Chapter 231: Leave the Most Beautiful Memory ⑧
As soon as Zhang Haiyang said this, many boys stood up and rushed towards the riverbank.
Nie Qiu quickly said, “Hey! I’m telling you all, be careful, and the weather is so cold, don’t go into the water! Li Kai, you’re the class monitor!”
“It’s okay, we’re boys, we’re in good health!” Li Kai didn’t look back, took off his shoes, placed them on the stone-built riverbank, and walked into the river step by step. The areas near the riverbank were relatively shallow, only reaching his calves. The small fish were startled by the sudden human feet and darted around.
“I caught one!” A boy grabbed a fish and ran to the bank, handing it to a girl in his group to prepare. The girl, unable to hold on, dropped the fish, which wriggled a few times, rolled off the bank into the river, and with a flick of its body, swam away.
Since Nie Qiu’s group’s dishes were almost ready, people from other groups either came to borrow rice or salt. The groups with more boys naturally borrowed the most things; boys were always more careless and didn’t bring as many supplies.
“Here, here.” Zhang Haiyang, holding a fish weighing less than two ounces, ran to Nie Qiu and handed it to her, “Fish, fish… I caught it, I… I caught a fish.” He was a bit out of breath from running too fast.
Huang Yan was about to take it when Zhang Haiyang bypassed Huang Yan and was about to hand it to Nie Qiu, “Don’t take it, what if you drop it on the ground like An Su?”
As soon as Zhang Haiyang said this, Huang Yan’s expression changed. Nie Qiu, suppressing a smile, took the fish. Zhang Haiyang, still excited about catching the fish, didn’t pay attention to Huang Yan’s expression and wanted to run back to the river to catch more.
As soon as he turned around, Huang Yan grabbed the fabric on Zhang Haiyang’s back and asked with a smile, “Zhang Haiyang, what do you mean by that?”
Zhang Haiyang finally snapped out of his excitement, looked at Huang Yan with a sheepish smile, and quickly began to explain.
Nie Qiu, holding the fish, went to the river to gut it. Seeing that Zhang Haiyang and Huang Yan were still talking, she called out with a smile, “Zhang Haiyang, how can a two-ounce fish be enough for our nine people? We need at least two or three pounds of fish.”
Hearing this, Zhang Haiyang said to Huang Yan, “Wait a moment, I’ll catch you a fish to eat. I didn’t see you just now, really. If I had seen you coming to take it, I would have definitely given it to you.” With that, he was about to slip away into the river.
“You didn’t even see me, a living person, you…” Huang Yan replied to Zhang Haiyang’s words, but before she could finish, Zhang Haiyang had already run into the river, “Hey, Zhang Haiyang, stop right there.”
Hearing Nie Qiu say they needed more fish, Li Kai stared at a fish darting around under his feet. He had tried to catch this fish several times and was determined to succeed this time. With that thought, he quickly reached out and grabbed the fish. In less than a few seconds, whether it was because the fish was too slippery or for some other reason, it slipped out of Li Kai’s hand, fell into the water, and swam away.
After a lot of effort, several boys had made catches in the water. Only Zhang Haiyang had caught a fish at the beginning, and none after that. Zhang Haiyang’s fish was about two ounces. Compared to Zhang Haiyang, Li Kai’s fish was larger, weighing over five ounces. Peng Yu Yang was amazing; he had seen the techniques used by people in the kitchen to catch fish. He could catch any fish, big or small, that came near him. Luo Xu caught a small one, but it was still bigger than Zhang Haiyang’s. Ma Xin and Wang Chao Lei each caught one weighing over half a pound.
“I found an eel here.” A boy walked out of the dam, holding an eel the size of his thumb. He firmly pinched the eel’s head with his thumb and asked the girls with a smile, “How is it? Big, right?”
“Ah! A snake!” Many boys and girls who lived in the city had never seen an eel before. Seeing the eel, they mistook it for a snake. It looked very similar to a snake, and it was slippery and quite disgusting. Not only the girls who had never seen one, but even the boys who hadn’t seen one were a little scared.
Nie Qiu’s eyes lit up, and she walked over with a smile, “Does your group know how to cook eel? If not, I’ll trade you a big fish for one.” Eel was much tastier than fish.
Hearing Nie Qiu’s words, the boy loudly asked, “Hey, Zhang Tingting, do you know how to cook eel?”
The girl named Zhang Tingting was cutting vegetables. Hearing the boy’s question, she impatiently replied, “Can’t you see I’m really busy? I can cook fish, but don’t bring me any eels. They look like snakes, and I’m scared.”
After hearing Zhang Tingting’s words, the boy agreed to trade the eel with Nie Qiu’s group for fish.
After trading for the eel, Nie Qiu’s group had quite a good haul. Huang Yan divided two large fish among the two groups with a large number of people. Nie Qiu had said that large grass carp were not tasty and the meat was not tender.
Nie Qiu returned to the cooking area of her group and cut off the eel’s head with a single stroke of her knife. She didn’t like eating the head and always cut it off and threw it away when cooking eel. After killing and cleaning the eel, Nie Qiu cut it into small pieces about half a centimeter long. She had originally wanted to cut them longer, but the eel was too thick, so cutting them shorter would make them cook faster.
Huang Yan came forward to help Nie Qiu add charcoal. After the pot was heated, Nie Qiu poured in oil and stir-fried the chopped chili peppers a few times. Then she poured in the eel pieces and small fish. After they were cooked, she added other seasonings. The small fish cooked quickly, and the eel, being cut small, also cooked fast. Once the small fish and eel were cooked, Nie Qiu scooped them out, leaving only the stir-fried seasoning broth in the pot. Nie Qiu added the chopped cilantro and scallions to the pot, stir-fried them for a couple of times, and then poured the seasoning from the pot over the small fish and eel. The originally bland eel instantly became fragrant.
Once the food was ready, everyone naturally sat down to eat. When their group sat down to eat, they discovered that several groups had not finished preparing their meals. Not to mention dishes, even the rice wasn’t cooked. Seeing them sit down, everyone looked over.
Only one group, like Nie Qiu’s, had already finished preparing their food.
Indeed, they were all children from the city. One or two of them knew how to cook, but most of them didn’t. Those who had washing machines at home wouldn’t even know how to wash clothes if the power went out.
Nie Qiu sighed, then smiled, stood up from the ground, and clapped her hands, “Everyone come over, I have something to say.”
Upon hearing Nie Qiu’s words, everyone except those still stir-frying at the stove gathered around. Nie Qiu smiled and said, “I see that everyone’s vegetables are cut, washed, and picked. Bring your vegetables over, and I’ll help you stir-fry them. After they’re cooked, we’ll all eat together as a class.”
Hearing Nie Qiu’s words, the classmates who had been eagerly anticipating their prepared meals became happy and quickly returned to their cooking groups. Even the girls’ groups brought over the vegetables they had prepared.
“To eat together, let’s set out the tablecloths together. I’ll stir-fry the dishes one by one, some people will set up the tablecloths, some will help me pass the dishes to be stir-fried, and some will carry the cooked dishes to the tablecloths. Let’s cooperate with the division of labor!” Nie Qiu looked at the vegetables brought over, “Of course, you also need to bring the firewood you collected to burn.”
