from widow to dame

Chapter 39

Just do it, Su Huiniang pulled her hair, changed into neat clothes, brought an empty bucket, and walked towards the entrance of the village with Wang Qilang.The small river in Wangjia'ao is usually used by the villagers for watering the fields and doing laundry.Su Huiniang and the others went directly to a place upstream, and there was no one around, so they could fish whatever they wanted.Su Huiniang took off her embroidered shoes and socks, and only her feet were bare. She stepped on the pebbles washed by the water and didn't dare to go any deeper. She just looked in along the side.As for Wang Qilang, the child had long since taken off only a pair of trousers, he dived into the water like a white fish, his dexterity was not good.

Mussels are willing to grow in the shadow of stones, because most of their bodies are white, and it is not easy to be found in the water. You have to look carefully. Su Huiniang is like a hardworking bee and begins to scrutinize. After rummaging, it didn't take long to fill up a small half of the bucket simply because of the sufficient quantity.

"Sister Hui, look!" Suddenly, an exclamation rang in her ears, Su Huiniang only felt something jumping out from behind her, and she fell into the water in fright, soaking all her clothes.Not only did Wang Qilang not feel "guilt" when he saw this, but he laughed out loud. Su Huiniang was so angry when she saw the child holding a big fish in her hand, she wanted to spank his ass, but before that——

"Quick! Put the fish in the bucket, add more water, don't let it die!" Su Huiniang obviously cared more about a delicious dinner than her wet clothes.The two caught a whole bucket of river mussels here, plus a big carp and half a plate of miscellaneous white swim bladders.It wasn't until the sun slanted towards the west that I walked towards home, but on the way back, I happened to meet someone.

"Sister Qi, what's wrong with you?" Su Huiniang looked at the limping woman coming towards her, and couldn't help but stepped forward to support her.Seeing that it was Su Huiniang who came, Qi Fang was overjoyed at first, and then an embarrassing panic appeared on her face. She only heard her say: "It's sister Su!... I'm fine, but I accidentally fell down."

Su Huiniang couldn't tell that her words were insincere, because she didn't want to have anything to do with the Wang family, she never took the initiative to contact Qi Fang after she got well, and this was the first time the two met.She glanced at the bamboo basket on the other person's body, and knew that she should have just returned from cutting pigweed on the mountain.Su Huiniang looked at her carefully, and found that Qi Fang was very haggard, her face was waxy and yellow, and there were many white hairs growing on her temples.It was hard for Su Huiniang not to feel sympathy for her who had also suffered in the Wang family.

"Sister Su, what are you doing here?" Qi Fang couldn't help asking curiously seeing Su Huiniang holding a big bucket and a small basin.

"Go to the river to catch some mussels. When they are ready, send some to Sister Qi."

Qi Fang hurriedly shook her hand and said no, the two walked together for a while while talking, and then went home separately.

"Sister Hui sympathizes with her again?" Wang Qilang couldn't help asking with raised eyebrows looking at Su Huiniang who was a little sullen.

"All I can do is sympathize!" Su Huiniang smiled self-deprecatingly, and then shook off the wild thoughts in her head. She is not the Guanyin Bodhisattva who saves the suffering, and she has no ability and cannot afford other people's lives.

The siblings returned home, and Mrs. Lin had already prepared meals. Su Huiniang and Wang Qilang kept the dug mussels and small fishes in the water tank, so as to keep the freshness of the food. Su Huiniang Decided to start cooking the clam dinner tomorrow.Sure enough, at noon the next day, Su Huiniang sharpened her knife and slashed at the mussel.She plans to use three methods, namely river mussel stew, spicy mussel meat and river mussel stewed tofu.

The first step is to remove the mud from the clam meat. Use the handle of a knife to flatten the hard parts on the side and wash it. It is best to use salt water when washing to remove the fishy smell.Then cut the pork into small strips, put in the pan, heat the oil, add mussel meat, scallion knots, ginger slices, white wine and a little water, bring to a boil over high heat, skim off the foam, simmer for half an hour, and then put in the pork strips , boil over high heat until the mussels and pork are crispy, add salt, and put them into a soup bowl.This dish focuses on the delicious meat of the river mussels, so the heat should be well controlled.

The second dish is one of Su Huiniang's favorite flavors, spicy and spicy.The process of shelling the clam is the same as above, and after knocking it off, cut it into small square pieces, thicken it with starch, and then use soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, balsamic vinegar, and sauce.The last step is to mix dry red chili with sliced ​​ginger and garlic, and then stir-fry the clams. The stir-fry must be fast, so that the clam meat will be crisp and tender. After a long time, it will become too old to chew. up.The last dish, stewed tofu with mussels, is relatively simple. This dish is made of tofu, so you must ensure that the taste of the mussels is immersed in the tofu.

For eating river mussels, Lin Shi was very disapproving at first, but when the three dishes were served, the craving aroma wanted to hook the roundworms out of people's stomachs, so she couldn't say that I don't want to eat it anymore .Su Huiniang also poured herself a small glass of jujube wine, and ate a feast of fragrant mussels to her heart's content.Because there was still a lot left, Su Huiniang asked Wang Qilang to send some to the third aunt and sister-in-law Osmanthus fragrans after dinner.On the second day, she took some time to wait near the Wang's house, during which she happened to see Qi Meimei who went out to swill. She is a person who pays attention to credit, since she said to give Qi Fang some river mussels to taste, it must be wrong Imaginary.Qi Meimei also seemed to have matured a lot and thanked her sincerely, but when Su Huiniang wanted to leave, she suddenly said with some hesitation: "Aunt Su, my mother and I want to leave the Wang family, can you help us? "

Su Huiniang looked at the little girl in front of her, because she knew the other party's "origin" in her heart, so she didn't really think of her as a child. After thinking about it for a while, Su Huiniang replied: "I can't make any promises to you."

Qi Meimei was obviously disappointed when she heard this, and she murmured: "Aunt Su, you also come from the Wang family, you should know what kind of virtues that family has. We acted as maids, and Tian Shi found fault with mother everywhere, trying every means to abuse her, then Wang Erlang and Wang Liulang are not good people..."

"In that case, you just leave!" Su Huiniang said without waiting for Qi Meimei to finish her complaint.No matter how bad the situation of Qi's mother and daughter is, can they still compare to Su Huiniang before?They are relatives who have come to seek refuge, and Pi and the others don't have their contracts of prostitution. If they want to leave, they just have to raise their legs. They are still staying in the Wang family, but they are just afraid that their lives will be worse than they are now after they leave.After all, no matter how miserable Su Huiniang is, she still has a younger brother. The Su family has male supporters, and the Qi family, who are orphans and widows, even if they want to set up a household in the Wang family, it is impossible. There is no foundation for standing on land, which is the final reason why Qi Meimei has never dared to act rashly.

Su Huiniang looked at the choked purple-faced little girl, shook her head slightly, turned around and walked towards home.

The Su family's "clam dinner" was unanimously welcomed by the third aunt and Mrs. Osmanthus, and Mrs. Osmanthus even came to ask for advice in person, insisting that Su Huiniang teach her how to do it. Su Huiniang did not keep it private, and taught them one by one with a smile. .There is only one thing, Su Huiniang has always been careful when cooking, and there is no shortage of various seasonings from the Su family.But how can other people be so extravagant, so the things they make are always inferior to Su Huiniang's.

Lin was worried about her son, so she asked Su Huiniang if she could bring some to Su Wen. Su Huiniang thought that she should go to the town to hand in embroidery work, so she agreed. It was still these three dishes, and Su Huiniang put them in three belts. Wrap them in a towel, stack them together, and tie them up with cloth.She couldn't get in the academy, and when she was thinking about how to call Su Wen out at the door, a young man walked up to her and called out, "Miss Su, do you want to run around?"

Su Huiniang took a closer look and remembered that this person was Chen Yu's servant. When Wang Erlang was stung by a hornet that day, he was the one who carried it back.

"If that's the case, I'll trouble you, brother, to give these things to Su Wen." Su Huiniang smiled and handed over a package, which contained two new clothes for Su Wen, a pair of black cloth shoes with thousand-ply soles, and she also handed The food box in the bag was given to him: "Here are some food..."

"Miss Su, do you have something to tell the young master?"

Su Huiniang shook her head and said, "I'll go back now and tell Su Wen that everything is fine at home, and I just want him to study with peace of mind."

After the boy went in, Su Huiniang also turned around and walked away. She had to go to the embroidery shop.

It was already noon when Su Wen received the things. He and Chen Yu came out from the teacher's side together. While they were talking, the boy came over and said that Su Huiniang had come to deliver the things.

"Sister, please worry about me!" Su Wen took the things over and sighed softly.

Chen Yu knew that he was a "sister-connoisseur" and was usually the older sister and the younger sister.At this time, he joked aloud: "Okay, I know you have a good sister... Quick, open that box, I can smell the fragrance even standing here."

Su Wen smiled shyly, and the two walked towards their own residence, entered the house, and washed up first, Chen Yu's servant had already set up the dishes, tables and chairs.

"Suspicious? Is this a mussel?" Chen Yu raised his eyebrows in surprise as he looked at the contents in the lunch box.Su Wen was not too polite with him. First he used chopsticks to pick up a piece of white and tender mussel meat. After eating it, he only felt a fresh taste rushing into his mouth, but it was just delicious without the slightest fishy smell. I picked up several chopsticks.Seeing his satisfied expression, Chen Yu hurriedly picked up a piece, and after eating, he couldn't help sighing, "It's really delicious!"

(End of this chapter)