70: Raising a wife, the whole village is inhaling the aroma of stewed meat.

Yu Yalan was washing clothes by hand when several women laughed and said, "Yalan, isn't your husband hunting today? He's fishing instead?"

Yu Yalan smiled and nodded: "Yeah, let's go fishing."

"Will I be able to catch any fish?"

"That's hard to say."

Zhuang Maoshan's wife said, "I think it's difficult!"

Just then, Zhou Qingwen felt a sudden, sharp pull on the makeshift fishing rod: "Hey! Here it comes!"

Zhou Qingwen immediately teased the fish, pulling it towards the shore, while someone else grabbed a net to scoop it up. "Wow! A fish really bit!"

Zhuang Maoshan's wife stared at him with envy.

Yu Yalan immediately put down her clothes and hurried over: "Did you catch a fish?"

"Yes, honey, help me take the net up; I caught a grass carp weighing over three pounds!"

Zhuang Maoshan's wife swallowed hard: "My goodness! A grass carp weighing over three pounds!"

Another woman said, "Zhou Qingwen is really lucky. Last time my husband went fishing there, he only caught tiny fish the size of his palm, all full of bones! Inedible."

Zhuang Maoshan's wife said, "That's really strange. Zhou Qingwen hunts the most, and he always catches the biggest fish! I'm truly impressed!"

At this moment, Yu Yalan helped lift the net up, and a grass carp was slapping its tail, wanting to go back to the river.

But Yu Yalan held it tightly with her hand, walked to the bucket, and put the grass carp into the bucket.

"Qingwen, how do we cook this fish?"

"I'm going to make pickled fish when I get back!"

"Really?"

"Absolutely!"

Zhou Qingwen cast his line again, and in just a few minutes, another sea bass came up, weighing about one and a half pounds, and it was very fresh.

Zhou Qingwen lowered the pole again, and the women on the other side were so envious that they swallowed their saliva.

You know, many people have never eaten fish, and the deliciousness of fish makes many people want to eat it.

Zhou Qingwen caught a few more small fish, about the size of a palm, called crucian carp.

Zhou Qingwen had a wooden bucket containing more than a dozen fish.

The first grass carp weighed over three pounds, the second one was a bass weighing one and a half pounds, and the rest were small crucian carp.

All of this led to Zhou Qingwen putting all his earnings into the bucket.

As soon as he finished fishing, Zhou Qingwen said, "I'm not fishing anymore, let's go home."

Zhou Qingwen's confident and sunny smile captivated many women.

The women, realizing their rudeness, immediately looked away: "We've finished washing our clothes too, let's go back together."

Zhou Qingwen smiled and said, "Wife, shall I help you carry this basket of clothes?"

"No need, I'll carry it back myself. You go back and clean the fish first."

"Okay, I'll head back now."

Zhou Qingwen carried a bucket of fish home.

Zhuang Maoshan's wife said, "Xiaoya, you're so lucky to have married Zhou Qingwen. You must have meat almost every meal, right?"

Several women cast envious glances their way.

"It's not like we eat meat at every meal. We eat meat at lunchtime, but rarely in the evening or morning."

Yu Yalan smiled slightly and answered honestly.

Zhuang Maoshan's wife swallowed hard: "Oh my, how enviable! Two meals of meat a day!"

"Hey, stop being envious, or you'll start drooling."

Another woman said with a laugh.

Zhuang Maoshan's wife said, "You dare make fun of me? Don't you crave meat yourself?"

"I'm so hungry! Haha."

The group chatted and laughed as they went back.

Yu Yalan was secretly pleased with herself; her fate had taken a turn for the better.

They no longer had to sleep in the cowshed every day. They moved into a new thatched house with Zhou Qingwen, with a new bed and several new pieces of furniture.

Yu Yalan returned home, hanging clothes to dry while wringing them out, the sound of water splashing everywhere.

On the cutting board on the cleaning table, Zhou Qingwen removed the scales and gutted the fish, cleaning it bit by bit.

We'll keep these fish alive and kill them when we eat them tomorrow.

I killed a grass carp.

After removing the bones, head, and tail of the grass carp, I sliced ​​the meat from the belly into pieces and picked some scallions and cilantro from the garden.

I took some pickled cabbage out of the jar.

Sauté the fish bones with ginger until fragrant, then add water and a handful of Sichuan peppercorns and a little chili. Cook the fish bones in the pot until the soup turns milky white. Add the pickled cabbage and bring to a boil over high heat. Marinate the fresh fish fillets with salt and white wine for a while.

Once the potstickers in the pot are cooked, put the fish slices in. They'll be cooked in just a few minutes over high heat.

Just then, the workers returned home. Everyone washed their hands and helped take out the steamed cornbread and the flatbread from the pot.

Then, using a large iron basin, scoop out all the cooked sauerkraut fish from the entire basin.

Zhou Qingwen put in an unusually large amount of pickled cabbage in the big basin this time, and also added some potato slices when cooking the fish bones.

At this moment, the pot of pickled fish whetted everyone's appetite.

Ye Meilan and Chen Ruhua, in particular, were both swallowing hard.

"What kind of dish is this? It smells amazing!"

"Pickled cabbage fish, everyone sit down and eat."

Everyone has an empty bowl. They scoop a large spoonful of pickled cabbage and a little fish meat and bones into the empty bowl.

Liu Yue'e was the one who distributed the dishes there.

Sure enough, Zhou Jinfeng was given a bowl first. This grandson exclaimed happily, "Grandma, I have so much fish!"

Zhou Qingwen laughed and said, "If there's plenty of meat, eat more! What's there to be afraid of!"

"Hey, Third Uncle, you eat mine, I'll give you extra meat from this bowl!"

Liu Yue'e smiled and said, "It's a good thing that you know how to respect your third uncle!"

Zhou Qinghe nodded repeatedly: "Mom, give us a little less, so that you won't go hungry later."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Liu Yue'e was indeed someone who often served food. In the end, everyone's bowls had meat, lots of sauerkraut, and some fish soup.

"I must say, this tastes so fresh!" Zhou Qingshan excitedly took a sip of the sauerkraut fish soup and took a bite of the flatbread. It was really delicious.

He Xiangxiang was eating pickled cabbage and fish at the same time when Zhou Qingshan put two pieces of fish from his bowl into her bowl: "Eat, eat more!"

Zhou Qingwen added, "Eat more fish during pregnancy, and your child will be born exceptionally smart!"

Yu Yalan asked in surprise, "Really?"

"Yes, honey, you should eat more too, let's try to conceive!"

Yu Yalan said shyly, "Stop fooling around."

Zhou Qingwen picked up a piece of fish from his bowl and put it in Yu Yalan's bowl: "Eat, eat more. This afternoon I'll send a few crucian carp to the cowshed so they can make some fish soup."

Liu Yue'e smiled and said, "That's only right. How many are you planning to send over? I see there are still more than a dozen in the bucket."

"Give us three, we can eat the rest ourselves a couple more times."

Yu Yalan tensed up, lowered her head to eat the sauerkraut fish, and almost choked up as she said, "Thank you, Mom."

"No need to thank me, we're family, no need to be so polite."

"Um."

Liu Yue'e scooped out a piece of fish bone from the large iron basin, put it in her mouth, and sucked the meat in.

Zhou Feitian tensed up slightly and said, "If there are more fish in the river, I'll go buy a fishing net later and we'll go down into the river to fish them out. If we don't fish, I'm afraid someone else will go into the river and we'll lose the advantage."

Zhou Qingwen immediately said, "Then, eldest brother and second brother, don't sleep at noon. I'll take a few fish and borrow a fishing net from the brigade leader's house. We need to be quick."