"Where is there, where is the big guy?"

When the others heard Er Bao's cry, they stopped and looked over. A few of them stepped forward to see if Dabao and Er Bao could successfully catch the eel, but they did not catch it.

This is the rule for catching loaches. Whoever discovers a loach nest belongs to that person. If other people want to catch it, they have to look elsewhere. If you force yourself to catch a loach in someone else's loach nest, you are looking for a fight!

In Qin Xiaoxiao's memory, there was no such thing as an eel. Seeing how excited everyone was, she couldn't help but ask: "Sister Qingqing, have you seen an eel? What does it look like?"

Hu Qingqing nodded: "My father dug up a few before. They were as long as snakes and looked a bit scary. But they tasted very good. They were fried with chili peppers and they were fragrant!"

Recalling the alluring fragrance, she couldn't help but swallow.

Qin Xiaoxiao was said to be greedy by her little cousin, and asked curiously: "What does it taste like? Is it better than dry-stirred loach?"

Hu Qingqing sighed and shook her head: "I haven't eaten it before. My grandfather won't let me eat it, and my mother won't let it either."

When Qin Xiaoxiao heard this, he quickly comforted his little cousin: "When the elder brother and the second brother catch the big eel, we will have something to eat. It will definitely be more delicious than your eel."

Hu Qingqing smiled happily, looking forward to the dish made with eel that she might have in the evening.

Dabao and Erbao were really good at catching loaches and eels. The mud was so deep that the eels could not see anything hidden in it. They followed the traces left by the eels when they escaped and quickly figured out the direction in which the eels were escaping. So the brothers

One after another, they began to plow through the mud, and gradually the eels were blocked by the hard bank.

Just as Qin Xiaoxiao and Hu Qingqing were talking, someone suddenly shouted: "Catch it, catch it, Dabao has caught the big eel!"

Qin Xiaoxiao looked over hurriedly and saw Dabao holding a long, yellow thing thicker than her own wrist with both hands. This was the first time she had seen the true face of the eel, and it was indeed the same as the eel she had seen before.

Snakes look very similar.

"Mom - this eel is too big. It weighs at least a pound and a half. If you can sell it in the city, you can get several pounds of pork back." A child exclaimed, extremely envious.

"Quick, Ergouzi, bring your fish basket! This eel is too big, Dabao's bucket can't trap it!" Another child borrowed the fish basket for Dabao, fearing that the eel would escape if he was too late.

The child named Er Gouzi was not stingy and handed the fish basket and loach directly to Dabao.

Dabao thanked him and pointed to his wooden barrel and said: "There are only a lot more loaches in here than in the fish basket. Let's switch over. I will send the fish basket to your house later."

"That's an advantage for me." Ergouzi chuckled, picked up the bucket and left without being polite to Dabao at all.

Dabao and Erbao were very happy to catch such a big eel. Seeing their younger brothers and sisters clamoring to see it, they climbed up the ledge with the fish basket to let them see it as much as they could.

The mouth of the fish basket is very small, and you have to get closer to see what's inside. Sanbao was the first to get close, but after just one glance, he was so scared that he backed away: "Snake, this is a snake!"

They look exactly like snakes, both are long and have pointed tails!

Dabao touched his brother's head and comforted him: "It just looks like a snake. It has no teeth and won't bite. Don't be afraid!"

"Yeah!" Sanbao nodded casually, but didn't dare to look closer.

He is still too young to know the difference between a snake and an eel. In his opinion, an eel is also a snake, but it doesn't bite!

Qin Xiaoxiao is not afraid of snakes, so she is not afraid of eels that look very similar to snakes. She was holding the fish basket with both hands and was about to peek inside when the big eel jumped out and almost hit her in the face.

superior.

The little girl was startled at first, and then she moved faster than Dabao. She threw herself on the fish basket and blocked the fish basket with her small body, preventing the big eel from jumping out and escaping.

Fortunately, she was light and the fish basket was strong enough. Otherwise, it would have been crushed by her pounce, and the eels and loaches inside would have been in trouble.

"Sister, poof, haha ​​-" Dabao and the others were all amused by her posture with all fours on the ground, like a little tortoise. However, they did not dare to say that she looked like a little tortoise, for fear of being told back by the little girl.

Qin Xiaoxiao didn't know what they were laughing at, and kept urging: "Brother, hurry up and find a way to plug the hole!"

When Dabao heard this, he didn't care about laughing at his sister, and quickly took the pants he had taken off. After Qin Xiaoxiao stepped away, he quickly covered the opening with his waist, and wrapped the two trouser legs tightly around him.

At this point, the big eel will never be able to escape.

But in this case, if Dabao and Erbao continue to catch loaches in the ditch, there will be nowhere to put the loaches.

The loach in the fish basket was enough for the whole family to eat. Dabao thought about it and decided to go back directly. Qin Xiaoxiao was eager to eat the eels early, so of course she had no objection. So Dabao and Erbao took their younger brothers and sisters to the lake to clean themselves.

Mud on the body.

Zhao Xiuxiu fell into the water first, and the adults in the family warned her. Qin Xiaoxiao and the other children did not dare to go near the water anymore. When Dabao and Erbao went to wash the mud, they stood on the embankment honestly.

.

When Dabao and Erbao came up, Qin Xiaoxiao said in a flattering manner: "Brother, can you take me to catch loaches tomorrow afternoon?"

Just now I watched my brothers catch loaches. As soon as the little girl saw some fun, they stopped catching them. Their good intentions were not yet exhausted!

Dabao saw his sister's thoughts and readily agreed: "Okay, brother will take you to another place to catch them. The mud there is not deep, and you can catch loaches."

Qin Xiaoxiao didn't expect that there was such a fun place and he could catch it himself. He immediately jumped up excitedly: "Okay, okay, I'll go with my big brother tomorrow."

When Hu Qingqing and Sanbao saw this, they also acted coquettishly with Dabao and asked to go together tomorrow.

Dabao agreed and secretly decided to bring a wooden bucket and a fish basket tomorrow. Maybe he could catch the big eel again like he did today. Didn't he expect to catch the big eel as soon as his sister came?

Qin Xiaoxiao never expected that she would be "set up" by her elder brother. She was chattering with Hu Qingqing and Sanbao, thinking about the scene of catching loaches tomorrow. Hearing this, Dabao and Erbao almost thought that all the loaches in Qingshan Village would fall into their own pot.

Already.

When the five brothers and sisters came back together, the adults who had gone to the field were already at home.

Seeing the big eel poured into the basin, Zhao Cao'er's eyes lit up: "This eel is too big! It's bigger than the ones caught by Lao Niu's family in the past few years! The one from Lao Niu's family sold for fifty

It costs a lot of money. We can sell this piece for sixty or seventy cents at least."

Qin Xiaoxiao, who was discussing with her mother how to cook eel at night, became anxious on the spot: "Second aunt, isn't the eel edible? Don't use it to exchange for money, okay?"

Zhao Caoer's face was distorted for a moment, and he tried to coax his little niece: "The meat of this eel is too little, not enough for so many people in our family, but if we take it to the city and exchange it for money, and then use the money to buy a few kilograms of pork back,

We can eat for several days."

Qin Xiaoxiao has eaten pork and likes it, but compared with eels that she has never eaten before, pork seems less attractive.

Hearing what the second aunt said, she took a look at the big eel. It seemed that it really wasn't too fleshy. She thought about it and said, "I haven't eaten eel yet. Let's eat it tonight. I'll follow you tomorrow."

Big Brother and the others will go catch loaches together, and then catch a bigger eel, and let Second Aunt use it to exchange for money to buy pork, okay?"

OK, it must be OK!

Zhao Cao'er was so excited that she kissed her little niece hard on the face: "Eat! Let's eat it tonight! The second aunt will cook in person and use this big eel to make fried eel slices for you, which will be fresh for you.

After eating it, I want to eat it again!”

The little niece has already spoken, but she is still worried that she will not be able to catch a bigger eel tomorrow? This way, she can also eat the eel meat and earn money from selling the pork. It is really great!

Others couldn't see why Zhao Cao'er was happy and couldn't help but were speechless. But Qin Xiao had already told the joke. Even if she didn't catch loaches and eels tomorrow, the eel she promised would be unlucky for other reasons.

Show up at home.

Zhao Cao'er's cooking skills were not very good, and fried eel slices were one of the few dishes she could cook. She instructed Qin Chuan to kill the eel and cut it into thin slices, and then got some clean water to raise the loach and spit out the mud.

Unlike eels, it is very troublesome to clean the internal organs of loaches. They are usually allowed to vomit mud for a day, and then use it directly to make soup and cook dishes the next day. This way, the muddy smell will be much less, and the internal organs can be picked out when eating.

alright.

Before slaughtering the eel, Qin Chuan weighed it on a scale and found that it weighed one pound and sixty taels. It would not be a problem to sell an eel of this size in the city for seventy or eighty yuan. If he could find a way, he could sell it for that kind of money.

In a big restaurant, it is not difficult to earn a hundred pennies.

Thinking of Qin Xiaoxiao's words that he would catch a bigger eel tomorrow, the Qin family couldn't help but sympathize with the unlucky eel: it must have lived for a long time to grow so big, but it is a pity that it will be buried in the Five Zang Temple soon!

There was a dish of fried eel slices. Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t care that she couldn’t eat dry-stirred loach at night. Ever since Zhao Caoer took the washed eel slices to the kitchen house, she was surrounding them like a little tail.

Zhao Caoer turned around, everyone watching was very amused.

It's just that the freshly prepared eel was greasy and extremely fishy. Qin Xiaoxiao was disgusted when she smelled it, wondering whether something so fishy could really make something more delicious than dry-stirred loach.

Zhao Cao'er laughed and said: "The stronger the flavor, the more delicious it is! When my second aunt was still at her parents' house, the fried eel slices she made were so fragrant that several of your uncles fought over one more slice!"

There are more than ten brothers and cousins ​​in Zhao Cao'er's generation in the Zhao family. Before Zhao Cao'er got married, dozens of people in the Zhao family lived together in several rooms. There are advantages to having more brothers, at least from time to time they can

Catching loaches, eels and the like will give the whole family a fishy smell.

The reason why Zhao Cao'er's fried eel slices are so delicious is because he made them bit by bit at that time.

When she said this, Qin Xiaoxiao immediately stopped hating the unpleasant fishy smell and swallowed her saliva while looking at the thinly sliced ​​eel fillets in the basin.

In order to get rid of the fishy smell of the eel, Zhao Caoer was very willing to add ingredients, such as the home-grown onions, ginger, and garlic. He also added soy sauce, cooking wine, etc., and also added half a dried chili pepper.

If Qin Xiaoxiao couldn't eat anything too spicy, he would have added more dried chili peppers to make it more enjoyable. Even so, the fried eel slices were full of color, flavor and flavor. The greedy Qin Xiaoxiao stood on tiptoes.

Put it on the stove and look into the pot.

Seeing that her little niece was drooling with greed, Zhao Caoer quickly scooped up a piece of eel with a spatula, blew on it, picked out the spines inside, and stuffed it into her little niece's mouth.

"Hmm, good time, great time!" The fresh and smooth taste in the mouth made Qin Xiaoxiao's eyes widen, and she nodded fiercely while saying vaguely.

After being praised by his niece, Zhao Cao'er felt particularly accomplished. He quickly put the fried eel slices on the plate, and specially put a portion in a small bowl and stuffed it into Qin Xiaoxiao's hand, letting her hold it slowly.

eat.

The Qin family members who were chatting in the shade in the yard smelled the strong fragrance and were all aroused. Qin Shan rubbed his hands and said with a shy face to Mr. Qin who was repeatedly tapping his back:

"Dad, it's rare to find a good dish. Let's have a cup tonight!"

Mr. Qin was also addicted to alcohol by the smell of fried eel slices. Just as he was about to nod in response, he remembered that the day after tomorrow was a good day. His third son would come back, and his eldest daughter and son-in-law would also come over, so he said, "Let's talk about it the day after tomorrow!"

Qin Shan didn't remember what day the day after tomorrow was. He was about to say that there would be no good food and wine the day after tomorrow. Qin Chuan quickly said: "Let's just do it the day after tomorrow. If Xiaoxiao can catch the eels tomorrow, they can sell them in the city the day after tomorrow."

Come back and buy some good food."
To be continued...