Chapter 49 Oyster Hill
Oyster sauce is a good thing.
It is a traditional umami seasoning found in many families' kitchens. It is made from only one raw material: oysters commonly found on the seaside (we call them sea oysters here).
She had observed before that there were a lot of oysters on the reefs east of the village.
But May to September is the annual breeding season for oysters, and they have mucus in their bodies that tastes bad, and their stomachs are full of eggs. Plus, she didn't have the right tools to pry the oysters open, so she ignored them.
Later, when she had more tools and food at home, she no longer thought about oysters.
If you want to eat oysters, you have to wait until they are fat.
Jiang Wan patted her head in frustration. She had never thought of making oyster sauce from oysters, which was also a treasure that could make money.
Oyster sauce is delicious, rich in oyster flavor and nutritious. It can add the finishing touch to many dishes.
For example, she likes lettuce with oyster sauce, king mushroom with oyster sauce, etc. The taste is simply amazing.
Jiang Wan was very excited, but she had to go get some conches when the tide receded. After all, small conches for juicing were the real business of the family.
How about asking the villagers to collect it?
If you spend some money, there will definitely be someone in the village willing to do it.
Jiang Wan thought about it carefully and had a candidate in mind. She found an opportunity to go and tell her mother, and she agreed without even thinking about it.
She always supports herself in everything she does.
Alas, it’s another day when I love my mother the most.
Jiang Wan happily took out twenty cents from the small treasury, and then went to find Aunt Cuifang and her mother-in-law.
When they heard that they could get twenty cents by catching some oysters (it doesn't seem to be called that in ancient times, we just call them oysters in our culture) at the seaside, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law agreed immediately.
Usually, the food they could get from fishing was just for their own consumption, and they could only make 20 cents from the sale, so the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were quite happy. The tide had just started to recede, and they were already preparing to go to the beach.
At this time, the old village chief also arrived at the Yin family. When he learned that Yin Huaishan was willing to teach the children in the village, his old face smiled particularly brightly.
Jiang Wan felt that her family was very lucky to be able to settle in Lianjiagou and to have such a responsible village chief who cared about the welfare of the villagers.
"Huaishan, since you are willing to teach the children, I will ask the villagers to start building a school when I return. Which do you want to choose between the monthly salary and the tuition?"
"Let's just ask for the monthly salary. How do you feel about 500 wen a month?"
Yin Huaishan's ears felt slightly hot. This was the first time he had spoken so directly to someone about asking for money.
When the old village chief heard the five hundred coins, his breath was slightly choked, but then he thought, these five hundred coins will be shared equally among the children of each family.
If there are fifty children studying, each child only needs to pay ten coins a month. Even if there are only ten children, it is only fifty coins a month. Compared with the one tael of silver per person (paid every three months) in Huaishan Town, it is really too cheap.
Hurry up and agree!
"Okay! I'll take charge of this matter and agree to it!"
The old village chief thought that no one in the village would refuse such a good thing.
Although everyone was not rich, they could still save a few hundred coins a month by going out to sea to fish. It was a blessing that many people could not hope for, as their children could learn to read and become educated by spending a few dozen coins.
If the people in the next door village knew about this, they would probably try every means to get the baby here.
The old village chief was excited. He told Yin Huaishan to take good care of his injuries and then happily went back to find someone to build a school.
To build a school, one must first mark the land and lay enough mud, which is a very laborious process.
The villagers kept calling to inquire about the news, which made the old village chief very annoyed. He originally wanted to surprise the villagers after the house was built, but in the end he was so annoyed that he just told them directly.
The whole village was in an uproar.
Those who have sons were so excited as if their children had passed the imperial examination and were excited all day long. Some even took the initiative to help build the school.
At this time, all the households with only girls were silent. They were very envious, but they also knew that girls could not study like boys.
After the high tide, Auntie Niu and her daughter-in-law Mao Cuifang stopped prying oysters. The oysters they carried back piled up into a small hill in the corner of the yard, so many that it was dazzling.
Jiang Wan readily gave them twenty cents and also filled a bowl of spicy snail meat for them to take away.
Before leaving, Mao Cuifang couldn't help but asked her.
"Xiao Wan, why did you bring back so many oysters? Even if you remove the shells, there are still dozens of pounds of meat in these oysters. You can't eat them all."
"Aunt Cuifang, this is certainly useful to me. When I have finished making something, I will invite you to taste it."
Jiang Wan seemed to have said something, but also seemed to have said nothing. Mao Cuifang could only return home with a lot of doubts in her mind.
At this hour, Xiao Yuanzi had not yet come to class, so Jiang Wan very rudely grabbed her uncle as a helper and asked him to help her pry oysters open.
The oyster shell is thick and hard, and looks like stone from a distance. You have to poke into it along the gap between the inner and outer shells, cut the muscles inside and then pry it open.
Image source: Internet
There were no suitable tools at home, but Jiang Wan had already borrowed two awls from Aunt Cuifang's house.
The uncle and nephew sat outside the stove and worked hard.
A quarter of an hour later, Yin Huaishan poked his finger for the fourth time, breaking the skin again. Jiang Wan's scalp was numb, and this time she decisively took her uncle's awl and drove him away.
Uncle should wait to become his teacher. This kind of hard work is not suitable for him.
She felt that it was not feasible for her to do everything by herself. How about going to Yinzhu's house and calling her cousin back to share the joys and sorrows with her?
Just as Jiang Wan was thinking of her cousin, she heard the voices of Xiao Jinbao and Yinzhu from outside the door.
It's so touching, my cousin is back!
"Cousin? What on earth have you got here?"
Yin Ning looked at the pile of stones in the yard and was stunned. She didn't know what oyster silver beads were.
"There are so many oysters. Xiaowan, do you raise ducks at home?"
Jiang Wan shook her head and didn't elaborate, only saying that she wanted to make something to eat with the oysters.
Yinzhu didn't ask any more questions. Seeing that Jiang Wan's hands were red from prying the oysters, she picked up the awl that Yin Huaishan had just used and helped pry them open.
"My family used to raise a few ducks. Sometimes we fed them clams, and sometimes we fed them oysters. Ducks fed with oysters are fatter, but it's more difficult to get the meat."
"Xiao Wan, you haven't done much work, the skin on your hands is tender, you need to wrap them with cloth, otherwise you will get big blisters on your hands in a while."
Jiang Wan really forgot about this.
It’s all because of the oyster sauce that bewildered her!