Chapter 81 Bamboo Lounge Chair Crucian Carp Soup + Spicy Fish Stew + Bamboo Lounge Chair
After frying the fish, pick it up and sauté ginger, onion and garlic until fragrant. Add a handful of dried dogwood fruit, then add water, sugar, soy sauce and a handful of red peppercorns.
Zhou Ye bought ginger, soy sauce and red peppercorns at the market. In addition to these, there was also a small jar of vinegar and a bag of coarse loose tea. Zhou Ye knew that she liked to think about food, so he bought these when he went to buy a water jar. Lin Shu only found out about it when she was sorting things out later.
Zhou Yehua's money was earned from the mushrooms he picked. He was willing to spend money to buy these for her, and she would only remember his kindness.
Add all the seasonings, then pour the fish in and simmer over low heat.
When Lin Dashan returned, he was greeted by the aroma of fish filling the yard, which whetted his appetite. He then learned that his three children had caught three buckets of fish in the village river. After a moment of shock, he burst into laughter.
After the fish was served, He Guixiang fried another plate of vegetables.
A big pot of crucian carp soup, cooked till it is milky white, it tastes so delicious in one gulp.
A large pot of stewed fish, its juices thick and rich, poured over the dish and sprinkled with chopped green onions, is enough to whet your appetite. A piece of fish, coated in the gravy, is spicier with a subtle numbness, a delightful delight for the palate.
Lin Dashan hissed as he kept adding the stewed fish to his bowl, causing He Guixiang to sneer, "Don't you dislike spicy food? I see you're enjoying it!"
Lin Dashan chuckled, "It's different. The numbness and spiciness are just right."
Lin Shu explained, "I know that Dad doesn't like spicy or numb food, so I only put a handful of dogwood and Sichuan peppercorns in this pot of fish stew. If it were someone else who likes this kind of food, three or four handfuls of Sichuan peppercorns and dogwood wouldn't be too much."
"Sister, can I eat this stewed fish for breakfast every day from now on? The stewed fish you make is so delicious!" Lin Xiaopu asked.
"No matter how delicious it is, we can't eat it every day. Next time, try a different method. Besides, we still have loaches and snails. We can rotate them."
While eating the fish, Lin Xiaopu started thinking about the pheasant in the chicken coop. "The pheasant that Brother Aye caught last time was very picky. It didn't even like the chicken grass that Mother chopped, and I had to catch some bugs to feed it. Sister, what do you think? Let's wait until we pick the taro stems next month and stew the pheasant. By then, it won't be too hungry, right?"
Lin Shu laughed at her, "It likes to eat bugs, so you should catch more bugs to feed it, and it won't starve. You're still eating fish, but you're missing pheasant. You're the biggest glutton in the family!"
Lin Xiaopu snorted, "Sister is still talking about me, you are also a greedy person. I am ranked first, then you are ranked second!"
He Guixiang watched the two sisters bickering and scolded them with a smile, "Hurry up and eat. I told you two to talk too much."
Lin Shu immediately retorted, "Mother, we don't have the habit of not talking while eating or sleeping. When we eat, it's more lively if we talk while eating. As long as we don't talk with food in our mouths, it's fine."
As she spoke, she glanced at Zhou Ye. There was one person who was quiet.
Zhou Ye is indeed a man of few words, but he also didn't have time to speak.
The crucian carp in the crucian carp soup was not popular because it had too many bones and too little meat. They all went for the more flavorful stewed fish. He unceremoniously scooped the crucian carp into his bowl, chewing up all the smaller bones along with the flesh, except for the large one in the middle. The soup had ginger, so the crucian carp didn't taste fishy at all, and he ate several in a row.
When everyone had finished eating the stewed fish and there were still two and a half fish left in the pot, he began to clean up the stewed fish, along with the juice in the pot and the three large bowls of brown rice.
When Zhou Ye thought about having such delicious stewed fish for breakfast every day in the future, he couldn't help but radiate a sense of joy, and he looked much more lively than before when he only knew how to work dully.
After dinner, Lin Shu brought over two bowls of tea.
"Dad, Ah Ye bought some loose tea at the market the other day. I just made two bowls of it with hot water. It's just right for drinking now. Mom doesn't like it, so you and Ah Ye can each have a bowl."
Lin Dashan felt that it was a waste of money to spend it. What could a rough man like him have in terms of tea? But the money was earned by A Ye, and the children were filial, so he spent the money.
He took the tea from Lin Shu, sipped it, and said with a smile, "The tea my daughter made is really delicious."
Zhou Ye also drank slowly, with a rare look of contentment on his face.
Lin Shu said, "I've been busy these past few days. When I have a little free time, Xiao Pu and I will go to the back mountain to pick some flower and herbal teas and ask Dad to drink a different one every day!"
"Oh, okay." Lin Dashan replied.
"Dad, I told Mom that we should all go to the big market at the end of the month. Let's go to the teahouse and drink tea and listen to stories! The storyteller's stories are so interesting!"
"Hey, go, everyone!"
"Dad, have you seen the little bamboo chairs that Aye and I made? We each have one."
"I see, I see, Dad has sat down and is fine!"
"Today I will make something better for Daddy, a bamboo lounge chair!"
Lin Dashan's face wrinkled with laughter, and he quickly agreed. He had been smiling since his daughter came back.
After Lin Dashan went to the fields and cleared the table, Lin Shu drew the structural diagram of the bamboo lounge chair on paper while Lin Yushu was still there. Due to the complex structure, she drew several details.
"Aye, take a look at this blueprint and think about it first. After I finish teaching my cousin Yushu, I will make this bamboo recliner with you."
Zhou Ye nodded, took the blueprint and looked at it carefully. After Lin Yushu arrived and Lin Shu entered the main hall, Zhou Ye got busy on his own.
Compared with bamboo stools and chairs, this bamboo lounge chair is much more complicated. Lin Shu drew the kind of bamboo lounge chair with a retractable bottom, but Zhou Ye already had experience in making bamboo stools and chairs. Although this bamboo lounge chair is complicated, the connection principle is the same.
When Lin Shu finished and came out, she saw that Zhou Ye had already finished making the seat of the bamboo lounge chair!
Because it was going to be a reclining chair, the rear end of the seat had to be of suitable size to accommodate the backrest, and holes had to be drilled in advance on the bamboo tubes at both ends to connect to the armrests. But Zhou Ye didn't need her help, and he actually reserved all the necessary sizes and holes by himself!
Lin Shu felt that even if she did it herself in the end times, her efficiency would not be as high as Zhou Ye's.
Lin Yushu also looked at it in amazement for a long time, "Brother Aye, are you going to make a big bamboo chair?"
Lin Shu gestured for him to look at the blueprint beside her, "It's a bamboo lounge chair."
Lin Yushu studied the blueprint carefully. After understanding it, he exclaimed in admiration, "Sister Shu, I've never seen this bamboo recliner before. The structure is truly ingenious. Did you draw this, Sister Shu?"
Lin Shu thought to herself: This was invented in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, so of course you haven't seen it.
"I drew the blueprint, but I didn't come up with this bamboo lounge chair. I read about it in an ancient book."
"Sister Shu, have you seen the finished product?" Lin Yushu asked curiously.
Lin Shu pointed at the work in Zhou Ye's hands and said, "I've never seen this before, but your brother Ye is capable. He can make the bamboo lounge chair shown in the blueprint. If he's fast, he can finish it before tonight. If he's slow, he'll be almost done by tomorrow."
The bamboo lounge chair has a complicated structure, and even an experienced bamboo and strip workman would need a whole day to make it. But Aye surprised her and might be able to make it today.
Lin Yushu sighed sincerely, "Brother Aye is as good as a skilled craftsman. He is truly amazing. I can only understand the blueprint, but I absolutely cannot make it."
Lin Shu thought of something and smiled at Zhou Ye. "Don't judge others by your own strengths, and vice versa. If I asked your elder brother Aye to listen to my teachings every day like you do, sitting for an hour at a time, he would never be able to do it."
Zhou Ye heard this and looked at her.
"What are you looking at me for? Is what I said true?"
Zhou Ye shook his head and continued to work on the bamboo.
Although nothing was said, there seemed to be a tacit understanding between the two that was invisible to others.
Lin Yushu inexplicably felt that he shouldn't linger here any longer. He hurriedly said, "Sister Shu, Brother Aye, I'll go back first."
"Cousin Yushu, wait a moment. Mother is going to get the bucket. Please take the wooden bucket that Aye borrowed from your house this morning back with you."
He Guixiang quickly came over with a wooden barrel. Lin Yushu reached out to take it, and found that there was water in the barrel. When he looked down, he found two big live fish in it!
"Second Aunt, this... this is unacceptable. Please take it back quickly!"
Seeing Lin Yushu said no, Lin Shu waved at him, "Cousin Yushu, come with me."
Lin Yushu followed Lin Shu out of the yard without knowing why, and went to the vegetable patch behind the house.
He knew about the fish pond at his second uncle's house because his elder brother A Ye had been busy with it a few days ago. After the mountain spring water was brought in with a bamboo tube, he went to see it. He felt that Sister A Shu was very smart and ingenious.
But when he looked at the fish pond again, Lin Yushu was stunned.
There is a bamboo tube in the fish pond. The mountain spring water rushes down and flows into the bamboo tube, flowing from high to low. It is ingenious and beautiful.
But this is not what surprised Lin Yushu.
He was surprised to see that this crystal clear spring water was already home to a large number of fish. He could clearly see the large fish, and even a grass carp leaped out of the water and quickly and nimbly slid back to the bottom of the pond.
There are so many fish, there must be at least forty or fifty fish, right?
"Sister Ashu, did you catch these in the river?" Lin Yushu stuttered.
Lin Shu hummed, "I have a secret recipe for fishing. It's very easy to catch fish, so just take those two fish home and keep them. You can eat them whenever you want."
Lin Yushu still refused, "Sister Shu, this is still not possible."
"Just take it when I tell you to. Last time, Aunt San gave me a pair of straw sandals at the market, and I kept them. Why do you think I'm dragging my feet and not accepting them?"
Lin Yushu finally accepted it after hearing this, but he thought to himself: Dad and Mom will talk to him again when he gets home. Mom will also worry about what to return to Second Uncle's family.
After seeing Lin Yushu off, Lin Xiaopu sat quietly in the room practicing calligraphy. Lin Shu joined Zhou Ye in making the bamboo recliner, but she realized Zhou Ye had already taken care of all the necessary measurements and markings, so her involvement wouldn't be much help. She couldn't believe she had no place to turn.
"Ah Shu, wait for me for a moment." Zhou Ye said to her. After leaving for a while, he quickly came back with a large basin of water and handed her the bamboo water gun he had made yesterday. "Sit next to her and watch. If I do anything wrong, remind me. If you're bored, play with the water gun."
Lin Shu: ...
"Aye, are you treating me like a child?"
Zhou Ye's hands were busy again. Hearing what she said, he raised his drooping eyebrows and looked at her, and asked back, "Aren't you?" There was a hint of a smile in his words.
Lin Shu immediately sucked up a tube of water from the water gun and splashed it on his face, "I'm going to cool you down and tell you not to say bad things about me!"
Zhou Ye calmly wiped the water off his face with his sleeve, let her make a fuss, and did what he was supposed to do.
Lin Shu sat on a small bamboo chair and gave Zhou Ye two drops of water before stopping. It was fun to give him water only when he screamed. With someone like Zhou Ye, there was no fun at all.
She collapsed on the bamboo chair, looked at the blue sky above her head, played with her fingers, and then held her little face with her two paws to watch Zhou Ye busying around.
Perhaps fearing she would get bored, Zhou Ye, after busying himself for a while, took the initiative to ask, "A Shu, do you think this move of mine is right?"
Lin Shu nodded lazily, "Yes, let's do it. Ah Ye, you work really efficiently. If you keep up this pace, Dad will be able to use this bamboo lounge chair tonight! I didn't want to tire you out any more, but since you're so capable, I want to add another bamboo rocking chair. This bamboo rocking chair will rock back and forth when you push your feet up, which is very comfortable..."
Zhou Ye waited for her to finish before adding, "Then do it."
Lin Shu's lips curled up, "Whatever I say is what it is? Are you too easy to talk to?"
Zhou Ye explained seriously, "During this period, the fields are mainly used for weeding seedlings. It's not busy, and Uncle Lin can handle it alone. I also take time to go to the fields to help out a little every day. At the end of the month, the fields need to be fertilized. After that, when the rice ears emerge, I have to go to the fields every day to remove weeds and drive away birds and animals. After that, we need to drain water to prevent waterlogging, control water to promote ripening, and then harvest in autumn. That period is the busiest. After the rice is harvested, the fields need to be plowed and dried, and wheat is planted together with the dry fields..."
The smile on Lin Shu's face gradually disappeared. So he agreed to make the bamboo rocking chair now just because he wouldn't have time later, not because he could make it for her just because she wanted it?
Zhou Ye, this idiot, doesn't he know how to say something nice to her?
While muttering in her heart, Lin Shu heard Zhou Ye add in a low voice, "But Ah Shu, you can do it whenever you want. No matter how busy I am, I will make time to do it for you."
Lin Shu's mouth corners unconsciously rose, and she felt happy again.
Zhou Ye glanced at her and secretly curled the corners of his mouth.
-----------------------
The author has something to say: My dears, I just want to end this. Click into the column and collect the author, starry eyes!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
