When I got home, they had already delivered quilts, grains, and oils to the yard.
We'll have a simple dinner tonight; after all, we need to get rid of that huge, rolling-eyed bluefish quickly.
Li Xiaoxiao broke the flour apart and poured it into a bowl. She added water to the center of the flour and then added some dry flour to the edges of the wet dough. The flour became flocculent. She wet her hands and kneaded the flocculent dough into a smooth dough, then covered it with gauze.
Take out two large porcelain bowls, add salt, light soy sauce, vinegar, chopped green onions, and a few drops of sesame oil.
I just bought some dried chili peppers at the market, chopped them up, heated oil in a pan, added Sichuan peppercorns, cardamom, shredded scallions, and ginger, stir-fried the oil until fragrant, and poured it over the chili peppers. Instantly, the aroma of numbing chili peppers burst forth, and a bowl of chili oil was ready. I scooped two spoonfuls of chili oil into each porcelain bowl.
Bring water to a boil in a pot, then add the noodles.
Holding the rested dough in one hand, she picked up a flat knife blade with the other and, like a magician, dropped strands of noodles into the boiling water, cooking them into translucent noodle sheets.
Use long chopsticks to scoop out the noodles and place them in a porcelain bowl with seasonings already added. Put one or two small green vegetables in each bowl, then use a round spoon to pour in a few spoonfuls of noodle soup. A bowl of fragrant noodle soup is ready!
I went to the market at noon and bought so many things that I didn't have time to eat. Now I'm starving. Wouldn't a bowl of hot knife-cut noodles be wonderful on this cold winter day?
"Dinner's ready!" she called out towards the yard, but no one answered after she called twice.
Li Xiaoxiao was a little puzzled. In the short time she was cooking noodles, where did Qi Yu go?
The small, dilapidated door in the courtyard was pushed open again, and a man with a red nose from the cold returned carrying a wooden bucket of cleaned pig offal.
"Are you stupid?" Li Xiaoxiao grabbed his hand, which was red from being soaked in cold water, and said angrily. How could this person not take care of his health? He was so sick, and he still went to the river to wash with cold water?
With all that energy, no amount of thick clothing is ever enough?
She dragged Qi Yu to the stove and, without saying a word, made him sit down and warm himself by the fire.
"I've boiled water here, why do you have to go to the river? You'll freeze to death." Li Xiaoxiao was a little tired, feeling like she was raising a grown son.
Qi Yu calmly replied, "The offal smells bad, so we don't wash it in the yard."
"Next time you must use hot water to wash." What's a little smell? The cold air will blow it away in a moment.
Although she scolded him, Li Xiaoxiao felt an inexplicable joy in her heart. Her husband was such a good person!
Qi Yu lowered his eyes, looking at Li Xiaoxiao's warm hand covering his, seemingly lost in thought.
The noodles would get soggy if they weren't eaten soon, so Li Xiaoxiao got up, picked up the slightly cooled knife-cut noodles, mixed them, and handed them to him, saying with a smile, "Eat your noodles."
Qi Yu was used to being hungry and didn't even dare to dream of eating a meal of mixed grains a day, let alone this bowl of steaming hot soup noodles. He held the noodles and ate them in big mouthfuls.
The spiciness of the chili pepper hit Qi Yu's head, and his tongue stung. His face turned bright red from the spiciness. Li Xiaoxiao quickly poured him a bowl of water, somewhat worried. Could it be that her little husband couldn't handle spicy food?
It seems she'll be enjoying this delicious treat all by herself from now on.
Qi Yu took a big gulp of water, but then lowered his head to eat noodles again. His mouth was covered in chili oil, bright red, and the spicier it was, the more he wanted to eat.
He ate with gusto, which made Li Xiaoxiao even hungrier. She also slurped up a big mouthful of noodles. So delicious!
The two ate a large bowl of noodles. Li Xiaoxiao patted her round belly and didn't want to get up to do any more work, but there was still a pot of fish waiting for her to prepare.
Qi Yu went to wash the dishes, and Li Xiaoxiao specifically told him to use hot water. She then lay down on the bed to rest for a while.
As long as she doesn't cause trouble for her husband, the two of them can live a peaceful and happy life. Having lived in a cold-blooded post-apocalyptic world for so long, she especially longs for this kind of simple warmth.
The fish outside were frozen solid in the basin.
Li Xiaoxiao moved in and used the stove to heat the fish, melting the ice so she could slice it.
The kitchen knife was a bit rusty, so she took it and carefully sharpened it on the whetstone. If the knife wasn't sharp, she couldn't slice the fish properly.
"What else do you need to do?" There were only two or three bowls, and Qi Yu washed them quickly. Seeing her sharpening the knife and moving the fish, he asked her another question.
"I want to make fish balls. Could you go and clean the pestle first?"
The pestle is usually used to chop dried chilies, but in ancient times there were no mixers, so it could only be used to pound fish slices into fish paste by hand.
Qi Yu had no idea where all those strange ideas came from. What were fish balls? He'd never heard of them or eaten them before. This woman had never cooked before, yet her culinary skills were so good.
Whether it was the stewed chicken last night or the knife-cut noodles today, he thoroughly enjoyed them.
Qi Yu went to wash the bowl.
The big bluefish had thawed, and Li Xiaoxiao's knife was sharpened. She picked up a fish, quickly removed the scales, cut open the big bluefish's belly, removed the gall bladder, and threw the internal organs and gills into another wooden bucket.
She worked very efficiently and quickly cleaned the more than twenty large, fat fish.
Pick up a cleaned big bluefish, put it on the cutting board, remove the skin and red flesh, and slice the fish meat into pieces. Do the same for the next fish.
In the end, only two large bluefish were left, which Li Xiaoxiao froze with ice, preparing to make chopped chili fish head and braised fish for tomorrow.
Rinse the remaining sliced fish fillets several times with water to remove the blood, then sprinkle with Sichuan peppercorns, scallions, and ginger, add a little water, mix well, and let them marinate to remove the fishy smell.
The large mortar and pestle, which had been washed clean, was brought over. Li Xiaoxiao poured in most of the sliced fish meat, picked up the large pestle, and began to pound the fish meat.
There was too much fish meat for Li Xiaoxiao to handle alone, so the two of them took turns. After mashing it all into a paste, they used fine gauze to filter out a finer fish paste. One by one, fish balls were squeezed out from between their thumbs and forefingers and floated to the surface instantly when they fell into the cold water.
This was the first time Qi Yu had ever seen anyone cook fish this way.
Two or three dozen large bluefish were used to make more than three hundred fish balls. Li Xiaoxiao had already decided on the price: five for ten coins.
I cooked a big pot of fish balls again tonight. The fish balls made from all-natural fish tasted even more delicious, and they were absolutely amazing when dipped in chili sauce.
Li Xiaoxiao scooped up more than ten fish balls and brought some silver coins, then knocked on the door of Widow Dong's house.
"Auntie, I've come to pay back the money, and I've also brought you some food that I cooked myself." She remembered that Widow Dong had a daughter, Cuihua, who was about to get married, and the two of them could eat about that much.
Widow Dong was surprised. How could Li Xiaoxiao have paid off the debt so quickly?
But she didn't care to ask anything. It was money back to her anyway, and she accepted the food as a gift. She figured she could just buy her a new pair of insoles next time.
After paying back the money, Li Xiaoxiao hurried home, feeling like she was about to be blown away by the cold wind. Now that she had money, she decided to renovate the house.
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