

Three girls were washing snails on the other side.

While Ning Xiyue was washing, she saw something swaying under a stone in the water.

She put down the snail in her hand and walked gently into the water to check.

"Xiyue?"

Liu Yao looked up at Ning Xiyue in confusion, not understanding what she was doing and why she had to go into the water just to wash snails.

Chen Yetu also looked at it curiously.

Ning Xiyue turned her head to look at the two of them, raised her left hand, put her index finger to her lips, and whispered, "Shh, there is something under this stone."

Her other hand pointed to an underwater rock about half a meter in front of her.

Both men turned their attention to the area beneath the rock that was underwater.

Ning Xiyue quietly walked to the back of the stone, slowly squatted down, moved the stone to create a gap, and quickly grabbed the two whiskers and lifted them up.

"Haha, I caught it."

"Crayfish?" Chen Yechu blurted out in surprise, and quite loudly.

"What the hell?"

Liu Yao looked at the little thing in Ning Xiyue's hand, and after hearing Chen Yechu's words, she felt unfamiliar with this thing. The two big claws of this thing were really scary. It hurt so much when it pinched her, just like a crab.

Worriedly reminded: "Xiyue, be careful with your hands, its pincers are moving."

"Um."

As she moved, one of the lobster's tentacles was broken off. Ning Xiyue had to grab the lobster's head with her other hand so that it could neither bite her nor fall off.

As soon as they returned to the shore, Chen Yetu came to her with a basket, waiting eagerly to catch the crayfish.

Ning Xiyue chuckled and put the crayfish in her hand into the basket she was holding.

Liu Yao came over to take a look out of curiosity.

Chen Yechu looked down at the lobster and said excitedly, "This thing tastes good when cooked. Let's look for it. Maybe we can catch a few more. I'll fry them for you when we get back. They're really delicious."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's start looking. If Ye Chu says it's delicious, then it must be delicious. Let's not wash the snails. Go back and wash them slowly and clean them more thoroughly."

As he spoke, Liu Yao had already rolled up his sleeves and walked to the river, moving stones to look for it.

"Okay, let's look for it and put together another dish for tonight."

Ning Xiyue readily agreed, as she also liked eating crayfish.

As soon as she saw the swaying tentacles, she guessed it was a lobster. When she caught it, it turned out to be one. She didn't expect that there would be crayfish in the river in this era. She didn't know which bad guy secretly put it into the river to harm the river and the fields.

This thing has a high survival rate and reproduces quickly. One can create thousands of offspring. Today we must catch more of them, eliminate more pests, and let them waste less water.

Chen Yechu saw the shrimp crawling in the basket and was worried that it would run away: "You guys catch them first, I'd better make a backpack to hold them. I'm afraid the shrimp will crawl out of the basket."

"Just put it in my backpack. A little straw won't be a problem, and it can also block some water." Ning Xiyue brought her backpack over. Hers was the only empty backpack here.

"OK."

Chen Yetu poured the lobsters in the basket into the backpack. The backpack was high and dense, with no gaps, so the lobsters could not escape.

"I caught a big one."

Liu Yao came running over with a large lobster in her hand, looking extremely happy.

"This one is really big, let's catch it quickly."

Ning Xiyue saw that the lobster Liu Yao caught was as big as the two lobsters she had caught just now, so she knew that there were a lot of lobsters in this river. She didn't know how long it took them to grow so big.

Looking at the countless stones in the river, Ning Xiyue's eyes lit up.

Just carry a basket and go into the water and start working.

Chen Yetu temporarily freed up another basket containing snails and couldn't wait to go into the water with the basket.

On the other side, Ning Qingyuan, who had just come back from collecting firewood to pick the fur on the ducks, saw the three people standing in the river. He touched Yu Zhiyu, who was lighting a fire with a match, and asked him.

"Hey, what are they doing in the river? All three of them ran into the river."

Yu Zhiyu looked at Chen Yechu, who was moving stones in the river with his hands bent over his waist, with a smile in his eyes: "What are you looking for crayfish? Yechu said they are delicious, so they all went down to look for them."

"Then let's quickly catch the duck and help us look for it."

"good."

Yu Zhiyu lit the fire in a few seconds.

Ning Qingyuan held the duck's two feet with one hand and clamped the duck's head with a half-broken branch with the other hand. He lifted the duck onto the fire and turned it over to roast. A burnt smell of burnt duck fur came out.

The small fluff that could not be plucked off the whole duck was burnt clean by the fire, leaving the duck slightly charred.

"I'll put out the fire."

Yu Zhiyu nodded, covered the sparks with soil, and buried the ashes underground.

Ning Qingyuan carried the duck to the water's edge. After crossing the water, the duck's body was much cleaner, with only one or two spots left that were burnt yellow by the fire.

Once it was clean, I took out a wood-chopping knife and started to cut open the duck.

After the internal organs were taken out, Yu Zhiyu and Ning Qingyuan cleaned them together.

The two of them worked together and quickly prepared the duck and fish. They added the coarse salt they brought with them, put them in a cloth bag, and put them in the backpack.

After finishing the work, he picked up the backpack and walked towards where the three girls were not far ahead.

Ning Qingyuan shouted towards the riverbank: "Sister, show me what you caught, let's catch it together."

"There are some in the backpack." Ning Xiyue answered without raising her head. She was happily catching lobsters.

There are indeed quite a few lobsters here. There are already more than a dozen lobsters in her basket, as well as some small clam shells that she picked up.

Ning Xiyue picked up a few more small clam shells before looking up at Ning Qingyuan and shouting, "Brother, pick up more small river clams from the river. I want to use their shells to make medicine."

The size of this small river clam shell is just right. After eating its meat, you can use it to fill some plasters, which is convenient for carrying and storage. You can make many ointments at a time. When you give medicine to others, it is great to give them a thumb-sized river clam shell filled with medicine. No waste at all.

"Okay, I'll pick up more."

Ning Qingyuan and Yu Zhiyu saw the lobsters in the basket and after knowing what they looked like, they went down to the river to catch them.

The five people went from catching ducks to catching crayfish and picking small river clams.

What an unexpected surprise.