Chapter 12: Fish Belly

Chapter 12 Fish Milt (Fish White)

“Brother Xu, take the piece of fish on the boat home and eat it. We’re taking off!”

Lin Su, leaning on his crutch with one hand and holding the gutted fish with the other, told Fu Yun to carry the basket and follow him. Only when they were far off did he turn back and shout.

Xu Lei was busy at the moment and couldn’t get away to refuse.

When they got home, Lin Su unloaded everything and lay down on the haystack. The early winter sunlight streamed in through the roof. If it weren’t for his broken leg, he would have curled up and rolled around a bit, then stretched out lazily.

Ah, this is the life!

He closed his eyes to nap, and Fu Yun clattered around beside him, fiddling with the things they had bought today. The noise didn’t faze Lin Su at all. Soon, he drifted off to sleep.

He slept until it was time for lunch. Lin Su woke up slowly, washed his face, and started cooking.

After eating porridge for several meals, he craved white rice. Today, he would steam some rice, make a fish head and tofu soup, and pan-fry some fish meat.

He cooked the rice until it was half-done, strained out the rice water, set up a bamboo steamer on wooden sticks, and placed the half-cooked rice on it to steam. This way, the steamed rice would be fluffy with distinct grains.

Next, he dealt with the fish head. Lin Su chopped off the head, split it in half, removed the teeth, carefully cleaned the gills, and washed away the blood.

The fish head was too big to stew in one pot, so he took only half and chopped it into four pieces. He rubbed them evenly with salt from the market, crushed some scallions and ginger, and added his exclusive Thirteen-Spice Infused Ability Water, rubbing everything in. He let it marinate for a quarter of an hour to remove the fishy smell.

After marinating, he patted the fish head pieces dry. Heating the pot with cold oil, he pan-fried them over low heat until the surface turned golden, and the aroma began to waft out.

As soon as Lin Su added boiling water to simmer, he felt a head nuzzle his shoulder. He wasn’t surprised at all—after all, that little piglet was always drawn by the aroma.

He pushed the head away, added some sweetened Ability Water to the thick rice water he had strained out, handed it to the little piglet, and shooed him off so he wouldn’t get in the way.

The fish head soup was simmering on low heat; the longer it cooked, the richer the flavor. There was no rush for this, so he could start pan-frying the fish.

Although he still had two clay pots available, Lin Su didn’t plan to use them for frying.

He had his eyes on a black slate slab by the mountain spring behind the house, which was constantly washed by the spring water.

When he went to fetch water, he had seen that slab, polished to a glossy sheen by the flowing water, like a piece of black jade—very beautiful.

And it was about an arm’s length long and half as wide as an arm—perfect for grilling meat.

He was going to make grilled fish fillets on the slate!

He had Fu Yun wash the black slate and bring it into the house. Lin Su then prepared a special dipping sauce using the seasonings bought at the market.

Salt, Sichuan pepper powder, and a pinch of roasted sesame seeds for aroma made a simple dry dip.

Unfortunately, this era didn’t have chili peppers yet, so he had to substitute with mustard powder.

But this mustard was different from the wasabi he had eaten in his past life—it was made from ground mustard seeds, not from wasabi root.

This stuff needed to be mixed with hot water into a paste and left to ferment to activate the myrosinase, which produced the spiciness.

Lin Su naturally didn’t have time to wait for that now, but he could infuse his Ability Water with chili heat. Then he added salt, vinegar, minced garlic, chopped scallions, cilantro...

The secret dipping sauce was done!

Then he made a spicy sesame oil dip. In the meantime, he cut off a piece of fish and sliced it into thick fillets. The slate slab was preheated over the fire, and with everything ready, he started grilling.

He rubbed the slate with pork fat until it was shiny and slick. As soon as the fish fillets touched the slate, they turned from red to white, releasing a tantalizing aroma.

Lin Su picked up a cooked fillet with his chopsticks, skillfully pushed away the head that was about to fall into the fire, dipped the fillet in the sauce a few times, and stuffed it into the little piglet’s mouth beside him.

Watching the piglet’s eyes go wide, unable to speak for a long moment, Lin Su couldn’t help but laugh. “Good?” he asked.

“Mm-hmm! Spicy and fragrant, delicious!” Fu Yun nodded vigorously, looking at Lin Su expectantly.

“If you like it, do it yourself. Learn to grill, okay?”

After saying that, Lin Su ignored him and grilled a piece for himself.

The first thing he tasted was the bold, spicy flavor of the dipping sauce.

The chili water, salt, and the fresh aroma of scallions and cilantro filled his mouth. As he chewed, the boneless fish meat held its own against the sauce; it seized his taste buds from the start. His tongue felt the crisp, tender smoothness of the fish, making him want to swallow his tongue.

It was incredibly delicious!

The even heat distribution of the slate slab perfectly locked in the fish’s moisture. It was no wonder sturgeon had been a top-tier ingredient since ancient times.

The shabby hut fell silent, broken only by the bubbling of the fish soup, the crackling of the fire, and the sizzling of the fish...

Whenever the fish fillets in the bowl were gone, they added more. During this time, Lin Su also sliced and grilled some pork belly they had bought. The two of them ended up eating six jin of meat, with three and a half jin of that going into Fu Yun’s stomach.

That kid was even more skilled than Lin Su, shoving fish into his mouth nonstop. He ate quickly yet gracefully—when it came to eating, he was sharp, not at all like a fool.

By now, both of them were stuffed. They couldn’t drink the fish head soup anymore. Lin Su pulled out the firewood and let the embers slowly warm the soup, saving it for dinner.

When he turned around again, he saw Fu Yun adding water to the concentrated medicinal liquid he had brewed earlier, heating it up, and gulping it down. He didn’t even frown. If Lin Su hadn’t known it was Chinese medicine, he would have thought the kid was drinking water!

There was no need to keep candy on hand to coax him, but... was this little fool topping off?

He stared at Fu Yun’s stomach. Wouldn’t it burst?

Lin Su held back for a moment but gave in. He pushed the kid down on the haystack to check, then breathed a sigh of relief.

Good, it was bloated but not to a dangerous extent.

“Next time, let your food settle before drinking medicine, okay? Don’t overstuff yourself.” He gave the little fool a flick on the forehead and scolded him.

“But I’m not—okay, brother, I’ll remember.” Fu Yun started to argue but changed his tune under Lin Su’s glare, obediently going along.

Fu Yun went to clean up the dishes, while Lin Su portioned the remaining sturgeon. He cut around the tail, yanked out the sinews, peeled off the skin, and deboned the meat. He placed the meat in a wooden basin and estimated it at about a dozen jin. He carefully kept the bones and skin too—they were good stuff.

After finishing with the fish and washing his hands, Lin Su lazily flopped back onto the haystack, closed his eyes, and basked in the sun.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide. What the hell was hanging by the window?

Two big white blobs and one small black blob, with a faint fishy smell drifting into his nose.

“...Fu Yun, what did you hang by the window?”

“Huh? Brother, those are the fish gallbladder and fish milt.” Fu Yun shook his head, trying to shake off the words that had popped into his head, and explained.

“Fish gallbladder? Fish... milt?” The fish gallbladder, as the name implied, was the fish’s gallbladder. So what was the fish milt...

“Mm-hmm. Those two white ones are fish milt, also called fish white. They’re very useful and very nourishing!” Fu Yun stared at Lin Su for a moment, then grabbed his wrist to take his pulse.

After a while, he said seriously, “Brother, you should eat these two fish milts!” Then he muttered and changed his mind: “No, no, they need to be combined with other things...”

Lin Su listened, his face darkened in disbelief. He was now sure what this stuff was.

It was the damn fish’s sperm sac! This thing hadn’t been thrown into the lake, and this kid had picked it up!