Chapter 80: Swelling Zhou Ye's heart swelled a little
In fact, when Lin Shu went to the bookstore at the market the day before, she discovered that Zhou Ye could read.
When someone who couldn't read a single word stared at the books on the bookshelf, his eyes were not like Zhou Ye's.
Lin Shu could see that Zhou Ye was eager to learn more. But for some reason, when she had asked Zhou Ye if he wanted to study with Lin Yushu, his attitude had been clearly somewhat resistant.
As expected, Zhou Ye didn't happily agree to Lin Shu's question this time. After a moment's silence, he refused, "Knowing a few words to understand the contract is enough. I'm just a rough man, why would I need to know so many words? Ah Shu, I appreciate your kindness, but I really don't need it."
Lin Shu stared at him thoughtfully. Her intuition was always accurate. Zhou Ye was not against learning to read, so why did he reject her?
Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind, and she seemed to understand something.
She found it amusing and couldn't help but ask out loud, "Aye, you don't like studying, right? Do you think I'm going to teach you like I taught my cousin Yushu?"
Zhou Ye hummed vaguely.
"Who said I want to teach you like I teach my cousin Yu Shu? He is going to take the imperial examination in the future. The things I tell him are many and varied, which sounds a bit boring. But you, if you just want to learn more words, there are many ways to learn words, without having to read the "Three Character Classic" and "Thousand Character Classic". Don't worry, Anye, I will definitely not ask you to memorize those Zhihu books." Lin Shu covered her mouth and laughed.
Zhou Ye felt a little embarrassed by her smile.
He really didn't like reading. When he followed his master's wife to learn to read, he only learned to read.
"Pfft, I'm not laughing at you for not liking to read. I just think you... well, how should I put it, I think the way you're evasive when you mention not liking to read is so adorable."
When Zhou Ye heard this, his ears turned even redder.
"So, Aye, is it settled then?" Lin Shu said.
Zhou Ye moved his lips, hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded.
It was as if a trickle of mountain spring water seeped out from the tip of his heart, making him feel refreshed and sweet.
He actually didn't know what he wanted. He had never thought of becoming a scholar, but... he didn't seem to be satisfied with just knowing a few big characters.
"Aye, you have to study hard after you promise. You can't fish for three days and slack off for two days."
Zhou Ye nodded, "I will study hard, as long as you don't ask me to memorize those nonsense."
Lin Shu laughed again after hearing this. She really didn't want to laugh, but she couldn't help it.
Who would have thought that such a tall and strong man would be afraid of studying?
"Aye, your memory is best in the morning, but you are busiest in the morning. Apart from the morning, when else are you most energetic? Find a time and I will teach you for half an hour every day."
Zhou Ye replied without thinking: "How can I do that? It depends on when it's convenient for you."
Lin Xiaopu nodded beside him, "Sister, I can guarantee that Brother Aye is full of energy all day long, but——"
"Hehe, Brother Ye is most energetic right after breakfast and dinner!"
Lin Shu frowned slightly. After breakfast, she had to teach her cousin Yushu, and if she ate dinner, it would be dark by then.
"Ah Shu, don't listen to Xiao Pu. I'm available anytime."
Lin Xiaopu pouted, "Humph, what I said is the truth. Brother Aye always reports good news but not bad news."
Lin Shu thought for a moment and came up with an idea. "Let's set the time after the daily snacks. Ah Ye, after the bamboo utensils are made in the next few days, you will definitely have to go to the fields to work. When I bring snacks to Dad in the future, you can come back with me. You can go back to the fields after you finish your studies."
Lin Xiaopu immediately praised, "Sister, you picked a good time! Brother Ye was full of energy right after he finished his snack!"
When the three of them walked all the way to the end of the village, they saw more and more men carrying farm tools and walking back on the road. It was time for breakfast.
The smell of rice wafted out from the courtyard. He Guixiang knew that they were going fishing, so she specially steamed brown rice for breakfast. The brown rice was already steamed, and all they had to do was stir-fry two side dishes before they could serve the meal.
"Mom, mom, come and see! We caught a lot of fish--" Lin Xiaopu shouted happily as soon as he entered the courtyard.
He Guixiang wiped her hands with a cloth and came over. When she saw it, she was immediately shocked. "It's full? This morning when Ah Ye said he wanted to borrow a bucket, I laughed at him for overthinking it. How could he catch three buckets of fish in one go? And now you guys really did catch three buckets of fish!"
Lin Xiaopu raised her head proudly, as if she had caught all three buckets of fish. "This time, we have a new fishing secret recipe given by my sister. If we hadn't had so few buckets, we could have caught even more fish!"
He Guixiang looked at each bucket one by one and found that each bucket was full of lively fish. She laughed so hard that fine lines appeared at the corners of her eyes.
"Oh, by the way, mother, there are still fish in the basket. Let's eat the ones in the basket today, and put the ones in the bucket in the fish pond!"
He Guixiang hurried to look at the basket again, and saw that there were also a dozen fish lying in it, but they were not as big as the ones in the bucket.
The fish in the bucket had to be quickly poured into the fish pond. After He Guixiang had looked at it, Zhou Ye picked up the fish and carried them to the fish pond behind the house.
Lin Xiaopu followed behind with a clatter, running to watch Zhou Ye release the fish.
Lin Shu didn't follow them. Instead, she asked He Guixiang with a smile, "Mother, I asked the fishmonger at the fish market the other day. How much do you think these three buckets of fish can sell for?"
He Guixiang said happily, "Why do you need to ask me? I've been to the market countless times. Even if I don't buy fish, I'll ask about it. The rivers flowing through the villages near Tianshui Village are small, but the river near Dafu Village is large. On market days, most of the fish stalls in town are run by villagers from Dafu Village. Grass carp is about ten cents per catty. Carp is a little more expensive, at twenty cents per catty. Crucian carp is much cheaper, at eight cents per catty. However, because carp is a bit more expensive, crucian carp and grass carp have many bones, and the fish meat is less oily and has a strong fishy smell, most villagers who have the spare money would rather buy a half catty or eight ounces of pork."
But He Guixiang didn't mind at all. Even if the fish didn't have any oil or water, it was still meat!
Small fish are counted as half a catty, and large fish are counted as one catty. If you take three buckets of fish to the market, you can sell them for hundreds of coins!
Lin Shu had no intention of selling the fish. There were so many fish stalls at the market that she wouldn't be able to sell all of them even if she hawked them all in a day. Furthermore, her fishing method wasn't very versatile and only worked in small rivers and streams. She only caught such a large fish because no one had fished there before. Any future catches from the same spot wouldn't be as large.
So, I'd better keep these fish for myself.
Lin Shu had considered selling her Guanyin tofu made from Guanyin wood in town, but she had come from the apocalypse, and her survival philosophy was to eat first. Compared to making money, keeping herself well fed was more important. She and Xiao Pu had already harvested the Guanyin wood in the back hills several times, and there wasn't much left. It was doubtful if they could last the summer, so she prioritized feeding herself and her family first.
As for selling the chicken mushroom sauce, it is because there are many chicken mushrooms on the mountain. If it is made into sauce, there will be enough for our family to eat.
Of course, if everyone gets tired of eating fish every day, it’s not too late to sell these extra fish at the market.
Lin Shu said confidently, "Mother, you can see that with my fishing skills, our family will never have to worry about having no income in the future!"
He Guixiang also thought of this.
The first time Ah Shu came back from fishing, she didn't think too much about it, but this time, Ah Shu brought back three big buckets of fish, which was three times more than last time and even bigger. He Guixiang couldn't help but think more about it.
With Ah Shu's fishing skills, she will never starve to death in the future!
"But mother, we keep these fish in the pond, so we'll eat them ourselves first. Ah Ye has a big appetite, so mother, you don't have to save fish. We can cook four or five of them for breakfast every day!"
Zhou Ye had just returned from pouring the buckets of fish into the fish pond when he heard these words. An indescribable emotion arose in his heart, making his heart swell a little.
Ever since he sold himself to Uncle Lin, he began to think about starting over.
For him, starting over meant making himself look normal again. He could be strong, but not excessively so; he could have a big appetite, but not an alarming one.
But he wasn't a normal person, and trying to be normal was too much of a struggle. Even if he didn't do much work, he would still get hungry very quickly, and eating enough for two people at each meal was far from enough to fill his stomach.
Since he came to Tianshui Village, except for the time when he went to the mountains to catch wild game and barely had a full meal, he was almost always hungry, and extremely hungry.
Later, Lin Shu came back.
Because of Lin Shu, not only did he explain his big appetite to Uncle Lin and Aunt He, but he was also not treated as a monster. No matter how much he ate, he would not receive strange looks.
Lin Shu would always cook different kinds of food in large portions, so he could eat more every day than before.
In addition to breakfast and dinner, he even had a snack after noon.
Noon was the time between meals when he was the hungriest. After eating a large bowl of Guanyin tofu, he felt like he was alive again.
Now Lin Shu said that she would cook fish for him every day, and cook four or five fish.
The fish pond he had been busy digging these past few days was not dug for Lin Shu at all, it was clearly dug for himself.
He Guixiang had no objection to Lin Shu's words and readily agreed, "More! Ah Ye has a big appetite, so it's time to increase the amount. I made plenty of brown rice today, enough for Ah Ye to eat three bowls!"
Zhou Ye was slightly startled, "Aunt, I——"
He Guixiang interrupted him, "Aye, I didn't know you were such a big eater before. I thought two bowls of dry rice would fill you up, but now I'm just adding one more. Three bowls of dry rice probably won't be enough for you. Wait for me to save more. By the end of the year, I'll add two more acres of land! From now on, our family will have enough food for you. I'll make you five big bowls of brown rice for every meal!"
Zhou Ye's throat moved, but he didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Aye, you're a good child. You don't say anything and don't ask for anything, but I know what's going on, so I can't pretend I don't know. Most of the money in the family is saved by you. I can't guarantee anything else, but I will make sure you have enough to eat in the future!"
After a while, Zhou Ye finally managed to squeeze out a sentence from his throat, "Thank you, Auntie."
Lin Shu smiled and reminded, "Mother, I don't know how to scale fish. Please help me quickly. I'm going to make some fish stew before Father comes back. I'll stew all the grass carp in the basket! There are the most crucian carp. I'll use the big stove to make crucian carp soup, and use the small stove to stew the grass carp and carp together to make some braised fish!"
Zhou Ye didn't wait for He Guixiang to speak, and hurriedly said, "Aunt, I'll do it."
After saying that, without waiting for He Guixiang to refuse, he took out two wooden basins, filled one basin with water, and poured all the fish in the basket into the other empty basin.
He put the chopping board on the ground, picked up the kitchen knife and started to gut a basin of fish.
The three of them returned late, and a round trip to the river would have been a waste of time. Fortunately, water had been diverted to the courtyard, making it easier to handle the fish. Zhou Ye moved swiftly, his movements as skillful as a fish vendor's. He tossed the fish's entrails and scales directly into the backpack, then tossed the cleaned fish into the wooden basin filled with water.
"Aye, deal with the grass carp and carp first. I need to marinate them with salt first." Lin Shu reminded.
Zhou Ye picked out the grass carp and carp to process first, and soon all the fish in the basin were processed.
With both stoves lit, the crucian carp soup was ready. He Guixiang cleaned the crucian carp once more before putting it into the pot. Lin Shu marinated the fish with salt, stuffed it with duck feet and mugwort to remove the fishy smell, and then fried it in the pot over medium-low heat until both sides were golden brown.
Lin Xiaopu was enjoying watching the fish by the pond, but soon the aroma of fish drew him back. He squatted by the stove and watched Lin Shu cook the fish, hissing, "So much oil, so much oil! Sister really wastes a lot of oil when cooking fish."
Lin Shu laughed and scolded, "You're just a glutton for food. If you think I'm wasting oil, don't pick up your chopsticks when the braised fish comes out of the pot!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
