As the saying goes, "Silver carp head, carp head" refers to the most tender part of the fish. The bighead carp is commonly known as the flower silver carp, which is the most delicious of the silver carp. If you catch a big bighead carp in the past, the fish head alone can support a whole table of dishes. But today, the Li family has a good harvest, with more than ten kilograms of fish and several hundred kilograms of wild boar meat. Old Mrs. Li is not distressed anymore, and asked Guihua to work hard to make up for the loss of half a year's stomach.
Zhenzhen sat in Wang Sufen's arms, opened her little mouth and ate the silver carp meat that Wang Sufen fed her. This wild silver carp was not only delicious but also tender, especially the fish head. The meat was slippery like jelly, and she didn't even need to chew it. She just licked it with her little tongue and it went into her stomach. Zhenzhen drank the bland breast milk for more than seven months. After being reborn, she finally tasted the delicious taste of fish meat again. She was so excited that tears were about to fall.
In a blink of an eye, half a bowl of fish meat was in her stomach. Zhenzhen touched her stomach and still felt a little unsatisfied. She watched her brothers moving their chopsticks between the plates and quickly pointed at the fish head: "Eat! Eat!"
"Haven't you eaten enough yet?" Wang Sufen tilted her head and looked at Zhenzhen's little face: "You've eaten quite a lot."
Zhenzhen, with a look of despair on her face, only regretted that she was too young. If she were a year older, she would have definitely held the baby and chewed it by herself. It wouldn't be as difficult as it is now.
"Eat!" Zhenzhen emphasized her tone again, her eager look fully showing her desire for the fish head. Seeing this, Old Lady Li softened her heart immediately: "Since you like to eat it, keep the fish head for Zhenzhen. It will be enough for her to have a meal tonight." Then she instructed Mingbei: "Go get a plate for your sister and take out the big fish head."
Mingbei first stuffed a piece of pork belly into his mouth, then jumped out a few steps and ran back like a gust of wind, put the plate next to Wang Sufen, and immediately picked up another piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth.
Zhenzhen couldn't help but smile at Mingbei as he ate with his mouth full of oil. Mingbei thought she was greedy for meat and took a piece of fat and passed it to Zhenzhen. Zhenzhen looked at the thick fat on it and shrank back repeatedly without forgetting to bury her little head in Wang Sufen's arms.
Seeing that Zhenzhen didn't eat it, Mingbei stuffed it back into his own mouth and said vaguely, "Is my sister a little stupid? Why doesn't she eat such delicious meat?"
"You are the stupid one." Old Lady Li rolled her eyes and said, "Your sister is much smarter than you. This fish meat is tender and good for the brain, it's the best thing. It would be great to keep the fat for oil, but you asked your sister-in-law to keep a piece for stewing. You've been empty for more than half a year and you ate so much fat. I guarantee you'll be running to the toilet at night. You're such a fool."
For a moment, all the "fools" who were stuffing fat meat into their mouths with chopsticks paused at the same time, and then continued to stuff their mouths as if they hadn't heard anything. They were willing to eat meat to their heart's content even if they had a stomachache. Besides, this kind of meal was so rich during the Chinese New Year last year. In addition to making dumplings, they could only find a few slices of the pork they bought every time they cooked. It was not as satisfying as today.
Thinking of dumplings, Mingbei finally raised his head from the bowl, wolfed down the meat in his mouth, and turned to discuss with Old Lady Li: "Grandma, let's make dumplings. There should be meat and cabbage."
Old Lady Li laughed and blocked it back: "That's embarrassing!"
"There's still some cornmeal, and there might be some flour hidden in your locked cabinet!" Mingbei has been working at home these days and has not paid attention to other things, but he has a clear understanding of the household items in the kitchen.
Old Lady Li rolled her eyes at him and said, "No one is as ignorant of life as you are. It takes at least a month to dry the corn and grind it into flour. We don't know when the grain will arrive. The flour we have is not enough to make porridge for your sister. Don't think about it. Now that we have meat to eat, it's not bad. You're still thinking about dumplings. If you are so proud, why don't you go to heaven?"
Mingbei picked up a piece of spine and put it in the bowl. He took a bite and said vaguely: "I'm not small. When I grow up, I may be able to fly to the sky."
Old Lady Li laughed out of anger when she heard this: "Okay, I'll wait until you grow up. If you can't go up to the sky, I'll tie a hundred firecrackers to you and let them go up."
While the grandfather and grandson were arguing with each other, Li Muwu and Li Musen each poured a small cup of sorghum wine and sipped it one sip at a time, drinking it very carefully.
Li Musen took a sip of wine and ate a bite of meat. Seeing his son and nephew eating happily, he felt happy too. He couldn't help but want to praise Mingxi again: "I thought we would have to rely on Mingnan and Mingbei for hunting in the future. I didn't expect Mingxi, who looks gentle and polite, to be a good hunter. We will rely on Mingxi for wild boar in the future."
Mingxi had just put a mouthful of fish into his mouth and was about to spit out the bone, but he was so frightened by these words that he swallowed the whole thing back. He immediately bent over and coughed loudly.
Li Musen bent down and looked under the table to see Mingxi's red face. He asked quickly, "Are you okay, Mingxi? Why are you so weak to praise? I just said a few good words about you and you got so excited! Drink some water and eat some dry food. If you like to hear good words, I'll go outside and praise you tomorrow."
Mingxi coughed until tears came out, and she only stretched out a hand from under the table weakly and waved it, firmly expressing her wishes. Mingdong took a pancake, broke it into small pieces and kept stuffing it into Mingxi's mouth. Mingxi was choked and tilted her neck back, but fortunately she swallowed the thorn.
After washing his face, Mingxi came back and sat on the table shivering: "Grandma, school is about to start for me, why don't I go take the train with my brother tomorrow."
Old Lady Li glared at him and said, "There's still about half a month left. Your brother is going to Bingcheng, which is far away, so he should leave a few days earlier. Why are you in such a hurry to go to Yidong? You can just take the train three days before school starts. Take advantage of these few days to eat more meat and replenish your body. This is the wild boar you killed."
Mingnan and Mingbei ate half of their fill and finally had time to talk. They looked at Mingxi with shining eyes: "Brother, can you tell us later how hard you should use to smash a wild boar's head?" Mingxi lowered his head and gnawed on the braised spine in the bowl, pretending not to have heard.
Mingnan was disappointed and asked Li Musen again: "Uncle San, how do you hunt wild boars? Can you take Mingbei and me with you next time?"
Li Musen said cheerfully: "Okay, if you two are not afraid, then come with me. But we agreed that you are not allowed to wet your pants when the time comes!"
Mingbei straightened his chest immediately: "How can I be afraid? I promise to be as brave as my second brother!"
Mingxi swallowed a mouthful of wild boar meat and cried silently in his heart: I would never go there even if you kill me, it's too damn scary, I almost peed my pants.
Zhenzhen was eating fish while listening to the conversation at the table. She had a small stomach and it soon became full. She felt a little sleepy after eating, and her head drooped and she yawned.
Wang Sufen took her to wash her face and then put her on the kang in the east room. After patting her twice, Zhenzhen fell into a deep sleep.
Wang Sufen had been feeding Zhenzhen fish and had not eaten properly. Seeing Zhenzhen sleeping soundly with deep breathing, she covered her with a sheet and went back to eat.
Hearing Wang Sufen's footsteps leaving, Zhenzhen secretly opened her eyes and made sure that there was no one else in the room. Then she turned over again, facing the window, and let her consciousness leave her body.
In the afternoon, I saw something glowing golden on the mountain. Before I could get closer, I was woken up by Wang Sufen. Zhenzhen wanted to go up the mountain to find out what it was while everyone was eating.
The days are long in summer, and Zhenzhen determined the direction and did not stop anywhere else. She went straight to the place she saw in the afternoon. Perhaps it was because she had a goal, Zhenzhen felt that she had moved into the forest in just a moment.
Slowly sinking to three or four meters underground, two large wooden boxes were placed side by side, each with a large copper lock. Looking through the boxes, I saw that the first box was neatly filled with gold bars. In my life, I had never seen so much gold in the gold counter in the mall. Zhenzhen wiped her saliva, withdrew her sight from the first box and looked at the second box.
Compared to the neatness of the first box, this box was somewhat messy. Gold bricks, gold ingots, silver nuggets, Yuan Datou and other things piled up on most of the box, with some gold and silver jewelry and jade bracelets thrown on top, and a few guns on the top. Thinking of what Old Lady Li had told Guihua about the bandits before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhenzhen thought that these were probably the things that the bandits buried before they fled, preparing to dig them up when they came back.
Zhenzhen surfaced and took a look. This was a relatively flat spot on the mountain. There was a huge rock weighing several dozen kilograms placed on it, probably used as a mark.
Now that she had seen the two boxes of things, Zhenzhen had no intention of leaving them to the bandits. Her consciousness merged with the earth again, and she moved the two boxes a few hundred meters up the mountain and buried them deeply in a sparsely populated area. Only then did she feel at ease to withdraw her consciousness.
Zhenzhen opened her eyes. It was already dark. She listened to the noise in the west room. It was still full of lively voices. Zhenzhen was really sleepy. She turned over and fell into a deep sleep again.
The west room was bustling with activity. After Mingdong had finished his meal, he went back to check his gifts. Mingxi had a deep fear of wild boars and followed Mingdong into the room without even eating a few bites of the meat. Mingnan, Mingbei, and Mingrong and Mingguang from his uncle's family were so full that they were burping but were unwilling to leave the table. They stared at the braised bones on the table, ready to wait for them to digest before chewing on a piece.
Li Musen swept away the decadent air of the past few days. Perhaps he was too happy. He was a little drunk after drinking only two cups of wine. He kept pulling Li Muwu and calling him brother.
Old Lady Li sat cross-legged on the kang in the north, smoking a pipe. Seeing her sons and grandsons all in high spirits, she felt very happy. After finishing her bag of cigarettes, Old Lady Li knocked on the kang and called Wang Sufen, Liu Xiuhua and Guihua to her side: "It's hot today, and it's hard to keep the wild boar meat. Go back to your parents' home tomorrow and bring some pork to satisfy their cravings."
The three of them looked at each other, their faces showing uncontrollable joy. Old Lady Li smiled and said, "Sufen and Xiulan will each take 30 kilograms to her parents' home, and Guihua will take 10 kilograms. After Guihua has eaten, she will cook all the fat meat at home, remove the bones and share them between the two families. She will marinate the rest with salt and sauce and keep them for later consumption."
Guihua responded. Wang Sufen saw that Old Lady Li was in a good mood and took the opportunity to ask, "Mom, do you think I can take Zhenzhen with me when I go home tomorrow? I haven't seen her since her grandmother and uncle came to see her when she was born."
Old Lady Li couldn't help but hesitate, because Wang Sufen's parents' home was about 20 miles away, and she was afraid that Zhenzhen would be tired if she went so far. Wang Sufen seemed to see Old Lady Li's hesitation, and hurriedly said, "Why don't we ask Mu Wu to borrow a big cart and we can go there by car."
"That's fine." Old Lady Li nodded. "Then you should leave early tomorrow morning and come back after lunch. Bring a small blanket or something with you. If Zhenzhen falls asleep on the way, you must cover her up to keep her out of the wind."
Wang Sufen quickly agreed: "I remember it all."
Mrs. Li thought about it but still felt uneasy: "Give Zhenzhen the kettle as well. Go to your mother's house and see if they have the kind of fine cornmeal that has been ground three times? If they do, use that to make porridge for Zhenzhen to eat at noon. If not, just let her drink milk. She can't digest anything else."
"Okay!" Wang Sufen continued to agree.
"And..." Old Lady Li scratched her head, "Isn't the old boy named Chouqiu from your sister-in-law's family just three years old? He's at the right age to be naughty. You have to keep an eye on Zhenzhen and don't let Chouqiu scratch her face."
Wang Sufen said quickly, "That's right. When Mingbei was that old, he used our iron comb to scratch Mingnan's bald head. Don't worry, mom. When we get to my parents' house, I will hold Zhenzhen and won't put her down."
It seems that there is no problem, but Grandma Li still feels worried. This is the first time her granddaughter has gone out since she was born. She doesn't know if she can adapt.
"What time can you come back?" Old Lady Li pursed her lips, her wrinkled face full of tangled expression: "Or you can take me with you."
Wang Sufen: …