Chapter 283 Catching Loaches
Fried loaches are very fragrant, but they are slippery and difficult to catch if you don't have quick hands.
And you can't catch it just because you want to. You have to be lucky and be quick to catch it when you see it come out.
Otherwise, it burrows into the mud and you have to use a shovel to turn the soil over, digging slowly, and it may take a long time to find it.
The two loaches that Shen Jinbao brought were very rare to Shen Shuyu. "Thank you, Jinbao."
The child didn't eat dinner, so Shen Shuyu went into the kitchen and took two pancakes for him. Shen Jinbao wanted to run away, but was held back by Shen Shuyu and failed.
He ate the pancake, played with the white radish at Shen's house for a while, and went home after it got dark.
There were only two loaches. If they were fried, it would be very wasteful of oil and firewood. Shen Shuyu wanted to catch more and eat as much as she could.
"Big brother, second brother, third brother, Xiaoqiu, I'm going out to catch loaches, do you want to come with me?"
The work was done. After dinner, there was nothing to do at home. When she heard that she wanted to go out to catch loaches, the three brothers Shen Jiabao and Xiaoqiu all said they wanted to go. Shen Shuyu took the bucket and the shovel, "Grandma and grandpa, we are going out."
Knowing that loaches are difficult to catch, Shen Jiabao and his friends did not expect to catch any, and just treated it as an opportunity to accompany their older sister out for fun.
They had two paddy fields here. Shen Shuyu rolled up his trouser legs and went down to drip a few drops of spiritual spring water. After a while, Shen Shuyu saw two loaches crawling out. Shen Shuyu was quick to catch them in the bucket.
After they caught them, two more appeared, followed by three, four, and five. "Big brother, second brother, third brother, come over here quickly."
Shen Qiu ran over with a flashlight in her hand. When she shone the flashlight, she saw more than a dozen loaches at her eldest sister's feet. "So many!"
Shen Qiu let Bai Luobo hold the flashlight in his mouth, squatted down and caught loaches with both hands, and Shen Jiabao and the others also hurried to catch them. The brothers and sisters caught loaches for half an hour, and when they looked at the bucket, they found that it was almost half full. It was quite a harvest.
Shen Qiu looked at the loaches in the bucket and was very happy. "I still have to come out with my elder sister. She is lucky."
The three brothers of Shen Jiabao agreed with this statement, "Big sister, will you come out and catch them tomorrow night?"
Shen Shuyu thought for a moment and said, "Go out."
The five siblings took the bucket home without being seen by others. When their family members saw how many loaches they had brought home, they all opened their mouths wide and asked, "So many? How did you catch them?"
"Big sister is lucky, the loaches are all nesting under your feet, and we can catch them all."
Zhang Cuicui praised, "Our Shu Yu is really blessed. Whatever she wants to do comes true."
Isn’t it a blessing? Others couldn’t catch them even though they wanted to, but my eldest niece went out for a while and came back with a big bucket.
The loaches were caught together and divided equally among the three families. No one from the third family went with them. Liu Pan wanted to eat loaches and looked at her eldest niece eagerly. Shen Shuyu couldn't stand her look and gave her five loaches. "Third aunt, we'll go out again tomorrow night."
Liu Pandi immediately said, "I'll let your third uncle go with us tomorrow night."
She wanted to go with them, but she didn't say anything because she was now pregnant and it would be uncomfortable for her stomach to bend over.
After the loaches were divided, Shen Shuyu said to Old Lady Shen, "Grandma, I want to eat fried loaches tomorrow night."
Fried loaches are the most delicious. If it wasn’t too late, Shen Shuyu would want to fry them now.
"I'll fry it for you." Shen Shuyu went back to the kitchen and looked at the earthenware jar filled with oil. There was not much left. She thought about going to the black market after get off work tomorrow and buying some pork fat.
Shen Shuyu had no intention of going to the grocery store. Meat was in short supply and was sold out almost as soon as the store opened every day.
After hearing her elder sister talking about fried loaches, Shen Qiu also pestered Li Caixia to eat fried loaches, "Mom, I want to eat fried loaches, too."
Li Caixia gave her daughter a slap on the head, "What are you eating fried loach? I think you look like a fried loach. Go back to your room and go to sleep."
How well off is the second branch of their family? They can’t afford such oil-consuming food as fried loaches.
She usually boiled vegetables in water, unless the autumn harvest work was too heavy and the food had to be cooked without oil, then she would be willing to add a few drops of oil.
Shen Qiu guessed that her mother would say this and she was not unhappy. If she couldn't eat fried loach, boiled loach was also good, after all, it was meat.
In the blink of an eye, it was time for Yang Fangfang to start. She started in the middle of the night. The two young people had no experience. In the middle of the night, Shen Jiabao felt the wet bed and thought his wife had wet it.
"Fangfang, get up and sleep somewhere else. You're a little wet down there."
Yang Fangfang woke up in a daze and felt a large wet patch on the kang under her buttocks. She thought she had urinated and felt very embarrassed. She changed her pants and slept in another place. Just two minutes after she lay down, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach.
Shen Jiabao was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. "What happened? What happened?"
"I... my stomach hurts."
Shen Jiabao thought she had a stomachache and wanted to carry her to the village doctor. Zhang Cuicui got up and lit the kerosene lamp. She knew at a glance that her daughter-in-law's water had broken.
He told his eldest son, "Fangfang is about to give birth. Go to the next village and ask Mrs. Chen to come over."
Mrs. Chen was a famous midwife in the surrounding villages, and Mrs. Shen had greeted her long ago.
The bicycle was placed against the courtyard wall, and Shen Shuyu hadn't locked it. Shen Jiabao stepped on the bicycle and hurriedly asked the midwife to come over.
Yang Fangfang made a lot of noise. As soon as Shen Jiabao left, everyone in the family got up. Old Lady Shen, Shen Chunling, Li Caixia, and Liu Pandi were all experienced people. They knew that it would be difficult to give birth so quickly after the water broke.
Zhang Cuicui calmed her daughter-in-law down, while Shen Chunling and Li Caixia boiled hot water in their respective kitchens. Fearing that it might not be enough, Liu Pandi also boiled a pot.
Shen Shuyu got up and cooked a bowl of brown sugar eggs. Giving birth is dangerous for women, so Shen Shuyu dropped five drops of spiritual spring water into it, which can somewhat alleviate some of the pain. "Sister-in-law, eat an egg so that you can have the energy to give birth later."
Yang Fangfang looked at Shen Shuyu with gratitude. Her stomach was aching. Yang Fangfang actually had no appetite to eat, but she was afraid that if she didn't eat, she would not have the strength to give birth to a baby. Giving birth is a strenuous job. If she didn't have the strength, the baby would not be born, and both she and the baby would be in danger.
After drinking a bowl of brown sugar and egg soup, Yang Fangfang felt that the pain was not as severe and it felt a little better.
The in-laws were all from the same village, so when their granddaughter-in-law was about to give birth, they had to inform the in-laws. Old Mrs. Shen asked her second grandson to go and tell them the news, and soon both Yang's father and mother came.
Seeing her parents, Yang Fangfang felt much more at ease.
Mother Yang held her daughter's hand and said, "Fangfang, it's okay. Don't be afraid. Mom is here."
Shen Jiabao was very fast and quickly invited Mrs. Chen to come over. She rode her bike very fast and the road was not easy to walk on. Mrs. Chen got off the bike and held her butt. "Oh, you almost broke my butt into four pieces."
Shen Jiabao looked apologetic, "I'm sorry, Aunt Chen, I was just too anxious, please go in and see my wife."