The salty life in Life of Pi

Chapter 25: An emotion called loneliness (recently, many people have asked for more chapters, so I squeezed out a chapter)
Along the way, Lin Dawei did not mention Wu Xianyu's family again. When passing by the vegetable market near the school, Wu Xianyu went down to buy some vegetables, and then went directly to their home with Lin Miaomiao and her daughter.

As soon as I entered the door, Wang Shengnan came to greet me

"Welcome Xiaoyu to our home. I heard from Miaomiao that you are quite a eater and you made quite a few dumplings. If you can't finish them, you can take them home and freeze them. I guess you rarely make dumplings when your family is not at home."

After hearing what Wang Shengnan said, Wu Xianyu realized that he was indeed too lazy to mix the dough and stuffing, let alone make dumplings, and the dumplings sold outside rarely tasted like he wanted.

"Thank you so much, Auntie. This is my first time visiting you, and I didn't prepare any gifts. I just caught a black fish, and I'll show you how to catch it."

Wu Xianyu brought out the excuse he had prepared long ago. Wang Shengnan wanted to refuse at first, but when she heard that the fish was caught today, she became interested. At this time, Lin Miaomiao also brought her fish box to take credit.

"I also caught a fish, which is the one in the photo I sent you."

"Okay, okay, you're awesome too, take a break now."

Seeing Lin Dawei looking tired behind the two children, Wang Shengnan felt a little distressed. He was getting old and his physical strength could not keep up with these young people.

Wu Xianyu brought his fish box into the kitchen and prepared to kill the fish himself. Wang Shengnan came in and said

"Xiao Yu, do you want me to help you?"

"No, Auntie, you take a rest first, I'm good at cooking fish"

Wang Shengnan was still a little worried, so she called Lin Miaomiao in and sat on the sofa, keeping an eye on the kitchen.

Wu Xianyu took the black fish out of the fish box, came to the side of the pool, pulled out a sharp knife, and stabbed it directly under the fish's head. Lin Miaomiao, who was standing by, shuddered.

"Damn, aren't you being a bit cruel? Why don't you just knock it out? I've seen people in the vegetable market do this."

"This is a wild fish, it's very fishy, ​​especially a black fish. It's hard to bleed it if you knock it unconscious, and it will have a strong fishy smell."

Wu Xianyu didn't think that Lin Miaomiao was being too sanctimonious. After all, people who rarely saw blood would inevitably feel a little scared when seeing such a scene.

After bleeding, Wu Xianyu took out a machete and slashed the fish's head from behind, cutting off the fish's cervical vertebrae. He also explained to Lin Miaomiao:

"I cut the fish's cervical vertebrae here, otherwise the fish would struggle when I deal with the scales and easily hurt me."

After he finished speaking, Wu Xianyu had almost scraped off the scales of the fish, and he scraped very carefully, leaving no scales behind. Seeing that Lin Miaomiao didn't seem to understand, Wu Xianyu explained while gutting the fish.

"The fishy smell of wild fish usually comes from blood, scales, red meat, and the mucus under the scales and on the surface of the skin. As long as these areas are cleaned, there won't be much smell."

After saying that, Wu Xianyu took a steel wool and brushed the black film in the fish's belly clean, rinsed it several times with clean water, and when the water was no longer bloody, he put the fish on the chopping board and cut the fish in half along the spine, separating the spine.

Next, Wu Xianyu carefully sliced ​​the fish, making each slice about two millimeters.

Wu Xianyu moved very quickly. Lin Miaomiao felt that in a short while, the living fish turned into slices of fish meat. She then watched him skillfully add salt, egg white and starch to marinate the fish.

When it came to preparing the dishes, Wu Xianyu stopped talking. His knife moved very quickly, and the ingredients of different sizes soon became distinct particles.

After everything was ready, Wu Xianyu turned on the range hood, heated the pot, and reminded

"Be careful, don't come over here, you may get burned by the oil."

Lin Miaomiao was so scared that she took a few steps back, but she didn't hear the sound of the oil bursting out. She looked at Wu Xianyu again, who had an expression on his face that said, "You must have never cooked before."

"How can a hot pan with cold oil splash? As long as there is no water in the pan, the oil will not splash out."

Realizing that she had been fooled, Lin Miaomiao was very upset

"Okay, you're already at my house and you still dare to play tricks on me."

"Don't move, I'm cooking. If you move your hands, I'll tell Auntie."

After these few contacts, Wu Xianyu has already figured out who is in charge of this family. Sure enough, Lin Miaomiao was easily suppressed. She walked out of the kitchen angrily and sat next to Wang Shengnan.

Just after she complained a few words, a fragrance wafted in the air. Lin Miaomiao couldn't help but sniffed while she was talking. After that, it became a little difficult for her to complain.

Not long after, the sound of hot oil being poured onto the fish was heard, followed by a sour, spicy and refreshing taste. Lin Miaomiao felt that her mouth was about to be unable to contain her saliva.

I couldn't help but walk into the kitchen and found Wu Xianyu was already washing the pots and dishes. Seeing Lin Miaomiao come in, Wu Xianyu couldn't help but tease her.
"Oh? You have a keen nose. How about you try it first to see if it suits your taste?"

"Yeah"

Lin Miaomiao no longer cared about what Wu Xianyu said. She took a pair of chopsticks, picked up a piece of fish and put it into her mouth. The tender and chewy texture, coupled with the sour and spicy appetizing taste, made Lin Miaomiao unable to help but jump on the spot excitedly.

At this time, Wu Xianyu had also washed the pots and bowls, and brought the pickled fish to the dining table. Wang Shengnan and Lin Dawei actually smelled the smell as well, but as adults they had the composure to not rush to get up.

Wang Shengnan brought the dumplings that had already been cooked to the table. It looked a bit weird, but the people eating had no objection.

Lin Miaomiao's mouth was red and swollen from eating, and her forehead was sweating. From time to time, she had to take off her glasses and wipe the sweat off the tip of her nose with paper, but she still couldn't stop her enthusiasm for the sauerkraut fish.

Wu Xianyu didn't eat many pieces of fish. He didn't know if all cooks were like this. No matter how delicious the food they cooked was, they would just take a few bites to make sure the taste was not too different. On the contrary, he felt very gratified when he saw others happily eating his food.

After the meal, most of the five-pound fish probably went into Lin Miaomiao's stomach, and Wu Xianyu ate nearly fifty dumplings. It had been a long time since he had eaten dumplings, and he couldn't stop eating once he started.

Wang Shengnan was embarrassed at first, thinking that she was eating pickled fish made by the guests in her own home. But when she saw that the guests had a special liking for dumplings, she immediately felt much happier.

After dinner, Wang Shengnan saw that her daughter liked to eat pickled fish so much, so she humbly asked Wu Xianyu for advice. Wu Xianyu didn't hide anything and told Wang Shengnan everything he knew. He also took a big bag of dumplings with him, so that they would have enough food during the holidays. Seeing Wu Xianyu carrying a big bag of dumplings out of the house, Lin Miaomiao felt reluctant to let him go, muttering to herself:
“This guy must be able to cook a lot of delicious food.”

While Lin Dawei was driving Wu Xianyu home, Wang Shengnan cleaned up the house and couldn't help but joked when she heard Lin Miaomiao's words.
"If you want to eat it, then you can marry him and eat it every day."

"Mom, what are you talking about? Who wants to marry him? He is so cruel. I won't talk to you anymore. I'm going to sleep."

Lin Miaomiao's reaction was a little beyond Wang Shengnan's expectations and was a bit intense. After she finished speaking, she ran back to the room.

Wang Shengnan, holding a broom, looked at Lin Miaomiao's closed door thoughtfully. After a long time, she blurted out:

"It's not impossible, Xiao Yu, but I don't know if the other party has this intention."

After saying that, he continued to clean while humming a song. In all these years, it was the first time that someone could eat nearly fifty dumplings in one meal. Lin Dawei couldn't do that when he was young.

When Lin Dawei came back, Wang Shengnan didn't tell him what she was thinking. The two children were still young, especially Wu Xianyu, who seemed to have not figured it out yet and didn't think about it at all. Telling Lin Dawei, a daughter-slave, would only cause more trouble.

Lin Miaomiao, who hid in the room, said she was going to sleep, but in fact she couldn't sleep at all. Her heart was beating very fast. She stared at the ceiling with her eyes open, silently thinking about her mental journey during this period. As she thought about it, she gave up thinking. She was afraid that she would come up with a result that she didn't know how to deal with. She shook her head, put on headphones, and prepared to listen to music to dilute her thoughts.

When Wu Xianyu returned home, he didn't know that Lin Miaomiao was suffering from the little troubles of adolescence. He took a shower. Because he was going fishing in the wild today, he wore long sleeves and long pants, and he sweated a little.

After taking a shower, Wu Xianyu sat in the living room and picked up the guitar and strummed a few strings.

After waking up, Wu Xianyu, lying in bed, didn't want to go out, so he got up and cooked himself some dumplings. After eating, he looked at the house which was not messy and prepared to clean it up.

He came to the master bedroom, which he seldom entered, lifted the dust sheet, sorted the things inside, and wiped away any dust that was left.

There was a large wardrobe in the room. Wu Xianyu pushed it open and replaced the desiccant and insect repellent packets inside. There were several drawers under the wardrobe. He had looked through them before and found nothing important. There was only a small box in the innermost drawer with the words: For my beloved son, Xianyu.

Perhaps it was a gift prepared by the original owner's parents to celebrate the original owner's arrival at a new home or a new school. Wu Xianyu had not opened it before. He was a little cautious at the time, fearing that there was something in it that he didn't know but the original owner knew. It was a classic assumption.

Now that Wu Xianyu has adapted to the life here, he feels it is time to open the box. Sitting on the floor, he gently opens the box, revealing an exquisite watch. The most eye-catching thing is the shining red star on the overall silver-white dial, with the two Chinese characters "August 1st" in the red star.

Apart from the numbers indicating the time and two Chinese characters, there are no other extra characters on the dial, not even a brand name. When Wu Xianyu saw this watch, he couldn't help but be moved. If it was a valuable watch worth several million, he would not be so moved. He might even ask Uncle Liu if his parents had any side jobs.

But this watch is different. If you wear this watch outside, others will see the red star and Chinese characters on it and they will inevitably show respect to it. Those who have something to hide may even feel weak in the knees.

Looking at the watch straightly, Wu Xianyu touched it. The cold touch made him regain some of his sanity. Instead of taking it out and putting it on directly, he wiped it clean with the cloth inside and put it back in the box.

It's too luxurious to wear this on a daily basis, so I'd better save it for important occasions. Wu Xianyu shamelessly kept this watch for himself, but since the original owner and his parents didn't say anything, it meant they agreed, right?

After cleaning up the room, Wu Xianyu lay on the sofa, casually strumming the guitar. This instrument is easy to get started, but difficult to master.

The class group was very lively, with everyone sharing photos of travel or fun times. Wu Xianyu did not participate in the chat because he was afraid that a sentence like “I have finished my homework” would make half of the people in the class lose interest in continuing to play.

I don't know when I fell asleep on the sofa. When I opened my eyes again, dusk poured into the living room through the window and shone on Wu Xianyu's feet. Taking off his glasses, Wu Xianyu covered his face with his hands, rubbed it hard a few times, sat up, and looked at the empty and silent house. An inexplicable panic arose from the bottom of his heart.

After turning on the TV and hearing the sound, Wu Xianyu felt a little better. He leaned back on the sofa with his eyes lost in thought. He had no idea what was on TV. He was thinking about going to Uncle Liu's house tomorrow to take a look.

On the fourth day of the holiday, Wu Xianyu arrived at the gate of a not-so-new residential area. He handed his ID to the guard and explained what he was there for. He was let in soon.

On the way, Uncle Liu's two children were running on the road, and when they saw Wu Xianyu and the other two rushing over,

"Brother Yu, my dad asked us to pick you up."

"Okay, thank you. This bag of snacks is yours. There are two of them. Don't grab them."

"Wow, thank you, brother Yu, I love you so much"

The two children walked behind and started to share the snacks. They rarely had snacks and only had the chance to eat them when there were guests at home. But except for Yu Ge, others seldom brought snacks. Most of them were cigarettes and alcohol, and occasionally there would be snacks in big gift packs.

Unlike Brother Yu, not only does he buy one for each person, he also picks the delicious ones.

In order to buy snacks, Wu Xianyu even asked Lin Miaomiao for help. After all, as long as he could eat them, the taste didn't matter to him, and it couldn't be that bad.

The door of Uncle Liu's house was open. Uncle Liu and Aunt Liu were waiting at the door to greet him. When Wu Xianyu saw this, he quickened his pace.

Seeing Wu Xianyu still holding something in his hand, Uncle Liu couldn't help but frowned.
"Come on, what are you carrying? Keep your money safe, you will have plenty of opportunities to spend it in the future."

"They are not expensive things. I bought wine for you, Fenjiu, which costs more than fifty yuan a bottle. I couldn't buy cigarettes because they refused to sell them to me because I was underage. And these are donkey-hide gelatin dates for aunt, which can replenish blood and nourish the skin. And this massager, I thought aunt must be tired from taking care of the whole family, and it happened to be on sale and not expensive, so I brought one over. Don't people always bring something back from their homes? I just bought them casually."

Uncle Liu, who was about to say something, relaxed his brows when he heard the words "go back to your own home". He put his arm around Wu Xianyu's shoulder and walked towards the house.

The two younger ones behind him saw that their father was not paying attention to them, so they tiptoed to their rooms and prepared to hide the snacks.

Seeing that the two of them each had a bag of snacks, Uncle Liu said as he poured tea for Wu Xianyu:

"Don't spoil them too much, they won't eat after eating snacks"

"It's just once in a while. They don't eat much anyway, so it doesn't matter. Besides, they call me brother, so I definitely can't let them down."

"Hahaha, you're the only one who can talk. Drink tea, drink tea."

Recently many readers have said that the book is not good enough, but it is also difficult for the author. I was a little impulsive when I posted the book, so I posted it directly. I didn’t have any manuscripts saved for one chapter, but now I have some saved, and I will post them all when they are ready to be put on the shelves. I will post one chapter today, and you can take a look at it first. I am really sorry for you all.



(End of this chapter)