Su Anying and his wife returned home early in the morning carrying a lot of things. Everyone in the Su family was very happy and entertained the young couple warmly.
"Look, I didn't know you guys came back so early and didn't prepare anything.
Let’s just have a bite this morning and ask your mother to prepare something delicious for you at noon.”
At six o'clock, just in time for breakfast, Su Weizhong looked at the porridge and pickles and miso on the table and felt a little shabby.
When a new uncle comes in, how can his first meal be so simple?
"My dear mother, I remember we still have salted duck eggs, right? Come on, cook some quickly."
The Su family lived conveniently by the river, so they only raised two ducks. They didn't want to eat the eggs they laid, so most of them were sold.
Leave a few to marinate for serving to guests.
The new uncle came into the house as an honored guest and must be treated well. Without saying anything, Han went to the jar and took out two salted duck eggs, cooked them in the pot, cut them and served them.
"Try it, the duck eggs are well marinated this year and are very oily."
With a smile on her face, Mrs. Han placed the duck eggs directly in front of Xu Shiyan and Su Anying, and invited them to eat.
Xu Shiyan refused again and again, never being stubborn to his father-in-law, so in the end he had to poke some egg yolks with chopsticks and put them into the porridge to eat.
As for Su Anying, how could she be willing to eat salted duck eggs?
Seeing the two sisters on the other end peeking secretly with their heads lowered, Su Anying directly divided her half of the duck egg into the bowls of the two sisters.
"Yingzi, you eat your food and ignore them."
Mrs. Han was about to say "little ones" when she saw them, but she saw that the two little ones swallowed all the porridge and salted duck eggs in the bowl in just a few mouthfuls. Mrs. Han was so angry that she stared at the two girls.
When Xu Shiyan saw this, he didn't say a word. He just scooped his portion of salted duck eggs into his wife's bowl while others were not paying attention. "Eat it."
Su Anying secretly glanced at her parents, then opened half of the salted duck eggs and put them back into Xu Shiyan's bowl.
The young couple looked at each other, smiled and drank the porridge in the bowl.
Su Weizhong had already seen the little antics of his daughter and son-in-law, but he didn't point it out and just finished the meal with a smile.
Normally, when my uncle is here, Su Weizhong should stay at home to accompany him.
But Su Weizhong is the captain of the production team. Without him to assign errands, he probably wouldn't be able to do this job today.
Xu Shiyan saw his father-in-law's dilemma, so he took the initiative to mention that he was going to visit a relative's house in the morning.
Let the father-in-law do whatever he needs to do, and there is no need to delay the team's affairs for him.
In this way, Su Weizhong ate breakfast and hurried to the production team to arrange work for the day, while Xu Shiyan took his wife and went out to visit relatives.
Xu Shiyan's grandmother, two uncles, an aunt and others were all in the camp.
If you don't go anywhere else, you have to visit your grandmother.
It was past ten o'clock when a circle of relatives came down. When the young couple returned to Su's house, they saw many people laughing and joking and wondering what they were busy with.
When I got closer, I realized that it was Su Weizhong's sister-in-law from next door, Mrs. Feng, who had brought her daughter-in-law and daughter over and was helping Mrs. Han deal with the crickets there.
"Hey, Yingzi and my uncle are back? Come inside and sit down quickly. It's very tiring walking around in the hot weather."
Ms. Feng has a cheerful personality, is warm and hospitable, and treats Su Anying very well.
"Xiaoyu, go home quickly and pick some cherries for your brother-in-law.
Then check to see if there are any ripe peaches on the peach tree, and pick two for your brother-in-law to eat."
"Anmin, go inside and talk to your brother-in-law. We'll be busy for a while. I'll make cricket tofu for you this noon."
Mrs. Feng is more like a master than Mr. Han, and everything is arranged properly.
"What a coincidence. Yesterday, Anmin caught a lot of crickets from the lower reaches of Tanghe River. I didn't cook them for them because they were too young. It would be good to make cricket tofu."
Su Anmin is the third son of Feng and Su Weicheng. He is fifteen this year. He doesn't like to study. He finished primary school and refused to go to junior high school.
He is also very good at catching fish and shrimps in the wilds where he goes up mountains and down rivers all day long.
The cricket tofu mentioned by Feng can be regarded as a major specialty in Northeast China. Most people who live by the river can make it, but very few do.
Crayfish, also known as big-headed shrimp and Northeastern crayfish, look very similar to crayfish.
The difference is that the body of the cricket is greenish-brown, while the crayfish is dark red. The shell of the cricket is not that thick, while the shell of the crayfish is thick and has hard spines.
The first pair of legs of the cricket, that is, the claws in the front are larger. When comparing a cricket and a crayfish with the same body size together, the turtle's claws are much larger than those of the lobster.
The living habits of the two are also different. The crickets grow in streams with clear and transparent water. They have extremely high requirements for water quality and are sensitive to chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
The cricket is a kind of river delicacy in Northeast China. Its taste is delicious and unique. In the eyes of Northeastern people, it is definitely among the top three delicacies.
It is a pity that due to environmental pollution and other reasons in later generations, this creature is on the verge of extinction. Only a few are cultured, and the price is extremely expensive.
As for the cricket tofu, it is definitely not stewed with crickets and tofu.
Peel off the shell of the mantis, remove the sand string from the tail, then mash it in a stone mortar, then filter the reddish-brown juice with gauze and set aside.
Boil the water in the pot, pour the cricket juice in, stir gently, and you will see pink flowers floating from the pot.
Add some salt to taste, sprinkle with chopped leeks, and the dish is ready. If possible, you can also add egg droplets.
The three colors of red, yellow and green are particularly beautiful when mixed together, and the texture is soft and tender, just like tofu, so it is called cricket tofu.
This soup combines the fresh flavors of crickets and leeks. It doesn't need to add any seasoning to remove the fishy smell. Take a sip and it will definitely be delicious that can engulf your tongue.
However, because the production process is too troublesome, especially in these days when there are no crushing tools, it is too laborious to mash it by hand, so most people rarely do it.
If the new uncle hadn't come back, no matter how many crickets Su Anmin caught, Feng wouldn't be too lazy to cook them. At most, she would boil them with some salt and eat them.
"Auntie, this cricket tofu is too troublesome, why bother?
You see, my coming here will trouble my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and my third brother will also be affected."
Xu Shiyan had never experienced such high-level hospitality in his previous life.
At that time, he went to work in Da'an Coal Mine the day after his wedding and did not accompany Su Anying back home at all.
Although the Su family didn't say it, they were definitely unhappy.
In this life, Xu Shiyan not only accompanied his wife back home, but also brought a generous homecoming gift, which was considered a face gain for the Su family.
When Su Weizhong went out, he specially told him that no matter what he thought of, he must prepare a table of good food to entertain his uncle this noon.
"Ahem, what's this? It's the first time that my new uncle comes to visit, and he is an honored guest.
This is the rule in our family. Your uncle will come over at noon, and you two will have a few drinks."
Feng's hearty laughter makes people feel better after hearing it.