Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 184 This is the first time I have seen this way of cooking fish
"Okay, let's not sell them anymore." Li Long said to Tao Daqiang, "Let's take these fish back." His voice was a little loud, and Tao Daqiang was a little puzzled. Why should he take these dead fish back?

After he said this, the two people in the distance looked at each other and then became a little anxious.

Tao Daqiang wanted to speak, but Li Long patted him on the shoulder and didn't let him. He cleaned up the basin, poured the remaining dead fish and water into the urea bag, put it on the back seat of the bicycle, and said:

"Let's go have breakfast."

Tao Daqiang was a little confused. He held up the stack of banknotes and handed it to Li Long:

"Brother Long, this money..."

"You keep it. I won't give you any money today." Li Long said as he walked, "This is your salary for this trip."

When passing by the two people, Li Long deliberately said loudly:
"Da Qiang, remember this when you sell fish next time. Some bad guys will take advantage of crowds to pull water and crush the fish to death, so that you can't sell the fish. When it's noon, you have no choice but to throw it away, and they will wait to pick up the fish--"

"Brother Long, how did you know that?" Tao Daqiang now understood a little bit, and asked as he followed:

"Have you encountered this before?"

"I have encountered this before." Li Long said, "That bad guy tried to grab my fish, but I kicked him away. You can't let him do what he wants if you encounter such a person in the future. You have to fight back. You have to let others know that it is such a person who can't buy fresh fish... He won't dare to do it again."

The two men originally wanted to talk to Li Long, but after hearing what Li Long said, they were too embarrassed to talk and just let the two men walk away.

"Brother Long, did you just say that... on purpose?" When they were almost at the big meat canteen, Tao Daqiang looked back and saw that no one was following them, so he asked in a low voice.

"Of course, those two people who were waiting must be the ones who pinched the fish. They were waiting for you to dump the fish so that they could pick it up. I've encountered that before."

"How bad." After thinking for a while, Tao Daqiang said, "Why...are they like that?"

"You want to get a bargain, you want to eat fish but don't want to pay for it." Li Long remembered that a friend in his previous life told him about his "trick". When others drove to sell watermelons, he would pick a ripe watermelon, and secretly squeeze the watermelon hard while holding it with both hands. When the ripe watermelon is subjected to force, the juice inside would gather. Then he would buy the watermelon, and when he cut it open on the spot, the flesh seemed to be overripe and about to go bad, so the watermelon seller had no choice but to return the money.

The friend seemed quite proud when he talked about this, but Li Long felt at the time that this person was just clever and not someone he could be trusted with.

These two fishermen are just this kind of people, used to taking advantage of others.

When they were almost at the big meat canteen, Tao Daqiang suddenly stopped and said:

"Brother Xiaolong, let me sell those fish here. The fish are actually quite fresh, it would be a pity to throw them away, so the better if we sell as many as we can."

Li Long saw that Tao Daqiang was quite determined, so he said:
"Okay, you can sell it. If you can't sell it, just dump it in the gutter. I'll go into the store and order some food. Are three buns enough for you?"

"enough."

"Okay, then you can have three buns and a bowl of porridge."

Li Long locked the car, took his things and went into the big meat canteen - these days, things were quite expensive, so it was normal to take them into a restaurant to eat.

He went to the counter to get a ticket and ordered six buns, two bowls of porridge, a plate of scrambled eggs with leeks, and a plate of shredded pork with green peppers.

When the waiter brought the dishes, Li Long took the opportunity to ask:

"Comrade, I want to ask, where do you buy those green peppers? It's only April, and you already have green peppers?"

"The vegetable market." The waiter glanced at him and said, "I heard from the purchasing department that a batch of vegetables were recently shipped from Kou, but they are very expensive."

"Okay, thank you." Li Long was happy.

After waiting for a while, the food was ready. Li Long was just about to go to the door to take a look when Tao Daqiang came in carrying a bag.

"Hurry up and sit down and eat." Li Long said to him, "If you don't come, I will start eating."

"You should eat first, don't wait for me." Tao Daqiang was quite happy, "Brother Long, the remaining fish have all been sold. An old lady came over and asked me why the fish were all dead. I told her and asked her to look at the gill covers, and she sold all the remaining fish - two dollars!"

There were three or four kilograms of fish left. Two yuan was definitely too cheap, but it was better to sell it than to throw it away. Li Long smiled and said:

"Okay, that's good. When you come back tomorrow, remember what I told you. Don't let those two succeed again..."

"Brother Long, I won't come tomorrow." Tao Daqiang shook his head. "I'm not cut out for this. I'm not good at talking and can't shout. I can't talk when I encounter something like this and I can't handle it..."

"Have you thought it through?" Li Long asked while eating a bun. "Are you really not going to sell it? If you sell fish, you'll get more money."

"I won't sell it anymore." Tao Daqiang shook his head firmly, "I think it's better for me to work hard catching fish."

"That's fine. There's still a lot of work to do later." Li Long thought that since he had made up his mind, there was no need to persuade him. "During the Dragon Boat Festival in a while, I'll catch fish and eat reed leaves. I can give you more money then."

"Reed leaves? Can these be sold for money?" Tao Daqiang was a little surprised.

"Let's give it a try. It doesn't cost any money, but it takes some effort." Li Long said, "We don't farm, so we have to think of ways to make money."

"Yes." Tao Daqiang finished a bun in three bites, took another one and said, "Brother Long, I'm stupid, you give me the ideas and I'll do the hard work."

Li Long didn't expect that Tao Daqiang had made his position so clear, and he was a little amused.

After they finished their meal, Li Long went to the market to buy vegetables. Tao Daqiang refused to follow him and said he wanted to walk back. Li Long followed him. He knew that Tao Daqiang was embarrassed to let Li Long ride with him, but Tao Daqiang himself was not very good at riding a bike and could not take Li Long with him. In order to avoid embarrassment, he simply left.

Li Long first went to the big yard, put down the two basins and the scale, then looked through the Fritillarias and found that they were not completely dry, so he locked the door and went to the vegetable market.

The vegetable market was not big at that time, and there were only two state-owned vegetable stores. Li Long looked at the first one, which only had dried vegetables and leeks that had just been harvested, so he went to the second one.

As soon as he entered the door, he smelled the familiar smell of green peppers. Then he saw several large baskets of green peppers on the counter. Two people were buying them. The waiter was saying:

"Don't be picky, don't be picky! You can't be picky! Buy big or small, one piece for one kilogram!"

"It's almost as expensive as meat!" one of them said.

"You can buy meat if you have money these days, but you may not be able to buy green peppers." The salesperson said proudly, "We are the only one in the county! Our manager got them from Wucheng through connections. We only have five baskets. Once they are sold, there will be no more. If you want to eat them, you will have to wait until July."

That's true. Scarcity makes things valuable. Li Long said directly after entering:

"I want five kilograms of green peppers."

"Get in line." The salesperson shouted, "Don't be impatient, come one by one."

Li Long waited until the two people in front of him finished their shopping. When it was his turn, the salesperson asked:

"Which unit? Or the cafeteria?"

"Eat at home." Li Long said.

"You're buying so much for your own consumption?" The salesperson was surprised. "This is not cheap!"

"We have many relatives, so we should share more with them." Li Long said as he took out the money. "You said that only this time, and the next time we eat it, we may have to wait until the season comes. Buy more so that everyone can have a taste."

"Then how many bags should I pack for you?" After hearing what Li Long said, the salesperson's tone softened. "How many stores?" "Five," Li Long said after counting. "Then weigh six kilograms, and one bag will have one kilogram more."

"Okay, six dollars and sixty cents. Pay first."

Li Long paid the money, the salesperson issued a receipt, and then took the peppers to the scale to weigh them.

Li Long saw that the salesman deliberately picked out the more evenly distributed green peppers, those that were not broken. After he finished weighing them, he said:
"thank you!"

The salesperson knew that his little action was seen by the other party, and said with a smile:
"You're a good person for thinking about your whole family. It's what you deserve."

Li Long was a little puzzled. He nodded and walked out with a few bags of green peppers.

The bag was made of paper and not very big. Li Long could feel that he was receiving special treatment.

He gathered the bags together, clipped them to the back seat, and rode out of the county.

When they arrived at the rural middle school, Gu Xiaoxia had not finished her get out of class yet, so Li Long put a bag of green peppers in her dormitory and then went home.

When Gu Xiaoxia returned to the dormitory after class to prepare dinner, she saw the bag of green peppers. She was stunned at first, then she thought of Li Long and felt warm in her heart.

When Li Long returned home, Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei had already returned. Liang Yuemei was making lunch, and the big fish was still alive. Li Jianguo said:
"I changed the water twice, but it won't survive much longer."

"I cut it after dinner. I distributed it to each family while it was still fresh. I cooked the rest for our family in the afternoon."

"I won't send it to my dad for now." Liang Yuemei said, "It's not worth going so far. We can just do more at home."

Li Jianguo looked at Li Long.

"That's it," Li Long said. "Tomorrow is Sunday, so Juan and Qiangqiang don't have school. We'll cast the net this afternoon and keep some fish for tomorrow. In the morning, Xiaojuan and Qiangqiang will take them to their grandfather."

"That's fine." Li Jianguo said, "It's easy to do this way."

Liang Yuemei smiled and nodded.

"There are green chilies in the grocery store today. I bought some and will bring a bag over tomorrow."

"Then the chili is so expensive now." Liang Yuemei said, "It's a waste of money."

"You earn money so you spend it," Li Long smiled. "It's a rare opportunity to eat here. The next time I eat here might be in July."

Liang Yuemei was just talking about it, and after Li Long said that, she didn't say anything else.

Li Long knew that people of his elder brother and sister-in-law’s age had really experienced hard times, and frugality had become a lifestyle habit for them.

Of course, I am not one of them.

After lunch, Tao Daqiang came to pick up the nets. Li Long and the other two worked together for more than an hour to pick up all eight nets. Li Long peeled the big carp, and Tao Daqiang
He insisted on having the tail part. Li Long chopped it up and gave him a two or three kilogram section, and also asked him to take a bag of green peppers back home.

He chopped more than two kilograms of the middle section and gave it to Gu Boyuan, and also brought a bag of green peppers to Gu Boyuan.

Next, Li Long began to prepare to cook the fish.

He saw others do this in his previous life, and it seemed to have come from Lu.

It sounds very simple, but the traditional way of cooking fish is to try to keep the fish whole, which is a metaphor.

But when Li Long cooks fish, he does the opposite. He heats the pan, adds oil, seasonings, and fish, then directly scoops the fish meat into pieces and stir-fryes it with shredded green peppers, just like stir-frying meat with green peppers.

Of course, the fish head must be left behind. After the fish meat is fried and minced, the bones will also be left out, so you won’t get pricked when eating.

When the dish was served after frying, Li Long tasted it and it tasted good.

This dish is fine to eat cold, he thought it tasted good, so he put it in the kitchen and started to stew the fish head soup.

If you want the fish head soup to be milky white, it also needs to be fried. Li Long turned down the fire under the pot and started stewing after frying the fish head.

The fish head soup was not ready yet, but Li Juan came back with her schoolbag.

"It smells so good! Uncle, what delicious food are you making?" Li Juan is much more cheerful now than before. She smiled and asked, "Is it fish?"

"Yes." Li Long said with a smile, "Fish head soup, fried fish meat, are you hungry? I'll serve it to you."

"Okay." Li Juan put her schoolbag down, washed her hands at the well, and waited for Li Long to serve her rice.

Li Juan enjoyed the freshly steamed buns at noon, the green pepper fish in the afternoon, and the hot fish head soup.

After she finished eating, she washed the dishes and went to cut grass for the pigs. When Li Qiang came back, Li Long served Li Qiang food. After he finished eating, the sun was already setting and Tao Daqiang had been there for a while.

Li Juan came back from cutting grass for the pigs. Li Long asked her to look after Li Qiang, while he and Tao Daqiang went to Xiaohaizi carrying a net.

"Brother Long, are you going to set up eight nets again this time?" Tao Daqiang asked as they walked, "Are you going to change the location this time?"

"Switch. We won't catch many fish tomorrow if we cast the net in the same place." Li Long said, "Let's catch eight today and see how things go tomorrow."

It was quite late, so after casting the net, they did not cast it again but went straight home.

When Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei came back in the evening, they were also surprised to see the meal prepared by Li Long.

"You can cook fish like this?" Li Jianguo washed his hands, and after the table was served, he picked up a piece of fish with chopsticks, tasted it, and thought it tasted good. He said, "This is the first time I know you can cook fish like this!"

"It's the first time I've seen this, too." Liang Yuemei was also surprised. "Where is this method practiced? Xiaolong, you are really capable. You can even come up with this..."

"This is not something I came up with. A co-worker from my previous factory told me about it, and I wrote it down. He said it was simple, so I thought I would give it a try. Big fish are not easy to cook anyway. I didn't expect it to taste good." Li Long said with a smile.

"Not bad, this big fish will be good to cook like this in the future." Li Jianguo said with a smile while eating, "It's very tasty, and it has an extraordinary taste."

"That's right, the fish my uncle made is delicious!" Li Qiang said loudly, "It's just a little spicy - ha - I'm going to drink some water!"

His words and actions made everyone laugh.

Li Long was very happy because the new dishes he made were very popular.

When they were collecting the nets early the next morning, Li Long did not let Tao Daqiang go up this time. Tao Daqiang himself did not insist. He walked along the shore, looking for the holes of water rats.

Li Long was also a little thrilling in the water. This time the net was lowered a little deeper than yesterday, in another trough. The four-finger large-mesh net was filled with many large crucian carps, all weighing 700 to 800 grams, nearly one kilogram, which made Li Long a little flustered when he took the fish.

These guys are so active!

(End of this chapter)