160
Du Heng finally climbed up by clinging to the rocks. He felt that all his practice in the past period was in vain.
Jing Nan squatted on the stone in front of him with a smile: "Oh, Du Heng, you are not good enough. You can even fall down. After all, you are a cultivator who has practiced in Peizhu Forest for such a long time, but you are as clumsy as an ordinary person. Do you want me to die of laughter and inherit my family's orchard?"
Du Heng covered his face and said, "Stop talking. Save your dignity. Save your dignity."
Du Heng used his spiritual energy, and his wet clothes became dry again. Jing Nan glanced at him and said, "It seems that you are not suitable for being indecisive. Just leave the same way you left just now."
It seemed that Du Heng could not appreciate the beautiful scenery around him. All he could do was to keep his eyes on the road. Not to mention, he actually saw a good dish to go with wine. When they walked to the shallow water, they saw densely packed snails beside the stone pillars.
Dark blue snails of all sizes were densely packed next to the stone. You could pick up a handful just by bending over. Du Heng took a look and found that the largest snail was even bigger than his thumb!
He immediately perked up: "Jingnan, do you eat snails?"
Jing Nan looked back suspiciously. He saw Du Heng staring at the stone with his head down and eyes sparkling. He also looked down and said, "Snail? Are you talking about this little thing? What's so delicious about it? It's just a shell with not much meat."
Du Heng laughed and said, "Hey, you don't understand this, do you? Snails are the fattest during the Qingming Festival. After you catch them and let them rest overnight, they will vomit out all the dirt in their stomachs. Cut off their butts, stir-fry with onions, ginger, garlic and a little bit of chili pepper, and add some madder. After stir-frying, you can suck out the meat with just a light sip. It's perfect for drinking! Are you really not going to try it?"
Jing Nan was moved by Du Heng's words: "Then... just a little?"
Du Heng rolled up his sleeves and prepared to go catch the snails. Jing Nan was disgusted with him again: "You can catch a lot of them just by using your spiritual energy. Why bother bending down to catch them?"
Du Heng just happened to pick up a handful of snails from the side of the pillar. He picked out the big snails and put them in the backpack, and threw the small ones into the water. "You don't know this, right? There is a saying that there is no fun in eating fish. The pleasure of some ingredients far exceeds the pleasure of eating. Take snails, for example. Pick them out from the stone one by one, keep the big ones and discard the small ones. This is the fun!"
Jing Nan's mouth twitched: "Problem..."
Soon, a thin layer of snails appeared in the basket on Du Heng's back. Jing Nan was even more disgusted: "Why are you catching them now? It will be the same when you come back later."
Du Heng chuckled, "Snails hide during the day and come out at night. They come out at night and hide again at dawn. When we look back, they may have already hidden in the mud."
Jing Nan looked at the snails in Du Heng's backpack. The snails Du Heng left behind were thumb-sized snails. When snails are frightened, they will shrink into their shells, but after a while, when they feel the danger is over, they will stick their heads out of their shells and suck the shells of other snails.
Jing Nan questioned: "Is this thing really edible?" Du Heng gave a positive answer: "Yes!"
The closer to the gourd mouth, the more aquatic plants there were. Du Heng saw a large area of water chestnut leaves the size of a bowl on the water surface. The thin leaves of the water chestnuts spread out on the water surface like flowers, and groups of black and white swans were playing among the water chestnuts.
Some of the swans were playing with their young swans, while others were playing in pairs on the water with their necks stretched out. When they saw Du Heng and his friends, they quickly hid among the lotus leaves behind the water chestnuts, leaving behind a loud cry under the blue sky and white clouds.
At this time, some lotus leaves have just emerged from the water, and some have stretched to the size of a hat brim. They look tender from a distance. Lotus leaves of this quality are perfect for steaming spare ribs.
In addition to lotus roots and water chestnuts, there are also some thin and long water chestnuts growing by the water. However, the water chestnuts have not yet swelled in this season. They have to wait until early autumn to grow swollen stems for people to eat.
There were some calamus mixed in with the wild rice stems, and Du Heng also saw several wild artemisia. It was a pity that he came too late, and the artemisia was too old to bite. If he had come a month earlier, what a delicious dish it would have been!
Jing Nan said softly, "We are too conspicuous. The wild ducks were scared by us and hid in the lotus leaves."
Du Heng had cold sweat on his forehead: "Jingnan, the wild duck you mentioned... is it the one with black and white feathers and a long neck?"
Jing Nan nodded: "Yes, aren't there a lot? In groups."
Du Heng choked up: "In our hometown, this is not a wild duck, but a swan."
Jing Nan remained calm: "Does whether they are ducks or geese affect your ability to make salted duck?"
Du Heng thought for a while and said, "No impact." But he just felt that it was not right. These beautiful elves were originally playing among the green mountains and clear waters, but Jing Nan actually wanted to make them into salted geese!
Jing Nan took Du Heng to the shore. There were indeed many swan nests in the grass on the shore, and some swans were even incubating eggs in the nests. When they saw Jing Nan and his friends coming, the swans stretched their necks, spread their wings, and hissed to drive the two away.
Jing Nan walked over and broke the necks of the two swans, and even ate all the eggs under the swans in one pot: "Hey, braised eggs! Salted goose!"
When Du Heng came to his senses, there were already more than a dozen swan eggs and two swans lying in Jing Nan's backpack. The swans that lost their mates were wailing softly on the water, and Du Heng was heartbroken.
Du Heng grabbed Jing Nan's hand and said, "Jing Nan, that's enough. Let's stop catching them! They have families and children too. We can't do this."
Jing Nan squinted his eyes and looked at the two male swans that were wailing in the pond. Then, a flash of inspiration came to his hand, and the two male swans stretched their necks and lay on the water. Then, a flash of inspiration came to Jing Nan, and the two male geese fell into his backpack.
Du Heng: ...
Jing Nan said calmly: "You are right, they have families and children. Without their wives and children, they can't survive. So the whole family must go on the road together."
Du Heng: ...I suddenly don’t want to care about Jingnan anymore.
Four swans were piled heavily in the backpack behind Jing Nan. Du Heng looked at the geese that died with their eyes wide open and felt sad: "Should we not use swans to make salted geese in the future? They are so pitiful."
Jing Nan chuckled: "Let me guess, do you think we went too far? Do you think we relied on our strength to bully the weak and caused them to lose their lives? It's best not to bring human ways into the world of cultivation."
Jing Nan squinted his eyes and looked at the water in front of him: "Even if we don't prey on them, there will be other demon beasts or spirit beasts to prey on them. The strong prey on the weak is the instinct of living things. In the demon world, if you don't have a strong fist, you will become someone else's prey."
Jing Nan remained calm: "Don't underestimate any species. Do you think we are being kind by releasing two geese? Geese also eat, and the fish and shrimp they eat also have families and children. In a word, we eat by our ability. If the swans had the ability, they could eat me."
Du Heng scratched his cheek. He actually felt that what Jing Nan said made sense.
Jing Nan looked at Du Heng calmly: "You feel pity for the swan family, but you are just putting yourself in their shoes. Who doesn't have emotions in this world? Either you eat others or you are eaten, it's so cruel. These wild ducks thrive here and are protected by us. If they fall into the territory of other monsters, I'm afraid the entire race will be wiped out."
Du Heng was speechless after being scolded by Jing Nan. Jing Nan patted Du Heng on the shoulder and said, "So there is no need to be sad. Just eat and drink. As long as you don't kill people indiscriminately or cruelly, it's not a big problem to take some ingredients appropriately."
Du Heng felt that compared with Jing Nan, he was just an ordinary person who could do nothing.
Jing Nan stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at the grass in front of him. He had just broken the necks of two swans, scaring the other swans so much that they abandoned their nests and fled.
Jing Nan said: "The laws of nature are orderly, and everything has its own destiny. There are so many ducks in front of you...oh, swans. Only a few of these little lives in the eggshells will eventually grow up. So, what have you realized?"
Du Heng thought for a moment and said, "Then let's take fewer and not kill them indiscriminately or cruelly."
Jing Nan was very satisfied: "You are right to think so. By the way, you can take more duck eggs. Some ducklings will be eaten by fish after they are hatched. It is better for them to be eaten by me than by fish."
Jing Daxian had a lot to say today and Du Heng couldn't argue with him.
In the end, five geese fell into Jingnan's basket. The last one could have been saved, because a spotted swan chased Xiaoxiao and bit him for some reason. Xiaoxiao's temper could not be threatened by a goose? He bit its neck in one bite.
Jing Nan picked out one or two eggs from each nest, and collected half a basket of eggs from so many nests. Jing Nan had to stuff the dead swan into his storage bag, otherwise his backpack would not be able to hold any more.
The fist-sized goose egg white was white and still warm. Jing Nan said happily, "I really like eating eggs with ducklings inside. They are fresh and tender. I used to eat more than a dozen boiled eggs in one meal! Du Heng, can you make them spiced for me when you go back?"
Du Heng was folding lotus leaves nearby. He helplessly corrected Jing Nan: "This is a swan, not a duck."
Du Heng did not go to pick up the eggs. Instead, he took action on the lotus leaves and lotus stems in the water. He covered the snails at the bottom of the backpack with a layer of wet water chestnut leaves. Then he piled the lotus leaves he had picked up, each as big as a hat brim, on top of them. Next to the lotus leaves were thin, white lotus stems. Du Heng was thinking about making some sweet and sour lotus stems when he got home.
Jing Nan laughed at Du Heng: "I brought you here, and you just picked these lotus leaves and took them back? Ugh, what a waste."
Du Heng was not convinced: "It is also rewarding..."
He also put a lot of things in his backpack. He could make lotus leaf steamed rice, lotus leaf steamed spareribs, vinegar-fried lotus root and fried snails. How could it be wasted?
Besides, he can come again next time. He can come to pick lotus and lotus pods in summer, pick water chestnuts and dig lotus roots. In autumn, he can come to get wild rice stems. There are so many aquatic plants here. If he can't get plants, he can still get fish. He won't return empty-handed.
At this time, Xiaoxiao and the chicks chirped in surprise. Du Heng looked in the direction of the sound and saw groups of gray tadpoles swimming out from the lotus leaves.
The tadpoles were only the size of little fingers, densely packed together, forming different shapes in the water, changing like smoke in the water. Ever since the swans were scared away by Jing Nan, thousands of tadpoles swam out from the grass under the lotus leaves!
Jing Nan smiled and said, "See, this is a case of one thing gaining while the other loses. Swans eat tadpoles. How many tadpoles in the entire lake have been eaten by swans?"
Du Heng looked at the tadpoles in the water. He had never realized so clearly that they were in the food chain and were just a link in the food chain.
161
At this time, Niannian suddenly screamed and swung its claws desperately. When Du Heng looked over, he saw a crab holding two claws of different sizes towards Niannian. Niannian was furious, and the hair on its neck exploded.
Du Heng held the crab with one hand and touched Niannian's down with the other: "Hey, little crab! It looks pretty fat~"
If he hadn't had his foot pinched by a crab every year, Du Heng wouldn't have noticed that the grass was full of small crabs the size of half a palm. This type of crab is called a crab, with a dark blue back and a white belly. When you hold it in your hand, it holds its two claws up in a show of strength.
The crab in Du Heng's hand is a male crab, and the lid under its belly is triangular. If it is a female crab, the lid is round.
When Du Heng saw crabs, he thought of his childhood memories.
When I was a child, before the holidays, a group of children in Murakami would run to the ditch with buckets of water. When they saw round holes in the soil next to the ditch, they would dig them open with shovels.
Often there would be one or two crabs hiding in the holes, and the children would rush over to catch the crabs and throw them into the bucket.
Sometimes, if you are unlucky, what is hidden in the cave is not crabs but small snakes, and everyone will scatter and hide far away.
After catching the crabs, they would wash them several times in the river and then put them in a bucket. Some people were impatient and could not wait until the next day, so they would just wash them and put them in the pot.
Add some soy sauce and salt, and then stew over high heat, the dark blue crabs will turn orange-red. A dish of braised crabs will appear on the dinner table. Although there is not much meat, it can also make the children eat an extra bowl of rice. If the male host likes to drink, he will invite the neighbors to have a drink. Often, a meal can last from sunset to the moon.
This is the charm of crabs. It is very difficult to eat the meat in the two small claws intact. But if you can eat a few, you will feel that this is river food, no less than pufferfish and loach in spring.
Du Heng's favorite way to cook crabs is not braised, but deep-fried. He takes the crabs home, cleans them, coats them with batter, and then fries them in a pan. The fried crabs are fragrant and crispy, and you can eat them even with the shell.
He hadn't eaten this delicacy for many years. Now seeing so many small crabs, Du Heng became interested in it again.
He said to Xiaoxiao and the others cheerfully, "Help me catch some crabs. I'll fry them for you when I get home. They're crispy and delicious!"
Hearing this, Xiaoxiao and the others immediately became excited. Soon, the three chicks pecked the crabs and threw them into Du Heng's backpack. The crabs spit bubbles from their mouths and went under the lotus leaves. Du Heng was very satisfied: "Great!"
Jing Nan's mouth twitched: "You...is this all you can do? Can you catch something meaty?"
Year after year they worked together and soon caught half a basket of crabs. When Du Heng carried the basket, he could hear them spitting bubbles: "Let's go home and fry some crabs!"
Jing Nan followed Du Heng helplessly: "Are you leaving now? You won't come to take a look? There are still many aquatic animals here, why don't you take some fish with you?"
Du Heng really hesitated: "Fish? There are a lot of fish at home. There are also peach blossom fish in the refrigerator, and there are still a lot of sea fish that Yunyanlou packed back."
Jing Nan shrugged: "Okay, whatever you want." He just felt it was a pity. It was a rare opportunity for him to come here, but he only brought back these few things. It was really boring.
Du Heng was in high spirits. He put Xiaoxiao and Nianniansuisui in the backpack on his back, and Xiaowonton walked in front of him. In his left hand, he held a bunch of lotus stems tied with wild rice leaves, and in his right hand, Xiaowonton. Jing Nan almost laughed out loud behind him. Du Heng looked like he was on a spring outing.
Du Heng raised his voice to Jing Nan, "Jing Nan, this is a great place. Can we come again next time?"
Jing Nan said, "I won't come with you. It's too boring to listen to you nagging me about catching a wild duck."
Du Heng was anxious: "No! It's very interesting. I can get a fishing net and put it in the lake. When I want to eat fish, I can come here to catch some. After a while, there will be lotus flowers, lotus pods and water chestnuts. There are so many things here. If I take my time, I will have endless supplies."
Jing Nan put his hands in his pockets and said, "Then if I catch wild ducks next time, will you still nag me?"
Du Heng's voice was left among the green mountains and clear waters: "That is a swan, not a wild duck."
When Du Heng and his friends returned to the village, Xuan Yu had already taken care of Zhu Yan. Xuan Yu was afraid that Du Heng would feel disgusted, so he peeled off Zhu Yan's skin and threw away his internal organs and head. The processed Zhu Yan's meat was surprisingly white, completely different from its rough and scary appearance.
Du Heng looked at the Zhu Yan meat in the storage bag. Just looking at the meat, he couldn't imagine what Zhu Yan looked like when he was alive. Now he was staring at Zhu Yan's long arms, which looked delicious.
Zhu Yan's arms were thick and sturdy, even stronger than Du Heng's. A thick layer of tendons was wrapped around the white bones. Du Heng thought that such arms would be delicious if used for stewing or braising!
Xuan Yu was helping Du Heng tidy up the lotus leaves he brought back from Nanshan. There were many small crabs chopped in the lotus leaves. Xuan Yu accidentally brought out quite a few of them. Now the crabs were crawling all over the ground. Xuan Yu was stunned looking at the small crabs on the ground.
Jing Nan chuckled: "Don't look at me, this is the spoils that Du Heng brought back. He said he wanted to make fried crabs. This stuff is all shells, it must not taste good."
Xuan Yu caught the crabs one by one and threw them into the wooden basin. He said calmly, "It sounds good."
Du Heng thought about it and decided on today's lunch menu. He prepared deep-fried crabs, stewed pork elbow, five-spice broad beans and salad shredded lettuce!
Jing Nan only cared about catching the swans and didn't care about how to deal with them, so the task of bleeding and plucking the feathers fell to Xuan Yu. In the yard, Xuan Yu was plucking the feathers without complaint, and Du Heng was washing the small crabs carefully. Jing Nan was collecting the swan eggs he picked up, and Wen Qiong was helping to deal with the lettuce peels.
Du Heng pulled off the lid under the crab's belly and placed the cleaned crab in the wooden basin next to it. Soon he got a large basin of cleaned crabs.
The three chicks remembered Du Heng's words that he would fry crabs for them. They followed Du Heng wherever he went. Seeing the eager look in their eyes, Du Heng was immediately happy: "Okay, I'll fry crabs for you first."
Du Heng took out two bowls of flour from the refrigerator, sprinkled two spoons of five-spice powder and one spoon of pepper powder into the flour, then sprinkled a spoon of fine salt, and cracked two duck eggs into it. After adding a little cold boiled water to the flour, the flour turned into a golden paste.
Du Heng put the fresh crabs in groups of three or five into a basin of batter. The crabs were immediately covered with batter, and the thick batter blocked their vision. The crabs did not feel the danger, and they actually ate the batter in the basin with big mouthfuls, and one even spit out bubbles.
When the soybean oil in the pot heated up, Du Heng put the crabs dipped in batter into the pot. The crabs turned red after entering the pot, and sank to the bottom of the pot with their bodies stiff. Du Heng was not in a hurry to fish them out. He threw the other crabs into the batter basin, and then put them into the pot one by one.
The frying pan squeaked, and the crabs that were put in first were squeezed out of the pan by the crabs that came in later. At this time, the outlines of the crabs could no longer be seen. The claws of the crabs were stuck in the batter, looking like shuttle-shaped batter.
Du Heng scooped the crabs that had popped out of their heads and put them into a large plate that had been prepared long ago. The crabs tasted okay now, but they were not as crispy as after being fried twice.
The smell of fried food wafted through the yard. Xiaoxiao and the others had been waiting by the stove for a long time. When Du Heng took the twice-fried crabs out of the pot, the three chicks all blinked their bright eyes at him.
Du Heng handed the first three fried crabs to the three chicks. Xiaoxiao was fine, he opened his mouth wide and swallowed the crab in one gulp, but Nianniansuisui was several times smaller than Xiaoxiao, and the fried crabs were bigger than their heads, so how could they eat them?
Besides... can chickens eat crabs? The chickens in Du Heng's hometown can only eat food that people grind up.
Just when Du Heng was about to help Nianniansuisui smash the crab, Nianniansuisui pecked at the crab shell and crab legs fiercely, and the crispy crab was pecked into pieces. In Du Heng's astonished eyes, the two chicks actually swallowed the crab quickly.
Du Heng was almost stunned. His chickens were so fierce.
After the crabs were fried, Du Heng got a large bowl of red and golden fried food. No additional seasoning was needed, it was delicious just by biting into it.
Du Heng called out to Jing Nan and the others: "The crabs are fried! It's time to eat crabs!"
Jing Nan immediately dropped the goose egg in his hand and ran over: "Coming~~" Looking at Jing Nan's cocky look, it was hard to imagine that he was the one who despised her the most just now.
Wen Qiong came in with a basket containing five or six peeled lettuces. She put the lettuces in the sink and looked at the crabs on the table: "I smelled the fragrance just now. They look delicious."
Du Heng took two crabs and handed them to Wen Qiong: "Master, eat these two, these two are soft-shelled."
Wen Qiong took a bite and found the batter had some seasoning, which made it slightly spicy, with a moderate saltiness and a fresh aroma. Wen Qiong ate two crabs in three bites, and she was still not satisfied: "It's delicious, but the soft shell tastes like something is missing."
When Wen Qiong picked up a hard-shell crab, she realized what was missing. Soft-shell crabs taste crispy because Du Heng fried the batter until it was crispy. The crab shell is not hard and tastes soft. Although it is fresh and fragrant, it is not as crispy as hard-shell crabs.
The hard-shelled crabs are fried at high temperatures until their shells become crispy. The batter and crab shell blend into one, and the mouth is full of fragrance. The crab meat and batter complement each other, making you unable to stop eating.
Wen Qiong bit the crab with a crunchy sound: "It's delicious. I like this taste."
Jing Nan also gave a positive answer: "Hey, not bad. I should have caught more." Jing Nan picked up a big crab and took a big bite. After one bite, half of the crab's body disappeared, revealing the white meat inside.
Du Heng picked up two more crabs and fed them to Nianniansuisui. He explained, "The lake water over at Nanshan is clean, and the crabs are fat and clean."
As Du Heng said that, he took two big crabs and walked out of the kitchen. Jing Nan and the others were eating happily, while his Xiaoyu was still cleaning the geese in the yard.
Du Heng passed the crab to Xuan Yu's mouth: "Would you like to try it?"
Xuan Yu's hands were full of goose feathers. He tilted his head and took a bite. He chewed it for a few times and said, "It smells delicious. I didn't expect that such a small crab could be cooked this way."
Du Heng narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Do you like the taste? If you do, I'll catch more next time I go to Nanshan."
Xuan Yu said slowly: "In fact, you don't have to go to the south of Nanshan. There are many small crabs like this in the stone stream at the foot of Nanshan. Every autumn, they will crawl onto the shore."
Du Heng was surprised and said, "Huh? There is such a thing? I didn't even notice it!"
But he felt relieved when he thought about it. He had only been in the village for a short time. He had not experienced the four seasons in the village, let alone the situation around the village?
Xuan Yu said: "I like this little crab, I think it tastes better than peach blossom fish, can I catch some when I have time?"
Du Heng smiled and nodded: "Okay, I can also make spicy crab, I'll try spicy crab next time."
162
Suddenly, a tender quacking sound was heard in the yard, like the sound of a little duck trapped somewhere. Du Heng looked in the direction of the sound and saw a dozen white goose eggs placed next to the basket where Jing Nan had just stood. The quacking sound came from the goose eggs he had picked out.
Du Heng walked over and saw cracks on a few goose eggs. In the cracks, wet little swans were breaking out of their shells!
Du Heng's eyes widened, and he exclaimed: "Xuan Yu! Xuan Yu, look! The goose! The goose has hatched!"
Seeing the goslings hatching, Du Heng looked at Jing Nan with his eyes. If Jing Nan hadn't done something bad, these goslings would have been loved by their parents since they were born. They would have hatched in the nests carefully arranged by their parents, grown up among the green mountains and clear waters, eating fresh water plants and fat fish and shrimps, and their parents would have taught them how to fly and how to avoid natural enemies. Instead of hatching on the cold bluestone ground like now.
Du Heng quickly found a bamboo basket, put a thick layer of dry grass in the basket, and then put a layer of soft gauze on the dry grass. He used his spiritual energy to carefully hold the dozen goose eggs and put them in the bamboo basket. Then he asked Xuan Yu in a panic: "What next? What should I do next?"
Jing Nan was chewing the crab heartlessly. He said irresponsibly, "Then make a fire!"
Du Heng was stunned for a moment: "What are you boiling water for?"
Jing Nan said, "Light a fire, boil water and cook the spiced eggs! The ducklings that have just hatched are the best, fresh and tender, and you don't even need to spit out the feathers."
Du Heng covered a dozen goose eggs, fearing that they would hear Jing Nan's devilish words: "Ahhh, don't speak! How can you let the newly hatched little cutie hear such terrible words! Doesn't your conscience hurt?"
Jing Nan was extremely calm: "My conscience doesn't hurt at all. He still wants to eat some spiced eggs. Hurry up and boil the eggs!"
Du Heng decided to ignore Jing Nan and raise these goslings.
Jing Nan's words woke Du Heng up, and he suddenly remembered something: "Yes, chicks and ducklings need warmth when they hatch. Xiaoxiao, where's Xiaoxiao?"
Xiaoxiao, who was eating crabs, was put into the bamboo basket by Du Heng. Xiaoxiao, holding the crabs in her mouth, looked at the dozen goose eggs rolling under her with a dazed look on her face.
He chirped twice in protest, and then Du Heng put his hands together and said to Xiaoxiao, "Dear Xiaoxiao, these goslings are about to hatch. Without you, they will freeze to death. You have to work hard, and you will be free after they successfully hatch. I will make you something delicious, okay? How about milk pudding?"
Xiaoxiao is very easy to coax. When he heard the word "milk pudding", he nodded obediently even though he had never eaten it before.
Jing Nan couldn't bear to watch it any longer: "Fortunately Feng Gui is not at home. If he saw you using Xiao Xiao to hatch goose eggs, he would probably beat Xiao Xiao first and then punish you."
Du Heng's eyes involuntarily drifted to the half basket of goose eggs that Jing Nan had picked up. Jing Nan stood in front of the basket alertly and said, "That's enough. These are my favorite eggs. There are ducklings in them. I've already done you a good deed by giving you a dozen. Don't even think about taking them."
Du Heng shrugged regretfully. It seemed that this half basket of goose eggs would eventually not escape the fate of spiced eggs.
It is not easy for the gosling to break out of the shell, so Xiaoxiao and Nianniansuisui take turns guarding the basket.
Xuan Yu said to Du Heng, "These goslings won't be as intelligent as Niannian Suisui when they hatch. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to keep them at home. Shall I go find a place in the spiritual field to build a nest for them?"
Du Heng thought it was feasible. Geese like cleanliness, and it is best to have running water and green grass. There is a small ditch and green weeds in the spiritual field opposite the door of the house. It would be nice to build a small house in the field for the goslings to live in. However, Du Heng felt that before the goslings could find food independently, he had to feed them well, and he had to clean up their poop every day.
Zhuyan pork elbows were stewed on the stove under the eaves. The pork elbows cut into large pieces were soaked in the milky white soup, which smelled quite fragrant. Du Heng felt that the smell of this meat was different from that of mountain paste and Kui Niu. After all, it was a wild animal from the mountain, so the taste must be different.
Du Heng cut half a bamboo shoot into the soup and threw in a chicken mushroom. His chicken mushrooms were almost gone, so he would go to Feng Gui's yard in a couple of days to see if there were any fresh chicken mushrooms to pick.
The large Zhuyan elbow was filled with lean meat, which was slightly gray in color. He didn't know how old this Zhuyan was. He only knew that under the effect of the formation, it had been half an hour before the lean meat on the elbow could be poked.
The fresh and fragrant smell filled the yard. Du Heng scooped a little soup with a spoon and tasted it. The soup tasted good. The taste of Zhuyan was not as disgusting as its name suggested. The soup tasted very similar to ordinary beef soup, and even more delicious than beef soup.
Du Heng scooped a spoonful of soup into the bowl: "Xiaoxiao, do you want some soup?"
Xiaoxiao, who was hatching the eggs, nodded busily: "Chirp, chirp!" The goslings under Xiaoxiao were even more excited than Xiaoxiao: "Quack, quack, quack——"
After Du Heng fed Xiaoxiao the soup, he touched Xiaoxiao's belly. Xiaoxiao stood up and showed his achievements. Six goslings had hatched under him!
The gray goslings were very big, one was two or three times bigger than when Nianniansuisui first picked them up. The goslings huddled together, looking at Du Heng with curiosity and unfamiliarity.
Du Heng picked up the broken eggshell from under Xiaoxiao. He looked at the white eggshell and said with emotion, "How miraculous! Life can actually hatch from such a small eggshell."
Xuan Yu happened to walk by with the processed goose neck in his hand. Jing Nan said with a chill, "How cruel! After all the hard work of turning an egg into a goose, it will eventually be eaten by someone."
Du Heng looked at Jing Nan accusingly: "If you threaten my little goose like this again, I will put chili in the dishes."
This trick worked. Jing Nan complained to Xuan Yu angrily: "Look at Du Heng, he is getting more and more excessive. He just perfunctorily treated me before, but now he is threatening me."
Xuan Yu put the geese in a wooden basin: "If you keep complaining, he will put chili peppers in the salted goose."
Jing Nan spread his hands helplessly: "I finally understand, you two are now of one mind, I can't argue with you."
Wen Qiong ate crabs for a while and she felt that her burps were all the taste of crabs. She was humming a song and was about to pick up the lettuce leaves and lettuce skins that were left behind. Du Heng quickly stopped her: "Master, leave it there! Let me do it!"
Wen Qiong responded: "It's okay, I can help, I can't always eat white rice."
Du Heng said, "No, Master. We have goslings at home now. I want to save the lettuce leaves to feed them."
Jing Nan sighed, "Xiao Yu, I originally thought that your status in the family was second, but after Nian Nian Sui Sui came along, your status plummeted. Watch out, after you raise the goslings, your status may be even lower than the goslings."
Xuan Yu was very calm: "If we don't feed the goslings with lettuce leaves, Du Heng will cook them into a dish and feed us. It's up to you whether to feed the geese or keep them for yourself."
Jing Nan had a mouthful of blood stuck in his throat. It turned out that their status was almost the same as that of a goose.
Du Heng was humming a song while cutting lettuce shreds. His knife skills were very beautiful. The lettuce shreds he cut were of uniform thickness and looked like a plate of jade when placed on the plate.
Lettuce is really a good thing. It is soft and sticky when stewed in soup, crispy and tender when stir-fried, and has different flavors when eaten cold. To be called cold, the shredded lettuce needs to be blanched briefly. Of course, you can also mix it directly without blanching, but Du Heng thinks that the shredded lettuce made in that way has a natural flavor of lettuce, which some people don't like.
The water in the pot boiled, and Du Heng poured the shredded lettuce into the pot and blanched it quickly. When the water was still for a while and just started to boil, Du Heng took them all out and rinsed them with cold water.
Du Heng mashed some garlic and cut some red pepper into a small bowl. After the lettuce was blanched, Du Heng added a spoonful of soybean oil to the pot. When the soybean oil was heated up, Du Heng scooped up the soybean oil and poured it into the small bowl. With a sizzling sound, the small bowl smelled of garlic and pepper.
This was Jing Nan's most hated seasoning combination, but after the hot oil was poured in, the garlic paste was no longer choking, and the spicy taste of the chili became mellow. While the pot was still warm, Du Heng poured a spoonful of vinegar into the pot, and the vinegar became mellow after being stir-fried.
After the vinegar is put into the pot, it needs to be quickly scooped out and added to the bowl. If it were the previous Du Heng, he really wouldn't be able to get this spoonful of vinegar out.
But now Du Heng is a cultivator, his spiritual energy spread evenly along the bottom of the pot, and the vinegar that was choked by the hot oil and residual heat evaporated a little. The spiritual energy wrapped the vinegar into the previous garlic bowl, and while the seasoning in the bowl was still warm, he sprinkled a spoonful of soy sauce, half a spoonful of salt, and one and a half spoonfuls of sugar into the bowl.
After mixing all the seasonings while they were still hot, he raised his hand and poured the sauce on the lettuce. The green lettuce was immediately dyed with the sauce color, and the red pepper shreds lying on the lettuce added a different color to the dish.
Most of the pickles and salads made by Du Heng are salty and sweet, with a savory aftertaste and a salty aftertaste. A bite of crispy shredded lettuce is crisp and delicious with distinct taste levels. This is why Jing Nan loves to eat Du Heng's dishes. His dishes are never like the chefs of Yunyanlou who only cook sweet or salty dishes. His dishes are memorable and make people want to eat them again.
Even a simple dish of shredded lettuce can produce a taste that the chef of Yunyanlou can't make. Jing Nan felt that if he left the village in the future, he would starve.
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