Chapter 65 Casserole Yellow Croaker
Because Xiwei Village is closer to Xiaxi Village, where the Yao family lived, Yao Yuan was the one who explored the area. He followed the stream downstream, passed through Xiwei Village, and finally discovered this hidden mountain reservoir.
Eighty percent of the province's terrain is hilly, and countless streams and rivers are formed by the hills. There are also many reservoirs of various sizes. However, the village where Zhao Xuan and the Yao family lived was too secluded and was not built along a major river or stream. Therefore, people living in the village could not eat large river fish all year round. The reservoir that Yao Yuan found made up for their food shortage.
The big fish that Lao Dao brought back during the Chinese New Year was caught from the reservoir.
Zhao Xuan suggested going to the reservoir to catch some fish; any leftovers could be dried and made into dried fish. Lu An agreed. He went to the reservoir a couple of days earlier and set up a row of fish baskets in the shallow water. The baskets were from a farmer's house last year; even after several years, the wicker baskets were still very sturdy and hadn't been damaged by insects or rodents.
There are eight fish baskets in total, all connected together, like firecrackers, barrel-shaped, with a large entrance and a small exit. Put some crushed small river snails into the fish baskets, and once the fish go inside, they won't easily get out.
A string of fishing baskets takes up quite a lot of space and can't fit in the stream, until this reservoir was discovered and it came in handy.
For the first two days, Lu An set out fishing baskets, expecting to catch something before taking Zhao Xuan to the reservoir to fish—even if they caught nothing, at least they would get something from the baskets.
Lu An didn't really take Zhao Xuan fishing for the fish; he just wanted to show Zhao Xuan something new. They were the only two people in the village, and the farm work was monotonous and repetitive. It was hard to be happy after a while, so he decided to take Zhao Xuan for a stroll.
Zhao Xuan didn't want to stay at home anymore. The plum rain season in the south was too unbearable. Sometimes half a bucket of water could be scraped off the walls inside the house, the bathroom was filled with a musty smell, even the quilts were damp, and the clothes couldn't be dried for several days in a row. If they were left to dry, they would smell bad, so they could only be dried with charcoal.
It was very hot indoors, but the windows couldn't be opened, otherwise it would be even more humid. Sometimes, when Zhao Xuan woke up from a nap, his face was covered in oil from the stuffiness. Thanks to the continuous plum rain season, he was more excited than a duck being let out to roam when he saw a sunny day.
So the two of them took advantage of the rare sunny day and set off for the reservoir.
Before setting off, Lu An built a temporary shed on the back of his tricycle. As the sun began to beat down, Zhao Xuan could take shelter inside.
They found fishhooks in the village, but the fishing rods were broken, so they made two fishing rods out of thin bamboo. They also dug up some earthworms and brought two empty buckets with them.
Zhao Xuan also prepared a bucket of water, a pot, a few potatoes, a few cucumbers, a few tomatoes, and some seasonings. Their round trip would take almost a day. If they caught any fish, they could cook them on the spot; if not, the few small potatoes could serve as sustenance.
The cucumbers and tomatoes weren't fully grown yet, and they were a little astringent, but they were perfect for quenching thirst. When the temperature rose at noon, they were mixed with some white sugar and eaten cool and refreshing, making them even more delicious.
Zhao Xuan loaded the things onto the tricycle, locked the courtyard gate, and Lu An led Zhao Xuan away from home.
460 wasn't home, so it unfortunately missed the trip.
The early summer breeze is already quite warm; in the south, it might not be called warm, but rather carries a slight heat.
They had long since shed their thick winter clothes. Summers in the province, like winters, don't have a gradual temperature change; sometimes a single rain shower can cause temperatures to plummet from the teens to below zero, and winter arrives in a single day. Summers, too, can suddenly become unbearably hot, requiring a sweater one day, leaving only a short-sleeved shirt for warmth.
Zhao Xuan wore two thin layers of clothing in the morning and evening, but only needed to wear a short-sleeved shirt at noon, while Lu An, who was more robust, changed into summer clothes much earlier.
As the sun rises higher, so does the temperature.
The wheels of the large tricycle creaked and groaned as they rolled over the mountain path, which was now covered with tender grass. Occasionally, a startled bird would fly by, flapping its wings and letting out a melodious chirp.
Zhao Xuan sat in the small shed that Lu An had specially built for her, munching on a half-green tomato. When she looked up, she saw a bird with a hint of blue on its head, pure white body, and several extremely long white tail feathers fly by, its posture graceful, like a little phoenix.
That's a paradise flycatcher; Zhao Xuan had only ever seen this kind of bird in books before.
"Lu'an, Lu'an, look! It's a sash! It's perched on that tree." Zhao Xuan immediately patted Lu'an, who turned around and saw the dazzling blue and white amidst the green. He couldn't help but exclaim "Wow!"
City kids are curious and delighted by everything they see in the mountains and fields.
Zhao Xuan didn't know how many humans were left, but there were certainly not many survivors. Nature was rapidly recovering its original state. Just a few days ago, Zhao Xuan had seen three great egrets perched in the barren paddy fields; she expected to see many more animals there that she had never seen before.
She had heard Lao Dao say that at the very beginning of the outbreak, the government had foreseen that it would be an irreversible disaster, so it safely shut down all nuclear power plants and some large factories very early on. It was a decision to cut off an arm to save the body, but at least it preserved the stability of the ecosystem, allowing the survivors to go into the mountains and forests to live, or to go to the seaside and live off the ocean.
Besides some birds that I've never seen before, you can occasionally see a cluster of bright red flowers by the roadside. Those are azaleas, which bloom best around the Qingming Festival. Now they've mostly faded, and the few clusters that are still blooming are in relatively shady places.
At this time, Zhao Xuan would call Lu An to stop the car so she could pick a few branches to take home and arrange in a vase.
Pick the azaleas, remove the stems, and suck out the juice. It has a sweet and sour taste. Zhao Xuan ate it with the other children in the village when she was a child, but her grandmother wouldn't let her eat too much. Her grandmother said that azaleas were used for medicine and were poisonous, and that eating too much would make her stupid.
Zhao Xuan and Lu An traveled along the way, stopping frequently. They even visited Xiwei Village, which they passed through, where Zhao Xuan picked some wild chives and scallions.
A little further on the road is Xiwei Village Reservoir.
This is a small reservoir, used only for water storage and flood control. It has fallen into disrepair over the years, and the area around it is overgrown with weeds. There are several rows of dilapidated bungalows nearby, with no doors or windows, and they are already on the verge of collapse.
People in the mountainous areas of the province mostly eat freshwater fish raised in reservoirs, and rarely catch them directly from rivers because the rivers are heavily polluted. Reservoirs are sometimes used as drinking water sources, so the fish in them are naturally unpolluted.
Lu An stopped the car and led Zhao Xuan to the place where the fishing baskets were placed. The two of them dragged the baskets out together and unexpectedly had a good harvest. There were some slightly larger river crabs and shrimps, as well as some fish.
Zhao Xuan recognized several of the fish as common river fish such as catfish, yellow croaker, and crucian carp. The catfish were too small, so he released them back into the water. The crucian carp were also small, but he could take them home, dry them, and eat them. The yellow croakers were just right; these fish don't usually grow very big, and the three yellow croakers in the basket were already considered large fish, perfect for stewing at noon.
A reservoir is essentially a large water storage pond. Some large reservoirs even have railings around their edges, making them great places for families to camp on weekends. However, there are just too many reservoirs in the province. This reservoir, located deep in the mountains, was unknown to most people before the apocalypse. Apart from the row of dilapidated houses used for living on the side, there were no traces of human intervention.
The surrounding scenery is beautiful, with mountains all around and lush greenery.
It was very quiet all around, so quiet that the only sound was the soft rustling of the wind across the water.
The two of them scooped the fish basket out together, picked out the fish they could recognize, smashed some of the smaller shrimp and crabs, threw them into the basket, and then put the basket back into the shallow water.
They were on a shallow beach in the reservoir, covered with pebbles of all sizes. They tied the rope of the fishing basket to a large rock to prevent it from being washed away, and that was it.
Lu An carried a small bucket and a fishing rod and went to find a fishing spot.
Zhao Xuan found a shady spot and unloaded everything from the tricycle. They had quite a lot of things with them. She moved some stones, built a stove, lit a fire, boiled a pot of water, and then took a knife to kill the yellow croaker by the water.
Zhao Xuan rarely did chores like killing fish or chickens; Lu An usually volunteered to do them. Lu An's heart was now as hard as it had been after killing fish at RT-Mart for ten years, while Zhao Xuan was much clumsy at killing fish. The yellowfin tuna in early summer were full of energy, and probably knowing their lives were in danger, they let out a loud croak like ducks, and then splashed water all over Zhao Xuan's face with a flick of their tails.
A disheveled Zhao Xuan glanced at Lu An in the distance and saw him diligently hanging earthworms on a hook.
Zhao Xuan was very satisfied. She didn't want Lu An to help her. She felt that she should also train herself and harden her heart like a fish that had been killed for ten years.
When Zhao Xuan was a child, he often ate yellowtail amberjack. This type of fish is small and covered with a layer of mucus, which needs to be scalded off with hot water to remove the fishy smell. Once the mucus is removed, yellowtail amberjack doesn't require any special cooking skills; this type of fish is naturally tender and fresh.
She slowly cleaned the fish, washed it with river water, and carried it back in a small basin. By then, the water in the pot had boiled. She used half of the water to scald off the slime and used the remaining half to make fish soup.
I added some ginger slices and fresh chili peppers, then scooped out a spoonful of lard and a spoonful of salt. Finally, I cut the potatoes into chunks and stewed them with the yellow croaker. The last step was to put the lid on.
The simplest way is the best; stewing a pot of delicious fish soup is just that simple.
Zhao Xuan stretched, suddenly losing her desire to fish; she wanted to sleep. So she found a large rock nearby, leaned against it, draped her long-sleeved jacket over herself, and prepared to take a nap.
The stones along the reservoir's edge are very clean, without a trace of silt, and have been smoothed by the water, without any sharp edges. They feel cool and comfortable to the touch.
Zhao Xuan listened to the sound of the water boiling in the clay pot while dozing off with his eyes closed.
The world was quiet.
She wasn't fast asleep; she could hear the sound of water coming from Lu An, so it seemed he had a good haul.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his ankle. Zhao Xuan opened his eyes and saw a horsefly perched on his ankle. This insect looked like a giant fly. It would land on a person and start sucking their blood. The pain was intense. Zhao Xuan frowned, flicked the horsefly away with one finger, sending it a thousand miles away.
She can now ignore many insects, such as leeches and horseflies, and remain unmoved by praise or criticism.
Without electronic devices, time seemed to slow down. Zhao Xuan felt like he had slept for a long time. When he opened his eyes again, the water in the casserole was still boiling, and the fish was not fully cooked.
She got up and started strolling around. Lu An was still sitting by the water fishing. He found two slightly thick Y-shaped pieces of wood, hammered them into the ground, and then placed the two fishing rods on the forks of the wood, saving him the trouble of carrying the rods.
Food was precious, so Lu An didn't prepare a lot of bait to bait the area. Instead, he found a relatively calm body of water and used earthworms as bait to fish. They were probably the first group of humans to visit in recent years, so they had a good harvest. They caught several common freshwater fish, some big and some small, but all of them were very lively.
Zhao Xuan squatted down next to Lu An, watching Lu An catch fish after fish, and commented that this was the so-called newbie protection period.
One of the fish had several red lines on its tail. Lu An glanced at it and released the fish. The red lines on the fish's tail were parasites, something Lu Jie had told them.
The small reservoir is surrounded by mountains. Apart from the path they came in through, the surrounding area is full of budding forests. The reservoir is like a blue-green gem that has fallen into a green carpet. As far as the eye can see, it is lush green. You can't see the distance and you can't hear any outside sounds. Even the small sound of boiling water can be heard clearly.
After spending some more time fishing with Lu An, Zhao Xuan returned to the stove. The fish in the casserole had already turned into a milky white soup. He threw in a handful of scallions, and a simple lunch was ready.
Zhao Xuan shouted at the top of his lungs, "Lu An, come and eat!"
Lu An responded and quickly walked over, pulling out his fishing rod. Zhao Xuan handed him a bowl, and the two of them moved two stones to use as stools, half-squatting and half-sitting in front of the pot to prepare for dinner.
The casserole they brought was very large, and the food they cooked was enough to fill them up. The staple food was potatoes that had been stewed until soft in the fish soup. Zhao Xuan specially cut the potatoes into very large pieces, so three or five pieces of potatoes could fill a bowl.
The potatoes weren't peeled; biting into them with the skin on revealed a sweet, glutinous, and fragrant flavor. Potatoes don't absorb flavor easily, so they aren't very salty on their own and don't absorb the fishy smell. Zhao Xuan really liked the original taste of potatoes—less sweet than sweet potatoes or corn, but with a more delicate texture, becoming more fragrant the more you chew. The habit of eating potatoes with the skin on probably started at the beginning of the apocalypse. Back then, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and even pumpkins were all boiled and eaten with the skin on. Over time, it became a habit, and even this year, when food is plentiful, the two of them still prefer to eat potatoes with the skin on.
After eating two pieces of potato, Zhao Xuan felt the taste was a bit bland, so he scooped a spoonful of fish soup into his bowl, broke the potato into small pieces with chopsticks, and dipped them in the fish soup to eat.
Yellow croaker soup is very delicious. As long as you remove the mucus on the surface of the fish when washing it, the soup will not have a fishy smell.
Zhao Xuan often ate this kind of fish when he was a child. Back then, the ecology was good, and farmers would often catch it themselves when they had free time. If they caught too much, they would sell it at the entrance of the village. Everyone knew each other, so the price was not high.
Grandma would buy a string of these fish whenever she saw them—these fish were usually strung together with straw through their gills, ten fish in a string. Grandma said that eating fish would help children grow taller. Since sea fish were unavailable in the countryside, she would try to buy as many river fish as possible for Xiao Zhaoxuan to eat.
Grandma would carefully remove the large bones from the fish soup she made, and then fill a bowl with the soup and fish, along with some soft, stewed potato chunks. But most children don't like eating fish. Zhao Xuan remembers picking out the potatoes from the soup when she was little, and after finishing the soup, she would leave a bowl of milky white fish soup and go out to play.
Grandma was a very gentle person. When she saw that Zhao Xuan wouldn't eat fish, she just sighed. Later, she made several different kinds of fish soup for Zhao Xuan, but he didn't like any of them. The remaining fish meat was then given to the family's little brown dog.
However, people's tastes change as they get older.
Zhao Xuan used to refuse cauliflower when she was little, but now she can eat a few bites. She used to hate the smell of cilantro, but while she still doesn't eat it, at least the smell doesn't make her nauseous. The same goes for fish; she's not picky about food anymore and eats all kinds of fish.
This fish soup was cooked according to her grandmother's recipe.
A few yellow croakers, some potatoes, a few chilies, a few pieces of garlic leaves, a few slices of ginger, a spoonful of lard, and a handful of salt, stewed together in a clay pot, make for a delicious meal.
Zhao Xuan somewhat regretted his waste of talent when he was a child.
She ate a bowl of fragrant potatoes with the fish soup, and then scooped some fish meat into the bowl.
Although yellowfin croaker doesn't have much meat, the meat is very tender. It can be easily separated from the bone with a gentle rub of the tongue, like eating tofu. The fish is very flavorful, and because of the chili peppers, it has a fresh and spicy taste, which is just right to eat during the rainy season.
People living in the mountains like to eat salty and spicy food. The spring water in the mountains is very cool and the rainfall is abundant. Eating some salty and spicy food can dispel dampness and prevent cold.
The weather was a bit muggy today. The two of them ate two bowls of fish, and both of them were sweating slightly. Lu An glanced at Zhao Xuan and saw that she was carefully picking at the small pieces of fish with her chopsticks. He smiled, put the belly part of the fish from his bowl into Zhao Xuan's bowl, and then put the back part of the fish from her bowl back into his own bowl.
Zhao Xuan smiled at him with narrowed eyes when he saw him.
She served the two bowls of fish, picking out the belly for Lu An and the back for herself. But Lu An was always a lover who could give positive feedback; he never took Zhao Xuan's kindness for granted, and he always returned it in kind.
If two people live their lives by giving back to each other in this way, they can grow old together, right?
Zhao Xuan sometimes thought that before the apocalypse, she and Lu An might still have argued—about money, about work, about many things they worried about the future. But they wouldn't now. Without the help of modern medicine, she and Lu An might only live to be forty or fifty years old?
She is now in her twenties, halfway through her life. The older one gets, the faster time seems to pass. How long an afternoon used to be when she was a child! Now she can only wash a few clothes, cook a meal, and then daydream for a while before it gets dark. So many things are no longer important. As long as she and Lu An can live quietly and freely like this for the next few decades, that will be enough.
After enjoying a hearty meal of fish soup in a clay pot, the two washed their bowls and chopsticks together by the water. Zhao Xuan put the cooking utensils back in the back compartment, while Lu An went back to fishing.
Zhao Xuan planned to go to the nearby mountainside to break off some wild vines to string the small fish he caught. Since the small fish and the big fish would be eaten if kept in the same bucket, it was better to kill them by the river before leaving, string them together with the wild vines, and bring them home fresh.
She took a relatively desolate route on the north slope, where the vegetation was sparse. Zhao Xuan used a stick to poke at the snakes as she walked, so that she would not easily encounter snakes that had come out of hibernation.
Because the reservoir is a sunken area with a limited view, she broke off vines as she climbed the slope. In fact, she had enough vines by the time she reached the halfway point, but Zhao Xuan suddenly wanted to climb to a higher place to take a look, so she continued to climb. However, she did not leave Lu An's sight. Every now and then, Lu An would look back at the increasingly smaller Zhao Xuan, and only when he saw that she was still there would he turn back to fish. If the two made eye contact, Zhao Xuan would wave to him.
After walking for a while, Zhao Xuan finally reached the top. She looked into the distance for a moment, then turned back with a nervous expression and waved vigorously at Lu An, as if to call Lu An over.
Lu An immediately put away his fishing rod, picked up his axe, and followed.
He walked very fast and was covered in sweat when he reached the top of the slope.
Zhao Xuan pointed to a place in the distance and said, "Look there."
She was pointing to a dense forest, from which wisps of smoke rose and drifted far away on the wind.
Zhao Xuan asked, "Is there anyone there?"
Lu An nodded.
Zhao Xuan asked again, "Will they see us?"
Lu An replied, "They shouldn't be able to see it."
The forest was too dense, and the towering branches blocked people's view. If they hadn't climbed to the sparsely vegetated hillside, Zhao Xuan and his group wouldn't have been able to see the smoke rising from the chimney.
"Are there people living there too?" Zhao Xuan asked with some concern.
Lu An comforted her, "Not necessarily. They might just be passing through. Even if they were people who had settled here, they might not necessarily come here."
The mountainous terrain is too rugged. Sometimes, even places that are right in front of you require a long detour to reach. Moreover, this wisp of smoke is far from the reservoir, and their village is also far from the reservoir. Adding the distances together, the journey becomes quite long.
Unless you're a hunter, if you also farm like them, there's a high probability you won't venture into their territory.
Zhao Xuan said, "I think that plume of smoke was rising from deep within the forest. Did the people over there choose to live in an abandoned village, but rather in an even deeper ravine?"
Living deep in the mountains is safe; if it weren't for the smoke from the chimney, one would probably never be discovered in their lifetime. However, it means having to build your own house, but the southern mountains are damp and full of mosquitoes. If you use local materials to build a shelter in the mountains with wood, it won't be very comfortable. Untreated wood and mud walls will rot in just a few years.
Lu An patted Zhao Xuan's head: "Let's go, they won't find us. Before they see us, let's hurry down the slope and go home." Then he took Zhao Xuan's hand and forcibly pulled Zhao Xuan, who kept looking back, away.
The road back was still quiet. Zhao Xuan nestled in the back of the truck, stretched out her hand, and felt the cool breeze. Sunlight filtered through the swaying branches, hitting her arms and face. The dappled light and shadow flickered and disappeared immediately, only to be replaced by another shadow cast through another tree.
Nature has a certain healing power for humans. Zhao Xuan and Lu An chatted idly along the way, completely forgetting about the human settlements they had seen on the other side of the reservoir.
So quickly, their second summer in this village was about to officially begin.
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