small vegetable garden
Grandma Chen gathered the cleared weeds together, looked up, and asked with a kind expression:
"Tangtang, what do you want to eat for lunch? The garland chrysanthemum, cabbage, and romaine lettuce from the garden are all ready to eat."
Chen Zhiyao thought for a moment, then looked at the best-growing patch of vegetables in the garden:
"I just had romaine lettuce last night, let's have garland chrysanthemum for lunch, it's been a long time since I've had this vegetable."
“Okay, why not? We’ll do whatever Tangtang says.”
The old lady walked with a smile towards her carefully tended vegetable garden and deftly cut a large bundle of garland chrysanthemum.
Chen Zhiyao also walked to the vegetable garden next door and picked some scallions, ginger and garlic to use for cooking lunch.
Since it's inconvenient to buy vegetables in the village, most families will cultivate a small vegetable garden in front of their homes, growing various vegetables and seasonings such as scallions, ginger, and garlic.
Even if you don't have a vegetable garden, you should still plant all kinds of vegetables and fruits in flower pots on your balcony or rooftop.
When she lived in Guangzhou, she also liked to grow cilantro and scallions in flowerpots on her balcony.
After picking the vegetables, Chen Zhiyao hopped on her electric scooter and hurried home.
The vegetables at home don't require much advanced technology; a simple wash two or three times is enough.
Then she quickly prepared the small fish.
Although Chen Zhiyao didn't cook often before, she was very skilled at handling all kinds of seafood, and she was quick and efficient.
With all the ingredients prepared, Chen Zhiyao put on a pink apron and began cooking.
Pour some oil into the clay pot, sauté the ginger slices until fragrant, then add various small fish, shrimp, and a small bowl of oyster meat.
Then add a little salt for seasoning, and a small amount of boiling water.
Finally, cover and simmer for another three or four minutes, and a pot of fragrant and incredibly delicious salted mixed fish stew is ready.
While the mixed fish stew was still simmering, Chen Zhiyao blanched the golden snails and then picked them out with a toothpick.
Stir-fry snail meat with scallions, ginger, garlic, and a little bit of fermented bean paste, and you have another delicious dish that goes perfectly with rice.
Chrysanthemum greens are even simpler; just stir-fry them with minced garlic for a refreshing and delicious dish.
Fearing the oysters would become fishy if they cooled down, she waited until everyone in the family returned before starting to cook the last dish.
Salted mixed fish stew, oyster omelet, stir-fried snails, and stir-fried chrysanthemum greens—looking at the table full of fragrant dishes, Chen Zhiyao felt a surge of pride.
Salted Mixed Fish Stew
Oyster Omelet
Stir-fried snails
Stir-fried chrysanthemum greens
As soon as she took off her apron, she couldn't wait to grab her phone and start snapping away.
Yan Shuting, who was standing next to her, had already happily filmed a short video and posted it on her WeChat Moments, showing it off with great satisfaction.
Of course, Chen Zhiyao also posted it in her best friend group, making her two unlucky friends envious, and then she was attacked by them.
Chen Weiqiang is still at the fishing tackle shop in the county. He won't come back for lunch, so he can only look at the pictures pitifully while eating greasy takeout.
Chen Zhiyao put away her phone, turned around and served four bowls of rice.
Yan Shuting took a bite of the stir-fried snails her daughter had made, immediately gave her a thumbs up, and praised her sincerely and enthusiastically:
"Tangtang, your cooking skills are getting better and better, they're just as good as those in restaurants."
"Our Tangtang is amazing! Her cooking is almost as good as your grandma's and your mom's!" Grandpa Chen praised her enthusiastically.
Grandma didn't say anything, but she smiled and kept putting food on her granddaughter's plate.
Even Ah Huang under the table was happily munching on fish bones, his big tail wagging so hard it was almost a blur.
Chen Zhiyao picked up a large shrimp and suddenly remembered yesterday's lucky fishing rod:
"By the way, how's my fishing rod? How was the catch yesterday?"
At this, Yan Shuting's eyes lit up, and she immediately looked up excitedly:
"It works great! Yesterday I caught two pearl grouper weighing seven or eight pounds each, and a 10-pound barracuda. With other small fish, I made a total of 700 yuan."
"But there were quite a few people fishing there at the time, everyone saw it, and I guess more and more people in the village will fish there."
Yan Shuting was somewhat worried. The village's marine resources were not abundant, and with more people fishing, the number of fish that could be caught would naturally decrease.
As a thoughtful daughter, Chen Zhiyao immediately suggested:
"The fishing spots in the village aren't very good; they mostly catch fish that aren't worth much. Why don't you go fishing at the breakwater, Mom? There are lots of big fish there."
Yan Shuting excitedly slapped the table, "Oh right, how could I forget about the breakwater? Someone caught a big red grouper weighing over 5 jin there before."
Then, looking at his daughter with excitement, he said:
"Tangtang, let's go fishing by the breakwater this afternoon. If we can catch one or two red-spotted fish, we'll be rich!"
The thought of those red-spotted fish, worth six or seven hundred yuan, or even over a thousand yuan, filled Yan Shuting with excitement, and she wished she could fly to the seaside to go fishing right away.
"What about the family's convenience store and delivery station?"
My mother values these two small shops very much, and she usually stays there almost all the time except when she's eating.
Yan Shuting shrugged indifferently, "No one usually comes in the afternoon, and there have been fewer deliveries lately. I'll just put up a notice on the door when I leave."
She's recently made several times more money fishing than she would at the convenience store, so her mind is no longer on that.
Chen Zhiyao had nothing to do in the afternoon, so she readily agreed.
"Okay, then let's go fishing at the breakwater this afternoon."
Then she glanced at Grandpa Chen again, "Grandpa, would you like to go fishing with us?"
The old man said with a regretful look, "I would like to go, but I just made an appointment with someone to release shrimp larvae this afternoon, so I can't get away."
There are four fishermen in the family now, and the shrimp in the shrimp pond are being consumed very quickly, so we need to raise several more batches.
Chen Zhiyao cooked the meal, and Yan Shuting automatically and conscientiously cleared away the dishes and took them to the kitchen to wash.
This has always been a tacit understanding between the mother and daughter: whoever cooks, the other is responsible for washing the dishes.
Yan Shuting came out of the kitchen and saw that her daughter had already packed all the fishing gear.
Chen Zhiyao got on the tricycle, sped up, and arrived at the convenience store in less than two minutes.
After Yan Shuting hung up the sign that her employer had something to do, she urged her daughter to go to the shrimp pond to catch shrimp.
Beside the shrimp pond, Chen Zhiyao was skillfully busy with a small bucket.
She remembered that when she first came back, there were quite a lot of shrimp in the shrimp pond. With one net, there were at least eight ounces of shrimp, if not a pound.
Unlike now, you can scoop it up several times and still not get a pound.
With a small bucket of fresh shrimp in tow, Chen Zhiyao stepped on the gas again and sped off toward the breakwater.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com