Chapter 369

Whether it was fish or forest frogs, after being scooped onto the ice with a strainer, they would freeze solid in just a little while.

Moreover, they froze in all sorts of shapes, rarely straight; especially the forest frogs, whose postures were even more bizarre, with several maintaining the exact pose they were in just as they jumped or landed.

I have to say, this scene was actually quite interesting.

In the Northeast, when people eat fish, they only eat the big ones; fish under half a jin are fed to pigs, ducks, or geese.

So, Mu Xueli and the other three packed all the fish over half a jin into sacks, while the small fish were simply left on the ice.

Just as the four were about to tie the sack openings, Wang An suddenly thought of the little lynx at home.

So Wang An said to Mu Xueli and Wang Li, "Xueli, Fifth, you two pick out some of the larger small fish and pack them too; I'll take them back to feed the lynx."

Upon hearing this, Wang Li said, "Fourth Brother, there are plenty of fish in the river next to our settlement. When we go back, let's find some time to scoop some up."

Wang An nodded and said, "Yeah, we'll talk about going back when we're back; chiseling an ice hole is so much effort."

Wang Li gave an "oh" and said nothing more, then joined Mu Xueli in picking out the larger ones from the small fish.

After packing the fish from the ice, the group began a boring wait; these fish were definitely enough to eat tonight, but there was nothing to eat for tomorrow morning.

During the wait, the few of them would occasionally use an iron shovel to stir the water in the ice hole.

The reason for doing this was to prevent the water from freezing and sealing the hole again, which would cause the fish to stop gathering there.

After another half hour or so, Feng Chengmin picked up the large strainer again, and then came the scene of various fish and forest frogs being tossed onto the ice.

This second harvest was even better than the first, and there were more big fish too.

Feeling it was about enough, the six of them took their tools and carried the fish toward the sled.

I have to say, this depression in the mountains, perhaps because no one had ever scooped fish here before, had a truly impressive yield.

In less than two hours, the group had scooped up 130 or 140 jin of fish.

And that was even counting the time spent chiseling the ice hole.

However, the tastier fish like sturgeon and mountain catfish only numbered two or three or three or four of each, and even including the largest kaluga, it was less than half the total weight.

The most numerous were still grass carp, common carp, and silver carp; as for crucian carp and some small miscellaneous fish, they were all left on the ice, because in the Northeast, basically no one eats crucian carp or small miscellaneous fish.

Crucian carp aren't very big to begin with, and they are full of bones; it's not worth the effort just to eat a little meat.

As for the claim that crucian carp soup is delicious, that is a fact, but in this era, when there is meat to eat, who would drink soup?

Besides, soup is just something to fill the gaps; filling one's stomach is the top priority.

Actually, a single ice hole like this can yield fish for a long time; if the group didn't leave and waited a while longer, they could still catch quite a few.

But in the middle of the night, it was enough to have caught enough for these people to eat; catching too many was useless anyway.

Soon, the group returned to the sled, and Wang Dazhu and the others had already boiled the water and whittled many wooden sticks for roasting fish.

Fish just scooped out of an ice hole in winter can be stewed without gutting, and the same goes for forest frogs.

So, in order to eat as soon as possible, everyone threw the fish without scales or with few scales, as well as the forest frogs, whole into the pot.

Then they sprinkled in a handful of salt and started stewing.

As for seasonings, they were completely non-existent; salt was the seasoning.

While the fish were stewing, the others were busy roasting fish. Roasting fish was even simpler; for fish with scales, you just scrape them off, and for fish without, you can use them directly.

You use a knife to cut some slits in the fish, rub salt into the slits, and finally skewer them on wooden sticks and hold them near the fire.

Eating in the mountains is mainly about the original flavor; simply put, just get it cooked.

That's right, just cooked is enough.

As for any cooking methods or steps, they simply didn't exist; given these conditions, it was good enough to be able to eat.

After more than 20 minutes, whether it was the stewed fish and frogs or the roasted fish, everything was cooked.

Although the method was quite simple and rough, everyone devoured their food ravenously.

They were truly hungry, but it was also truly delicious.

Anyway, while eating the fish, not a single person spoke; they just buried their heads and ate, not even lifting their heads.

It was also at this moment that Wang An's view of fish underwent a transformation.

Wang An suddenly felt that occasionally eating some fish was actually quite good!

After eating and drinking their fill, sleepiness surged, but under these conditions, sleeping well was definitely impossible.

So everyone simply cleaned up the remaining fish, then leaned back-to-back, or lay directly on the sedge mats by the fire, starting to chat and brag, or dozing off for a little while.

To be honest, in this freezing cold weather and middle of the night, time felt incredibly slow, but for the sake of getting rich, everyone was willing to endure it.

This is a fact.

Just like that, the group guarded the fire and made it through the night.

At dawn, the group began to roast and stew fish again and then eat it; anyway, there was nothing else to eat at this time besides fish.

The key is that this time of day is the coldest, and if you don't eat your fill, people really can't withstand the cold at this temperature.

After eating and drinking their fill, the group led the horses and began to follow Wang An to continue searching for the other secret left by Ninth Brother.

In order to accurately find the place, Wang An decided to start searching from the forbidden area, and every ten meters, he would reconfirm the direction.

Because if even one step was wrong, the direction would end up who knows where.

The group walked and stopped like this, and their speed was not fast at all.

However, even so, for a total of 1800 meters, which is less than 4 li, the group only took an hour to arrive.

Just when the group was about to be happy, the scene before them was like a blow to the head, leaving everyone instantly dumbfounded.

Because what appeared before the group was a pit, and it looked like a new pit that had just been dug a short time ago.

In other words, Ninth Brother's second secret had been snatched by someone else!

Seeing this scene, Wang An instantly felt his hair stand on end, and then Wang An subconsciously looked around.

Only when Wang An realized it was only past 6 in the morning did Wang An set his mind at ease.

At this time, Feng Chengmin, who realized something was wrong, said to Wang An:

"Little An, is the stuff here gone?"

Wang An nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm not the only one who knows about this."

Only then did Feng Chengmin laugh and say, "We've already gotten so much good stuff, we're not at a loss; be content, hahaha."

Wang An didn't speak, but looked at a footprint with a face full of shock.

(End of chapter)