After chatting, Su Jianmin was going to kill the fish himself and make crucian carp soup for his wife.
Every household’s pots and stoves in Tongzilou are placed on the walkway, so everyone can smell what food is being cooked at night.
"Boss, go and bring in the briquette stove outside," Su's father said to his eldest son when he was scraping the fish scales. "Be careful and don't get discovered."
Su Zhiyuan saluted his father, "Yes!"
"Hey, hey, come back!" Bai Lu put down the little Jinbao who had just fallen asleep, and turned around to pull her son who hurriedly ran out the door, "Why are you moving that thing?"
"Mom, you are so stupid! Of course we don't want people to find out that we are eating fish tonight."
Bai Lu said displeasedly: "What's wrong with being discovered? This fish wasn't stolen. Why don't you dare to show it to others?"
"Mom, have you forgotten? Last year, grandma sent us two taels of bacon..."
As soon as the boss reminded her, Bai Lu remembered it.
For the two taels of bacon, she went to the vegetable market to queue up at four in the morning. After queuing for three hours, she finally bought half a catty of celery and planned to make a plate of fried bacon with celery.
The smoky aroma of bacon filled the entire building.
Aunt Liu, who had lent her some salt before, stared straight at the meat in her pot.
"Big sister, do you want to eat meat at night? Bring a pair of chopsticks and I'll go to your house to eat!" Aunt Liu licked her lips.
After a while, many people came around. They stood nearby and drooled. "Sister-in-law Su, I don't need to prepare my bowls and chopsticks. I will bring them myself... Oh my god, this bacon is really delicious."
"I haven't tasted meat in almost two years. I'm so greedy."
Everyone gathered around Bai Lu and stared at her cooking. The entire aisle was blocked!
Bai Lu was afraid that if they really came to her house, they would not only cook more dishes but also steam rice. She was so frightened that she divided all the meat on the spot.
Every time they talk about this matter, Su's father and his sons feel like they have been greatly wronged, "Bacon! Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, it's fat and fragrant pork belly, I haven't tasted a single piece."
"Mom, you can't make the same mistake twice, otherwise you will be a fool!" the boss said excitedly.
"That's right," the second child kept nodding, "Dad worked hard to catch this big fish, not even a piece of meat was separated."
The third child didn't say anything. Su Xiaosi hugged his mother's thigh and said, "Mom, I want to eat fish, eat big fish..."
Because of the bacon issue, Bai Lu was talked about for half a year, and they didn't stop until she got pregnant.
She never wanted to hear these resentful husbands mention fried bacon with celery again.
"Okay, okay, I understand. Let's move the stove in."
With his mother's consent, Su Zhiyuan opened the door, stuck his head out and looked around.
Making sure no one noticed him, he moved the briquette stove into the house at lightning speed.
"Remember to open all the windows, so you don't get poisoned by coal," Bai Lu warned.
The second and third children responded, one went to open the window and the other helped light the coal stove.
Su Xiaosi was bored and secretly pinched Jin Bao's chubby little face to play with it.
"Xiao Si, what are you doing?" Bai Lu lowered her voice and whispered, "Don't wake up my sister."
"Sixth sister is too sleepy and doesn't even get up to play with her brother." Su Xiaosi looked angry.
Bai Lu smiled softly and said, "When you were so young, you were just like Jin Bao, sleeping deeper than her."
While mother and son were talking, Su Jianmin had already put the fish into the soup pot and put it on the stove.
Originally, crucian carp soup had to be fried first and then boiled, so that the soup would be white, but who can eat oil these days?
For people who eat potatoes and drink porridge every day, it is an extremely happy thing to be able to drink crucian carp in clear soup.
Not long after, they smelled the aroma of fish, and several children gathered around the soup pot like hungry wolves, swallowing their saliva.
Lin Yulan, who lives next door, kept sniffing at the window, "Fish... it's fish..."
Xu Qiang put down the newspaper and found that his wife didn't cook when she came home. Instead, she lay by the window and sniffed like a dog. He was so angry that he yelled: "Smelly old bitch, what are you doing?"
Their daughter Xu Damei is the same age as the eldest son of the Su family, both just over fifteen years old.
"Mom, do you want me to starve to death?" She walked out of the kitchen and complained angrily, "I haven't washed the wild vegetables I dug yesterday, nor steamed the sweet potatoes. I'm almost starving to death."
"Old Su's family eats fish. Why do our family have sweet potatoes and wild vegetables?"
Xu Damei touched her mother's forehead and said, "You don't have a fever. What nonsense are you talking about?"
After she finished speaking, she shouted to her father: "Dad, Mom, she is talking nonsense, do you want to send her to the health center..."
Lin Yulan slapped her daughter's hand away, "Go, go, you're talking nonsense!"
Xu Qiang also walked to the window at this time and said, "What's going on with you old woman? If you don't want to live your life anymore, just say, I'll send you back to your hometown in the countryside to help my mother with farm work, so as not to be an eyesore here."
Doing farm work in the countryside is a hundred times harder than doing laundry and cooking in the provincial city...
Lin Yulan's face changed in panic, and she hurriedly pulled her husband and said: "Qiangzi, I didn't mean not to cook, I just saw... Oh, I saw something, so I was confused and didn't know what to do.
"
Xu Qiang was curious about her nervous look, "What did you see?"
Lin Yulan looked out of the window like a thief, and then said in a mosquito-like voice: "I saw Lao Su next door and his eldest son going to the production brigade to steal fish..."
"What?" Xu Qiang looked shocked, "How is that possible?"
Their daughter Xu Damei also didn't believe it. "It's a serious crime to steal things from the production team. You'll be sent to a farm for labor reform, and there will be stains on your file. You won't be able to find any job. You're done for the rest of your life."
"Smell it carefully for yourselves to see if this is the smell of fish." Lin Yulan pointed out the window.
When Xu Qiang and his daughter heard her swearing so confidently, they couldn't help but get closer and take a long breath.
"Not to mention, it really tastes like stewed fish soup, it's so fragrant."
Xu Damei closed her eyes and took a deep sniff, and couldn't help but swallow several mouthfuls of saliva.
"It's so fragrant, I almost forgot the taste of fish," she pulled her dad, "Dad, why don't we go to Uncle Su's house to have dinner? Aunt Bai is a generous person and won't disagree."
"This is a good idea..."
The father and daughter wiped the saliva from the corners of their mouths and walked out after speaking.
Lin Yulan hurriedly grabbed their hands and said, "Are you stupid? That's stolen fish! It's stolen goods! What are you going to eat? Do you want to go to labor reform with the old Su family?"
"Mom, if we don't say no, will everything be fine? I'm starving to death."
Xu Damei grew strong. Although she had been hungry and full in the past few years, she was still strong and strong.
She shook her father's arm with her thick arm and said coquettishly: "Dad, let's go get some food? It doesn't matter if he stole it or robbed it, let's eat first... Look, I'm already so skinny, it's early."