Liang Shengdi lived up to everyone's expectations and brought back four more fish in the afternoon, mainly because Lin Shugan was too tired to carry them.
Chen Chunhua first added some kohlrabi and New Year's bacon slices to the fish balls she had made at noon and made a bowl of clear fish soup. She also braised the smallest fish and fried an egg.
The whole family had no time to speak before they had enough food to eat; the whole house was filled with the sound of scrambling.
The happiest person eating today was not Liang Shengdi, nor the third child Lin Shuchao, but the youngest one Lin Shumei. Even after her brothers and sisters had finished their meals, she still didn't want to leave the table.
She put a fish ball into her rice bowl, mashed it with a spoon and then mixed it with rice. It had the delicious taste of fish meat without having to worry about fish bones pricking her throat. Adding a spoonful of fish ball soup made the meal even more delicious.
She ate five of the 15 fish balls. In the end, Chen Chunhua stopped and refused to give her any more, fearing they would make her sick.
"Mom...eat the fish balls..." Lin Shumei sat on the chair, her legs swinging as she kept pointing at the fish balls in the soup bowl with her fingers and opening her mouth to gesture.
Chen Chunhua touched her stomach. This girl had not only eaten five fish balls, but also the entire bowl of rice. This was twice her usual food intake. She shook her head and said, "No, you can't eat anymore today. Let's eat tomorrow."
"Tomorrow, Yuanyuan..."
"Well, I'll make you some Yuanyuan tomorrow. You don't have to eat it today."
The little girl finally gave up and slid off the chair to the ground. With her two pigtails sticking up, she ran to the yard to play with her brothers and sisters.
When the fourth brother left the table, Liang Shengdi was sucking every last drop of the fish head inside out. Seeing that everyone had finished eating, she drank up the remaining fish ball and soup at the bottom of the soup bowl.
After eating, he touched his stomach and burped continuously, shaking his head and saying, "This is a day~ Even gods wouldn't change~"
Lin Guoqing is the one selling vegetables at the stall tonight, so he doesn't have to go to Qi Fagen and can sleep a little longer before setting off.
Before everyone went to bed, Chen Chunhua scraped the three fish and made them into fish balls. She took the largest aluminum basin in the house, poured cold water into it, put the fish balls in, then covered it with a lid and gave it to Lin Guoqing.
"Tsk, this isn't tight, will it spill on the way?" Lin Guoqing carefully put it into the basket and tried to carry it for a walk. The next second, he was stopped by Chen Chunhua.
"Oh, no, no, I'll definitely fall over if I carry it on my back."
Finally, Chen Chunhua found a shoulder pole, put the fish ball basin in a basket and hung it on one end of the pole. She then covered it with a mushroom basket, hung a beam scale, a charging lamp and other miscellaneous things on it, and barely maintained a balance with the bamboo shoots on the other end.
"Just carry it like this later, and be careful when you go. Let's save some money and buy a bicycle or a tricycle, and then everything will be fine."
No need to worry about not being able to fit too much stuff in, nor worry about being exhausted after walking for hours.
Chen Chunhua sighed and wiped the thin layer of sweat from her forehead with her sleeve. She hadn't rested at all all day.
Lin Guoqing smacked his lips and suddenly felt a little tired. He was still thinking about building a house two days ago, and today his wife was thinking about buying a car. Their family was dreaming every day.
Liang Shengdi didn't know when she came out of her room. She was curious about what they were doing. When she heard Chen Chunhua say she wanted to buy a tricycle, she hurriedly reminded them.
"We need to buy chicken first."
The couple in the main room who were worried about money were immediately amused.
"Buy, buy, buy! I promised to give you a whole chicken, so I must buy it for you first!"
Chen Chunhua coaxed Liang Shengdi back to sleep like she was coaxing a child. Lin Guoqing also went back to the room to look after the child. She then took the rechargeable lamp and took another walk around the mushroom hut.
There was no movement with those bags. She knew it wouldn't happen that quickly, but she just wanted to check on them every night before going to bed to give herself peace of mind.
Lin Guoqing slept until one o'clock today, and it was Chen Chunhua who pushed him.
"Oh my! I overslept! I need to set an alarm for tomorrow..."
Lin Guoqing dressed, carefully stepping over the sleeping children on the floor as he headed out. Chen Chunhua was terribly sleepy, so she rolled over and went back to sleep. Half asleep, she heard the wooden door creak twice, and the next second she was instantly asleep.
After sleeping for a few hours and getting up before continuing on his journey, Lin Guoqing did not feel more alert than in the previous few days of staying up late. Instead, he felt even more sleepy and cold.
He yawned constantly as he carefully carried his shoulder pole forward. There were about a hundred fish balls in the basket ahead. If it tipped over, Chen Chunhua would scratch him to death.
When they arrived at Guanqian Lane, everyone was there, and he was the last one there today.
Seeing that he had changed his equipment today, Lao Shi teased him, "Your basket doesn't look like it can hold many vegetables. What's going on? Are you selling tofu today?"
In the past, people who sold tofu went from street to street either pushing a cart or hanging baskets on both ends.
Lin Guoqing smiled and carefully placed the basket on the ground. He lifted it up and took a look. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no signs of water spilling out.
"We don't have tofu, but we do have fish balls."
"Fish balls?" Lao Shi instantly became alert, and Lao Wu, Lao Wang, Sister Zhang, Sister Li and others beside him also looked over.
With nothing else to do, we gathered to look at the large aluminum basin in Lin Guoqing's basket. Plumpy, white fish balls were crammed into the basin, floating on the water. The slightest movement of the basket caused them to tremble in unison, their plump white bodies trembling in unison. It was a delightful sight.
"Did you make this at home? It looks pretty good!"
Sister Li looked at the bowl of fish balls with a bit of envy and greed. "It's good to be able to make fish balls yourself. I can't do that. My mother-in-law can make them, but it's too troublesome. She only makes them a few times during festivals, and then shares them among the other families, and then they're gone."
Although it is a specialty of the water town, not everyone knows how to make it. If people who don't know how to make it want to eat it, they have to buy it, except for getting it from relatives and friends.
Chen Chunhua learned the skill of making fish balls from her grandfather.
"Yes, my mom caught some silver carp, and my wife made fish balls. They were just made after dinner today, so they're still fresh. Would you like some? Just boil them up at home and you can eat them. Two for three cents. If you want, no matter how many you buy, I'll give you an extra one."
Lin Guoqing smiled as he wiped the spoon clean and prepared himself. He didn't mention how many of them were made at noon. The weather was still cold, so a half-day difference wouldn't be a big deal. Anyway, they were all mixed together, so he couldn't tell them apart.
Old Shi was always their most loyal customer, always saying, "Ten fish, 15 cents, right?" He was about to pay. The fish was tender and fresh, and silver carp, known for its spleen-tonifying, qi-invigorating, and stomach-warming properties, was the perfect choice for their roomful of patients.
But Lin Guoqing didn't move, and even held down his hand that was about to take out the money, "Hey, Brother Shi, did you bring a bowl?"
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