One day and one night later, the merchant ship anchored at the dock in a small town called Tamsui. Boss Xie led his husband and Li Hongxiu off the ship to buy saury.
Li Ye took out a bamboo hat and put it on his head, then followed casually.
People on the pier smelled of fish stars, and there were other passenger ships docking. Various pedestrians carried their luggage ashore, passing through the sharp shouts of the vendors on both sides of the pier, merged into the crowd and disappeared.
Following the husband, Li Ye held his hands behind his back, and Li Hongxiu held Mu Mu's little hand. The two of them stopped from time to time to inquire with Lumi's hawker.
Li Ye looked at the various fresh fish displayed at the stalls on both sides of the road, hoping that Xingsheng would quickly buy them back on the boat and grill them before having a peaceful sleep.
I have been practicing archery day and night these days, and I am really tired.
When he was in Tianshan a few years ago, he could carry Mu Mu all over the mountains and live a comfortable life. What's more, now that his husband and Li Hongxiu are by his side, he can deal with possible dangers at will.
He didn't even gather his consciousness, just like a monk walking in the world, experiencing this leisurely moment in the world.
The husband and Mr. Xie were walking on the pier. It didn’t take long before they reached the hawker with a fish stall on the roadside. They looked at the saury fish in the basket. Both the boss and Mr. Xie became interested.
Mu Mu and Li Hongxiu followed to watch the excitement, while Boss Xie negotiated the price with the hawker.
"How much does a pound of saury cost?" Boss Xie asked.
The hawker raised his head and glanced at the few people. He thought they were rich people and said without thinking, "Two silver coins per catty."
Boss Xie frowned and said, "Isn't it one silver coin per pound?"
The vendor chuckled, pointed to the fish in the basket and said, "It depends on the season. After April, you come back and buy me one silver coin and sell you three catties."
The gentleman picked up a fish, put it under his nose, smelled it, and said, "Three silver coins and two catties. I bought all the fish in your basket."
The hawker was overjoyed and thought that the swordfish only cost one silver coin per catty. These foreigners in brocade clothes were indeed rich.
Then he smiled and said: "Then let me weigh it for you according to the guest's wishes." After saying that, he took out the scale and weighed the fish in the basket one by one in front of the gentleman.
He grinned and said, "It's exactly twenty-one pounds, so I'll give you thirty silver coins."
The gentleman nodded and was about to take out the money. Mu Mu, who was standing by the side, quickly took out three gold coins and threw them to the hawker, muttering: "Give us the basket too."
After saying that, he took Li Hongxiu and picked up the weighed fish into the basket. He looked back at Li Ye and said, "Brother, you carry it back to the boat first, and I will go shopping with my wife."
Li Ye didn't say anything, walked forward, picked up the fish basket and walked back.
The husband and Boss Xie stood up and walked forward with Li Hongxiu.
At this time, in the tea shop opposite the hawker, three big men in black attire were sitting. They looked at Mu Mu waving his hands and paying the bill with gold coins. They lowered their heads and whispered.
The vendor who received the gold coins looked at the three big men across from him, felt nervous, and quickly closed the stall and ran to the town.
He thought to himself: "How can I pay with gold coins when buying fish? These customers are being targeted by thieves."
...
Li Ye returned to the riverside with a basket of fish. After waiting for a while, when his husband did not come back, he squatted down and took out a knife to carefully peel open the fish in the basket. The contents were thrown into the Fuchun River to feed the fish. , carrying the cleaned swordfish onto the merchant ship.
Back on the boat, I found some salt and carefully marinated the washed fish, waiting for my husband to come back and fry it for dinner.
In less than half an hour, the gentleman and his party returned to Banshang.
Mu Mu pouted and muttered: "What kind of small town is this? There is nothing delicious except stinky fish all over the streets."
Li Hongxiu smiled and said: "This is originally a small fishing village, not a big town, so there is no good food. When we get to Baiyu City, Master Ni will take you to buy some good food."
Boss Xie took out things like knives and chopping boards from the cabin, and also took out stove pots and placed them on the bow.
The husband helped light the fire, and when the pot was hot, Boss Xie poured a little oil into the pot, holding the fat and tender saury marinated by Li Ye in his palm. When the oil in the pot reached 70% heat, he put the whole saury in. Put it in gently.
...
The gentleman looked at the oily smoke coming out of the pot, frying the saury until golden brown, and praised: "The saury is such a good thing, it naturally has to be fresher to be more delicious. If we hadn't caught up with this season, how could we have enjoyed it like this?" The tender meat? How can it make people feel like eating three silver coins?"
Mu Mu felt that Boss Xie was cooking too slowly and couldn't bear it, so she got into the kitchen of the cabin and asked the waiter to find a stove and grill. She took Li Ye's hand and said, "Ask Master Master, let's have barbecue. I haven't had it for a long time." I’ve eaten my brother’s roast meat.”
Li Ye reached out and touched her head and said, "It's just as you wish."
Li Hongxiu took a jar of wine and found three more wine glasses. She looked back at her husband and said, "Fry one for me in a while. The kids and I will grill it and eat it. You and the two bosses can enjoy it slowly."
Boss Xie also opened a jar of wine, poured a glass for his husband, and said with a smile: "This Fuchun River saury is an excellent choice for frying, grilling, or steaming."
Li Ye sat on the bow of the boat, carefully flipping the grilled fish on the stove. When it was golden, he took it off and gave it to Li Hongxiu and Mu Mu each in a row. Then he put two fish on top and grilled them.
After coming down from the Tianshan Mountains, he had never grilled any food. Now that he thought about how he had lived by the glacier in the Tianshan Mountains for a year, he didn't know how to go to the river with Xiaobai to catch a fish and grill it.
The wind on the river is not strong, but contains a hint of moisture, and the fragrance of flowers on both sides of the river is mixed together, blowing slowly on the bow of the boat, making people feel very comfortable.
Looking at the white foam on the back of the boat, I wondered why the swallows returning from the north had disappeared in the past few days and flew around the bow of the boat.
...
At this moment, Mr. Xie had already put a fish fried by Boss Xie in the bowl. He moved it gently with chopsticks and put one in his mouth to taste. Shao Qing had another drink with Boss Xie and said with a smile: "Yes." This kind of wine and delicious food is worthy of life.”
Boss Xie smiled, drank a drink with his husband, and then concentrated on frying the fish in the pot. The swordfish is extremely plump and tender, and if the fire is too high or you are not careful when flipping it, it will turn into a charred mess.
He fried it very slowly and carefully, only dripping a little oil into the pot at a time, and constantly controlling the temperature in the pot. As soon as the fire became fierce, he would immediately remove the charcoal from the stove.
"If the fire is too hot, you won't be able to eat the fresh saury, and if the fire is too low, the taste will be lost. The saury is produced in spring, and the meat is very elastic, so the heat is very important. Thanks to you, you have finally mastered eating it after running on the Fuchun River these years. The truth about fish.”
The gentleman nodded in admiration, took out the soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and ginger juice from the pan and poured them into the bowl. His right hand reached into the pot very naturally, and with his chopsticks he picked up a fish and fried it until golden.
He turned around and called out: "Hongxiu, come here and try thanking the boss for his superb craftsmanship."
Upon hearing this, Li Hongxiu put down her hand reaching for the grill, turned around and walked to the husband's side, took the chopsticks and picked up a piece of saury. While chewing, close your eyes and enjoy, the expression on your face is as tender as the saury meat in your mouth.
She took a sip of wine from her husband's wine glass. After a while, she opened her eyes, looked at Boss Xie's slowly frying saury, and said anxiously: "Boss Xie, fry it faster."
Boss Xie smiled, but the speed of his hands did not increase, and he still gently and slowly fiddled with the saury in the pot.
Li Hongxiu couldn't wait any longer, so she snatched the chopsticks from his hand and said, "Your boss is good at everything, but you are so slow in everything you do. I am really anxious to death."
Boss Xie explained in a low voice: "If you're anxious, you'll have tofu and fish in slow water. If you're anxious, you won't be able to eat delicious fish."
"You have to learn from Ye'er in this regard. When you should be slow, go slow. Why worry about the delicious food in your mouth?" the gentleman said with a smile.
The gentleman picked up a piece of saury with chopsticks, dipped it in some seasoning, put it in his mouth and savored it slowly.
Li Hongxiu picked up a piece of fried saury, put it into a bowl, poured some seasoning on it, stood up, brought it to Mu Mu, and said with a smile: "Mu Mu, come and try your master's craftsmanship, I promise it will be no worse than your brother's." ."
Mu Mu smiled with her eyes closed, stretched out her fingers to pinch a piece of fish from the bowl, put it into her mouth and chewed it carefully. After a moment, she smiled and said, "The fish fried by my wife is indeed two different flavors from the fish grilled by my brother."
Li Hongxiu rolled her eyes at her and said, "Does this taste the same as roasted food?"
Li Ye smiled on the side and continued to flip the grilled fish on the stove.
In a short time, the two fishes were grilled, skewered on bamboo skewers, and brought to Mumu and said: "Sister, take these to the husband, let them taste the grilled fish."
Mu Mu stood up, took the barbecue, giggled and jumped over to the husband.
...
A few people fried and roasted it for two hours, and in the blink of an eye the moon rose.
The guys on the boat cleaned the chopping boards, knives, chopsticks and dishes, and then put the unfinished saury into the stern of the boat, and the guys went to enjoy this rare delicacy by themselves. Li Ye stared at the front of the boat in a daze for a while, and said, "It's such a good time, sir, why don't we play a piece of music to listen to it."
The gentleman was sitting cross-legged in the cabin, holding a kettle to make tea, and casually replied: "Just play it and listen."
Boss Xie smiled, looked at his husband and said, "I didn't expect that the young master can also play the piano. He is really a rare talent."
Li Hongxiu had returned to the cabin, holding Mu Mu and sitting next to her husband, waiting for him to make tea. He looked at Li Ye and smiled. "Let's change to a song that I haven't played before. I'll buy you some delicious food when my wife comes ashore."
Li Ye took out his husband's iron piano, put it on his lap, tuned a tune, took a deep breath, concentrated his energy, put his hands on the strings, and made a "ding-dong" sound, and the sound of the piano floated in the quiet richness. On the Spring River.
The white jade capital in the sky has five cities on the twelfth floor.
Immortals caress my head, knotting my hair and receiving immortality.
Wandering away from worldly pleasures leads to confusion and confusion.
The ninety-six saint kings have empty names in the clouds.
...
The song is not satisfactory, the sun sets in Kunming in the white sky.
When I arrived in Youzhou in October, the weather was like a star.
The king abandoned the North Sea and swept the land to borrow the long whale.
Breathing through hundreds of rivers, swallows can be destroyed.
...
After singing, everyone was shocked.
There were night birds flying into the air on both sides of the bank, flying around the merchant ships.
A red boat floated next to the merchant ship where Li Ye was, with red sleeves waving at the bow.
The girl who knew music shouted: "Little sir, don't stop, keep playing and singing."
Several women even screamed, waved and shouted: "It's such a natural sound, let's play another one!"
Li Ye put away the iron piano and stood on the bow of the boat, smiling and saying nothing.
