Wu Meili was cooking rice at another stove while she made fish soup at the stove normally used for making chili sauce. Her movements were deft as she handled the crucian carps. Her fingers were slender, and the fish in her hands seemed just like toys. In no time, a fish was ready.
Pei Yicheng sat in front of the stove, stoking the fire, and when he saw Xu Nianhua dealing with the fish, what should have been... How was it that when Xu Nianhua did it, it looked so pleasing to the eye?
Her movements were crisp and efficient, without any dawdling. After processing the fish, she heated up the pan and fried the crucian carps for a while, then scooped them out, and started a new pan. Scallions and aged ginger first, then she poured in ample water. She brought it to a boil over high heat, added the fried crucian carps to the water, and left it to stew with time.
"Once the water comes to a boil, you don’t need too high of a flame,"
Xu Nianhua reminded before she went to handle other ingredients. She cleaned the edamame, used scissors to snip off the ends, making sure they would absorb flavor better when cooked.
Xu Nian’an joined the team cleaning the fish. At first, he complained that Xu Nianji and Ling Dong were too slow, but when he started working on his own fish, he found it to be quite strenuous.
You had to use scissors to cut them open first, then scoop out everything inside, tear away the gills; it looked like just a few steps, not too many, but with many fish and not much size, it became arduous.
After finishing the dinner, Wu Meili and Uncle Jiang also joined in cleaning the fish, and their pace became faster too.
The aroma from Xu Nianhua’s fish soup drifted over to where Xu Nian’an and the others were, causing their stomachs to growl with hunger.
The moment Doctor Du walked in, he was greeted by the fragrance of the fish soup. Even without tasting it yet, that delicious scent alone was enough to make one’s taste buds rejoice.
There was milky white crucian carp tofu soup, chopped pepper grass carp, fish-flavored eggplant, stir-fried mung bean sprouts, and a dish of perilla-flavored edamame.
"Nianhua girl, did you make all this?" Doctor Du looked at the spread of dishes, and the thought of having his grandson marry this girl grew even stronger.
"Yeah, Doctor Du, would you like to try some?" Xu Nianhua looked at him, a pleased expression on her face.
"Girl, stop calling me Doctor Du, it’s too formal. How about following Yicheng and just call me Grandpa Du instead?" Doctor Du, Du Chang, couldn’t take his eyes off the bowl of fish soup.
"Grandpa Du." Xu Nianhua ladled a bowl of fish soup for Du Chang.
After tasting it, Du Chang couldn’t stop singing its praises.
Everyone gathered around the table, where the sound of compliments for Xu Nianhua could be heard along with the clattering of adding more dishes.
Xu Nianji and Xu Nian’an had long been familiar with Xu Nianhua’s meatballs and braised pork, aware of how delicious their sister’s cooking was. Yet, this was their first time tasting the fish she made, and the first thought that struck them was, why hadn’t they thought to go fishing in the river before?
The reservoir charged a fee, but fish from the river were free.
Near Shuangzhu Village, there was a large river. The water wasn’t deep, only about knee-high, and was teeming with fish. However, fishing was also a laborious task, so unless they hadn’t had fish for a long time, they’d go fishing.
Fish had a strong fishy smell regardless of ginger; therefore, they would only think to catch some if they were really craving it.
If they’d known that their sister’s fish dishes were this delectable, they’d be willing to fish every day.
Each dish was plentiful, but now they were all gone, eaten up completely.
Xu Nianhua felt particularly happy, which signified that her culinary skills were well recognized by everyone.
After dinner, Xu Nianhua took the cleaned small fish and decided to fry them all. If not, with the current weather, they might spoil and go bad.
After washing the dishes, Wu Meili also came over to help with frying the fish.