Thanks to the fish and a piece of fatty meat that Li Xiangdong brought, the Yan family had a rather lavish meal tonight.
Li Xiangdong planned to braise grass carp. Grass carp, also known as houzi, has thick flesh and few bones, making it delicious when braised.
Those few palm-sized crucian carp can be used to make a crucian carp and tofu soup, which is both nourishing and delicious.
Liu Donglai and the others stopped chatting inside and squatted outside to watch Li Xiangdong process the fish.
After scaling the grass carp and cleaning its gills and internal organs, the entire basin of water was stained red with fish blood.
"They're all gone?" Uncle Yan asked from the side.
"Huh? You're not throwing this away? You can still eat this?" Li Xiangdong asked, pointing to a pile of fish scales and innards, looking bewildered.
"Wash that fish maw clean, put it back, and stew it with the fish later. It'll be very chewy," Uncle Yan instructed.
No one here has ever eaten fish maw, but in their past lives, when they ate hot pot, the soup base was fish maw and chicken.
I've heard that fish maw is the dried swim bladder of large fish in the sea. It's called fish maw because it's rich in collagen. People started eating fish maw before the Han Dynasty.
The most expensive fish maw, the golden croaker maw, is the king of fish maw. It is extremely rare and is generally regarded as a collectible. The price per kilogram is over several hundred thousand!
Although this area is considered a coastal region, it's not on the seashore, and no one goes out to sea to fish. If he could actually go out to sea, given his good luck since his rebirth, he might actually be able to catch a yellow croaker and get some golden threadfin maw!
"There's still the fishy lining, get it out!" Factory Director Yan saw Li Xiangdong grinning foolishly at the fish bladder. "What are you grinning about?"
"Ah! Where is the fishy line?"
Although I eat fish often, I've never removed the fishy lining before!
Seeing Li Xiangdong's bewildered expression, Director Yan smiled and took the knife from his hand. "Watch closely! Your uncle will teach you a trick today!"
Director Yan laid the fish flat on the cutting board, made a cut at the gills and the tail, then tapped the fish a few times with the side of the knife. A small white dot appeared at the gills, and with a gentle pull, a long white line was pulled out.
He flipped the fish over again and handed the cleaver to Li Xiangdong, saying, "Here you go!"
Li Xiangdong was amazed and wanted to try it himself. Thinking of what Uncle Yan had done earlier, he followed suit and pulled out a long white thread.
"If these two lines aren't pulled out, no matter how much seasoning you add to enhance the flavor, you can't mask the earthy taste in the fish!"
Li Xiangdong nodded, indicating that he understood.
Next, cut the fatty pork into small cubes, render the oil in a pan, and prepare to fry the fish.
Uncle Yan added, "Don't overcook the meat. Just wait until the surface turns slightly yellow. When stewing the fish, add some fatty meat to enhance the flavor and make the fish less bland!"
Liu Donglai joked, "Xiangdong, the little secret your uncle passed down to you is a family heirloom, traditionally passed down to sons but not daughters!"
"Then I won't call you Uncle anymore, I'll call you Master!"
Everyone burst into laughter.
After finishing their meal, Director Yan took Liu Donglai to the train station to board the train. He found a secluded spot and pulled out a stack of brand-new banknotes from his pocket.
"Why did you stuff all the money under the mat on the kang? If your aunt hadn't found it while cleaning the room, were you planning to keep it from me?"
"Please take it back! Not to mention that I already said I would give you a commission for selling Ganoderma lucidum and Polygonum multiflorum, and not to mention that I wanted to help Auntie improve her health, let me put it this way: if our Lijiapo brigade were to cultivate Chinese medicinal herbs on a large scale in the future, we would definitely need technicians to guide us. I have high hopes for you and would like to specially hire you as a technician. Is that alright? This money is my advance payment!"
Li Xiangdong rattled off a string of words, silencing Director Yan who was about to say something.
Factory Director Yan remained silent for a long time before finally patting Li Xiangdong on the shoulder, "Kid, you really are a fool who's incredibly generous!"
At Lijiapo, in Li Jin's house, there was a pile of wheat stalk seeds in the yard.
Li Jin is finding it increasingly difficult to understand his son.
Li Jin felt a little dizzy in the afternoon and didn't go out. Wang Zhenbo came to visit him at home. The two were talking about the wheat harvest when they saw Li Guoqing, Guo Yuxi, Li Xiangjie, Zhao Xiaojun and several other children, some carrying bamboo baskets and others carrying flour sacks. As soon as they entered the door, they said they wanted to find their second brother.
Li Jin subconsciously felt that his son had gotten into some trouble again, but then he thought about it again and realized that his son had been quite obedient lately!
After asking, I learned that Li Xiangdong wanted to collect wheat stalk seeds!
It's still only one cent per pound!
What a wasteful act!
Collecting wild grass seeds for a mere ten cents a pound—I've never heard of doing this anywhere else in the country!
Hefting the wheat stalk seeds the children had brought, my heart sank even further; there must have been at least forty pounds of them!
Four yuan!
spendthrift!
When Li Xiangdong came in, he saw that his father looked unwell, as if he had been constipated for several days. His friends were all carrying their tools.
Li Xiangdong was overjoyed. He called out "Dad" and then "Uncle Wang," and went straight to the flour sack that Li Guoqing was carrying. "How did you manage to get so much in just half a day?"
That's incredibly efficient!
Li Xiangdong never expected that he could produce dozens of kilograms in just one afternoon. This was because he underestimated the appeal of one cent per kilogram. How much money could he earn in a day by working himself to the bone for ten minutes?
With such a great opportunity, wouldn't the whole family be mobilized?
Besides, the wild grass in the fields is ripe. Just look in the ditches and creeks where weeds are thrown, and you'll have a bagful in no time!
Li Xiangdong stuck his hand in, grabbed a handful, and looked at them carefully. Each seed was plump, with some red and some black. He picked out another one, pinched it open with his fingernail, and sure enough, oil seeped out!
"Well done, guys!"
Li Xiangdong was excited. These weren't wheatgrass seeds; they were buckets of oil, golden-brown pancakes, fried meatballs, fried small fish, fried scorpions, fried dough sticks...
No, I'll start drooling if I keep thinking about it.
With a constipated expression, Li Jin called Li Xiangdong, who looked pleasantly surprised, into the house, closed the door, and asked in a low but serious voice, "You want to buy wheatgrass seeds for one cent per pound?"
"Yes, Dad, why did you call me in? I need to hurry out and weigh the wheat stalks so they can collect more!"
"What?! They want even more?!"
Li Jin felt that either he or Li Xiangdong had gone mad.
“Yeah, what use is this?” Li Xiangdong completely ignored his father’s increasingly exaggerated expression. “Dad, where’s the scale at home?”
"You spendthrift, what do you need a scale for? You should weigh yourself first to see how much you weigh!"
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