“This thing is called a sea cucumber. It usually lives in the deep sea. It is difficult to catch it except by sailing out to sea and setting up fishing nets.
So, even though we usually live by the sea, I have been in the group for so many years and I have rarely seen it!
As Squad Leader Zhou spoke, he weighed the dry little thing in his hand again, his eyes full of love.
It was like I had finally found a like-minded person, filled with the desire to talk.
"To be honest, my grandpa made a lot of these when he was alive. Fried sea cucumber with green onions, braised sea cucumber, three-fresh hotpot, sea cucumber millet porridge..."
At this point, Squad Leader Zhou's eyes became a little dazed, and he even swallowed involuntarily.
"Don't be fooled by its ugly appearance, it tastes quite good. Most importantly, it is very nutritious! In the past, it was one of the eight delicacies and could be served on the table!"
"Then, can you cook those dishes?" Yin Xiaoman asked subconsciously.
“Oh, I haven’t tried it before, mainly because I don’t have the materials!” Squad Leader Zhou smacked his lips with some regret.
Having said this, he realized that he had said too much today and that it was a bit inappropriate, so he quickly tried to make amends.
He stopped talking about the past and took the initiative to change the subject.
"As for sea cucumbers, they can sometimes be found in shallow waters, and they may even be washed up on the shore. So it's not impossible to pick up one or two on the shore occasionally. It's just that sea cucumbers grown in shallow waters are too soft, and they don't taste as good as those grown in deep waters."
"But this one obviously comes from the deep sea." Squad Leader Zhou took another careful look at the sea cucumber, his eyes revealing the joy of a gourmet seeing a delicacy.
Finally, he finished explaining, but he couldn't help but ask again: "Sister-in-law, where did you get this? I think it's in very good condition. If it's soaked, it will definitely be very big and plump! Did we catch it ourselves in the camp?"
"No." Yin Xiaoman shook his head.
"I brought them from the Vanguard Camp. I didn't know what they were at the time, so I just randomly exchanged some with others out of curiosity. There are only a few of them."
This was an idea that she came up with on the spur of the moment when Squad Leader Zhou was speaking.
Anyway, when she was in the Vanguard Camp, she had been reprimanded by Qi Feng for going to the black market, so she had gotten away with it.
Now everyone says that it was changed at that time, and no one can investigate it anymore.
Apart from this, where else could she say she got it from? You can't say that it was brought by the supply ship, otherwise it will be exposed in a moment.
Sure enough, when she said that she brought it from the Vanguard Camp, Squad Leader Zhou didn't ask any more questions except for a hint of regret in his eyes.
He was a very insightful person. As soon as he heard this, he knew that the origin of this thing must be difficult to explain. There was no other possibility except the black market.
But as for going to the black market, it's okay for everyone to keep it to themselves, but it would definitely be inappropriate to continue asking about it.
So, he immediately skipped the topic and began to explain to Yin Xiaoman the method of soaking hair.
"Sister-in-law, it's not difficult to soak sea cucumbers, but the time is not right, and it's not suitable for our island."
As soon as he said this, Yin Xiaoman felt a pang of regret in his heart, and couldn't help asking: "What's wrong? Does it take a certain time to soak this thing? Or is there something you need that we don't have on our island?"
"It's not a time-limited one."
Squad leader Zhou looked up at the scorching sun above his head, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then continued: "It's just that sea cucumbers and abalones require cold water to be soaked. They must be soaked in ice water and kept at a low temperature so that they can be soaked well.
So we usually choose a cooler time, preferably in winter, when we can find ice.
The weather on our island...you can't soak in it for a whole day. It will probably become smelly before it even soaks. ”
Yin Xiaoman: “…”
"Then there is no other way?" She continued to ask a little unwillingly.
After all, Zhongshan Island is hot all year round, and everyone still wears short sleeves during the New Year. Finding a cool place is probably more difficult than finding a piece of fresh meat.
Seeing the regret that Yin Xiaoman couldn't hide on her face, squad leader Zhou thought for a moment and said to her: "Sister-in-law, if you can rest assured, why don't you give me a few to take back and try?
I was thinking maybe it would be okay to put it in the warehouse that Xiao Ren mentioned? Isn't the temperature quite low in there? But I have no idea, I have to go and check it out. ”
"Thank you very much!"
Hearing him say this, Yin Xiaoman was naturally overjoyed, and immediately counted out five abalones and five sea cucumbers for him without hesitation.
Afterwards, I said to him, "Team Leader Zhou, can you write down the method of soaking for me? So that I can think about it when I have nothing to do?"
Although he felt that his sister-in-law would not be able to do this well on this island, it was no secret and Squad Leader Zhou certainly would not hide it. He immediately wrote down in detail the soaking method he knew on a piece of paper.
After seeing him off, Yin Xiaoman took the piece of paper and studied it carefully. He found that it was just as he said. Although the soaking process was cumbersome, it was not difficult.
The only difficulty is maintaining the temperature.
There is no cool place on this island, let alone ice.
But Yin Xiaoman knew that although this was difficult for him, it was easy for Lichun.
There is an ice cellar in the palace, and the imperial kitchen has an ice quota all year round.
Not to mention finding some ice, even finding an ice cellar was a piece of cake for her.
She decided to copy a copy of the recipe and send it to her apprentice in the evening, and also asked her to prepare a bucket of ice water for her.
As a chef, after getting a recipe, I can't help but feel itchy if I don't make it myself.
Once the food in the space is put in, there will basically be no changes. This is good for preserving freshness, but it is obviously impossible to make dried goods swell.
Yin Xiaoman was a little confused as to whether it would be dangerous to use the ice cubes in real life. But I still don't give up.
I kept thinking about it like this, and two days passed in a flash.
That morning, as soon as Yin Xiaoman got up, he was stopped by Dami.
"Aunt, do you still have that sea cucumber? Give me two."
Yin Xiaoman was stunned for a moment, not understanding why this guy suddenly asked her for this?
You know, Da Mi has been living in their house for almost a year, but he has never asked her for anything.
"Yes." She nodded: "But what do you want it for?"
When he heard that there were some, Da Mi's eyes lit up immediately: "Aunt, give me two. I also want to try to see if I can soak them."
Hearing him say this, Yin Xiaoman felt even more puzzled.
Although it was no secret that she asked Team Leader Zhou to help soak the sea cucumbers, it was not publicized everywhere, right? At that time, the boys all went up the mountain to pick fruit and were not at home at all.
How did Rice know?
Seeing her confusion, Da Mi didn't explain, but pulled her outside and said, "Aunt, I'll take you to see it!"
Because it was still early and it was not her usual time to cook, Yin Xiaoman followed curiously.
Da Mi took her to a cliff at the foot of the mountain.
This place is very close to where they live, just a few minutes' walk away. But because this is a rocky beach, and the rocks are covered with densely packed shells, they are wet, slippery and sharp.
If you accidentally bump into it or fall down, a deep bloody cut will immediately appear on your arms and legs.
So usually the adults in each family don’t allow children to come over to play.
Of course, these kids didn't include Da Mi. He was so familiar with the island that no one could stop him.
"Why did you bring me here?" Yin Xiaoman was a little surprised.
"Auntie, wait a moment,"
Da Mi did not answer, but climbed up a very high rock like a monkey, and then fiddled with something outside. Then Yin Xiaoman saw him use his hands to pull a very long rope up from the sea outside the rock.
While Da Mi was trying to take down the thing tied to the rope, Yin Xiaoman had already climbed up. She leaned her head over: "What is this?"
Seeing her coming up, Da Mi was not surprised, but continued to untie the rope: "This is the sea cucumber that Squad Leader Zhou helped you soak. He said the temperature in the sea water is low, so he tried to soak this thing in the sea water.
He had something to do today and couldn't come over in the morning, so he asked me to help change the water. ”
As Da Mi was speaking, he had already brought over a large package tied with a rope. Yin Xiaoman then realized that it was a large canning jar wrapped in oilcloth.
And in the bottle were the five sea cucumbers that he had given him before.
After two days, the sea cucumber soaked in the bottle was no longer the index finger-long, dry little thing it was when it was given to him before. It had obviously expanded a lot after soaking.
Da Mi took the bottle out of the oilcloth, then jumped off the rock and took out a small bucket from somewhere. The bucket was filled with clean water that he had fetched from the stream.
Judging from the looks of it, he must have come here once in the morning.
I guess the kid found it interesting and wanted to get two to play with, so he ran home and found Yin Xiaoman.
Yin Xiaoman reached out and touched the water in the bottle, and found that it was indeed cold. At this moment, she truly felt that Squad Leader Zhou was a real talent!
He is the only one who can think of using sea water to cool down.
"Go find some glass bottles and I'll take the sea cucumbers home." Yin Xiaoman said to Dami.
Not to mention the children, even she was interested at this moment.
Da Mi agreed and ran away quickly. Yin Xiaoman changed the water in the bottle of sea cucumbers that Squad Leader Zhou had soaked before, wrapped it tightly again, and lowered it down with a rope.
Only then did she realize that in order to facilitate the lifting back and forth, the man had actually made a simple pulley on the rock.
The bottle can be easily put back into the sea by simply placing the oilcloth wrapped in the fishing net hanging from the pulley.
After putting it back, just take the rope off the pulley and find a place to secure it. It’s really simple and convenient.
Since seawater can maintain low temperatures, can other things also be kept fresh by putting them in water?
Yin Xiaoman's mind was working rapidly, and his hands did not stop moving.
Of course she couldn't take the sea cucumber out here, so she simply took the bucket left by Rice back to the stream and fetched half a bucket of water again.
When she returned again, Dami was already waiting there.
When he saw her, Dami immediately came over and took the bucket she was holding, but his eyes kept looking at her hands.
"Here it is."
Yin Xiaoman was a little speechless and took out a few sea cucumbers from his pocket and handed them to him: "Just try it yourself, don't tell those two kids anymore."
Da Mi curled up the corners of his mouth, which was rare.
"No, we can't let them crawl here."
Yin Xiaoman felt relieved to leave the task of soaking sea cucumbers to Da Mi. This child is very careful and works seriously.
If he could really follow Team Leader Zhou and soak these sea cucumbers, then not to mention the new source of income for the beginning of spring, the family would definitely have a new dish.
Because he was thinking about breakfast, Yin Xiaoman did not watch Da Mi put the bottle of sea cucumbers into the sea. Instead, he gave a few instructions and hurried back home.
When she returned, the house was still quiet and Shen Qingyun had not yet returned from morning exercises.
She went to the vegetable garden to pick a few tomatoes, a handful of beans, and a few carrots. She planned to make coarse corn grits porridge for the experts this morning.
This was also the method she had figured out before to cook whole grains in a refined way. It was quite popular after being tried several times.
Bring the water to a boil, pour the corn grits into the pot and simmer over low heat.
Then wash all the vegetables and cut them into small pieces, sauté the onions and garlic until cooked, then pour the fried vegetables into the corn porridge and continue to simmer.
Because coarse corn grits are used, the kind that's made by breaking a corn kernel into two halves, the porridge is not watery, but rather quite substantial and can be eaten as a staple food.
With the fried vegetables in it, it tastes chewy and rich in flavor.
It can be said that one bowl of the meal includes both rice and vegetables, which is delicious and convenient.
When Yin Xiaoman first started working on it, he was actually a bit pressed for time that day and didn't have time to do anything else, but after he finished it, he received unanimous praise from everyone in the expert group.
Everyone says it tastes good and saves time, so now she has included it in her regular list of dishes.
After it was done, the rice was served into a special ceramic jar. Yin Xiaoman looked at the watch and it was almost seven o'clock, which was already the usual time for delivering rice, but no matter how long he waited, Cui Yanren did not show up.
She couldn't help but feel a little strange.
Glancing at her son and daughter who were washing outside, she shouted, "Dabao, go see what your Aunt Cui is doing. Is there something wrong at home?"
Before he finished speaking, Cui Yan's voice, panting and trotting, could be heard from outside: "Here I come, here I come!"
After saying that, he opened the curtain and ran in.
Seeing her sweating so early in the morning, and obviously looking like she had just come back from going out, Yin Xiaoman hurriedly asked: "Sister-in-law, what's wrong? What were you doing so early in the morning?"
Cui Yan didn't bother to talk to her. She poured a glass of water from the kettle and gulped it down in one gulp.
Then he heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Well, Qiao Mai fainted at the doorstep early in the morning. I happened to see him when I went out, so I quickly found someone to take him to the clinic."
"Qiao Mai fainted?" Yin Xiaoman was shocked.
"What happened? Why did you faint?"
"Who knows? It's obvious that the girl is in poor health. Her arms and legs are so small, they don't look as thick as Erniu's. Maybe she was fed up with it when she was at home?"
Qiao Maina is a person who doesn't like to talk to people actively, so even though she has been on the island for quite some time, not many people are familiar with her.
No one knows what goes on at home.
"You didn't see it. I was really scared just now!" Cui Yan still looks frightened when she talks about it now.
"Don't Qiao Gong and his family live in the row in front of us? Her balcony faces our front door. I was just about to go out when I saw her standing at the balcony door.
Before I could even say hello, I saw the girl sway twice, her legs went weak and she fell to the ground.
I was scared at that time! ”
Cui Yan patted her chest and said, "You didn't see Qiao Mai's face at that time. It was as pale as paper! I was so scared that my heart was pounding. When I ran over, my calves were shaking. I was afraid that she would hit her head on the stone ground and something would happen!
I really don’t dare to think about it. If something happens to her, won’t Mr. Qiao and his wife go crazy? ! This is an only daughter! ”
Sister Cui was obviously frightened by what happened before. She couldn't control her emotions when she talked about it now, and kept talking nonstop.
So much so that Yin Xiaoman became more and more worried the more he listened.
She knew that Qiao Mai had once suffered from severe anemia.
But isn't it said that it has been cured? And according to what she said before, anemia is a disease of affluence, and as long as you eat better and get enough nutrition, it won't recur.
The food on the island isn’t bad, right? Why did he get sick again?
Yin Xiaoman has a good impression of Qiao Mai.
I know that she is just a quiet girl, but in fact she is a soft-hearted girl with no bad intentions.
What's more, as Cui Yan said, she is the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Qiao. If something happens to her, how will the two experts live in the future?
Thinking of this, she became even more worried.
"So how is she now? Has she been sent to the clinic? What did Liu Chang say?"
"Yes. When I was leaving the alley and preparing to call for help, I happened to see Ren Ping'an fetching water from the stream. Then he carried Qiao Mai to the clinic.
I don’t know the exact situation right now, but Liu Chang has already rushed over and he said it was nothing serious. I was in a hurry to come back and deliver the meal, so I didn't stay there for long. ”
"Then let's deliver the meal quickly and go check it out later."
"OK."
Because I was worried, the meal was delivered especially quickly this time. Seeing her worry, Cui Yan offered to help her prepare breakfast for the children at home and told her to go directly to the health center.
Yin Xiaoman hesitated for a moment and then agreed.
When she arrived at the clinic, she heard Li Fang's voice from a distance before she even entered the door.
"Why did he faint if it's nothing serious? Doctor Liu, please check Qiao Mai carefully again. Is there anything you missed during the examination?"
"Ask her why she fainted!"
Before she even opened the door, Yin Xiaoman heard Liu Chang's unhappy voice from inside: "Don't you know what's wrong with your body? I don't know what you're trying to do!"
Her hand that was pushing the door paused.
Yin Xiaoman has known Liu Chang for quite some time, but he has never seen him put so much personal emotion into his work. Normally this guy is not an angry person. How did Qiao Mai provoke him?
Thinking of this, she pushed the door open.
Seeing her, several people inside were surprised.
Liu Chang was so surprised that he asked out loud: "Sister-in-law, why are you here? What's wrong with your body?"
As he said this, he walked towards Yin Xiaoman.
"No, I'm fine. I just came to see Qiao Mai."
She turned to look at the girl sitting in the clinic: "What's wrong? Why are you feeling unwell?"
I saw that so many people were in trouble because of me.
Qiao Mai's face had become so red that it couldn't get any redder.
She lowered her head, bit her lower lip with her teeth, and tried to hold back tears until they were about to flow out. Then she said, "I'm sorry, it's my fault."
"What on earth is going on?"
Yin Xiaoman became more and more confused as she listened. She turned to look at Liu Chang, her expression becoming serious: "Don't scare the little girl. If you have anything to say, just talk nicely. Do you still look like a doctor?!"
Liu Chang was not dissatisfied with this rebuke. After all, they all know each other very well. In his heart, Shen Qingyun is his biological brother and Yin Xiaoman is his biological sister-in-law.
But the more he was in front of his family, the more he couldn't control his temper!
Liu Chang was so angry that he almost jumped up!
He pointed at Qiao Mai and cursed, "Don't you know what's wrong with you? You've fainted at the sight of blood since childhood. Why don't you do something else? Why are you killing fish so early in the morning? Isn't that crazy?
If you don’t feel dizzy, who will?
If you have the ability to kill, don’t you have the ability to not faint? ! ”
Liu Chang became angrier and angrier as he spoke, and his finger almost poked Qiao Mai on the forehead.
Yin Xiaoman, Li Fang: "..."
It took Li Fang a while to react. She looked at Qiao Mai in disbelief and said, "Did you go home to practice because squad leader Ren said you were timid and didn't dare to kill fish yesterday?"
Qiao Mai lowered his head and said nothing.
"I'll go talk to Ren Ping'an!" Liu Chang suddenly became angry.
"Shut up!" Qiao Mai was so angry that he looked up and glared at him fiercely, his expression was more vivid than ever before.
Li Fang was stunned by what she saw.
"... Did you know Doctor Liu before?" she asked subconsciously.
Qiao Mai was obviously stunned, then quickly turned his face to the side: "We were classmates in junior high school, not familiar with each other."
Hearing her say this, Liu Chang sneered and looked up at the ceiling.
When he lowered his head again, he accidentally discovered Yin Xiaoman standing beside him with a pale face, holding on to the door frame tightly with his hands, looking shaky.
This really scared Liu Chang.
"Sister-in-law, what's wrong with you?"
He rushed over, held Yin Xiaoman's arm tightly, then supported her and sat her down on the chair beside the table.
Seeing this situation, Li Fang and Qiao Mai didn't bother to say anything else and hurried over.
Although he was sitting on the chair, Yin Xiaoman still felt dizzy at this moment.
She doesn't know what's wrong with her?
When I heard Liu Chang talking about killing fish just now, that bloody scene suddenly flashed before my eyes, and I felt nauseous.
Then she felt dizzy, and the sudden feeling of being light-headed almost made her fall down.
This has never happened before.
From the time she entered the imperial kitchen until now, she must have killed hundreds of fish, if not thousands, right? Why can't I hear these two words all of a sudden?
Yin Xiaoman himself was puzzled.
She tried hard to suppress the discomfort rising from her stomach because of the smell of blood, waved at the worried people, and smiled weakly: "I'm fine."
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