Traveling through the Prosperous Pastoral of Peasant Girls

Chapter 3 Partnership Shrimp Fishing
Chapter 3 Partnership Shrimp Fishing

The few small fish are wheat ear fish, white striped fish, tiger fish, stick flower fish, and a fish that looks like a crucian carp but is not as big as a palm. It is purple in color with a halo and its body is extremely thin. Liu Tao doesn't recognize it. .

Jin Yang said: "That's called sliced ​​fish, suitable for frying and eating." Because the number of these miscellaneous fish is small, they are all released.

"Hahaha, it's okay! Usually, one person can't catch these in two or three days." Jin Yang's mother also became excited, and hurriedly helped them pour the shrimps into the prepared wooden barrels. She urged the two of them to throw away the black wolf fish and the dirty crayfish.

"This black wolf fish is highly poisonous. If you eat it, it will poison people to death. Throw it back into the water quickly. And the crawfish (crayfish) are not tasty, so throw them all away, but there are too few crucian carp, not enough Have a meal."

The two looked at the black wolf fish in her mouth, which is another name for puffer fish. They also knew that puffer fish is poisonous, not only poisonous, but also the most powerful neurotoxin, more than 1000 times more poisonous than cyanide The Japanese are most famous for eating fugu, and no less than 50 people die every year because of eating fugu.But the delicacy of puffer fish is the top ingredient in freshwater fish. The poisonous parts of puffer fish are in the fish head, liver, ovary, and skin. As long as these two parts are removed, it will be extremely delicious.There are many ways to cook puffer fish, cold, braised, fried, and stewed. It also contains a variety of minerals needed by the human body. It has special functions for nourishing the weak and giving milk to pregnant women.Liu Tao couldn't bear to throw it away, and even the golden seedlings that had eaten puffer fish a few times aroused greediness.

But these two puffer fish belong to Fugu obscurus, which is a slightly poisonous species among hundreds of species of puffer fish. They can be eaten except the fish head and internal organs, and they are extremely delicious.Liu Tao broke off a willow branch, put on a puffer fish, and took it home. Since the crayfish were rare, she released them back into the river. She pointed at the puffer fish and told her family not to move, and she had to wait for him to come back to deal with it. A small cloth bag returned to the river.

The third net is smoother. This time, there are six to seven catties of harvest. There are two puffer fish caught in the net, one is obscurus puffer fish, and the other is purple fugu. This kind of purple puffer fish is so poisonous that even the fish meat cannot be eaten. , Jin Yang threw it away without hesitation.There are many more shrimps in this net.Seeing that there were more shrimps in the third net than in the second net, Jin Yang's mother poured the shrimps in the basin into Liu Tao's cloth pocket, and then put the shrimps in the net into the wooden basin.Seeing her selfish performance, Liu Tao secretly laughed that he would fool the child, she didn't dare to give advice to her future mother-in-law, she could only pretend not to notice it quietly.

The sun rose, and a few people came to the river to catch shrimps with bamboo sieves. They envied Jinyang and their nets, but they couldn't catch much in a day with bamboo sieves. up.When the third net was not cleared up, Liu Tao's younger brothers and sisters all came to watch the fun by the river, and then attracted a lot of spectators, even Liu Tao's grandmother and aunt Dapang also followed.

The fourth net harvested another six to seven catties, and there was also one dark-striped puffer fish, which weighed more than two catties, and the two of them were so happy that they couldn't stop talking from ear to ear.When Jin Yang's mother put most of the shrimp into her bucket, Liu Tao's grandma saw something wrong: "This, Jin Yang's mother, this is not fair."

"What's unfair, the rope and the net belong to our family, man, our family has an extra one, it would be nice to share these with Liu Tao, not to mention there is a big black wolf?"

"You think we are stupid, can black wolf eat it? Why doesn't your family want black wolf fish to give us willow peaches and shrimp? You have to have a conscience..."

Seeing that the two were quarreling, the two hurriedly stopped their work to persuade the quarrel. Liu Tao's aunt was also slightly partial to Jin Yang's mother in order to make a good impression on Jin Yang's mother.This angered grandma, and she yelled at the aunt again.

"Jin Yang, let's go home, these New Years are enough to eat, let's quit!"

Seeing Jin Yang's mother untie the rope that pulls the net, pick up the wooden barrel and walk away on her own, the two of them were also dumbfounded.Without the rope, the job would be impossible.But grandma didn't think so: "Big fat, go home and bring our rope, we can do it ourselves!"

Brother Jin Yang is not a child who doesn't understand at four or six, he doesn't dig his mother's corner behind his back, he tidies up the fishing net and fights, greets Liu Tao to go home.

Grandma was stunned for half a minute, and immediately thought that all the delicious shrimps had been taken away by Liu Tao, and immediately followed Liu Tao to meet the fat man who came back with a rope, and went to Liu Tao's house.Needless to say, she divided more than half of Liu Tao's prawns, and when Big Fatty left, she picked up a few big ones from the pile of prawns belonging to Liu Tao's family, even the crucian carp. up.Seeing that there were more than three catties of shrimp left, the whole family was very angry.

Liu Tao was also very angry, but she couldn't help smiling when she saw the five puffer fish that they kept away from.This kind of black wolf fish (puffer fish) is a specialty of this river, and it is also found in other rivers, but far less than this river.Because no one knows how to eat them, the river is full of tubes. Usually in summer, because the oxygen content of the river is low, black wolf fish can jump to the shore in large numbers.There are pigs and dogs and other domestic animals that eat it, and no one will be spared.

"Son, this black wolf can't be eaten. There was a famine in other places a few years ago, and the refugees who fled to us have never seen black wolf, but they poisoned more than a dozen..." Dad told Liu Tao with concern.

"Dad, that's why they don't know how to eat it. As long as it's handled properly, the black wolf is the best among fish."

The old mother timidly said: "Tao'er, let's forget it, you didn't drown, if you were poisoned to death by eating fish, it would be a joke, hurry up and bury the black wolf, we can't take this risk .”

"Mom, what do you know? When I went to the town market last year, I saw a stranger eating black wolf fish. He taught me how to clean up black wolf fish." Liu Tao lied without blushing.

"really?"

"Why am I lying to you? Is it necessary to take my life as a joke?"

Now is the slack season, the farmers have two meals in the morning and one evening, the dinner dish is a small pot of boiled shrimp, Liu Tao also cooks at home when her parents are busy in the field in summer, today she wants to eat puffer fish Let my mother rest again, and start by myself.She used two puffer fish (black wolf fish) to make a stewed black wolf fish, and put the rest in wooden barrels to raise, planning to add food to her family during the Chinese New Year.

The fish and shrimp were almost done. Liu Tao tasted it, and the umami taste was quite strong, but there was a bitter taste in the soup. Later, it was found that this was the bitter taste brought by the salt, which was caused by too many impurities in the salt.

Before dinner was served, Brother Jinyang came with a big steamed bun. He came to grab a meal, mainly because he was eyeing the puffer fish.The family looked at each other dumbfounded at the two bowls of black wolf fish soup served by Liu Tao, but Jin Yang eagerly moved his chopsticks.The whole family watched in amazement that the two of them were fine after drinking up a bowl, and then started to eat the second bowl after giving each other thumbs up.It wasn't until the two of them drank all the fish and soup that Jin Yang stroked his swollen belly and ate a shrimp.

The big steamed buns were left, and the golden seedlings were given to Liu Mao and willow branches. At this time, Liu Tao drank the last bit of fish soup in the bowl, wiped the sweat from her face, and burped in satisfaction.

"Mom, you don't know how delicious this black wolf fish stew is, it's overwhelming..." Liu Tao said exaggeratedly, and everyone became puzzled.They looked at Liutao and then at Jinyang, and they believed in Wulang's statement that it was delicious and not poisonous.

In the middle of the night, Liu Tao's parents, who cared about her, got up more than once to see her reaction. It seemed that they still couldn't fully believe that Wulang was not poisonous. It was not until the next morning that they were completely relieved.

When Jin Yang came home, he didn't tell his family that he had eaten Wulang. He didn't tell his family until noon the next day. He praised the Wulang fish soup made by Liu Tao, which made his family yearn for it. .

The next day, they went to catch shrimps again. This time, they went far away to avoid the troubles brought by Liu Tao's family. Black wolf fish.Dad set aside his own food for the New Year, and took most of the shrimps to the town to sell in the early morning of the next day. The copper coins sold this time were one or two and a half silver, and everyone was happy.This was the case for the past three days, because it was well concealed, but it was not discovered by the villagers.It's almost Chinese New Year, and the shrimps my dad sells are fresh and big, and they are very popular in the town. Therefore, within a few days, they are sold for five taels of silver, which can catch up with the income of ordinary people for half a year.

Liu Tao went to Jin Yang's house to teach and demonstrate to her mother-in-law how to make clear stewed black wolf soup. By the way, she had dinner at his house. Through this visit, her relationship with her future mother-in-law took another step forward.He watched those shrimps that he couldn’t finish eating and didn’t want to sell them, so he taught his mother-in-law how to cook fresh shrimps. The fresh shrimps can not only be boiled, fried and fried, but also can be made into shrimp paste. There are too many of them. Make Shrimp Dried Shrimp.While Liu Tao was explaining to her, she also showed her how to make a small jar of shrimp paste. A few days after the Chinese New Year, the shrimp paste was fermented. She made them two bowls of steamed shrimp paste with eggs. The four of them ate it. He couldn't stop applauding, and another bowl was given to Jin Yang's grandma to his uncle's house, which also received their praise.

The reason for the family of four is that Brother Jin Yang’s older brother, Jinsha, came back from the county school. He will be 17 years old after the Chinese New Year. He is the master of Juren in the future. He is so outstanding in his studies that he is number one in the village.When he came back, Liu Tao saw that he didn't know as many as the middle school students, but he was not too airy, and he didn't do any work, because he was the future master of Juren, and his family was happy to see him at leisure. Liu Tao didn't bother to talk to him.

Ask Liu Tao, who has never traveled far, how did she learn so many new things after she fell into the water?I didn't hear that anyone taught her and Jin Yang how to get this knowledge, so they said: "After we fell into the water, our souls went to a palace-like place that I don't know where, and entered a place made for big shots. A large workshop of utensils and food, people there can't see us, but we just wander around, these are all learned by stealing..."

Now, apart from the knowledge of these two families, the eating method of black wolf fish has not been rumored. One is to explain it to others, the other is to cause trouble if someone eats something wrong, and the third is to cherish the secret technique. If the river The dark-striped black wolf fish can be sold for money in the future, and if they are all caught, then they have cheated themselves.

The reason why the two valued money so much was because they longed for a better life. Just before they fell into the water, at the market in Qifeng Town, an incident left an unforgettable impression on them, and it always made them brood.That was when the two of them went together to sell the shrimps they had finally caught by the river. They used the same method as the people in the village. They tied a big bamboo sieve to the end of a long pole, stood on the bank, and put the bamboo The sieve is pressed into the bottom of the water, and then the shrimps in the river are fished out against the sludge at the bottom of the river.The two of them put together their daily income, and it was only three catties.They took the shrimps to the market to exchange money, but they were squeezed to the side of the road by a passing carriage, accidentally stepped on a young woman's foot, and then stepped on the woman's shoe in the mud.

The woman immediately flew into a rage, and Liu Tao and Brother Jin Yang saw her appearance, but they knew that he was their eldest cousin, the eldest daughter of Liu Tao's aunt, and the daughter of Jin Yang's aunt.Last year, he married a big landlord in Qifeng Town and became a concubine. Because he became a concubine for a rich man, his parents borrowed their daughter's credit to open a grocery store and became the shopkeeper.Facing the big cousin's scolding, Liu Tao just yelled weakly: "Big cousin, I didn't mean it."

"You poor girl, who is your eldest cousin? I don't have poor relatives like you, I would be ashamed. Look at my shoes. They are made of silver silk satin. I can't compensate you for being so poor." Get up..." She called to the servant girl: "Chunxiang, slap her a few times for me, so that she will open his dog eyes when she walks in the future!"

Chunxiang, who has been doing farm work since she was a child, was ordered by her master to slap 11-year-old Liu Tao on the face when she came over. The eldest cousin also twisted Liu Tao's cheeks. The landowner didn't dare to do anything to him, but just ignored him.Seeing that calling "Big Cousin" was useless, Jin Yang went to stop Chunxiang again, but was kicked by Chunxiang and beat him hard a few times. He even knocked down the bamboo basket containing the shrimp, and the shrimp scattered all over the floor.Later, the fourth grandpa of the grandpa's family passed by and scolded, and the people next to him came and pulled them away. When they helped each other up, the eldest cousin and Chunxiang had already walked away for more than ten steps.

Seeing that Liu Tao was beaten worse than him, Jin Yang couldn't get rid of his anger because of such an innocent disaster.He also took Liu Tao's hand and yelled at the big cousin's back; "Big cousin, if you don't avenge this revenge, you will never share the same death. Remember today, you will definitely pay back this revenge!"

The New Year has passed happily. This year, my dad sold shrimps for three consecutive days, and bought a lot of New Year's goods and fabrics for the family to make clothes.For Liu Tao's dedication, she has been appreciated by her family, and Liu Tao is also satisfied with herself.After the new year, the two families also took a rest.

This happy atmosphere was soon broken, because on the fifth day after the new year, the girl who went out and the uncle returned home. Grandpa's daughter, Liu Tao's aunt, and her seven-year-old third daughter, Xiaofeng, also came to visit. Relatives, because the eldest uncle had to guard his shop, he didn't come.This aunt is more than ten years older than Liu Tao's father, and she looks a bit pretty, but in Liu Tao's memory, she is not a good person.Because he was not good to his parents, a few days ago her eldest daughter beat Brother Jin Yang and herself at the market together with the maids.

Because the eldest aunt is Jin Yang's aunt, the relationship between the two families is quite close, since she came to her mother's house, she stopped by for a formality.Although Jin Yang and her mother-in-law mentioned about her daughter, that is, the eldest cousin ordered the maid to beat him and Liu Tao, it had nothing to do with her. Besides, she came to see Jin Yang's parents with a gift. There was someone there, so I sat down and had a conversation with her.Before leaving, the mother-in-law saw that since someone brought a gift, she should return the gift, and that the dried shrimps were fresh, so she packed a paper bag for her.My aunt picked up one and tasted it, and immediately shouted "delicious". When my aunt asked about the origin of the shrimp, my mother-in-law didn't hide it. I heard that within a few days, the two families each shared two hundred catties of fresh shrimp. Shrimp, even my aunt was amazed.He also heard that Liu Tao's fresh shrimps were sold for money, and immediately had a new idea in his heart.

These dried shrimps were dried in the shade in the house, and they were still a bit tough when chewed. They were also made by Liu Tao for her mother-in-law. It is boiled with salt and pepper aniseed in water. It can be eaten as a snack, served directly on a plate for guests, or processed into dishes. It is also a good thing.The aunt went back to her grandparents' house, and took out dried shrimps for each of them to taste.She told the two elders about the situation of Liu Tao's selling the shrimp, and this caused a lot of trouble.The second child's family caught so many shrimps, except for the first time they shared some, they never sent any to the old man, and they didn't see a copper coin for the money. What kind of behavior is this?This is the deaf and dazzled bully of the elderly, who is too incomprehensible to count, and his family is muffled and rich, do they still have the parents who gave birth to him and raised him?
The aunt also said next to her: "I said two days ago someone said, 'Your natal brother is selling shrimps on the street. I didn’t see him send me one either! These two are too embarrassing, even if they buckle it, they can’t buckle it to their parents..."

The old couple almost exploded with anger at her instigation. When they rushed into the yard of Liu Tao's house arguing and angrily, they didn't know that Liu Tao's second uncle had also come to her house to visit relatives. The second uncle was from the county government. The yamen servant, who was eating braised puffer fish and dried shrimp with his father, was drinking and was still praising Liu Tao's craftsmanship, so they came.Mom and Dad heard the scolding in the yard, and immediately opened the door to welcome them out.

The second uncle used to be a martial artist in the Escort. Because the imperial court fought a war with neighboring countries five years ago, he was recruited into the army.But the current arresting head is the uncle of the county magistrate, and the head arresting is a radish with a hole in it. If he wants to insist on being the head arresting, the county magistrate's uncle will have to step aside, which makes it difficult for him to make a decision.The magistrate of the county saw that he was reluctant to replace his uncle, and he also felt a little grateful to him, and advised him: "My uncle will go home to take care of the elderly in a year or two, so you can work under him temporarily, and wait for him Once you step down, the position of the headhunter will be yours, and I promise not to arrange anyone else!"

(End of this chapter)