Fishing and Hunting 82, Starting with Three Sisters Who Overprotect Their Brothers

121 Fish Balls

"What an amazing older sister! She has such keen insight!"

Zhang Wenshan was lavish in his praise.

Although Zhang Fengxia didn't know what "keen eyes" meant, she could tell it was a compliment, and immediately grinned.

"Everyone, please stop for a moment and listen to me."

11

Having figured out the crux of the problem, Zhang Wenshan took two steps to the center of the courtyard and gently clapped his hands.

The crowd paused, instinctively glancing at him before quickly looking away.

Some people offer to teach you how to make money, but you still haven't learned it, and worse, you've lost a lot of fish.

A few years ago, that would have been criticized by the entire village.

"Team leader, maybe I should go back to fishing."

"I really can't do this delicate work."

The two aunts backed down first, and Lang Qiuping blushed deeply, burying his head in his chest.

He wasn't originally qualified to join the fishing and hunting group, but Brother Shanzi personally took him under his wing and never mentioned anything about being responsible for his own profits and losses or having to pay money.

He didn't hold back either, teaching more skills than anyone else.

He knew why in his heart, and he was determined to make something of himself.

As a result, a small fish was stumped.

At this moment, I wish I could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Zhang Wenshan's gaze swept over the crowd before he slowly spoke.

"Aunt Li, your husband has been bedridden for years, and you've endured all the hardships. Now you're afraid of a fish?"

"Aunt Wang, when you go to the fields to earn work points, you always get the full amount. This little bit of work shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"

He paused for a moment and then continued.

"It's not that people can't learn, it's that they're afraid to start. The more afraid they are, the stiffer their hands become, and the worse the fish gets. In the end, the fish is ruined, and they haven't even mastered the skill."

"Don't worry, you can do whatever you want with it. Even spoiled fish are still edible."

However, these words did not have the desired effect; instead, they made everyone even more panicked.

"No, no, I can't eat the food meant for the community by myself!"

"Wouldn't that be taking advantage of everyone?"

""

"Exactly, they didn't do anything all day, what's the point of just filling their bellies with fish?"

Seeing the group of people waving their hands repeatedly, Zhang Wenshan was stunned for a moment before he realized what was going on.

They viewed the issue from a hindsight perspective, ignoring the present era.

The land was only allocated at the beginning of the year, and the concept of collectivism is still deeply ingrained in everyone's bones.

In their eyes, the fishing and hunting group catches and processes the fish together; the fish belong to everyone, not just themselves.

If you break it, you're wasting public property.

Eating rotten fish yourself is just a disguised form of greed.

"We're a new fishing and hunting group, we don't have those old rules."

Having grasped the key point, Zhang Wenshan spoke again.

"If it's broken, I'll hold the person responsible. I have all the records."

"Don't be afraid of holding others back, and don't be afraid of being talked about behind your back."

"Rotten fish can still be sold for money, so go ahead and do it."

The courtyard fell silent instantly. Everyone looked at each other, completely taken aback.

Lin Cuihua, always bold, couldn't help but ask, "Team leader, can you still sell rotten fish for money?"

Others echoed this sentiment.

"Yeah, who buys fish without buying the whole thing?"

"Team leader, you're not kidding us, are you?"

"Do I have the time for that? Hurry up, if anyone can't learn it today, they don't need to come tomorrow."

Zhang Wenshan deliberately kept a straight face.

"This thing itself isn't worth much; you can only sell it if you can remove the thorns."

He now finally understood why the brigade leader and the old secretary never smiled and spoke in extremely loud voices.

Sometimes, reasoning with someone is really exhausting.

It's better to just give the order directly.

"Damn, the team leader has never lied to us!"

"The team leader is really angry!"

The group fell silent, hastily picking up their knives again, but still hesitant and timid, clearly not having completely let go of their inhibitions.

"Big sister, you'll be my assistant."

Zhang Wenshan could tell at a glance that talking was useless; he had to show everyone with actions that even rotten fish could be sold for money.

His approach was also very simple.

Fish Ball.

First, rinse the damaged cattail meat repeatedly and drain the water to prevent it from becoming watery later.

Put it into a clean large bowl, sprinkle in a handful of coarse salt, add a few pieces of chopped green onion, a few slices of minced ginger, and then sprinkle in a pinch of ground Sichuan peppercorns.

Finally, start stirring vigorously.

In those days, there were no mixers, so we had to turn the fish in one direction by hand, adding water and ginger and scallion water several times until the fish meat became firm.

"Is this for the filling?"

"Oh, how could I not have thought of that! Pork can be used for fillings, but isn't fish meat too?"

"Come on, can you believe we're even going hungry?"

"The team leader is really quick-witted!"

A group of people stared at Zhang Wenshan's hands, their eyes gradually brightening, and their hands moving faster as well.

A moment later, someone yelled and jumped up.

"It's done, I've done it, team leader, please take a look."

Aunt Li jumped up and down excitedly, like a teenage girl, holding the cleaned fish meat in one hand and pinching the whole fish bones in the other.

Zhang Wenshan glanced at it.

The knife was off-center, and the meat was damaged when removing the thorn, so the presentation was really not good.

It's still far from meeting his desired standards.

But at least they'd made a start, so he immediately nodded and praised them generously, "Yes, very well done, everyone give them a round of applause."

As he spoke, he took the lead in clapping his hands.

The others joined in, snapping away, their eyes filled with resentment as they glared at Aunt Li, their knives flashing even faster.

Aunt Li wasn't going to back down either; she grabbed the next fish and got right to work.

Unconsciously, everyone started to compete with each other.

Seeing this, Zhang Wenshan smiled and continued stirring the fish until the meat clumped together and wouldn't fall apart when held in his hand.

He raised his hand, clenched a handful, and released his fingers, the minced meat slowly falling down.

"Sister, add some lard and boil some water."

"Okay."

Zhang Fengxia licked her lips and deftly started a fire.

She was closest and could already smell the aroma of the minced meat.

Soon, flames roared in Ge Ergui's stove.

Zhang Wenshan reached out to test the water temperature, estimating it to be around 60 or 70 degrees Celsius. He immediately grabbed a ball of fish meat, squeezed it between his thumb and forefinger, and formed a round ball. With a gentle scrape from the spoon, he dropped it into the water.

We dared not be careless at all during the entire process.

"I'll give it a try." Seeing her younger brother constantly shivering, Zhang Fengxia immediately felt sorry for him and took the initiative to help.

"No, this is a technical job."

"What's the big deal about making some meatballs? We used to make all the cabbage meatballs at home, didn't we?"

Zhang Wenshan smiled, didn't stop him, and obediently moved aside.

Zhang Fengxia confidently picked up the basin and quickly rolled the dough into balls.

"Why?"

She let out a soft "hmm," her eyes widening as she stared at the bits of meat scattered in the water.

Zhang Wenshan held back his laughter and was about to teach her when he saw her take a deep breath and try again.

This time, a perfectly round fish ball sank steadily into the water.

"."

'

This time it was Zhang Wenshan's turn to widen his eyes.

Is your learning ability too strong?

Not long after.

The warm water in the large pot was gently bubbling, with tiny bubbles rising to the surface. The fish balls rolled gently in the water, and a delicate, fresh aroma filled the entire room.

"Team leader, is this fish meatball?"

""