Chapter 97: Field Training – Steamed Fish
“Hmm hmm~ Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm~”
Xiang Chuan, who caught a big fat fish in one go, was in a great mood now. If it weren’t for the rather heavy meal box in her hand, she might even regress to childhood and hop along merrily.
“Xiang Chuan? What are you humming?”
Upon returning to the tent, she found Chou Manman and Liang Gong had somehow already returned to the camp. The two were standing by the plaza chatting.
“Something I made up myself. Why did you two come back so quickly?” Xiang Chuan looked at them doubtfully and set the meal box and water bucket down by the tent.
“We forgot to take the water bottle, and we didn’t go far, so we came back first.” Liang Gong explained, raising the water bottle in his hand to gesture.
“I see…” Xiang Chuan tilted her head, thinking she wanted the two to help out, but recalling how they hadn’t been able to stroll around properly yesterday while helping her dig ginger, she dismissed the idea. “Then have fun. Remember to come back for lunch.”
As soon as she said it, Xiang Chuan felt like she had become an old mother. This tone was what she heard from her own mother every day back in high school in her hometown over a dozen years ago. She had no intention of dating or marrying in her previous life and thought she would never use this tone toward juniors in her lifetime. Unexpectedly, after twists and turns, she was even younger 30,000 years later, and the words came out smoothly.
“Is that something a sixteen-year-old youthful beauty should say…” Chou Manman said with a sweat drop.
Just as the two were about to pick up their water bottles and leave the camp, the meal box by the tent suddenly shook, startling them badly. Chou Manman widened her eyes, wondering if it was a prank by Xiang Chuan leaving her alone in the camp, when the meal box jumped again. By then, their expressions had turned from startled to terrified.
“X-Xiang Chuan… what’s that?”
Timid Liang Gong tremblingly pointed at the meal box and asked.
“Hm?” Xiang Chuan looked down in the direction he pointed, suddenly realizing, picked up the meal box, and laughed. “Just caught it by the riverside. It’s so plump.”
What do you mean so plump! Goosebumps rose on both of them. Seeing Xiang Chuan’s motion to open it, they simultaneously retreated three meters.
“Hm? Nothing to be afraid of.” Xiang Chuan deftly opened the meal box and lifted out a freshwater fish weighing over ten jin. “It’s just one fish.”
Fish!
A live fish!
Chou Manman and Liang Gong, along with the Class 8 Members secretly watching the commotion at Xiang Chuan’s tent nearby, were all stunned and rushed over in a swish.
Xiang Chuan, fully focused on this fish, ignored the dense crowd of over ten people watching as if she had instantly cured her previous life’s crowd phobia. She calmly placed the fish in the meal box, planning to prepare the fish right on the meal box later—no choice, no cutting board, so she had to make do with this sturdy meal box.
First, something for scraping scales.
Xiang Chuan ducked into the tent and rummaged in her bag. Rope ring, no, too thick. Rolled cloth, for treating wounds, stained with ointment—on her first steamed fish in the modern era, she didn’t want to make medicinal cuisine. Steel ring… steel ring? Xiang Chuan pulled out steel wire balled up into a small sphere, pulled about half a meter, used the small ball-tied equipment to secure a section, and got a highly resilient piece of steel wire—enough for scraping scales at least.
As for the knife, the outdoor-specific knife should make do, right?
Tools ready, she broke off a ginger block from the nearby transport robot, then moved the meal box, the water bucket with clean water, the meal box, and tools away from the tent.
No special reason, just that she slept near the tent entrance. If she gutted it there, she feared the fishy smell would keep her from sleeping.
Step one, stun the fish.
At first, Xiang Chuan considered picking up a stone, washing it by the river, and using it directly, but thinking one smash would likely crush the fish head, she obediently used a corner of the meal box lid to smack the struggling grass carp under her hand. This stunned everyone speechless, but seeing it still wriggling, Xiang Chuan smacked the fish head a few more times until it only twitched faintly.
So… so violent…
Step two, scrape scales.
Normally done with a kitchen knife, but in the wild, no kitchen knife, so steel wire would have to do. It was her first time using steel wire, and it was very awkward; after scraping, the fish skin was all wrinkled. Xiang Chuan frowned, sighed helplessly: Fine, make do and eat it.
Step three, gut it.
The scales flying during scraping looked somewhat pretty, but the accidentally punctured fish skin scared the surrounding students into retreating three steps. Only Chou Manman and Liang Gong dared stand nearby. Chou Manman was about to mock the boys in the class for being timid when she nearly retreated too.
The reason was simple: even if fish blood is minimal, gutting it by slicing open the belly truly terrified the pure modern youths.
Xiang Chuan, focused on cooking, ignored the youths’ reactions. She skillfully poured water over the fish to rinse off outer scales and gut residue. The removed internals went on a broken-off meal box lid nearby to avoid soiling the grassland. If she had enough seasoning and equipment, Xiang Chuan would have made dry pot fish offal to satisfy her craving, but now she could only bid them farewell. While handling the guts and gills, she cleaned out the fishy line too—perhaps due to good local water quality, the fishy smell wasn’t too strong during cleaning.
But for modern people, it was different.
What is this smell!
So stinky! Makes me want to vomit just smelling it!
This was the current sole thought of nearly ten students in the camp, including Chou Manman and Liang Gong.
The Third Fleet’s animal husbandry and agriculture were advanced, but seafood was at a passable level. Modern people, having lost traditional ingredient processing, greatly disliked the fishy smell of river fresh, thus especially loved sea fish from the Fourth Fleet. But fleets rarely met by chance, so people bought as much seafood as possible from the Fourth Fleet during the fleet exchange period, processed it into solid food for storage to last the next millennium without sea fish. Still, compared to dry solid food, people preferred fresh liquid food, so fresh sea products on the market always sparked scrambles.
River fresh, like pork, became livestock feed or staples for non-main ship residents. In an era where only directly processed raw ingredients were eaten, no one liked ingredients with strong smells.
The raw meat now emitting fishy smell reawakened the Class Eight Students’ aversion to river fresh. Even though it was Xiang Chuan—who had brought them buns and fruit milk—processing it, they had little hope she could handle this fish well.
Especially Chou Manman, who had once seen in the live stream room Xiang Chuan try cooking pork, resulting in a deadly silence for both her and Xiang Xue. This time probably… But seeing Xiang Chuan’s happy face, Chou Manman lacked the courage to stop her and could only wait silently behind.
Fine, worst case, she’ll be the first guinea pig and not let the victims increase! Chou Manman silently resolved in her heart.
Xiang Chuan, holding the ginger block to wash off the soil by the river, was now frowning: Wonder if steamed fish without soy sauce will taste good…
