"Boiled fish and pickled fish are both Sichuan dishes, and both are quite spicy..." Chen Lishu patiently explained the cooking method to everyone.
In order to survive in her previous life, she cooked for others at a construction site and learned many cooking methods from the master there.
Listening to her explanation, not only the greedy little ones had their mouths watering, but the adults were also eager to have a taste.
"Tomorrow I will borrow a net, and then go to the river with my eldest and second brothers to dig fish." Gu Xingye is a practical person and will do whatever comes to his mind.
"It's such a cold day that we don't have a few days to rest. After the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, everyone has to dig out manure and send it to the fields. Fourth son, don't let the wind turn into rain." Gu Xingmin was a little reluctant.
"Second brother, you don't want to eat, right? Then I'll call you back and don't eat." Gu Xingye frowned at him, then turned to look at Gu Xingguo: "Brother, are you going?"
"Go." Gu Xingguo nodded. He didn't eat anything. Seeing that his wife and children ate well, he was happy to put in some effort.
"I didn't say not to go." Seeing that his eldest brother agreed, Gu Xingmin muttered reluctantly.
The next day, although it was the first day of the Lunar New Year, in rural areas there was not as much emphasis on visiting relatives as it was later on, and there were a lot of things to do in the future. After the thirtieth year, the year has passed. Everyone should still do whatever they should do.
Sure enough, Gu Xingye went to someone else's house to borrow a fishing net and came back. Gu Shoufu took a few brothers to cut the net under the ice. The women guarded the stove and made hairdressers.
By the end of the day, everyone had sewed dozens.
At dusk, the father and son came back. Gu Xingye was carrying a big bucket in his hand. There were more than a dozen fish in it. Some were big and some were small. The big ones weighed three to four kilograms, and the small ones were only a little bigger than a palm.
"There were people fighting when we went there, but we can only fight so many."
There is nothing much going on in winter, so many people are willing to go to trouble to get together for food. In addition, the river itself is not big, and the team collectively caught them once a year ago, so it is not easy to catch so many.
"Take out two to eat today, and keep the rest in the water. Tomorrow you can go back to your parents' house and take two back each."
"Xingmin, I think these two are good. Let's take these two tomorrow." Liu Yuemin took a look at the bucket and immediately pointed to the two largest ones and said.
"Second sister-in-law, you are really good at choosing. You go after the big guy." Gu Xingye couldn't stand her petty and petty look and couldn't help but say something.
"Look at what you said, fourth brother. Who would be stupid if he didn't pick on the big guy? Could it be that he's picking on the smaller guy?"
"Second sister-in-law, don't you think everyone else is a fool?"
"Okay, let's cook quickly."
Gu Shoufu put down the things in his hands, said nothing and went back to his room.
"I'm going to cook right away." Chen Lishu collected the things and passed by Gu Xingye and said, "Fourth brother, please help me take the fish to the kitchen to clean up."
When Gu Xingye heard what she said, he immediately bent over and followed her with the bucket.
"Third brother and sister, I will help you." Zhang Qin thought for a while and followed.
There were sun-dried chili peppers at home, so Chen Lishu sliced the fish that Gu Xingye had packed and shredded the washed sauerkraut. Although the pickled sauerkraut at home was not as refreshing as the pickled sauerkraut, it was better than nothing.
When she finally fried the dried chili segments and poured the hot oil on top of the cooked fish soup, the aroma immediately spread.
Because she made pickled fish, Chen Lishu didn't cook any other dishes. She only made pancakes for rice.
Take a bite of the sweet corn tortillas, and then drink a mouthful of the fragrant pickled fish soup, and you immediately feel a warm sense of satisfaction all over your body.
"Sister-in-law, this is so delicious." Gu Xingye almost swallowed his tongue due to the delicious taste. He felt that the cold he suffered this day was worth it.
Gu Xingping also looked satisfied: "Yes, third sister-in-law, it would be great if I could eat pickled fish every day."
"Third aunt's cooking is really delicious." Gu Xingguo's eldest son, Gu Zhao, had already stood up to fill the third bowl.
Listening to everyone praising Chen Lishu, Liu Yuemin felt a little uncomfortable: "How can it not smell fragrant after putting so much oil in it?"
Chen Lishu raised her eyes and looked at her: "If you guys like it, I'll make it next time. At worst, I'll just go back to town and buy more fat meat next time for fuel."
She has money and she is happy.
Liu Yuemin choked and wanted to say more, but was given a casual glance by Li Xiulan, who lowered her head and continued to eat.
As soon as the second day of the new year arrived, Chen Lishu went back to her parents' house alone with the braised pork and fruit candies she bought, as well as the two fish she caught yesterday.
She didn't choose the big fish like Liu Yuemin, but chose two crucian carp weighing more than a pound. Wu Chunmei was not yet pregnant, so she could eat it with tofu and make soup to replenish her body.
The Chen family had packed everything up early in the morning and were waiting for her to come back. Chen Liyuan and her sisters even ran to the courtyard gate to guard the courtyard. When they saw her figure, they immediately came over to greet her.
Chen Lishu handed out the things in her hands, bent down and picked up the youngest Chen Lijuan: "Have you missed my eldest sister?"
Chen Lijuan's thin yellow hair was tied into two braids, and her round face was particularly endearing. When she heard Chen Lishu's question, she nodded heavily: "I thought about it."
"Eldest sister, you actually bought candy?" Chen Lifei shouted happily and was patted on the back by her second sister Chen Liyuan: "Aren't you afraid that others will hear you if you shout so loudly?"
The sisters walked all the way into the courtyard while talking. Chen Mandun also rubbed his hands and was waiting for her at the door of the room.
After entering the house, Chen Mandun had already prepared four dishes. Chen Lishu took out another two cents and asked Chen Lifei to buy two pieces of tofu so that she could make crucian carp and tofu soup for Wu Chunmei.
Chen Mandun cut up the pig head meat she brought over and barely made up six dishes.
Seeing the table full of six dishes, the little ones all looked over eagerly. Their saliva flowed out uncontrollably. They had never eaten so many dishes. There were also fish and meat. On the day of the Chinese New Year, my father wanted to bring them to the table.
I saved the food to wait for my eldest sister, so I only cooked two dishes.
After dinner, Chen Lishu chatted with everyone for a while. Seeing that the seventh sister, Chen Lizi, was doing well, she left and returned to Gu's house in the middle of the afternoon.
Soon after the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the production team started working one after another. The men all went to scrape the manure on the frozen soil and pull it into the fields. The women also had to prepare to pick seeds and so on.
Chen Lishu went to town again before the fifteenth day. In addition to delivering flowers, she also went to a clothing factory because she didn't have many rags.
As usual, five hundred heads cost seventy-five yuan. This time there was no carriage, so she didn't ask for that much. She only bought twenty kilograms of rags from Liu Xiaoting.
"Eldest niece, what on earth did you do when you ran to the town so shamelessly? You couldn't do some shameful thing, right?"
As soon as she opened the door to her courtyard, she saw Widow Liu coming out of her toilet, leaning against the wall and looking over.
A pair of small mouse eyes scanned Chen Lishu's whole body like radar, and finally stopped on the big bag on her shoulders.