After returning from my cultivation journey, I built a farm through fortune telling.

Chapter 178

The master-servant contract between cultivators and demonic beasts means that if the master dies, the servant dies; if the servant dies, the master is slightly injured.

It's not even a minor injury.

In other words, if the egret dies within these five years, it will definitely die.

If it dies, it's like the egret has only suffered a minor scratch.

The little white tiger broke down: "You, you, you! Short-term contracts shouldn't have this problem. Did you tamper with it?"

In short-term master-servant contracts, lifespans are not interconnected.

"How could that be!" the egret vehemently denied. "Are you saying Heaven is dead?"

Heavenly Dao: It's practically the same as death—

"How could this happen?"

"Perhaps the Heavenly Dao revised the contract, after all, what in this world hasn't changed?"

The little white tiger was speechless. Having lived to this age, it naturally knew that many things had changed.

Since things have come to this, the little white tiger has no choice but to accept reality. Five years will pass quickly. At worst, it will protect the egrets during these years, and once the contract ends, it will immediately return to the mountains and never come out again, even if it has to eat coarse food.

Bai Chen and Bai Wei looked at Bai Lu—something was wrong, very wrong. Had the little white tiger been tricked?

Bai Lu smiled. She was going to the cultivation world with her whole family, so what was wrong with bringing a bodyguard to protect her?

This is the main reason why she took in the little tiger demon.

-

When Qin Xiu got home, it was already 2 p.m. Qin Xiu had just woken up from her afternoon nap and was stunned to see Bai Lu unloading so many fish from the car: "How...how did you catch so many fish? The refrigerator at home can't hold them all!"

Two large baskets of fish were placed in the back of the small pickup truck, and Bai Lu easily unloaded them. Qin Xiu's eyes twitched: "You've gotten stronger again. In the future, you should do less of this kind of work and let Chenchen do it."

Bai Chen: "You only think of me when it comes to work, but why don't you think of me when it comes to food?"

Qin Xiu ignored him.

"I can do it." Bai Lu didn't care. She carried the other basket of fish down as well. There were two large plastic buckets at home, each 1.2 meters deep. She asked Bai Chen to put some water in them and put the fish in to make sure that each fish was alive before it was killed.

"Have Chenchen go buy a freezer later." Bailu wiped her hands, made a hand gesture to get rid of the fishy smell, and said to Qin Xiu, "Mom, I brought back silver carp and grass carp. Let's make fish balls tonight!"

The silver carp they're talking about is actually the bighead carp. The head is expensive, costing at least 15 yuan per jin (500g), while the body is cheap, only 3 yuan per jin during market downturns. This is because the fish has many bones and doesn't taste very good if you don't know how to cook it.

But their fish balls are exceptional.

In the past, when Qin Xiu had free time, she would buy silver carp meat to make fish balls. She would make a lot and freeze them in the refrigerator. When making dinner, she would make a soup with some radish, put the fish balls in, boil them, and serve them. It was a soup that could be made in less than five minutes, which was very convenient. Qin Xiu often made it when she worked on the construction site with Bai Jianggan.

Moreover, homemade fish balls are clean and healthy, unlike those sold in the market where you don't even know what kind of meat they're made of.

Qin Xiu asked in a hoarse voice, "Make them all fish balls?"

The egret blinked: "Is it not allowed?"

Looking at so many fish, Qin Xiu's lips twitched slightly: "I'm sure you're my biological child, but you seem to have some doubts about whether I'm your real mother?"

Egret: "???"

What nonsense are you talking about? I don't understand.

Qin Xiu took a deep breath: "This is at least several hundred pounds of fish. If you make fish balls from it all, are you trying to kill me with exhaustion?"

The egret was speechless: "What are you saying! We're here! We'll help too! You just need to kill the fish, and we'll take care of chopping the fish meat."

They even brought up whether she's their biological child! They keep thinking she's trying to murder her own mother!

Qin Xiu had no choice but to call Bai Jiang back, bring out two cutting boards, and kill the fish right there in the yard to avoid making it messy in the kitchen.

Bai Lu pulled the two largest fish out of the water. As soon as they were out, the fish struggled violently, and Qin Xiu couldn't hold them down. Holding the knife, she didn't know where to start—if it were an ordinary fish, she would have already knocked it unconscious with a single blow, but now...
"Wow! Such big fish! They must weigh at least fifty pounds!" Bai Jiang saw the two big fish as soon as he returned and hurried over in amazement.

"You're back just in time! Quickly stun this fish, otherwise how are we going to kill it!" Qin Xiu was extremely worried.

Bai Jiang took the cleaver and slashed it with the back of his hand. The fish jumped even more excitedly; if the wall hadn't been high enough, it would have leaped out.

Several blows to the back of the fish left deep wounds on its head, but the big fish still stubbornly survived.

The little white tiger was very pleased. As expected of the fish it had marked, it was really strong!

The egret, who was sitting on a bamboo chair contemplating life, couldn't bear to watch any longer. So it picked up a carrying pole and whacked the fish on the head, giving it a quick death.

Before the big fish died, its two dead fish eyes were still staring, as if it couldn't close its eyes in death.

Qin Xiu quickly stepped forward and exclaimed, "Oh dear, you're using so much force! Don't flatten the fish head! We're making fish head soup tonight!"

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the fish head was intact.

Fish weighing over fifty pounds is really hard to kill. Just removing the scales requires a lot of strength. Bai Jiang was okay and could scrape off some, but Qin Xiu struggled for a while, so the glorious task was handed over to Bai Wei and Bai Lu.

The fish scales she had scraped off were stuck to her arms. Bai Lu deeply regretted letting Bai Chen buy a refrigerator; otherwise, she would have saved this job for him.

After cleaning the fish scales, fillet the fish meat from the tail. Two large, firm pieces of fish meat look delicious.

Here, the price difference between reservoir fish and pond fish is two or three yuan per kilogram, simply because reservoir fish are raised at lower densities, have more space to move around, and have firmer flesh. Plus, these larger fish have even better meat. After the fish meat is sliced, Bai Jiang and Qin Xiu proceed with the next step—deboning.

There are two ribs in the belly of the fish, but you can easily remove them by making a cut above and below each rib. As for the small bones on the back of the fish, you will need to use tweezers.

Previously, Qin Xiu made fish balls by scraping the fish meat into a paste little by little, so that there wouldn't be any fish bones. After scraping until only a thin layer of skin remained, this method was too time-consuming. Later, she changed to tearing off the fish skin and chopping the fish meat with a knife, but this was also time-consuming.

Later, she used a meat grinder or a high-speed blender to grind the fish meat into a paste, but the fish balls made by this method were not as elastic as those made by the other two methods, so Qin Xiu didn't like to use it.

Finally, Qin Xiu came up with a compromise that was less time-consuming and labor-intensive, while still maintaining the bouncy texture of the fish balls: mince the fish pieces into small pieces using a meat grinder, and then chop them into minced meat with a knife.

"This fish is big, and its intestines are beautiful too. Don't throw away the intestines, keep them to fry eggs. And this swim bladder, oh my, it's so big and beautiful. Be careful not to break it, I'll keep it to make fish maw."

Even the fish intestines were too precious to throw away. Qin Xiu looked at the big fish and felt that it was a treasure from head to toe. The fish scales were also large, and she wished she could collect them all and fry them up as snacks.

Just killing these two fish kept them busy until dinner time. Bailu cleaned up the fish heads, bones, and intestines, while Qin Xiu quickly moved the chopped fish paste to the stove. There was a pot of cold water in the pot. After putting all the fish balls into the pot, she turned on a low heat and simmered them slowly.

One thing to note is that the water must not be boiled. If you see the water boil, immediately add cold water to keep the temperature between 90℃ and 95℃. If you don't have a thermometer, you'll have to rely on experience. Otherwise, the fish balls will shrink when they come into contact with cold water after cooking, and they won't look good.

Qin Xiu made very good fish balls this time; they were white and bouncy.

She finished making the fish balls, and Bai Lu finished preparing the fish head. Bai Jiang watched as she cleaved open the fish head, which was the size of a casserole dish, with a single stroke. He felt a chill run down his spine. When did his daughter become so strong?

The fish head was too big, so Bailu packed up half of it. The remaining half was used to make chopped chili fish head and fish head tofu soup. Some of the fish bones were also used to make salt and pepper fish bones. Some of the fish meat was specially reserved to make sauerkraut fish. The fish skin was also packed up separately. The fish scales were washed and the fish intestines were also cleaned.

To be honest, I mixed the fish intestines with starch and scallion and ginger water over and over again. If they didn't taste good, the egrets would really go crazy.

Today is a full fish feast, with one fish prepared in eight different ways.

Qin Xiu first steamed the fish head with chopped chili peppers, then made the sauerkraut fish. She had pickled a jar of sauerkraut earlier, which was ready to eat.

Bai Lu used a separate pot to make fish head tofu soup. She put the fish head, chopped into small pieces, into the pot and fried it until golden brown on both sides. Then she added boiling water, let it simmer for a while, then added tofu. Finally, she added some pepper and salt to taste.

Bai Lu's family always cooks like this: soups cool down slowly, so they make soups first.

After ladling out the soup, Bailu wandered around the kitchen for a while. Her cooking skills were limited, and she didn't know what else she could make.

"Didn't you say you wanted to eat fish balls? I've ladled out a plateful; just fry them up." Qin Xiu's sauerkraut fish was also ready. A stream of hot oil was poured over the fish maw and dried chili peppers, and the aroma filled the air.

"Fried fish balls?" Bai Lu's eyes lit up. "How about I make some curry fish balls? Served with a small dish of sweet and sour chili sauce!"

Curry fish balls were Bailu and her friends' favorite snack when they were in school, but their family never made them.

After glancing at the tutorial, Bailu immediately found the leftover curry cubes from making curry chicken before, picked two onions from the vegetable garden, chopped them up, and the pungent smell made Bailu cry.

Qin Xiu laughed and scolded, "I told you to fry it, but you wouldn't. You had to make it so complicated!"

By this time, she had already started frying the oil in the pan, preparing to make salt and pepper fish bones and salt and pepper fish scales. Both of these dishes required deep-frying, and Bailu didn't have that kind of skill.

She sautéed ginger, scallions, and garlic until fragrant, then added diced onions that she had painstakingly chopped, stir-fried until cooked, then added an appropriate amount of hoisin sauce and curry cubes, a little water, and simmered over low heat. Finally, she added water, and once the water boiled, she added fish balls, simmered for a while, and it was ready.

That familiar taste was back. Bai Wei and Bai Lu took toothpicks and poked several pieces to eat.

Bai Wei also made a cold fish skin salad. She blanched the fish skin in boiling water, then immediately put it in ice water and cut it into large pieces. Bai Lu really likes cold fish skin salad because it's crunchy and she loves the texture.

Her family likes to add extra peanuts and cilantro to their cold dishes, along with seasonings, a little chili oil, and even two small cucumbers that haven't fully grown yet, which they picked from the garden.

Qin Xiu's fish intestine omelet was also ready, and the meal was finished with a garlic lettuce dish.

The little white tiger has wandered around the stove countless times.

It has lived for hundreds of years and has eaten some people's food, but it stole the food in a hurry and a long time has passed, so it has forgotten the taste a bit, but it remembers it was never this delicious!

"Oops, I almost stepped on you! Move aside!" Qin Xiu was carrying lettuce to the table when she didn't notice her footing and almost stepped on the little white tiger. "Lulu, did you vaccinate the cat you picked up? Rabies can be a serious or minor disease these days, and there's no cure for it."

The Bailu family used to keep dogs and cats. Don't get me wrong, they didn't raise them like children. They kept dogs to guard the house and cats to catch mice. But ever since they heard that a man in the next village was bitten by his own dog, contracted rabies, and died, they've been in a different situation.

Qin Xiu sold both the dog and the cat and never kept them again.

So she was strongly opposed to Bailu bringing the little white tiger home!
However, the objections were ineffective.

"Don't worry, this is my friend's cat. It's been vaccinated and is very healthy," Bailu said without hesitation.

Yes, yes, it's very healthy!

If it weren't for the agreement with the egret not to speak in human language in front of people, the little white tiger would have loved to speak up and prove its health. This was the first time it had heard someone call it a cat, and it didn't argue because it was afraid of being kicked out.

—The master-servant contract between it and the egret doesn't specify where it should live. If the egret decides to be ruthless, it might live on the main road, since that's not illegal.

"Just know what's going on—call your grandpa and your uncle and invite them over for dinner."

The dinner was extremely lavish, so naturally, Grandpa Bai and Uncle Bai were invited over to eat together. When they entered the house, Little Black from next door insisted on coming in—Bai Lu had promised it that it could come to their house for a free meal. But when it saw Little White Tiger, its legs went weak and it knelt down.

It didn't want to be so unambitious, but the blood in its veins wouldn't allow it to be.

The little white tiger glanced at it disdainfully, and upon realizing it was also there to freeload, it immediately stood up—

Who do you think you are, daring to eat from the same pot as me? Get lost!
Then the Bai family watched helplessly as Xiao Hei let out a "whimper" and jumped onto the courtyard wall and ran away before the gate was opened. It was so fast that, thankfully, the Bai family's wall didn't have any glass panels, otherwise, even ten bellies wouldn't have been enough to cut it open.

"What's wrong?" Qin Xiu hurriedly came out to see, but seeing nothing wrong, she went back to the kitchen.

During this period, Grandpa Bai and Uncle Bai cooked at home very few times. Now that Bai Lu had the means, she naturally wanted to eat something better. She couldn't be so wealthy as to always eat simple porridge and side dishes!
Qin Xiu couldn't persuade her otherwise, so she made different dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Since she had already made them, she felt it wasn't worth it if she made too little, so she increased the portions instead of reducing them. When they couldn't finish, she had to call Grandpa Bai and the others over.

(End of this chapter)