Age: My Small World

Chapter 13 Have a good meal
Yang Hongmei was shaken for a moment, and when she looked carefully, her eyes were suddenly fixed.

Instead of being excited, she frowned, a rare occurrence.

"Xiaoshan, why did you go into the water again? You just got well, what if you get sick again?"

"Sister, you've seen me these past few days. I'm as good as a cow now. Nothing's wrong."

"Don't worry about anything. Just help me kill these two fish. We'll have fish tonight."

Seeing that he was indeed lively and energetic, Yang Hongmei felt relieved.

So his attention returned to the fish, and he became hesitant this time.

"Xiaoshan, it's such a big fish, why don't you sell it? It can fetch several cents."

"Sister, we haven't seen meat in our house for a long time. Let's cook it. We can talk about selling it later. It's not like I can only catch these two fish!"

"But..." Yang Hongmei took the fish and paused for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Yang Jun knew that Yang Hongmei would not be persuaded so easily, so he simply took the knife himself, then took the fish and put it on the chopping board to kill the fish.

Unfortunately, he had little experience, and the fish often slipped away and he couldn't keep his balance.

Even with its gills pierced, the fish is still alive.

"Forget it, let me do it." Yang Hongmei was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, so she had to take over herself.

Yang Jun gave up his seat awkwardly.

As soon as the eldest sister took over, she immediately showed her skilled techniques.

First, hit the fish's head directly with a knife, then wrap the fish's body with a piece of rag and start scraping off the scales quickly. When the scales are almost removed, cut open the belly and remove the gills.

The small fish instantly became three points lighter after some treatment.

"Xiaoshan, help me keep an eye on the corn porridge."

Although Yang Hongmei is busy, she never forgets her job.

"and me."

Yang Jun stirred the bottom of the pot with a spatula to prevent it from getting sticky.

Then he looked at the fish and said, "Sister, let's stew some cabbage together later."

"Okay, I'll make it for you." Yang Hongmei smiled.

After a while of hard work, when the corn porridge was almost cooked, I served it in a bowl.

The next step is to make cabbage stewed with crucian carp.

My elder sister used a little oil, which was rare for her, to fry the bottom of the pot, then added ginger and garlic and stir-fried them until fragrant, and then added water.

Put the crucian carp in first and cook it slowly over low heat.

When it is almost cooked, add the cabbage and stew together.

In fact, the crucian carp should be fried and then some tofu and vermicelli should be added to make it taste better. Unfortunately, there was not enough oil, let alone ingredients like tofu and vermicelli.

Despite this, the smell with a hint of oil is still very tempting.

As soon as the aroma came out of the pot, there was movement outside.

"Big girl, is the meal ready?"

My mother and second sister came in together, each carrying a basket filled with cornmeal. It seemed that they had just gone to the village to grind flour.

The place where flour is ground is next to Fan Yuanjie's house. There is a stone mill, and it takes a lot of effort to grind flour every time.

"Hey, what's that smell so good?" After putting down the backpack, the second sister Yang Yumei sniffed and rushed to the stove.

"It smells so good, sister, you must have stewed some meat." That's what he said.

As a result, when she opened the lid of the pot, she saw fish stewed with cabbage.

"I caught two fish and stewed them with a little bit of oil and cabbage." Yang Jun was afraid that his mother would blame his eldest sister, so he spoke first.

"Cover it quickly, it's not done yet." Yang Hongmei said. Yang Yumei sniffed reluctantly and covered the lid.

The mother stood aside with a complicated expression. After seeing her son smiling at her, she couldn't say any words of blame.

"Just stew it, and consider it as a New Year's gift for you three."

"Mom, you are so nice." Yang Jun deliberately complimented her, causing my mother to give him a helpless smile.

"It won't work next time. My family still has to save money for your high school education, and we haven't paid back the money owed to the village yet." When talking about all the money needed, the wrinkles at the corners of Li Xiaohua's eyes deepened a little.

"I understand, Mom." Yang Yumei responded and squatted in front of the stove to help.

She reached out and squeezed Yang Jun's arm.

"Brother, you are really good. You can catch fish every few days."

"What's that? I'll catch a big one and bring it back someday." Yang Jun made psychological preparations for several people in advance.

He thought that one day when he went outside again, he would find an excuse to take the big grass carp out.

"Okay, I'll go with you then. I'm afraid you can't carry it."

Watching the two of them talking and laughing, my elder sister and mother didn't take it seriously.

My mother put the noodles in the dish and cleaned it up a bit, and then the meal was almost ready.

The cabbage stewed with crucian carp was out of the pot, and the hot dish caught everyone's attention.

They divided the cooled corn porridge into portions, added some pickles, and the four of them started eating around the table.

Li Xiaohua was the first to pick up a piece of fish belly for Yang Jun, and then she picked up some cabbage to eat.

Looking at the eldest and second sisters, their behaviors are almost the same.

She silently left the fish to him again.

Yang Jun's eyes were filled with tears when he saw this scene.

He picked up his chopsticks, divided the fish into four pieces, and then gave one to each of them.

"There's not much meat to begin with, and you're still growing, so you need to eat more. Besides, I don't like fish because it has too many bones."

"Mom, don't refuse. If you don't eat fish, then I won't eat it either!" Yang Jun threw a straight punch.

Li Xiaohua glared at him for a moment, then sighed.

"Forget it, just eat it all."

The four of them picked up their chopsticks together and tasted the few fresh and tender fish.

"It's delicious! Big sister's cooking skills are really good!" Yang Jun exclaimed.

There's actually nothing overly exaggerated about it.

It was just that after having been on a diet of corn porridge for a long time, I suddenly had a better meal like this, and my taste buds were truly whetted.

"If it tastes good, eat more." My mother specially picked up some more dishes for him.

With the last bit of light left, dinner ended.

Not long after we finished our meal, there was a sudden noise outside.

"Everyone gather at the threshing ground. The village has something to say."

This is the voice of Uncle San of the Fan family, notifying the neighbors.

"What else is going on at this hour of night? It's pitch dark."

Yang Yumei muttered.

"Maybe something has happened. Let's go and take a look." Yang Jun frowned, unable to imagine what could be happening in the village right now.

Fortunately, it was not completely dark. There was still a ray of light in the sky, illuminating the way to the granary.

After the moon rises, it becomes even brighter.

When walking on the road, you can occasionally see flickering lights not far away. That means someone is walking with a lit torch.

It is not made of wax or oil, but simply firewood, and will burn out in a short time.

When we arrived at the threshing ground, it was already bustling with people. It seemed that everyone in Fanjiazhuang had come.

"What's going on? There's no news at all in the middle of the night." Someone asked in confusion.

"It seems that the Wang family kid has caused trouble, and Uncle Seven asked me to come over to ask how to deal with it."

"Causing trouble? What's wrong?"

"I said those guys from the Wang family are always looking for trouble."

　New books for collection
　　
　
(End of this chapter)