Chapter 10 Grilled Fish. Steward's Power.
This was a family scandal for the Qiu family, and no matter how angry Qiu Shitou was, he didn't dare let it get out.
If the villagers knew about this, how would their son Hu Zi live his life in the future?
But the lost silver was real money, at least 200 taels. Even if it was used to buy things, it should be a lot. But no matter how Qiu Shitou beat and scolded him, Hu Zi just couldn't produce anything.
After all, he was their grandson. How could the old couple of the Qiu family bear to see their child being beaten? They protected Hu Zi behind them and pointed at Qiu Shitou and scolded him.
"Why beat the child? It's because you and your wife couldn't manage your money. Now that the money is gone, what's the point of beating the child?"
Qiu Shitou threw the stick at Hu Zi's feet and said angrily, "Mom, that money is enough for our family to eat and drink for several years."
Old Mrs. Qiu naturally felt sorry for the money, but compared to the money, her grandson was more important to her.
She glanced at Qiu Shitou, who had failed to accomplish anything, and continued scolding him, "You can't keep an eye on the money because you're incompetent. From now on, I'll be in charge of all the money in the house. Bring me the money bag later, and from now on, when you need money for food or drink, ask me first."
Qiu Shitou was unwilling, "Mom, how can this be possible?"
Old Mrs. Qiu ignored him completely. She supported Hu Zi, who could barely stand, and turned around to walk towards the house.
Inside the house, Lin Cuihua had already woken up. She lay weakly on the kang, feeling powerless all over.
Hearing the noise outside, she just cried silently.
Her own son stole the money she had worked so hard to save, and her power as housekeeper was taken back by her mother-in-law. What should she do in the future?
"Cry, cry, cry, you're just like that little bastard. Without your purse, I wonder how you're going to support your brother in the future."
Qiu Shitou was holding his breath. When he came in and saw Lin Cuihua in such a dead look, he became even angrier. He spoke without restraint and said everything he had not dared to say before.
"What do you mean by 'helping my brother'? Qiu Shitou, please explain it to me clearly." Lin Cuihua supported herself with her arms and then half-sat up.
Qiu Shitou took out his pipe and took a deep drag. "Who did Huzi inherit his dirty deeds from? It's because you sneaked into your mother's house to take things all day long, and he saw you."
Lin Cuihua widened her eyes. She didn't expect that Qiu Shitou, who had always coaxed and obeyed her in the past, would now say such words to her.
She looked at him angrily, muttering, "Qiu Shitou, you're such a jerk! Huzi is my son, isn't he your son? Now that the money's gone, you just blame me. Don't you think that if I hadn't married into your family and taken care of them, would your family have the good life they have now?"
Seeing that Qiu Shitou ignored her, she became even angrier and insisted on going back to her parents' home right away.
"Let's go, let's go now." Qiu Shitou didn't tolerate her. He stood up, grabbed Lin Cuihua's wrist, and dragged her out.
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The sun was about to set, and the afterglow fell on Zong Xiao.
He squatted in the yard and piled the dry firewood into a pile. Then he tied the chopped bamboos crosswise to make two low racks, and placed them on the left and right of the firewood.
After he had skewered all the fish with bamboo, he lit the firewood.
The bamboo poles are placed on the rack, and the flames below are roasting the fish above.
"I want to grill it too." Zong Huaixue watched Zong Xiao manually turning the bamboo pole to grill the fish, and she also wanted to try it.
The clan mother reached out and took the little girl into her arms, smiling and saying, "Don't cause trouble for your second uncle, just wait for the food to come."
This was not the first time that the Zong family had eaten grilled fish like this, so they did not find it strange.
But it was the first time Qiu Xuan had seen it, and the first time she had eaten it this way. She stared at the bamboo pole, feeling only curiosity.
Is manual rotation better? Will it really heat evenly and cook thoroughly on every side?
"You want to try?" Zong Xiao felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by her. He moved to the left, making room on the right for her and said, "It's almost done. Just turn it a few more times."
Qiu Xuan really wanted to try it, so she didn't refuse and walked over to start.
It was not at all what she had imagined. With three fish on a bamboo pole, turning it on one side was extremely difficult.
She turned it around and then returned it to Zong Xiao, "Come here."
"Sister-in-law, isn't the bamboo pole very heavy?" Zong Anji, who was helping out on the side, said with a smile, "My second brother will have to do the hard work. We can just wait and eat."
Qiu Xuan nodded in agreement.
Soon, the aroma of grilled fish wafted over, and all three grilled fish on the first rod were cooked.
Zong Xiao moved the bamboo pole aside, picked the grilled fish off the pole with a knife, and put all the fish meat into the plate.
He handed the two plates to the clan mother and Qiu Xuan respectively, and the meaning was very clear: you eat first.
Zong Huaixue was not afraid of the heat. She pulled off a piece of roasted fish skin with her hand, blew on it, and put it directly into her mouth.
"It's delicious, Auntie, you should try it too, it's delicious!"
Qiu Xuan also picked up a piece with chopsticks. Just as the little girl said, although the crispy fish skin looked black, it tasted very delicious.
The fish meat inside is extremely tender and has no fishy smell at all.
She held the plate of a whole grilled fish and ate half of it without realizing it.
Qiu Xuan felt a little embarrassed, she felt that she had eaten too much.
But when she looked up, she saw that several people in the yard had eaten more than her, and there was almost nothing left on their plates!
"Everything on the plate is yours. If it's not enough, we still have rice and soup in the pot." The grandmother thought she didn't have enough to eat, so she hurriedly told her that there was still rice in the pot.
Qiu Xuan touched her slightly swollen belly and shook her head, "Mom, I'm full."
"Are you full after eating just this?" The clan mother was surprised.
A fish is only half the length of an arm and there is not much meat on it. How come you feel full after eating half of it? Don’t tell me that you are deliberately starving yourself to save food for your family.
Qiu Xuan put down her bowl and chopsticks and explained, "Mom, I'm really full. I ate a lot more today than I did before."
The clan mother believed this. After all, Qiu Xuan's small body didn't look like she could have enough food at home. Thinking of this, the clan mother stopped trying to persuade her.
As the night deepened, the people in the courtyard finally finished their meal. The little girl was already extremely sleepy and was now nestled in Qiu Yu's arms.
The grandmother took it from her arms, picked it up and went straight back to the house.
Suddenly, there were only three of them in the courtyard. Zong Anji saw this and quickly snatched the bowl and chopsticks from Zong Xiao.
He said, "Second brother will cook and I'll clean up. It's getting late, you guys should go back to the house and rest."
This kid wasn't usually so diligent, so how could Zong Xiao not see through his little thoughts? He clearly wanted to drive the couple into the house so they could spend more time together.
It’s a pity that his wife is afraid of him, otherwise he would have gone back to the house to rest.
"After you finish washing this, go back to the house, and I'll take care of the rest." Zong Xiao didn't really go into the house, but put out the firewood, checked that there were no sparks, and then moved them to the corner of the wall.
Seeing that his second brother was so stubborn, Zong Anji had no choice but to give up. After washing the last bowl, he went back to the house without any hesitation.
At this moment, they were the only two left in the courtyard. Qiu Yu saw that he was still busy and felt that it was inappropriate to leave him alone. She rolled up her sleeves and came forward to help.
Unexpectedly, just as she stood on the left side of that person, Zong Xiao quietly moved to her left side.
Qiu Xuan thought it was an accident at first, but when it happened for the third time, she finally figured out something was wrong.
She grabbed him and asked, "Why do you have to stand on my left?"
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