Delicious Delicacy of the Demon Spirit

He Weiran went to make rice dumplings for the river god Ayan, and there were only two of her and Li Kuer standing in the yard, chatting when they were free.

"Miss Ku'er, Miss He and I are already friends. You call her sister, so you can also call me sister."

"Sister Ah Yan..." Li Kuer yelled tremblingly, she had never thought of being related to a river god.

"Well, how about I discuss something with you?" Sure enough, I was uneasy and kind...

"What's the matter..." Li Kuer asked anxiously.

Ah Yan looked at the door of the kitchen, and lowered his voice, "Sell me the remaining zongzi, and I'll give you five taels of silver."

Li Ku'er squinted at her and stopped talking.

"Tell me, do you agree or not?"

Li Kuer was afraid of offending her, so he had to say: "Sister He gave me the zongzi, and I'll sell it to you, it's not very good..."

"You don't tell me, I don't tell you, who knows?"

"If you don't tell me, if I don't tell you, Sister He will definitely know..."

"As for what?" At first, Ah Yan felt that the child was stubborn, but after thinking about it, the cook did seem to have the ability, so she asked, "Tell me, what is she?"

"Huh?" Li Kuer blinked blankly, and asked back, "You are the Lord River God, how can you ask me such a thing?"

"If I see it, I still ask you what to do? I said, you little girl is really annoying, if you don't want to tell me, just tell me."

Li Ku'er made a bitter face, and said that he really didn't know.The River God just didn't believe it, looked at her with disdain, waved his hands and said, "Hey, I won't chat with you anymore, there is no leak."

As soon as the words were finished, He Weiran brought out two bunches of zongzi.Ah Yan rushed up to meet him, took the rice dumplings, thanked him and said goodbye.

The river god Ayan left, and left from that well.He Weiran looked at the dying eels on the ground, picked out a large tank, cleared the water in it, stuffed the eels in, and poured it full of salt.

"Sister He, why did you do this? Do you want to salt it to death?" Li Kuer helped her wipe the salt together, and the question was interesting.

He Weiran laughed and explained: "Eel, the most fishy thing is the mucus on its body. So before cooking it, you should remove the mucus first. Salt is the best thing, and you can wash it with your hands tomorrow. The slime will be gone. Besides, after tonight, it will be completely dead, and if there is salt, the fish will not rot."

"So that's how it is..." Li Kuer looked at the eel that had barely moved, and suddenly felt that it was very pitiful, and said, "Why does Sister He want such a big eel all of a sudden? I haven't heard you mention it before?"

Seeing the sympathetic expression on her face, He Weiran understood her thoughts, closed the lid of the vat, pressed it with a big stone, and took Li Kuer to the well to wash his hands, saying: "You still have Do you remember the day we went to dig yams, you heard it by the Inagawa?"

Li Kuer nodded hurriedly.How could she forget that her legs were so frightened at that moment, she was simply a lifetime shadow.

"I found that the song you were playing was broken, so I hurried down the mountain to look for you. At that time, you were squatting on the ground with your legs crossed and shaking, and behind you was an eel, standing upright with its mouth wide open, waiting for you to pass by."

"Ah!" Li Kuer trembled in fright, and felt the sound of running water from that day behind him again. That's right, it was the sound of something protruding from the water.

"So...so sister He, that's it?" She pointed tremblingly at the water tank, saw He Weiran nodded, and asked again: "Then Axu..."

"I'm afraid Axu is its bait. If you were bewitched that day, and you really went into the water to find him, you would end up in the eel's mouth."

"Ah! It's a good thing I listened to you and didn't respond to Ah Xu, let alone go over it." Li Kuer patted his chest and let out a sigh of relief, then stared at the water tank angrily: "It's so hateful, it really deserves it. By the way, Sister He, let's set off the river lantern someday, Ah Xu..."

He Weiran cut off her words, shook his head and said, "July and a half has already passed, and the river lantern can't lead him down. Why don't we go to his house and ask his parents to invite monks to rescue him."

Li Kuer listened to her suggestion but was very skeptical, and asked: "Can Axu's father and mother trust me?"

He Weiran already had an idea, and said: "You don't need to talk about it, let's write a note and stuff it into the fish's mouth, and ask the river god girl to put the fish in the bucket of his well tomorrow night. When they fetch water early in the morning, they will definitely find out, how can it be more effective than telling them personally?"

Li Ku'er thinks this is a good idea, when Axu's parents see the note, they will definitely think that it is Axu who sent Yuer to report the letter.

On the second day, it dawned very early, and it seemed that the autumn tiger was still fierce.The sunlight penetrated through the window, Li Kuer lay on the bed in a daze, and after a long while, he realized that he was in He Weiran's residence.Turning her head to look at her side, this time, He Weiran was indeed beside her, sleeping with her eyes closed, and there was no sign of waking up.Li Ku'er didn't dare to move, her breathing was controlled very shallow, for fear of waking her up.But I don't know why, He Weiran seemed to be aware of it, although she was obviously cautious, and when she opened her eyes, she was sleepy but bright.

"Ku'er woke up so early?" The voice was very soft and soft, as gentle as the softest down, scratching the tip of Li Ku'er's heart.Li Kuer hummed, turned around and lay on his side, and asked He Weiran: "Sister He, what does eel taste like?"

"Little girl, have you never eaten eel?"

Li Ku'er didn't feel ashamed, and admitted generously: "My father said that eels are very valuable, and they are eaten only when they need to nourish their bodies. At that time, my mother was still there, and my body was very weak. Dad went to catch eels in the river, and in the hot weather, he caught them all night and was bitten by mosquitoes all over his body, so he only caught one, and it was only this long." Li Kuer gestured with two index fingers, and said : "My father doesn't know how to cook, so he simply steamed it and said he would give me a piece of it. I was bitten by a water snake when I was young. Seeing the appearance of such a small animal made me shudder, and it was so thin. One eel, my mother couldn’t eat enough for one meal, so I refused to take it. Later I asked my mother if the eel was delicious, and she said it was very delicious. I asked her if she had strength after eating it, and she said that she felt like she could live One hundred years old. At that time, I thought, so eels look ugly, but they are so powerful.”

He Weiran was so overwhelmed by what she said, she didn't feel sleepy anymore, just listening to her tell stories about her childhood, about her parents, she was a little inexplicably moved.She touched Li Ku'er's face and said with a smile: "Then today I must let Ku'er taste the eel that can make people live to be a hundred years old."

When the time was almost up, the two of them got up and tidied up, and went to work separately.One went to the back kitchen and the other to the courtyard.Li Kuer absent-mindedly swept the floor, sweating from the heat, but when he thought about eating an eel that could make a person live a hundred years, he felt very excited.

After sweeping the floor, it is natural to go to the back kitchen.As soon as she ran into the small courtyard, Li Kuer saw all the kitchen staff squatting on the ground and working.She got closer and looked again, and they were each grabbing a handful of salt and rubbing the body of the big eel.

"Ah, Ku'er, come quickly!"

Xiao Qu called her, and she ran over and squatted beside Xiao Qu.

"Let me tell you, Sister He just spoke. I went to ask the prince this morning for an eel feast. The prince agreed, saying that everyone in the house can come and eat."

"Ah? Really? Everyone has it?" Although Li Kuer is disappointed that she is not the only one who can live a hundred years old, but thinking of such a big eel, it is not enough for two or three people to eat. If you drop it, it will break after a long time. It's too wasteful. It's better to be happy with everyone.

"I heard that the lord has even asked the butler to call for the dance and music team. They want to form a big circle in the courtyard and have fun regardless of their rank."

"very nice!"

"Well, it's very good. We'll be busy in the back kitchen. Sister He said that she has asked the housekeeper to temporarily paste two large earthen stoves in the courtyard, and bought a lot of big pots. When the time comes, she will sing and dance here. Cook the eel next to it, and serve each dish while it is hot, so as to avoid delays on the road, and it will become fishy when it cools."

"This is also very interesting, don't worry, I will help you then."

"It's still your loyalty!"

In the evening, everyone arrived, and the eel banquet was held as scheduled.The dance and music troupe had already started to perform, the players playing and singing were on the periphery, and the dancers and singers were in the middle.

The desks are the same for everyone, as are the chairs, including the prince and princess.The prince thinks this is very good, having fun with the people, it is like having dozens of family members who can eat together, ordinary, but there is no need to guard against.What's more, this time there was the biggest eel he had ever seen, and the best cook he had ever seen, the two collided together, it was a feast of tongues.

The dishes haven't been served yet, and there are only drinks and fruits on everyone's table.The wine is green plum wine, and those who do not drink drink green plum juice.

The eel was cut in the afternoon, and it was prepared in advance for various dishes. Therefore, except for He Weiran, no one else needs to be too busy, just wait for her to prepare each dish and serve it on a separate plate. .

Li Ku'er and Xiao Qu sat at the same table, next to He Weiran's table, He Weiran was not there, but sat at Ah Yan.Everyone knows that this big eel was given by He Weiran, a friend named Ah Yan. Naturally, no one objected to her being able to participate, and it was too late to welcome her. They were quite enthusiastic about her.

River God Ayan had never said so many innocuous words to so many mortals, except when buying rice dumplings, so he was not used to it.Li Ku'er was overjoyed to see her awkward face forced to laugh.

Not long after, the first dish was served. It was a small bowl of eel ball soup, stewed into a milky white color, with scattered green onions floating on top, and two eel balls on the bottom, served with a bowl of white rice.Everyone couldn't wait to taste it, and couldn't help but praise, the fish balls were smooth, fresh but not fishy, ​​and extremely beautiful.

The second dish is a plate of steamed eel.Each plate is only flat, but because of the thickness of the bowl itself, the amount is not small.The eel didn't have any seasoning, but it was covered with a layer of fragrant dried plums. After a long time of steaming, the salty fragrance of dried plums slowly penetrated into the eel meat, creating a very wonderful taste.

The third dish is fried eel with crispy skin and tender inside.The deep-fried food has both the taste and the aroma. The aroma of this fried eel is not ordinary. It has the aroma of sesame seeds, which comes from the oil-sesame oil, and the fragrance of grass plants, which comes from the frying aroma of the eel. Artemisia.

Immediately afterwards, there were eels with pickled vegetables, fried eel livers with chives and yellows, grilled eels with fragrant sauce, sweet and spicy eel shreds, and crispy fried eel cakes, a total of eight dishes, and finally a grilled eel dumpling was served to each person.

Only after the eel feast did Li Kuer realize that it is not an exaggeration to say that eating eels can live for 100 years.