My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 96 Before Meals
While the watermelon was chilling, Chen Ling went to kill the eel.

Han Chuang and Jiang Xiaoqing felt bad standing around doing nothing, so they came over to help. But it was immediately obvious that Han Chuang had no experience with manual labor; he was clumsy and couldn't even catch the eel. Jiang Xiaoqing, on the other hand, was very efficient and helped Chen Ling, quickly killing the eel.

Then she squatted down by the well to help Chen Ling prepare the crayfish. Jiang Xiaoqing is now a technician at the Agricultural Bureau. Although she hasn't been there long, she has heard of the famous crayfish. She never thought that this thing could be eaten.

However, Wang Susu told her that Chen Ling could cook it, and that it tasted very good, so she helped the two of them pack up with some skepticism.

Rinse a large basin of crayfish several times to remove the mud, then scrub them thoroughly with a brush. After that, cut off the heads, remove the black stomach sacs, and remove the gills.

The plump shrimp meat was then revealed, and it certainly looked very appetizing.

Crayfish are quite dirty, so you need to wash them twice more at this stage. However, you can't just rinse them at this point; you have to use a rinsing method, otherwise you'll easily break up the crayfish meat.

After rinsing, Jiang Xiaoqing asked again, "Brother Ling, do we need to remove the shrimp veins?"

"You can't remove the shrimp vein now. Once it's removed, the shrimp meat will become very loose and won't taste good. Remove it when you're ready to eat it, and the texture will be much better."

After cleaning the crayfish, the rice dumplings in the kitchen were also ready, but Wang Susu knew that they would be eating watermelon later, so she didn't bring the rice dumplings out.

We only steamed the zongzi because we didn't have any watermelon.

The watermelons are already frozen in the well. If we were to bring out the zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) for people to eat now, it wouldn't be hospitality; it would be forcing them to get stomach aches.

Chen Ling sat in the courtyard with Han Chuang, chatting and eating sunflower seeds. Wang Susu went to get some dried chili peppers and cut them up. She had watched Chen Ling make crayfish last time, so she knew that chili peppers were essential for this dish. Moreover, the chili peppers couldn't be put in whole; they had to be cut open, otherwise the flavor of the chili peppers wouldn't be released and the crayfish wouldn't be flavorful.

After Wang Susu finished cutting a large bowl of chili pepper pieces, the watermelon was also chilled, so Chen Ling pulled the two large watermelons out of the well.

Han Chuang couldn't help with killing fish or washing shrimp, but he could still manage to cut a watermelon. He took it out of the bucket, chopped it with a knife, and served it to them.

The watermelons are only a few days old and not very juicy, but they taste very sweet. After being chilled with well water, they feel cool and refreshing when eaten, making you feel invigorated. The only downside is that the rind is particularly thick.

"Mmm, this watermelon is delicious, so sweet." Han Chuang hugged a piece of watermelon and took a big bite. In no time, only the rind was left. He then reached for another piece and continued to eat.

Seeing Han Chuang wolfing down his food, Jiang Xiaoqing was furious. She tried to hold back but couldn't, so she pinched his waist hard.

Han Chuang picked up another slice of watermelon and was enjoying it when suddenly a sharp pain shot through his lower back. He couldn't help but yell out and turned around to see Jiang Xiaoqing glaring at him.

Startled, he immediately shrank back, asking, "W-wh-what's wrong, Xiaoqing?"

Jiang Xiaoqing didn't expect him to shout so loudly, so she smiled apologetically at Chen Ling and his wife, then turned and glared at Han Chuang: "You can't help with the work, and you don't even have proper table manners. Do you have any kind of guest like you? Aren't you afraid that Brother Ling and Sister-in-law will laugh at you?"

Han Chuang's face flushed red, and he stammered, unable to speak.

"It's alright, Chuangzi, it's nothing. You're welcome to come to my house. Just make yourself at home and eat whatever you like. Here, have another piece."

Seeing this, Chen Ling quickly handed Han Chuang a piece of watermelon and comforted him.

Wang Susu also chimed in to smooth things over.

"Brother Ling, Sister-in-law, Chuangzi is fine. You don't need to persuade him at all. He just has a stutter; the words are stuck in his mouth and he can't get them out..."

Seeing that Chen Ling and his wife were making themselves uncomfortable, Jiang Xiaoqing spoke up to explain.

As soon as he said that, Han Chuang's face turned even redder, and then he stammered for a long time without coming out with a coherent answer.

Upon seeing this, Chen Ling couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Wang Susu and Jiang Xiaoqing couldn't help but laugh along.

The more they laughed, the more anxious Han Chuang became, and the less he could say.

In the end, Han Chuang gave up and silently began to devour the watermelon.

After a while, when he had recovered, he was able to speak in a complete sentence: "I... I can't help with cooking, but can't I do physical labor? I'll come and help Lingzi harvest wheat in a couple of days."

Chen Ling laughed upon hearing this: "Why harvest wheat? My family didn't plant any this year."

"Huh? What do you do at home all day? I haven't seen you go to the county town much anymore, I thought you were busy with things in the fields."

Han Chuang was immediately puzzled.

The last time Han Chuang met Chen Ling, he suggested that if things didn't work out, he could go work at his family's cannery. But Chen Ling said he would just stay home and farm from now on. Han Chuang actually thought he was going to work in the fields all day.

“I don’t have much to do at home. I just traded about 30 acres of land with someone this year. After planting fruit tree seedlings, I basically just grow vegetables, herd cattle, and go up the mountain to collect herbs. There’s not much else to do.” “In that case, why don’t you come work at my family’s cannery? It’s 300 yuan a month, and my dad will arrange an easy job for you.”

Han Chuang brought this up again.

Chen Ling didn't say anything else after hearing this, but just told him not to worry about him, saying that he didn't plan to do anything else this year, he just wanted to stay home and spend time with his wife.

He then got up and cut another half of a watermelon, changing the subject to his marriage to Jiang Xiaoqing.

Han Chuang knew that Chen Ling had been away from home all the time before, so there was nothing wrong with his current thinking. He followed Chen Ling's lead and enthusiastically started talking about his pre-wedding preparations.

"Xiaoqing and I are going to the city to pick out a TV in a while. Hehe, come to my house to see it when we get back. It's a color TV, it'll be awesome."

"Come on, you can't just buy a TV for your wedding and let people watch it right away. But you two went all the way to the city just to buy a TV?"

"I've bought a motorcycle, a bicycle, and a radio. I've also ordered jewelry. This trip to the city is to buy a TV and take some photos. My dad said he'll divide the family property among me later and give me the tractor too."

The group munched on watermelon and chatted idly. After finishing the large watermelon, Han Chuang stood up and volunteered to throw away the watermelon rinds.

"It's okay, you don't need to throw the watermelon rinds outside. Just put them in the stone trough outside the chicken coop. When the chickens and ducks come back, they will eat them themselves."

Wang Susu reminded her.

Upon hearing this, Han Chuang carried a basin full of melon rinds to the chicken coop, poured them into a stone trough, and saw a machete leaning against the wall. He asked, "Sister-in-law, are these melon rinds big enough for the chickens to eat? Should we chop them up before feeding them?"

"No need, no need. You wash your hands and rest. They can finish eating by pecking at the food themselves."

Wang Susu explained for a moment, then walked to the door and softly called out to the chickens, "Hoo...hoo...hoo..."

Before long, the chickens, ducks, and quails came running back in a swarm. They knew it was time to feed them, and they went straight to the chicken coop as soon as they entered the yard.

Upon seeing the watermelon rinds in the stone trough, they immediately swarmed around it, filling the trough to the brim in the blink of an eye. They jostled each other, their heads bobbing rapidly as they pecked at the watermelon rinds, each one eating with great gusto.

Jiang Xiaoqing washed her hands and came over to take a look. She saw a few quails mixed in with the chickens and ducks, and she immediately became interested.

However, these quails were clearly no match for the chickens and ducks, especially the ducks. Not only were they strong, but their beaks were also like hoeing the ground when they ate. Every time they took a bite, they could swallow a large piece of melon rind, and with a turn of their plump rear ends, they would push the quails out.

The quails were cornered and started chirping anxiously. Then, the dog jumped up, stepping on the chickens and ducks, and went to fight with them in the stone trough.

The sounds of clucking, quacking, and chirping—chickens, ducks, and quails mingled together, instantly creating a strong sense of pastoral life.

Han Chuang and Jiang Xiaoqing watched with great interest until the melon rinds in the stone trough were all eaten clean. Only then did they reluctantly return to the stone table and sit down to help Wang Susu peel garlic and prepare seasonings.

As they chatted, it was almost noon, so Chen Ling got up and took the seasonings and ingredients into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

The first dish today is braised eel segments. Chen Ling first heated the wok, then poured in peanut oil, then added Sichuan peppercorns and star anise, and stir-fried them until fragrant. While the wok was still hot, he added the eel segments and ginger slices and stir-fried them. Then he added dark soy sauce, cooking wine, soybean paste and water and simmered for a few minutes. Finally, he added salt, some chopped green onions and garlic cloves, and simmered it for a little while longer.

The aroma of meat filled the air as the pot lid was lifted. Since guests had come to visit, Heiwa and Xiaojin had been called to lie under the eaves by Chen Ling. But they couldn't resist running over with their own food bowls in their mouths, squatting behind him and staring at him longingly, their mouths watering.

"What are you doing? The guests haven't even eaten yet and you want to eat? Haven't I fed you enough? Get out of here."

Chen Ling scolded them, and the two dogs immediately picked up their food bowls and ran away looking aggrieved.

These two little ones never fall behind when it's time to eat; they're always included in the big meals. Now they're even pretending to be pitiful.

The next dish he cooked was Chen Ling's specialty, twice-cooked pork. He himself was already tired of it, but it was still a good dish to serve to guests.

After the twice-cooked pork was cooked, it was time for today's main event: spicy crayfish. Han Chuang and Jiang Xiaoqing had never eaten this before, so they came over to watch when they saw Chen Ling start making crayfish.

At this moment, Chen Ling had just washed the large iron pot on the stove twice. There were many people today, and a lot of crayfish had been caught, so they couldn't use a regular iron pot to stir-fry them.

Add firewood and light it. After the pot is hot, pour in oil. Once the oil is hot, Chen Ling pours the prepared crayfish into the pot.

"Zi la..."

In the sizzling oil of the wok, the crayfish quickly turned from their original bluish-gray color to an enticing red.

The color alone made Han Chuang and Jiang Xiaoqing drool.

Jiang Xiaoqing no longer questioned whether or not the crayfish were edible; she just wondered to herself if there weren't enough crayfish.

(End of this chapter)