Chapter 41 Dried Fish and Cured Meat
As the twelfth lunar month approached and the New Year drew near, the island gradually began to feel the festive atmosphere. The state-run farmers' market gradually became more crowded, and the supply and marketing cooperative also began to get busy. People were busy preparing for the New Year. But at this time, Lu Ye was suddenly sent on a mission.
Jiang Suining was extremely unwilling, but she couldn't stop him. She silently packed his luggage for his departure and kept reminding him to prioritize safety. She watched the jeep that was picking him up disappear into the family compound.
Without Lu Ye, the house felt strangely empty. Jiang Sui sat quietly on the sofa, feeling a void in her heart. She had never felt this way when Lu Ye was away on missions. Could it be that the Spring Festival was approaching and families were reunited, which made her feel this way?
Jiang Suining sighed. It was the weekend, and she had originally planned to go to the beach with Lu Ye to buy New Year's goods. With the Lunar New Year approaching, in order to facilitate people's purchase of New Year's goods, the government specially set up a temporary farmers' market on the beach, allowing each fishing village to sell its catch as a commune, and then use the money to purchase New Year's goods and distribute them to the fishermen.
A few days ago, Jiang Suining heard someone mention it and discussed with Lu Ye about going to visit over the weekend. But now that Lu Ye wasn't there to accompany her, she was too lazy to go. After sitting for a while, she got up and started cleaning. She worked for over an hour, wiping the house inside and out, sweeping the floor, and mopping it twice. She worked up a sweat, but finally felt better.
She washed her face, changed her clothes, and took a bamboo basket and net bag, intending to go to the market. The plan had been made long ago and couldn't be changed just because Lu Ye was away; she still needed to prepare for the New Year.
Jiang Suining had been on the island for several months and rarely went to the market to buy groceries. She didn't know much about selecting seafood and was afraid of not buying anything good if she went alone, so she locked the gate to her yard and went next door.
Sister-in-law Lian had just finished washing clothes and was hanging them out to dry, shaking out a pair of trousers. Her gaze fell on the bamboo basket in Jiang Suining's hand: "Are you going to buy groceries?"
“It’s almost Chinese New Year, and I’d like to go to the beach to buy some seafood,” Jiang Suining put down her bamboo basket and helped Sister Lian hang up her clothes. “But I don’t know how to choose, and Lu Ye isn’t home. Sister Lian, if you’re free, would you like to come with me?”
"Okay, wait a moment," Sister Lian quickly hung up the clothes, took a basin into the house, and came out a moment later carrying a bamboo basket. "Let's go."
The two left the residential compound and headed straight for the beach. Before they even arrived, they saw a long green ribbon hanging in the air above the sand. As they got closer, they realized that it wasn't a ribbon at all, but rather a tarpaulin supported by several bamboo poles, used for sunshade.
As you approach the market entrance, the salty, fishy smell mingles with the sea breeze and the sounds of people. A conspicuous wooden sign hangs at the entrance, with the slogan "The military and civilians are of one mind to ensure supply" painted in red. Next to it hangs a small blackboard with the words "Fair trade, speculation and profiteering are prohibited" written in chalk.
Jiang Suining followed Sister Lian inside and saw several city management committee members and militia members wearing red armbands patrolling the crowd and maintaining order.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the tarpaulin, falling on the makeshift stalls on both sides of the market, which were constructed using door panels, bamboo mats, and other materials. The goods sold were all freshly caught from the sea and still covered in seawater. With people walking around and trampling on them, the ground was wet and seeping with seawater.
It was a temporary market, simple yet full of life.
The market was crowded, and even Sister-in-law was afraid that the two of them would get separated in the crowd, so she pulled Jiang Suining forward.
A dark-skinned man with a loud voice held up a large fish, almost half a person's length, and showed it to the people. Jiang Suining had never seen such a long fish before, and she immediately became interested, pulling Sister Lian along with her.
Behind the dark-skinned man, a small mountain of silver-gray fish was piled up on the stall. "What kind of fish is this?" Jiang Suining had never seen this kind of fish before, so she asked Sister Lian.
“This is called mackerel,” Sister-in-law Lian said, turning the fish by the tail as she introduced it to Jiang Suining. “It’s a must-have dish for our New Year’s Eve dinner.”
The young girl behind the stall had a bright smile and was quite clever. Hearing what Sister Lian said, she looked Jiang Suining up and down and said, "Sister, look at this mackerel. It's so big and fat. It's perfect for frying fish fillets for the New Year!"
Sister-in-law Lian rummaged through the fish and picked out some: "You should buy some too, so you can dry the fish when you get home. It'll be perfect for the New Year. If you prefer fresh fish, buy less and you can come back before the New Year to buy some more."
Drying fish? Jiang Suining found it interesting and thought she could give it a try. If it dried well, she could send it back to Qinghe Village so her mother and brother could taste it. She made up her mind and, imitating Sister-in-law Lian, picked and chose a few fish. Then she showed them to Sister-in-law Lian: "Sister-in-law, do you think these I chose are alright?"
Sister-in-law Lian looked through them, took out a few, and added a few more: "Let's leave it like this."
The young girl selling things let them choose whatever they wanted, smiling broadly, and quickly weighed the items before putting them into their bamboo baskets.
"Comrade, look at the red snapper from our commune! Look how bright and vibrant the color is! It's perfect for celebrating the New Year." The two men, carrying bamboo baskets, were about to eat when a young man from behind a nearby stall called out to them.
Jiang Suining looked in the direction of the sound and saw bowls of fish on the stall, their red and yellow colors very beautiful. "Those fish are really pretty."
"You can dry some together," Sister-in-law Lian said, seeing her interest. She walked over and said, "It's just that the color won't be as bright after they're dried."
"It's alright, I'll pick some." Jiang Suining squeezed through and had Sister Lian help her pick and choose, weighing out two jin (1 kg).
The two strolled around, browsing the stalls, each one different: mantis shrimp with outstretched claws, slowly wriggling sea cucumbers, various shaped conches, and small, dried silver fish. Jiang Suining looked at each item, wanting to buy everything, but was stopped by her sister-in-law.
Even her sister-in-law told her not to rush. If these fresh seafood items are not pickled or dried after being bought, they will spoil by the time of the New Year. However, the taste of pickled and dried seafood is naturally not as good as that of fresh seafood. It would be better to wait until the New Year to go to the fishing village and exchange some fresh seafood with the fishermen.
Jiang Suining then gave up, but still bought some of the small silver fish. They were already dried and would keep well. They would be good for making soup or scrambling with eggs. She had eaten them in her previous life, and she could send some more to Qinghe Village.
The basket of seafood gradually filled up, becoming heavy and tiring to carry. The market also became more crowded, forcing the two to move forward with the flow of people. Walking was extremely difficult, and they lost all interest in continuing to browse, so they turned back.
As Jiang Suining approached the market entrance, someone tugged at her trouser leg. Looking down, she saw a boy, about half a year old, squatting among several wooden buckets filled with oysters. His eyes were bright but timid as he looked at her: "Auntie, these oysters are freshly shucked, they're so plump, buy some!"
The kids have come to set up a stall too. Jiang Suining looked around him but didn't see any adults. Instead, she saw several children guarding the wooden buckets, all looking at him. "Where are your parents?"
"It's inside." The child who was tugging at Jiang Suining's trouser leg pointed into the market.
"Xiao Jiang, why did you stop?" Sister Lian walked a few steps, but when she didn't see Jiang Suining, she turned back to look for her. She was surprised to see the wooden bucket in front of the children. "Wow, these oysters are plump. Give me a few."
Upon hearing this, the child immediately released Jiang Suining, grinned broadly, and said while helping her select oysters, "Auntie, you have such good taste! These oysters are all handpicked by us, each one is plump and big. They're delicious and nutritious when grilled with minced garlic."
This child is quite the talker. Seeing that her sister-in-law was also choosing, Jiang Suining also started picking some out.
The two bought oysters and squeezed out of the market. Jiang Suining looked at the basket full of seafood and thought that it would be more convenient to have a refrigerator at home. She wondered if she could buy any more. She chatted with Sister Lian and said, "These seafood are fresh, but they are not good for long-term storage. It would be great to have a refrigerator."
"Refrigerator?" Sister-in-law Lian was taken aback, then thought for a moment and said, "You mean the square box that can be used to freeze chicken, duck, fish and meat?"
“Yes, yes, that’s about it,” Jiang Suining said, surprised that her sister-in-law actually knew. “Besides freezing, it can also be used to store fresh vegetables.”
“I did see it in the newspaper. It said it was produced somewhere, and I remember what it was called,” Sister Lian thought for a moment, “a refrigerator, that’s the name.”
It turns out that factories in China are already producing them. Jiang Suining was excited: "Can we buy them here?"
“I’ve never seen it before,” Sister Lian shook her head repeatedly. “That stuff must be very expensive. I don’t know how many industrial vouchers it costs. I’ve never seen it at the supply and marketing cooperative.”
Jiang Suining was very disappointed.
"You want to buy them?" Sister-in-law Lian asked with a smile. "These seafood items don't need to be frozen; there are ways to store them. I'll give them to you when we get back."
"Okay." Although Jiang Suining knew there were other ways to store it, she still wanted a refrigerator and needed to find someone to help her buy one.
Before returning to the family compound, the two went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy all the materials needed for drying the seafood: coarse salt, Sichuan peppercorns, and liquor. Back at the compound, Sister-in-law Lian first took the bamboo basket full of seafood home, then came to Jiang Suining's courtyard to help her marinate and dry the fish.
Before transmigrating into the book, Jiang Suining had seen methods for drying seafood in her spare time while watching short videos. She wasn't completely unfamiliar with them, but even when her sister-in-law offered to help, she acted as if she knew nothing about it.
Lian's sister-in-law has a cheerful personality and is efficient at work. She rolled up her sleeves and poured all the sea fish into a large basin. She drew well water and began to clean them, scraping off the scales and gutting them. She did it with ease. Before Jiang Suining transmigrated into the book, she rarely cooked, and even when she did, she had never processed fish. She always had the fishmonger do it for her when she bought the fish.
This thing is fishy and slippery, and it struggles when you scale it, which is really scary. Jiang Suining was trembling, but she mustered up her courage and scaled one fish. Meanwhile, her sister-in-law had already cleaned four fish. She felt a little ashamed, but her sister-in-law teased her: "Just by looking at how hard you work, I can tell you're a lucky person. Unlike me, I'm not even as tall as the stove, so I have to stand on a stool to cook for my family."
Jiang Suining was a little embarrassed. Before transmigrating into the book, she didn't mention it. After transmigrating, she really didn't cook much. The original owner was pampered at her parents' home and did cook, but not much. After marrying Lu Ye, when Lu Ye was at home, she basically didn't have to do anything. When Lu Ye wasn't home, she mostly ate at the cafeteria.
"What are you ashamed of?" Sister-in-law Lian said seriously when she saw her embarrassment. "Everyone says that washing clothes, cooking, and taking care of children are women's jobs, and men are only responsible for earning money to support the family. But do women not earn money? Even in the old society, there were women who worked in the fields with the men. Why should all the housework be pushed onto women?"
As expected of the director of the Women's Federation, Jiang Suining was stunned by Sister Lian's words. She gave Sister Lian a thumbs up: "Sister Lian, your ideological awareness is far ahead of others."
“What are you saying?” Lian’s sister-in-law blushed at her words. “I was just venting a little. When I get home, I still do all the laundry and cooking. I’ve been doing it for decades. I’m used to it.”
A faint sadness welled up in Jiang Suining's heart: "Let Commander Zhang do housework too, learn to cook, and take care of the children. They've already had abortions, so surely he can do laundry and cleaning."
“Old Zhang works overtime nine days out of ten. If we rely on him, the whole family won’t eat,” Sister-in-law Lian sighed. “Our daughter can help, but we can’t count on our son.”
Every family has its own troubles, and Jiang Suining didn't want to meddle in other people's family affairs. She casually mentioned it half-jokingly, but didn't say anything more.
Even though Sister-in-law Lian seemed to be speaking from the heart, she didn't want to say much. She silently finished cleaning the remaining fish, put them in a basket, and placed it in the yard to drain.
Jiang Suining took out the coarse salt, Sichuan peppercorns, and white wine she had bought, and watched as Sister Lian crushed the Sichuan peppercorns and mixed them with the fish: "After cleaning the fish and draining it, rub it with coarse salt, Sichuan peppercorns, and white wine. This will not only make it flavorful but also kill any germs."
After the fish had been thoroughly cleaned and killed, the two of them started applying the fish dressing in the yard. Jiang Suining watched carefully how Sister-in-law Lian applied the dressing, and it seemed simple. She followed her example, and in no time, the two of them had finished processing all the fish. They then found some hemp rope, strung the fish together, and hung them under the eaves in a well-ventilated and sunny place.
"Remember to bring all the fish indoors at night and on rainy days to prevent them from getting damp," Sister Lian said, washing her hands. "Every few days, press the dried fish with your fingers to check how dry they are. If you can't press them, they're done drying."
"I understand." Jiang Suining carefully noted it down, then asked, "Is there a way to preserve these oysters, mantis shrimps, and conches for a long time?"
"Oyster meat is not easy to dry in the sun, but you can take it out and put it in a ceramic jar, layering oyster meat with coarse salt, and finally sealing it with a thick layer of salt. This will preserve it for a longer time, but the taste will become very salty, which is suitable for seasoning dishes. You didn't buy many today, so you can just steam or grill them for one or two meals. Don't bother with that."
Sister-in-law Lian took another basin, poured in the mantis shrimp and sea snails that Jiang Suining had bought, sprinkled some coarse salt, and placed it in a cool place: "Soak them in salt water to let them spit out the sand. There's no need to pickle and store these little things. There aren't many of them. You can finish them in a day or two by yourself."
"Okay." Jiang Suining was relieved that she hadn't bought much.
"We need to make the cured pork and cured duck in advance," Sister-in-law Lian said as she finished tidying up and prepared to go home. "We'll make them next week too, why don't you come with me?"
"Okay." Jiang Suining was more than happy to agree. She followed Sister Lian home to dry fish, had lunch, and didn't return until the afternoon.
After a busy day, I was exhausted but felt incredibly fulfilled. In the evening, I simply made myself a bowl of noodles, steamed some seafood, washed up, and went to bed to read.
The next day, when Jiang Suining was leaving get off work, she was stopped by the guard at the gatehouse. He said there was a package for her. When she looked at the package slip, she saw that it was sent from Qinghe Village.
She originally planned to send the mackerel and red snapper home after they were dried, but her family sent her something first. She went home first to pack a big bag of dried small silver fish, and then went to the post office to pick up the package. She also sent the dried small silver fish back to Qinghe Village.
Her mother and brother sent her a large pile of roasted peanuts, walnuts, chestnuts, and melon seeds, some sweet and some savory. Each type was packed in a cloth bag with the flavor carefully labeled, which was very thoughtful. Jiang Suining tasted a little of each type and felt a lump in her throat, her heart warmed.
She missed her mother and brother, and didn't know when Lu Ye would be able to return from his mission. If he couldn't make it back for the New Year, she wanted to go back to her parents' home, but she had no one to ask. She was also afraid that if she went back to her parents' home, Lu Ye would come back before the New Year and she wouldn't be there. She was conflicted and couldn't make a decision. After thinking it over, she could only put it aside for the time being and wait and see. Maybe Lu Ye would come back before the New Year and the two of them could go back to Qinghe Village together for the New Year.
Before she knew it, it was the weekend again. After breakfast, her sister-in-law came to find her to come over so they could make some cured pork and duck.
I thought I would have to buy meat first, but when I entered Sister Lian's yard, I saw two baskets of pork and two baskets of ducks that had been defecated and gutted on the stone table in the yard.
"Sister-in-law, when did you buy this meat?" There's so much, even you couldn't have bought it all by yourself. The meat looks fresh, like it hasn't been sitting overnight.
"It was delivered early this morning," Sister Lian explained. "I arranged it in advance, and the village slaughtered a pig and delivered it. This duck is also a sea duck raised by the fishermen themselves. They often eat small fish and shrimp, so the meat has a natural freshness and aroma."
"That's great, it must be delicious." Jiang Suining had heard of sea duck before and had even eaten it before transmigrating into the book; it was indeed quite tasty.
“I don’t know how much you want,” Sister Lian said, shaking the bamboo basket. “This basket of pork weighs twenty jin. I took two baskets. They’re all pork belly and hind leg meat, perfect for making cured meat. The basket of ducks weighs fifteen, each about three or four jin. The price is the same as the supply and marketing cooperative, but you don’t need meat coupons. The pork is seven mao a jin, so it’s 14 yuan a basket. The ducks are eight mao a jin. I weighed them for you when you brought them over. This basket weighs fifty jin, so it’s forty yuan. This basket weighs fifty-five jin, so it’s forty-four yuan. I was thinking you and I should each take one basket. Is that enough? If not, I’ll contact them to send more over.”
As Sister-in-law Lian spoke, Jiang Suining did the mental calculations. After Sister-in-law Lian finished speaking, she also calculated the total price. So much meat cost less than a hundred yuan. If this were in later generations, it would be incredibly cheap.
It wasn't expensive, but it was really too much. Jiang Suining had never done these things in her previous life, so she didn't know how much to prepare for the New Year. But since even her sister-in-law wanted so much, it was clear that she really needed it. Besides, if it was prepared well, it would keep well and could be sent back to Qinghe Village. Sharing it wouldn't seem like much. With that in mind, she said, "That's enough. I'll just take the smaller basket of ducks. I'll get the money for you when I get back."
“Okay,” Sister Lian carried the basket off the table. “Don’t worry about the money, just remember to keep track of it later.”
Jiang Suining rushed over to help, but her sister-in-law said, "Go to the kitchen and bring me the marinade I've prepared."
Jiang Suining entered the kitchen and saw a basin of yellowish coarse salt mixed with peppercorns and star anise by the stove.
"Does this meat need washing?" Jiang Suining asked, puzzled, as she brought out the marinade and saw Sister Lian wiping the meat with a towel.
"Don't wash it, it'll get damaged if you do," Sister Lian said as she threw the towel into the boiling water, quickly scooped it out, wrung it out, and continued wiping. During this time, she would carefully pluck any hairs she saw on the skin.
It took over an hour to clean all four baskets of meat.
Jiang Suining washed the towel, poured out the water, and came back. Lian's sister-in-law had already started applying marinade to the meat. "Make sure to apply it carefully and rub it in vigorously, otherwise it won't be flavorful and will spoil easily," Lian's sister-in-law instructed Jiang Suining as she worked.
"Okay." Jiang Suining looked at it for a moment and tried to apply it, but after a while, her hand started to hurt. It was fine when she was marinating the fish last week, and she only noticed the discomfort when she was almost finished. Today, it started to hurt right from the start. She shook her hand and took a closer look, only to find that she had cut a small gash on her finger at some point.
"What's wrong?" Even her sister-in-law came over when she saw her looking at her hands. "Your hands are cracked. Go wash them quickly. Salt stings can be really painful."
Despite the excruciating pain, Jiang Suining didn't hesitate and quickly went into the kitchen to wash her hands.
"Don't get involved, just watch from the side," Lian's sister-in-law said after she came out.
"It's nothing, just a small cut on your finger. Wrap it in plastic and it won't hurt anymore." Half of the meat was from their own family, so Jiang Suining couldn't possibly refuse it.
“That won’t do,” Sister-in-law Lian quickly refused. “If we don’t hurry up with the plastic wrap, the meat will get dirty and spoil easily.”
"There's so much meat, how can I let you do it all by yourself?" Jiang Suining said what she really thought, but then regretted it. She was sincere, but it sounded a bit like a manipulative woman.
“It’s so small,” Sister-in-law Lian chuckled. “In previous years, I did one or two times more by myself.”
"Huh?" Jiang Suining asked incredulously, "Can we possibly finish eating so much?"
"We could eat it all in a year if we were just making it ourselves, but most of the time several families would cook it together, or we'd make a lot to give away to relatives and friends," Sister Lian said with a smile. "Just sit here quietly and watch how I do it. Once you've learned it, you can come and help again next year."
Jiang Suining then stopped being polite to her.
As Sister-in-law Lian rubbed the dough, she carefully explained the precautions to Jiang Suining. Jiang Suining listened attentively and thought to herself, "This looks easy, but there are many tricks to it. It's probably the experience accumulated from making it every year."
After rubbing all the meat with coarse salt, Sister Lian brought out four earthenware jars from the house. "This meat needs to be marinated before it can be smoked. These jars for pickling need to be washed in advance and dried before they can be used." Sister Lian put the pork and duck into different earthenware jars, skin down and meat up, arranged them neatly and tightly. She also placed a few clean and dry large stones on top.
"Pressing it like this will help squeeze out the blood from the meat faster, making it firmer." Sister-in-law Lian covered the jar, wiped the outside clean, and asked Jiang Suining to help move it to the corner of the kitchen. "It should be placed in a shady place where it doesn't get direct sunlight. Remember to turn it over every one or two days, swapping the top and bottom pieces of meat to ensure even marinating. Remember to pour out the blood from the jar before turning it over."
After listening to Sister-in-law Lian's explanation, Jiang Suining felt overwhelmed. This dish was indeed delicious when made well, but the process was also quite troublesome. There were so many things to pay attention to just the marinating process. If she were to do it herself, she might not be able to do it well.
The pickling process takes five to seven days. Every two days thereafter, Jiang Suining would visit Sister Lian to see how she turned the jars. Under Sister Lian's guidance, she even turned the jars herself once. The process was simple, but it required careful attention.
Before they knew it, it was the weekend again. The meat was almost ready, so Jiang Suining went to Sister Lian's house early in the morning. The two of them took everything out of the jar, washed off the salt with warm water, threaded hemp ropes, and hung it under the sunny eaves. There was too much meat to hang under the eaves, so they had to hang it on the bamboo pole used for drying clothes.
“It will be dried in about a week,” Sister Lian said, looking at the remaining half of the meat and duck. “We can smoke these, and they’ll have a different flavor.”
The two of them put the remaining meat into a basin and carried it into the kitchen. Even the sister-in-law took out a large cloth bag from the cupboard, opened it, and showed it to Jiang Suining. Inside were orange peels.
"Meat smoked with this has a faint orange aroma," Sister-in-law Lian explained.
Jiang Suining originally thought that pine and cypress branches would be used for fumigation, but it turns out that orange peels are used here.
Sister-in-law Lian had already lit the fire and smothered the orange peels on the flames. After a moment, the fire was extinguished, and smoke kept billowing out. Jiang Suining saw Sister-in-law Lian quickly hang the meat above the stove.
She then noticed a lot of hooks above the stove, apparently used specifically for smoking meat. She went up to help and was choked by the smoke, coughing constantly.
After hanging the meat up, Jiang Suining thought that if they smoked it like this, the meat wouldn't be ready yet, and the two of them would choke to death. Just as she was about to suggest going outside to wait, her sister-in-law brought over a bunch of burlap sacks from outside, stood on a stool on the stove, and asked Jiang Suining to hand her the sacks.
Jiang Suining endured the smoke as she handed the burlap sacks to Sister Lian, only to discover that the sacks were not separate but sewn together. She had to lift them up little by little, while Sister Lian quickly hung the sacks around the edge of the room, forming a circle.
The bottom of the burlap sack was placed on the stove, completely encasing all the meat, and most of the smoke coming out of the stove was blocked by the burlap sack.
"Come on, let's go outside and wait. It's too humid here." After doing this, Sister-in-law Lian pulled Jiang Suining out of the kitchen, and the two of them fetched water to wash their faces and hands.
"It will take about half a day." Sister Lian poured water and invited Jiang Suining to come in and sit down. Sister Lian's youngest son, Zhang Haisheng, was doing his homework on the table. He was in the second year of junior high school, which was a rebellious age. He wouldn't listen to anyone at home unless his father, Commander Zhang, gave him a beating with a belt. Right now, he wasn't doing his homework properly and was dawdling.
Even his sister-in-law couldn't stand it anymore and scolded him a few times, but he just grinned and didn't take it seriously. In the end, he simply stopped writing, crossed his arms, put his legs up on the table, and said, "I can't do it. I'm going out to play."
Even his sister-in-law was furious and refused to let him go. The mother and son almost got into a fight. Jiang Suining took the child's homework and books, looked at them, and said, "I know how to do this problem. I'll explain it to you."
"You can?" Zhang Haisheng clearly didn't believe it.
“Of course,” Jiang Suining said, seeing that the child didn’t believe her. She took a pen and wrote it on a piece of draft paper before handing it to him.
Zhang Haisheng looked at it for a while, then suddenly realized something and said, "You don't need to tell me, I'm going back."
He quickly finished writing in his notebook, stroking the pen as he secretly glanced at Jiang Suining.
Jiang Suining found it amusing but didn't show it on her face. She leaned closer and said, "Is there anything you don't understand? I've explained it all to you."
The child immediately smiled and quickly underlined the questions he didn't know in the book: "I don't know these, can you explain them to me?"
Jiang Suining moved a chair next to Zhang Haisheng and explained each question one by one. She found that many questions only required a little prompting before the boy immediately understood, and only a very few questions required her to explain from beginning to end. The questions he couldn't answer were basically due to a lack of understanding of the knowledge points or formulas, either because he hadn't listened carefully in class or hadn't reviewed the textbook after class.
“I think with your abilities, you should be able to do all of these questions,” Jiang Suining praised, knowing that children at this age are sometimes rebellious and need recognition. “If you can’t do them now, it’s probably because you haven’t reviewed some knowledge points and formulas in time. Actually, they’re not that difficult. If you listen carefully in class and review the textbook more after class, you’ll be able to do them all.”
"Tch," Zhang Haisheng scoffed, "I get annoyed just seeing that math teacher, I don't like listening to her lectures."
It seemed that the reason the student wasn't paying attention in class was because they disliked the teacher. Jiang Suining found the crux of the problem and asked, "What's wrong? Is your math teacher's lecture boring and uninteresting? Does that make you lose interest?"
“Who knows? Who wants to listen to her talk?” Zhang Haisheng said with a look of disgust. “It’s clearly her fault for not teaching well, yet she complains that I’m not learning well. I don’t want to learn either!”
Judging from his words, the teacher must have said something unpleasant during the criticism, hurting the child's self-esteem. Jiang Suining didn't comment on the teacher, but only said, "What the teacher said is just the teacher's subjective opinion. It doesn't mean you are like that, nor does it represent others. But if you give up math because of a few words from the teacher, wouldn't you really become the kind of child the teacher described? Do you really want to become the kind of child your math teacher described?"
"Who said that?" Zhang Haisheng retorted immediately. "She said I'm stupid, that I can't do math well. I'm very smart!"
“It seems you have a clear and distinct understanding of yourself,” Jiang Suining said, relieved that she hadn’t lost confidence because of what the teacher said. “That’s great, but isn’t your behavior of not studying math properly exactly what kind of child the teacher is talking about?”
Zhang Haisheng was somewhat confused by Jiang Suining's words. He remained silent for a moment, scratching his head and cheeks. After a long while, he suddenly realized, "You're right. No, I need to study math hard. I'll show her next exam that I can get first place too. I'm not stupid at all."
“That’s right.” Jiang Suining patted his head.
"Hey, stop touching me!" Zhang Haisheng dodged backward.
Hey, little brat, you're not old enough to have your head touched yet. Jiang Suining wouldn't allow it, she reached out and ruffled his hair before saying, "Read more books, listen attentively in class. You need to understand that you're studying for yourself, not for the teacher. What she says to you doesn't matter, what matters is that you learn knowledge."
"Okay, okay, stop nagging," Zhang Haisheng complained, fixing his hair. "You've messed up my hairstyle."
"You little brat, what do you know about hairstyles?" Jiang Suining muttered, not bothering to argue with him.
When Sister-in-law Lian saw that her son had been persuaded by Jiang Suining's few words, she was full of admiration. Without disturbing the two of them, she went into the kitchen to check on the smoking process.
After understanding all the questions, Zhang Haisheng said, "Aunt Jiang, you're really amazing! Your explanations are more interesting than our teacher's. Can I ask you for help with any questions I don't understand in the future?"
“Of course,” Jiang Suining readily agreed after explaining a few questions. “If you don’t understand something in the future, just come to Auntie. Any subject other than math is fine.”
"Auntie, anything else is fine too?" Zhang Haisheng asked, surprised and excited. "Auntie, you're amazing!"
"This is nothing. As long as you study hard, you can be even better than your aunt." Jiang Suining flattered the child.
Zhang Haisheng was delighted to hear this: "Really? Okay, then I'll study hard from now on."
"Of course it's true. As long as you're willing to work hard, winning first place this time is a piece of cake." Jiang Suining gave a lot of emotional value.
At noon, all the meat was smoked. Even my sister-in-law removed the sacks and hung the meat on the beam in the kitchen. Jiang Suining's meat was all put into bamboo baskets.
"Hang these on the roof beam in the kitchen when you get back. Soak them in warm water before eating. I'll air-dry the ones outside in a while, then you can come and get them."
After lunch, Sister-in-law Lian helped Jiang Suining carry the basket of cured meat home and hung it on the kitchen beam. Before leaving, she held Jiang Suining's hand and said, "My son is not old, but he has a big temper. He doesn't like to listen to anyone, but he can listen to you."
“Children of this age like to hear compliments,” Jiang Suining shared some of her limited experience. “You should praise him more often and acknowledge his abilities. At this age, he thinks about many things and wants to make his own decisions, so try to trust him as much as possible.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to his dad about it later.” Sister-in-law Lian nodded. “If he has any questions he doesn’t know how to answer in the future, I’ll have him come to you. I’ll have to trouble you.”
"Just let her come over," Jiang Suining said reproachfully. "A close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. Why are you making things so troublesome?"
After seeing Sister-in-law Lian off, Jiang Suining looked at the dried fish drying under the eaves of her house. She thought the skin was already shriveled and it was a bit hard when pressed with her fingers, so it would be dried soon.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
