Chapter 5: Fishing

Xia Ning’an put on a straw hat and went to her family’s private plot first. She quietly irrigated all the land with Farm Spring Water. She believed that when it was time to harvest, her family’s crops would yield more. After watering the land, she went to the pond by the courtyard. The water was deeper here, and children rarely came to play in the water.

She put down her tools and threw the cornmeal balls by the water’s edge.

After waiting for about ten minutes, she saw fish swimming over. The cornmeal balls had already dissolved in the water, and many fish came to eat. She saw a big fish and immediately threw the net into the water, pressed it down, and pulled it back. She pulled the net up and threw the fish into the bucket. A black fish weighing five or six pounds and a bag of small fish and shrimp came up together. She put the small fish and shrimp into the pond in the space farm and continued to fish.

She did the same thing again. This time, she caught a ten-pound silver carp. The recipe for Thousand Island Lake Fish Head immediately appeared in Xia Ning’an’s mind. Her mouth watered. There were also many loaches and snails in the net, which she also threw into the farm.

The third net caught a large catfish. People in Northeast China love to eat catfish. There’s a saying, “Catfish stewed with eggplant will kill an old man.” It’s a local specialty dish.

In two hours, she had caught turtles, crucian carp, carp, old man fish, catfish, loaches, hairy crabs, river shrimp, and so on. She put them all into the pond in the farm to continue raising them. She could take them out whenever she wanted to eat fish.

The fish in the space farm’s kitchen were mainly sea fish, as well as the most popular Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs during the National Day holiday, Zhoushan swimming crabs. She could only eat them secretly in the space. If she wanted to take them out to eat, she still had to use local fish. However, she had caught a lot of hairy crabs today, so she could take out the hairy crabs from the farm and say they were caught here.

Finally, she took a large silver carp, a large catfish, a large crucian carp, a large grass carp, and some loaches back home.

When she entered the house, she went to the space and took a quick shower. She was covered in fish smell. She changed her clothes and came out.

She knocked on the door and called out, “I’m back.”

“Come in,” a cold voice came from inside.

Xia Ning’an went in and saw him leaning against the folded quilt. The quilt wasn’t very thick, so it didn’t look very comfortable.

She wanted to take a large cushion from the space for him, but she didn’t know how to explain its origin when her family came back.

After thinking for a moment, she took out the thick quilt from the cabinet, wrapped it in a sheet, and tied it at the corners. A simple cushion was made.

“I made a big cushion. It’s filled with a thick quilt. I’ll bring it over for you to put behind your back. It’ll be more comfortable to lean against. I’ll get it for you now.”

Xia Ning’an took off her shoes and got on the kang. She dragged the cushion to Lu Zecheng’s back and helped him sit up and lean against it.

As they got closer, the girl’s pleasant scent wafted over. Lu Zecheng’s breath hitched, and his ears slowly turned red. They were too close, especially since his eyes were injured. His sense of smell and hearing seemed to be particularly good. Now, smelling her scent, he felt uncomfortable.

Xia Ning’an helped him lean against the cushion in a comfortable position and then stepped back.

She looked at the time. Her family hadn’t come back yet. She wondered if Lu Zecheng wanted to use the toilet. It was inconvenient for her, so she hesitated for a moment before saying, “Do you need to use the toilet? If you’re in a hurry, I’ll help you. If you’re not in a hurry, I’ll wait for my second brother to come back and help you.”

“I’m not in a hurry,” he squeezed out a few words, his face turning red.

Xia Ning’an saw him like this and didn’t continue the topic.

He was so innocent. In her time, she had never had the chance to see such an innocent young man.

“That… you sit here for a while. I’ll go to the kitchen and make chicken soup. I just caught some fish. I’ll stew some fish too.”

She said this and went out to the kitchen.

Xia Ning’an grabbed a chicken and threw it into the space, asking Bond to process it.

The earthen stove didn’t pose a challenge to her. She lit the fire, added water, put the chicken in the pot, brought it to a boil, scooped out the excess oil, added ginger slices and water, and simmered it over low heat.

Xia Ning’an saw a large jar of lard at home and thought it would be perfect for making some soap. In this era, where everything was washed with wood ash, she was very resistant to it.

She watched the fire while preparing the materials for making soap.

She symbolically scooped out some lard, took a pound of rice oil from the space, 70 grams of caustic soda, a lemon, and 70 grams of Farm Spring Water.

The first step was to dissolve the caustic soda. She put on a mask and gloves.

She poured in the Farm Spring Water, and a lot of steam immediately rose. She quickly moved aside and used a long stick she had prepared to stir it.

After stirring well, she set it aside to cool. She found a milk carton from the space, cut it to size, washed it, and prepared to fill it with the solution.

She melted 50 grams of lard and mixed it with 500 grams of rice oil.

After the caustic soda cooled to room temperature, she poured it into the olive oil and lard mixture and began to stir. She stirred until her hands were sore, but it wasn’t done yet. She quickly took out the electric mixer while no one was home.

After stirring it until it was thick, she added the lemon and continued to stir. After stirring for half an hour, the soap solution could be used to write. She stirred for another ten minutes and then poured it into the mold. She placed it in a cool place and waited for two days for it to saponify.

The next day, she could unmold it and place it in a cool place. After about fifteen days, it would be a lemon-scented soap. This soap could be used for washing hands, face, and hair. From now on, they wouldn’t be short of soap. It cost 50 cents to buy a bar at the supply and marketing cooperative, and you needed a soap ticket. Rural people didn’t have soap tickets at this time.

After making the soap, she thought about making a bottle of dishwashing liquid. Now, dishes were washed with wood ash. She took out a dozen oranges from the space, peeled them all, removed the pith, cut the orange peels into small pieces, and stuffed them into a bottle. She added baking soda and Farm Spring Water, closed the lid, and shook it. The next day, she would filter out the orange peels, transfer the liquid to another bottle, and the natural orange peel cleaning solution would be ready.

Xia Ning’an took the peeled oranges to the room for Lu Zecheng to eat.

It was almost 6 o’clock. She had to cook dinner. Her parents and second brother would be off work soon. She went to the vegetable garden and picked a few eggplants that were about to be harvested. She killed a catfish. This catfish weighed five or six pounds. She took out a basin of fermented dough from the space and sprinkled some buckwheat flour on the countertop. This way, the steamed buns wouldn’t be so white.

After kneading the steamed buns, she ladled out the fish soup, washed the pot, and prepared to stew catfish with eggplant.

She heated the oil in the pot, added cinnamon bark, star anise, bay leaves, and other seasonings, sautéed the onions, ginger, and garlic, scooped a spoonful of soy sauce from the soy sauce jar and sautéed it, added water, catfish, and eggplant, and added salt. She put a steamer rack in the pot and placed the steamed buns on it. One pot could hold twenty or so steamed buns.

She brought it to a boil over high heat and then simmered it over low heat.

On the other stove, she put water in the pot and steamed ten hairy crabs.

She watched the fire while making shredded radish salad.

Li Fang was the first to get off work. Before she reached home, she saw smoke coming from her own chimney. She immediately quickened her pace. Her daughter had never cooked before. The sudden smoke from the chimney made her a little anxious. The women who were walking with her also saw smoke coming from her house and quickly said,

“An’an is cooking at home, isn’t she?”

“She must be. She’s the only one at home taking care of little Lu.”

“An’an has never cooked before. You should go back and take a look.”

The two of them quickened their pace.

As they approached the entrance of the courtyard, a strong aroma wafted over.

“Oh my, what delicious food is An’an making? It smells so good.”

“I don’t know. There’s not much food at home. I have to go and take a look.” She said this and ran into the courtyard.

She put down her things and ran to the kitchen. Sure enough, her daughter was cooking.

“Daughter, what are you making? It smells so good.”

“Mom, I made catfish. I went fishing in the pond this afternoon.”

“You can catch fish with your small body?”

Xia Ning’an pulled Li Fang over to show her her spoils.

Looking at the large basin with almost ten pounds of silver carp, seven or eight pounds of grass carp, and a small bucket of loaches, Li Fang was stunned.

“Where did you catch them? Even your dad can’t catch such big fish.”

“Of course. I’m very good. I have a secret recipe.”