Although life was hard, Zhang Yongxian remained kind and decided to reduce Yang Baiyi's burden.
"Shuisheng, go get two bowls of loose wine. This is such a hard dish. I'll drink a glass with the young comrade, and you can get half a bowl for yourself. You're still young and can't drink too much."
Looking at the table full of river fish, Zhang Yongxian's craving for alcohol was aroused.
"Okay, Dad."
Under the envious gaze of his second brother Zhang Chunsheng, Zhang Shuisheng went to the kitchen to get a bowl.
Children living near the reservoir can participate in winter fishing at the age of fourteen, which symbolizes their adulthood.
During winter fishing, you have to drink some strong liquor, so boys living near the reservoir can learn to drink when they are fourteen years old.
"Come on, stop just standing there and eat."
Looking at the braised fish in sauce, Yang Baiyi couldn't wait to taste it.
"Everyone is like that, right?"
Lin Wanru picked up a piece of fish belly meat for Yang Xiaoxiao, the most tender part of the fish without any bones.
"good."
Wang Zhimin forced a smile with difficulty, but her heart was bleeding.
Just over two dollars is enough for the whole family to eat for several days, and they made a meal like this. The head of the family just dotes on his children too much.
Zhang Chunsheng and Zhang Chunni, seeing that their parents had started to eat, stopped forcing themselves to eat and quickly picked up a piece of fish with their chopsticks, squinting their eyes as they ate.
"Dad, your wine."
Zhang Qiu Sheng brought two full bowls of wine, placed them carefully on the table, sat down and took a bite of fish.
"Aren't you going to drink something today?"
Zhang Yongxian was a little surprised. In the past, he would occasionally drink a little when he ate, and his eldest son would always follow suit. What happened this time?
"Dad, it's too hot. I don't want to drink today."
Zhang Shuisheng found a fairly reasonable reason.
"Brother, I think you are worried about delaying eating fish?"
Zhang Chunni is polite in front of Yang Baiyi and others, but she shows her willful and arrogant side in front of her brother who dotes on her the most.
"Little sister, come and eat. Even such delicious fish can't stop you from eating it. Even our mother wouldn't be willing to put so much oil in the dish during the Chinese New Year!"
Faced with his sister's sabotage, Zhang Shuisheng was not angry at all. Instead, he picked up a piece of fish for his sister and looked like he was begging for mercy.
"Okay, if you want to drink, go get half a bowl. There's so much fish, are you afraid there won't be enough for you?"
After his daughter's explanation, Zhang Yongxian finally understood why his eldest son didn't drink today. It turned out that he was eager to eat fish.
"Hey, okay!"
Zhang Shuisheng smiled embarrassedly at Yang Baiyi, then stood up and went to get himself some wine.
"Hmm! That's the taste. Try this braised garfish with sauce. It's much better than grass carp and big fathead carp."
Yang Baiyi ate several mouthfuls of the garfish in succession, and only started to greet other people after he was satisfied.
“Is Gazi fish really delicious?”
Zhang Yongxian looked skeptical. Having grown up near a reservoir, he was well aware of the fishy smell of the garfish.
"Try it, it's really delicious."
In fact, he doubted that it would be difficult for him to finish eating two one-foot-long garfish, but today he wanted to vindicate his favorite delicacy in his previous life.
"Yeah, it's really delicious. Grass carp and bighead carp have a tougher texture and are not as tender and juicy as garfish."
Since Yang Baiyi said so, Lin Wanru was of course the first to show her support.
Zhang Yongxian picked up a small piece of garfish and put it in his mouth with some doubt, and his eyes lit up instantly.
"It's true that there's no fishy smell at all. Gazi fish has a strong fishy smell, and everyone who grew up near the reservoir knows it. It turns out that there was a missing step in the processing!
Comrade, can I tell others how to use salt to remove the fishy smell of garfish?
To be honest, there are still a lot of garfish in the reservoir. They are so fishy that they are impossible to eat. In the past, we could only feed them to chickens when we caught them.
Yang Baiyi told them how to process the gazi fish. If they wanted to publicize it, they had to get Yang Baiyi's consent. This was a sign of respect for Yang Baiyi.
Yang Baiyi now understood why Zhang Yongxian and his wife were able to raise their three children so well.
"Of course, tell whoever you want."
In the past, whether it was loach, eel, or garfish, salt was used to remove the fishy smell and slime. This was no secret.
"Thank you, comrade. From now on, we reservoir residents will have one more thing to make a living."
Zhang Yongxian was very happy. He picked up the wine bowl and took a sip with Yang Baiyi.
The two families sat together to eat and drink, and gradually things became more casual.
"Uncle Zhang, you and your two sons have a boat. You must make a lot of money just fishing every year, right?"
In the morning, Yang Baiyi saw that Chunni's clothes were full of patches and her cloth shoes were very worn out, and thought that Chunni grew up in a family that favored boys over girls.
But now that their family was sitting together, Yang Baiyi discovered that Chunni had the least patches on her body.
"What's the point of earning anything? It's just enough to make ends meet. If I could fish all year round, life would definitely be better.
But fishing is only allowed for three months a year, two months in summer and one month in winter.
Winter fishing is better, as dragnets are allowed and the income is quite good.
Fishing is no longer possible in the summer, as you can only use a cast net, and whether you can catch fish depends entirely on luck.
"Today, we were lucky enough to catch an eight-jin (150 catties) fish. It's not uncommon for us to not catch a single fish."
Zhang Yongxian took a sip of wine and sighed deeply.
“There are so many fish in the reservoir, why don’t we allow fishing every day?
With more fish caught, people living in the county can eat fish more often. What a wonderful thing!
Lin Wanru was very puzzled by this policy and thought that some leader was deliberately making things difficult for the fishermen!
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