Chapter 21: The Fish Banquet

  The arrival of Zhao Mu's family attracted a crowd of onlookers from the village. As soon as they reached the entrance of the village, people came to join in the excitement, one after another.

  It wasn't until the village chief came out and drove them away that Zhao Juan and the others were able to break through the encirclement and return home.

  They put big and small packages on the kang, splashing up waves of smoke and dust. Those packages were all heavy and dull, and it was unknown how these two people brought them back.

  They sat down on the kang, and the mother and daughter began to pour out their hearts. The young uncle couldn't get a word in edgewise, so he turned his head to observe the surroundings.

  Song Jie saw him and stared at her little uncle, Zhao Tong was white and clean, with a pair of bright eyes under his thick black eyebrows, his face was very square, at first glance, he seemed to be a straightforward person. He should be a good person to get along with, just like Grandma.

  Zhao Tong felt someone was looking at him, lowered his head to take a look, and saw a small radish head tilting its face and blinking big eyes at him. Suddenly he became interested, squatted down, smiled at Song Jie, revealing a pair of small tiger teeth, adding a few points of cuteness to him.

  "What's your name?"

  "My name is Nini, and my full name is Song Jie."

  "Oh, you're so clever and cute! I'm your little uncle, quickly call me little uncle, if you call me little uncle, I'll get you some delicious food, okay?"

  "Little uncle!" The voice was clear and loud.

  "Hey, wait, I'll get you some delicious food," said Zhao Tong. He pulled over a bundle and reached inside to dig around. Before long, he dug out a handful of crispy sugar wrapped in colorful paper.

  At that time, rock sugar was very expensive, and Zhao Juan wouldn't easily buy it even during Chinese New Year. However, having seen all sorts of candies in later generations, to be honest, Song Jie didn't particularly like eating rock sugar. But since this candy was given by her younger uncle, she had to save face.

  She reached out her hand and pinched a piece of toffee from Zhao Tong's palm, carefully peeled off the wrapping paper and put it in her mouth. The packaging paper was not damaged at all. Song Jie carefully folded the sugar paper and put it in her pocket, Xiaoyan loved this the most, when she left it for her, she would definitely be delighted.

  She looked up and saw her little uncle looking at her with a sympathetic gaze. Oh no! She's been misunderstood again!!

  Song Jie hastily revealed a toothless smile, her big eyes narrowing into a crescent moon shape: "Yan'er sister likes this the most, I want to show it to her, little uncle must keep it a secret." After finishing speaking, she also raised her pinky finger to her mouth, making a zipping motion.

  Zhao Tong suddenly realized that he was overthinking, didn't he also love collecting colored candy wrappers and showing off to his friends when he was a kid? He couldn't deny that he felt relieved in his heart.

  He has been close to his sister since childhood, following her around every day, and was almost raised by her alone. After his sister left, he was extremely sad. When he heard that his mother was going to visit his sister, he strongly requested to come along.

  Seeing his nephew's daughter reluctant to throw away a piece of wrapping paper, he was really distressed and felt that his sister had suffered greatly. His nephew's words of consolation were undeniable and temporarily comforted his heart.

  The mother and daughter chatted endlessly, sometimes wiping away tears and sometimes bursting into laughter. It wasn't until the sun was high in the sky that Zhao Juan suddenly remembered it was time for lunch.

  "Nini, take your little brother-in-law to the river and catch a few fish." Zhao Juan instructed.

  Song Jie secretly rolled her eyes, really fed up. Seeing that there was no meat at home, she let herself go fishing, as if it were her own family's. She didn't even think about who ran to the riverbank most frequently, wasn't it herself? Mother had given an order, naturally she dared not disobey.

  As soon as he heard about fishing, Zhao Tong's eyes lit up. He had never been to the river before and couldn't help but feel eager to give it a try.

  Song Jie looked at him and thought that her little uncle was indeed a bit childish, wasn't he? After all, before the age of 20, one should be in school.

  Zhao Tong held his niece's hand with one hand and carried a basket with the other, walking quickly towards the riverbank. The anxious look on his face made the mother and daughter secretly laugh, and Zhao Juan felt that her brother was still the same as when they were young, not changing at all.

  The two of them arrived at the riverbank, and Zhao Tong tossed aside his basket, looking around in all directions. As a city boy, he had never seen anything like this before. Everything was novel to him. Even the yellow earth seemed different from that in the city, and the air felt especially fresh.

  Zhao Tong was furious, and when he turned his head, his little niece was covering her mouth with her small hand, mocking him. The two sheep horn braids on her head were still swaying back and forth. How dare she!

  Zhao Tong rushed over and lifted Song Jie's armpits, picking her up and spinning around in circles while holding her. He said with a grin "Are you laughing at your uncle now? Are you laughing now?", teasing out a series of giggles from Song Jie that echoed far and wide.

  From this moment on, Song Jie decided to start liking her little uncle.

  After playing, Song Jie taught Zhao Tong how to catch fish. Zhao Tong was surprised, is catching fish so simple? He experimented with great enthusiasm and indeed caught a big fish.

  Zhao Tong picked up one after another, and the basket was almost full. If it weren't for Song Jie's stop, they would have missed dinner time, but Zhao Tong still had a lingering feeling.

  The mysterious nature is infinitely attractive to boys. Zhao Tong regarded this place as his future paradise.

  Back home, Zhao Juan saw the fish in the basket and glared at her brother. Only he would do such a thing. He was never satisfied with just one fun thing to play with. Zhao Tong scratched his head awkwardly.

  She sent a few fish to Aunt Li's house and borrowed two stools, then Zhao Juan started preparing a whole fish banquet. It wasn't Chinese New Year, and there was no meat at home either. She didn't want her mother to see her struggling life and feel sad. The fish just solved the urgent problem.

  Zhao Mu also followed to the kitchen to help, Zhao Juan's good craftsmanship was inherited from her mother. Although at home she didn't even touch water with her five fingers, now the dishes she made were almost indistinguishable from those made by her mother.

  Watching her daughter skillfully kill the fish and scrape off its scales, Zhao's mother felt a momentary moistness in her eyes. The little girl she had held in the palm of her hand was also quietly growing up in places where she couldn't see...

  Clean the fish, steam the fish and buns in one pot, and stew the fish in another. The two pots were lit at the same time, also to burn the kang of that uninhabited house, so that my brother could live there at night.

  Before long, a fragrant aroma wafted out. Song Jie nodded her head, "Mmm! It's the flavor I love the most."

  When her mother came for the first time, Zhao Juan made every effort to steam a fish, make poached fish, fresh fish ball soup and fried fish cake. The aroma had been lingering since the beginning.

  When the dishes were served, even during Chinese New Year, Song Jie had never eaten such a sumptuous meal. The whole table was filled with a fish banquet, red and green colors looking very good, paired with plump white steamed buns, inside which were Zhao Mu's cured sausages and salted duck eggs, the table was arranged so full that there wasn't even a gap.

  For a while, everyone's chopsticks moved quickly, and they ate up all the dishes in a flash.

  Zhao Wu ate the most, he lived in the city and it was not easy for him to eat river fresh food, this time he had a satisfying meal.

  Everyone is holding on.