Winning Someone Over with a Meal

After warming up for a while, Li Qiang pushed open the door, wiped his nose, and said:

"Uncle, Mom told me to call you over for lunch."

"All right, we'll be right there." Li Long stood up, and he and Tao Daqiang followed Li Qiang to the West Room.

The moment they entered, a rich aroma greeted them.

On the square dining table in the western room sat a large basin of Gugu Chicken stewed with potatoes, with six bowls and six pairs of chopsticks laid out.

Li Long knew the seat facing south belonged to Li Jianguo, the head of the household. He was already sitting on the heated brick bed, and when they came in, he invited Tao Daqiang to sit on his right.

There was no custom here of keeping women and children away from the table. Liang Yuemei soon sat down with Li Juan and Li Qiang.

"You must be worn out. Those fish you caught looked pretty big. We'll make fish soup tonight!" Liang Yuemei was all smiles. In the depths of winter, the Gugu Chicken on the table and the fish thawing in the kitchen promised good meals for the next several days.

What pleased her even more was that her younger brother-in-law had started making an effort and bringing things home.

After all, in an age when supplies were scarce, homemakers had the hardest time. Having chicken and fish to eat was already better than their New Year's fare.

"All right, dig in," Li Jianguo said. "Daqiang, don't be shy. Eat as much as you like."

"That's right. Once we're full, we still need to make another trip to Little Haizi," Li Long said. "Breaking a hole in the ice wasn't easy. We can't let it go to waste."

"What? You're going again?" Li Jianguo asked.

"The ice we broke through was half a meter thick," Li Long said. "There are plenty of fish in the lake. Give it some time, and even more will gather around the hole. If we go back this afternoon, we might catch even more."

"Then I'll come along," Li Jianguo said at once. "Let's get plenty. We can freeze them when we get back and have enough to last until New Year!"

"I want to go too!" Hearing that they were going fishing, Li Qiang wanted to tag along. Liang Yuemei gave him a sharp look.

"You're not going! What could you do there? Get in the way?"

Li Qiang lowered his head, feeling both defiant and wronged.

"All right, all right. Let's eat." Li Jianguo picked up a piece of chicken leg and put it in Li Juan's bowl, then put another piece in Li Qiang's bowl. He said to Tao Daqiang:

"Daqiang, don't be shy. Go on, eat."

Then he looked toward Li Long, who hurriedly said:

"I can help myself!" He picked up a piece of potato.

Tao Daqiang followed his example, picking up a piece of potato and eating it.

The large basin held mostly potatoes, with a smaller portion of meat and a few dried chilies mixed in. It tasted excellent. The potatoes had been grown in their own vegetable patch and stored in the root cellar for winter. Stewed like this, they were fluffy and full of flavor.

The Gugu Chicken had stewed long enough that its meat came easily off the bones. Everyone ate with concentration, and bones soon piled up on the table.

"Daqiang, have some meat," Li Long said when he saw Tao Daqiang keeping his head down and shoveling potatoes into his mouth. "There's still plenty left."

"That's right, Daqiang. No need to stand on ceremony," Liang Yuemei said. "You've got more fishing to do later. Eat plenty now. Have some meat."

"Daqiang, have some meat," Li Qiang echoed the adults.

"Heh heh heh." Li Long chuckled. Li Qiang was really doing his part.

Soon, the basin was nearly empty, with a little under half a basin of broth left at the bottom. Liang Yuemei went to cook a strainerful of broad noodles and tipped them into the basin. Li Jianguo mixed them through and said:

"Dig in. These noodles are packed with flavor."

They polished off the entire basin of food and the strainerful of noodles, then each drank a bowl of broth to help the meal settle. Li Long didn't want to move at all.

"Uncle, that was so good. Can you catch more Gugu Chickens in a couple of days?"

"I'll try, but I might not catch any." Li Long didn't dare promise. He was sure Wu Shufen had already spread the news of his catch throughout the village. Once people heard there was something to be had, someone was bound to get ideas. They could find the spot just by following his footprints. He really couldn't guarantee there would be any left when he went back that evening.

"Even if there aren't any Gugu Chickens, fish would be good too," Li Juan chimed in. "I looked just now, and those big crucian carp are gorgeous. They're as wide as both my palms put together, with such fat bellies. You can tell they'll taste good!"

Li Juan's eyes shone as she spoke, her expression utterly earnest.

"Exactly. I can't promise Gugu Chickens, but there'll definitely be plenty of fish." Li Long stood up to help Liang Yuemei clear the bowls and chopsticks, making her feel that her younger brother-in-law really had changed.

He would never have done anything like this before!

After resting for half an hour, Li Long returned to his room and saw that the clothes were nearly dry from the heat. He told his older brother, Li Jianguo, that they had better leave now.

Li Jianguo was almost ready too. He bundled up and went outside.

"Bring two fertilizer sacks, or carrying the fish will be difficult," Li Long reminded him. "The hole might have frozen over with a thin layer of ice. A shovel should be enough to break it."

"All right." Li Jianguo gathered the tools, then headed toward Little Haizi with Li Long and Tao Daqiang.

Liang Yuemei watched the three leave, then started cleaning the fish with Li Juan and Li Qiang. They put all the fish into an oval laundry basin. Li Juan scraped off the scales, Li Qiang helped pull out the gills, and Liang Yuemei cut them open with scissors.

When she slit open the first large crucian carp, she saw that its belly was indeed full of fat, and she smiled.

How lovely.

Remembering the smile on her husband's face as he left with Li Long and Tao Daqiang, Liang Yuemei felt a little amused.

Had she known the saying, she would have understood that this was what people meant by "men stay boys until the day they die." When it came to catching fish and shrimp, eighteen-year-old men and eighty-year-old men generally shared the same enthusiasm.

Once again, Tao Daqiang took the lead, clearing the way. Their two previous trips had worn a narrow path through the knee-deep snow, making the walk much easier this time.

A little over twenty minutes later, the three reached the hole in the ice.

Sure enough, a thin layer of ice had formed over the exposed water. Tao Daqiang broke it with a few thumping blows from the shovel, then scooped out the pieces with the landing net. He went down first, planted his feet, and began scooping up fish.

Li Long didn't sit idle either. He gathered another pile of dry reeds and started a fire.

The first scoop brought up three or four fish along with chunks of ice, which Tao Daqiang tipped onto the frozen surface. They were all common carp and grass carp weighing over a kilogram each.

Li Jianguo hurried to put the fish into a urea sack. As he picked them up, he kept glancing toward Tao Daqiang, eager to try a scoop himself.

With the second scoop, a dark shape tumbled out along with three or four fish-and gave Li Jianguo quite a fright!

Sharp-eyed Li Long spotted the creature and exclaimed delightedly:

"Brother, that's a Water Rat! Quick, kill it with the shovel!"

A Water Rat?

What was a Water Rat?

Although Li Jianguo had no idea what it was, he reacted quickly. Grabbing the shovel, he slammed it hard against the slow-moving creature on the ice.

The creature's front half looked just like an oversized rat, not much smaller than a rabbit. Its tail, however, was very strange: stiff and hairless, like a flat stick turned on edge.

Slow as the creature was, the two huge teeth in its mouth were anything but. Pinned there, it could only gnaw at the ice with a grating crunch, quickly chewing out a hollow!

Li Jianguo hurriedly struck it twice more, killing it.

He looked toward Li Long, waiting for his younger brother to explain what the creature was.

(End of chapter)