Wang Lijun¡¯s cousin is Tao Haisheng. It is said that he was born on a boat when his parents were fishing at sea.
Tao Haisheng¡¯s home is very simple, but after walking into Tao Haisheng¡¯s home by the river, he felt a sense of intimacy.
There is a table and several wooden benches placed in the main room.
Tao Haisheng¡¯s children have all gone out to live their lives, leaving only two old people at home.
"You guys sit down for a while, and I'll go to the kitchen to help your cousin." Tao Haisheng poured a glass of water for everyone and got into the kitchen.
After a while, the sound of chickens neighing came from inside.
Wang Lijun stood up and walked into the kitchen of Tao Haisheng's house. Tao Haisheng was holding a reed chicken and a bowl on the floor, which was stained bright red with the blood of the reed chicken.
"Cousin, what are you doing all this for? We just came here after lunch." Wang Lijun asked with a frown.
"What are you talking about! It's rare for you to come to your cousin's house once. This chicken is raised by yourself, and it's rare for you to eat it outside. Lijun, you go outside to accompany the guests. The meal will be ready in a short time!" Tao Haisheng I was busy in the kitchen with my mother-in-law.
Jiangbian looked around the house, and there were some yellowed paper paintings on it. Such paper paintings should have been posted on the wall for decades. Although they were a little yellowed, the images were still very clear.
Jiangbian casually walked into the kitchen and saw Tao Haisheng and his wife busy inside.
"Uncle and aunt, let me help you!" Jiang Bian said.
¡°No, no, don¡¯t get your hands dirty, go sit outside, we¡¯ll be fine here soon,¡± Tao Haisheng said.
Jiang Bian smiled and said, "I was still in the countryside for the first half of the year! I did this job very efficiently, don't worry!"
Jiang Bian squatted on the ground with a smile, cleaning the reed chicken with Tao Haisheng. As Tao Haisheng got older, his eyesight naturally deteriorated, and when he worked, he was naturally not as agile as the young people.
When we got to the back, there was a person cleaning up by the river.
"Uncle, I can do it alone. I have worked as a chef, so I am very good at this job!" Jiang Bian said with a smile.
"Well, the young man is pretty good. He does this job really neatly. He is already a chef at a young age." Mrs. Tao Haisheng also praised.
Jiangbian¡¯s skills were indeed professional. He cleaned the reed chicken cleanly with just a few strokes. Even with a magnifying glass, he couldn¡¯t find a single remaining hair.
Then, with the kitchen knife that Tao Haisheng handed over, he easily broke open the chicken and took out the internal organs from the chicken's belly. The offal could not be thrown away, so I washed it carefully and put it in a big bowl.
"Young man, wash your hands and go out to play with them. You are a distinguished guest at my aunt's house. How can I keep you working?" Mrs. Tao Haisheng said apologetically.
Jiang Bian smiled and said, "It's okay! Anyway, I'm idle. I'm not very familiar with what Brother Wang and the others are talking about, so I can't say anything."
It is true that Wang Lijun and Li Huixing rarely have anything in common except fishing and riverside. Jiang Bian usually doesn't watch TV or surf the Internet, and the things he is exposed to are fundamentally different from Wang Lijun and Li Huixing.
Jiangbian was also embarrassed to let Wang Lijun and others talk about fishing in order to accommodate him. Besides, Wang Lijun¡¯s topic about fishing is nothing new to the riverside.
Mrs. Tao Haisheng glanced at the riverside and said with a smile, "You're a good kid. Have you found someone yet?"
"Old woman, are you going to introduce someone to others randomly again? If someone works as a chef in a big city, can he find a mother-in-law from our village?" Tao Haisheng muttered.
"What happened to the country woman? The country woman is no longer good enough for you?" Mrs. Tao Haisheng snorted.
Tao Haisheng remained silent. It seems that there are some stories in this topic.
Wang Lijun poked his head in and said, "Jiangbian, you are here! I thought you had gone somewhere! If you do it yourself, we will be really lucky!"
Wang Lijun was not polite at all.
Jiang Bian smiled and said, "As long as you don't think my skills are not good enough when the time comes!"
"That's not possible. If you fry the local chicken here, you can't go wrong with the taste!" Wang Lijun said with a smile.
Jiangbian has been practicing hard at the fish restaurant for so long, and the results are still good. Although the conditions here are simple, there is no difficulty in Jiangbian's eyes. It didn't take long to make several dishes.
In order to welcome the arrival of several people, Tao HaishengI made enough preparations, weighed a few kilograms of meat, killed a chicken, and then prepared some side dishes, which were stir-fried to make a hearty table.
The time is just right, it¡¯s almost time for dinner.
Tao Haisheng and his mother-in-law took out all the dishes, while Jiangbian found a faucet to wash his hands, found a towel to wipe his hands, and walked out.
At this time, I heard a boy outside shouting loudly, "Grandpa Third, Grandpa Third, your house is so fragrant, have you killed the chicken again?"
"This boy really has a good nose!" Tao Haisheng laughed and cursed.
"Youngjun, you little brat came to my house to eat for food again? Third grandpa tells you that there are many guests today, and third grandpa's pot is too small, so he can't cook your food." Tao Haisheng said wisely.
Soon, a naughty little boy appeared at the door. He was quite tall and strong. He was the boy who ate noodles at the Lotus Leaf Noodle Stall in the morning. The child's name is Tao Yingjun, but his eyes are wandering and he looks very smart.
"Grandpa Third, don't worry, I'm not here to eat at your house. I've already eaten. During the autumn harvest, you told me that if I catch bugs and feed them to the reed chicken, you'll give me its drumsticks. I As soon as I smell the smell of chicken in your house, I came over to see if the reed chicken was killed!" Tao Yingjun walked to the dining table, looked left and right, he was so greedy that he choked on his saliva.
Everyone looked at his funny look and bent over with laughter.
"Then you are mistaken, little naughty one. You are mistaken. The little reed chicken I told you is not a big hen. The chick hasn't grown up yet! But you can't kill it yet! Today Although it is a reed chicken, it is not the one that eats the bugs you caught." Tao Haisheng said with a smile.
"Third grandpa is a scumbag! The one I feed the worms is obviously a big hen. When did he turn into a chicken?" Tao Yingjun cried sadly, but looked into the bowl.
Tao Haisheng still wanted to tease Tao Yingjun, but his mother-in-law slapped him, "You death row boss, why don't you laugh so hard that you will cry? Yingjun, please ignore your third grandpa, your third grandma left the chicken legs, so here you go eat!"
¡°It¡¯s better to be Third Grandma, Third Grandpa is a big bad guy!¡± Tao Yingjun¡¯s face immediately filled with a smile.
"Children these days are really evil. They don't see their biological parents several times throughout the year. Tao Yingjun's parents went to the city to work, but there was no news. Now his grandfather takes care of him, and the family has no financial resources to feed him. It's not easy." Mrs. Tao Haisheng mentioned the affairs of Tao Yingjun's family by the way.
"No matter what the occasion is, the children are older now and can understand the words. Don't talk nonsense anymore." Tao Haisheng rolled his eyes at his mother-in-law and stopped her from continuing.
Such things are not uncommon in society, and no one cares about them. Jiang Bian glanced at Tao Yingjun a few more times, as if he was seeing himself in childhood. At that time, weren't you just like him, eating everywhere? If you come across a good family, you can give some, but if you come across a bad one, you can just kick them out of the door! I didn't understand anything at that time, I was just hungry.
Mrs. Tao Haisheng took a big bowl, filled it with a bowl of rice, put two chicken legs on it, and put one or two pieces of meat.
"Is that enough?" Mrs. Tao Haisheng handed the big bowl to Tao Yingjun.
"Thank you, Third Grandma, that's enough. I'll be full after eating two chicken drumsticks!" Tao Yingjun said, but he took the big bowl in his hand and ate it with big mouthfuls, as if he was eating the most precious thing. The most delicious thing.
"Youngjun, go back as soon as you're full, or your grandparents will have to come find you again!" Tao Haisheng said.
"Yeah!" Tao Yingjun's mouth was full and he couldn't speak, so he just hummed.
¡°Don¡¯t be anxious, don¡¯t be anxious, there¡¯s still more after you finish eating, no one will grab it from you, you¡¯ll get choked!¡± Mrs. Tao Haisheng said.
"Let's eat too!" Tao Haisheng poured a glass of rice wine for everyone.
Tao Haisheng drank a drink, sighed and said, "Lijun, look, when you were children, life in our fishing village was easy. Young people didn't have to go to other places and could live directly guarding the Qianjiang River. But now , Qianjiang can¡¯t support us anymore, and young people can¡¯t stay at home anymore! If we stay at home, we can¡¯t even support a family.¡±
Wang Lijun nodded, "When we were children, the fishing village was very wealthy. Every household was singing and laughing. Why is it like this now?"
"In the early years, I went to sea several times a year. Every time I went out, I didn't say too much. The money I earned could cover my expenses for a year. But in the past two years, I didn't go to sea at all! Because not only did I not make enough money to go to sea, Money and oil money have to be lost. In the past two years, petrochemical companies have exploded one after another. The entire coast has been polluted. Even our Qianjiang River is very polluted. There are a large number of factories on both sides of the strait, and a large amount of sewage discharge. ,?Even the insects can't survive inside, let alone the fish! "Tao Haisheng said.
¡°That¡¯s right, I remember when I was a kid, when I came to my aunt¡¯s house, my favorite thing to eat was saury. I didn¡¯t expect that saury now sells for thousands of yuan per tael.¡± Wang Lijun said.
"Haha, at that time, it goes without saying that there were so many fish in the river that even when I washed my feet at the pier, there were fish getting into my trouser legs!" Tao Haisheng said.
"Why are you going through these old accounts while you are eating? Lijun, your company in the city is getting more and more prosperous now! Take more care of the two boys in our family from now on." Mrs. Tao Haisheng said.
"What are you talking about, aunt? I am their elder brother. Is there any elder brother who doesn't take care of his younger brother?" Wang Lijun said, patting his chest.
Jiangbian has some impressions of what they said. Although the Lujiang River has not changed as much as the Qianjiang River, it is still very different from when he was a child. No one has cleaned up the silt in the Lujiang River. It is getting thicker and thicker, aquatic plants are growing wildly, and there are fewer and fewer fish in it. Compared with when I was a child, I don¡¯t know how much worse it is!