flstandardbreds Chapter 111 Boiled Fish
Chapter 111 Boiled Fish
It's hard to tell if this thing is a lichen or a vine. It not only climbed and spread across a large area of the ground nearby, but also wound around the giant plant several times. Lezhi noticed it because its golden color was completely different from the lush green lichen next to it, as if it had draped the ground in a golden coat.
Its innate senses told Lezhi that this thing was edible, and Lezhi immediately became interested. It forcefully peeled the plant with its fine tentacles off the tree trunk, and a large patch of it on the ground was also peeled off by Lezhi. The side of the plant closer to the ground was more tender, and Lezhi could even smell its refreshing fragrance.
"Lezhi, what's that in your hand?" Le Ting, who had already finished harvesting one batch, saw Lezhi struggling to clear away the dense vines all by herself and quickly came over to help.
"I don't know, phew." With Yue Ting's help, Yue Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. This plant was peeled quite tightly, and it was really tiring to pull it for a long time. "It should be edible, so I thought I'd pick some to try. I didn't expect that peeling off a little bit would bring out such a large patch."
"Okay." Hearing that Lezhi wanted to eat, Leting stopped asking questions and pulled all the pieces off with Lezhi.
"Hey, Lezhi, you've found the Golden Silk Vine!" Qingze rushed over upon hearing the news and beamed with joy when he saw the plant in Lezhi's arms.
"Golden Vine?" Lezhi looked at Qingze curiously.
“Yes.” Qingze said, reaching out to pinch off a delicate tentacle from the edge and putting it in his mouth. “This thing has a slightly sweet taste, and it’s quite common this season. It’s just not as sweet as fruit, so many people are too lazy to bother with it. But I quite like it. You guys can try it.”
With Qingze's enthusiastic recommendation, Lezhi and Leting exchanged a glance and followed Qingze's example, pinching off a bit of the tentacle and putting it in their mouths. After chewing, the slightly sweet and fragrant taste melted in their mouths; it was indeed very sweet and tender. It was even sweeter than cucumber, but not to the point of being as sweet as fruit.
"Delicious." Le Ting smiled approvingly, receiving a friendly response from Qing Ze.
After trying the tender shoots, Lezhi tried some of the older shoots and found that the sweetness was less pronounced, but the mature shoots were much more chewy, giving Lezhi the feeling of eating noodles.
With a sudden thought, Lezhi decided to give it a try. Thinking of the steamed bun fruit she had tried before, Lezhi felt that anything was possible.
"Lezhi, what do you think?" Seeing Lezhi's thoughtful expression, Qingze assumed that Lezhi didn't like it.
"Ah, that's great, I really like it." Realizing what she meant, Lezhi quickly replied, "By the way, did everyone just pick the tender shoots to eat before? What about these older branches? Has anyone tried eating them in other ways?"
"Oh, I don't think so, and it's not very tasty." Qingze's answer was exactly what Lezhi expected.
Nodding, Lezhi laboriously pressed all the golden vines into the basket, then took out an empty basket and carried it on her back.
"Okay, let's continue."
It was almost noon, and after working for several hours, everyone was starving. Leyou stopped what he was doing and stood with Qingping, waiting to meet up with Lezhi and the others.
After they gathered together, Qingze decided to first take Lezhi and the other two back to the lake to start a fire, and then see if they should send some people out to hunt depending on the situation. The others had no objections, so everyone returned to the lake along the way they came.
Without letting Lezhi and the others do anything, Qingping and Leixiu quickly lit two fire pits. Seeing this, Qingze suggested, "How about this, Qingping, you and Leixiu stay here and watch over them, I'll go hunting. Let's split up, okay?"
"How about I go, and you stay here?" Qingping tentatively suggested, but Qingze waved his hand in refusal.
"No, I'll be back soon."
"Alright." Qingping had just agreed when Qingze had already taken off and disappeared into the air.
Shaking her head helplessly, Qingping turned to Lei Xiu and said, "Then I'll go gather some more firewood over there. You stay here and watch over them, okay?"
"Hmm." Lei Xiu gave a brief reply, gave Qingping a look, and then turned his attention back to Lezhi by the lake.
After washing the ingredients for lunch by the lake, Lezhi looked at the crystal-clear lake surface and a thought struck her: "Leyou, do you think there might be fish in such a big lake?"
Although the waters near the Spirit Feather Clan were plentiful, Lezhi rarely went into the water because he wasn't a good swimmer. Furthermore, his clan never lacked insect meat, and he hadn't noticed any custom of eating fish. It was only upon arriving here and seeing such a large lake that Lezhi remembered this.
"I think so." Obviously, in Jormungand, aquatic animals are also called fish, so Leyou naturally picked up the conversation, "But those things are hard to catch and don't taste good, so I haven't paid attention to them."
That's true," Lezhi said helplessly, puffing out his cheeks. Fish are easy to catch, but you need the right tools. Lezhi knew he didn't have the ability to catch them by himself. Most importantly, he couldn't swim and was too afraid to go into the water, so he could only look at the lake and sigh.
"Zhizhi wants to catch fish?" Lei Xiu, who had appeared by the lake at some point, squatted down next to Lezhi and asked, peering at Lezhi's profile.
"Oh, ah..." Startled by Lei Xiu's sudden appearance, Le Zhi let out a soft cry, then realized she had overreacted and patted her chest to calm her racing heart. "Ah, I was just a little curious."
"Hehe..." A deep laugh came from Lei Xiu's chest, which drew an innocent sidelong glance from Le Zhi.
Before she could question Lei Xiu about the origin of his inexplicable smile, Le Zhi saw Lei Xiu clap his hands, stand up, and walk to a shallow beach to observe the lake surface intently.
Leyou and Leting, who had been watching the whole thing, curiously approached Lezhi and watched Leixiu's strange actions together, trying to guess his purpose.
"What is Lei Xiu doing?"
"I do not know……"
Murmuring her reply, Lezhi felt that Lei Xiu's actions were not without reason, but she really couldn't figure out Lei Xiu's true thoughts.
Just as the three of them were looking at each other in confusion, Lei Xiu made a move. He seemed to have finally locked onto his target, and his arm quickly reached into the water. No one knew what he did, but there seemed to be a slight glimmer of light under the surface of the water. Soon after, a fish floated to the surface, its white belly exposed.
This move left the three onlookers dumbfounded, unable to react for a long time. It wasn't until Lei Xiu brought the fish wrapped in leaves to their side that Le Zhi looked at the calm Lei Xiu with surprise.
"For...for me?" Lezhi hesitated a bit before uttering the first sentence, and quickly adjusted herself.
"Hmm, you don't want that."
Seeing that Lei Xiu wouldn't give up until she accepted it, Le Zhi had no choice but to shamelessly accept Lei Xiu's gift, saying, "Thank you."
"Wow, these are fish! This is the first time I've ever seen fish that aren't in the water." The Lingyu people are not good swimmers, and the waters near their territory are very shallow, so it's no exaggeration for Le Ting to say that this is the first time he's seen fish on land.
"Me too, but is it dead? Lezhi, what are you going to do? Eat it?" Leyou looked troubled. In his education, eating fish was a bit beyond his comprehension.
"Give it a try, Lei Xiu has already caught it." Looking at the fish that was almost as long as his arm, Le Zhi thought of the plenty of scallions, ginger and garlic he had prepared in his space, and felt glad that he had found the ginger early, otherwise he really wouldn't know what to do with this fish today.
In contrast to Leyou's obvious resistance, Leting was quite enthusiastic, "I'll help, how do we do it, Lezhi?"
"Hmm, we need to deal with this first."
Upon hearing Lezhi's words, Lei Xiu immediately took on this bloody task. Having become accustomed to butchering prey, Lei Xiu, knowing Lezhi's needs, quickly gutted the large fish, which weighed over ten kilograms, removed the inedible parts, scraped off the scales as Lezhi requested, and cleaned the inside of the fish before placing it in front of Lezhi.
Under the intense gazes of Le Ting and Le You, Le Zhi thought for a moment and decided to give Le You a little shock.
"Lei Xiu, can you help me separate the fish meat from the fish bones?"
Feeling inadequate with knife skills, Lezhi immediately sought help from Leixiu, who hadn't yet put away his knife. Watching Leixiu deftly disassemble the fish head and tail, and then remove the bones, Lezhi went a step further and asked Leixiu to slice the fish meat into pieces. With the preliminary preparations nearly complete, Lezhi finally took out her tools and began cooking.
The fish meat was marinated with scallion and ginger water and starch. A pot was set up, and the fish head and bones were first fried until the edges were charred and set aside. Then, Lezhi stir-fried scallions, ginger and garlic until fragrant, added some hot pot base from the store and water and brought it to a boil. The fried fish head and bones were then added to the pot and cooked. Lezhi also selected and chopped the side dishes that she had just washed and prepared them.
Once the spicy broth in the pot had developed a fragrant aroma, Lezhi took out another clean pot and placed it aside. First, she took out the fish bones and laid them out in a layer. Then, she put the side dishes in to cook and took them out. Finally, she added the fish slices. Once the fish slices changed color, she immediately removed them from the heat and poured them, along with the broth, into the pot filled with side dishes.
Sprinkle the chopped garlic on the surface, heat the oil in a pan again, and once the oil is hot, remove it from the heat and throw the chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns into the oil. Use the residual heat to bring out their aroma, and then pour the hot oil over the garlic in the pan.
With a sizzling sound, a tremendous aroma was released, leaving Leyou and the others waiting nearby completely mesmerized by the fragrance.
"The boiled fish is ready, let's eat!"