Sun Xiuhe’s reaction was exactly what Song Zhaodi had expected. She didn’t say anything, but simply picked up a piece of fish and said to Song Dachuan.
“Grandpa, please try this fish…”
Before she could finish speaking, Sun Xiuhe’s chopsticks blocked her way. “Song Zhaodi, how can you be so unfilial? Your grandfather has been working hard all day, and you only give him a tiny piece of meat?”
After saying that, he picked up the fish head and said, “Honey, you are the head of the family, you must eat this fish head.”
Between a large piece of fish head and a small piece of fish meat, Song Dachuan unsurprisingly chose the fish head, which ‘showed his status in the family’.
Seeing this, Song Zhaodi immediately put the piece of fish into Song Yaodong’s bowl, “Dad, please try it.”
Originally, Song Yaodong had no hope of eating fish, but when he saw Sun Xiuhe deliberately making things difficult for Song Zhaodi, he didn’t want to upset her and forgot that he could only drink fish soup. So he stuffed the fish into his mouth in one gulp.
Then my eyes lit up; the texture was smooth and bouncy, incredibly tender.
No wonder the little girl ate one piece and wanted a second one.
Sincerely praising it, Song Yaodong nodded and said three times, “Delicious, delicious, delicious.”
Sun Xiuhe, who was secretly pleased that Song Dachuan had taken the fish head she had picked up, immediately frowned when she saw Song Yaodong eating the fish meat so unconsciously, and was about to say something.
With quick eyes and hands, Song Zhaodi hurriedly picked up the fish tail, which had been deliberately cut into small pieces and had little meat, and put it into Sun Xiuhe’s bowl.
“Grandma, this is your favorite fish tail.”
Sun Xiuhe couldn’t bring herself to say the scolding she was about to utter, and the aroma of the food made her realize she was really hungry.
Before eating, he even pretended to say, “It’s not that I love eating it; it’s just that there are too many bones in the fish tail, and I’m afraid you’ll get them stuck in your throats.”
After saying that, she stuffed the fish tail into her mouth in one gulp, as if afraid someone would snatch it from her.
Taking advantage of the break, Song Zhaodi picked up several large mouthfuls of fish and placed them into the bowls of Song Yaodong, Zhao Lanzhi, Song Pandi, and herself.
The three people who were being fed stared at the fish in the bowl, swallowing their saliva, but fearing Sun Xiuhe’s tyranny, they dared not touch their chopsticks.
Song Zhaodi gestured for them to eat quickly, and even demonstrated by opening her mouth and eating several pieces of fish in one bite.
They even let out a sigh of satisfaction.
Having tasted the fish slices before, Song Pandi couldn’t resist the stimulation. Without thinking twice, she buried her little head in the big bowl and ate the meat.
Seeing that everyone else was eating, but Zhao Lanzhi hadn’t touched her chopsticks, Song Yaodong felt a pang of sadness.
He placed the chopsticks in his wife’s hand and said, “Eat.”
The couple also started eating.
Having not eaten meat for a long time, Sun Xiuhe was too greedy and stuffed the whole fish tail into her mouth. However, there were too many fish bones, which got mixed with the chewed fish meat. She couldn’t get the fish bones out for a long time, and she couldn’t bear to spit out the fish meat.
With his mouth full of fish bones, he watched helplessly as Song Zhaodi and her family of four ate several large mouthfuls in succession. He wanted to scold them, but he was afraid of choking himself. He was both anxious and angry.
They all eat fish, yet her mouth is full of fish bones. Don’t they all have to spit out fish bones?
By this time, Song Zhaodi and the others had already taken the fish for the fourth time. Sun Xiuhe could no longer hold back and quickly nudged Song Dachuan next to her.
Song Dachuan, who was enjoying the delicious fish head, did not understand Sun Xiuhe’s intention. He glanced at her and was about to ask when his eyes were drawn to the water celery on Song Zhaodi’s chopsticks.
“Zhaodi, what kind of wild vegetable is this? I’ve never seen it before.”
The water celery leaves were plucked, and the tender, white-green stalks were cut into finger-length pieces, glistening with oil, and then went into Song Zhaodi’s mouth.
Then, a crisp chewing sound rang out, and Song Zhaodi introduced it to him, “Grandpa, this is called water celery, it’s very delicious, please try it.”
The fish head tasted exceptionally good today, so Song Dachuan stopped questioning Song Zhaodi’s words and picked up a piece with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.
Then, while chewing, he nodded and went to pick up another piece.
“Not bad, not bad.”
Song Zhaodi smiled and served her younger sister another bowl of river fish porridge, saying, “Eat more, you look so pale and thin.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than Sun Xiuhe’s voice rang out again, “Husband, why do you eat everything?”
“What kind of water celery is this? We’ve never eaten it before, and we don’t even know if it’s poisonous. Have you forgotten that someone in the next village died from eating wild vegetables?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Song Dachuan’s expression changed drastically. The water celery on his chopsticks fell to the ground, and he couldn’t swallow the chewed water celery in his mouth, yet he was reluctant to spit it out.
Sun Xiuhe noticed his hesitation and quickly reached out to gag his throat, “Hurry up and spit it out! Are you willing to risk your life for a couple of bites of food?”
Half by force, they forced the water celery out of Song Dachuan’s mouth.
Song Zhaodi watched Sun Xiuhe busy herself without being disturbed at all. She ate as usual, picked up food as she pleased, and even took a big bite of water celery while meeting Sun Xiuhe’s gaze.
Seeing her blatant defiance, Sun Xiuhe gritted her teeth, pointed at the river fish porridge, and began to attack, “Song Zhaodi, what have you done to this perfectly good brown rice porridge? Is it even edible?”
Song Zhaodi remained expressionless and said, “There’s only a small handful of brown rice left at home, not enough for the whole family. I had no choice but to put in some small fish and shrimp to make up the difference.”
Song Yaodong quickly chimed in, “Mother, Zhaodi’s river fish porridge is delicious. You’ll see once you try it.”
Zhao Lanzhi chimed in, “It’s true, it’s fresh and sweet, much better than brown rice and wild vegetable porridge.”
Seeing that the four people opposite him hadn’t stopped eating, Song Dachuan was eager to try it himself.
“Eating random things will kill you!” Sun Xiuhe roared. “Husband, don’t you agree?”
Song Dachuan wanted to say yes, but the water celery was much tastier than shepherd’s purse, and he didn’t want to go against his conscience, so he didn’t say anything and went to pick up the braised fish pieces instead.
Song Zhaodi said, “It’s alright. If you’re afraid of dying, Grandpa and Grandma, we’ll try it for you first. You can eat this shepherd’s purse without worry, it’s not poisonous.”
The shepherd’s purse was already a bit old at this time, and it couldn’t compare to the tender water celery.
Seeing this, Sun Xiuhe was furious. She grabbed Song Dachuan’s chopsticks and said, “Husband, we’ve eaten so much, but Yaozu hasn’t had a single bite. He’s at the age where he’s growing.”
Mentioning Song Yaozu immediately snapped Song Dachuan out of his reverie, which had been dominated by the delicious food. He glanced at Sun Xiuhe and silently put away his chopsticks.
He cleared his throat and said to Song Yaodong, “We’ve eaten enough. We’ll save the rest for Yaozu when he gets back.”
Song Yaodong didn’t say anything more. Sun Xiuhe smiled smugly and bent down to pick up the porcelain bowl.
Song Zhaodi’s eyes darted around, and she looked up at the two bowls of fish and meat, then sneezed.
Sun Xiuhe paused in her act of putting away the bowl, looked at Song Zhaodi in disbelief, and gritted her teeth.
“You’ve ruined the fish, how are we going to feed Yaozu now?”
Song Dachuan also looked disgusted and said angrily, “Zhao Di, you’re being outrageous.”
“I’m so sorry, I probably caught a cold after falling into the water today.”
Song Zhaodi rubbed her nose and said apologetic words, but without any sincerity. She leaned over and took the large bowl from Sun Xiuhe’s hand.
“Oh dear, since my uncle can’t eat it, we can’t let it go to waste.”
“Father, Mother, Little Sister, you won’t dislike me, will you?”
“How about we share it?”