Chapter 24 Chapter 24 Crab Sauce

When I was halfway through washing the crabs, Mrs. Zhang from next door came over with her little daughter Fangfang.

The gate was not closed, and Mrs. Zhang stood at the gate and said, "Sister, wash the crabs at home."

Meng Yufei looked up and saw Mrs. Zhang, and said with a smile: "Sister-in-law, you are here, come in quickly." She stood up and said: "Come in and sit down."

Mrs. Zhang waved her hands and said, "No need, why be so polite, I'll help you wash it." Then she walked over, squatted down, and started to wash the crabs.

Meng Yufei quickly passed her stool over and said with a smile, "Sorry, sister-in-law, please sit down." She turned to her daughter and said, "Qinqin, take sister Fangfang into the house to play. Go get some candy from the snack box for her."

Xia Qinqin tilted her head and asked, "Mom, can I have some candy?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"It's delicious." Xia Qinqin happily took Fangfang's hand, and the two little girls went into the house to play happily.

In the living room, Xia Qinqin ran to the chest of drawers next to the sofa with familiarity, opened the middle drawer, and found a large cookie box inside. She opened the lid and found all kinds of candies inside.

Sister Fangfang is her good friend, Xia Qinqin grabbed a handful of candy without hesitation. Sitting on the sofa, the two children happily shared the candy.

Fangfang asked in a low voice: "Qinqin, can I see the doll again?"

Xia Qinqin nodded and said, "Okay, it's in the small room, let's go get it out and play with it together."

The two took out the doll and placed it on the sofa. One changed its clothes while the other braided its hair.

Outside the house, Mrs. Zhang and Meng Yufei were chatting while washing crabs.

Mrs. Zhang: "You went fishing yesterday, but why did you only pick up crabs and not other seafood? Crabs are not only difficult to eat, but they also don't have much meat."

Meng Yufei pointed to the shells under the eaves and said, "I picked up those shells. I don't know how to handle other seafood, so it would be a waste to pick them up. Sister-in-law, didn't you go fishing yesterday?"

Mrs. Zhang said, "Well, I used to like going there when I first came here. Every time I brought a bunch of seafood, it was a hassle to clean them, and they didn't taste very good when they were roasted. Later, I got too lazy to go."

Meng Yufei nodded and said, "We just came here for the freshness. I regret washing the crabs today."

Mrs. Zhang glanced at the gate and whispered, "Sister, I listened to you yesterday and went to Captain Cao's house to make shoes for a whole day. The soles are already glued on. Everyone knows about Wei Shufang's evil deeds."

Meng Yufei was a little surprised and asked, "So fast?"

Mrs. Zhang said, "There are a lot of people coming and going at Captain Cao's house every day. Those who like to talk in our courtyard all gather there. We usually have nothing to do, so we like to listen to the gossips of the parents. I told them about making shoes, and they kept guessing what kind of grievances Jianhong had suffered at home."

Meng Yufei said: "You are telling the truth. As for their speculation, it is their own behavior."

Mrs. Zhang was surprised and said, "Sister, it's strange what you said. From what they said, it seems that they have already noticed that Wei Shufang is a bad stepmother. Why didn't anyone say anything before?"

Meng Yufei said: "Maybe no one has come forward to bring it up before, and no one wants to offend Wei Shufang by saying this for no reason."

Mrs. Zhang nodded and said, "That's true."

After cleaning the crabs, Meng Yufei lit the coal stove and prepared to steam the crabs.

Mrs. Zhang was surprised and asked, "You are cooking so early. I heard that crabs cook quickly and it won't take more than a few minutes."

Meng Yufei explained: "I'm going to make crab sauce."

"Crab sauce? This crab can be used to make sauce."

Meng Yufei explained: "Yes, first steam the crabs, then peel off the crab roe and crab meat, then put them in the pot and add oil and simmer over low heat to make a sauce."

Mrs. Zhang shook her head and said, "It sounds like it's a lot of work to make this sauce."

Meng Yufei smiled and said, "It takes some time, but the sauce tastes very fresh. Whether it's mixed with noodles or served with rice steamed buns, it's delicious."

"Sister-in-law, when it's ready, take some home to taste."

Mrs. Zhang said, "How can that be possible? It takes so much effort."

Meng Yufei said, "I learned this from my mom. I haven't made it myself yet. Please help me taste it later. To be honest, I wanted to ask you for some pickled vegetables. I don't know how to pickle them."

Mrs. Zhang said, "That's easy. We have several large jars of pickled vegetables at home. The advantage of this place is that there are many vegetables. We can eat vegetables all year round."

As we were talking, the crabs were steamed and each one turned bright red.

After taking them out to cool, Mrs. Zhang helped Meng Yufei to peel the crab meat. This was the most labor-intensive part. It took them half a day to finish. They only got half a basin of crab meat out of half a bucket of crabs.

I was planning to continue using the coal stove to cook the crab sauce, but Mrs. Zhang suggested, "The coal stove has a small fire and the pot is small, so it will take a long time to cook it. I'll light the clay stove and you cook it."

Add oil to the pot, heat it up, add ginger slices, wait until the ginger slices are dry, then pick them up. Then pour the crab meat and crab roe into the pot and simmer over low heat.

When the crab meat in the pot becomes golden and shiny, the crab sauce is ready. Meng Yufei took out a bowl and scooped out the crab sauce to let it cool. With so many crabs, she only managed to make a bowl of crab sauce.

Mrs. Zhang said, "Wow, this one looks really good, and it smells really good too."

Meng Yufei took out a bowl from the cupboard and said, "This crab sauce is best stored in a jar. I don't have any canned food at home, so you can just take the bowl back."

Mrs. Zhang said, "I have a can at home. It's the canned fruit we ate before. I'll go home and get it."

Then he went home and brought back two glass jars.

Mrs. Zhang opened the can and said, "These are canned yellow peaches that we ate during the Chinese New Year. I washed them and kept them there. Today they came in handy."

Meng Yufei put the crab sauce into jars. One bowl of crab sauce just filled two glass jars.

Taking out a rag and wiping off the crab sauce that had spilled from the edge of the glass jar, Meng Yufei looked at the glass jar and said, "I haven't seen any canned fruit for sale in the supply and marketing cooperatives I've been to these few times."

Mrs. Zhang said, "There is no shortage of fruit on our island. Even if the supply and marketing cooperatives have canned fruit, no one will buy it. I bought these two cans of yellow peaches at the department store in the city during the New Year. You can tell that these children are very picky. They are not satisfied with all the fresh fruits on the island and insist on eating these canned yellow peaches."

Meng Yufei said: "Yellow peaches grow in the northwest and southwest regions. We don't seem to have them on our island. It's normal for children to want to eat them."

Mrs. Zhang said, "It was only after I came to this island that I realized there are so many fruits in the world. Before, at home, I could only eat apples and pears."

Meng Yufei smiled and said, "This can be considered as a benefit for us on the island."

Mrs. Zhang nodded and said, "Yes, I originally thought that coming to this island would be a place where no one lives and I would suffer. Who knew that except for the inconvenient transportation and the hot weather, everything else is pretty good."

After talking for a while, Mrs. Zhang saw that it was getting late and prepared to go home. Xia Junshan also came back at the same time. He turned on the tap in the yard to wash his hands. He saw the door and smelled the aroma of crabs. He said loudly to the inside:

"Fei Fei, why didn't you cook the crabs? Why didn't you wait for me to come back? Wouldn't you be tired of cooking so many crabs by yourself?"

Mrs. Zhang came out of the house holding Fangfang and a bottle of crab sauce, and said with a smile, "Captain Xia really cares about his wife."

Xia Junshan looked up and saw Mrs. Zhang, and hurriedly greeted her, "Sister-in-law is here."

Mrs. Zhang said to Meng Yufei who came out of the house, "Sister, Captain Xia, I'm going to go home first. Thank you for your crab sauce. Remember to come to my house to get some pickled vegetables in the afternoon."

Xia Junshan said, "Sister-in-law, please stay at home for a while. I am sorry to bother you guys when I come back."

Mrs. Zhang waved her hand and said, "No, I've been sitting here for the whole morning. My husband Ma should be home by now. I have to go back to cook. You guys stay busy at home." Then she walked towards the gate.

After washing his hands and face, Xia Junshan said to Meng Yufei, "You made crab sauce this morning. That must have taken a lot of effort." He had eaten the crab sauce made by Meng's mother at Meng's house before and thought it tasted very good, so he specially asked Meng's mother how she made it.

Meng Yufei handed him a towel on the clothesline and said, "With the help of Sister Zhang, it won't take much time. How was your 'pest control' operation this morning?"

Xia Junshan took the towel and wiped his face while saying, "We found a lot of insect eggs, so we cleaned them up in advance. There will be fewer mosquitoes this summer. We also caught a few mice and gave them back to the canteen chef. He has a big cat at home. We didn't see any snakes, but it seems that Qinqin and the others just happened to run into them that day."

Meng Yufei paused and asked, "Junshan, you said last time that the snake Qinqin and the others encountered was a water snake?"

Xia Junshan picked up the towel and said, "Yes. But this water snake should only appear near fresh water. The nearest pond here is hundreds of meters away from our family compound. How could this snake crawl so far..."

Meng Yufei guessed, "Could it be that someone brought it in?"

Xia Junshan paused as he hung the towel and turned around to ask, "Do you mean someone is trying to harm Qinqin on purpose?"

Meng Yufei said, "It's just a guess, but it shouldn't be possible. We just came here and haven't offended anyone." After thinking for a while, she guessed, "It's possible that someone brought the snake in and accidentally let it escape, and Qinqin happened to encounter it."

Xia Junshan said: "After all, this matter concerns Qinqin's safety. I will investigate it when I have time."

Meng Yufei said: "This is all our speculation. If you want to investigate, you should do it in private and try not to make it public."

Xia Junshan nodded and said, "Yes, I know."

Meng Yufei raised her hand and glanced at her watch, then said, "It's time for lunch. I'll go to the cafeteria to get some food."

Xia Junshan patted the towel that had been hung out to dry and said, "I'll go with you."

The two of them took their lunch boxes and change and walked towards the cafeteria side by side. Of course, Xia Qinqin was following them, and each of them held one of her little hands.

The cafeteria cooked a new dish of glutinous rice and pork ribs at noon today. Thinking about the glutinous rice and wheat in the morning, I guess the glutinous rice was delivered by the supply ship today.

A serving of glutinous rice and pork ribs costs 57 cents, and you need two taels of meat coupons. This price is a bit expensive, but both glutinous rice and pork ribs are precious.

I also ordered a portion of braised bamboo shoots in oil, which cost nine cents. The spring bamboo shoots are very fresh and tender at this time of year.

The soup is spinach soup for three cents, which is refreshing and relieves greasy. The staple food is still white rice, which is served with crab sauce.

After returning home, Xia Junshan brought several sets of white porcelain plates from the kitchen, poured the dishes into them one by one, and carefully wiped the juice from the edges with a rag.

Meng Yufei brought Xia Qinqin in after washing her hands. Xia Qinqin ran to the dining table, climbed onto a chair, and looked at the steamed pork ribs with glutinous rice on the plate. "It smells so good!"

Seeing her greedy look, Xia Junshan picked up a piece of pork chop with chopsticks on the table and put it to her mouth, saying with a smile: "Then you try it first."

Xia Qinqin looked at the ribs in front of her and swallowed, but shook her head and said, "I have to wait for mom to eat together."

Xia Junshan said with relief: "Okay, Qinqin is really sensible, let's start eating after we are all together."

Meng Yufei took out the crab sauce she had cooked in the morning from the kitchen and said with a smile, "It's a good opportunity to try the crab sauce. This is my first time making it, so I don't know if it's delicious."

Xia Junshan said: "It must be delicious."

Xia Qinqin also nodded and said, "It must be delicious."

Meng Yufei said with a smile: "You haven't eaten yet, how do you know it's delicious?"

Xia Junshan said: "Just by smelling this fragrance, I know it must be delicious."

Xia Qinqin nodded her head and agreed, "Qinqin smells good too."

Meng Yufei opened the lid, scooped a spoonful of crab sauce for each of them and put it on the rice in the bowl, saying, "In that case, you can try it."

Xia Qinqin pointed at the bowl in front of Meng Yufei and said, "Mom, eat together."

Meng Yufei also scooped a spoonful of crab sauce into her own bowl, covered it with a lid, sat down and said, "Okay, everyone is here, let's eat."

Xia Junshan picked up a spoonful of crab sauce and mixed it with rice, and put it into his mouth. The rich and delicious taste of crab permeated his tongue, and the crab oil soaked into the rice, making it soft, glutinous and fragrant.

"Well, it's really delicious. It's much better than just eating crabs." Xia Junshan nodded repeatedly in praise.

Xia Qinqin also said, "It's great. The crab sauce made by mom is as good as grandma's."

Meng Yufei picked up a piece of pork ribs and put it into Xia Qinqin's bowl, and reminded her: "Don't talk with something in your mouth. Wait until you finish eating, okay?"

"Yeah." Xia Qinqin nodded obediently.

At Captain Ma’s house next door, the table was filled with home-cooked dishes cooked by Mrs. Zhang, including braised lettuce with salted pork, stir-fried shredded potatoes, and stir-fried green peppers with leeks.

Ma Weiliang sat at the dining table and said unhappily, "Mom, why is there no meat?"

Mrs. Zhang said without even looking back: "This salted meat is not meat."

Ma Weimei complained, "Why haven't we finished eating the salted meat at home? It's getting hot here, has the meat gone bad?"

Captain Ma said angrily: "If you don't like it, don't eat it. You are used to a good life and even dislike salted meat. When I was a child, I didn't have salted meat to eat and couldn't even drink soup."

Several children lowered their heads and pouted unhappily. Mrs. Zhang got up and went to the kitchen to get some crab sauce. She scooped a spoonful from a bowl and said, "This is the crab sauce made by your Aunt Meng next door. Try it."

Ma Weimei couldn't help but take a bite with rice and exclaimed in surprise: "It's delicious. It smells so good when eaten with rice."

Ma Weidong also nodded and said, "Mom, next time you can ask Aunt Meng how she makes it. When I go to the army, you can make two bottles and send them to me."

Ma Weimei retorted: "Why don't you ask? This might be their secret recipe. Besides, you can tell it's not easy to make this crab sauce. They're so shameless to send you two bottles!"

Ma Weidong yelled, "You little bastard, why are you talking so much? I'm not asking you to do anything."

Ma Weimei replied: "You asked my mother to do it, so what if I don't want to do it?"

Ma Weidong said: "That's my mother too!"

Captain Ma clapped his chopsticks and shouted, "Alright! Shut up! If you continue talking, you won't be able to eat."

Mrs. Zhang also said, "You two are the same. You can quarrel even when you are having a meal. Okay, stop talking and eat quickly."

This time the children finally stopped talking and ate in silence with their heads down.

Captain Ma pointed at the can of crab sauce and said, "This tastes pretty good. I didn't expect crabs could be made into sauce. Let's have some hand-rolled noodles tonight. It will definitely taste better than rice."

Mrs. Zhang nodded and said, "Okay."

—————

Deputy Head Chen returned home after catching pests all morning. Seeing Qi Huiying still lying in bed, he asked, "What's wrong? Are you still feeling unwell? Didn't you go to the hospital yesterday? What did the doctor say?"

Qi Huiying turned away and did not respond.

Seeing that she didn't reply, Deputy Captain Chen turned around and went to the yard to get the hoe and continued to plow the ground. Half of the ground in the yard had been plowed, so he might as well plow the whole thing.

At noon, Deputy Head Chen came back from the cafeteria with his meal and went into the house to call Qi Huiying to eat. This time Qi Huiying actually got up and came out.

Sitting at the dining table, I saw the dishes in the lunch box: scrambled eggs with leeks and stir-fried shredded lettuce.

Qi Huiying frowned and asked, "Is there no pickled vegetables in the cafeteria today?"

Deputy Head Chen took a piece of fried leek and egg with his chopsticks, scooped a big mouthful of rice and put it into his mouth and said, "Yes, the canteen cooked glutinous rice and steamed pork ribs today."

Qi Huiying choked and asked again, "Then why don't you buy it?"

Deputy Head Chen continued to eat his rice, saying as he ate, "I see that spare ribs cost 57 cents per portion, and they also cost 2 taels of meat coupons. That's really a big bargain. Spare ribs are just bones, not much meat. I'd rather eat braised pork with that money."

Seeing that Qi Huiying didn't move her chopsticks, he urged her, "Why don't you eat? The fried eggs with leeks taste good." Then he picked up a piece of egg with his chopsticks and put it in her lunch box.

Qi Huiying looked at the egg in the lunch box in front of her, with a grain of rice on top. A trace of disdain flashed across her eyes. She took a deep breath and said, "Tell me, did Captain Xia send any gifts to the teacher's family? What do you usually send as gifts? Maotai? Zhonghua?"

Deputy Commander Chen put down his chopsticks and asked curiously, "What are you talking about? What about Maotai Zhonghua? Our troops don't have the bad habit of giving gifts. This is corruption!"

Qi Huiying rolled her eyes and said, "If you didn't send it, can you guarantee that others won't send it?"

Deputy Commander Chen said, "Anyway, I have never given a single gift since I joined the army, and I have never heard of anyone being promoted by giving gifts."

Qi Huiying sneered and said, "Look at Captain Xia. She is a captain at a young age and is trusted by the teachers. And her husband gave her the job for no reason. Don't you understand?"

Deputy Regiment Commander Chen said, "Although Regiment Commander Xia has only been here for a short time, he has won first prize in shooting and fighting at previous divisional competitions. We all admire his ability. And don't underestimate him because he is so young. He was already on the battlefield in the Korean War when he was only 16 years old, and he has made many military achievements, big and small."

Qi Huiying asked, "What about his family? They also fought in the battlefield and made contributions. Why did the commander give her the job?"

Deputy Commander Chen said: "The commander must have his reasons for doing this. Besides, it's just a teacher's job. I don't need the money. I can support you."

After saying that, he lowered his head and finished his meal in a few bites, then threw down his chopsticks and said, "I'm done, you can eat slowly, I'm going back to my room to sleep for a while, I'm exhausted this morning."

Qi Huiying looked at his back as he walked back into the house, and angrily dropped her chopsticks with a bang.