Once the water is available, the stove is lit. His family uses a coal briquette stove. At that time, most families in the courtyard used coal briquettes. Each family mixed loose coal with loess to make it into a mud-like state. Then, adults and children who had nothing to do at home would come out, fill a bowl or something with water, and pinch coal balls with their bare hands. They would pinch one, dip it in water, and then pinch the next one. The pinched coal balls would be placed on the ground and put away after they were dried.
The whole process is very stress-relieving. Many children like this chore, and every time they finish the work, they become exhausted.
After lighting the stove, Zeng Wangcai went into the house, turned over the big pot and cleaned it. Before his mother and uncle came back, he got out the condiments that were not available at home, such as soybean paste, sweet bean paste, and soy sauce, and put them in a basin, then added water.
Zeng Wangcai was busy until four in the afternoon when he finally rinsed nearly twenty pounds of large bones with meat, drained them and set them aside.
It's just a matter of boiling water, but the taste is different from what ordinary people cook.
At this time, the courtyard began to become lively. Some people went out to dig wild vegetables, or carried baskets and scolded their children, or came back with bags. Because of the location of Zeng Wangcai's house, most people in the courtyard would pass by his door.
The school where the third uncle Yan Bugui worked was on holiday and there were no classes. As long as he had nothing important to do every day, he would take his tin bucket and fishing rod to the moat to fish. If he was lucky enough to catch a big fish, he could take it to places like the canteen of the steel mill to sell it for money.
Yan Bugui was unlucky today, and only caught a carp weighing more than half a pound, which was still hot. Thinking that his family had not seen meat for half a year, Yan Bugui made up his mind and ate it himself. He could not finish it all in one meal, so he stewed the fish head and tail into soup, marinated the fish meat with some salt, dried it and ate it slowly...
Whenever he met acquaintances along the way, some of them would notice the fish in Yan Bugui's bucket and would inevitably compliment him, which made him feel proud.
When Yan Bugui got back home, he put down his fishing rod and was about to go into the house when his nose suddenly twitched...
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