Haizhu invited her grandmother and second uncle and third uncle to come over for dinner in the name of celebration, and the four members of the Zheng family naturally did not miss it. She went to the town to buy fresh pork, picked a big rooster, went to the sea to catch fish and shrimp, pried abalone, and tied an apron to show off her cooking skills when she got home.

"What's in these bottles and cans?" Wei Jinhua asked.

"For cooking, Sichuan pepper, star anise, cinnamon, cumin and ripe sesame ripe peanuts are available." Haizhu stir-fried the chicken with a spatula, she fried the sugar color before the chicken went into the pot, and then poured a spoonful of soy sauce, stir-fried until it tasted, added a scoop of warm water to cover the chicken, covered the pot, and she began to give the abalone a flowering knife.

"What is this doing? Is it so particular that you still carve flowers? Wei Jinhua came in with a cleaned grouper.

"It's more flavorful when it's cut, and you can taste it when the dish is cooked."

Wei Jinhua asked Fengping to go out to play, she sat under the stove and lit the fire, and asked her who she learned from, and she knew a lot.

"I got this recipe, I didn't go out with the boat a few days ago, the boat was boring, I read it to me twice with a literate person, and I knew a lot of dishes." Haizhu said half-truths, she had seen a lot of cooking videos on the Internet in her previous life, and she couldn't eat it and could only be addicted, the more she was so, the more she remembered, and the more profound her memory became. After the heavy work, she sat on the sea and had all the ingredients, but it was a pity that she had to restrain herself as a fisherwoman with little knowledge. Coincidentally, she went to the sea to salvage and found the food recipe, and she managed to catch it in her own hands and bring it back, and learned how to deal with all kinds of ingredients.

"You girl......" Wei Jinhua was speechless, she didn't know what to say, if she wanted to say that it was luck to go out and meet a nobleman, but Haizhu could seize the opportunity to talk to people and mix a little friendship, then it could no longer be returned to luck.

"Smart, clever, discerning, bold but knows how to advance and retreat." She smacked it and said, "I can't live as well as you for a decade or two more than you, and I don't dare to talk to the officers and soldiers when I go to the dock." ”

"We paid the fishing tax, and the garrison at the dock is to protect us, as long as we don't commit crimes, we don't have to scare them."

Wei Jinhua heard this statement for the first time, she paid the fishing tax, and the officers and soldiers should protect her? It turns out that the fishing tax paid by her man still has this effect?

Seeing that the people talking in the yard went out, Wei Jinhua looked at Haizhu and said tentatively: "After your father's accident, your mother hadn't left at that time, she was too young to support the family, and your uncle also said that you would ......come to my house in a few years when you are older" Seeing Haizhu turn her head to look at her, she felt weak in her heart, and said haha: "Fortunately, it was not decided at that time, my eldest man is a fool, but he is not worthy of you." ”

"What is worthy of it or not, not all people who rely on the sea to eat, how can they be divided into three, six, nine and so on." Haizhu lifted the lid of the pot and poured the abalone into it, and the smoke that rose into the air blurred her expression, "I grew up with Da Lang, he shit by the river when he was a child, and he was still fished up by the person I shouted, and when my younger brother looked at the eldest person, when it came to marrying ......" She took a breath and shook her head timidly, "I can't think about it, I can't think about it, it feels like it's incest." ”

"You dead girl, you dare to say anything." Wei Jinhua raised her hand and made a gesture to pinch her.

Haizhu shrugged and smiled, and continued, "I don't like people younger than me, it's too naïve. ”

Chapter 25: Shark Mouth Escape

Second Uncle Qi lost control of his body after being paralyzed, his sense of perception was lacking, and his sense of hearing and smell was much more sensitive than usual, and he sat in the shade of the corner and faintly listened to the sound of talking in the kitchen. He didn't say anything at the time, and when he went back to his house after dinner, he revealed it to his wife in private.

Grandma Qi sat in the room and thought for a long time, leaning over to find Haizhu.

Haizhu was busy working in the house, and the starfish that had been fished back one after another were dried in the sun, and she saved a box, and she drilled a hole with an awl and strung it with a rope to hang on the stone wall. Hearing footsteps coming in, she turned around to see Grandma Qi scanning the corners of the room with tears in her eyes.

Haizhu didn't make a sound to disturb her, she continued to hang starfish on the wall, Grandma Qi didn't speak, she quietly recalled the place where her eldest son used to sit before his death.

The last starfish was fixed, Haizhu jumped off the table, she walked to the door and looked at the wall, patted the ash on her hand and asked, "Miss my father?" ”

"What do you want him to do, ruthless thing." Grandma Qi was still angry in her words, "As soon as he closed his eyes, he was relieved, leaving our grandparents and grandchildren to clean up the mess for him, especially you, who suffered at a young age, and became a father and mother to his younger siblings when he was a child."

Why did you suddenly talk about this? Haizhu twisted her fingertips, sat on the threshold with her back against the sunset and bent her knees, the grandparents and grandchildren sat face to face at a distance of three steps, She said with a smile: "I don't think it's suffering, Dongzhu and Fengping are both big, don't ask me to take care of them much, The three of us sisters and brothers are each other's company, they rely on me, and I also rely on them." This family can't live without her, and she can't do without Dongzhu and Fengping, she finds a sense of recognition and need in her younger siblings, otherwise she might go to sea to find an uninhabited island and drift alone after her leg injury is healed.

She is young and doesn't know the twists and turns of marriage, and everyone in the world says that the eldest sister who has lost her mother can't marry, first, she has no mother's temperament, and second, she will make up for her mother's family. Although Haizhu's mother is still alive, she left home after remarrying, and she dragged her two young brothers alone, and when she reached the age of talking about marriage, she would be picked by her in-laws. However, Grandma Qi didn't say these words to Haizhu, and she couldn't change anything if she said them.

"At noon, what you said to Jinhua in the stove room was heard by your second uncle, and he went back and asked me to ask you, did he hear it." Grandma Qi asked, "Your Aunt Wei intends to let you go to her house to be her daughter-in-law?" ”

Haizhu was stunned for a moment, and reacted a little impatiently, "I refused, I'm only fourteen years old to talk about whether to marry or not, don't talk about it, it's very annoying." ”

"Jinhua and Haishun are both good people, and they are sincere to the three of you sisters and brothers......"

"That won't put me in either." Haizhu became angry, "Aunt Wei and Uncle Zheng treat us well, I know, I am also grateful, I will repay the opportunity in the future." ”

"I haven't finished talking yet, what are you anxious about? I didn't force you to marry. Grandma Qi patted her legs, "You sit down for me, I'll come over and ask because I'm afraid that you don't want to blame her anymore, you want to put good meat in your own bowl, everyone has selfish intentions, don't be angry with people because of her careful thoughts." ”

"If you don't say that, it's over, you have to go around in a big circle." Haizhu was speechless, "Don't worry, I didn't drill the tip of the horns, and I didn't blame my Aunt Wei." ”

Grandma Qi glared at her, got up and was about to go back, and said another word before leaving: "Even when your own family has selfish intentions, it is not ten out of ten good, you must be on guard when you make friends outside, don't be calculated." ”

"Got it—" Haizhu said in a dragging voice, she closed the door and followed the old grandmother out, carrying a bucket and a net pocket to carry the boat out to sea.

"The sun is about to go down, and you still go to sea? In a little while it will be time to cook. Grandma Qi said while standing by the river.

"I'll swim twice in the sea, and you can go back."

The iron anchor was thrown onto the boat, Haizhu took the boat oar to the shore and propped it up, and the boat slid out with all his strength.

The woman who came back from the firewood saw her and beckoned, "Why are you going to sea so late?" ”

"Go and cast two nets and come back, and don't delay things."

There was a boat floating on the sea, Haizhu glanced at it from a distance, adjusted □□the sail in the opposite direction, out of people's sight, she jumped into the sea with neat movements, like a slender fish leisurely swimming in the water.

Fish have a fish passage, shrimp have a shrimp passage, and when they are not eating, they live together peacefully in the sea, swimming happily in each other. Haizhu first chased after a group of small fish without direction, and estimated that it was almost time to get out of the water and shake around. When you venture into the sea, you swim to the bottom of the sea, where you harass conchs that come together in the darkened seagrass, anemones that prey on polyps, and octopuses that blend in with the reef...... The octopus fled from under the reef in panic, swam into the seagrass and turned blue-brown, and then turned white when it got into the coral rocks, and if it hadn't been staring at it, it would have been impossible to tell where it was hiding.

The sea is the territory of fish, shrimp and crabs, and when it comes to the speed of escape, people can't catch up with them, not to mention the slippery octopus, which escapes like a shuttle, and Haizhu can only take advantage of his inattention to cover the net.

After a while at the bottom of the sea, she swam to the surface of the sea avoiding the thick ink sprayed by the octopus, and when she came up to the surface, she encountered a dozen red snappers that were flooded by the tide, and she wrapped her net pocket around the waistband of her trousers and swung her arms to push it up. The fish that were still chasing waves in the tide a moment ago instantly changed their attitude and rushed to the bottom of the sea after noticing her.

Chased and lost a group.

Haizhu got out of the water to wipe the salty water on her face, swam to the side of the boat and poured the octopus into the bucket, she picked up the bamboo tube and drank a few sips of water, waved to the boat in the distance, turned around and dived into the sea again.

On this dive, she encountered a large sea turtle, she swam above it and touched the turtle shell, it was not frightened at all, and swam towards the bottom reef beach with a clear purpose.

Haizhu decided to follow the turtle for a fishing, she pulled a little distance behind the turtle, her eyes looked at the sea below, but the turtle suddenly turned its head and hit her, she couldn't dodge, and was knocked to the bottom of the sea.

The turtle did not stop, but changed direction and swam towards the surface of the sea, and its speed suddenly increased. Haizhu was hesitating whether to follow, when she suddenly heard the sound of a sudden rolling of the sea, she turned her head, and saw a black shadow jumping on the surface of the sea behind her left, with a spindle-like body about the same size as hers, it glanced at her, turned around and chased in the direction of the turtle's escape.

Haizhu swam in the opposite direction, swam a long way and then went towards the sea, where she was not far from the coast, and a shark broke through.

The turtle was chased by a shark, and when it could not escape, it opened its mouth and bit at the fin, and a turtle and a shark made a splash on the surface of the sea that was almost half a human high. Haizhu climbed onto the boat and stood at the bow of the boat to see clearly, reminding her that the turtle that had fled for her life had been bitten by a shark on its shell.

Haizhu scooped up the octopus in the bucket and threw it at the shark, and the octopus fled after falling into the water, and the shark resisted the turtle and swam towards the deep sea. She quickly smashed the bucket down, and threw the wooden oar that rocked the boat, and the oar hit the shark's tail, and it opened its mouth in pain, and the turtle escaped from its confinement and fled for its life.

Haizhu had nothing to do, so she quickly raised the sail and fled, she didn't have time to judge the direction of the wind, the sail sailed out against the wind with the boat back from the shore, and also took the shark away.

The shark opened its mouth wide and bit the stern of the boat, and Haizhu picked up another wooden paddle on the side of the boat and slammed it towards it, the back of her hand swiped over the shark's front kiss, and a rough and clammy touch spread from the back of her hand to her back, causing a layer of goosebumps.

The stern of the fishing boat was wider than the shark's mouth, and it gnawed off a mouthful of sawdust but could not bite the boat through, and after a few more sticks on its head, it sank to the bottom and tried to knock the boat over.

When the catastrophe came, Haizhu was nervous and excited, and the familiar excitement made her excited. She sank her legs, and the man followed the boat, and when she saw the opportunity, she slashed a stick at the underwater figure, and a dazzling eye saw the figure of a large sea turtle under the water, which was active around the shark's fins, and bit every seam.

The shark bites the turtle, and the pearl swings the boat and smashes its tail.

The shark turned its head to hit the boat, and the turtle clicked at it.

Wisps of blood appeared in the clear water, and the blood gradually became thicker, and the shark did not take advantage of it, but retreated, and sank to the bottom of the sea after being hit with another stick.

Haizhu waited for a while to see that it was really gone, she sat on the board of the boat with all her strength and panted, thinking that her third uncle might have noticed the change on her side, she quickly got up and plucked the sails. Hearing the clattering of the bow of the boat, she leaned over and saw the large turtle biting the wood on the bow of the boat trying to climb onto the boat.

The shell was as big as her arms around it, and she couldn't pull it up, so she handed the oar down, looked around the boat again, picked up her old clothes and passed them under the turtle's fins, and dragged the turtle onto the boat with her sleeves.

The turtle's two hind fins were bitten, and the wounds were whitened in the seawater, and when it got into the boat, it lay on the board and did not move, and Haizhu squatted down and said, "Old fellow, you are quite righteous, I thought you had escaped, but you actually chased after me to save me." ”

The more she thought about it, the more novel she felt, and she nagged at the turtle, and finally said, "You go back with me to recuperate, and you will go back to the sea after your injuries are healed." ”

At the end of the day, the sun sank to the other side of the sea, and the wind grew stronger, pushing the mottled fishing boats towards the shore. Qi Laosan, who chased all the way, lost his strength after seeing the familiar sail, and his legs were so weak that he almost fell into the sea.

"Third uncle." Haizhu shouted weakly, looking at the bite marks left on the bow and stern of the boat, she knew that she couldn't be fooled, and honestly confessed: "I met a shark, it chased and killed me, and I was saved by the turtle." ”

"Sharks, really?" Qi Laosan was faintly excited, and when he noticed that something had happened here, he vaguely saw the shark jumping out of the water, "Are you injured?" ”

"No, my life-saving turtle is injured."

Knowing that she was not injured, Qi Laosan said excitedly: "Tell me quickly, what is a shark like?" ”

Haizhu: ......

She muttered a few words, pointed to the bow of the boat, and begged her third uncle to help her keep it secret, "Third uncle, when I go back, someone asks and says that the boat hit the reef, but don't let my grandmother know that I met a shark, let her be worried and don't say anything, you and I still have to listen to her sighs, and if you don't do it, you won't let the two of you go to sea." ”

Qi Lao is not very old, and he also likes thrilling things, and when he saw that Haizhu had no accident, he promised to keep it secret for her, but only told her to go to the sea less in the future.

Haizhu was very obedient at this time, and she nodded and agreed to whatever he said.

After returning to the village, the tragic situation of the fishing boat unexpectedly attracted the attention of the villagers, and Haizhu had already made up a statement in his heart: "When I went to the sea, I forgot to put away the sail, and was blown by the wind and hit the reef, this big turtle was also unlucky, it passed by and was hit and injured its hind fin." ”

"This turtle is not small, it seems to have lived for many years, you don't touch it, let it heal and send it back to the sea." The old man in the village said, "Sea turtles live for a long time and have spirituality, when I was young, I went out to sea and capsized, and I fell into the sea and was rescued by a turtle, which was bigger than this one." ”

Haizhu responded repeatedly, she called her third uncle to help carry the turtle into the yard, "Put it in a basin, I will support your boat to carry two buckets of water back in the sea." ”

"You change your clothes, I'll get it for you." Qi Lao walked out in three steps.

Dongzhu and Fengping had never seen such a big turtle, and the two squatted next to the basin and carefully touched its shell, seeing that it had no intention of biting, their short and fat fingers slowly touched its head.

"Hee-hee, the pattern on its head looks like a sea serpent." Dongzhu smiled, "It's a little ugly." ”

"Maybe it looks ugly to you, come here, don't bother it." Haizhu said through the stone wall, "Dongzhu, you wash rice and cook rice, eat early, and when the tide recedes, we will go to the sea to pick up fish and shrimp for the turtles to eat." ”

As for the fishing boat, Haizhu changed her clothes and went to check it, but the board of the boat was not cracked, and a few bite marks did not affect anything, so she did not plan to repair it. She lost a wooden paddle and went to the village to inquire, and found a suitable one from her fifth uncle's house.

Afraid that the shark would take revenge, Haizhu didn't dare to go to the sea for five days. Every day, she and Qi Laosan hold the boat together to cast nets on the beach to catch some fish and shrimp, and when the tide is low, she goes to the sea with the villagers, and the harvest of the day is just enough to fool the mouths of the three people and a turtle.

She lived a leisurely and interesting life at home, and she almost forgot about Han Ji and Shen Sui, who came with a bunch of things.

"Sister, your sixth brother has been promoted, and you will be covered by me in the future." Shen Sui took care of everything, and after such a long time, he also calmed down, this time he came mainly to thank Haizhu, "Outsiders don't know, I have a clear heart, if it weren't for you, it would be difficult for me to get along with Brother Ji, it's useless to say that the side is useless, you will be my sister in the future, and your business will be my business." ”

Han Ji handed over the box containing fifty taels of gold, "The government has awarded three hundred taels of silver, and your sixth brother and I will each take one hundred taels to show our hearts, five hundred taels of silver is too heavy, so I will exchange it for gold for you." ”

The box was handed over, and he smiled and asked, "How much less?" ”

Haizhu opened the box, the golden color was dazzling, she smiled from ear to ear, hugged the box and said, "A lot, a lot." ”

"A lot of it's fine, these are some of the gifts I asked the housekeeper to prepare, they are all useful, you can keep them." Han Ji opened a two-foot-high camphor wood box, which was full of medicinal herbs, such as red dates and wolfberries, which were common, and some of which could not be named.

Haizhu looked at this box full of medicinal herbs and fell into deep thought, how many illnesses does she have to have to use up these medicinal herbs?

Han Ji was a little embarrassed, seeing that she didn't understand what he meant, he had to explain, "I've read a few medical books, the girl's house is easy to get cold when wet, these are all warm and tonic medicinal materials, you stew a pot of chicken soup, pigeon soup or something every day, and put more medicinal materials in it to stew together." ”

Haizhu realized, and then remembered that her menstrual affairs had not come for three months.

"Is your doctor here?" She asked.

"Here, still on the boat, I'll call him." Han Ji walked out, pointed to the official boats in the river and said, "In the future, your sixth brother and I will be responsible for patrolling the sea and checking the martial arts training in each village. ”

Haizhu is envious, play at public expense!

Chapter 26: The Village Martial Arts Class

Most of the people in the north were tall and burly, and so was the doctor who got off the boat, with long legs and long hands, and a body of tendons and flesh with his rough face, not like a doctor, but more like a man who practiced martial arts.

"Has your doctor ever been on the battlefield? The aura of murder all over his body. Haizhu asked in a low voice.

Han Ji nodded, "Uncle Mu was first my family's government doctor in Kyoto, and then he went to the northwest with my father to become a military doctor. ”

"It's not like a cure, it's more like taking human life." Shen Sui teased, When the people got off the boat, he respectfully called out to Doctor Mu.