Chapter 93: Fish Feast ~

Chapter 93: Fish Feast~

At her words, Yin Hongxue took a sniff, and it did seem like he could catch a faint hint of fishiness in the air.

The old couple looked at him and smiled kindly.

Yin Hongxue smiled back.

Then Gu Muan came dashing over in a hurry, grabbing Yin Hongxue to head to the threshing ground.

But the little guy stopped midway, realizing that Xue Age had just gotten back—he ought to at least head home to rest, have a drink of water to quench his thirst, and put away his painting supplies.

So he turned around halfway and headed home first.

Seeing Yin Hongxue take a letter out of his painting box and place it on the table, Gu Muan didn't need to ask—it had to be another letter from the young master of the Tongfu Inn.

From their very first letters to now, it had been...

Gu Muan stopped counting on his fingers—oh, turns out there hadn't been that many after all.

After all, that young master seemed very busy, and letters to Xue Age only came about once a month or so.

But from spring to fall, that's still a long time!

Once Yin Hongxue had put his stuff away, Gu Muan immediately brought over some tea. Seeing how eager he looked, Yin Hongxue drank the water and then led him to the threshing ground.

Gu Lvliu took Gu Muan's other hand, and the three of them strolled over together, all cozy.

Gu Muan caught a whiff of fish in the air and quickened his pace.

What the heck—didn't Dad say they'd wait for An Geer? Why's the food already smelling so good?!

When they got to the threshing ground, everyone had already set up woks and started frying fish.

Gu Muan dropped Yin Hongxue's and Gu Lvliu's hands and ran over, hollering, "Hey, wait for An Geer to help too!"

Wang Xiuxiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and quickly stepped forward to hug her eager little guy.

"Sweetie, they're frying fish right now. Hot oil splatters can raise big blisters on your hands. You can help once they're done frying."

Gu Muan got stopped, so he just craned his neck to watch.

Xu Xiaoqing and Chen Qing were frying fish with big spatulas, and when they saw Gu Muan's little face, they couldn't help but chuckle.

"Look at our An Geer, so hardworking! I heard from your dad you're the family chef now? Wanna come compete with me later?"

Xu Xiaoqing loved fish, and since he lived next to Gu Tang's place, he knew his way around cooking it. Today he was running the wok, and Chen Qing was too, since his stir-fries were famous for being tasty.

Sun Susu stood nearby, smiling quietly, but he was shy as always and didn't say a word.

Gu Muan looked up, nodded hard, and said without hesitation, "Then I'll take on Uncle Xiaoqing!"

Gu Li was squatting nearby watching his little brother, and when he saw Yin Hongxue come up from behind, he gave him a quiet hello.

Chen Qing spotted Yin Hongxue too. Both of them were quick-tongued, and since Chen Qing had married into Xiaohe Village from the same Chen Family Village as Chen Youyan, he was pretty tight with him.

So he teased on purpose: "I tell ya, nobody's got it like our Yan Geer's family—three kids, one Lord Anshou, one painter, one chef. Who doesn't want their kids to turn out great? If I had kids that good, I'd be laughing in my sleep every night."

Zhang Yueping lived right next door to Chen Qing. She wasn't one for clever talk, but she was always the first to laugh. As soon as Chen Qing finished, before Chen Youyan could even crack a smile, she was already cackling away.

Gu Li's little brother Gu Shu stared at Zhang Yueping, then turned and whispered to his big brother, "Aunt Yueping sounds like a little duck."

Wang Guihua happened to be picking veggies right next to them. When she heard Gu Shu, she burst out laughing too, then after a couple of cackles, caught herself and toned it down to a "hahaha."

Still giggling, she said, "Yueping, did you hear that? Little Shu said you laugh like a little duck."

For some reason, that made Zhang Yueping laugh even harder, and her cackling got louder.

Even the men off in the distance, scraping scales and prepping fresh fish, heard the ruckus. Zhang Yueping's husband, Wang Shilei, knew right away from that laugh that it was his wife.

When they got married, besides genuinely liking each other, part of the reason was that they both figured a hearty, free laugh meant a good heart.

Hearing Zhang Yueping crack up now, Wang Shilei laughed right along with her.

Wang Ershan, standing closest to him, got startled, but seeing him laugh so happily, he kept quiet—just cracked a small smile.

Everyone moved fast. The men sent the cleaned fish right over to the woks set up on the other side.

The wives and husbands were just as quick, frying all the fish in oil until golden, then dumping them into a big wooden basin. Chen Qing and Xu Xiaoqing each stood by their own wok with a big ladle, ready to get cooking.

Gu Muan ran over to stand by them but didn't try to grab a head chef spot for himself.

But Chen Qing and Xu Xiaoqing both wanted to mess with him, so they asked, "Chef An, what do we do now?"

"Pour in oil, fry the spices, then toss in the fried fish."

The two followed Gu Muan's directions, first scooping some of the frying oil into the big wok, then adding scallions, ginger, garlic, star anise, chilies, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, and other spices. Once the spices started smelling amazing, they dumped a whole basin of fried fish into the wok and switched from ladles to spatulas to gently turn the fish.

Once they really got cooking, they didn't have time to tease Gu Muan anymore. When the timing was right, they both grabbed some baijiu and poured it around the edge of the wok.

With a sizzle, the rich smell of grain liquor rose up from the wok, and then they poured in boiling water, followed by salt, sugar, soy sauce, aged vinegar, and other wet seasonings.

Gu Muan stood between them, watching closely. Though Uncle Chen Qing and Uncle Xiaoqing's methods were pretty similar, there were still some differences.

The biggest difference was that each one added seasonings in a slightly different order and timing, and the amounts weren't the same either.

Chen Qing was just about to put a wooden lid on the wok to let it simmer when Xu Xiaoqing took a jar from his husband's hands.

"Hold on, I made some spicy soybean paste. It's great stewed with fish."

Everyone leaned in to see. Xu Xiaoqing scooped some out with his ladle to show them, then tossed it into the wok.

The ladle with the spicy soybean paste swirled around in the fish stew, and the paste melted right into the broth.

Gu Muan watched closely. It looked like a mix of chili and fermented bean paste, and it smelled spicy and rich. He had no idea how Uncle Xiaoqing made it.

While the two fish woks simmered, everyone chatted and cleaned up the veggies for the stir-fry.

The longer the fish stew simmered, the more intense the aroma became, drifting through the gaps of the not-quite-closed lids and spreading across nearly the whole village.

After about two quarters of an hour of simmering, Chen Qing clapped his hands and stood up.

The oil from the earlier frying wok had all been scooped out. Chen Qing told Xu Xiaoqing to watch the fish wok while he took his ladle over there.

He swung his ladle, scooped a spoonful of oil into the wok, added sliced scallions, chili pepper segments, and cured meat slices, stir-frying them fiercely over high heat. Once the cured meat was sizzling with oil, he poured in the blanched wild vegetables.

Gu Muan noticed how fast his movements were—the order and amounts of seasonings were practically memorized, never needing a second look. His motions were bold and sweeping, and he never needed to turn down the flame. When the cured meat and wild vegetables came out, the meat was perfectly crisp-edged with ideal color, and the intense fragrance nearly overpowered the fish stew.

Gu Muan watched without blinking, his face full of excitement.

Another half hour passed, and the two pots of fish had stewed long enough. Chen Qing had also finished his stir-fried dishes.

Meanwhile, the fresh rice simmering at Village Head Gu Changhe's and Gu Daniu's homes was ready too. Everyone stood in the grain-drying yard, each with a bowl of rice and a fish, pairing up with whoever they liked, squatting or standing and digging right in.

Gu Muan had been watching and waiting impatiently for ages. He grabbed a fish from Xu Xiaoqing's pot and had Gu Chaoning fetch one from Chen Qing's. After tasting both, he could pick up on subtle differences.

Hmm, Uncle Xiaoqing's was better.

Yin Hongxue stood opposite him, blinking. "Well?"

Gu Muan, acting like he didn't see Gu Chaoning's dumbfounded look, whispered, "Uncle Xiaoqing's."

Yin Hongxue nodded and took his bowl to queue at Xu Xiaoqing's pot.

Everyone dug in happily.

Gu Lvliu was a bit behind, having just been chatting with his dad. He came over with his bowl, and without needing Gu Muan to repeat himself, trailed after Yin Hongxue to Xu Xiaoqing's pot.

Gu Chaoning, the only one who'd grabbed fish from Chen Qing's pot, stood off to the side, speechless.

Because even if he said something, nobody would listen anyway.

He squatted down, tried his own bowl, then tried Gu Muan's.

Hmm... they tasted about the same, no real difference.

Gu Chaoning was more and more convinced he should send his little brother to culinary school—being able to tell such tiny differences was like having an extra tongue.

The fish Xu Xiaoqing and Chen Qing stewed was seriously fragrant, and maybe it was all in their heads, but the fish tasted better than the carp they'd caught or bought before.

The rice from the newly harvested grain was plump and sweet. Even with the coarse grains mixed in, it was still tasty—went down smooth without scratching your throat.

As they ate, an old man suddenly got teary-eyed.

His daughter-in-law noticed and quickly whispered, asking what was wrong.

The old man quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve, a clear, happy smile on his face, and whispered, "Nothing, I just think life is so good now."

The younger one smiled too. Her family also raised paddy fish, only about three mu of them, and after harvesting in a couple of days, she'd keep more for the family.

Gu Zhuzi was the oldest person in Xiaohe Village, ninety-four years old. Having been through so much, he was calm and satisfied with life these days.

His teeth were almost all gone; his great-grandson picked the fish off the bones and put it in his bowl. Gu Zhuzi chewed it slowly with his remaining teeth.

His clouded eyes searched around and settled on Gu Chaoning.

"Good, good, heaven's finally seen us... no, it's the Chaoning boy..."

"Dad? What are you saying?"

Gu Zhuzi's son, an old man himself, sat next to him and saw his dad seemed to be talking, so he leaned in to hear.

But his ears were bad too, and he could only catch bits of his dad's mumbling.

"Ma, you were worried we wouldn't have enough to eat... our village's got a good young man now... we can eat our fill, Ma... Ma..."