Chapter Fifty-two: The Delicious Taste of River Shrimp

  Just as I was sleeping comfortably, the alarm clock pulled me out of my beautiful dream. When I opened my eyes, Wu Song had already cleverly turned off the alarm clock and was staring at me with a big smile on his face. After putting on my slippers and getting dressed, I also helped Wu Song put on his little jacket. My sister had altered several clothes for Wu Song that were too small for him, and he really liked these colorful clothes. I have despised this guy countless times, wearing those tacky, brightly colored clothes with a handle on them, looking like a homosexual, and always being so pleased with himself.

  Downstairs, under the gaze of my mother and sister, I ate two fried rice cakes and drank a cup of milk. My mother then asked: "When are those Nanas arriving?"

  Sister added: "Diana and Richie and Lily".

  "Right! Right! Diana, Ruth and Lily, you said the name of the foreigner is strange, I just can't remember the other two, only Lily is easy to remember."

  "Wait, mom, I've got something to say. We arrived around 10 o'clock this morning, and Ge let Nancy leave one behind, right?"

  Sister said: "Need you to say, mom got up early and caught a big goose, dad and brother-in-law helped to slaughter it, dad said mom complained all night".

  "Alright, I'm going to groom the horse now. After I'm done, I'll go check on the traps by the pond and see how many shrimp we caught yesterday. We can take the small fish to feed the ducks," said Ju An.

  Mom said with a smile: "If there are too many small fish, don't feed the ducks anymore. Mom has time to dry some salted fish for you."

  Salted fish was a common food in my childhood, it's made from small palm-sized fish that were gutted and then cured with salt before being dried under the sun. When eating, add some oil to the pot, fry both sides until golden brown and fragrant, even the bones are crispy. Serve with plain rice porridge, I can finish two or three bowls of it.

  "That's good, if there are many small fish, I'll keep them. If not, in two days we'll go catch small fish and make dried salted fish." With a piece of oily rice cake in his hand, and still holding half an apple, Wu Song walked out.

  As soon as they walked out of the door, they found Old Man and Brother-in-law plucking goose feathers. The smell was really bad, so Ju An immediately took Wu Song and slipped away.

  After finishing the bean grass business, he drove the two guys to the horse group. Today, Ju An prepared a four-wheeled motorcycle and brought a large plastic bucket. The horses are not as convenient as the four-wheeled motorcycles. He tied the plastic bucket behind the motorcycle, with Wu Song sitting on top of the fuel tank. Ju An then started the motorcycle and headed towards the pond.

  Arriving at the pond, Nancy had already pulled over the bird shed. The ducks and geese were swimming happily in the pond. Pidan and Xisi had seen Ju'an coming and wagged their tails to welcome him. He stopped the motorcycle, rubbed the two dog heads, let Wu Song catch cicadas on his own, took a plastic bucket, and slipped into the space. Walking to the edge of the space pond, he lifted the bamboo basket and immediately harvested a lot, with a large bowl of small shrimp, each about the size of a thumb. The small fish were too small, so they weren't kept, but the shrimp were poured into the water bucket. After lifting several more baskets, he got an estimated 7-8 pounds of shrimp, adding to yesterday's 7-8 anglerfish and two large yellow eels, filling almost half a bucket. Carrying things out of the space, he saw Wu Song standing on the motorcycle seat cushion, holding half a cicada in his hand, staring at Ju'an with blinking eyes, looking stunned, as if wondering how Ju'an had suddenly appeared.

  He patted Wu Song's head, and Ju An said: "I knew you couldn't speak, that's why I let you know this secret. If one day you can speak, remember to keep it in your heart, or I'll kill the monkey to silence him." After finishing speaking, he tied the plastic bucket to the four-wheeled motorcycle, took Wu Song and Pidan Xi Si with him, waved his hand, and headed back.

  After arriving home, the plastic bucket was carried into the house. The two little ones had already finished their breakfast and were watching TV inside, waiting for Jerry and Emily. Seeing that a big bucket had been brought in, the two little ones immediately became interested and rushed over to look at it with excitement.

  Tongtong looked and immediately said: "Grandma, I want to eat small shrimp."

  She turned her face and said to her sister: "Grandma wants to burn first, we'll eat later. Is this a snake? It's so long, does it bite people?"

  Tongtong looked and shouted again: "Mom! Uncle caught a big long fish, Tongtong wants to eat the big long fish for lunch."

  My mother and sister heard the two little guys shouting, so they came over to take a look. My mother praised: "The shrimp head is big, and the pike head is not small either. It's been a long time since I've seen such a large wild pike. In the past, when the water of Lake Daze hadn't changed, we often saw them."

  Sister asked beside: "Mom, how did you know it's wild? The third child's pond is all raised by the third child."

  Mom glanced at her sister and said: "You've been living with mom for so many years, the wild ones have a deeper and darker color, while the domesticated ones are much lighter."

  "Jū ān lián máng jiě shì zhe shuō: "Wǒ lái de shí hou fàng le xiē yú jìn qù, yě méi wèi guò, qí shí jiù xiāng děng yǐ yuě de. Lǎo mā xiǎng le xiǎng zàn tóng dào: "Gū mō zhe chà bù duō".

  Sister said beside: "This is not even there, and you're already biased. I've been with mom for so long, and I haven't seen you pick it up before. As soon as this family comes, you pick it up."

  "It's them or not, I've already prepared for this period of time and have put in a lot to raise, it should be edible by now. In the future, if you want to eat, just go catch some."

  Mom smiled and nodded at her sister, saying: "You're so sharp-tongued, your brother can't even get a bite to eat without you."

  "Alright, alright, hurry up and get the things, I'll wash the shrimp, sister you go deal with the eel and yellow croaker." Ju An hastily urged everyone to work.

  He poured the shrimp into a basin, and the lively shrimp immediately jumped out of the basin. Wu Song quickly caught one and put it in his mouth to eat. Hu Tou and Suan Tou also each caught one to chew on. The three gluttons were chased away, and the shrimp were poured back into the plastic bucket. The two little guys and Ju An together put the escaped shrimp back into the bucket. Some salt was added to the bucket, then some clean water, waiting for the shrimp to spit out the dirty things.

  At this time, Dad and brother-in-law also washed the goose and brought it in. After taking a look at the shrimp in the bucket, Dad said: "The size is really not small."

  Dad said a word and walked closer to the table, handing over the goose in his hand to my sister, letting her chop the goose. He himself started to deal with the eel and yellow croaker, saying as he worked: "What a pity, I didn't see any tofu for sale here. If there was some, then the eel cooked with tofu would be really unbeatable." I thought about it too, but I don't know if the supermarket in town sells tofu or not. When I went to look before, I really didn't pay attention.

  Busy with that, just heard a horn sounded, then it was Jerry's voice: "Ran Ran, Tong Tong we are here" in the local dialect of his hometown.

  As soon as he went out, he saw Old Taylor getting ready to back the car and waved at Taylor before following the little guys into the house.

  As I walked into the house, I saw four little heads gathered around a big bucket talking about something. My brother-in-law was cutting potatoes on the counter, my sister had already chopped up the goose and put it in the pot, ready to stew.

  Jū ān walked to the side of the plastic bucket, picked it up, and went to the sink to pour out the water. Then he refilled the bucket with water, washed his hands, and repeated this process several times before finally washing the shrimp clean. He then said to his mother, "I'll first boil some water to cook them a bit, so the little ones can satisfy their hunger." As he spoke, he scooped out a bowl of shrimp from the bucket, poured them into the pot, added a bit of salt, a few Sichuan peppercorns, and some water, then lit the fire.

  After a short while, the shrimp turned red and the water boiled. Ju An then served 5 or 6 shrimps to each of the little ones, letting them go eat under the corridor. He also took one and put it in his mouth for a bite, extremely fresh and fragrant. He also let his mom and sister try some, and after eating, they all praised the shrimp as delicious.

  Looking down, there was nothing else to help with, so Ju'an took a notebook and walked under the corridor, only to find that there were still shrimp in the bowls of several little guys. Originally, Ju'an thought that the little ones would finish eating quickly, but after thinking about it, he realized that Americans generally don't eat river shrimp. Jerry and Emily obviously didn't know how to peel river shrimp, so Tongtong and Rangrang were holding a shrimp to demonstrate for them how to peel it. The peeled shrimp heads weren't wasted either; there were three more on the table waiting. Hu Tou and Suan Tou had big heads, and they easily put their heads on the table. Wu Song was pitifully using both hands to hold onto the edge of the table, his body hanging in mid-air, his two small eyes staring at Tongtong's shrimp. Tongtong picked up a shrimp, pulled off its head, and fed it to Wu Song. Hu Tou was lucky, stuck between Rangrang and Jerry, and the shrimp heads from Rangrang and Jerry's bowls both fell into his mouth. Suan Tou stuck out his tongue, sniffing nonstop with his nose, his two beady eyes fixed on Emily's shrimp head in her hand. Emily peeled too slowly; it seemed like Suan Tou was getting anxious to death.

  The scene of the child and the animal at this time, I really want to find a camera to record it, so that I can see the unspeakable warmth and tranquility in my heart. Putting down the notebook on the table, helping Emily peel off the shrimp, eating goods is eating goods, peeling off a shrimp takes less than two seconds, handing the tail to Emily, the tail shell and shrimp head are thrown into the garlic mouth.

  After finishing the shrimp in the bowl, Tongtong leaned over to Ju'an and said with a twist: "Little uncle, brother and Jerry want to eat more shrimp." Then she looked at Little Emily and added: "Emily also wants to eat." Rubbing Tongtong's small braids on her head, Ju'an comforted: "Eating too many shrimp on an empty stomach is not good. There are a lot of shrimp in Uncle's pond, so from now on, you, your brother, Jerry, and Emily can all have some every day. We also have guests coming soon, let's eat together when they arrive, okay?"

  The little guys thought for a moment, and then obediently sent the small bowls in their hands into the kitchen. Then they went crazy again with Hu Tou and Wu Song in the yard.