Chapter 379: Rice Skin Dumplings
Chapter 379: Rice Skin Dumplings
The next morning, Jiang Xia woke up at seven.
Li Xiuxian was already preparing to go back to town for work.
Li Xiuxian said to Zhou Mu, "Mom, can you ask who's available to help with fishing at sea?"
The night before, Li Xiuxian noticed that Zhou Mu wasn't in a good mood, and the whole family was quiet, not daring to ask Zhou Junwen.
Of course, when she said that, it was a momentary lapse, and she couldn't help but argue with Jiang Xia.
Who told her that as soon as she got home, Jiang Xia would make her do this and that.
However, Jiang Xia was completely unaffected. She ate what she wanted and enjoyed her meal. Instead, Li Xiuxian was subjected to silent treatment from the whole family.
Seeing that Li Xiuxian no longer asked for Zhou Junwen, Zhou Mu's tone softened, "Alright, but fishing at sea is risky, tiring, and time-consuming. At least three yuan a day is needed to find someone willing to do it."
Li Xiuxian gritted her teeth and nodded, "Okay, three yuan it is!"
Her father and eldest brother earned five yuan each per day, and the fuel cost alone was at least twenty yuan. For more distant waters, even twenty yuan wasn't enough.
Calculating this, the daily cost was at least thirty-three yuan.
There weren't many expensive fish in the sea, and the abundant fish weren't costly. Therefore, they needed to catch at least over a hundred pounds of fish daily to break even, and only then could they start making a profit.
Zhou Mu couldn't help but say, "The day after tomorrow, Alei and the others will set out to sea at four-thirty. Ask your father to get up early and come over on time to follow them. The chances of encountering big fish are higher before dawn. If you set out at seven, it'll take over an hour to start trawling, and by then, it'll be past nine! Everyone else will have already finished one trawl. What will you earn?"
Li Xiuxian was well aware of this, "I'll let them know, and see if they can catch up. They're not used to waking up early at first, but it's only temporary. Once they get used to it, it'll be fine."
Zhou Mu didn't say anything further.
As Li Xiuxian was leaving the house, she happened to meet Tian Caihua riding her bicycle over, with two food baskets hanging on the handlebars.
Tian Caihua smiled and greeted Li Xiuxian, "Second Younger Sister, do you want to take a day off and come with us to check out the stalls and shops? You're more educated and will definitely have a better eye than me. You can give me some advice and help me pick a prosperous shop. You know, I can't even recognize a single character, not even my own name."
Even someone who couldn't recognize a single character was living better than her, and she still acted so high and mighty in front of her. Li Xiuxian's face darkened, "I don't have time, I have to work!"
Li Xiuxian left, and Tian Caihua had come early just to provoke her. Provoked enough, she happily entered the courtyard, "Xiao Xia! Look what delicious treats I've brought for you!"
Tian Caihua leaned her bicycle, and the two food baskets contained a large plate of rice skin dumplings and a large plate of rice noodles steamed in a round bamboo steamer.
"Mom, Xiao Xia, I made these rice skin dumplings this morning with wax gourd filling. Try them. These rice noodles were steamed while I was steaming the rice sheets. At noon, you can make a soup with them for the kids, and just reheat the dumplings. No need to cook!"
Zhou Mu exclaimed, "You made these this morning? That means you woke up early to prepare them?"
This was a traditional snack from Zhou Mu's maternal hometown, and Tian Caihua had learned to make them from Zhou Mu.
To make rice skin dumplings, one had to soak the rice the night before, grind the rice into a batter the next day, and then use the batter to steam the rice sheets. After steaming, the rice sheets were then used to make the filling by stir-frying meat and wax gourd bits. To enhance the flavor, one could add some crushed peanuts to the filling, which required peeling and roasting the peanuts, and then crushing them into bits.
Tian Caihua also added crushed peanuts, but she had prepared them the night before by roasting and peeling the peanuts, crushing them into bits, and setting them aside.
Tian Caixia smiled and said, "I usually get up at four to make breakfast for A Xin, so I'm used to it. I thought that Xia hasn't had rice skin dumplings before, and Mother, you don't have the time to make them. Since we don't need to go out to sea today, I decided to make some for Xia to try. When I was pregnant with Wenzu, I really liked eating them, and Mother often made them for me."
"Xia, try them out. If you like them, let me know, and I'll make them for you."
Going out to sea with Jiang Xia and finding those two large gold bars, she had to show her gratitude somehow!
Otherwise, what if Jiang Xia didn't take her next time?
And today, they needed to buy a stall, and Jiang Xia could help them haggle.
The stalls were already selling and the prices had gone up.
Jiang Xia glanced at the rice skin dumplings. They were wrapped in a thin layer of rice skin with filling inside. She hadn't eaten them before, but she could tell how much effort it took to make them. She smiled and said, "Thank you, Elder Sister."
Seeing the rice skin dumplings, Zhou Mu remembered that she needed to take advantage of the good weather these days to steam some rice sheets and dry some rice noodles for the winter.
Every year, Zhou Mu would make some rice noodles and sweet potato noodles for Zhou Fu and the sons to take out to sea and make soup noodles.
All the Zhou family men loved the rice noodles and sweet potato noodles that Zhou Mu made.
Zhou Mu decided to start soaking the rice soon and grind the paste in the afternoon, so she could start steaming them in the evening.
Tian Caixia went into the house and put down the rice skin dumplings and homemade rice noodles.
At this moment, Zhou Chengxin also walked into the yard. There was only one bicycle at home, and he had come to the old homestead to ride Zhou Fu's bicycle.
Zhou Chengxin asked Zhou Chenglei, "Which fish dry do you need to take to the city? I can help take two bags. Just the smallest ones will do."
Zhou Chenglei was binding a basket to the motorcycle, preparing to deliver fish dry to the city's train station soon.
"The bags on the ground, each of you can take one bag on your bicycle."
Tian Caixia came out and looked, seeing there were six bags in total. She said, "I'll help you take two bags!"
Jiang Xia said, "Elder Sister, just one bag is enough. Each bag weighs fifty pounds, which is quite heavy."
Tian Caixia replied, "It's fine, I don't need to exert myself; I just need to tie them to the bicycle."
Tian Caixia used to transport a hundred pounds of fish to the city by bicycle, and she could handle it.
"Really, it's unnecessary. Our motorcycle can tie three or four bags. It's much less strenuous to ride a motorcycle."
"Okay then." Tian Caixia went over to hold the bicycle, and Zhou Chengxin carried a bag of fish dry onto the basket at the back of the bicycle.
Zhou Fu's bicycle already had a basket tied to the back, just right for placing one bag on each side.
Tian Caixia's bicycle had a wooden board tied to it, and Zhou Chengxin placed a bag of fish dry on it and tied it securely.
The couple set off first.
After Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei finished breakfast, they also set out.
The four of them had agreed to meet at the agricultural machinery factory.
A few days ago, they received a call from the agricultural machinery factory saying that the tractor was in stock and they could go pick it up.
Zhou Chenglei had scheduled to go pick up the tractor today because they needed to deliver the fish dry.
Zhou Chengxin drove the tractor, and the two bicycles and all the fish dry were loaded onto the tractor. They then set off to find Li Zhihua.
Zhou Chenglei had already called Li Zhihua in advance when he passed by the production team, agreeing to meet at the entrance of the seafood market at eleven.
This time, Zhou Chenglei also planned to buy an additional stall as a birthday gift for Jiang Dong, because Jiang Dong had called yesterday evening to say he had bought a siheyuan in Jing Shi for the couple.
Zhou Chenglei didn't want to take advantage of his younger brother-in-law, so he decided to make up for it in other ways.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
