Chapter 1581

Because they arrived very early, even after fishing for a while, the morning light, which was exceptionally cold as it pierced through the thin mist, had only just dispersed. Before the sunlight became bright, everything seemed a bit warmer.

Several people fished from morning until noon. Fishing is not a task that consumes much physical strength; what consumes the most strength is anticipation. Often, when one snaps out of that focused expectation, the stomach is already growling with hunger.

They started heading back to the camp when the sunlight was at its best at noon, carrying the morning's harvest. Even though freshwater fish are easier to keep, these fresh fish could not wait until the next day to be eaten, so before returning, Shiler gutted all the fish, removed the internal organs, and processed them into fish meat ready for cooking.

Seeing Natasha watched from the side, sighing in admiration, mainly amazed that a fisherman would not want to show off his living prey. Shiler responded like this: "This is not something worth showing off. Our harvest should be considered quite large for ice fishing. As Ivan said, the prey during this period is more fragile and easier to hook."

Seeing Natasha looked down at the only fish she had caught, a trout. It was not particularly strong, and judging by the shape of its belly, it had already consumed much of its stored fat, so it was destined not to taste very good.

"Alright, it seems you prefer challenging fishing." Seeing Natasha hesitated for a moment, still not making the insinuation in her tone any clearer, seemingly out of concern.

While speaking, Shiler had already started to process the last fish, and only then did Seeing Natasha have the time to look closely at his movements.

Shiler placed a mat on the ice, sat cross-legged on it, grabbed the tail of a fish, slapped it onto the ground, and used the handle of a kitchen knife to strike the fish's head, knocking it unconscious almost instantly.

When he used the knife, the fish's muscles still had reflexes, so the process of opening the gills appeared exceptionally cruel. With one cut, the fish tail flicked twice, blood flowed out in a gurgle, the tip of the Western-style kitchen knife turned backward, Shiler flicked his wrist slightly, and the fish gills were shaved out.

Then, with the heel of one palm pressing down on the fish body, the hand holding the knife cut along the fish belly, the tip of the knife inserted vertically, effortlessly picking out all the internal organs.

Seeing Natasha rolled her eyes, quite mocking Nick for showing off his skills, but Nick was still tireless in telling similar jokes. Then he finally became serious and said, "Let those skilled in knife work handle the ingredients here; the rest of you go to the nearby woods to chop some wood and pick up some stones so we can build the campfire higher."

"Come on, let our exquisite chefs show their skills." Nick stood up, clapped his hands, took off one glove and tucked it under his arm, looked left and right, and said, "But first, let us build a stove for them, contribute labor equally, and then enjoy the results equally."

Shiler asked very straightforwardly and in a gentlemanly tone, so Seeing Natasha really pursed her lips and thought about it seriously, saying, "Although 'shuba (salmon salad)' is not bad, perch doesn't seem suitable for that dish. I also like smoked fish jelly, but it seems there isn't enough time to make that."

Seeing Natasha swallowed; she really found it hard to ignore the movements of Shiler's hands. Even when her targets—those wealthy merchants—took her to extremely expensive and high-end Western private restaurants and showed her the back kitchens, she had never felt any interest in the chefs' flowing slaughtering movements. Humans and animals are, after all, different.

"We thought we could catch the tail of the salmon." Nick used a pun and said, "But they left immediately after spawning. Perhaps we are three months late."

"But I think that's a bit of a waste, because I don't think the other two groups can catch better fish than us. There must be a main course, right?"

"Don't be too greedy." Lu Yuhe said. He looked around at the harvest and said, "This is completely enough for us to eat, even enough for tonight and tomorrow."

"Fried fish bread?" Shiler suggested a possibility.

"In fact, ice fishing is beneficial to the surrounding ecological environment." Lu Yuhe shrugged, opened the lid of the water tank, and said, "A decrease in the number of fish helps the remaining individuals share more food, increases the population size next year, and makes the offspring healthier."

"But what about the sausage casing? What are you using for the casing? Don't tell me you brought intestines too." Seeing Natasha looked down at the fire, then looked up at Shiler.

"Must save a few for tonight." Steve said this, but his attention was not on the food at all. His eyes scanned back and forth between Lu Yu and Seeing Natasha, then he raised an eyebrow at Lu Yuhe.

Erik awkwardly touched his nose. The wastefulness of Americans is well known, and he really had no way to refute it in this regard. Nick saw his awkward situation, so he changed the subject and said, "What shall we eat?"

But the movements of Shiler's hands fascinated her. Seeing Natasha could completely imagine how he would use the same pair of hands and the same crisp, decisive movements to cut open the chests and abdomens of other equally strong animals and clean out their internal organs.

"Damn bread, did someone bring flour?... Alright, Dr. Shiler is more thorough than anyone else wherever he goes."

Seeing Natasha sat down on the nearby fishing stool, and Shiler walked over and put down his box. Charles looked into it with some curiosity, raised an eyebrow, and said, "You've already processed the fish meat?"

The two of them indeed had the largest quantity and best quality of fish among all the groups, with trout, perch, whitefish, American eel, small squid, etc., filling two large water tanks.

"Nick, has anyone told you that you are like a Chihuahua sniffer dog?" Seeing Natasha said somewhat impatiently. She slammed the kitchen knife in her hand into the ice, looked at Nick, and said, "Take care of your fish, or I will chop them all up in one go."

"Jesus, lady, what kind of silly talk is that!" Nick looked at Seeing Natasha with an expression of disbelief and said, "You don't even know how many energetic fish we caught. How can you kill them before letting you witness their strength and vitality?"

Seeing Natasha shook her head vigorously. Shiler had already removed the fish heads and started cutting the fish meat into thin slices. The perch in his hand was the fattest one among their labor results; the fish meat was slightly pink, and the fat color was lighter.

"I think we can replace the luncheon meat in the borscht with fish meat." Lu Yu gave the answer without hesitation: "You said it, anything can be put in borscht."

"But treating you is very worthwhile."

"Hey, look at these beautiful little guys." Nick's high-pitched shout came from nearby. The others turned to look at him and saw him and Erik each carrying a water tank back.

Soon Seeing Natasha discovered that Shiler's decision to kill the fish first was wiser than she had imagined, because when they returned to the camp, Erik was saying, "I only have two hands, so even with more strength, it's impossible to carry five water tanks at once. Half of Nick's and my harvest is still back there, so we must go back."

"God, don't tell me you brought flour." Seeing Natasha shook her head, as if saying it was incomprehensible: "That's also a very time-consuming snack."

Shiler nodded and said, "I don't have that many trophies to show off. Our harvest isn't much, no need to carry two heavy water tanks back and forth."

Seeing Natasha kicked the scattered ice cubes nearby with her boots and said, "Can't you kill some of the fish first?"

"I'll make grilled fish, what about you guys?" Ivan stood behind Steve, winding the fishing line, and said, "I caught a strong big guy, it should be the biggest among us, it's only suitable for steaming or grilling, cutting it into fish meat would be a waste."

"I promised to make fried fish bread for Seeing Natasha. I happened to bring flour and other seasonings, as well as some vegetables. I'll go prepare the dough first. When Erik and the others come back, we'll finalize the menu."

"Believe me, that's quite wise."

Seeing Natasha was extremely helpless. She knew that these two fishing enthusiasts with only fish in their heads would not consider that lunch would be delayed because of their actions. Steve, who was beside her, saw her dissatisfaction and comforted her: "The temperature is lower than we thought, so the fire might take a while to start. Sit down and warm up first, lady."

"Separate one, we'll make low-temperature smoked marinated fish meat." Charles's attention seemed to be entirely on the food. He appeared very relaxed, speaking with a strange German-accented English: "Just need some charcoal that burns incompletely, wrap the marinated fish meat well and bury it in."

"Or we can have some fish meat sausage." Shiler also suggested: "Because there isn't enough time, it doesn't have to be smoked. Serve it with sauce when eating. This dish can be saved for tonight."

After saying this, Seeing Natasha suddenly stiffened for a moment. She really hoped that Shiler would not interpret this as a pun about cannibalism or encouragement. As it turned out, this Shiler was indeed good at chatting; he just smiled and said, "I guess we only need to send one Russian to get enough bear intestines."

Seeing Natasha made a swallowing motion again. She asked, "What dish do you plan to make with this fish?"

Nick leaned back as if he couldn't afford to offend Seeing Natasha, but at the same time, he poked Erik with his elbow. Erik was staring at the trophies in the water tank without blinking. It could be seen that he was the only one left on the scene whose attention was still on the fish.

"The main course is definitely grilled fish, the cold dish is low-temperature smoked fish meat, and the snack is fried fish bread."

Furthermore, some phantom pains Seeing Natasha had never experienced before began to spread along the center of her chest to her neck, as if that knife had cut open her skin, and that hand was picking out the internal organs that could be preserved inside her abdomen.

Seeing Natasha had nothing to say, so she could only shrug and start tidying up the things on the ground. As she picked up the fishing rod, she said, "I'm not sure if we will come back here to continue fishing in the afternoon, so we have to take everything back, and you made a wise decision, we don't have to carry heavy water tanks full of water."

Ivan sneered, but Seeing Natasha breathed a sigh of relief, somewhat absent-mindedly turning the charcoal fire and saying, "In this season, hunting any bear species is not a good choice. They are usually starving, but their aggression will be very strong before hibernation. It would be even worse if you run into a mother bear with cubs."

"This is to treat a lady." Steve, whose gossip heart had not received a response from Charles, raised an eyebrow at Nick again. Fortunately, Nick was not as unromantic as Charles. He immediately stared with his only remaining eye, which had very obvious whites, his gaze scanning back and forth between Shiler and Seeing Natasha.

"It's a bit redundant to talk about that here." Ivan said while taking the last fish he caught off the hook: "This lake is too small, there is no large-scale population. Besides, the corpses of starved fish can also make their companions eat fuller, at least better than you catching them and then wasting them."

"So what do you want to eat, lady?"

"Let's start, friends, the steaming hot food is waiting for us behind the fishing season like fruitful results."