In addition to breathing through gills and exchanging oxygen with the outside world through their skin like all fish, the most unique thing about loaches is that they can breathe through their intestines. Therefore, no matter how severe the drought is, they will not die from lack of water.
When the water in the fields and ditches dries up, it will hide in the dark and damp soil, waiting for the rainy season to come.
Loach, belonging to the family Cobitidae, is not only delicious, but also has certain medicinal value.
Loach is mild in nature and sweet in taste. It has the effects of warming the spleen and stomach, removing dampness, treating hemorrhoids, strengthening yang, stopping spontaneous sweating, tonifying the middle and replenishing qi, strengthening essence and nourishing blood. It is an excellent auxiliary product for the treatment of acute and chronic liver diseases, impotence, hemorrhoids and other diseases.
In addition, the mucus secreted from the loach's skin, the so-called loach slippery fluid, has good antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, and can treat urinary obstruction, hot stranguria with blood in the stool, carbuncle, and otitis media.
"Sichuan Chinese Medicine Records": It is good for urination. It can treat skin itching and scabies itching.
Zhou Huaian took it with a smile, "Thanks! I'll return the bucket to you tomorrow."
Li Wu smiled naively, "If you like it, I'll go dig it later."
"Okay! I won't be polite with you!" Zhou Huaian smiled and rubbed the furry head of Li Xiaoping, who had become much more cheerful, waved his hand and walked home.
Looking at the loaches in the bucket, thinking of what Li Wu said about turtledoves being delicious, I suddenly remembered that when my eldest sister-in-law gave birth to Jiaming, there was nothing at home to supplement her nutrition, so my mother asked my eldest brother to go to the woods to catch turtledoves and stew them for her.
She chopped the turtledove into small pieces, stir-fried it, and then stewed it with soaked white beans. The taste makes you drool just thinking about it.
Sometimes he thought that people were really strange. What he didn't have time to eat before, his favorite thing was the greasy braised pork. Now that he can eat braised pork as much as he wants, he wants to eat the food that he used to make to fill his stomach.
But turtledoves are really nutritious. Tomorrow I will go up the mountain to look for wild bees and kill a few turtledoves to roast for Yan'er.
The old man was watering the Jerusalem artichokes by the ditch. When he saw him coming back with a basket and a wooden bucket, he stopped and looked at him, "How is Xu Mingfa?"
"It doesn't look good."
"Alas! People have been going backwards since the day they were born. Sooner or later, they will go back."
Zhou Huaian hurriedly said: "Grandpa, my son is still waiting for you to help take care of him!"
The old man glared at him in reproach, "You only know how to order an old man like me around."
"Hehe!" Zhou Huaian picked up the wooden barrel, "Li Wu gave it to me. I'll kill it and roast it when I get home."
The old man took a look and said, "Your third aunt sent some tofu over. Loach stewed with tofu is just right!"
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian pulled him and said, "Go back and kill the loaches."
"You go back first and wait for me to water the last few nests." The old man picked up the dung scoop and began to scoop water.
Zhou Huaian entered the yard. The dog lying at the door looked up at him and wagged its tail affectionately. After welcoming him, it lay back down and guarded the door carefully.
"Yan'er, what are you doing?"
"Choosing vegetables, I picked some pea tips and cooked some crispy meat soup."
Zhou Huaian entered the kitchen and saw the white and tender tofu soaking in the basin. "Don't rush to make soup yet. Li Wu gave me a small bucket of loaches. I'll kill them and cook tofu."
Yang Chunyan turned her head and looked, "So many!"
"After frying, send half to mom so they can stew it into tofu!" Zhou Huaian took down the scissors hanging on the cupboard and walked towards the backyard with the wooden bucket. "Yan'er, get me some salt and a small porcelain bowl."
"That's right!" Yang Chunyan scooped a bucket of water into the pot, took the salt and the porcelain basin out, "Aunt San brought some tofu, saying that Huaigang wanted to use the small piece of land next to the brigade's drying dam as a house foundation."
Zhou Huaian put a small basin of water, poured the salt in the bowl into it and stirred it, then poured the loaches into the basin and left them there for a while. When they spit out the mud and mucus, they could be killed.
"That's a good location, it's good for building a house." Zhou Huaian pulled a chair and patted her to sit down. "In fact, the brigade house is not bad. Now that the households have been divided, the warehouse and storage room are no longer needed. If the brigade wants to sell it, it's more cost-effective to buy it there."
"You're right, it's more worthwhile to buy there!"
As Yang Chunyan was speaking, she suddenly remembered that in her previous life, the brigade's drying dam and those houses were finally "sold" to Xiong Dahai at the auction. More than a dozen houses and such a large drying dam were sold for only four hundred and eighty yuan.
Later, the youngest bear built a big yard there...
"I'll tell Huaigang about it when I meet him!" Zhou Huaian pulled over a straw stool and sat down on the chair. "Why did Third Aunt think of grinding tofu today?"
"She said that no one in the three villages makes tofu and sells it, so she wanted to make some tofu and let Huaigang and Huaizhong pick it out and sell it! I asked her to bring tofu pudding as well. It's not expensive at 10 cents a pound, and everyone will buy it because it saves trouble."
"It's true that there's no one selling tofu in Sancun. Aunt San has a good business sense!"
"She said that before the Chinese New Year, when her father went to the city for a checkup, she saw someone carrying a tofu basket and shouting, so she wanted to try it when she had some free time after the Chinese New Year."
“You should be able to make money from selling tofu, but it’s almost as hard as when we bake truffles.”
"Yes! Otherwise, why would there be an old saying that there are three most miserable things in the world: rowing a boat, forging iron, and selling tofu." Yang Chunyan said, thinking of Xu Erchun and Yang Hui, "What did Erchun say?"
Zhou Huaian said: "Aunt Liu said that the Yang family asked Erchun to give a betrothal gift... Erchun said that if Yang Hui also has this attitude, he will not continue with her."
He paused, "If Yang Hui really doesn't like Erchun, it's a bit too much to keep her hanging like this."
Yang Chunyan also felt that Yang Hui's family was too frivolous. "Yes! They had already agreed on something, but they went back on their word at the last minute. I used to wonder why Yang Hui didn't come to help take care of Erchun's house when he was renovating it. The last time they came to our house, I thought they were fine, so I didn't take it seriously!"
Zhou Huaian said angrily, "That's right, she has no integrity at all. She should have done what she agreed to do, but at the last minute she thought about it and thought about it again. I promised her family this time, but what if they think of something else on the day of the wedding? What should Erchun do?"
Yang Chunyan nodded, "They haven't gotten engaged yet. If they really can't get along, it's better to break up sooner rather than later."
The old man came in with a dung bucket and saw the two men sitting there talking. "Have you killed the loaches?"
Zhou Huaian looked at the basin and saw that it was much more turbid. He thought it was ok and said, "Kill it now!"
The old man pulled a straw stool and sat down, "Chunyan, go find a pair of scissors, grandpa will help you kill it!"
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan went to the main room to get a pair of sewing scissors and handed them to him.
Zhou Huaian poured the cleaned loaches into a bucket, cut the loach's fins with scissors, then cut a hole about 2 centimeters in the belly, took out the intestines and black gallbladder inside, and put them in a porcelain basin.
"Grandpa, these loaches are quite fat!"
"Good fat, fresh and tender!"
It took the grandfather and grandson more than half an hour to kill all the loaches in the bucket. They added some salt and caught a few more loaches. Then they cleaned them and put them in a small porcelain basin, filling the basin full.
"Yan'er, the loach is ready."
Yang Chunyan took the porcelain basin and said, "Put some more firewood in the stove."
She had already washed the onions, old ginger, pickled peppers, pickled ginger and garlic, fried the tofu with lard until both sides were golden brown, and put it in a ceramic bowl and waited.
Heat the oil in a pan and fry the loaches until both sides are golden brown. Put half of them into a porcelain jar and ask Zhou Huaian to ride his bike to deliver it to the old house.
After sautéing ginger, garlic and pickled pepper in hot oil, add the loach into the pot. Add water and bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for a while. Then add the tofu and simmer for about ten minutes. Sprinkle a handful of chopped green onions and it is ready to serve.
Zhou Huaian walked in sniffing, "It smells so good! Grandpa, shall we have a drink later?"
"Have a drink!" The old man walked to the corner, opened the wine jar placed at the foot of the wall, and scooped out a spoonful of jujube wine with a small wine spoon made of bamboo tube. "The jujube wine brewed by Chunyan's mother's family tastes good."
Zhou Huaian: "I also know how my father-in-law makes jujube wine. Grandpa likes to drink it. Next year, we will make two jars of it and drink it slowly."
Old man: "Why do you need to soak so much? You can't eat it all at once, one jar is enough."
Yang Chunyan thought that the beginning of spring would come after the eleventh day of the first lunar month. "Huai'an, remember to dig up the jujube and cherry trees and plant them."
"Remember, we have to dig up yellow gardenias."
Zhou Huaian happily helped to bring the loach stewed with tofu to the table. Yang Chunyan cooked the pea tips and crispy pork soup and took out the warm preserved vegetables from the rice cooker. The three of them sat down and started to eat.
Yang Chunyan thought that loach stewed with tofu tasted really good. The tofu was soft, tender and smooth, and the loach was fresh and delicious. The three of them had eaten up all the tofu and loach in the pottery bowl without realizing it.
Loach is delicious, but people with yin deficiency and excess fire should avoid eating it; it is also not suitable to be eaten with dog meat, because dog blood and loach are incompatible, and hairy crabs and loach are incompatible, and eating them together will cause poisoning.
Crabs and loaches are incompatible and have opposite functions, so they should not be eaten together.
Zhou Huaian touched his stomach and said, "I had a very comfortable meal today, very good!"
"It's better to eat these things." The old man stood up, "I'm full, I'm going to go out for a walk."
Zhou Huaian thought of the two drinks he had, and hurriedly said, "Don't go to the back mountain, just walk around outside!"
The old man nodded happily, "Got it, I'll just take a walk outside!"
Yang Chunyan cleaned up the dishes and Zhou Huaian helped to wash them. They were both a little full, so they went for a walk outside.
Zhou Huaian was thinking about catching turtledoves to eat tomorrow, so he went to find some pebbles, took out his old slingshot, and prepared honey water before going to rest.
…
The next morning, Zhou Yiding came with Dahuang and Dahei. Wangcai and Lai Fu happily welcomed their master.
Zhou Huaian carried the prepared things on his back, and Zhou Yiding waved to Da Huang and Da Hei, "Let's go, up the mountain."
"Woof woof!" Dahei and Dahuang happily followed the two and ran towards the backyard door.
Zhou Huaian patted Lai Fu and Wang Cai who followed him and said, "You two stay at home and take good care of yourself. I'll give you something delicious to eat when I come back!"
"Woof woof!" Wangcai and Lai Fu stood at the back door with resentful looks on their faces, watching Dahei and Dahuang running happily up the mountain.
Zhou Yiding looked at the medicinal field and said, "Youngest brother, your medicinal field is much better than mine!"
Zhou Huaian said proudly: "That's right, my grandfather and the old man come here to weed and fertilize whenever they have time. You can see there is not even a strand of wheat straw in it."
Zhou Yiding suddenly slapped his head after hearing this, "Oh no! I forgot to fill the soil and fertilizer pit that my daughter Xuejiao dug. Remind me when you get back!" (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com