It was the second watch of the night, and they craved a touch of pink.
***......***
Tenant farrs usually bought clams, and purchasing ten pounds at a ti was already quite a lot. Most would only buy three or four pounds just to enjoy a fresh al. It was past noon, and the clam seller’s large cart still had half of the clams unsold, while Thirty Mile Camp was a good hundred miles away from his fishing village. He was eager to find a large household to sell these clams quickly so he could head back.
"You should enter the village from this entrance," Lian Manman pointed to the entrance ahead that led to the Lian Family Old Mansion, and from there, one could also get to Scholar Wang’s Family, "Call out loudly, and there will definitely be buyers."
After all, the folks at Thirty Mile Camp only got the chance to eat clams once a year, and many households would purchase them, though not in large quantities.
The cart driver thanked her and headed in the direction Lian Manman had indicated.
The family carried the three baskets of clams into the house.
Lian Manman scooped up a handful of clams and sniffed, the fresh, ocean scent was invigorating.
Xiao Qi squatted by the basket, staring eagerly and unwilling to budge; he looked as though he wished he could eat them right away.
However, no matter how anxious one was, the freshly-bought clams couldn’t be eaten imdiately.
"My dear," Lady Zhang called out to Lian Shouxin, "We don’t have enough water in the water jar, go fetch two more buckets of water."
"Alright," Lian Shouxin complied and walked out with the buckets, while Wu Lang, considerate as always, followed to help.
"We can’t rush this, we need to let them spit out the sand first." Lady Zhang then smiled at Lian Manman and Xiao Qi, "The two of you, go find a couple of large basins for these elder clams."
Clams caught from the sea would contain sand, so they had to be placed in clean water to spit out the sand from their shells before they could be consud.
"Mom, when can we eat these clams?" After Lian Shouxin and Wu Lang brought back two buckets of water, Lian Manman and Xiao Qi had found two or three large wooden basins, into which they poured the clams and filled with water. Xiao Qi asked Lady Zhang while working.
"Let them spit out the sand for a while, we’ll eat them tomorrow," Lady Zhang said.
One night would be sufficient for the clams to clean out the sand thoroughly from their shells.
To savor a delicious al, waiting was essential.
With nothing to do at ho, Xiao Qi carried over a small stool and sat beside the large basin. He rested his chin on his hands, watching the clams and chatting with Lian Manman.
"Sis, how shall we eat these clams tomorrow?" Xiao Qi asked excitedly.
Clams were delicious no matter how they were cooked. The simplest way to prepare them was to boil the clams that had spit out the sand, then peel the at and dip it in garlic soy sauce. The clams could also be peeled and stir-fried with Chinese chives or stewed with tofu, both of which would be incredibly tasty.
"Tomorrow we’ll cook a big pot to eat, and with the leftovers, we’ll have stir-fried chives for lunch and stewed tofu for dinner," Lian Manman proposed.
"Great!" Xiao Qi replied with a smile gleaming in his eyes.
"We have six mouths to feed at ho, and I fear we won’t be able to finish them in one day. Clams are delicious, but you can’t eat too many at once," Lady Zhang chid in from the side, a bit worried, "You can’t just leave these; they won’t stay fresh. Once they’re not fresh, you can’t eat them; they could make soone sick."
What she ant was that eating unfresh clams could lead to illness.
"Mom, couldn’t we just dig out the at and dry it, then eat it slowly?" suggested Lian Manman."
The people of Thirty Mile Camp would only eat such fresh goods during this season. They weren’t fishern and didn’t have the awareness to dry the clams for later consumption.
"Dried for later consumption..." Lady Zhang hesitated, she had never seen anyone do that before. As the saying goes, there’s a world of difference between professions; they were farrs, not fishern.
"Mom, you see, in the dried goods stores in town, they sell dried fish," Lian Manman ntioned, "I think, people living by the sea, they can’t possibly eat all of it when it’s in season, can they? Like how we dry vegetables in the fall. If they can dry fish, why can’t we dry clams to eat?"
"Now that you ntion it, that makes sense," Lady Zhang nodded, "Alright, if we can’t finish them tomorrow, we’ll dry the rest."
In truth, many practices seem very simple once soone has done them first. Like with the first person to eat crabs, others then followed suit. Although crabs were always edible.
As evening approached, the Lian Manman family tidied up and prepared to return to the Old Mansion to make dinner. Just as they stepped out of the store, they saw the clam seller driving his cart around the corner from the village.
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