Farmer's eldest sister becomes rich

"Let's go and have a look! We can't go too far. We can come back and cut some goose grass in the wasteland. Then we can go home and make lunch."

"Okay!" An Nian agreed readily and then trotted forward.

An Yue reminded An Nian: "Run slower, if you fall and cry you will turn into an elephant!"

When we arrived at the pond, we saw it was surrounded by weeds. The pond was not very big, but the water in it was crystal clear.

"Sister, it turns out that my uncle comes here every morning to fetch water."

Yes, it turns out that villagers used to come here to fetch water, and this pond can also be used to irrigate fields, which really benefits the whole village.

Walking along the edge of the pond, I found that it was a dead end road.

However, in the corner of the pond, there is a drainage ditch, which can be seen to have been built with stones by the villagers.

This pond has a constant supply of water, which turns out to be flowing out from the cracks in the rocks on the back mountain. Only with an inlet can there be an outlet, which will ensure that the pond will not dry up all year round.

An Nian suddenly pointed at the water and said, "Sister, there seems to be something moving in the pool."

An Yue was frightened when she heard An Nian say this.

She took a closer look and found that there were unexpectedly many fish in the pond at the foot of the mountain. They were all moving around in the corners.

An Yue suddenly had an idea.

She asked An Nian to put down his backpack. The backpack was small enough to fit into the gutter.

The water flow in the drainage ditch was quite strong, and An Yue had to hold down the backpack hard. After a while, she felt a little sore in her waist and legs.

She lifted the backpack from the gutter, and inside it were two crucian carps, the size of two fingers.

An Nian curiously put his head closer to the basket and said, "So they are the ones swimming around in the water."

"Yes, this is called crucian carp, and it can be stewed into soup."

An Yue poured the fish in the backpack into her own backpack, then placed the backpack in the gutter and held it tightly.

The brother and sister waited by the pond for a quarter of an hour, then picked up the basket again, which contained two more fish. These two were larger carps, making a total of four fish.

"Let's go! Come home with your sister. I'll cook fish for you." The brother and sister happily returned home.

Arriving at the wasteland at the terraced fields, An Yue squatted down and put down the backpack. Now An Yue was very skilled in using the sickle, and soon the two backpacks were filled with goose grass.

Then he asked An Nian to wait here while An Yue climbed up the hill to dig some more wild garlic.

There was so much wild garlic that I dug up a large handful in no time.

After digging up the wild garlic and going down the hill, they found that the fish that had left the water were dead. An Yue put the fish in a backpack, covered it with grass, and she and An Nian carried the backpack on their backs, preparing to go home to make lunch.

After arriving home, the brother and sister put the backpack in the yard, and An Nian scooped a handful of freshly cut grass from the basket and fed it directly to the chickens.

An Yue went to the kitchen to get a wooden basin and put the fish into it.

An Yue carried the wooden basin to the stone steps outside the kitchen door. She used a kitchen knife to scrape off the scales on the four fish, pick out the fish gills, cut open the fish stomachs, and took out the internal organs. She found that the carp were quite fat and there was still oil in the internal organs.

She separated the fish oil and asked An Nian to go to the kitchen to get a bowl and put the fish oil in it.

The four fish had been cleaned and An Yue used a kitchen knife to cut a few times on both sides of the fish.

Then pick the wild garlic, wash it, put it in the wooden basin containing the fish, and bring it into the kitchen.

An Nian clapped his hands happily thinking that he could eat meat again, and said, "Wow...it turns out that my sister is so amazing! She can catch pheasants and fish. I just wonder if this fish tastes good?"

"Of course it's delicious! You'll know in a minute."

"Niannian, you are responsible for adding firewood to the stove. Sister will cook the fish. Let's cook quickly. Grandpa and grandmother should be back for lunch."

"No problem! Just do what my sister tells you to do." After saying that, An Nian walked straight to the stove door.

Normally, very little oil is used when cooking, or almost no oil. Fish happens to have fish fat, so the fish fat can be fry in the pan and there will be oil to cook the fish.

After An Yue melted the fish fat, she sprinkled a little salt into the pot and gently put the fish into the pot. She fried the fish on one side, then turned it over and fry it again on the other side.

After frying the four fish, pick out two small ones and put them on a plate to make fish soup in the evening.

There were two carps in the pot. An Yue chopped a few wild garlic heads and put them into the pot. She then poured in rice wine, peppercorns, and a little bit of dogwood. She turned the fish over and finally poured in water. She covered the fish with the lid and simmered them.

At this time, my grandparents had returned to the yard carrying two large backpacks full of firewood.

"What's that sweet smell?" After putting down the backpack, my grandmother was washing her hands in the yard. Suddenly she smelled a fragrance and asked in confusion.

"You old woman...your nose is still very sensitive even though you are old." said my grandfather as he brushed the fallen leaves off his body.

Just as he finished speaking, my grandfather also smelled the fragrance. He sniffed it carefully and couldn't help but say, "Hiss... It smells like someone is stewing meat!"

When An Nian saw his grandparents coming back, he ran out of the kitchen and shouted, "Grandma, come and see, my sister is cooking fish."

My grandmother took off her apron, brushed off the fallen leaves on her body, and then walked towards the kitchen.

Grandma walked and laughed and said, "Nian Nian, where can we get fish?"

When grandmother Zheng walked into the kitchen, she discovered that the fragrance was coming from her own kitchen.

An Nian patted his chest proudly, smiled smugly and said, "My sister and I went to cut grass and feed the chickens this morning, and we found some fish in the pond. My sister said we could catch them and stew them."

When the grandmother heard An Nian say that he went to the pond, she quickly reminded him, "You two must be careful when you go to the pond! The water there is very deep!"

An Yue picked up the sweet potatoes in the ear pot and said, "Don't worry, grandma! I'll be watching my brother, everything will be fine."

After An Yue picked up the sweet potatoes, she opened the lid of the pot. The braised fish was cooked and the soup looked just right.

She chopped the wild garlic into foam and sprinkled it evenly in the pot again, which instantly enhanced the aroma. Then she shoveled the fish onto a plate and sprinkled some chopped wild garlic leaves on it, filling the whole kitchen with the fragrance.

My grandfather smelled the fragrance and came to the kitchen.

The grandmother, who was holding the rice bowl, said with a smile: "Old man, you never thought that two children could catch a few fish while going out to cut grass."

“Oh…?” Grandfather was surprised when he heard this.

Grandfather walked forward a few steps curiously, and when he saw the cooked fish on the plate on the stove, he asked An Yue, "Yueyue, did you really catch it?"

An Yue smiled and said, "Grandfather, since you are in the kitchen, please serve this plate of fish!"

Grandfather smiled and rubbed his palms together, as if he was going to pick up something precious. He carefully picked up the plate and couldn't help but move closer to smell it.

The four generations of grandparents and grandchildren came to the dining table in the main room and sat down one by one.