books44 Chapter 210: Fish in Many Ways
Chapter 210: Fish in Many Ways
"Lobster?" Old Wang looked in the direction of his finger in confusion, then smiled, "Miss, you are talking about red shrimp, right?"
Dan lobster, this lobster has a red body, so it is also good to call it Dan lobster.
"They are red shrimps. You fished them out with great difficulty. Why are you putting them back into the sea?"
Hearing Meng Xiyue's question, the village chief, Old Wang and others all looked at her as if she were a fool.
"If we don't put it back into the sea, what's the point of using it?"
"Eat it." Meng Xiyue almost screamed. How could she not eat such delicious food?
"Girl, you are joking. The shell of this shrimp is so hard and there is not much meat. How can we eat it?"
Old Wang shook his head and asked, "Are you guys lying to us? If you run a restaurant, how could you not know that this thing can't be eaten?"
Meng Xiyue was going crazy. She was lying about opening a restaurant, but the lobster was real and edible.
Seeing that they were about to throw all the lobsters into the sea again, Meng Xiyue spoke again.
"I'll pay one ounce of silver and buy all these red shrimps."
This sentence made all the fishermen stunned, and the village chief asked in disbelief.
"How much did the girl say?"
"One or two taels of silver?" Meng Xiyue felt a little guilty. She didn't know the fishermen's prices. Could it be that the price was too little?
Just as she was considering whether to add more, Old Wang quickly spoke.
"Miss, if you pay me one tael of silver, I will sell you everything I caught today, not just the red shrimp."
Meng Xiyue thought that since these fish were close to the sea, they would not be able to be sold at a high price, but she did not expect it to be so low. Over a hundred kilograms of fish, plus some sea cucumbers, were only worth one or two taels of silver.
She looked up at Nan Rongzhi, who nodded and gave a wry smile.
There is no other way, their fish can only be bought and sold locally, and since there are only fishermen nearby, their fish are naturally not worth much.
Those vendors buy fish here at low prices and sell them to other places at high prices.
However, the journey is long and many fish die on the way, so they are worthless. The vendors can only make a small profit.
Otherwise, why would Nanrong Kingdom be so poor?
Seeing Meng Xiyue remained silent, Old Wang said, "Miss, these fish are not worth so much silver, but this sea cucumber is valuable. If you take it back to the capital to sell, you can sell it for a good price."
"If you think it's a bit high, we can discuss it."
Meng Xiyue didn't say anything, just looked at Old Wang's weathered face eroded by the sea breeze.
After a while, he said, "I will pay five taels of silver to buy everything you salvaged today."
"Uh..." Old Wang was stunned for a moment, then shook his head, "No, these things are not worth that much money. We are all honest fishermen and we don't do anything that cheats or deceives people."
His words immediately aroused the echo of the surrounding villagers, "Yes, we don't lie."
Looking at their innocent faces, Meng Xiyue and Nan Rongzhi felt a pain in their hearts.
They are obviously the group of people who live the hardest and most difficult lives.
But they are kind-hearted, honest and dutiful, while those who are only interested in profit live a wealthy life.
Perhaps this is inherently unfair.
"I'll give you five taels of silver. I just heard the old man say that after the fish are sold, he will treat everyone to a drink. You have to keep your word."
"Of course. I, Wang, have been in the village for decades and I always keep my word."
Old Wang immediately patted his chest and said.
Meng Xiyue took out five taels of silver and handed it to Old Wang. "My brother and I happened to be passing by here today, and we would like to ask for some wine. Part of this silver will be used to buy fish, and the other part will be used to buy more wine in town."
"It won't take that much, then?"
Old Wang had never held such a large ingot of silver before, and his hands were shaking for a moment.
"Not only wine, but I'd also like you to buy some snacks to go with it."
After Meng Xiyue finished speaking, she no longer gave him a chance to refuse and spoke to the village chief.
"Village chief, I am also a cook. Seeing so many delicious ingredients today, I feel itchy. Could you please find me a bigger pot and assign me a few people who can cook so that they can cook all these things with me?"
"Done?" The village chief looked at her in surprise again, "Why don't you take it back to the capital and sell it? If you make it now and take it back to the capital, I'm afraid they will search it."
"I won't take it back to the capital, I'll cook it here. The old man will invite everyone to have a drink, and I'll cook a few dishes for you. I know you're all used to eating fish and you're not interested in it, but you can try my cooking today, okay?"
"This..." The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment. She had just given Lao Wang five taels of silver to buy wine, and now she wanted to treat them to a meal. How could she do that?
The village chief thought for a moment and said.
"Sir, Miss, how about this, you take this fish back and buy whatever you want to eat, we'll treat you, okay?"
"Yes, I'll treat you whatever you want to eat." Old Wang also said quickly. The five taels of silver were enough to treat the whole village to delicious fish and meat and drink good wine.
"Village chief, no need to say more, just do as I say, I want to cook today."
Seeing that they were unwilling no matter what she said, Meng Xiyue pretended to put on a stern face.
"Village chief, please pick a few people who can cook to help me."
"Yes Yes."
Seeing that she was angry, the village chief and others didn't dare to say anything and quickly agreed.
She selected a few women who could cook to help her.
"You guys prepare the fish first and give it to me."
These women worked very quickly. They processed dozens of fish in half an hour, and did it very cleanly.
"Girl, are you going to stew the fish?"
A woman asked.
In this era, eating fish is basically just steaming it or stewing it directly in water. There is no other way to cook it.
"No, I'll make you some fish balls first."
Since Meng Xiyue was going to take action today, she could not do it the same way as before, so she called all the women over.
Let them watch me cook. "This fish is a very good ingredient. We also need to know how to cook it. In addition to steaming and stewing, there are many different ways to cook it. Today I will teach you a few. You must learn them."
Originally, there were a few women who didn't take it seriously, thinking that Jiang Qingluo was just a teenage girl, what could she do?
But when they saw her skillfully slice the fish and separate the meat from the bones, they were all shocked.
Then Meng Xiyue chopped the fish slices into meat paste, added flour and stirred it for a while.
When the water boils, squeeze the fish into balls with your hands, put them into the pot, and take them out after a while.
One by one, the white, plump, soft and elastic fish balls are ready.
“Is this made of fish?”
The women all gathered around the fish ball and started to watch. They had been dealing with fish for half their lives, but they had no idea that fish could behave like this.
"These fish balls can be cooked into soup or fried."
Meng Xiyue spoke as she demonstrated to everyone.