Chapter 120: Entertaining Guests: Fried Noodle Cakes, Fried Mushrooms, and Stir-fried Bamboo Fungus...
Although Old Man Liao was impressed by Zhou Ye's display, he still asked curiously, "Aye boy, did you and your Uncle Lin dig this fish pond?"
It was such a big fish pond, but he had never heard Zhou Ye and Lin Laoer call on the villagers to dig it together, nor did he know how long it took them to finish digging.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Ye replied, "I dug it by myself. It took me a while to finish. But I don't understand these things. I just dug whatever Ah Shu told me to do. This fish pond belongs to Ah Shu, and the fish in it were also caught by her using secret methods."
Old Man Liao: ...
Well, he shouldn't have asked.
When Aye gets married, he will definitely become a henpecked man who does whatever his wife says.
I didn't expect that this guy, who is so tall and strong, would actually be a henpecked man.
Zhou Ye, the henpecked man, said, "There are plenty of fish in the pond. Whenever Old Man Liao wants to eat some fish, just come get some. We can just charge less for riding the ox cart a few times in the future."
When Old Man Liao heard this, he smiled so hard that two more wrinkles appeared on his eyes. "Okay, I'll remember that."
After the two of them caught the fish and returned, Zhou Ye did not rush to give the fish to Lin Shu. Instead, he informed Old Man Liao, then went to the river with a backpack in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other to process the fish.
Old man Liao had a chance to see how much Zhou Ye doted on Lin Shu. "Mom, even when I cook fish, I have to help kill the fish."
In the village, which village woman doesn’t know how to kill fish and chickens?
Lin Shu is also lucky. There is probably no one in the entire Tianshui Village who dotes on his wife more than Zhou Ye.
After Zhou Ye killed the fish and was sure that Lin Shu had no use for him, he and Old Man Liao continued to busy themselves.
The clay used to make thatch paste needs to be used bit by bit, otherwise the leftover clay will become unusable after being exposed to the sun.
By the time Old Man Liao had used up the three piles of kneaded clay, the aroma of food wafted over from the stove, especially the aroma of stewed fish, which went straight into Old Man Liao's nose, making him a little absent-minded in his work.
"Aye boy, you really didn't lie to me. Do you eat these every day?" Old man Liao smelled the fragrance and his stomach began to growl.
Zhou Ye nodded and said, "Since Ah Shu came back, we've been eating meat every now and then. We only eat pork a little longer, but we have fish, shrimp, snails, and loaches almost every day. We didn't make snails and loaches today. People in our village don't eat them. They only eat duck and goose. But when Ah Shu makes these things, they're incredibly delicious, just as good as fish."
Old Man Liao was very interested when he heard this. "It will take several days to replace the roof. Let Ah Shu make it for me tomorrow. I don't mind if it's something that ducks and geese can eat!"
Zhou Ye raised his brows slightly, "Go talk to Ah Shu yourself."
Old Man Liao: "...Okay, I'll say it myself!"
"Oh, right, I just saw little Pu rubbing some leaves, and the juice turned into a big piece of tofu-like substance. What is that?"
"It's Guanyin wood. Its leaves can be made into a kind of green tofu called Guanyin tofu. It's a delicacy Ah Shu read about in a book. After the Guanyin tofu is made, it's cooled with ice-cold mountain spring water. It tastes especially refreshing and smooth, not much worse than the iced drinks that rich masters and ladies enjoy."
Old man Liao laughed and said, "Good boy, you are really good at bragging. I didn't know you were so good at bragging before."
Zhou Ye remained calm, "I'm just telling the truth. Ah Shu knows how to cook many other things. For example, the chicken mushroom soup she made today is made with a kind of mushroom from the mountain. The soup tastes like chicken and is very fresh and fragrant. She can also make tea from the flowers and plants on the mountain..."
The two chatted while working. After some time, He Guixiang called out, "The meal is ready. I've asked Xiao Pu to go to the field and call her dad. Brother Liao, you and A Ye, pack up and come over to eat!"
Lin Dashan didn't need Xiao Pu to call him. Knowing that Old Man Liao was going to be treated to dinner today, he came back early on purpose. Before he reached the gate of the courtyard, he could smell the aroma of stewed fish.
I don’t know if this fragrance will drift to other homes. If others smell it, they will probably be so greedy that they die, hehe.
Lin Xiaopu saw him as soon as he rushed out of the courtyard gate and shouted, "Dad, Dad, dinner is about to start—"
"Here I come, here I come!"
When Lin Dashan entered the courtyard, he realized that Zhou Ye had tricked Old Man Liao into doing the work. It was a good idea, as Old Man Liao didn't like to owe favors to others, so he could only enjoy his meal after helping out.
When Lin Dashan, the head of the family, came back, he became the one to entertain the guests.
He greeted them with a smile, "Everyone, sit down, Brother Liao, we don't have any wine at home, otherwise we could have a couple of drinks!"
At this time, after Old Man Liao sat down, he stared at the food on the table in front of him, still a little dazed.
He knew that Lin Laoer's family had cooked fish, but he didn't expect that they had a whole table full of food. He didn't even look at the stove while he was working.
"Brother Lin, you guys are spending too much money!" Old man Liao said in surprise.
I saw that the wooden table was almost full except for a few sets of bowls and chopsticks.
Facing Old Man Liao was a large earthenware pot of spicy stewed fish, which had a salty and fragrant flavor and was the most eye-catching.
Then there was the huge bowl of chicken mushroom soup in the middle, which was white and rich, and was steaming hot.
Two plates of cold Guanyin tofu, one plate is salty with oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and chopped green onions, and the other plate is sweet, refreshing, just topped with a bowl of sugar water made from melted rock honey, looking green and juicy.
Then there were the snow-white bamboo fungus scrambled eggs, golden fried noodle cakes, shiny fried greens, bamboo shoots stir-fried with lard, and deep-fried tricholoma...
Although there was no pork on the table, there was such a large table of dishes, many of which were things Old Man Liao had never eaten before. Just looking at them was enough to whet his appetite, and Old Man Liao couldn't help but feel flattered.
Lin Dashan waved his hand. "What's the big deal? The fish was caught by our two daughters in the river. This Guanyin tofu is made from leaves they picked in the mountains. And this soup, you must drink a couple more bowls later, it's very delicious. Ah Shu said it's called chicken mushroom soup. Guess why it has the word "chicken" in the name? Because it tastes like chicken soup! And this, look at this, it's fried with eggs, it's snow-white. This one has bamboo fungus, also picked in the mountains. Ah Shu said it's very nourishing. And this..."
He Guixiang watched the boss blowing the flute with his back straight and shook his head helplessly at Lin Shu.
Lin Shu also smiled. It was a common problem among grown men, they loved to brag. It was nothing.
She didn't know that Mr. Zhou Ye had already boasted about this in front of Old Man Liao before.
Now that Lin Dashan did it again, Old Man Liao didn't think it was bragging, but only felt that Lin Shu was capable.
Lin Dashan and Zhou Ye are both very blessed. One has a good daughter and the other has a good wife. They are really enviable!
Lin Dashan picked up the chopsticks and urged Old Man Liao to join him, "Brother Liao, hurry up and eat, everyone eat!"
Lin Xiaopu had been very greedy for a long time. As soon as the elders started to eat, she immediately followed suit.
First, she took a piece of fried noodle cake. This was made by her sister, who made it by watching her. She mixed the ash flour into a relatively dry batter, cracked two eggs into the batter, and then heated the oil. The sister washed her hands and slid the batter directly into the pan. Therefore, the fried noodle cakes were all strange shapes, but the strange appearance did not affect their taste at all. They were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, oily but not greasy, and the more she chewed, the more fragrant her mouth became.
Lin Xiaopu ate two in a row before moving on to other dishes. Next, she chose deep-fried tricholoma, a dish she had made for the first time.
In Lin Xiaopu's place, fried food is delicious! In the past, let alone fried food at home, even when cooking on weekdays, my mother was reluctant to use more oil. The dishes we ate at home were more like boiled than fried.
Hehe, ever since my elder sister came back, apart from other things, I have become more and more particular about the food I eat.
The fried tricholoma is cut into inch-long pieces and marinated with seasoning for a quarter of an hour before frying. When frying, first put the dried cornus fruit in the oil, then fry the dried Sichuan peppercorns briefly, and then pour the marinated tricholoma in, mix well and fry.
Lin Xiaopu picked up a piece of fried tricholoma and put it in his mouth, chewing it slowly and carefully. It tasted fragrant, sweet and tender, slightly numb and spicy, with a long aftertaste!
After eating these two new dishes, she went to the stewed fish in the earthenware pot. Unexpectedly, in just a short while, she had already eaten most of the stewed fish.
The stewed fish was placed in front of Old Man Liao, and after taking a bite, he couldn't stop. He had never liked fish before, especially grass carp, which had so many small bones, but this stewed fish was so delicious. He had originally picked a piece from the back, where there were the fewest bones, just to try it, but when he tasted it, he was surprised by how delicious it was!
Later, no matter how many bones there were, he would pick up the fish belly and tail to eat. He would dip the fish meat into the juice and wait until the juice soaked the fish meat thoroughly before putting it into his mouth, eating the meat and spitting out the bones without any hesitation.
Even though there are many thorns, it still tastes good!
"Brother Liao, these vegetarian dishes are also delicious, you should try them." said Lin Lao Er.
"Okay, okay, you eat it too, brother!" Old man Liao took a bite of the fish in his mouth and tried something else. He couldn't stop eating this one.
He was sweating while eating the stewed fish, but when he ate a spoonful of the tofu made of leaves, he felt so cool and refreshing that he felt relaxed all over!
Old man Liao liked the sweet one and scooped several spoonfuls with a spoon before stopping.
Then there’s the fried dough cake. Although it can’t compare to the fried crispy pork, it’s still delicious when chewed.
He also tried the other dishes and praised them highly.
Before long, the table was full of dishes, and the bowl of dry rice in front of Old Man Liao was slowly emptied as he picked up some food here and there with his chopsticks.
Thinking of the chicken mushroom soup that Zhou Ye and Lin Laoer both praised, he couldn't wait to fill a bowl. After drinking this bowl of delicious soup, he sighed with comfort.
The meal had made Old Man Liao's stomach swell up, making him look embarrassed. He had forgotten everything else while eating and didn't realize how ugly his eating habits were.
But when he thought about it, Lin Lao Er’s eating habits were not that good looking either?
On the other hand, Zhou Ye, who obviously ate the most, actually gave people a feeling of being slow and gentle when eating. Old man Liao couldn't help but wonder, it was probably because Zhou Ye had a big mouth and a big stomach. His movements of digging rice and picking up vegetables were indeed unhurried, but he picked up vegetables more often and ate faster, so the amount of rice in his mouth could be several times more than theirs.
After everyone had eaten their fill and put down their chopsticks, Zhou Ye began to clear the plates.
Old man Liao originally thought that the leftovers on the table would be saved for dinner, but he found that he was completely overthinking it.
Zhou Ye not only ate the three remaining fish in the pot, but he also ate all the stewed fish broth in the pot, scraping it all into the bowl. He also devoured all the leftover dishes on the table, including the remaining chicken mushroom soup in the pot.
My goodness, this kid eats so much, how can the Lin family afford to feed him?!
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