1984: Starting from a bankrupt Sichuan restaurant

Chapter 145 We Can't Wait a Moment to Enjoy the Gossip (6k words in two parts)

Zhou Yan was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up.

So say it!
Grandma Qiu has decided to go to Hong Kong, so the Qiu family's old house will be empty.

Sure enough, once her inner conflict was resolved, the old lady still wanted to go to Hong Kong to reunite with her children and grandchildren. After all, being surrounded by children and grandchildren in old age is a truly blissful thing.

Judging from their interactions with Duan Yuyan, the Duan family must be quite well-off.

The Duan family is well-off and has investment projects in Chengdu.

Grandma Qiu can go to Hong Kong for a while, and if she doesn't like it, she can come back.

According to Duan Yuyan, the Duan family's old mansion, which occupies a larger area and has been renovated to be more luxurious, is still empty.

In this era, long journeys are only a concern for ordinary people. Chengdu has an airport, so there's no need to take a long, arduous journey south on a green-skinned train.

"That's great. From now on, you can just drop your letters into the mailbox instead of putting them in the box," Zhou Yan said with a smile to Grandpa Wang. The old man looked radiant today, and you could tell he was genuinely happy.

Grandpa Wang said emotionally, "Thank you so much this time. I never dreamed that I could walk side by side with Qiu Qi across the stone bridge and chat under the tree at the bridgehead. I have no regrets in this life."

If I can't bring you together again, that would be my regret. Zhou Yan smiled and said, "You're too kind."

After watching the old man leave, Zhou Yan turned around and saw Zhou Momo standing behind him, wearing a small straw hat, carrying a small fishing rod, and holding a small fish basket. She looked up at him and said, "Brother, let's go fishing!"

This set of equipment was made for her by Comrade Lao Zhou in the past two days when he had some free time.

There's no way around it; that's just how doting fathers are—they'll do whatever their daughters ask for.

"I made one for you too, do you want to go fishing?" Old Zhou followed him out, carrying two fishing rods and two folding stools, and asked Zhou Yan with a smile.

“We’ll definitely catch some!” Zhou Yan nodded with a smile and walked into the shop: “Old man, you go dig for eels first, I’ll go knead some dough.”

"What are you going to do with the dough for the fishing box?" Old Zhou asked, puzzled.

"Let's cook for the fish. My target fish today was sea cucumber, but I caught some fried dough fish to eat," Zhou Yan replied.

"Cook for the fish?" Old Zhou scratched his head, a little confused.

"What delicious food is Guoguo going to make for Yubaibai?" Zhou Momo followed him into the kitchen excitedly.

Zhou Yan took an empty bowl, added two spoonfuls of flour, a bottle cap of white wine, a spoonful of white sugar, a small half spoonful of MSG, and a spoonful of sesame oil, and simply mixed it well.

Then add an appropriate amount of water, allowing the flour to fully absorb the water, and knead until the dough surface is smooth and fine.

A fist-sized dough ball was kneaded, with sesame oil added, giving it a slightly pale yellow color. If you got close, you could smell a faint aroma of wine and sesame oil.

"Is Guoguo going to make noodles for Yu Baibai?" Zhou Momo leaned over curiously. "Let me smell it."

Zhou Yan held the dough in front of her nose and smelled it.

"It smells so good!" Zhou Momo exclaimed instinctively, opening her mouth.

"This is fish bait! You can't eat it." Zhou Yan reacted quickly and snatched the dough back.

I don't know if fishing works, but it's definitely effective at catching little foodies.

"Let's go, let's go!" Zhou Yan wrapped the dough in kraft paper, grabbed the fishing rod, and led Zhou Momo out the door.

"Fishing more fish will determine what we eat tonight; it all depends on how well the three of you catch fish," Aunt Zhao said with a smile as she prepared to go out to play mahjong.

“Okay!” Zhou Yan nodded with a smile.

"Let's catch a big fish!" Zhou Momo gestured with her hands outstretched.

On weekends when there are no group activities, the family members each do their own thing and don't force themselves to get together and stare at each other.

Zhou Yan brought Zhou Momo to the riverbank, just in time to see Old Zhou solemnly cast his first line, muttering to himself, "Fish, fish, bite quickly, I'm here to feed you..."

Then he turned around and saw Zhou Yan and Zhou Momo standing behind him.

I am most afraid of the sudden silence in the air...

"Dad, did you secretly learn my spell?" Zhou Momo asked curiously as she leaned closer to Old Zhou.

"I...I just said it offhand." Comrade Zhou scratched his head awkwardly. "Well, sit down, I've already taken over the nest."

Zhou Yan was laughing so hard he almost fell over; the little guy was a bit clueless about social etiquette.

He took a small stool and sat down next to him, then took the fishing rod that Old Zhou had made by hand.

The fishing rod is made of dried bamboo. The bamboo joints are polished very smoothly, and it feels quite good to hold and is very comfortable.

It is about two meters long, the tip of the rod has been reinforced, and the line has already been tied on.

Zhou Momo's little dried fish is about 1.2 meters long. I specially chose a small bamboo stick for her, and the handle is wrapped with pink yarn. It fits the little one perfectly, so she doesn't have to struggle to hold it with both hands like before.

Comrade Lao Zhou favors women over men; this gives us a glimpse into the whole picture.

To be honest, although Old Zhou couldn't catch any fish, he made an excellent fishing rod.

Zhou Yan removed the toothpaste tube from the top of the fishhook and pushed the float down to about fifteen centimeters from the hook.

This is the spot where Zhou Momo caught a 5.8-pound carp last time. Old Zhou has been fishing here for the past few days, and although he has come back empty-handed four times in three days, he is still convinced that he will catch a 5.8-pound carp next time.

Comrade Lao Zhou put some rapeseed cake into the pigsty. This stuff is the residue from pressing rapeseed oil. Some farmers buy it and mix it into their pig feed, which has a significant fattening effect.

As the rapeseed cake dissolved in the water, bits of it floated to the surface from time to time. In no time, swarms of sea cucumbers appeared on the water.

Ginseng seeds have different names in different regions, such as white stripe, pointed beak, and green scale.

This group of hundreds of fish was a disaster for the angler.

"So many fish!" Zhou Momo's eyes lit up, and she cast her little fishing rod into the water. "Little fish, come quick!"

Old Zhou had just taken a swamp eel out of the glass bottle to put it in her container when he said with a smile, "You haven't put any swamp eels in your container yet..."

When the hook is dropped into the water, the float is immediately dragged away.

"Whoa!" Zhou Momo quickly lifted the fishing rod, and there was a large sea cucumber, about a 1-kilogram long, hanging on it.

Old Zhou stopped laughing, looked at the large sea cucumber swaying on the fishing hook, then looked up at Zhou Momo, and couldn't help but ask the soul-searching question: "Is this right?"

"Maybe they haven't finished distributing the newbie gift pack yet..." Zhou Yan couldn't help but laugh.

There must be just too many sea cucumbers on the surface of the water, because even an empty hook is chased and bitten.

"Dad, let's pick the fish and arrange it." Zhou Momo handed the fish to Old Zhou.

"Okay," Old Zhou replied with a smile, reaching out to remove the fish and toss it into the fish basket.

Zhou Yan took out a dough ball, used his fingernail to pick out a grain of rice-sized piece, hung it on the hook tip, and cast it towards the spot where the fish were most numerous. The float was immediately dragged along, and with a flick of the fishing rod, he caught a fat sea cucumber about a 1-kilogram long.

"Wow, Guoguo caught a fish too!" Zhou Momo's eyes lit up.

"And how did you catch any fish?" Old Zhou was a bit dumbfounded. He was the one who arrived first! How come he hadn't caught anything yet?
"I kneaded this dough myself, do you want some?" Zhou Yan smiled and showed the dough in his hand, then picked off the fish strips and put them in the fish basket.

"Fish eat dough?" Old Zhou frowned, clearly indicating that this was outside his area of ​​knowledge, and shook his head: "I'd rather use eels to catch big fish."

Zhou Yan smiled without saying a word, and simply kept serving fish.

One, two... ten! Twenty!
The baton linkage is so strong, it just won't stop.

After catching two fish with an empty hook, Zhou Momo's float stopped moving. However, unlike the stubborn old Zhou, she immediately switched to Zhou Yan's tutelage.

Zhou Yan helped her modify the fishing rig, and gave a lump of dough to Old Zhou, who was bored out of his mind, so that he could bait Zhou Momo's bait.

Then Zhou Momo also started to connect.

"Wow!"

"ah!"

"Another one!"

"I'm so amazing~"

Accompanied by Zhou Momo's joyful exclamations, sea cucumbers were fished up one after another.

Comrade Lao Zhou had to both pick the fish and hook them up, so he never rested.

Although I didn't catch a single fish, at least I got tired.

"Is fishing really that easy? Why can I catch one fish after another?" Old Zhou started to have some doubts about life.

They fished for about two hours, and Zhou Yan's hands were numb from holding the line. He glanced at the fish basket, which was almost overflowing with sea cucumbers, and decisively put away his line.

Zhou Momo had already gone on strike. She had caught dozens of fish, and now she was squatting by the fish basket, playing with them.

"Old man, with so many fish, you could catch them with your hands, how come you came back empty-handed?" Zhou Yan put down his fishing rod and asked Old Zhou with a puzzled look.

Comrade Zhou pondered for a moment and said, "Um... it should be because the weather is good today, the air pressure is just right, and the water temperature is also just right."

"Let's go back and get some fish. There are so many sea cucumbers; it'll take a long time to kill them." Zhou Yan picked up the fish basket; the fish he caught alone weighed at least four or five pounds.

"Okay." Old Zhou followed suit, reeling in his line. He picked up his fish basket, glanced at it, and laughed, "Quite a lot, I'm afraid we can't finish them all."

Another fruitful day.

Except for Comrade Lao Zhou.

Back at the restaurant with the fish, Aunt Zhao was sitting at the entrance, cracking sunflower seeds. "Weren't you going to play mahjong?" Old Zhou asked, somewhat surprised.

"Li Sanmei went to the city wall, we were one short for mahjong, so we couldn't play." Zhao Tieying stood up with a smile. "Back so early, did you catch anything?"

"Dad didn't catch any, but Guoguo and I caught so many fish!" Zhou Momo said happily.

"Really? Let me see." Zhao Tieying took the fish basket from Old Zhou and glanced at it, exclaiming in surprise, "Wow! So many? Did Momo catch them all?"

"Mmm." Zhou Momo nodded, her little face beaming with praise!
“Our youngest daughter is really amazing! Your old man has never caught so many fish before,” Zhao Tieying said with a smile.

Comrade Zhou scratched his head awkwardly. What could he do? She could catch two fish with an empty hook, while he hadn't caught a single one after waiting all afternoon.

"There's another expert here!" Zhao Tieying took the fish basket from Zhou Yan again, and was even more surprised when she felt the weight of it: "This weighs four or five pounds, how are we going to finish it? The four of us probably can't finish it."

"Pick two pounds of the big ones to braise, two pounds of the small ones to fry into dough fish, and give the rest away?" Zhou Yan said.

“Okay.” Aunt Zhao nodded and looked at Comrade Zhou, saying, “My mother likes to eat fish. Go and call her and Lao Wu over for dinner. Also, divide the extra ginseng into three portions, and send one portion to each of your brothers’ families so they can prepare it themselves. We’ll clean and fry the fish, and you can eat it when you get back.”

"Okay." Comrade Zhou nodded and first took the fishing rod inside and put it away.

Zhou Yan poured out the ginseng and selected a plate of the large ones and a plate of the small ones. The remaining ginseng of uniform size was divided into three portions, which the uncles took back. Each family could have more than a pound of ginseng, which could be fried or braised as a dish.

Comrade Zhou rode away on his bicycle, while Aunt Zhao and Zhou Yan began to kill the fish.

The whitebait in early winter are very plump; the largest one can weigh two ounces and be almost as long as chopsticks, and ten of them would weigh two pounds.

The smaller ones are a little over a finger's length, but two kilograms is quite a lot.

The scales of the ginseng are fine and soft; you can push them off with your fingernail from the tail.

Aunt Zhao worked quickly, and the two of them cleaned the fish thoroughly in half an hour. They rinsed it several times with well water and spread it out on a bamboo sieve to dry, without leaving a trace of blood.

"It looks really nice," Aunt Zhao said with a smile. "Want me to help you?"

"Help me light the fire. I'll steam a pot of rice in the pot first, and fry the fish to set their shape. Then I'll cook them again when they arrive," Zhou Yan said, picking up the winnowing basket and heading towards the kitchen.

Mix starch and flour in a 2:1 ratio, add an egg, a suitable amount of salt, and water to make a batter. Then, pour the marinated ginseng into the batter and stir to coat each ginseng evenly.

Heat the oil to 60% of its maximum temperature, then fry the ingredients until they are 50% cooked and set. Remove them and set aside.

The key to delicious fried ginseng is its texture; it needs to be fried a second time in oil to get it thoroughly cooked and crispy.

Today, the sea cucumber won't be fried in oil; it will be marinated first with scallions, ginger, and cooking wine. He plans to try making the sea cucumber using the same method as cooking live crucian carp.

"Du" is a cooking method in Sichuan cuisine, where fish is slowly poached over low heat until cooked through, resulting in a tender and smooth texture.

The method is similar to that of the Tai'an fish I made last time, except that I don't coat it with thick starch or deep-fry it.

The ingredients for cooking fish are pretty much the same. Open the pickle jar, take out a handful of pickled peppers, pickled ginger, and pickled radish, chop them into small pieces, and add dried chili peppers, scallions, ginger, and garlic. Also, chop up some of your own pickled cabbage.

In the Sichuan and Chongqing region, the quality of a fish dish is judged by how many bowls of rice can be eaten with the leftover fish soup.

If I could get a comment like, "Save this soup for noodles tomorrow morning!"

That means the fish was cooked to a very high standard.

"grandmother!"

"Uncle!"

Zhou Momo's cheerful voice came from the doorway. She had arrived, and Zhou Yan immediately started stir-frying the ingredients.

Add a spoonful of rapeseed oil and a spoonful of lard. The aroma of the oil will be more intense. When the oil is hot, add the chopped pickled vegetables and stir-fry until the moisture evaporates and the sour and fragrant aroma is released. Add the fermented bean paste and stir-fry until the oil turns red. Then add the scallions, ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Pour in water and boil for five minutes to allow the flavors to fully infuse the broth.

Season the fish, add the large strips of fish, ensuring the water level just covers the fish, add a handful of scallion segments, and simmer over low heat.

Turn up the heat in another oil pan and slowly raise the oil temperature. Then, put the previously fried ginseng into the pan twice for a second fry.

The small ginseng seeds floated on the surface, sizzling, and their aroma was irresistible.

The old lady went into the kitchen, walked to the stove, glanced at it, and said with a smile, "A pot of fried fish and a pot of braised fish, not bad at all."

"If you dare to invite Grandma to eat here, then you must make sure it's something special." Zhou Yan said with a smile, scooping out the golden and crispy fried fish with a slotted spoon and putting them on plates. The fish, which weighed more than two pounds, filled two plates.

The old lady took a pair of chopsticks, picked up a piece and shook it up and down, then handed it to Zhou Momo, who was watching eagerly from the side.

"Thank you, Grandma!" Zhou Momo's eyes lit up as she took the fish and took a big bite of its head.

Click!

So crispy!

The small fish bones are all crunchy, and they're so delicious to chew!

The little guy's eyes lit up immediately, and he looked up at the old lady with surprise: "Grandma, don't the little fish have any bones?"

"Take small bites and chew slowly. The bones will be fried until they're crispy, then you can swallow them," the old lady said with a smile.

"Mmm." Zhou Momo nodded obediently, taking small bites and chewing each one for a while before swallowing.

The old lady picked up a small fish for herself, taking half a bite at a time, chewing it slowly, and nodding, saying, "It's really crispy. Your flour is well mixed. Did you add an egg? The saltiness is just right too. It's perfect with alcohol."

"The ratio of starch to flour is two to one. I cracked an egg into it and mixed it well to make a batter. I added some salt to the batter and poured in the marinated small fish..." Zhou Yan shared his tips for frying small fish with the old lady while scooping out the cooked sea cucumbers.

The ginseng flesh is relatively thin, so it can be taken out of the pot after cooking for three minutes. Reduce the sauce over high heat, thicken it with cornstarch, and when the soup in the pot starts to thicken and bubbling, drizzle in some vinegar around the edge of the pot, sprinkle with chopped green onions, and pour the thick soup over the ginseng.

The aroma of fish wafts through the air, and the vibrant colors of kimchi, chili peppers, and scallions create a striking visual effect. This dish of freshly cooked ginseng looks quite appetizing.

"You guys eat first, I'll stir-fry some pork cracklings and cabbage and be right there." Zhou Yan told Old Zhou to bring the fish out of the kitchen, rinsed the wok, scooped up a spoonful of rapeseed oil from frying the fish, and stir-fried a vegetable dish with a bang.

Zhou Yan brought out the vegetarian dishes, and everyone was already seated, but no one had touched their chopsticks.

Zhou Miao poured two ounces of baijiu for the old lady, and he and Zhou Weiguo each poured one ounce.

The two brothers don't usually drink, so they were obviously keeping the old lady company today.

"Please sit down. We don't dare touch our chopsticks until the chef comes to the table." The old lady looked at Zhou Yan and smiled. "Would you like a couple of ounces of food too?"

"I won't drink anymore, I'll just have two more bowls of rice." Zhou Yan sat down with a smile. He could drink some beer, but he really couldn't stand drinking baijiu.

"Let's start eating. It's the first time in so many years that I've tasted fish caught by Lao Si." The old lady picked up her chopsticks and first put a large strip of fish into her bowl.

Zhou Miao blushed and stammered, "Momo and Zhou Yan caught this fish today."

"You didn't catch any of those small fish?" The old lady shook her head with a smile. "Your skill level is about the same as your older brother's."

“Well, I’m a bit better than my older brother. I can catch fish now.” Zhou Miao said, a little unconvinced.

"Eldest brother is no different from second brother. The duel between the sorcerers is just a charade." The old lady waved her hand, having already seen through him.

Zhou Yan ate the fried fish with a smile. The fried fish head was really good. The fish head was crispy, the batter was fluffy, and it had an eggy aroma when you chewed it. You didn't have to worry about fish bones. It was salty and flavorful, and very delicious.

The old lady picked up a large ginseng root, took a bite, savored it carefully, spit out the fish bones one by one, and looked at Zhou Yan, saying, "Hmm, your ginseng root is really spicy and fragrant, the fish is so tender, there's no fishy smell at all, it's sour and spicy, and the kimchi flavor is so good too. Tell me the recipe after we finish eating, and I'll use this method to cook fish next time."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Grandma, take some of the pickled cabbage and pickled peppers I made back later. I guarantee the fish you cook will be sour and spicy, and very flavorful."

"Okay." The old lady nodded.

Aunt Zhao picked up a large ginseng root, sliced ​​a piece of fish meat off the belly with her chopsticks, and fed it to her mouth along with the broth.

The sour and spicy flavors accentuate the freshness of the fish, and the fish meat is so tender that it melts in your mouth.

There were a lot of small bones, but with a flick of the tongue, all the small bones were sucked out. He casually remarked, "The taste is indeed good. It's a bit different from the braised carp I made last time. It's just that this scallop has too many bones, making it a bit inconvenient to eat."

Zhou Yan was also eating ginseng seeds and realized the same problem.

The meat was indeed exceptionally tender, but the fish was small and had many bones, making it less than satisfying to eat. He laughed and said, "It seems this cooking method is only suitable for larger fish with fewer bones."

The old lady said, "Next time, fry the fish first and then cook it in the sauce. Fry the small bones thoroughly, and if it's cooked properly, it will be crispy to chew. Although it won't be as tender, it will still taste delicious."

Zhou Yan nodded, summarizing his experience, and prepared to try again next time.

Aunt Zhao smiled and said, "Eat slowly even though there are many thorns. It tastes very good and goes perfectly with rice. This soup would be so delicious with rice."

“That’s right, Zhou Yan is really good at cooking fish. The braised crucian carp with mint he cooked last time was also delicious,” Zhou Weiguo said, already serving himself his second bowl of rice.

The family chatted and laughed, finishing all four catties of ginseng, even mixing the broth with rice.

"Grandma, do you still remember Wang Yu and his fiancée Miss Qiu?" After finishing her meal, the old lady sat on a bamboo chair by the door, and Zhou Yan sat down next to her on a small stool, smiling as he asked.

“Miss Qiu…” The old lady thought for a moment and nodded with a smile, “I remember now, Miss Qiu is so beautiful, wearing a black cheongsam, she has such a great figure. I saw her once in Suji, and later when I went to Jiaozhou to deliver braised meat to Huang Silang, I happened to catch her getting married, marrying that…that…”

"Young Master Duan," Zhou Yan replied with a smile.

“That’s right.” The old lady clapped her hands, a look of reminiscence on her face: “Back then, when people got married, they rode in convertibles, and half of Jiaozhou City came to watch the spectacle. You tell me how impressive that was.”

Suddenly, as if realizing something, she turned to look at Zhou Yan: "The Qiu Qi and Duan Xingbang you asked me about the day before yesterday, could it be Miss Qiu and Young Master Duan?"

“That’s right.” Zhou Yan nodded with a smile. “And you mentioned that poor Fourth Young Master Wang Yu. He’s now called Wang Ran. He’s retired and works as a librarian in Suji Town. He’s still in good health. He said he’d like to come to Zhou Village to see you sometime to thank you and Grandpa for saving his life back then.”

"Oh, no need to thank me. He's protecting our country. I just did a little thing to prevent a hero from being wronged and disheartened. It's what I should do." The old lady waved her hand, leaned forward slightly, and looked curious. She lowered her voice a few notches and asked, "So, the old lady Qiu was waiting for was Wang Yu? How are they now? Have they made contact? Have they rekindled their romance?"

There's no need for thanks.

But we can't wait a moment longer to enjoy the gossip.

　Asking for a monthly ticket~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)