Chapter 158 Fried Small Fish
They did not take the village road behind, but walked from the new house, because the road there led directly to the upper reaches of the river bay. Now there was no water, so they could go directly to the bamboo forest opposite.
Hua Xiali deliberately brought the basket so that everyone would think that she was going to pick wild vegetables, so as to avoid thinking that two girls were taking two boys somewhere and doing something bad.
From their flower shop, they can see the green sugar cane in the Chenzhuang next door. Hua Xiali pointed there and said, "That's the sugar cane I planted. You can come and eat the sugar cane in December. The sugar cane I plant is delicious. I guarantee you'll want to eat more."
"Second sister, can you stop bragging? This is your first time planting sugarcane, and you already know it tastes good?" Hua Qiuli said helplessly.
Leng Yuye looked at Hua Xiali and said, "Xia Li put so much effort into this, it must be delicious."
When we arrived at the river, we saw that there was only a shallow layer of water left. Even the reservoir didn't have much water left, so there naturally wouldn't be much water in the river downstream. We could only wait for the rain to raise the water level.
Seeing many small fish crowded together in the shallow puddle, Hua Qiuli said excitedly, "Second sister, I still remember the spicy dried fish you made at the eldest sister's graduation banquet. It was especially delicious. How about we catch some more small fish and make dried fish?"
"It's very troublesome to handle small fish. As long as you are willing to help, I can do it." The dried small fish sold in the market still have dirty insides, but if you eat them yourself, you naturally have to remove the dirty insides, otherwise you can't eat them!
Gao Shuaiquan and Leng Yuye said in unison, "We'll handle it."
"Okay, I'll do it again then."
As soon as he finished speaking, Hua Qiuli ran to the small puddle first, picked up the small fish with both hands and put them into the basket. Fortunately, the basket Hua Qiuli took was the kind that was woven tightly, otherwise there would be nothing to put the small fish in today.
Leng Yuye and Gao Shuaiquan did not hesitate at all. They followed him down, stepped directly on the mud with their shoes on, and then tried to catch the small fish in the puddle.
Seeing the two people being so "careless", Hua Xiali felt helpless. Fortunately, she would always keep some clothes and shoes for her family when she wholesaled them. She had a lot of shoes, socks and clothes at home, so she would get one for each of them later.
However, there are empty shells of clams in the mud, and it is easy to get your soles pierced if you are barefoot, so it is wise to wear shoes.
The four of them worked together and soon caught a basket of small fish. They were all dirty and would lose their flavor if not handled in time, so they did not continue playing in the river bay and went home.
Seeing them coming back all dirty, Hua Chunli hurriedly fetched water for them to wash. Hua Xiali washed his hands and feet first, changed into summer plastic slippers, and then went back to the room upstairs. After closing the door, he took out clothes, shoes and socks from the room, came downstairs and handed them to Leng Yuye and Gao Shuaiquan.
"This is what I left for my eldest brother-in-law when I was buying clothes wholesale. I don't know if you like it or not, and I don't know if you are suitable for this style, but now you have nothing to wear, so wear it for a while!"
"Thank you." Leng Yuye took it with a flattered look on his face. "How much does this set cost? I'll give you the money."
"No need. You bring so many things every time you come to our house. If we really want to calculate the money, don't we owe you a lot?" Hua Xiali handed them the clothes and asked them to change. Then he carried the small fish to the backyard, put down the wooden basin, fetched a few buckets of well water and poured it into the basin, and then poured the small fish into it.
In just such a short period of time, most of the small fish were dead and floating on the turbid water surface along with the grass leaves, with only a few swimming around in it.
Hua Xiali brought a chair, sat there and started pinching.
The people in charge of cleaning the pig offal had finished cleaning the day's offal and went home. Now the only ones left in Hua Xiali's yard were those in charge of making brine. When they saw Hua Xiali processing the small fish, they couldn't help but think of the spicy small fish they had eaten before. This thing was easy to catch and could be found everywhere, as long as there was water, but it was too difficult to process. No one could sit for half a day just to process these small fish.
It also consumes a lot of oil. The oil needed to make this dish is enough for the family to eat for several days.
But now everyone has made money, and of course they are willing to buy oil, but they don’t have that much time to slowly process it. Wouldn’t it be better to use this time to do more work and earn more money?
After a while, Leng Yuye and Gao Shuaiquan also came to the backyard. They followed Hua Xiali's example and picked up the small fish first, then pinched a hole in it and took out the dirty insides. In this way, the small fish was ready and they just needed to wash it clean.
The three of them worked very quickly, and the number of small fish in the basin increased at a speed visible to the naked eye.
When Hua Xiali stood up to stretch her sore shoulders, she saw Huo Beixi standing by the well through the iron gate in the backyard. He was just looking at her quietly. Hua Xiali felt a little embarrassed for a moment. She didn't do anything. Didn't she just catch some small fish? And she would definitely leave a bowl for him when the time came. Why was he looking at her like that?
Hua Xiali didn't sit down again until Huo Beixi turned around and left. However, he was still a little dazed. After a while, he adjusted himself and hurriedly dealt with the fish in the basin.
After washing the small fish several times and cleaning them thoroughly, take them out and put them in a dustpan to drain the water, and then put them in the yard to dry.
Just do it like this, and when the time comes, it will all be broken into a paste and you won’t be able to eat a single bite. Drain the moisture and dry it in the sun until it is half dry. This way, it won’t break no matter you fry or stir-fry it.
In the evening, after Hua's mother had prepared the meal, Hua Xiali went to cook the small mixed fish. She first mixed a bowl of flour batter, then beat an egg into it and stirred it evenly. Then she coated the small mixed fish with flour and put it in the pan.
Hua Xiali fried two kinds of food, one coated with flour and the other not, but both were fried very crispy and even the bones could be eaten directly.
Hua Xiali kept a bowl of both kinds of fried fish and put it into the space. This was for Huo Beixi, and he planned to find a chance to send it to Huo Beixi in the evening.
At dinner time in the evening, Leng Yuye and Gao Shuaiquan ate fried fish and praised Hua Xiali's cooking skills. Hua Xiali just smiled and said nothing.
Do you want to say, 'You guys come often and I'll do it often'?
She is not a housewife, and it is even more impossible for her to be a housewife. When she has more money in the future, she can hire a nanny to cook, make a list of the dishes she wants to eat, and let the nanny cook, completely freeing her hands.
A nanny can get paid for working for others, but if a woman chooses to be a housewife, not only will she have no income, she will also not get the respect she deserves. She may even be looked down upon by others, who will ask, "What else can you do besides cooking?"
She, Hua Xiali, can also make money!