Siheyuan: Walking the Path of Qin Huairu

Xu Huizhen quickly greeted everyone: "Hello, sisters-in-law and aunts! I came here because I am greedy for the seafood here."

The eldest sister-in-law said generously: "What's so rare about seafood? What we have the most here is seafood. Eat as much as you want, until you don't want to eat anymore."

Everyone agreed: "Yes, eat whatever you want." The fishermen were very simple and hospitable, so Xu Huizhen felt no restraint and chatted with them casually.

Village chief Feng directed the villagers to send all the seafood to the warehouse, which was prepared for Xu Huizhen. Only a small portion was sent to the cellar as a symbolic gesture.

Xu Huizhen and Feng Hui carried the harvest from the day's fishing and walked home in the afterglow of the setting sun. She noticed that many families in the village raised ducks, and the ducks that went out to find food were walking home without any hesitation. The ducks were very disciplined and lined up in a long line, neat and orderly, which looked very funny.

For a moment, Xu Huizhen thought of the delicious salt sea duck eggs in the future, which were golden and nutritious. There is no regulation that a family can only raise three chickens, and there is no capitalist tail cut. But this is an agricultural and sideline product, which can be eaten by oneself or sold to the government's purchasing station.

No, I will talk to the village chief tomorrow and ask him to buy a batch for her in the village. The price can be slightly higher than that of the purchasing station. There will definitely be a shortage of supply when she returns to Sijiu City.

When they returned home, they saw the village head's wife making dumplings, using two-grain flour and two fillings, one with Spanish mackerel and the other with seaweed. She was almost done, and Xu Huizhen couldn't help.

She had no choice but to clean up the seafood they had just brought back. She first poured water on it, washed it clean, and then steamed it directly in the pot so that she could eat it in its original flavor.

Feng Hui said, "Cousin, don't just cook it. I'll show you a different way to eat it. Watch me." Then she went to the side of the yard, brought out two stones, placed them about 40 centimeters apart, put some firewood in between, and lit a fire. Then, Er Shuanzi took out an iron plate, rinsed it with water, and placed it on the stones.

It seems that they often did this in the past, with ready-made tools, and skilled and coordinated movements. After the iron plate is heated, the larger shrimps are directly placed on the iron plate for grilling, and the smaller ones are strung together with bamboo sticks and then placed on the iron plate, which makes it easier to turn them over, which is very similar to barbecue in later generations.

Xu Huizhen asked curiously, "Don't you need to add seasoning?"

Feng Hui said confidently: "You don't need to add anything. Seawater is salty to begin with. Once the water is removed by roasting, the shrimp will have its own salty taste."

Naturally, it was Xu Huizhen who tasted the first batch of roasted shrimps. She peeled off the dried shrimp skins and took a bite. The taste was just as Feng Hui said, with the right amount of freshness and saltiness, and very chewy.

It really fits the saying: the best ingredients only need the simplest cooking method, original flavor, fresh and refreshing. After returning home, she will do the same, simple and easy.

After grilling some shrimps, Feng Hui grilled octopus, which Xu Huizhen couldn't stop eating.

For dinner, Xu Huizhen ate a belly full of seafood and two steamed buns. She preferred the ones stuffed with Spanish mackerel to the ones stuffed with seaweed. Her belly was so full.

After dinner, Xu Huizhen and the village chief went to the warehouse to take a walk and digest the food. The accountant had already counted the amount of seafood. For the convenience of accounting, the yellow croaker was 1800 cents per pound. The remaining large fish weighing more than pounds, regardless of the species, were calculated at cents per pound, a total of pounds, not counting the decimals.

The price for shrimps is 7 cents per pound regardless of size, and 5800 cents per pound. The price of dried seafood is still the same as before, with a total of 2600 kilograms of fresh seafood and kilograms of dried seafood.

After the handover, Xu Huizhen expressed her idea of ​​raising sea ducks: "Uncle, I saw someone raising ducks in the village this afternoon. You can raise sea ducks on a large scale here. Start raising them in the spring. They can eat small fish and shrimps, as well as grass. In the winter, kill the males for meat and keep the females for laying eggs. Duck eggs can be pickled into salted duck eggs. I'll take as many as you have. I'll sell them in the canteen when I get back."

Village Chief Feng nodded and said, "That's right. The yield of crops grown in our village is not high, but we can do something else. Can we exchange food with the purchasing station at the end of the year? I will discuss it with the villagers later."

Xu Huizhen continued, "I heard that kelp in foreign countries can be cultivated artificially. Kelp grows very fast. If the water temperature is right, it can grow more than ten centimeters a day. And the cultivation method is very simple."

The village chief asked curiously: "Huizhen, do you know how to raise it?" Xu Huizhen also had some knowledge about kelp farming, which she had seen in a short video on the Internet later.

She said: "I have only heard of it, but I have never done it. The brown spots and protrusions on the surface of kelp are the seeds of kelp. If you pull up a rope in the sea area where kelp grows, the kelp seeds will automatically attach to the rough rope after falling off, and then gradually grow bigger. When the kelp grows up, you can drag the rope to the shore and harvest the kelp."

The village chief was very interested and said, "It sounds simple and inexpensive. We can give it a try."

Xu Huizhen went to talk to the village chief about how to raise seedlings artificially, which is more efficient. It is to cut the kelp with seeds into pieces, put them into a large bucket of seawater, stir them to make the seeds fall off, wait for the seawater to turn green, then wrap a rough rope around a wooden stick and put it into the bucket, and the seeds will automatically attach to the rope. When you can see small kelp seedlings on the rope, put the rope into the sea and let it grow naturally. Of course, after the kelp grows up, if the seedlings are too dense, they need to be transplanted.

The village chief understood roughly what he said, but he asked Xu Huizhen to demonstrate it to them again tomorrow. Xu Huizhen did not refuse.

After chatting for a while, Xu Huizhen asked the village chief to go back and rest while she waited for the truck to pick up the goods. The village chief stood up and said, "Okay, I'll leave the door open for you. When the truck leaves, you can go home and sleep. Or should I ask your aunt to accompany you? I'm worried about you going alone."

Xu Huizhen said, "Don't worry, uncle. How can I dare to travel far away alone if I don't have some kung fu? To be honest with you, three or two men are no match for me." After hearing what Xu Huizhen said, the village chief went back with peace of mind.