Chapter 139: Chapter 79: Extreme Joy Leads to Sickness (Part 2)

Zheng Changhe had finished cleaning the soft-shelled turtles. Juhua only kept one soft-shelled turtle and one regular turtle to raise, instructing Liu Xiaomei to cook the other two. Once cooked, she didn’t keep them, having Liu Xiaomei and the others take them away directly.

Juhua spent the entire day holed up with her foot warmer, not even stepping out the main gate. Yang Shi brought her meals out to the main hall for her.

But by evening, although her cold hadn’t worsened, it also showed no signs of improving. In her anxiety, she threw vanity to the wind and decided to try a folk remedy.

So she had Zheng Changhe prepare over a catty of loaches, killing and cleaning them. She started by frying some ginger slices and garlic cloves in a wok, then stir-fried them with a splash of soy sauce and a little vinegar. After that, she added water, salt, a heaping spoonful of chili paste, several stalks of green garlic, and a large scoop of rendered pork lard to create the soup base.

Once the soup came to a boil, she poured in the loaches. After bringing it to a boil twice, she added some chopped scallions and cilantro, then ladled it out.

During dinner, she ate a large, steaming bowl of rice soaked in the hot and spicy soup. She also ate plenty of the loaches and green garlic, breaking into a sweat all over. Just as she’d hoped, she felt much lighter afterward.

Her parents and older brother were also drawn in by the loaches. Following the method Juhua taught them, they would hold a loach by the head, put its body in their mouth, and give a gentle suck. The meat would slide right off, leaving only a clean bone behind.

Yang Shi laughed. “This way of cooking them is so good! Oh my! We’ve cooked loaches before, but it was always such a pain to eat them. Isn’t this method so much easier?”

Zheng Changhe and Qingmu also smiled and nodded in agreement.

After eating for a while, Qingmu said to Juhua, “At noon over at Liu Sanshun’s house, everyone was fighting over the soft-shelled turtle meat.” He paused, then added with a small smile, “Liu Xiaomei’s fish with pickled vegetables was pretty good too, people were snatching that up as well. But it still wasn’t as good as my sister’s cooking.” His expression was one of pure delight and pride.

Seeing her brother’s happy smile, Juhua asked, “Why did you all end up eating at Liu Xiaomei’s house? Didn’t you say you were going to Meizi’s?”

Qingmu replied, “Everyone felt it would be awkward. She doesn’t have a man in the house, and Gou Dan is still so little. So we all went to Liu Sanshun’s place instead. It felt much more relaxed that way.”

Juhua nodded. That did make sense. She then asked, “Brother, how much fish did we get today?”

Qingmu replied, “We were allotted seven or eight catties. Our family got sixteen catties in total. More than in past years.”

Yang Shi asked Juhua, “Juhua, are there any other fish you want to eat? I’ll set them aside for you; otherwise, I’ll just preserve the small ones.”

Juhua quickly said, “No, Mom, that’s okay. Don’t we have a bucket of loaches? They won’t die if we keep them alive, so we can eat them slowly. Let’s preserve the big carp and the black fish. We can keep a few of the small assorted fish to cook fresh, and preserve the rest. They’ll make for a good side dish next year when we’re clearing the fields.”

Yang Shi agreed and urged Juhua to go to sleep. Having worked up a sweat, Juhua thought it was the perfect time to bundle up under the covers for the night. ’I’ll probably be all better by tomorrow,’ she figured. So she gave herself a quick wash and went to bed.

By morning, Juhua felt her stuffy nose and headache had improved significantly, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She also noticed that, unlike after eating shrimp paste, her face hadn’t broken out in a painful allergic reaction from the heavily spiced loaches. She didn’t know the reason, but not being in pain was a good thing, and she couldn’t be bothered to dwell on it. Plus, there was a whole bucket of loaches left for her to feast on and satisfy her cravings.

She had just gotten out of bed when she heard a chicken squawking “CLUCK—CLUCK—” in the courtyard. She rushed out to see what was happening. It turned out Zheng Changhe had caught a hen and was plucking the feathers from its neck. Yang Shi was holding its feet with both hands to keep it from struggling, and next to them was a bowl of clean water, apparently to collect the blood.

’They’re about to kill a chicken!’

Juhua asked anxiously, “Mom, why are you killing a perfectly fine chicken?”

Yang Shi said, “I’ve been saying for a while we should kill a chicken and stew it with ginseng for you, but we never did. If we don’t build up your strength now, what are we going to do if you keep getting sick?”

Hearing this, Juhua rushed to stop Zheng Changhe’s hand, which was holding the knife—he had just finished plucking the feathers and was about to make the cut. A bare patch of white skin on the chicken’s neck was exposed to the air. It struggled pitifully, but with Yang Shi holding its feet, it was completely immobile.

She said to Yang Shi, “Mom, building up my health isn’t something that can be rushed. It’s not like eating one chicken will fix everything. The New Year is just around the corner, and we have fish and meat at home. Isn’t all that enough for me to eat? I think we shouldn’t kill it yet. Let’s wait until after the New Year, when spring comes and we’ve finished all this other food. Wouldn’t that be better?”

Yang Shi looked hesitantly at Zheng Changhe, then down at the chicken, unsure of what to do.

Juhua added, “Mom, even if you kill and cook it, I don’t want to eat it. Right now, all I want are these fresh loaches. Where would I find room in my stomach for anything else?”

Hearing this, Zheng Changhe quickly said, “Then let’s not kill it for now. Juhua’s right, those loaches are delicious. Eating them makes you break a sweat and feel great. We can kill the chicken next year.”

Yang Shi had no choice but to agree. “Fine, we’ll kill it after the New Year. The chicks will be bigger by then anyway.” As she spoke, she picked up the hen with the bald patch on its neck and tossed it into the yard.

The hen, having survived its ordeal, let out a “CLUCK-CLUCK” and scurried away. It must have been terrified, a sight that made Juhua chuckle.

The pond harvest was over, and all that was left was for each family to tend to their own affairs. Qingmu began tidying up the areas around their house, clearing away the weeds and organizing everything. Though their home still had a thatched roof and mud walls, the courtyard looked much cleaner and neater.

Under the bright sun, Juhua ran her hands through the hardened rice in a sieve—glutinous rice that had been cooked and then sun-dried. It felt smooth and cool. She scooped up a handful, and the silvery grains trickled through her fingers with a crisp, pleasant SWISH.

Once they were a little drier, she could roast them to make puffed rice candy.

Zhao San’s familiar, booming voice echoed from the courtyard gate. “Juhua, are you feeling better?”

Juhua looked up to see his entire family walk into the courtyard, all smiles, accompanied by Huang Dagunzi’s mother.

Little Shitou rushed forward and grabbed Juhua’s hand. “Sister Juhua, are you all better?”

Juhua smiled. “I am. Third Uncle, come in and have a seat.”

Shitou’s mother laughed. “Have a seat? With the New Year so close, we’re busy as can be! We don’t want to get in your way. We’re here to grind acorns for tofu. If the whole village comes at once later, there’ll be no room to move in your house, so Grandma Huang and I came ahead. Your Third Uncle is here to help push the millstone.”

Zheng Changhe and Yang Shi quickly came out in response, one from cleaning the pigsty and the other from the kitchen.

To all the readers who support *Ugly Juhua*, I wish you a happy life! (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian.com to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep