Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Noodlefish, Guonao Fish, and Visiting Guests

This place is not Great Qi, men and women tend to marry later here. In the countryside, many marry at eighteen or nineteen, but those in the military or workers marry later, typically around twenty-three or twenty-four. It’s not uncommon for some to marry even later, at twenty-five or twenty-six.

Take her master for example, he was thirty-two when his child was just two years old. Likely due to an unlikable personality, he delayed until twenty-nine before finally marrying, managing to settle the major life event before turning thirty.

How old is Liu Xianghu? He is twenty-one by nominal age, not quite twenty by actual age — actually, nineteen years and eight months, then got married and even has a pregnant wife?

Ling Chengyan had a swirl of thoughts, but kept a poker face, picking items and ordering some cuttlefish and scallops in passing.

She hadn’t tried cuttlefish before, but scallops used to be a staple in the big kitchen, brilliant in both culinary dishes and soup-making!

Little Jiang picked out two half-dried giant prawns, handed one to Ling Chengyan, and walked while eating, “Up ahead, there’s noodle fish. They’re best to eat at this season, plump, boneless, with bags of roe inside…”

Little Jiang kept introducing while leading Ling Chengyan ahead, passing two yards drying shrimp skins and arriving at another silver-white yard.

It wasn’t until closer that it became clear, the ground wasn’t covered with small white shrimp skins but slender, white, glossy little fish.

Little Jiang grabbed a handful directly from the ground, stuffed them into Ling Chengyan’s hand, and grabbed another for himself, eating them one by one, “This year’s noodle fish are fat, look how they’re as thick as a finger and over half a bundle long… So delicious, I love this freshly drained kind, they don’t taste as good once dried… Munch… Munch…”

Ling Chengyan also took one and popped it into her mouth. They said it was fish but had no scales, and didn’t taste of fish bones — truly like noodles, soft and tender, carrying the unique flavor of ocean fish, with a full pack of fish roe inside, chewy with a distinctive fatty sweetness — truly delicious.

She unknowingly ate three, realizing it was a bit salty, and then stopped.

Little Jiang patted his hand, still a bit unsatisfied, “Ah, really can’t get enough. Just a tad too salty.”

One drying field connected after another, forming rows and patches, stretching to the horizon.

The two walked a small piece under the glaring sun, gathered all Liu Xianghu’s needed items, and also picked up some things Ling Chengyan wanted before heading back.

By now, the two willow basket each grabbed at the yard’s edge were already full.

Returning to the base, Little Jiang took Ling Chengyan to buy a big jar, thirty pounds of crab paste, found the old craftsman known for marinated spicy crab, and bought over twenty one-pound marinated crabs, before loading up on the car and heading back.

Driving through a large expanse of drying fields, Little Jiang pointed out unattended fields on the edges, “These all come with the bottom of the net, miscellaneous fish and shrimp. They call it ’fruit chaos fish’ here.”

Ling Chengyan had heard of ’fruit chaos’ from Nanli Team, referring to a mix of grain chaff and husks cleared during harvest. So when Little Jiang mentioned it, she understood it meant scraps.

Little Jiang grinned and pointed to the cart bed, “Just loaded two baskets, later sister Ling will take a basket home to eat; though they’re not great stuff, they’re fine for home use, don’t dismiss them — lots of good stuff in there… Hehehe…”

Ling Chengyan accepted this favor, thanking with a smile, then returned to the border station to pick up Zhou Guoqing before heading back together.

Zhou Guoqing is just a platoon leader, not at the level to bring family along, still living in the barracks. He wasn’t much interested in most of the items Ling Chengyan brought back, but was forcefully given a package by her, “Send it back to the wife. Adults can make dishes and soups, shrimp skins and noodle fish can be boiled with eggs for the child — so fresh and nourishing.”

Having heard it’s for his wife and kid, Zhou Guoqing surprisingly didn’t refuse further nor thanked, simply taking it without a word.

Ling Chengyan was accustomed to Zhou’s stubborn personality, didn’t mind, tidied up the things brought back, and set about packing a bowl, sending Little Rain and Little Xin to give Liu Caixia and Xie Yuhui some noodle fish and crab paste for their kindness of sending cradles and tofu the other day.

Xing Fei and Zheng Lin were released from school, and together with Little Lin’s sister Xiaoshuang came looking for Little Xin to play, Ling Chengyan held the two boys, gave each one a portion to take home first.

Little Rain and Little Xin returned from delivering stuff, got some cookies, snacks, and candies. When Xing Fei returned with the bowl, he brought his dad, Commander Xing along.

Commander Xing held two bowls filled with a few tangerines, entered with a cheerful smile, “Comrade Ling Chengyan, thank you for the good stuff, got some treats for drinking tonight.”

Ling Chengyan smiled and accepted the bowl, thanked him for the tangerines, sensing Commander Xing definitely had something to say, looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

Being stared at like this, Commander Xing’s signature smile faltered slightly, “Well, I came over to ask, did Ling Chengyan buy much crab paste?”

Ling Chengyan smiled, “Did buy quite a bit, just afraid you might not get accustomed to it, didn’t dare give too much. How much do you want?”

Ling Chengyan turned over to fetch a small pickling jar from the room, likely holding three or four pounds.

Commander Xing nodded eagerly, “That’s enough, more than enough.”

Ling Chengyan went inside, filled a small jar fully with crab paste, found a basin and filled it with six or seven spicy crabs, handed them to him together, “Since you love crab paste, you might love this too.”

“Oh my, these are really rare treats.” Commander Xing’s eyes shined, thanked Ling Chengyan with delight as he carried them off.

That night, besides the families Ling Chengyan sent stuff to, another also enjoyed the feast.

A dish of crab paste, another one with half a marinated spicy crab.

Han Guangchuan sat at the dining table after washing his hands and face, noticing the two small dishes on the table, “Wow, tonight’s a feast?”

Turning to Zhao Yingxiu with a sweet smile plea, “Look, with such nice side dishes, how can we miss having something to drink? How about granting an application for this, Leader?”

Zhao Yingxiu shot him a glance, took out the small jug of wine prepared earlier, placing it before Han Guangchuan, “I’ve told you, this is planned for the month, once finished today, that’s it.”

At this point, Han Guangchuan naturally concurred to everything, already pouring himself a glass of wine, picked a bit of crab roe with his chopsticks into his mouth, savoring the taste carefully, sipped a small mouthful of wine, patting the table with a tune from the mountain, immensely pleased!

Suddenly, he remembered and asked, “Where did you get these treats from?”

Zhao Yingxiu tilted a glance, recalled something, couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Han Guangchuan patiently waited for Zhao Yingxiu to laugh it out before prompting, “Well, tell me?”

Zhao Yingxiu then recounted the tale of Commander Xing asking for crab paste, laughed saying, “Remember, after having Comrade Ling’s stuff, you owe a favor, keep track of that!”

Han Guangchuan slurped a sip of wine, gave Zhao Yingxiu a sidelong glance, smiled, “I brought her in, distinguished enough to owe for a couple of crabs’ favor. C’mon, you have a taste too, this year’s crabs are exceptionally fresh!”

He said, scooping all the crab roe onto a spoon, handing it to Zhao Yingxiu.

Zhao Yingxiu blushed slightly, tried a taste with chopsticks, then pushed it back to him, “Hmm, yes, pretty fresh. You should eat though, I still feel a bit fishy.”

Zhao Yingxiu is from Jin Province, not accustomed to raw seafood.

Han Guangchuan sighed, “You just don’t recognize a good thing to eat,” then from the dish picked a slice of meat, placed it in Zhao Yingxiu’s bowl.

Zhao Yingxiu gave him a reproachful glance, lowered her head to eat, while in her heart, she started planning to visit Ling Chengyan’s home someday with Liu Caixia. A woman managing three kids alone, no matter how capable, undoubtedly must be struggling.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep