Sun Hongbing sighed, as if there was no other way now.
"Alright then, I'll take you to find him, but I can't guarantee that I can convince him!"
Song Shiwei listened and nodded quickly: "Okay, thank you, Captain Sun!"
The old man lived in a village not far from Death Valley.
His children all work in the city and originally wanted to take him with them to enjoy a better life, but he has a weird personality and refuses to do so no matter what. He says that even if he dies, he wants to die here because this is the root of their ancestors!
His children had no choice but to leave him alone in the village.
Captain Sun drove them all the way into the village. His house was at the westernmost end of the village. It was a desolate scene with waist-high weeds, mottled walls, and tattered roofs. The gate and pillars were made of solid wood and painted black. Perhaps because of their age, the black paint had almost fallen off!
The rain is much lighter now, as fine as a cow's hair, and it only makes my body slightly wet.
Song Shiwei and the others got off the car and walked towards the gate.
Sun Hongbing knocked on the door and shouted, "Uncle Li! Uncle Li! Are you home?"
But after shouting for a long time, there was no response.
He was just about to try to push the door open when an old voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Who are you?"
Song Shiwei and the others turned around hurriedly and saw an old man with white hair and beard carrying a fishing rod, holding a fish basket, and wearing a straw raincoat, walking slowly towards them.
When he saw him, Sun Hongbing's eyes suddenly lit up!
"Hello, Uncle Li, we are from the border troops and came to see you!"
Old man Li looked them up and down, as if he didn't want to pay any attention to them at all.
"If it's about Death Valley, please come back!"
After saying that, he pushed the door open and was about to go in.
Captain Zheng hurried forward to stop him, pleading anxiously, "Sir, please take us in. My brothers are trapped on the mountain over there, and the road is buried by mud and rocks. We can only rescue them by going through Death Valley. Please take us in?"
Old Li shook his head impatiently: "Please go back, everyone. There's almost no way back from Death Valley. If I take you in, I'll be sending you to your deaths! Not only will I be unable to save your brothers, but we'll all be trapped in there too!"
After saying that, he walked straight into the yard. Song Shiwei and the others were not willing to give up, so they followed him in.
Old Li didn't care. He took the fish and started to gut it and process it.
Song Shiwei had been observing him since the first time he saw him.
Seeing him carefully handling the grass carp in his hands, even slicing the fish into pieces bit by bit, it's obvious that he is a person who is very particular about food.
After thinking for a moment, she stepped forward and said, "Uncle Li, let me help you cook this fish?"
Old Li raised his eyes and glanced at her. Seeing that she was so young, he couldn't help but look down on her.
"Can you cook? I only caught this one fish. If you ruin it, I won't have anything to eat today!"
Song Shi smiled and said, "Don't worry. If my cooking is not delicious, I will take Captain Sun and the others away immediately! I will never bother you again. But I do have a request. If the fish I cook is good and satisfies you, can you tell me about Death Valley? I don't ask you to take the risk with me. As long as you tell me what's going on inside, we can go there on our own!"
Old Li looked at Captain Sun and Battalion Commander Zheng behind her, and finally sighed.
"Okay! Since you're both soldiers, I promise you, if your cooking is delicious, I'll tell you!"
In fact, deep down, he didn't really believe that the cooking skills of the young girl in front of him were very good, and even if her cooking was just mediocre, he would not admit it. After all, the final choice was in his hands.
Hearing him say this, not only did Song Shiwei breathe a sigh of relief, but even Captain Zheng and the others felt a little relieved.
Song Shiwei looked at the fish he had sliced, picked up the not-so-sharp knife on the stone table, and started processing it from the beginning.
With one cut, she cut open the grass carp's head and pulled out the black line to remove the fishy smell. She then cleaned the black film in the fish's belly. Looking at the fish fillets that had been processed by Old Li, she removed the other half of the fish bones.
Cut the fish meat into fillets along the tail with a knife at an angle of about 30 degrees, and then cut straight when it touches the skin, so that each piece of fish meat has a small piece of skin. After cutting, wash it several times with salt water to make the fillets firm and not easy to fall apart.
Each piece of fish was sliced into uniform thickness by her, and was crystal clear.
This surprised Old Li.
I didn't expect that this little girl has such good skills at such a young age.
It seems that he really underestimated her.
Song Shiwei had already seen the jar where he pickled sauerkraut. She could use the fish fillets to make a dish of pickled fish.
All the necessary condiments are available on the table.
She first marinated the sliced fish with egg white, wine, salt, and water starch, and also marinated the fish head, fish bones, and fish tail with salt, rice wine, and pepper.
Add some oil to the pan and heat it up. Then stir-fry chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, shallots, and garlic. After the aroma comes out, add wild peppercorns and sauerkraut and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the fish head and bones, add boiling water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add some pickled sauerkraut broth, salt, pepper, and a drop of rice wine.
After skimming off the foam, remove the fish head, fish bones, fish tail and sauerkraut and put them into a porcelain bowl. Shake the marinated fish fillets over low heat and put them into the soup. Do not stir, just shake it gently.
To prevent the fish from breaking.
When the fish fillets turn white and the soup boils slightly, pour the soup and sauerkraut on the sauerkraut, and sprinkle with minced garlic, dried chili segments, and chopped green onions.
Heat some oil in another pan, then pour it over the pickled fish while it's still hot.
At this moment, the fragrance is instantly stimulated.
The whole courtyard is filled with rich and delicious fragrance.
This made Old Li swallow his saliva continuously.
His eyes were fixed on the pot of pickled fish.
Even Sun Hongbing almost dropped his jaw in shock.
Pointing at the pot of pickled fish with an incredulous look on his face, he said, "This, this smells so good!"
Captain Zheng knew Song Shiwei's cooking skills. He hadn't said anything just now because he wanted to see their surprised expressions after seeing his sister-in-law's cooking skills.
Now that he saw it, he burst into laughter with joy.
"Hahaha!! My sister-in-law's cooking skills are well-known in our army!! Many senior leaders in Qing City have wanted to invite my sister-in-law to cook, but they have never succeeded! Today, Uncle Li, you are so lucky! You can taste my sister-in-law's cooking skills! "
Hearing him say this, Captain Sun was also very surprised.
"Oh my god, it turns out my sister-in-law has such great cooking skills! I didn't expect this fish to become so delicious after being in her hands!!"
After taking a look at Old Li, who was also surprised, he felt half relieved.
"Uncle Li, please try it and see if you like this fish."
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