Sheng Xiping briefly explained what had happened, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief after hearing it.
"Boss, how's Xiao Zhou? He must be terrified."
"Look at you, you didn't even tell her to have someone call her tonight."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Shuzhen complained that her son was incompetent.
In this situation, the girl must be quite frightened. What if something bad happens to her?
"Honey, don't talk nonsense. Let's not talk about those things now." Sheng Liancheng quickly stopped his wife, not letting her continue.
Even though this is in my own backyard, I'm still afraid of being overheard. At this time, I still need to be careful what I say.
"Second brother, third brother, while it's still not too dark outside, hurry up and help your brother peel off the snakeskin."
Anyway, these are all good things. If we put them together, the whole family can have a delicious meal. We can't let them go to waste.
So, Sheng Xiping handed over the gastrodia elata in his pocket, the piece of tree mushroom, and the two pockets of wood ear fungus to Zhang Shuzhen and her daughter.
He then led his two younger brothers to hang the headless snake on a garden staff and peel off its skin bit by bit.
Snake meat is very fishy, and this way of cooking it fills the whole yard with a fishy smell.
Sheng Xi'an found a large wooden basin in the house, put the skinned, bone-in snake meat into the basin, and together with Sheng Xikang, carried the basin back to the kitchen.
Sheng Xiping cleaned up the snakeskin and nailed it to the wooden planks of the warehouse to dry in the shade. This stuff was useful and couldn't be thrown away carelessly.
"Go wash your hands quickly, eat first, and clean up after you finish eating."
Zhang Shuzhen was overjoyed that her son had brought back so much food from the mountain, so she urged Sheng Xiping to wash his hands and eat quickly.
"Mom, I promised Haining and Weiguo today that I would invite them to dinner at home tomorrow, and Qinglan will come too."
Sheng Xiping washed his hands with soap while talking to his mother.
After all, he hasn't started his own household yet, so he has to tell his parents before inviting friends over for dinner.
"Oh, sure, young people should get out and about more."
"Well then, I'll think about cooking a few more dishes tomorrow." Zhang Shuzhen nodded in agreement.
Young people make friends, it's normal. We're all kids who grew up together in the forest farm, what's wrong with getting together for a meal?
Even if the Sheng family is not well-off, they won't be short of money for this meal.
Not to mention, Sheng Xiping just mentioned that Zhou Qinglan was coming.
Zhang Shuzhen is already this age, how could she not understand what her son means? It seems that the two of them are officially married.
Her eldest son wanted to bring his daughter home so his parents could see her, which would be considered a formality.
Zhang Shuzhen was overjoyed that her son, now twenty, was finally bringing home a girlfriend. She couldn't possibly refuse.
In the meantime, she was already thinking about what dishes to prepare for the guests tomorrow.
"Mom, don't go to too much trouble. Just cook whatever you have at home."
I'll go to the river to fish in a bit; I should be able to catch some more fish to make a couple more dishes.
After washing his hands, Sheng Xiping changed the water in the basin and washed his face before going inside to eat.
Dinner wasn't as lavish as breakfast; it was still sorghum rice, pickled vegetables, vegetables with dipping sauce, and a soup.
Sheng Xitai held his bowl, shoveling rice into his mouth while muttering, "If only I could eat meat every meal."
"What? You want to fly to the moon? You're just daydreaming all day."
"You eat meat every meal, and then you're late every day?"
Sheng Liancheng glared at his youngest son. That brat, all he ever thought about was food.
As soon as he said that, everyone in the room burst into laughter.
Because his family was stewing chicken for breakfast, Sheng Xitai is probably the first person in all the primary and secondary schools in Qianchuan Forest Farm to be late for school.
This incident could very well be something your classmates will remember for the rest of their lives.
Despite being told this by his own father, Sheng Xitai remained unfazed. He glanced up at his siblings, who were laughing so hard they were doubled over, and then continued eating.
"I finally managed to stew a chicken, can't I even enjoy a proper meal?"
Those people laugh at me for being late, but I don't know how envious they are inside.
Their family doesn't have the means to stew a chicken for breakfast first thing in the morning.
Upon hearing this, Sheng Xi'an and the others, who were smiling, froze on their faces.
Why does it seem like there's some truth to what the eldest son said?
Yes, these days, who would start their day with a stewed chicken?
If this were in someone else's home, they would probably be incredibly envious.
Everyone suddenly felt quite proud. "That's because our eldest brother is capable. If it weren't for our eldest brother, you would be just envious of others."
Sheng Yunfei snorted at her younger brother, saying that the little brat always spouted a bunch of nonsense.
"Alright, alright, everyone hurry up and eat."
After you finish eating, you two help me clean the gastrodia elata. We can cook it for the porridge tomorrow morning and then dry it in the sun during the day.
It seems like gastrodia elata is quite expensive this year. If I collect a lot, I can make some money selling it.
Zhang Shuzhen quickly stepped in to smooth things over, lest her eldest son be bullied too much by his older sister.
The family happily finished dinner, and the two girls helped clear the table and wash the dishes, then fetched water to clean the gastrodia elata.
The whole bag of gastrodia elata that was poured out almost filled a washbasin.
Moreover, there were only five seedlings, while the rest were large offspring that hadn't yet sprouted.
These dried fruits are quite heavy, and therefore fetch a higher price.
The two girls cleaned and prepared the gastrodia elata, while Zhang Shuzhen put the wood ear mushrooms in a sieve and took them outside to air dry.
Generally speaking, fresh wood ear mushrooms should not be eaten directly, as they can sometimes cause phytophotodermatitis, which is painful, itchy, and requires exposure to sunlight.
Although the chances are slim, it should still be avoided as much as possible.
The wood ear mushrooms were left to dry outside, and the tree mushrooms were cleaned and cut into small strips.
Then, heat the bottom of the pot and, once the water boils, add the mushroom strips to blanch them. Then, use a strainer to remove them, rinse them twice with cold water, and place them in a cool, shady place.
There's no way around it; tree mushrooms age very quickly. If we don't process them tonight, most of them will probably be inedible by tomorrow morning, which is such a waste.
Sheng Liancheng wasn't idle either. He swung his sharp hand axe, chopped the snake meat in the wooden basin into sections, and then scooped up a lot of water to soak the snake meat.
In the hot summer, meat spoils easily, and since we don't have a refrigerator now, we can only keep it in cold water and cook it the next day.
As for Sheng Xiping, after dinner he took his two younger brothers and some curtain-like things he had woven from willow branches to go downstream of the river to catch fish.
Choose a riverbed of suitable width and build a stone wall in a figure-eight shape from the outside in, leaving an opening of more than a foot wide.
Then press down the top of the willow curtain and prop it up from the bottom.
The curtain slopes at a certain angle to the water surface, lower at the top and higher at the bottom. A fish basket is installed at the higher end.
Unable to cross the stone wall, the fish had to go to the center of the river, where the current was swift, and the fish were swept onto the curtain.
The larger fish leap upwards and fall right into the fish basket, while the smaller ones stop on the curtain.
This is the device that locals call "fish bright".
Don't think that fishing is easy. People who know how to fish can catch dozens of kilograms of fish in one night, and if they are lucky, they can catch hundreds of kilograms.
But if you don't know how to use the "bi" method, even if you copy someone else's, you still won't catch any fish.
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