1983 Small Island, Starting From a Large Farmer

 The next day, after dawn.

Li Duoyu squatted on the stone bar and brushed his teeth. Little Fatty got up reluctantly, with dark circles under his eyes.

 Looking not in good spirits, looking dull.

“The light in your room was on last night. Did you stay up late doing your winter vacation homework?”

Li Haoran said helplessly:

 “It’s done.”

“Your winter vacation homework has about thirty pages. You can finish it in one night. You are also interested. You didn’t doodle, right?”

Li Haoran was very good at calculations. He could finish one page in ten minutes and thirty pages in five hours. However, the math problems were so difficult that it was too late to calculate them one by one.

Sitting in the back, he wrote the answers to almost all the math questions in random. His aunt would definitely be angry when she corrected his homework.

“Uncle, can you give me my winter vacation homework when aunt brings it back tonight?”

Li Duoyu, whose mouth was full of toothpaste foam, rinsed his mouth and said, "I had a lot of fun during the winter vacation, but now I know I'm scared."

Little Fatty smiled bitterly and said: "Uncle, I know I was wrong. Now I can only rely on you. If Auntie finds out, I will be scolded to death."

Li Duoyu glanced at this little chubby guy and couldn't help but sigh. Not everyone is suitable for studying and becoming successful.

With his procrastinating character, if he wants to do something big in the future, he will probably do it only on the last step.

 As an elder, there is nothing that can be taught to him except to teach him some correct values ​​in life.

"Haoran, as men, since we have done something wrong, we must be brave enough to take responsibility. There is nothing to be afraid of being criticized. The only thing we are afraid of is knowing the mistake but not correcting it."

Li Haoran looked aggrieved as if he had been struck by lightning.

“Uncle, you didn’t teach me this way before. When you stole the chicken from Grandma Wang’s house and blew up the water tank from Old Lu’s house, you said you’d be fine without being discovered.”

Seeing Li Haoran speaking so loudly, Li Duoyu looked around suddenly. Fortunately, the neighbors were not there, otherwise it would be quite embarrassing if they heard him.

After all, he is still a village director and an advanced individual at the county level. He still wants to save face. How can he let these petty thieves ruin his image?

“Haoran, don’t talk about this kind of thing again in the future. Do you know that our two things are of different natures?”

"What's the difference?"

Li Duoyu was really confused by the question and had to say seriously: "I am an adult and you are a child. Can we be the same?"

“Uncle, please help me take out my homework book tonight.”

 Li Duoyu’s mouth twitched.

"It's useless to take it out for you. Your aunt will definitely pay special attention to your winter vacation homework by then. If she doesn't find it by then, she will think that you didn't turn it in, which would be even worse."

Li Haoran said: "Auntie doesn't correct the winter vacation homework that quickly. Normally it takes about a week. I just want to take it out and redo the scribbled part."

"real?"

Li Haoran swept away the previous gloom, opened his eyes wide, and nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

 “When the time comes, I’ll help you take a look.”

 “Thank you, uncle.”

What Li Haoran didn’t expect was that his uncle sold him in a blink of an eye. After Li Duoyu returned to the bedroom, he saw Zhou Xiaoying who was about to go to school and said directly:

“When you come back in the evening, give me Haoran’s winter vacation homework book.”

 Zhou Xiaoying frowned, her whole aura changed, and she instantly showed the majesty of a teacher.

 “Did he scribble the answer again?”

Li Duoyu nodded: "However, my attitude towards admitting my mistake this time is not bad. I still want to take it back and do it again."

“But Haoran is always like this, there’s no other way. There are so many days in winter vacation, why do you always have to do your homework on the last night?”

Li Duoyu smiled awkwardly: "It seems that I was just like him before."

“That’s why you got a certificate of completion from junior high school.”

Li Duoyu murmured softly: "Although I am a graduate, I am still doing well now."

Zhou Xiaoying said seriously: "Reading good books is equivalent to one more way out. For us, this is the easiest way out."

Li Duoyu also felt that what Zhou Xiaoying said was very reasonable, but for poor students like them, studying was really painful.

“I also think that Teacher Zhou is right.”

Seeing Li Duoyu's careless look, Zhou Xiaoying couldn't help but twist his arm: "You can't teach Tutu like this in the future, do you know?"

 “It hurts, I know.”

At this moment, Old Man Mi’s voice came from the other side of the courtyard.

 “Duoyu, are you at home?”

After hearing this, Li Duoyu hurriedly replied: "If you are here, I will come right away."

Li Duoyu rubbed his twisted arm and pursed his lips: "You must have used too much force, and it turned green immediately."

After Li Duoyu went out, he found Old Mi carrying a sack: "Old Mi, thank you for your hard work. Just ask me to get it. Why do you have to go there yourself?"

 “It’s just a small thing, just something that comes easily.”

Old man Mi continued: "These eels were caught temporarily, and we only got eight of them. Seven of them were small. Fortunately, there was a big one inside, which weighed about three kilograms, which is pretty good."

“It’s okay, I just want a small one. By the way, how much do these cost in total?”

“Exactly fifteen yuan.”

Zhou Xiaoying, who was just about to go out, couldn't help frowning when she heard the price: "How can you buy such an expensive thing?"

Old man Mi smiled and said: "Teacher Zhou, you don't understand this. This thing is a bit expensive, but it is good for men. Director Li is so busy every day, so he really should take a good supplement."

Zhou Xiaoying suddenly remembered what Li Duoyu said yesterday, saying that he needed to use something different to make up for it. Could it be this thing?

She was just talking casually, why was she so serious? She actually bought something to make up for it.

 She occasionally chats with her female colleagues about bedside topics. Compared with other men, Duoyu is already pretty good.

The one from Shanshan’s family, Xiao Weidong who was imprisoned, beat his wife very hard, but when it comes to that, it is said that each time from start to finish does not take more than two minutes.

They have been married for five years, and she has never experienced an orgasm.

 After giving Mr. Mi fifteen yuan.

Li Duoyu poured the wild eels in the sack into a wooden bucket, and then carried them to the well to clean them.

Eels are quite energetic and difficult to catch. It seems like what Mr. Mi said, they were just caught.

The wild eels don’t look much different from the ones he farmed, except for the different colors.

The ones he farmed looked distinctly black and white, while some of the wild eels were yellower and some were cyan.

 To truly distinguish whether an eel is wild or farmed, you don’t need to look at the body color, but rather look at some details.

Wild eels have smaller eyes, and because they have to actively hunt for food, their mouths look wider, their fins are slightly larger, and they have obvious bloodshot eyes, and their belly is gold-rimmed.

 Li Duoyu still remembers clearly that in his previous life, the price of wild eels in Rongcheng was often five to ten times that of farmed eels, and this huge profit made many farmers have their own thoughts.

 In order to pass off farmed eels as wild, some farmers have developed something called "ecological eels".

It means taking the cultured eel to a specific stream area and raising it for a period of time. After it changes color, it is starved for a period of time and then sold as wild eel.

 It is similar to taking hairy crabs to Yangcheng Lake to "cross the water".

 The only difference is that the eel's body color changes due to different environments, making it look more like a wild eel. However, for grilled eel, the difference between wild and farmed eel is not very big. The most important thing is the kabayaki sauce required for grilled eel.

That is the soul of Kabayaki eel.

During the years when he was working illegally, Li Duoyu had made kabayaki sauce countless times, and the recipe had long been deeply ingrained in his mind.

 The main ingredients of Kabayaki sauce are mirin, sake, sugar and soy sauce.

 Sugar and soy sauce, these two things must be available at home. The more troublesome are the two seasonings, mirin and sake.

 Mirin is a rice wine-like condiment from the island country. It is brewed with sweet glutinous rice and koji.

In the Japanese food system, Mirin has a similar status to domestic cooking wine. It is also used to remove fishy food and enhance freshness. It is also a very versatile seasoning wine.

 Fortunately, brewing mirin is not difficult and can be brewed in just a few days. If there is no mirin, you can also directly use local rice wine and brown sugar to replace it.

 Sake can also be replaced with local rice wine, and the green and red wine made by Dad happens to be a type of rice wine.

After sorting out his thoughts, Li Duoyu asked Chen Huiying, who was feeding little Tutu rice cereal in the room, "Mom, do you have any rice wine and brown sugar at home?"

Chen Huiying replied: "Brown sugar is available, but rice wine is not."

“Okay, I know. I’ll go shopping at the supply and marketing cooperative later. Is there anything I want to buy?”

 “There is nothing to buy.”

 After a while, Li Duoyu bought all the ingredients needed to make the sauce and started to cook the sauce directly.

The recipe for Kabayaki sauce is very simple, but making a delicious sauce will test the chef's skills.

Even though Li Duoyu is very familiar with Kabayaki sauce, he has made it five or six times with different raw materials.

Only then did he make a satisfactory sauce. Although it may not be exactly the same as when he was in the island country in his previous life, the overall flavor is at least eighty the same.

 After the Kabayaki sauce is ready.

Next step.

 It means killing eels and grilling eels.

In the island countries, before killing the eels, they would stun the eels with ice cubes first, so that they would be easier to kill.

 Where to find ice on Dandan Island.

 Li Duoyu directly grabbed an eel that was about seven taels, threw it directly on the chopping board, and then held the knife back to its head, "Bang Bang" twice.

As the eel's body kept twisting and rolling, within a minute, the eel gave up its struggle.

Li Duoyu took a clean iron nail and nailed the eel's head directly to the chopping board.

The kitchen knife was gently swiped at the gills of the eel, and the fish was killed in a series of smooth and smooth movements such as breaking the belly and removing the bones.

 In less than a minute, he handled an eel cleanly, and the fastest he had ever done was twenty seconds.

 After handling the eel.

 The next step is the most important part of charcoal grilling. When grilling eels, it is very important to control the heat.

 Among them, the eel skin is a very critical part. If it is grilled too much, it will lose its elasticity, and if it is not grilled enough, it will produce a fishy smell.

 Generally, it should be grilled until the skin is slightly charred and the fat oozes out. During the baking process, the sauce should be brushed four or five times.

 In fact, grilling eel is not particularly difficult. It is similar to domestic barbecue. You just need to master the heat.

 It took most of the day.

Li Duoyu finally grilled an eel, and after smelling it, it smelled particularly fragrant as it was grilled over charcoal fire.

Li Duoyu took a bite first and found that it was really delicious. The taste of wild eel seemed to be better, and the meat was firmer and more elastic.

 “Aniang, come out and help me eat something and see how it tastes.”

Chen Huiying came out with Xiao Tutu on her back. When she saw that the fourth child had made a mess in the kitchen, she said slightly angrily:

“I love cooking so much, so I might as well work as a cook in the city.”

“Let’s try it first. How does my grilled eel taste?”

 Chen Huiying glanced at the grilled eel and frowned slightly, but she still picked up the chopsticks and put a piece of eel meat into her mouth.

 The moment when you open your mouth.

 Chen Huiying was stagnant in place. She had never eaten such delicious food before, and she instantly became energetic.

“Duoyu, where did you learn this dish?”

Li Duoyu grinned and said, "I learned it from the islanders."

 He did learn it from the islanders. Li Duoyu really didn’t lie to her about this.

Chen Huiying was speechless. This brat had always wanted to go to the island country to be a chef before, but she didn’t expect to go out for an inspection last time and actually went to learn it.

 “Aniang, is this grilled eel delicious?”

Chen Huiying nodded: "It's delicious, very delicious."

 “It’s delicious, please eat more.”

 After eating a piece, Chen Huiying put down her chopsticks and said, "I'll eat together when everyone comes back in the evening."

“There are quite a lot of eels. You finish them first and then I’ll grill them.”

 No matter what Li Duoyu said.

Chen Huiying is still reluctant to eat.

Li Duoyu saw that she couldn't persuade her and stopped trying to persuade her. Their generation was used to hardship. Growing up, food and clothing had been a problem, let alone eating delicious food.

 Even if there is delicious food, I am often reluctant to eat it alone and have to wait for everyone to come back to eat together.

This reminded Li Duoyu of the time in junior high school when someone gave their family a watermelon.

Lao Li and his mother-in-law were reluctant to eat it and hid it in the cupboard, hoping to wait for him and Xiaoying to come back and eat it together.

 As a result, the watermelon was bitten by a mouse, and by the time it was discovered, half of it was already rotten.

The angry mother-in-law spent the whole year chasing and beating mice whenever she saw them, and she would not stop until she caught them.

Li Duoyu is holding Tutu.

This guy was quite restless and bit him directly on the shoulder and made a sucking motion.

 Looking like she wants to drink milk depending on the situation.

Li Duoyu took a chopstick, dipped it in the juice from the grilled fish, and placed it in front of little Tutu.

 After this guy smelled the smell, he started to smoke it directly.

 “Dad~Dad~”

 Li Duoyu took a small piece of relatively rotten eel meat without spines and put it in his mouth.

 Little Tutu’s eyes were wide open, with an expression of enjoyment on his face.

 “Dad~delicious~”

When Xiao Tutu said the word "delicious", Li Duoyu was stunned for a moment. Is this the process of growing up with a child?

Before, he would only call me daddy and mommy, but now he can actually say it’s delicious. As expected, the child has changed so much every time. (End of chapter)