Chapter 185: First time seeing this way of cooking fish

"Alright, let's not sell anymore." Li Long said to Tao Daqiang, "These fish, let's take them back." His voice was a bit loud. Tao Daqiang was still a bit puzzled, why take these dead fish back?

As soon as he said this, the two people in the distance looked at each other, and then they were a bit anxious.

Tao Daqiang wanted to speak, Li Long patted him, didn't let him speak, directly packed up the basin, poured the remaining dead fish and water into the urea bag, put it on the back seat of the bike, and said:

"Let's go, let's go eat breakfast."

Tao Daqiang was a bit stunned. He held the stack of small bills and handed them to Li Long:

"Brother Long, this money..."

"You keep it. I won't give you a share of the money today." Li Long said while walking, "These are your wages for this trip."

Passing by those two people, Li Long deliberately said loudly:

"Daqiang, remember in the future when selling fish, some bad people specifically take advantage of the crowd to stir the water and squeeze them, squeezing the fish to death, so that your fish can't be sold, and when noon comes, you have to pour them away, and they wait to pick up these fish—"

"Brother Long, how did you know?" Tao Daqiang understood a bit now, asking while following:

"Have you encountered it too?"

"Encountered it." Li Long said, "At that time, that bad guy wanted to squeeze my fish, and I kicked him out. In the future, if you encounter such people, you can't let them be, you have to fight back, you have to let others know that not being able to buy fresh fish is what such people do... then they won't dare."

Those two people originally wanted to chime in with Li Long, but hearing Li Long say this, they were too embarrassed to speak, and let the two walk past.

"Brother Long, just now... were you saying it deliberately?" Approaching the big meat canteen, Tao Daqiang looked behind and saw no one following, then asked in a low voice:

"Of course, those two people waiting, they must be the two who squeezed the fish, they were waiting for you to pour the fish away, and then go pick them up—I've encountered it."

"So bad." After thinking for a while, Tao Daqiang said, "They... why are they like that?"

"Wanting to take advantage, wanting to eat fish but not wanting to pay." Li Long remembered a "trick" a friend told him in his previous life, which was when others drove to sell watermelons, he would pick a ripe one, squeeze the watermelon hard while holding it with both hands, and the ripe watermelon, once squeezed, would gather the juice inside, and then he would buy this melon, and when cut open on the spot, the melon flesh would look like it was overripe and about to go bad, so the seller could only refund the money.

That friend was quite proud when telling this, but at the time Li Long felt this person was clever in a small way and not worth making friends with.

These two people who messed with the fish were just this kind of person, used to taking small advantages.

Approaching the big meat canteen, Tao Daqiang suddenly stopped and said:

"Little Brother Long, let me sell those fish here. The fish are actually quite fresh, it's a pity to pour them away, sell a little bit is better than nothing."

Li Long saw Tao Daqiang still had quite a bit of perseverance, so he said:

"Fine, you sell them, if you can't sell them, pour them into the water ditch. I'll go into the shop to order food first, are three buns enough for you?"

"Enough."

"Fine, then you have three buns and a bowl of porridge."

Li Long locked the bike, took the things, and went into the big meat canteen—at this time, things were relatively precious, and it was very normal to bring things into the restaurant to eat.

He went to the counter to open a ticket, ordered six buns, two bowls of porridge, a plate of scrambled eggs with chives, and a plate of shredded pork with green peppers.

When the waiter served the dishes, Li Long took the opportunity to ask:

"Comrade, I want to ask, where did you buy your green peppers? It's only April, and there are green peppers?"

"Vegetable market." The waiter glanced at him and said: "Heard the purchaser transported a batch of vegetables from the Central Plains, it's just very expensive."

"Okay, thank you." Li Long was happy.

After waiting for a while, the food was ready. Li Long just intended to go to the door to take a look, when Tao Daqiang walked in carrying the bag.

"Sit down quickly, eat." Li Long said to him, "If you don't come again, I'll start eating."

"You should have eaten first, no need to wait for me." Tao Daqiang was quite happy, "Brother Long, the remaining fish were all sold, an old lady came over, asked me why the fish were all dead, I told her, let her look at the gill covers, and she bought all the remaining fish—two yuan!"

The remaining fish were three or four kilograms. To say two yuan was definitely cheap, but being able to sell them was better than pouring them away. Li Long said with a smile:

"Fine, not bad. When you come tomorrow, remember what I told you, don't let those two people succeed again..."

"Brother Long, I'm not coming tomorrow." Tao Daqiang shook his head, "I'm not cut out for this, I'm slow-mouthed, can't shout, and when encountering such things, I don't know what to say, can't handle it..."

"Thought it through?" Li Long picked up a bun and asked while eating, "Really not selling? If selling fish, the money you get is more."

"Not selling." Tao Daqiang shook his head firmly, "I think I'd better catch fish and use my strength."

"Then fine, there are still many jobs you can do later." Li Long thought since he had decided, don't persuade him, "After a while, it'll be the Dragon Boat Festival, catching fish and picking reed leaves, then I can give you another share of the money."

"Picking reed leaves? Can this also be sold for money?" Tao Daqiang was a bit surprised.

"Try it, anyway, it doesn't cost money, just some effort." Li Long said, "We don't farm, so we have to think of ways to make money, right?"

"Right." Tao Daqiang finished a bun in three bites, took another one and said: "Brother Long, I'm stupid, you come up with ideas, I'll just use my strength."

Li Long didn't expect Tao Daqiang to have such a clear positioning of himself. He was a bit dumbfounded.

The two finished their meal. After going out, Li Long wanted to go to the vegetable market to buy vegetables, but Tao Daqiang wouldn't follow, saying he wanted to walk back. Li Long let him be. He knew Tao Daqiang was embarrassed to let Li Long ride a bike to carry him, but Tao Daqiang himself couldn't ride a bike well and couldn't carry Li Long, to avoid embarrassment, he just left directly.

Li Long went to the big courtyard first, put down the two basins and the scale, then checked the fritillaria, found they weren't completely dry, so he locked the door and went to the vegetable market.

The vegetable market wasn't big at this time, only two state-run vegetable shops. Li Long looked at the first one, only dried vegetables and chives that had just come down, so he went to the second one.

As soon as he entered, he smelled the familiar green pepper smell, and then he saw several large baskets of green peppers placed on the counter. Two people were buying, and the waiter was saying:

"Don't pick, don't pick! Can't pick! Buy big and small together, 1.1 yuan per kilogram!"

"That's reaching the price of meat!" one of them said.

"Well, at this time, you can buy meat with money, but you might not be able to buy these green peppers." The salesperson said a bit proudly, "This is the only one in the whole county! This was still our manager pulling strings to transfer from Wucheng, just these five baskets, once sold out, there won't be any, if you want to eat, you have to wait until July."

That was the logic, things are precious because they are rare. After Li Long entered, he said directly:

"I want five kilograms of green peppers."

"Line up." The salesperson shouted, "Don't rush, one by one."

Li Long waited, waited until the two people in front finished buying, and when it was his turn, the salesperson asked:

"Which unit? Or from the canteen?"

"Eating at home." Li Long said.

"Buying so much for home?" The salesperson was very surprised, "This isn't cheap!"

"Many relatives, divide it among several families." Li Long said while taking out money, "Just like you said, this is the only time, next time you eat, you might have to wait until the season. Buy more, let everyone taste it."

"Then how many bags should I pack for you?" Hearing Li Long say this, the salesperson's tone softened, "Divide into several families?" "Five families." Li Long calculated and said, "Then weigh six kilograms, one bag has one more kilogram."

"Fine, 6.6 yuan, pay first."

Li Long took out money, the salesperson opened a ticket, and then put the chili peppers on the scale.

Li Long saw that when this salesperson took the green peppers, she deliberately picked even ones, unbroken ones. After weighing, he said:

"Thank you!"

The salesperson knew her little actions were seen by the other party, and said with a smile:

"Thinking of a whole family, you're a good person, it's what I should do."

Li Long was a bit inexplicable, nodded, and walked out carrying several bags of green peppers.

The bags were paper, not big. Li Long could feel he was enjoying special treatment.

He clipped the bags together on the back seat and rode out of the county.

Arriving at the township middle school, Gu Xiaoxia hadn't finished class yet, so Li Long put a bag of green peppers in her dormitory and then went home.

When Gu Xiaoxia finished class and returned to the dormitory to prepare to cook, she saw the bag of green peppers, was stunned for a moment, then thought of Li Long, and felt warm in her heart.

!.

When Li Long returned home, Li Jianguo and Liang Wenyu had already returned. Liang Wenyu was cooking lunch, that big fish was still alive, Li Jianguo said:

"Changed the water twice, but it won't live much longer."

"After eating, I'll cut it. While it's fresh, I'll divide and send it to each family, and I'll cook the rest at home in the afternoon."

"Don't send it to my dad's side first." Liang Wenyu said, "Running so far isn't worth it. Let's cook more at home."

Li Jianguo looked at Li Long.

"Then fine." Li Long said, "Isn't tomorrow Sunday? Juan and Qiangqiang don't have school, we'll set the nets again this afternoon, and when we get fish tomorrow, keep some. In the morning, Little Juan and Qiangqiang will go send it to their grandfather."

"Fine." Li Jianguo said, "Doing it this way is also easy to cook."

Liang Wenyu nodded with a smile.

"There were green chilies in the vegetable shop today, I bought some, I'll bring a bag tomorrow."

"Then these chilies are so expensive now." Liang Wenyu said, "Wasting money."

"Money is meant to be spent." Li Long smiled, "Rare to eat once, next time you eat, you might have to wait until July."

Liang Wenyu just said it, since Li Long said so, she didn't say anything else.

Li Long knew that people of his brother and sister-in-law's age had really suffered and lived hard days, and thrift had become a life habit.

He naturally wasn't an exception.

After lunch, Tao Daqiang came to fix the nets. Li Long and the two worked together, and after more than an hour, they finished fixing the eight nets. Li Long cleaned the big carp, and Tao Daqiang

insisted on wanting the tail section. Li Long chopped it and gave him a section of two or three kilograms, and also let him take a bag of green peppers back.

A middle section of over two kilograms was chopped and given to Gu Bo Yuan, along with a bag of green peppers.

Next, Li Long began to prepare to cook the fish.

He saw others do it this way in his previous life, it seemed to be passed down from Lu Province.

Speaking of which, it was very simple. Traditional fish cooking seeks to keep the fish whole, which is a metaphor.

But Li Long's fish cooking was the opposite. Hot pot, oil, seasonings, fish, and then he directly chopped the fish meat into pieces, stir-fried it with shredded green peppers, just like stir-fried pork with green peppers.

Of course, the fish head must be kept. After the fish meat was chopped, the bones would also be left behind, avoiding being pricked when eating.

When finished and served, Li Long tasted it, the taste was not bad.

This dish was fine to eat cold. He felt the taste was not bad, so he put it in the kitchen and began to stew the fish head soup.

To make fish head soup milky white, it also needs to be pan-fried. Li Long turned the fire under the pot low, and after pan-frying the fish head, began to stew it.

The fish head soup wasn't stewed yet, Li Juan had already returned with her schoolbag on her back.

"So fragrant! Uncle, what delicious thing are you making?" Li Juan was much more cheerful than before the New Year, she asked with a smile, "Is it fish?"

"Yeah." Li Long said with a smile, "Fish head soup, stir-fried fish meat, hungry? I'll serve some for you to eat."

"Great." Li Juan went to put down her schoolbag, washed her hands by the well, and waited for Li Long to serve the meal.

Freshly steamed buns at noon, plus the green pepper fish meat in the afternoon, and the hot fish head soup, Li Juan ate very happily.

After eating, she went to wash the bowls and chopsticks herself, and then went to cut pig grass. When Li Qiang returned, Li Long served him, and after he finished eating, the sun had already slanted west, and Tao Daqiang had also been here for a while.

Li Juan came back from cutting pig grass. Li Long let her take good care of Li Qiang, while he and Tao Daqiang carried the nets to the Little Haizi.

"Brother Long, are we setting eight nets this time too?" Tao Daqiang asked while walking, "Are we changing places this time?"

"Change. Setting nets in the same place, catching fish tomorrow definitely won't be much." Li Long said, "Let's set eight nets today, see the situation tomorrow."

The time was relatively late. After setting the nets, they didn't cast the nets again and went straight home.

When Li Jianguo and Liang Wenyu returned in the evening, seeing this meal Li Long made, they were also very surprised.

"Fish can be cooked this way?" Li Jianguo washed his hands, sat at the table, picked up a piece of fish meat with chopsticks, tasted it, felt the taste was not bad, and said, "First time knowing fish can be cooked this way!"

"I'm also seeing it for the first time." Liang Wenyu was also very surprised, "Where is this way of cooking from? Little Long, you're quite capable, you can even think of this..."

"This wasn't thought of by me, it was said by a fellow worker in my former factory. He said it simply, I thought I'd try it, anyway, big fish is hard to cook, didn't expect that after making it, the taste was okay." Li Long said with a smile.

"Not bad, cook big fish this way in the future, it's also quite good." Li Jianguo said with a smile while eating, "Flavorful, and not an ordinary taste."

"Exactly, the fish Uncle made is delicious!" Li Qiang said loudly, "It's just a bit spicy—ha—I'm going to drink some water!"

His words and actions made everyone laugh.

The new dish he made was very popular, and Li Long was also very happy.

When retrieving the nets the next morning, Li Long didn't let Tao Daqiang go this time, and Tao Daqiang didn't insist either. He walked along the bank, looking for water rat burrows.

Li Long was also a bit thrilling in the water. This time the nets were set deeper than yesterday, located in another trough. The four-finger large-mesh net was hung with many big plate crucian carp, all of the seven or eight hundred grams to nearly one kilogram kind, making Li Long a bit flustered when retrieving the fish.

These guys were too active!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 186 =====