The water has boiled, and the two little ones are playing with insects on the side. I don't know where they got them from, but as long as they're well-behaved, they can play with whatever they want!
Qin San Niang herself disliked those mollusks, so she kept her distance from them. The wild ginger and scallions needed to be chopped; they had already been cleaned.
I suddenly remembered that there were knives in the supermarket, but they were quite different from the ancient knives. I also wondered if knives were regulated nowadays. In the end, I didn't dare to take them out. If someone with malicious intent saw them on the way, it could be fatal.
When the water temperature is about right, pour the water into the gourd.
There's only one pot, so we have to take turns boiling water and cooking.
They had no oil, so Qin San Niang had to secretly pour oil from the supermarket into a bamboo tube and pretend it was her own. She heated oil in a wok, added sliced wild ginger and wild scallions, then added the washed fish, and fried it until golden brown on both sides. Then she added water and fish offal, and simmered the soup over high heat. When the soup turned milky white, she added wild vegetables and salt, and that was it.
But what's wrong with this salt? Why are there impurities in it?
"We need to use this salt sparingly. We don't know how far we are from Luzhou! And we wonder how much salt costs now?"
Liu sighed inwardly. She had bought the salt from the general store in town; it cost forty coins a pound back then, which was quite expensive. But everyone needed salt, so she had to buy it even if it was expensive! She didn't believe there was any salt in the fairyland.
"Mother, is this salt very expensive?" Qin San Niang asked as she picked up two relatively clean pinches of salt, as if she had seen a broad road to wealth!
"Yes, but Third Sister, you should put out less. These are all government-controlled salt now, and they'll be expensive during wartime, won't they? Besides, the harvests weren't good in recent years, it's really making life unbearable for ordinary people!"
So it was controlled by the government. How could she have forgotten? I think it was mentioned in the history textbook that selling smuggled salt was a crime, and in the most serious cases, it could mean the execution of nine generations of one's family.
Thinking of the pile of salt in the supermarket, Qin Sanniang felt it was a real waste; it seemed she would have to eat it herself.
No other refugees followed, so they figured they'd have this place all to themselves tonight.
Qin San Niang then stewed the fish for a while longer, making it taste even better; the milky white broth made her want to eat some rice.
Liu stuck the prepared pancakes around the edge of the pan, so that they would cook together and absorb some of the fish flavor. Her third aunt's cooking skills were getting better and better; even the fish didn't have much of a fishy smell.
The little ones were already peeking into the pot, they were so happy to eat so much today. The big meat buns were already a pleasant surprise for them, but then there was fish soup for dinner. Grandma, who is usually very frugal, even made steamed buns. Happiness came too suddenly, didn't it?
When Qin San Niang called out "Dinner's ready," what were they waiting for? Several wooden bowls were lined up in front of them. She was a little envious of the original owner of this body; these children were like angels, sent by God to warm people's hearts!
The older and younger children can already spit out fish bones, but Anan is still small, so Qin San Niang can't rest easy. Even though the child has clearly told her mother that she will be careful, she still carefully picked out a few pieces of fish belly meat and put them in the child's bowl.
"Mother knows I'm very capable, but I have to eat this slowly. If there's a thorn, I have to spit it out. It will hurt a lot if it gets stuck in my throat." And there's no hospital or equipment here, so what should we do?!
She had been choked by fish bones before and was in pain for several days. In the end, she had to go to the hospital and have the doctor remove it with a laryngoscope. That's when she realized how many people go to the hospital to remove fish bones and chicken bones, and there were even cases of people dying because of a single fish bone. After that, she was very careful when eating fish, afraid of getting pricked.
However, the eldest son and the others strongly disagreed with their mother's words. They had all gotten fish bones stuck in their throats before, and they could just eat a bite of steamed cake and drink some water to help them go down. If that didn't work, they would just eat a few more bites. It wasn't as serious as their mother was making it out to be! But they could only think these thoughts to themselves; they wouldn't say them out loud to upset their mother.
Liu felt that her eldest daughter was still somewhat like before, cautious and careful, unlike her carefree self yesterday.
Everyone was extremely satisfied with the meal; at least the eldest child felt that he wouldn't have to go to bed hungry that night.
They had been fleeing for more than half a month. Mother and Grandma didn't have much food to begin with, and they didn't know how long they would have to travel. In order to save food, none of them dared to eat too much for dinner. As Liu said, they wouldn't be hungry if they fell asleep at night, and besides, they didn't have to travel at night!
The eldest and second sons were at the age when they were growing up. As a half-grown boy, they were going to eat their father out of house and home. They were already hungry quickly, and sometimes they would wake up hungry in the middle of the night.
What if you wake up hungry? Grandma said that drinking some water would make you feel less hungry, but what they didn't dare to say was why drinking water made them even hungrier.
Although it wasn't cold at night, Qin San Niang didn't intend to let the fire go out. What if there were wild animals? Animals are afraid of fire, so this would have some deterrent effect. After all, she had no experience sleeping outdoors before, and it was better to be cautious since she was new to the area.
Under the moonlight, Qin Sanniang gathered a good amount of firewood and dry grass, enough for the night. If only she had a tent, but the supermarket didn't have one, so that was out of the question. She did have some rainproof tarpaulins, so she took out a few and covered the wooden poles she had set up, then let the children climb inside to sleep, which at least provided some shelter from the wind and rain.
The children were very interested in the covered tent, and climbed inside to experience it before coming out.
After we finished playing, I saw my mother bring over a wooden basin of water.
This basin is for eating, oh well, I can't worry about that now! Resignedly, Qin San Niang grabbed a handful of soap clips from her basket. These must be for washing clothes, right? She let the children take turns bathing.
She washed A'nan, and Xiao Er and Da Wa washed her together. It was called washing, but it was really just wetting a clean linen cloth and wiping her. But it was dirty enough. Looking at the basins of black water, Qin San Niang also wanted to take a bath and brush her teeth.
Thinking of the children's yellow teeth, Qin San Niang took out a willow branch she had broken off from the stream while fetching water, loosened it with her teeth, dipped it in salt, and started brushing her teeth. The children followed their mother's example and started brushing their teeth as well. Their mother said that if they brushed their teeth well, they could eat candy tomorrow.
Liu didn't want to go through all this trouble, but she couldn't resist her eldest daughter's insistence, so she took the willow branch and started brushing.
She did know how to brush her teeth with willow twigs, and wealthy families even had special tooth powder for brushing their teeth. She didn't know what the tooth powder was made of, but it smelled wonderful.
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