CH 14.1

“You know it smells, and you’re still gonna eat it?” Aunty Xie couldn’t accept the fishy smell from Xu Qing’s body and backed away.

“That’s because you have never had it. Once you try some when it’s ready, you’ll love it for sure.” He likes eating fish the most; it is tender and has no fat.

Aunty Xie looked unbelieving. When he first married to Xie’s house. He had a hard time for not having had enough food for several years. During winter, there was not much food so, he let the husband find a way to catch a few fish. Thought about the taste of the fish that time, he still felt disgusted.

Xu Qing helplessly spread his hands, “once I’m done cooking, you can taste what it’s like first. If you don’t like it, you can take me to your house to eat.”

Aunty Xie felt a little relief, “you said it. If it still has the same fishy smell, then it will be a waste of my time.”

Xu Qing hurriedly lifted his head and signaled Aunty Xie to enter the courtyard; he then went to the well to clean up another fish.

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Since Aunty Xie is here, one fish might not be enough. Later, he will ask Aunty Xie to try his cooking. After thinking about it, he was afraid that it was still not enough so, he picked another one and cleaned it up.

Aunty Xie watched Xu Qing skillfully cleaned up the spiny fish, his eyes were slightly sour, and he knew that the child was so proficient handling this thing that he might eat it often.

“Actually, this spiny fish is delicious after being cleaned and cooked properly. It’s just that it has strong fishy smell and spines.” For people who don’t know how to properly handle it, it might not be acceptable to eat this type of fish.

Xu Qing lowered his head and held a knife to scrape the scales of the fish. He didn’t see Aunty Xie‘s face, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to explain it again.

Aunty Xie adjusted his emotions and tried his best to make his voice the same as usual, “really? I tried it once. It was really disgusting. After that time, our family’s life was getting better, and there was no need to eat such things again.”

“How did you cook it?” This meet Xu Qing a little curious.

“Just cut the head off, empty the belly, chop it into pieces, and just boil it.”

Xu Qing felt a little bad when he heard that the fish head wasn’t used, “you did not put ginger?”

Aunty Xie asked puzzedly, “is it ginger not only commonly used to treat cold symptoms? Can it be cooked with vegetables? But that will be unpalatable and unpleasant.”

Xu Qing didn’t explain much. He took the three cleaned fish and used a knife to cut them into thin slices.

“Your knife skill is really amazing.”

Aunty Xie stared at Xu Qing slicing and chopping with the knife; the original whole fish became equal slices. He pinched his nose and looked forward, “it’s so thin, how are you going to cook it? By boiling it?”

Xu Qing‘s face turned red, he didn’t want to embarrass Aunty Xie so, he had to bear it. “No, I cook it a little differently. You watch. If you think it taste good, you can add a meat dish on the dinner table and save some money.”

Aunty Xie felt even more enthusiastic when he heard those words. Brother Qing didn’t hide his own recipe from him. What an innocent child!

“You don’t say. If that’s the case, this farmer will have a better life and immediately go plowing the field. Tending the crops is a hard work. The family doesn’t have a lot of money. It will be a great thing to be able to eat meat. There are a lot of spiny fish in the river.”

Xu Qing nodded. Today, he only went to a shallow part of the river to lure the fish with the spring water. In only a short while, the fish already caught the bait. Aside from the benefits from the spring water, the people in the village definitely did not catch fish often so, the fish were not even afraid of people. Just like the animals in the mountain.

“This year happens to be the right time for you to get married and have a man in your family so, you can ask him to plant all the fields.” Thinking of the land Xu Qing‘s family owns and the marriage that was about to happen, Aunty Xie felt more comfortable.

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Xu Qing remembered that Li Changfeng told him he would wait for the wedding date. Thinking about it, he felt a bit hot and looked forward to it. He had been alone for too long; He was expectant to be accompanied by someone.

“Even if I’m not married, there are still aunt and uncle,” said Xu Qing while he gathered the four fish heads.

“Bah! Bah! What are you talking about? Don’t talk nonsense! Aunty Xie wanted to give Xu Qing a piece of his mind. Seeing the other cutting the fish heads off, he didn’t dare to start for fear that he would accidentally hurt Xu Qing.

“Ha ha, I was kidding.” After Xu Qing cleaned up the fish guts, He took the prepped fish slices and the heads to the kitchen. He pushed the pot with hot water on the side. Aunty Xie stopped nagging and rolled up his sleeves to help with the starting the fire for Xu Qing.

There were sparks in the fire stove already so, the fire ignited after a while. Aunty Xie smelled something that choked his nose. He saw Xu Qing threw something into the fish. 

“What’s that? Smells weird.”