Zhao Fengzhu walked to the bucket with her belly held out.
"What a fish!" She said happily to her son, "Jungen, we have fish to eat tonight."
"Oh, eat fish, eat fish!"
Zhang Guilan couldn't stand the shamelessness of mother and son, and said displeased: "What does this fish have to do with you? The fish was caught by Gouzi's father and given to Jinbao to eat."
"Sister-in-law, what do you mean by this?"
Zhang Guilan put her hands on her hips and did not save any face for Zhao Fengzhu. "It means that this fish has nothing to do with you. You can't eat fish at night, so stop dreaming."
When she thought that she would have to share half of her money when the family was separated, she felt angry and wanted to kick her.
Not to be outdone, Zhao Fengzhu said, "You don't want to think about whose taro you have been eating in the past few months. Aren't they all brought back by my second son?"
"If you must do the math, let's do the math carefully. Who paid for the foreign soap you use for laundry? And the tooth powder for brushing your teeth..."
"My mother forced you to divide us!"
Zhang Guilan sneered, "Hey! If it weren't for my mother, would you share those taros in your house with us?"
Before Zhao Fengzhu could answer, she continued: "Don't think about it. If it weren't for Father Gouzi, would your Jungen have any pants to wear? He would probably be running around the village naked."
During the poorest years, the second son had no money to buy cloth. Su Jungen only wore tattered clothes and no pants, and slept in the quilt every day...
One day he heard the sound of children playing outside and wanted to go out to play so much that he ran out naked.
Lao Su's family tried their best to collect cloth tickets. Su Daqiang walked for a day to buy three feet of cloth, and made Su Jungen a pair of trousers for him to wear.
"The eldest brother worked hard to go all the way to the supply and marketing cooperative, but the money was sent by the third brother. After all, it was not your money."
After Zhao Fengzhu finished speaking, Zhang Guilan immediately called her a white-eyed wolf and a heartless person.
"You are such a supercilious person. Why are you pretending to be kind? You also said that the fish was for Jin Bao. Stop laughing so hard. I didn't know who said Jin Bao was a freeloader before..."
"Are you noisy enough?"
As soon as Li Xiu'e walked home, she heard the eldest daughter-in-law and the second daughter-in-law arguing.
She walked forward angrily, "You think your father and I are too old to die, and you want to make us angry to death, right?"
"Mom, it's my sister-in-law who won't let me eat fish. There are so many fish, so what's wrong with giving me one?"
Zhao Fengzhu said aggrievedly: "I am still pregnant with one in my belly. Even if I don't eat, I still need some meat to replenish my nutrition."
Regarding the fish, Li Xiu'e had already heard about it before returning home.
The people in the village carried buckets down the mountain, but they didn't catch any fish. On the way back to the village, they met her and told her about her family's Daqiang picking up fish.
"How weird does it sound? A bunch of fish jumped out of the water, and he held the bucket motionless. After a while, the fish was full. How could such a thing happen?"
"Aunt Li, your family is not telling lies, is it? That fish was not fished out from the pond of the production team. He lied to us and said it was picked up from the river."
Li Xiu'e was so angry that she directly cursed: "Fuck you! My Daqiang is usually a bit lazy, but there is absolutely no way he would do anything sneaky."
The person closest to him had his face sprayed with saliva.
"Oh, Aunt Li, if you have something to say, why are you scolding me?"
"That is to say, what Da Qiang said is so rare. How could he just pick up a fish?"
An old man said: "In all my life, I have never seen a lot of fish jump out of the water and jump into someone else's bucket."
"There are so many things you haven't seen before! How knowledgeable do you think you are when you live in such a big fart village every day? What do you know? Stop farting around and unjustly accusing people."
Li Xiu'e was merciless when she cursed, scolding the old man until his ears turned red.
Seeing everyone, you look at me and I look at you. She added: "The pond of the production team is guarded. Are those fish you can steal if you want? Go and fish in the pond and see if you catch them first."
The fish will be caught first."
Everyone heard that Li Xiu'e's words made sense, and then they thought that the production team's pond didn't have that kind of catfish with long beards, so they all dispersed and went home.
Su Changzhu stood aside and couldn't say a word, thinking that his wife was still more powerful.
His gout was getting better, but he still couldn't walk too fast. Li Xiu'e was there to support him.
"Do you think what Daqiang said is true?" Su Changzhu also had some doubts in his heart, "How could such a good thing happen to our son?"
"Why is it impossible? Isn't Jin Bao back? Not to mention he picked up a few fish, he just picked up a pig and a cow and went home, I believe it."
After Li Xiu'e finished speaking, she told the story of two golden roosters that flew under Jianmin's bed and laid eggs.
Su Changzhu was surprised when he heard this, "Why don't you bring that chicken back? I haven't seen a golden rooster yet."
"We brought back the chickens. What will Zhiyuan and the other children eat? They also need eggs to replenish their bodies. Besides, look at what our family is like now. Guilan and Fengzhu quarrel every day, fighting over everything...
…”
Li Xiu'e guessed: "Maybe they are quarreling about fish again now."
Su Changzhu sighed, "That's right, hey! It's better to separate the family as soon as possible, so that Jinbao won't have to listen to their quarrels every day."
When we got home, as expected, the two daughters-in-law were quarreling again.
Hearing Zhao Fengzhu mention the child in her belly, Li Xiu'e said: "Since there are so many fishes in the bucket, let's share one fish with the second daughter-in-law."
Dagouzi was unwilling, "This belongs to Jinbao!"
He didn't like his second aunt, nor his two cousins, especially Su Jungen, who always sow discord in front of his grandfather, which was annoying to watch.
Jinbao didn't want the family to have such endless quarrels, but still wanted everyone to live in harmony.
"Uncle's," she pointed at a big grass carp, then pointed to several other fish and said, "Uncle's second... uncle's fourth..."
"Jinbao, do you want to share the fish with the second uncle and the fourth uncle?" Dagouzi asked.
Xiao Jinbao nodded, "Also, little uncle, let's eat fish together, fry fish, fry fish... steam fish, grill fish, boil fish soup..."
Frying, stir-frying, steaming, grilling, boiling, there are exactly five ways to cook five kinds of fish.
The big dog swallowed his saliva after hearing this.
Only during the Chinese New Year can you get fat pork in rural areas. The fat meat is boiled into lard and used for cooking.
Usually everyone eats boiled wild vegetables, corn paste, or steamed taro, sweet potatoes and potatoes...
Not only the big dog, but everyone else was also greedy, but where are the fried fish and fried fish?
A few days ago, we even ran out of salt at home, and now we have no seasonings.
Seemingly sensing everyone's embarrassment, Yao Hua walked back into the house and took out a glass jar containing white solid lard, a bag of salt, and a bag of MSG from his suitcase.
"With these, we should be able to make the fish Jinbao wants to eat," Yao Hua said.
"What is this?" Zhang Guilan asked, pointing to the MSG she had never seen before.
Hearing this, the others also came together, particularly curious about the MSG in Yao Hua's hand, "Candy?"