Compared to Shanghe Village, Zhao Family Village is closer to Cangwu Town, located roughly in the middle of Shanghe Village and Cangwu Town. The terrain there is lower and the water flow is gentler.

After every heavy rain, her father and brother would weave vines into fishing nets and block the downstream of the river, catching one or two fish every now and then.

Of course, the fish they caught weighed at most five or six pounds.

These are worlds apart from what Hua'er caught today.

“Okay.” Su Hua smiled at the woman, made way for her at the stove, and gently instructed, “Sister-in-law, be careful since this is your first time removing fish bones. It’s okay to be slow, just don’t hurt your hands.”

"Okay." Madam Zhao nodded gently and took the kitchen knife.

Then he took out a large grass carp that had been cleaned and gutted from a wooden basin on the ground.

Watching Hua'er take the fish meat, it seemed as if each cut was a dancing blade, but when you actually hold the knife in your own hand, it feels heavy and makes you almost helpless.

She calmed herself down, carefully examined the fish, recalled the girl's actions, moved the knife to the tail, first removed the belly bone, then tore off the skin from the middle, removed the red part under the skin, and then tilted the knife towards the white bar, gently touching the fish bones.

There was a ripping sound.

A neat piece of fish meat separates from the fish bones.

The two brothers stared wide-eyed, wanting to clap, but were silenced after being secretly glared at by Su Dahu.

After Zhao painstakingly removed the fish meat from the whole fish, beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. She smiled shyly at Su Hua and said, "Hua'er, your hands are still too stiff. It took you so long to finish one fish, and the fish meat you cut off looks ugly."

"Sister-in-law, you're being too modest." Su Hua smiled and picked up a piece of fish from the cutting board. "When we make fish balls, we don't need to worry about how pretty the fish is. As long as we make sure all the bones are completely removed, that's fine. It's already amazing that you were able to remove the fish so cleanly the first time you've done it, and in just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea!"

These are not words of comfort, but the absolute truth.

When she first dissected a body with a scalpel in modern times, she cut her hand.

"Hey, I'll get a few more fish then." Upon hearing this, Zhao immediately smiled and deftly took out two more grass carp from the wooden basin. She and Su Hua each took a cleaver and busied themselves on the stove.

The saying "practice makes perfect" is perfectly exemplified here.

Before long, the sizzling sound of fish being cut into pieces rang out.

Seeing that she couldn't help with removing fish bones, Su Bai hurriedly went to prepare scallion and ginger water, egg whites, and pork fat.

Hua'er said that after taking the fish meat, it needs to be washed with scallion and ginger water, otherwise the fish balls will have a bloody taste.

As for the pork fat and egg white, they are used when mincing the fish paste, supposedly to make the fish balls smoother and more bouncy.

Inside the kitchen, the oil lamp cast a dim yellow light. The two sisters-in-law took out fish and meat, Su Baishi and Su Dalang, the three little radish heads, washed the scallions and ginger, and Su Dahu and his two brothers chopped fish paste together with Qian Shi. Every step of the process was carried out in an orderly manner.

As Qian chopped the fish paste, she would occasionally rub her aching wrists.

She glanced at the two sisters-in-law by the stove, rolled her eyes, and thought that although Zhao seemed gentle, she was a wolf in sheep's clothing, always choosing the easiest jobs and trying to please Hua'er.

Su Hua felt the gaze falling on her.

Looking towards him, one could see that Qian's head suddenly drooped down.

He shook his head and began making fish balls.

Today's catch included crucian carp, black carp, and a total of fifty-two grass carp and silver carp, each one very plump. Tonight, we killed ten grass carp and ten silver carp, and after removing their internal organs, we had about 120 jin (60 kg) of fish meat left. The weight will increase a bit after the fish meat is minced.

One pound of fish paste can make eighty fish balls the size of quail eggs.

After pouring cold water into the iron pot, Su Hua wet her hands with the water, grabbed a handful of fish paste in her left palm, and used her thumb to move it up and down, squeezing it into a quail egg size. Then she scooped it out with a spoon and put it into the pot of cold water, and a white fish ball was made.

She was very fast; in the blink of an eye, the iron pot was already filled with white meatballs.

A small fire was lit in the stove, and the cold water gradually boiled and bubbled, slowly cooking the white fish balls until they were crystal clear. The faint fish aroma made the Su family members drool in unison.

After washing the scallions and ginger, the three Su brothers gathered around, standing on tiptoe to peek into the pot.

Su Hua found it somewhat amusing and quickly used a bamboo strainer to scoop out the cooked fish balls and put them in cold water. Finally, she put the last ten or so steaming hot fish balls into a bowl and handed it to the three of them, saying, "Try it, do you like it?"

Su Dalang took the rice bowl, licked his lips as he looked at the pretty meatballs in it, and exclaimed, "This, this tastes so good!"

“Yes, boiled fish balls taste good too.” Su Hua nodded.

The river in front of the gate flows from Fuhu Mountain. The fish in the river grow up eating aquatic plants, and their taste is naturally different from that of artificially farmed fish.

Su Dalang held the meatballs, but instead of eating them himself, he first picked one up and gave it to Su Hua. After going around and serving the meatballs to Su Baishi, Su Dahu, and other elders, he shared the rest with Su Erlang and Chunhua.

The Su family members were pleasantly surprised after tasting the fish balls.

"My goodness, these fish balls are so delicious! One bite and my teeth feel like they're going to bounce around. My mouth is full of fish flavor, and there's not a trace of fishiness!"

"Yes, in my opinion, this tastes just as good as pig offal. Hua'er, you have a really sharp mind; you can come up with all sorts of delicious ideas."

"That's right! I was worried that the diners wouldn't be interested tomorrow, but it seems I was just worrying for nothing."

"With these fish balls, those bastards will have to think twice before trying to steal our business..."

Su Hua continued kneading the fish balls, her smile deepening.

She also wondered if Zuixianju was truly behind all this trouble.

They say dogs resemble their owners. Judging from the arrogant and domineering nature of that servant at noon, Master Song behind Zuixianju is probably not an easy person to talk to either. If the troublemakers are indeed Zuixianju, buying out the pig offal is probably just their appetizer.

Many hands make light work; by the time all the fish balls were finished, it was no earlier than midnight.

This is roughly equivalent to 9 PM in modern times.

After washing up, the Su family members immediately went to bed.