Chapter 4: Cats are indispensable Pineapple Island is mostly mountainous in structure, with narrow ramps and stairs everywhere. Therefore, the houses are arranged in a staggered layout, built against the mountains and by the sea, and look especially like a scene from an anime. Donghua Village is one of the three villages on the island and is also the small village where Fang Wei lives. There is a small store at the entrance of the village, but the things that can be bought there are quite limited. There is no supermarket or anything like that on the island, and the residents' main daily necessities are all brought in from outside by small cargo ships. Walk a short distance from the village entrance and you will arrive at Fang Wei's home and Xu Cailing's home. The two families lived very close to each other because this was the only place in the area with relatively flat terrain. Apart from Fang Wei's family and Xu Cailing's family, you had to walk a little further in to see other families. The styles of the two houses are very similar, but it seems inaccurate to say so. Perhaps the styles of the houses of the residents on the island are all similar, with walls painted with white mortar and roofs covered with stacked red ceramic tiles. The houses are all self-built, with a small two-story attic and a medium-sized yard in front of the door. Nowadays, the houses are actually only built a few years ago and look very new overall. However, if you put it in twenty years, many of the new houses will have become old houses, some have long been uninhabited, and the once white walls will be covered with moss or green vines.
In terms of family conditions, Fang Wei and Xu Cailing's families are considered relatively well-off on the island. His father is a fishmonger who buys fish at the port, his mother usually works in Baitan Town, and Xu Cailing's family runs a small seafood processing workshop. In the 1970s and 1980s, almost all the people on the island made their living from the sea. With the development of the times, the economic models available have become more diverse. "I'll take the air pump first and bring it back to you later!" Xu Cailing opened the door of Fang Wei's yard with ease, picked up the air pump from the corner, and ran back to her own house next door. Because there was nothing in the yard and the yard door was usually not locked, Fang Wei also walked in, first took out a large basin, poured the large sea bass and several small fish caught in the net bag into it, and then pulled the basin to the shaking well. The well-shaking device is an indispensable item in Fang Wei's childhood. It is a device that brings well water to the ground. I won't go into details about the physical principles and force analysis. Before shaking the water, you have to scoop a bucket of water back into the well, and then lift the pry frame up and down. After a few times, the bucket of water will lead the hidden water to flow back. After use, remember to leave a ladle of water in the ladle for easy use next time. Pineapple Island has abundant groundwater resources, which are also the main source of water for residents on the island. Nowadays, almost every household has a shaken well. If there is no well, they can only fetch water from a public well at the entrance of the village. At this time in the middle of summer, the freshly pumped well water was quite cool. Fang Wei washed his hands, rinsed off the fine sand stuck on his feet, and washed off the sweat on his face. Finally, he took a mouthful of well water and drank it directly into his stomach. It tasted inexplicably sweet and refreshing, as if it had been chilled. All the heat in his body dissipated through his pores, making him feel very refreshed. All the fish in the basin died. Fang Wei ignored it, pulled the basin aside, took out the key and opened the door. The tabby cat, which was lazily sleeping in the yard, smelled the fishy smell and immediately jumped down from the fence. It raised its big furry tail, rubbed Fang Wei's legs symbolically, and then ran to the water basin to look at the fish. "July, don't eat secretly! I'll beat you up." "Meow..." The fat cat didn't dare to steal food. He just stepped on the ground that was not wet by the well water with his paws and jumped over very nimbly. He arched his big head and sniffed the fish in the basin with his cute little nose. When Fang Wei wasn't paying attention, he stretched out his little tongue and licked it secretly. Keeping cats these days is different from keeping pet cats in later generations. Many families on the island keep cats, and the main purpose is to catch mice. Even people are raised in a rough way, so cats are naturally raised in a rough way as well. Cat food, cat cans, cat litter and so on are all things I have never heard of. Anyway, cats and dogs eat what people eat. After all, it is a small fishing village, and the cats usually eat a lot of small fish. There are also many mice, so they will never starve. Most of the dogs in the village are on ties, but cats are much freer. They are almost all free-range and will not be caught or have their eggs castrated due to the need for sterilization. This is a freedom that cats in the city cannot even envy. 'July' is a little wild cat that Fang Wei picked up in July two years ago. It is a special new member of the family in this life. It is bigger than the average tabby cat and has a chubby look.
Coincidentally, in his previous life, he rented a house and worked in a big city. To relieve his loneliness, he also raised a stray tabby cat, also named July. The two cats look almost identical. I wonder if this can be considered a wonderful fate. Fang Wei walked into the house. The last bit of dusk was about to disappear. The room was dimly lit, so he turned on the light. His parents hadn't come back yet, probably because they were busy with something, so he went to the kitchen, washed the rice and started cooking. Electric rice cookers were not very popular those days, so Fang Wei's family always cooked rice by steaming it. After all, there were only three people in the family eating out, and steamed rice was convenient and delicious. If there were guests coming to eat, they would cook in a large pot over firewood when there were many people. There is gas at home, but it is rarely used. Most of the time, we use a wood stove. In the winter, we also use firewood to boil water for taking a bath. In the summer, it is much more casual and we can take a bath directly with cold water. If we are really afraid of the cold, we can boil a pot of water and add it to the cold water in the bucket. Then mix it and the temperature will be about the same. Fang Wei skillfully struck a match, lit the hay, and added firewood. The vigorous flames licked the bottom of the pot, and the water in the pot began to produce fine bubbles along the wall of the pot. Then put the washed rice in the rice bowl with appropriate amount of water on the steaming rack, cover the pot, and wait until the firewood in the stove is burned out, the rice will be almost done. Fang Wei is very good at hands-on work. As a child from a rural family, even if the family conditions are slightly better, he will still do some housework. After working hard outside, he can better understand his parents' hard work and will rush to do many housework within his ability. After washing his hands, he went back to the yard and brought the clothes that were drying outside into the house. When he came out again, he had a kitchen knife in his hand. He walked straight to the basin containing the fish under the water-shaking well, and Qiyue obediently made way for him. "You didn't eat anything secretly, did you? Huh?" "Meow~" Fang Wei held up a kitchen knife and warned the cat, whose saliva was almost dripping, with a smile. Pulling over an old stool and sitting down, he began to clean the fish in the basin. There was one big fish and four other small fish. The boy took a knife and first processed the large sea bass. He scaled the fish skillfully and then cut open its belly. The fish head could be used to make soup. The fish body was divided into two halves. One half could be used for steaming tonight and the other half could be chopped into pieces and fried slowly over low heat with the small fish until golden and crispy. It can be stored in the freezer for a long time without going bad. When you want to eat it, just crush some ginger and garlic and add some soy sauce to steam it. It will be another delicious meal. Although we don’t have a rice cooker or washing machine at home, we have a large freezer. After all, my dad is a fishmonger, and the freezer is always useful. Elders these days are very pragmatic. They won't spend money on anything even if they can afford it. For home appliances like rice cookers and washing machines, as my mother said, "I can use firewood or my hands to make them, right?" Not to mention the later appearance of home appliances such as dishwashers, which would have shattered my mother's three views: "How long does it take to wash a dish? !" Soon, Fang Wei cleaned up all the fish in the basin. Apart from anything else, his skill in killing fish alone could intimidate all the city kids for a whole year - he was only thirteen years old and had been killing fish for six or seven years, how cold-hearted he must be! Of course, Fang Wei likes fishing, catching fish, and is also good at killing fish, but he doesn’t really like eating fish. It can only be said that he eats too much fish. The most common meat on the dinner table is fish, and it is fish of average taste. If it is good fish, we would not be willing to eat it on weekdays. Meat like beef, mutton and pork is quite expensive on the island and people don’t eat much of it except during festivals. But people are always so magical. You will get tired of eating food from your hometown after a long time. After going to big cities and trying a wide variety of delicacies from all over the world, in the end you will feel that the food from your hometown is more to your taste. It’s different for cats. For July, it will never get tired of eating fish every day for its entire life. Seeing that July was staring at it for a long time, Fang Wei was not stingy and handed it one of the cleaned small fish. The cat rushed over and grabbed the fish. Only then did it bear to leave. It jumped back onto the top of the wall with the fish in its mouth, then climbed down and happily enjoyed the fish that belonged to it. Fang Wei brought the killed fish into the house, collected the remaining internal organs and other items, and threw them to the chickens kept in the corner of the yard.
"Giggle!" Eight chickens happily scrambled for food. These chickens are raised by my mother. They are usually fed rice bran and peanut meal. The quality of their meat is not comparable to that of chickens that are ripened with feed and hormones in later generations. Usually, when there are guests at home or during festivals, my mother will kill one to add to the dish. Just thinking about it made Fang Wei feel hungry. As dusk falls, the sounds of birds fade, while the croaking of frogs and chirping of insects become louder. Faintly, I heard the sound of a motorcycle engine coming from a country road not far away. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but Fang Wei always felt that the sound of motorcycle engines in every household was different. He had a talent that allowed him to accurately distinguish the sound of his own motorcycle engine. So he raised his head and looked outside the yard door. A familiar Xingfu 125 motorcycle stopped steadily at the door. The beautiful woman got down from the back seat, walked forward and opened the door. The middle-aged man with dark skin and an oily face slightly turned the accelerator and drove the motorcycle into the yard. Seeing them, Fang Wei also smiled: "Where have you been so late today?" "I went to the village committee to do some work. I came back late. You must be hungry. Did you steam the rice first?" "Yes, it's almost ready. I caught a sea bass this afternoon. Mom, you can make this tonight." "You caught it? It's so big!" "Then I'll leave the rest to you. I'll go get some ginger and garlic." "How do you want to eat it? How about making soup with the fish head, steaming half of the fish body, and frying the other half with these other fish?" "Mom, that's what I thought!" …… Night fell, and the smoke drifting in the wind was mixed with the aroma of food. (Thanks to the leader of Wanxiang School! The boss is generous! The boss made a fortune! Thank you very much for your continued support~!) (End of this chapter)