Chapter 11 Small Fish
The basket contained a handful of Chinese cabbage, a handful of leeks, two long eggplants, some green peppers, and ten eggs.
The hens at home are only two months old and haven't laid eggs so quickly yet.
Jiang Cuihua left after explaining her affairs.
After Liu Yinyin finished her breakfast, she packed up and went out with her basket.
The weather is getting hotter and hotter, so I have to do more work in the morning when it is a little cooler.
Liu Yinyin carried a basket and went up the mountain to dig wild vegetables. During this period, the money in the system was spent quickly to buy things for the new home, and only 2,840 yuan was left.
She is still young and can do most of the work, so of course she can't just sit at home and do nothing.
However, it hadn't rained for a long time, and the wild vegetables on the mountain had wilted. Liu Yinyin searched for more than an hour and only dug up more than two kilograms of wild vegetables.
After selling two kilograms and depositing fourteen yuan into the system, Liu Yinyin went down the mountain with the basket.
It is more cost-effective to sell wild vegetables to the system as the price is higher. If she wants to eat green vegetables, she can buy other vegetables from the system.
The price of wild vegetables is only two yuan per pound, and Liu Yinyin can buy three or four pounds of vegetables with one pound of wild vegetables.
When she was going down the mountain, she saw several boys fishing in the river.
Touching her pocket, Liu Yinyin walked over to take a look. The fish in the river were small, and the fish caught by the children were just small miscellaneous fish.
Small miscellaneous fish are oily and contain a lot of bones. If you bring them back home, people may not necessarily cook them. In fact, they just catch them for fun.
Liu Yinyin rolled her eyes and immediately found out from the system that this kind of pure natural and pollution-free small fish can be sold for twelve yuan per pound.
The price was not too high, so Liu Yinyin was immediately tempted and asked a boy she knew, "Xiaoman, did you catch the fish in this bucket?"
Liu Xiaoman is the son of Liu Yinyin's cousin and is ten years old this year.
The boy was quite naughty. After studying for two years, he refused to continue his studies. He spent his days at home either going up the mountain to collect bird eggs or going down to the river to fish, and was often beaten by his father.
"Yes, Auntie, what's wrong?" Liu Xiaoman raised her hand and wiped the sweat off his dark face.
"Why do you catch so many small fish? Will your mother make them delicious for you?" Liu Yinyin asked.
Liu Xiaoman was using a sieve to catch fish from the grass pile by the river. Hearing this, he chuckled and said, "My mother doesn't know how to make these. I caught these to feed the chickens."
Feed the chickens?
Liu Yinyin's mouth twitched, and she asked tentatively: "Xiaoman, Auntie also wants to catch some small fish, but now it is inconvenient for me to go into the water. I see that you have caught quite a lot. Can Auntie give you something else in exchange for some?"
Liu Xiaoman was stunned at first, and then asked curiously: "Aunt, what do you want to exchange?"
Liu Yinyin thought for a moment, held up a finger, and said, "How about I trade one White Rabbit candy for one pound of small fish?"
It's not that she is stingy. White Rabbit milk candy is definitely a luxury item these days, costing more than two yuan per pound. For country people, they can't afford it even if they can't afford it.
Giving too much will be too eye-catching.
"Really?" Liu Xiaoman's eyes lit up when she heard that. "Aunt, you are not kidding me, are you?"
White Rabbit Milk Candy!
Liu Xiaoman has grown up but has never eaten White Rabbit Milk Candy. I heard it is delicious.
"I'm serious." Liu Yinyin took out a few candies from her pocket and showed them to him, then continued to ask, "What about you? Will you change?"
Maybe it’s because she’s pregnant, she’s been craving sweet things lately, so she always keeps a handful of White Rabbit milk candies in her pocket and eats one when she’s craving one.
"Exchange!" Liu Xiaoman stared at the candy in Liu Yinyin's hand with wide eyes, swallowed his saliva and said, "I will exchange as many as you want, but..."
Liu Xiaoman hesitated and said shyly, "But I don't have a scale."
Liu Yinyin coughed and said, "I have it at home. Let's go and have a look at my house."
Seeing this, several other children nearby also looked at Liu Yinyin expectantly, but she did not call others. If she collected a large number of small fish, it would not be good if other people in the village knew about it.
This place was not far from Liu Yinyin's home, and the two arrived in just a few steps.
Liu Yinyin took out her key, opened the door, led Liu Xiaoman into the kitchen, and said to him, "I'm going to get the scale from the room. You wait here for me."
Thinking that she would have candy soon, Liu Xiaoman behaved quite well and stayed in the kitchen without moving.
There is no scale at all in Liu Yinyin's house!
As soon as she entered the room, she bought an old beam scale used in this era from the system.
A bucket of small miscellaneous fish weighed exactly two and a half kilograms. Liu Xiaoman did not keep any for himself and used them all to exchange for sugar.
Liu Yinyin gave him two candies, and left him half a pound of candies for the time being, and would give him one next time when he had a full pound.
Liu Xiaoman took the candy with a smile, but didn't eat it. She carefully put it in her pocket and asked, "Aunt, do you want some more small fish in the future?"
It was such a good thing that he exchanged small fish for White Rabbit milk candy, and he was thinking about continuing to do so in the future.
Liu Yinyin had the same idea as him, so she nodded and said, "Yes, not only the small fish, but also other small shrimps, loaches, snails and so on in the river. As for the price...just like the small fish, one candy per pound?"
"That's right!" Liu Xiaoman's face turned red with joy at the thought that she would be able to eat White Rabbit milk candy every day in the future.
Liu Yinyin was also happy, but she did not forget to remind him: "But don't go fishing in deep waters, it's dangerous."
"I know." Liu Xiaoman is ten years old and understands everything he should understand.
After Liu Xiaoman left, Liu Yinyin sold two kilograms of small fish to the system and earned twenty-four yuan.
This transaction is really well calculated.
Liu Yinyin hummed a song while carrying half a pound of small fish to wash them clean.
Half a pound of small fish is a lot and can be made into a dish.
At noon, Liu Yinyin made a dish of braised small fish. She had no worries about oil now, so she fried the small fish in the oil.
It's crispy and delicious, even the bones are crunchy.
Liu Yinyin was very satisfied with the cold eggplant, braised small mixed fish, and cornmeal steamed buns.
It was hot, so Liu Yinyin didn’t go out after lunch.
It was not until the sun was about to set that Liu Yinyin came out of the house carrying a bucket of water.
It is quite convenient for her to use water here. There is a pool of spring water next to her private plot, and the water used at home is also fetched from there.
Liu Yinyin carried half a bucket of water and used a gourd ladle to scoop water to water the ground, watering for a while and then taking a break...
In the evening, when Liu Mingyuan arrived, the two fields were almost watered.
"Why are you doing it yourself? Leave the watering of the fields to me from now on. I'll come over after work." Liu Mingyuan took the gourd ladle from his sister's hand.
Seeing his tanned skin, Liu Yinyin said directly, "Third brother, please don't come here anymore. There isn't much land, I can do it myself slowly."
She didn't want to trouble the Liu family all the time, so she just treated this little bit of work as exercise.
Liu Mingyuan couldn't agree to her. He was really worried: "You are alone at home. If something happens, no one will know. I come to see your parents every day, so they will feel relieved."