Since they arrived early, even after a few fishing, the mist and exceptionally cold morning light had just dissipated, and everything seemed warmer when the sun came brighter.

Several people from the morning to noon, fishing is not a very physical thing, the most physical is the expectation, often from the focus of the anticipation when you come back to your senses, the stomach has already been hungry growling.

They began to rush back to camp at noon, when the sun was at its best, carrying the morning's harvest, and even if the freshwater fish were better raised, the fresh fish could not wait until the next day, so Schiller disemboweled, gutted, and processed all the fish into ready-to-cook meat before he returned.

Natasha watched in amazement, mainly at the fact that an angler would not want to show off his live prey, and Schiller responded: "It's not something to show off, our harvest should be very small in terms of ice fishing, as Ivan said, the prey of this period is more fragile and easier to take the bait." ”

Natasha looked down at the only fish she had caught, it was a trout, not particularly strong, judging by the shape of her abdomen, she should have consumed a lot of accumulated fat, and it was destined to not taste too good.

"Well, it seems that you prefer challenging fishing." Natasha hesitated, but still didn't make the allusions in her tone clearer, as if she was worried.

As he spoke, Schiller had already begun to deal with the last fish, and it was only then that Natasha had the time to watch his movements carefully.

Schiller laid a mat on the ice, and he sat cross-legged on it, grabbed a fish by the tail and slapped them on the ground, striking them on the head with the handle of a kitchen knife, knocking the fish unconscious almost instantly.

And when he moved the knife, the fish's muscles still had reflexes, so the process of opening the gills was particularly cruel, a knife entered, the fish's tail was cocked twice, blood gurgled out, the tip of the Western-style kitchen knife turned back, Schiller raised his wrist and slightly turned the blade, and the gills were shaved out.

Then one hand holds the base of the fish on the body, and the other hand holding the knife cuts along the belly of the fish, and the tip of the knife is inserted vertically, and all the internal organs in it are effortlessly picked out.

Natasha swallowed, it was hard for her to ignore Schiller's movements, even when her target was the rich businessmen who took her to the extremely expensive and high-end Western-style private dining room and visited the back kitchen, she had no interest in the chefs' smooth slaughtering movements, people and animals were different after all.

But what fascinated her about Schiller's hand was that Natasha could have imagined how he had cut open the chest and abdomen of other equally strong animals with the same hands and with the same crisp movements, and disposed of their entrails.

Then, some phantom pain that Natasha had never experienced before began to spread down the center of her chest and onto her neck, as if the knife had cut through her skin, and the hand was picking at the internal organs in her abdomen that could be preserved.

Natasha shook her head vigorously, Schiller had removed the head and began to cut the fish into thin slices, the perch in his hand was the fattest of their labor, the flesh was slightly pink, and the fat was lighter.

Natasha made another swallowing motion, and she asked, "What are you going to make this fish for?" ”

"I think we can replace the luncheon meat in borscht with fish." Schiller gave the answer without hesitation: "You said, you can put anything in borscht." ”

"But I think that's a bit of a waste, because I don't think the other two groups can catch better fish than we do, there has to be a main course, right?"

"And what do you want to eat, ma'am?"

Schiller's question was very straightforward and gentlemanly, so Natasha really pursed her lips and thought about it for a while, and said: "Although 'shuba (salmon salad' is not bad, sea bass doesn't seem to be suitable for this dish, and I also like smoked fish jelly, but I don't seem to have so much time to make this." ”

"Fried fish bread?" Schiller suggested a possibility.

"God, don't tell me you brought flour." Natasha shook her head, as if she couldn't make sense, "That's a time-consuming snack too." ”

"But it's well worth the treat."

Natasha had nothing to say, so she shrugged her shoulders and began to pack up her things on the ground, and as she picked up her fishing rod, she said, "I'm not sure we'll be here again in the afternoon, so we're going to take everything back, and you've made a wise decision, we don't have to carry a heavy tank full of water." ”

"Trust me, it's pretty sensible."

It soon became clear to Natasha that Schiller's decision to kill the fish first was more sensible than she had imagined, because when he returned to camp, Steve was saying, "I only have two hands, so no matter how strong I have, I can't take four tanks at the same time, and half of my harvest and Nick's harvest is still in place, so we have to go back." ”

Natasha kicked the ice cubes scattered next to her with her boot and said, "Can't you kill some of the fish first?" ”

"Jesus, ma'am, what foolish are you talking about!" Nick looked at Natasha in disbelief and said, "You don't even know how many vibrant fish we've caught, how can we kill them until you're going to see their robustness and vigor?" ”

Natasha was helpless to the extreme, she knew that these two fish-only fish-minded anglers would not consider that lunch would be postponed due to their actions, and Charles next to her saw her dissatisfaction and comforted: "The temperature is lower than we thought, so the flame may have to wait a while before it rises, so sit down and warm up, ma'am." ”

Natasha sat down on the fishing bench next to her, and Schiller then walked over to put down his box, Eric glanced inside as if he was a little curious, raised an eyebrow and said, "You've already processed the fish?" ”

Schiller nodded and said, "I don't have so much loot to show off, the two of us don't have much to gain, there's no need to carry two heavy tanks back and forth." ”

"I make grilled fish, what about you?" Ivan stood behind Charles and said as he wrapped the line, "I caught a big strong one, probably the biggest of us, it is only suitable for steaming or roasting, and it is wasted when cut into fish." ”

"I promised to make Natasha a fried fish bread, I just brought flour and other seasonings, and a little bit of vegetables, and I'll go prepare the dough first, and we'll decide on the menu when Steve and them come back."

"I've got to save a few for the evening." Charles said this, but his attention was not at all on the dish, his eyes scanning between Schiller and Natasha, and then raising an eyebrow at Eric.

"Divide one, and we'll make low-temperature smoked and marinated fish." Eric's attention seemed to be all on the dish, and he seemed very relaxed, saying in an English accent with a strange German accent: "All you need is some less complete charcoal to burn and wrap the marinated fish in it." ”

"Or we can have some fish sausages." Schiller also proposed: "Because there is not enough time, it can be left unsmoked, and the dish can be eaten with sauces, and the dish can be saved for the evening." ”

"But what about the casing, what is used for the casing? Don't tell me you still have intestines. Natasha stared down at the fire, then up at Schiller.

After saying this, Natasha suddenly froze, she really hoped that Schiller would not understand this as a pun or encouragement about cannibalism, and this Schiller proved to be very good at chatting, he just smiled and said, "I guess we only need to send one Russian to get enough bear intestines." ”

Ivan sneered, but Natasha was very obviously relieved, and said with a little absent-mindedness: "In this season, hunting any bear-like creatures is not a good choice, they are usually hungry, but before hibernation, they will be very aggressive, and it will be even worse if they meet a mother bear with a cub." ”

"Hey, look at these pretty little guys." Nick's high-pitched shouts came from a distance, and the others turned to look at him and saw him and Steve walking back with a water tank.

The two of them were indeed the most abundant and of the best quality of the fish of all the groups, with trout, sea bass, blackfish, American eels, small squid, and so on.

"We thought we could catch the tail of the salmon." Nick made a pun on the words, "But they left as soon as they laid their eggs, and maybe we're three months late." ”

"Don't be too greedy." Charles said, looking around at the harvest and saying, "That's enough for us to eat, even for the evening and tomorrow." ”

"In fact, ice fishing is good for the surrounding ecology." Steve shrugged his shoulders and said as he opened the lid of the tank, "A reduced fish population helps the remaining individuals to share more food, resulting in an increased population next year and healthier offspring." ”

"It's a bit redundant to talk about this here." Ivan said, "The lake is too small to have a large population, and the carcasses of starving fish can feed their companions more than you can catch them and waste them." ”

Steve touched his nose in embarrassment, the waste of Americans is well known, and he really can't refute it in this regard, Nick saw his embarrassing situation, so he changed the subject and said, "What are we going to eat?" ”

"The main dish that has been decided is grilled fish, the cold dish is low-temperature smoked fish, and the snack is fried fish bread."

"Hell bread, is there anyone bringing flour? …… Well, Dr. Schiller is better than anyone else everywhere he goes. ”

"It's for a lady." Charles, who didn't get a response to the gossip on Eric, raised an eyebrow at Nick again, but fortunately Nick was not as puzzled as Eric, and he immediately stared at the only remaining eye with a very obvious white, and his gaze went back and forth between Schiller and Natasha.

"Nick, did anyone tell you you're like a Chihuahua sniffer?" Natasha said impatiently, she thrust the kitchen knife in her hand into the ice, looked at Nick and said, "Take care of your fish, or I'll chop them all in one go." ”

Nick leaned back as if he couldn't mess with Natasha, but at the same time stabbed Steve with his elbow, and Steve was staring at the loot in the tank without blinking, and it was clear that only his attention was on the fish in the audience.

"Come on, let's show off our wonderful chefs." Nick stood up and clapped his hands, took off the glove of one hand and put it under his armpit, looked left and right, and said, "But first, let's build a stove for them, and we will work equally, and then enjoy the fruits equally." ”

Natasha rolled her eyes, a little mocking Nick for making an axe, but Nick was happy to tell similar jokes, and then he finally got serious and said, "We'll leave the swordsman here to handle the ingredients, and the rest of us will go to the next woods to chop some wood and pick up some rocks to make the campfire stronger." ”

"Let's get started, friends, and the steaming meal awaits us like fruit behind the fishing season."