Chapter 39: A Big Bucket of Crayfish

Lin Shulan had already taken out the leftover meat from the well a piece about two fingers wide and less than a jin from the wedding banquet two days ago, and also took out a piece of cured meat weighing about a jin, preparing to wash and cut it.

Shen Chuning quickly took over the work from Lin Shulan, “Mother, let me wash the meat!”

Lin Shulan didn’t compete with her, handing over the work, wiping her hands on her apron, “Okay, then you wash and cut the meat, I’ll go outside and pick some vegetables. The rice is steaming in the pot, keep an eye on it.”

“Okay, Mother, don’t worry.” After Shen Chuning readily agreed, she looked at the ingredients in the kitchen.

Besides fresh meat and cured meat, there were also lettuce and fresh bamboo shoots on the chopping board.

These ingredients were perfect for making a pot of pickled duck and fresh.

Although summer bamboo shoots wouldn’t be as good as spring bamboo shoots for pickled duck and fresh, they were still delicious.

Shen Chuning first blanched and sliced half of the fresh meat, then cut the other half of the cured meat into pieces, put it in boiling water, and simmered it for half an hour.

During this time, she cut the bamboo shoots and lettuce into chunks.

The Zhou family didn’t have bean curd sheets, but she did in her space.

Besides grain, her space also had a lot of dried goods left by the previous owner.

She secretly took some bean curd sheets from her space.

To avoid suspicion, she specially went back to the small courtyard in between. If the Zhou family members asked where she got the bean curd sheets later,

she could say that she brought them from her parents’ home.

Anyway, everyone knew that her father and brother spoiled her, so it wouldn’t be strange if she brought anything from her parents’ home.

After half an hour, she took the cured meat out of the pot and skimmed off the foam from the broth.

After re-cutting the cured meat into pieces, she put it in the pot with fresh bamboo shoots, bean curd sheets, and lettuce to simmer.

Soon, the delicious aroma of pickled duck and fresh filled the entire courtyard.

Lin Shulan came back after picking vegetables, and couldn’t help but sniff and swallow her saliva outside the courtyard. Stepping into the kitchen, she eagerly asked, “Ningning, what did you make? It smells so good?”

Shen Chuning smiled, “Mother, I saw that we have newly dug bamboo shoots and lettuce, so I made pickled duck and fresh.”

Lin Shulan put the basket of vegetables on the ground, couldn’t help but swallow her saliva again, and praised, “Ningning, your cooking skills are impeccable. During the Chinese New Year, I also made pickled duck and fresh, and I used spring bamboo shoots, but it didn’t have this aroma.”

“I just picked some eggplant, cucumber, winter melon, chili, and leeks, how do you think we should cook these? Mother, I’ll help you.”

Since Lin Shulan had eaten the food made by Shen Chuning on the day she went to the Shen family to propose marriage, she had been thinking about it.

With the same ingredients and the same method, Shen Chuning’s cooking was delicious and unforgettable.

“Okay, thank you, Mother.”

Shen Chuning smiled and started picking vegetables.

She planned to cut half of the remaining fresh meat to make an eggplant casserole with eggplant.

The remaining fresh meat would be cooked with winter melon, then sliced and made into chili-fried meat.

The cured meat would also be cooked and made into leek-fried cured meat.

The cucumber would be made into a simple cold cucumber dish.

Shen Chuning worked in the kitchen in an orderly manner.

Lin Shulan looked at her, her eyes full of satisfaction.

Ningning’s agile hands showed that she must have done a lot of housework at home, not like the lazy glutton the village said she was.

It was probably because she never went to work that the village spread those rumors.

But her three older brothers, her eldest and second brothers, and her father were all strong laborers, earning enough work points to support her, not to mention that she had a third brother who was an officer sending money home.

She was so delicate, it was understandable that her family didn’t want her to work in the fields.

It didn’t matter, anyway, her son’s monthly salary was not small, and he didn’t have children to support, so it was more than enough to support his wife.

While cooking, Shen Chuning thought of her dream.

In that dream, she was always cooking. Because Chen Ziyun was very picky, and she wasn’t very good at cooking, the food she made often didn’t suit Chen Ziyun’s taste.

Every time the food didn’t suit his taste, Chen Ziyun would give her the silent treatment.

So at first, she was always nervous every time she cooked, but later, her cooking skills improved.

In the dream, the food she made was praised by Chen Ziyun’s friends who came to dinner, and Chen Ziyun also told her that if he hadn’t been strict with her, how could she have such good cooking skills?

She seemed to be particularly unintelligent in her dream.

She was actually very grateful to Chen Ziyun for training her cooking skills with the silent treatment.

The dream flashed through Shen Chuning’s mind.

She was quite grateful for the dream, because she really couldn’t cook before, but after having that dream, she actually had good cooking skills, just like in the dream.

And she now enjoyed cooking, and enjoyed the feeling of others eating her food until they were satisfied.

After the eldest and second sons’ families and Zhou Yubai almost finished moving the grain, the children who had gone to play in the village also came back.

The six little ones lined up their heads from top to bottom at the kitchen door.

The faces of Zhou Xiaoi and Zhou Xiaoying at the top were relatively clean, and the lower down, the dirtier the children’s faces were.

Zhou Yongjun, the youngest of the second family, had a face that was almost unrecognizable. If it weren’t for his big eyes still rolling around, he would almost look like a mud doll.

Zhou Hongjun chuckled, acting like a mischievous monkey, “Grandma, Third Aunt, what delicious food are you making? It smells so good!”

Lin Shulan was tending the fire, and when she turned around and saw her grandchildren, one dirtier than the next, she almost fainted.

She reached out to pull Zhou Hongjun over to spank him, “You took your sisters and brothers to roll in the mud again, look at you all!”

“I, I today…”

Lin Shulan scolded while looking for a stick in the woodpile.

Zhou Hongjun, like a slippery mudfish, broke free from his grandmother’s grasp.

He dashed out of the kitchen and triumphantly brought a bucket in from outside, shouting, “Grandma, we didn’t go to play today, we went to get delicious food!”

Lin Shulan leaned closer to look into the bucket and was almost furious.

“You little rascal, why did you bring so many crayfish back? Can this thing be eaten?”

Shen Chuning’s last dish, leek-fried cured meat, was just out of the pot.

She leaned over to take a look, oh, these children had spent half the morning catching a whole half bucket of crayfish.

This thing was called “hazi” here.

It reproduced very quickly, and there were many in the fields.

Villagers hated this thing because, like crabs, it dug holes all over the field ridges.

The fields couldn’t hold water, and the rice couldn’t grow well.

She didn’t dare to eat this thing before, but she had seen people in the city eat it in her dream, called “ma xiao”.

She stopped her mother-in-law who was about to beat them, “Mother, this hazi can be eaten, I’ll cook it.”

Lin Shulan was immediately stunned, “Ningning, what did you say? This can be eaten?”

Not only Lin Shulan didn’t believe it, but even Zhou Hongjun and the younger ones didn’t believe it themselves.

They brought this thing back just to have an excuse to avoid being beaten by the adults.

They didn’t expect Third Aunt to say it could be eaten, and she would even cook it for them.

“Third Aunt, this can really be eaten?” Zhou Hongjun asked incredulously.

Shen Chuning pinched his little face, “It can really be eaten, watch carefully, Third Aunt will cook it for you.”

The younger ones’ eyes lit up, jumping up and shouting, “Third Aunt, you’re so amazing!”

“Third Aunt, you’re the best!”

…

Shen Chuning was amused by the children flattering her.

Zhou Yubai, who had just finished carrying a load of grain and was about to carry another load, saw his wife’s happy smile, was stunned, and his heart skipped a beat.