novelaction Chapter 69 Crayfish
Chapter 69 Crayfish
Upon hearing Mu Xue's words, Song Jiaojiao asked in surprise, "Really? Second Sister, can you tell Mother where you saw it?"
Mu Xue felt a little guilty, but she wanted to help her mother, so she hesitated before speaking, "Hehe, Mom can't scold me if I tell you!"
Seeing that Mu Xue didn't dare to look at Song Jiaojiao and her eyes were darting around, it was clear that she had done something wrong.
"Tell me first, then I'll know," Song Jiaojiao said, not giving an immediate answer.
"Just a couple of days ago, when Wang Xiaohua and I were cutting rabbit grass by the field, we suddenly heard Tiezhu crying from the riverbank. We went over to check and saw that Tiezhu's hand was caught in a giant tortoise shell and he was bleeding a lot. It was only after Grandma Lin heard us that she came over and managed to get the tortoise shell off him."
After Mu Xue finished speaking, she carefully looked at Song Jiaojiao.
"So you mean you saw it by the river?" Song Jiaojiao asked seriously, her face stern.
"Yes, yes, but Mother, we only looked from the outside. The riverbank is still quite far away!" Mu Xue quickly explained, afraid that it would be too late if she finished speaking.
"Didn't Mother say that I shouldn't go to the river by myself? What if I fall in?" Song Jiaojiao's expression remained unchanged, her face still stern.
She repeatedly emphasized that the younger children in the family should not go to the river. The Qingshui River is quite deep, and even the shallowest part is up to an adult's knees. If they fall into the river, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Mom, I didn't go near the river..." Seeing Song Jiaojiao's increasingly serious face, Mu Xue quickly admitted her mistake, "I was wrong, I promise I will never go there again, please don't be angry, okay?"
As she spoke, she also clung to Song Jiaojiao's arm and acted coquettishly.
Seeing Mu Xue like this, Song Jiaojiao couldn't keep up the serious act any longer. She tapped Mu Xue's forehead and said, "You little rascal, I'm not blaming you for going to the river. I'm just afraid you'll fall in. If no one's around, I'll never see you again. Besides, even if you're rescued, you'll have to drink bitter medicine. Do you want to drink bitter medicine?"
Mu Xue quickly shook her head; she didn't want to drink bitter medicine. "I don't want to drink bitter medicine, Mother. Don't worry, I definitely won't go to the river."
Seeing that Mu Xue was genuinely afraid of taking medicine, Song Jiaojiao stopped bringing it up. It seemed that crayfish existed in this era, but probably no one ate them. Thinking this, Song Jiaojiao quickly finished her food and called Xu Da and Wang Shui over.
"Xu Da, Wang Shui, do you know how to make fish traps?" Song Jiaojiao asked.
Upon hearing Song Jiaojiao's words, Wang Shui replied, "Madam, I can weave. I used to weave all the fishing cages for our family."
Upon hearing Wang Shuihui's name, Song Jiaojiao's lips curled into a smile. "Then you can help me weave three tomorrow."
“Yes, Madam, three should take about two days.” Although Wang Shui didn’t know why Song Jiaojiao wanted the cage, she didn’t ask any further questions.
Song Jiaojiao nodded and told them to go and rest.
The next day, Song Jiaojiao asked Xu Fang to kill a chicken and stew it, but Song Jiaojiao took the chicken intestines with her.
With a bucket in one hand and a small wooden stool in the other, Song Jiaojiao went to the riverbank. She found a sturdy tree root, took out a hemp rope, tied chicken intestines to the end of the rope, and a simple fishing rod for catching crayfish was ready. She just waited for the crayfish to take the bait.
I don’t know if no one had ever fished for them before, but the crayfish were being caught one after another, and they were all quite big. Before long, the wooden bucket that Song Jiaojiao brought was almost full.
The fields in Qingshui Village are all next to the Qingshui River. Today, the people who came to work in the fields saw Song Jiaojiao fishing for giant turtles. They didn't understand why she was doing that. You can't eat them. Those giant turtles are all shells. If you're not careful, you'll get pinched by their two big pincers.
Aunt Sun was really curious, so she stepped forward and asked, "Jiaojiao, what are you doing with this big turtle? You can't eat it."
Song Jiaojiao didn't hide anything and said directly, "Auntie, it's for eating. Don't underestimate it because it's small, the meat is delicious."
Aunt Sun seemed to have heard some incredible news, and said incredulously, "This big turtle is all shell, how can you eat it? I saw you picked up a lot of stone worms yesterday, you didn't go and eat those too, did you?"
It has to be said that Aunt Sun's prediction came true by sheer chance.
"Yes, both of them are edible. When prepared properly, they are very rare delicacies, and they are only available during this season. Once they are gone, they will be gone."
Song Jiaojiao thought that in this era, no one even raises fish. If you want to eat fish, you can only catch them in the river, let alone crayfish and snails, which no one would eat.
Aunt Sun's eyes widened, seemingly not taking Song Jiaojiao's words to heart at all. She also thought that no one had been visiting her workshop for some time, so she wondered if Song Jiaojiao had run out of money and was only able to find these things that no one would eat.
What Song Jiaojiao didn't know was that catching crayfish and picking snails had somehow turned into rumors that her family had no money, or even that the workshop was going to go bankrupt and they wouldn't be able to harvest sweet potatoes anymore.
Although most people in the village did not believe the baseless rumors, a small number of people remained skeptical, especially those who had planted a lot of sweet potatoes this year, and they would frequently visit the village chief's house to inquire about what was going on.
Annoyed by these people, the village chief had no choice but to bring Aunt Li to Song Jiaojiao's house. Before they even entered the courtyard, they smelled a peculiar fragrance in the air, which even woke up the roundworms in their stomachs.
"Jiaojiao, are you home?" Aunt Li called into the yard.
Upon hearing the noise, Song Jiaojiao asked Xu Fang to open the door, while she herself was still frying garlic sauce in a pot, which would come in handy when cooking crayfish later. A pot of spicy crayfish was cooking next to her.
As Xu Fang entered the courtyard, the village chief and his wife felt the aroma become even stronger.
"Coo coo..."
A rumbling sound came from their stomachs, and the two exchanged a glance, realizing they had come at the worst possible time.
When Song Jiaojiao realized it was the village chief and his family, she didn't stop what she was doing and smiled as she asked the village chief and his wife, "Oh, it's Uncle Wang and Aunt Li! You've come at the right time. Have lunch here and try my new dishes."
The two didn't realize what Song Jiaojiao was doing; they only noticed the aroma wafting from another pot, which was hidden by a lid.
“Then we’ll shamelessly agree. You don’t know Jiaojiao, your smell is so good, I could smell it from far away.” Aunt Li said with a hearty laugh, and then sat down in front of the stove to help with the fire.
Seeing that he had no opportunity to use his skills, the village chief thought he would ask about Song Jiaojiao after dinner, so he left the kitchen and went for a walk in the back mountain.
"That's right, look who made it. I've been craving this for so long, it's rare to have it here." Song Jiaojiao put the stir-fried garlic sauce into a bowl, poured oil directly into the pan without washing it, and when the oil was about 50% hot, she poured in the freshly fried crayfish.
With a sizzle, Song Jiaojiao quickly stir-fried the garlic sauce, poured in half of it, and once it was fragrant, she added boiling water and some white wine. She then covered the pot and simmered it for 15 minutes.