The next day, early in the morning, An Moxue rode a snow sled pulled by Gale and Lightning to the Nalan family ancestral graves.
An Moxue first inspected each grave, placed some fruit on them, offered a cup of wine, and then took out the huge pile of paper money, as big as a small mountain, lit it, and began to mutter to herself: "My ancestors of the Nalan family! You must bless me with peace and health, without any external injuries, and to live to be over a hundred years old. I am currently in great danger, surrounded by wolves, and in a very bad situation. You must bless me to uproot those people and their families, leaving not a single one alive, and then enjoy my remaining years in peace."
After An Moxue finished speaking, she respectfully kowtowed three times to the hundreds of graves in front of her. Finally, she said, "Ancestors, you must bless me! I am the only son of our family."
In another dimension, the three ancestors, who were engaged in a fierce battle with enemies from beyond the realm, were all sneezing and cursing incessantly in their hearts: "Unfilial descendants, unambitious and lazy, all they think about is asking us for blessings! We don't even know who to ask for blessings from!"
After offering sacrifices to her ancestors, An Moxue began another fish-collecting activity. This time, she found a spot on the lake, chiseled a large hole in the ice, set up a fishing tent on it, laid out a wolf skin, set up a small stove next to it, mixed some cornmeal with spiritual spring water, and began fishing.
An Moxue used a single fishing line with three hooks. As soon as she cast the line, a fish bit. She tugged, but couldn't pull it off. She tugged again, still nothing. She had no choice but to start playing the fish. Finally, half an hour later, she landed three large fish—good heavens, each weighing over twenty pounds!
The beginning was a good omen. An Moxue threw the fish she caught onto the lake surface to freeze, and the fish stiffened up in no time.
The second time, An Moxue only put on one hook. Again, as soon as the bait was in the water, a fish took the bait. This time, she caught an even bigger fish. An Moxue repeated this process of putting down the hook, getting the fish to bite, and pulling it in. There were no fish smaller than ten pounds. The largest fish even weighed over a hundred pounds. An Moxue was overjoyed to see the big fish whose head alone could fill a small pot.
After catching more than ten fish, she stopped fishing, took out two large pots from her storage space, and started braising beef, pork, roe deer meat, mutton, pheasant, and rabbit, filling two large pots.
With firewood piled up and a fire lit, An Moxue picked up her fishing rod again, fishing and cooking at the same time. After the food was cooked, she caught more than ten big fish. Gale and Lightning also returned, along with two wolves, one of whom was dragging a deer back.
An Moxue saw this and praised, "Swift Wind, Lightning, well done! Time to eat."
And so, one man, two wolves, a plate of braised pork, and a pot of warm wine, began their meal.
After eating and drinking her fill, An Moxue began packing her things. She kept only the largest fish to eat back home, and put the rest into her spatial storage.
And so, when An Moxue returned home on the sled, the large fish hanging beside her was already frozen solid.
Old Ma and Aunt Ma were overjoyed to see the fish, which was taller than a person. Aunt Ma even said, "We'll have a whole fish feast tomorrow. We can also make more fish balls, freeze them, and eat them whenever we want."
Old Ma said from the side, "How did you catch such a big fish? It must have been hard to play it back."
"Yeah, it took quite a while to pull it up."
Old Ma sighed, "This fish skin could be tanned to make clothes and shoes. But it would definitely taste delicious if it were made into crispy fish skin."
Aunt Ma waved her hand and said generously, "Make it. Tell me how you want to eat it, and I'll make it for you tomorrow. Even just this fish will be enough for the three of us to eat for a while."
An Moxue looked at the fish head and said, "Spicy fish head." Just thinking about it made her mouth water.
"Auntie, can such a big fish be made into sweet and sour fish, just like sweet and sour pork?"
Aunt Ma looked at An Moxue's expression and said with a smile, "I can do it."
"Clear soup fish balls, grilled fish slices, roasted fish slices, spicy tofu fish, pickled cabbage fish, they all sound delicious," An Moxue rattled off a list of dishes.
Old Ma also said: "Steamed, braised, or crispy are all fine, fish dumplings are also okay."
Aunt Ma looked at the two of them and said, "You two can help out tomorrow, otherwise it will be too slow for me to do it all by myself."
An Moxue readily agreed, "Absolutely. Auntie, you just tell me what to do, I'll take care of preparing the dishes."
On the 28th of the year, Aunt Ma got up early and made a big basin of dough. After An Moxue finished practicing her kung fu at home and heated the kang (a heated brick bed), she took the various seasonings she had just bought from the consignment shop and went to Aunt Ma's house.
"Mo Xue, I've kept your food warm in the pot! Eat up, and after you're done, we'll clean the fish. Today is your Uncle Ma's last trip to the county town before the New Year. Once he comes back, we can have a proper New Year celebration."
An Moxue watched as Aunt Ma was in a great mood, showing no sign of being unhappy that her children and grandchildren weren't coming home for the New Year.
On the 28th, every household is busy frying dough sticks and steaming buns. Some dishes that need to be deep-fried are also prepared today. While they are still hot, they are left to cool outside and then placed in large vats outside. Whenever you want to eat them, they can be taken out and they will be just like freshly fried. However, in recent years, every household has had a bad year, and there are very few dishes that need to be deep-fried because of the lack of oil.
This year, Aunt Ma is going to fry small twisted dough sticks, candied fruit, crispy fruit, as well as some fish chunks, meat pieces, meat slices, shredded potatoes, and potato slices.
While An Moxue was eating, Aunt Ma had already started frying something.
"Auntie, there are only three of us. Can we finish making so much?"
Aunt Ma smiled and said, "We can eat it all. I'll just make a little bit of everything, not many kinds. I'll make a few more pastries tonight."
"Auntie, what kind of pastries are you making?"
"Sachima, red bean cake, plum blossom cake."
"Wow! Auntie, you can make pastries too?"
Aunt Ma fiddled with the dough in her hands, cutting it all into small diamond-shaped pieces. Without looking up, she was pleased by An Moxue's words and smiled confidently, saying, "Of course, I also know a lot of pastries! When I have the means, I'll make them all for you."
......
When Old Ma returned in the afternoon, his face was tense. Before he even opened the door, he heard laughter coming from inside and smelled the aroma wafting through the crack in the door. He turned around and gave the person behind him a subtle glare.
Wu Sicheng pretended not to see Old Ma's actions. When he turned around, he touched his nose somewhat awkwardly, picked up his large bag, and followed Old Ma into the house.
An Moxue noticed Wu Sicheng and Lao Matou as soon as they entered the courtyard gate, but seeing Lao Matou's unhappy expression after entering the house, she pretended not to see them and kept busy with her work.
Old Ma was too lazy to expose her, and said in a huff, "Mo Xue, you have guests, so entertain them yourself."
The three of them were supposed to be having a happy reunion for the New Year, but that guy surnamed Wu was so clueless. He came at this time and brought so many things, his intentions were obvious. That's why Old Ma didn't like him and didn't give him a good look.
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