Chapter 134: Eat sour soup loach + shrimp + fruit ice jelly...
Lin Shu explained, "The ingredients are the same, but the cooking methods are different. For example, yesterday's chicken mushroom soup can be replaced with stir-fried chicken mushrooms. There probably won't be any bamboo fungus on the mountain today, so yesterday's cold bamboo fungus salad can be replaced with a cold purslane salad. And yesterday's fried fish can be replaced with a sour loach soup..."
After listening to what Lin Shu said, Lin Zhaodi nodded happily, "Ah Shu, whatever you say is what I will listen to you."
Several people in the yard quickly became busy. Lin Shu and Lin Xiaopu picked wild vegetables and caught loaches, and then joined in.
The house built diagonally opposite the courtyard was already close to the Lin family courtyard. Not long after, the aroma of rice wafted over.
Liu Erzhuang was already craving for the sumptuous dishes on the table yesterday.
He tried to hold back his anger, but couldn't help it. He glanced at Zhou Ye, who was working hard at the side, and asked, "Brother Zhou Ye, do you know what delicious food my sister-in-law is going to make today?"
Zhou Ye paused, looked at him, and suddenly said, "I haven't married Ah Shu yet, so don't call me sister-in-law casually. She'll get mad at me if she hears."
Liu Erzhuang scratched his head and chuckled, "Not yet, but it's only a matter of time. Besides, if my sister-in-law knew, she would only blame me. Why would she be angry with you?"
Zhou Ye said, "You don't understand Ah Shu. If she hears others yelling, she won't get mad at them, she'll only get mad at me."
Liu Erzhuang glanced at Brother Zhou Ye's facial expressions, which softened considerably when he mentioned his sister-in-law, and was amazed.
This man who has a wife is different. When he speaks, his eyes and eyebrows are full of spring breeze.
Although Liu Erzhuang and Zhou Ye had never had much interaction, they were from the same village and had met each other several times. He had never seen Zhou Ye with this expression before, which completely overturned his stereotype of Zhou Ye: an honest man who was dull, uninteresting and didn't like to smile.
But Liu Erzhuang didn't envy Zhou Ye that much. Maybe he was still young and didn't understand things, so he felt that getting married wasn't a big deal.
After I got married, I got a wife who controlled me and it made me uncomfortable.
However, if I could marry a daughter-in-law like the elder sister of the Lin family...it wouldn't be impossible, right?
The elder sister of the Lin family is not only beautiful like a fairy, but also cooks delicious food.
How comfortable his life would be if he had a girl like this to prepare delicious food for him every day.
Brother Zhou Ye must have accumulated good fortune for eight lifetimes to be able to marry such a beautiful and capable wife.
Liu Erzhuang worked for a while, turned his head and looked again, and said in his heart, it's coming again, Brother Zhou Ye started to lose focus again.
Although Brother Zhou Ye was able to do two things at once when he was distracted without affecting the work at hand, his eyes were motionless, as if his soul had left his body. Liu Erzhuang knew at a glance that his mind was not here and had drifted off to who knows where else.
Zhou Ye was indeed distracted.
He is a serious person, but he also knows himself well. This kind of work that does not require much brainpower will not be affected by his occasional wandering thoughts, so he will let himself go.
He was thinking about Ah Shu at the moment. Or rather, he had been thinking about her for a long time.
No one who had experienced the beautiful and passionate scene last night would be able to remain calm.
Even though a whole night had passed, to Zhou Ye, it felt like it had just happened a short time ago. Those scenes played over and over in his mind, making him feel both sweet and troubled.
Zhou Ye looked up at the sun in the east. Because it was early, the sun was not very glaring, but he felt as if he had been exposed to the scorching sun all day. He felt dry mouth and his throat was smoking.
When Lin Zhaodi came early in the morning, she had already placed a wooden block on the flat ground. On the block was a pottery pot of tea and several coarse pottery bowls, so that anyone who was thirsty could just pour the tea and drink it.
Zhou Ye walked over and poured a bowl of cold tea. He took a few big gulps and felt a little better.
About a quarter of an hour later, someone came.
The one who came to call them today was not Lin Xiaopu or Lin Shu, but Lin Zhaodi.
Lin Zhaodi shouted to a few people, and Zhao Laosan took the lead to stop working and invite the younger ones to have breakfast together.
Today the table is full of dishes again!
Liu Erzhuang glanced at the dining table and smiled so hard that his teeth showed.
It was somewhat similar to yesterday's breakfast, but also a little different. Aunt Lin and the others had actually made some other dishes in a different way.
Liu Erzhuang subconsciously looked for the fried fish from yesterday, but he didn't find it. Instead, he noticed a large clay pot of soup in the middle of the table.
When Liu Erzhuang learned that it was a pot of loach in sour soup, he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
Yesterday it was fried fish pieces, but today it turned into loach.
Things that can be seen everywhere in the fields, rations for ducks and geese, are actually served on the table?
It's not that he didn't know that loaches are edible. Some people in the village also eat loaches, snakes, and insects, but that was during a famine.
Every household uses these things to fill their stomachs because they don’t have enough food. No one would eat these things in a good year.
However, Liu Erzhuang did not show his disappointment too obviously. Although there was no meat, the other dishes were delicious.
Liu Erzhuang was very satisfied just by eating the other dishes.
Wang Changshun is different from Liu Erzhuang.
His family was poor, and Ping'er usually ate porridge with pickles, or simply threw a few handfuls of vegetables into the porridge to make it into vegetable porridge. It was very rare for them to eat meat at home.
Because yesterday's meal was so sumptuous, he subconsciously thought that such a sumptuous meal could not be available every day. But he did not expect that today's meal would be so sumptuous again!
He was so surprised when he saw it, how could he be disappointed just because there was a missing fried fish?
As for loaches, his family ate them quite often, but his parents, fearing they would be laughed at if they were seen, always caught and eaten secretly. Oil was expensive, so they rarely bought it. They didn't cook with it, but mostly just sprinkled a few grains of salt into stews, and they cooked the loaches in the same way. Wang Changshun ate them so often that he'd even gotten used to their earthy, fishy flavor.
He scooped a spoonful of loach meat into the bowl, not thinking it would be very delicious. But after taking a mouthful of the sour soup loach, his eyes suddenly lit up.
It’s delicious!
It turns out that loach can be cooked so deliciously!
Liu Erzhuang was surprised to see him scooping spoonful after spoonful.
No, how can the loach growing in the mud be so delicious?
Not only Wang Changshun, but also Uncle Lin, Uncle Zhao and Brother Zhou Ye at the dinner table were all scooping food into their bowls one spoonful after another.
This table of food was prepared by Aunt Lin from Uncle Zhao's third family and Aunt He from Uncle Lin's second family. Sister Lin Shu, the wife of Brother Zhou Ye, also helped. They probably ate more to give face to their wives, but Wang Changshun couldn't...
Seeing that the loach meat in the clay pot was getting less and less, and even a lot of the sauerkraut inside had been scooped away, Liu Erzhuang, who had not intended to eat the loach, hurriedly used the spoon in the clay pot to scoop a large spoonful of loach meat into the bowl, and also scooped a spoonful of soup.
He is not a fool. It would be fine if it was just one or two people, but since everyone was enjoying it so much, the taste must not be what he thought.
When Liu Erzhuang took a bite of the sour soup loach, he was immediately conquered by it and only regretted that he had not eaten it earlier.
What a filthy mess, this is a delicacy!
The soup not only has sauerkraut added to it, but also has a spicy flavor. The loach inside does not have a fishy smell. One bite of it is sour and spicy, which is appetizing, relieves greasiness and enhances freshness!
Without eating other dishes, Liu Erzhuang can eat two big bowls of sour soup loach rice with just two spoonfuls!
The last large earthenware pot of loach in sour soup was eaten up by several men, and the other dishes were also mostly eaten.
Lin Zhaodi brought the large bowl of loach in sour soup left by the female guest directly to Zhou Ye and said with a smile, "We have more stomachs than we can finish. Please don't mind that this is our leftovers."
As for why the food was served directly to Zhou Ye instead of others, it was because the other men had started to burp after eating, but Zhou Ye's stomach was still not full.
Zhou Ye thanked him and didn't hesitate to take the bowl and eat.
When Lin Zhaodi turned around and returned, she immediately exchanged glances with Lin Shu, with a smile in her eyes, as if to say: Don't worry, I won't let your A Ye go hungry.
Lin Shu: ...
She was indeed a little worried that Ah Ye wouldn't have enough to eat. In the past, Ah Ye had eaten most of the loaches in the huge clay pot. But now, the food wasn't much more than before, but there were several more mouths at the table, and they were all big eaters. Even with this distribution, Ah Ye still didn't have as much to eat as usual, and he still did the heavy work.
But Lin Shu was just muttering secretly in her heart and should not have revealed it. Why did Aunt Lin seem to see through her?
Is she being so obvious?
It's not that she is partial to A-ye, but Aunt Lin doesn't know A-ye's appetite. The food for three people is not enough for A-ye.
Whatever, she should prepare some snacks for lunch. She didn't care about others, she just couldn't let Ah Ye go hungry.
After breakfast, Li Chunmiao came on time to help wash and clean up, just like yesterday. He did not come empty-handed, but brought two melons.
During this time, she mentioned to Lin Shu that Wang Yingen ate wild vegetable dumplings yesterday. "...Hey, I thought this kid used to be the most enthusiastic about eating, but why was he so slow to eat dinner yesterday? It turns out he ate two wild vegetable dumplings at your place! Ah Shu, you don't know that Ping'er comes back from being out all day, and he eats especially a lot for dinner. But yesterday, he just drank a bowl of porridge and didn't eat anything. I asked him and found out what happened."
Li Chunmiao said this with a smile.
Wang Yingen said that the wild vegetable dumplings were made with lard, eggs and dried shiitake mushrooms. He actually ate two of these exquisite delicacies at once!
"Ah Shu, don't spoil these naughty kids too much. They just helped you dig up some wild vegetables. You can just give each of them half a wild vegetable dumpling so they can have a taste. Why do you need to give each of them one? I actually gave them two..."
Lin Shu thought: She is not the one who pampers these naughty kids.
A big reason why naughty kids are naughty is because their parents indulge them. Aunt Li, while she'd scold and spank him when necessary, usually gave Wang Yingen a free rein. But it's not Aunt Li's fault; most women in the village are like this. They have a lot of housework to do, and they're all busy with their own things. And since children are growing up, it's impossible to keep an eye on them constantly or keep them at bay.
"Aunt Li, this is what they deserve. Yingen and the others helped me with a lot of work and were a great help. But you are so polite, Aunt Li, you even brought two melons." Lin Shu said.
Li Chunmiao was delighted when he heard this.
Her son Wang Yingen often came back from getting into trouble outside and asked her to clean up the mess. She never expected that one day she would be rewarded for helping others.
"Aunt Li, I have to go out for something. Let's talk later."
Li Chunmiao's eyes flickered slightly, knowing that she was going to go to Zhang Qiaohua's house to tutor Lin Yushu again, but she didn't ask, waving her hand and saying, "Ashu, go and do your thing."
Lin Shu left with an empty basket on her back, planning to go directly to the back mountain after returning from her third aunt's house and pick a basket of Guanyin firewood.
After Lin Shu left, Li Chunmiao continued to help with the work as usual and never mentioned anything else.
He Guixiang couldn't help but sigh. Li Chunmiao was really patient.
But she knew that Li Chunmiao would bring up Wang Yingen's studies sooner or later.
After Lin Shu left, Lin Xiaopu also left and went to find Wang Yingen and others.
Before leaving, the elder sister instructed her to call Wang Yingen and others to go to the river to catch shrimps, and catch as many as they could.
So she took the fish basket with her. The fish basket was a gift from Grandpa Gao's family. Aye and her sister took some time to visit Grandpa Gao's house and see the first bamboo lounge chair made by Grandpa Gao. Grandpa Gao also gave the woven fish basket to her sister.
The fish basket is tied around the waist with a straw rope, which makes it very convenient to catch fish and shrimps.
When Wang Yingen and the others heard that it was Sister Ashu who ordered this, they were all very happy.
They thought that it would take at least several days for Sister Shu to come to see them again, but they didn't expect her to come to see them again today!
They're good at catching fish and shrimp; it's their favorite thing to do. If you ask them where the creeks are most full of shrimp and fish, they know better than anyone else. They can do things while having fun, and that's a lot of fun for a group of people.
"Sister Shu, are you going to make something delicious again?" Wang Yingen asked.
"I don't know, my sister didn't tell me. But don't worry, you will definitely benefit from it!"
A group of naughty kids were busy in the ditch until noon. Since they were playing in the river, they didn't feel hot even though the sun was strong, but they were a little sunburned.
"That's about it, that should be enough. Let's all go back and rest." Lin Xiaopu's fish basket was almost full of small shrimps. And these small shrimps were caught one by one. It was really not easy to catch so many.
Wang Yingen frowned immediately. "That's it? We've been busy for so long."
Lin Xiaopu said unhappily, "I told you that I'll definitely benefit from it. Come back to my house in an hour. My sister will make some snacks and I'll share some with you then."
Wang Yingen and the others cheered loudly when they heard this. They could have some delicious food again!
By the time Lin Xiaopu returned with a basket full of shrimp, Lin Shu had already washed the guanyin wood and was kneading the juice. Furthermore, there was a fire burning in the stove nearby, and a steamer was on the rack, with no idea what was being steamed inside.
Only my elder sister and my mother were seen in the yard; Aunt Lin and Aunt Li were gone.
"Sister, you're back so early today? Where are Aunt Lin and Aunt Li?"
Lin Shu replied, "Aunt Li helped clean up the stove and then went back. Aunt Lin went to change the tea for Uncle Zhao and the others."
In fact, it was because Lin Shu implicitly revealed a meaning: she was going to make a snack with an exclusive secret recipe.
Lin Zhaodi and Li Chunmiao were both smart and knew what she meant, so they did not stay in the courtyard for long today and took the initiative to avoid her.
Lin Shu had thought about it before, whether she should be more generous, after all, it was just a snack, but then she thought, it’s better to focus on herself first. After all, there is a man with a voracious appetite at home. If it’s not enough for him, why share it with others.
As a person, you have to be a little selfish sometimes. She didn't keep the recipe for the wild vegetable dumplings because cattail roots are everywhere on the mountain and there's more than everyone can eat. But Guanyin chai is different. There are only a few of them on the mountain, and once they're eaten, they're gone.
"Sister, what is steaming in the pot?" Lin Xiaopu asked curiously.
He Guixiang smiled and replied, "I steamed a bowl of mung beans. Ah Shu said we should have a different way of eating today's snack. We need to steam the mung beans until they are soft."
Lin Xiaopu's eyes lit up slightly, and before she could ask, Lin Shu explained with a curled lip, "Didn't Aunt Li bring two melons? We also have Aunt Lin's cucumbers. Let's use these two as fruit today and make some fruit jelly!"
The slurry from the Guanyin chai, once solidified, has a texture more like tofu, hence the name Guanyin tofu. It's still a far cry from the jelly-like texture of ice jelly, but it's a decent enough substitute. We don't have honey red beans, but we do have mung beans, which are also delicious when steamed until soft!
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