Only a few acres of terraced fields were still planted with late rice. In the

other fields, the rice had been harvested, and either only the rice stubble and the loaches and eels in it were left, or the land had been plowed and winter vegetables such as radishes and pickled mustard tubers had been planted.

The two kept walking up, and before they reached the rice fields at home, they heard a cool sound coming from the stream beside the rice, which was the sound of the stream flowing over the rocks.

The water in the ditch halfway up the mountain was flowing from the water inlet to the rice fields, and then flowing out of the ditch from the water outlet, following the mountain, all the way down.

Xia Lunong approached the rice fields and found that many fish gathered at the bamboo strips in front of the water outlet, eating duckweed and small insects gathered by the water flow.

These fish are not afraid of people. When Xia Lunong's shadow fell into the water, the fish did not dodge or avoid him. Instead, they continued to eat leisurely with their mouths open and closed. They looked very cute.

"It's a little small." Xia Lunong squatted on the ridge of the field, stretched out his hand to gesture, and muttered: "The fish body is only four fingers wide, but it weighs more than half a pound."

Kong Zhi followed him and bent over to take a look, saying: "Fish in rice fields don't grow big to begin with, this is about the same."

Kong Zhi said as he reached out to catch the fish.

He was quick-eyed and quick-handed, and he caught one accurately every time. In two or three breaths, there were six more carp in the dustpan.

These carp looked small, but they were very fat from eating, with round and bulging bellies on both sides.

Suddenly out of the water, the carp jumped in the dustpan, slapping it with a crackling sound, full of energy.

Kong Zhi wanted to catch more, but Xia Lunong grabbed his wrist and said with a smile: "Not much, just enough for one meal, we can't finish it even if we catch more."

Kong Zhi said "hmm", withdrew his hand, and went to break the wild grass stems growing next to the rice field.

The broken wild grass was twisted into a strand, passed through the fish gills, came out of the fish mouth, and then tied into a knot.

A string of carp was strung.

Xia Lunong lifted it and estimated that the string of carp was more than three pounds, even if it was cleaned, it would be more than two pounds.

After catching the fish, the two checked the condition of the rice.

The rice ears have turned yellow. I pinched a grain and put it in my mouth. The rice pulp inside has just been filled with pulp and is still a long way from maturity.

Xia Lunong estimated that he had to harvest wheat before he could harvest rice. Kong Zhi

not only looked at the rice fields, but also took a special walk in the wheat fields and caught more than two kilograms of loaches and several yellow eels. There were

relatively few yellow eels, and most of them were caught by Kong Zhi after he dug a hole in the ridge of the field and reached in to look for them.

The yellow eels and loaches were placed in a dustpan and jumped around.

Xia Lunong said, "If only we had brought a bucket, we would be exhausted if we go back."

Kong Zhi: "I fly back?"

"It's not worth it for this bite of food." Xia Lunong smiled, "We can just walk back slowly."

The two walked down the ridge of the field.

The mountain wind blew through the bamboo forest and blew on them, pulling their clothes up.

Xia Lunong opened his hands behind him and let the autumn wind blow over his body, with a smile on his face.

Kong Zhi silently protected him behind him and did not urge him.

The two returned to the vegetable field, picked up the vegetables and went home.

Xia Huoqu and Yan Xinian had not returned yet.

It was not yet eleven o'clock.

Kong Zhi put down his things and said, "I'm going to weed the vegetable garden and will be back later."

"There's no rush." ​​Xia Lunong grabbed his wrist, "Let's go together tomorrow and make lunch first."

Kong Zhi was not the kind of person who liked to hang out with others. He was bored, but today he was willing to do it.

Xia Lunong didn't say anything, but when she was with him, her mood also became cheerful, and she kept humming a song.

Kong Zhi's mood also became very good.

Kong Zhi could sing most of the songs he could sing, sometimes he would agree, and sometimes he would just listen silently.

Xia Lunong would sometimes deliberately switch to foreign songs, and Kong Zhi could usually keep up.

Kong Zhi removed the scales and guts of six carps, cleaned them, and handed them to Xia Lunong, "Do you want to pickle them now?"

"Yes." Xia Lunong took the basin containing the carps, added chili powder, salt powder, cinnamon, and pepper, and rubbed the cleaned fish meat.

After rubbing, Xia Lunong did not put them on the plate to pickle, but pulled out reeds from the firewood pile, passed them through the fish mouths, strung the fish together, took them outside, and hung them on the branches of a certain pepper tree.

Xia Lunong stood on tiptoe, hung the fish, and deliberately spread them apart so that each fish could fully contact the sun and wind.

Kong Zhi crossed his arms, "What are you doing?"

Xia Lunong said, "Let it air dry. When you eat it later, the fish meat will be firmer and have the same texture as garlic cloves. It tastes similar to salted fish, but it doesn't have the salty taste of salted fish. Instead, it is more delicious."

Kong Zhi and Xia Lunong were very different in cooking. He asked, "Do you need to prepare any special ingredients?"

"No, chop the green and red scallions into smaller pieces. It will be perfect for this dish with the refined lard and lard later." After

Xia Lunong finished speaking, he felt something move beside him. He turned around and saw that it was summer pepper. The

summer pepper had just woken up and stretched out its branches to rest on Xia Lunong's shoulders to greet him.

Xia Lunong checked its condition and saw that it was growing well. It was about to break out of the soil to play. She reached out and held it down, "Stay in the soil for a few more days, otherwise it won't grow tall."

"Swish..." Xia Huajiao rubbed Xia Lunong's wrist with a branch to act coquettishly.

Xia Lunong was unmoved, "It's useless to act coquettishly. If you don't plant it honestly, I won't give you superpowers for a few days."

"Swish." Xia Huajiao made a short sound weakly, and the branch drooped in frustration.

When Xia Lunong was cooking, Yan Xinian and Xia Huoqu came back.

The sun was shining outside, and both of them were sweating from the heat. The first thing they did when they came back was to go back to Yan Xinian to wash their faces, take a shower, and change clothes.

It was hot at noon, so the windows of the houses on both sides were opened. As soon as I stepped out of the door, I could smell the rich fragrance.

Yan Xinian came over in a refreshing outfit of slippers and shorts and asked, "What are you having for lunch?"

"Carp," Xia Lunong said, "caught by Kong Zhi." "

Well, it's a good meal."

"Brother." Xia Lunong tilted his head to look at his brother who came in from behind, and after greeting him, he asked, "How is your credit currency system going?"

Yan Xinian leaned against the door frame, "We are discussing it. The promotion of credit currency still needs material support. The property management committee was originally short of material, but now it is almost there. We plan to promote it in the cafeteria first, using credit coins instead of meal tickets."

Xia Lunong asked, "How about gold and other metals? " Is it a currency link? "

Yan Xinian shook his head, "Of course not."

Yan Xinian: "It's just that the credit currency system inside the base, coupled with precious metals, is very vulnerable. We still need to discuss how to do it specifically, and we also need to contact Lao Liu and others to see what they think."

As he said, Yan Xinian also notified them, "Now we have tentatively scheduled a meeting the night after tomorrow, and you and Kong Zhi will attend together."

Xia Lunong nodded.

Yan Xinian briefly explained the things in the base and asked, "Take the main body of the honeysuckle out to plant in the afternoon?"

"Yes, we need to cut some more grass to feed the cows." Xia Lunong said, "Let's go to the market tomorrow to ask if there are any grass seeds."

Yan Xinian: "I've asked about this, and there are none for the time being. Grass is not common, and people don't pay special attention to grass when they collect supplies. I'll spread the news and see if anyone can get some next time."

Xia Lunong looked at the fish bubbling in the pot and felt a little headache. "This is the only way. Let's take some soybeans out in the afternoon, plant some beans first, and feed them with grass."

Yan Xinian said, "Don't worry, if it really doesn't work, we can hire someone to go out and herd cattle every day."

Xia Lunong said, "Ordinary people can't guarantee their own safety outside. Those who can guarantee their safety have gone out to collect supplies. Who wants to herd cattle?"

"It's more convenient to grow forage grass. Besides, the weather will get cold in two months, and the grass and trees will wither and turn yellow. We won't be able to find suitable forage grass outside, and we'll have to store feed in advance."

"That's true." Yan Xinian asked, "What kind of forage grass do you want? Grass grass or legume grass?"

Xia Lunong was at a loss, "What's the difference between the two? Which one is better for cows?"

Yan Xinian shook his head, "I don't know much about this. Grass grass mainly refers to ryegrass, bromegrass, etc., which can be mowed repeatedly and grow very fast. Legume grass is probably alfalfa, which seems to be tastier."

Xia Lunong: "If we can find it, we'll take both? Anyway, there's plenty of land outside the base, so it doesn't matter if we grow one or both."

Yan Xinian smiled, "Then I'll talk to them and ask them to look for more. Any variety is fine, the more the better."

"Yes! That's what I mean!"

The two chatted while the soup in the pot thickened.

Xia Lunong put the carp on a large porcelain plate, piled chopped green and red mullets on top, scooped up the soup, poured it on top, and sprinkled chopped green onions on top.

The rich aroma filled the room.

Yan Xinian could no longer lean against the door frame leisurely. He took two quick steps, ran to get the bowl and chopsticks, rinsed them with hot water, and brought them out to serve rice.

The main course for lunch was cooked carp.

Everyone sat at the table and the first chopsticks they picked up were the carp.

Xia Lunong picked up a chopstick of fish skin first.

Generally, fish skins have a fishy smell, but today's carp skin has no such fishy smell at all. Air-drying first and then frying completely transforms the fishy smell of the fish skin into a kind of fragrance.

The fish skin absorbs the soup and becomes soft and glutinous. When he takes a bite, the aroma of chili, wine and sauce spreads in his mouth, which is so fragrant that he wants to swallow his tongue.

After eating the fish skin, he quickly takes two mouthfuls of the fragrant and oily hot rice. It is refreshing to eat rice in big mouthfuls.

After eating the fish skin, Xia Lunong turned to the fish meat.

Most of the fish meat is relatively woody after it is cooked, and it will fall apart when picked up with chopsticks.

The carp meat that he dried this time did not fall apart at all.

On the contrary, he picked up a piece of white fish meat as white as a garlic clove.

He dipped the fish meat lightly in the plate, coated it with soup, and put it into his mouth in one bite.

The unique freshness of the fish meat was stimulated to the greatest extent, and it exploded in the mouth in an instant. The unique taste of the wind-dried fish meat made people unable to stop, and the rich aroma of the sauce made people's mouths water.

Several people buried their heads in the food, showing their utmost respect for this dish with their actions. There were

several dishes on the table, and several people ate them up in a whirlwind, not even spitting out the bones.

After the meal, several people drank some hot tea and moved to the living room to eat watermelon.

The watermelon was planted in the yard, and there were only a few left.

Xia Lunong and Kong Zhi picked the watermelon and put it in the water tank when they came back in the morning. Now it is just right, refreshing and cool. Take a bite, it is full of the refreshing fruity aroma of watermelon.

Yan Xinian squinted his eyes happily, "Fortunately, we are very active now, otherwise we will become fat sooner or later."

Xia Huoqu kicked Yan Xinian, who had finished eating the watermelon, to wash the dishes, turned around and asked Xia Lunong, "Did you go out this afternoon to plant the honeysuckle?"

"Yeah. Let's cut some grass." Xia Lunong asked, "Brother, what do you think about planting the honeysuckle a little below the base? It's the large piece of land on the left every time we drive out of the base."

Xia Huoqu thought for a while, "It's too close, it will cause panic among the people in the base, let's see."