53: Suffering from poverty

"Bai Xue, I feel like our physical strength is still a bit lacking! We need to properly replenish our bodies, otherwise, if we encounter a large school of fish or a giant creature in the future and can't reel it in, that would be truly frustrating," Yang Qi suggested.

"You're right. Like what happened today, otherwise, we could have caught a lot more fish," Bai Xue agreed.

So the two went to the market again to buy groceries, purchasing over ten catties of beef, steaks, and two free-range chickens, along with various ingredients, to go back and replenish their bodies.

The two drove their small boat, chatting and laughing, and soon returned to the village pier. After docking the boat, they both went back to Yang Qi's small courtyard.

Bai Xue called her family to report that she was safe. Then, the two began to cook together.

Bai Xue was responsible for cooking the fish and rice, while Yang Qi started cleaning the steaks and beef that had already been chopped at the market.

He then took out one free-range chicken, cleaned it, and with a few swift chops, quickly cut it into pieces.

Half of the steaks and beef, along with the remaining free-range chicken and two fish, were all packaged and placed in the freezer.

The steaks and beef were put into cold water, a few smashed ginger pieces were thrown in, a bunch of green onions tied into a knot, and some cooking wine was added to blanch them and remove any fishiness.

Picking up another pot, the chopped chicken pieces were also prepared for blanching in the same way.

Before the water even boiled, Bai Lang poked his head in, carrying a pressure cooker.

"Little brother is here! Give me the pressure cooker, I'll wash it first," Bai Xue was the first to see Bai Lang and greeted him.

"Oh, A Lang is here! Stay for dinner tonight, tell your sister to cook more rice," Yang Qi said.

"Hehehe~, I'm just delivering the pressure cooker for you guys, I'll eat at home. Besides, my sister might not let me," Bai Lang said with a playful grin.

"How could that be! Stay and eat steak with us!"

Yang Qi actually quite liked his brother-in-law; he was handsome, lively, cheerful, opinionated, and smart.

"Then you come and prepare the fish!" Bai Xue said helplessly. This mischievous younger brother wanted to eat it himself but used her as an excuse.

Because the chicken was less in quantity, its water boiled first. Yang Qi skimmed off the blood foam, took out the chicken, washed it with warm water, and put it into the pressure cooker, planning to pressure cook it for 5 minutes. He only added some ginger pieces, cooking wine, and two Codonopsis roots.

After 5 minutes, he released the pressure and poured it into a large clay pot used for soup to continue simmering.

Just then, the large pot of water for the steaks and beef also boiled. He performed the same operation, washing the steaks and setting them aside.

Unlike the light chicken soup, the stewed steak had a richer flavor. Soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, cooking wine, and a spice packet for braised meat were added.

After asking the Bai Xue siblings about their spice tolerance, he added a few dried chilies.

Because in his understanding, people from the southern coastal areas generally don't eat much spicy food.

However, it was good that both siblings could handle a little spice.

In Yang Qi's opinion, stewed steak without a bit of chili was soulless.

One place's water and soil nourish one type of people.

The vast territory of the motherland means that northern and southern tastes, as well as inland and coastal tastes, can be diametrically opposed in some aspects, each being distinct.

The gas stove in the kitchen only had two burners, so the fish had to wait. This made Yang Qi think about getting a wood-fired stove. After all, dishes cooked on a wood-fired stove were even more delicious.

"Let's see when I can buy one of those pre-made, welded iron wood-fired stoves. Anyway, this courtyard is big enough," Yang Qi thought.

"Brother-in-law, you went fishing at sea today! Why didn't you take me?" Bai Lang began to ask.

"I told you a long time ago, as long as your parents agree, I'll take you," Yang Qi smiled.

"That's probably a long shot. Big sister, why don't you go home and talk to them for me?" Bai Lang started working on his sister again.

"Stop it! I can take you along the coast! But going out to sea, you shouldn't think too much about it! They won't agree," Bai Xue said definitively.

Seeing his brother-in-law a bit dejected, Yang Qi spoke up to comfort him:

"Don't worry! Once I buy a big fishing boat, I'll take you out to sea!"

"Alright! Brother-in-law, when will you buy it?" Bai Lang immediately became excited.

"That's right! We're idle anyway, why don't we look at the prices of fishing yachts?" Yang Qi suggested.

"Okay! Let's take a look together, we can at least have a clear goal!" Bai Xue also readily agreed.

Yang Qi went upstairs to get his computer, and the three began to search.

"Tens, hundreds, thousands... 10 million US dollars, is it really that expensive? It's only 23 meters," Bai Xue looked a bit dumbfounded at the data found on the computer.

Alas~! You really don't know how poor you are until you spend money.

"Sister~ look at this one, 3 million. It's much cheaper than the one above," Bai Lang pointed to an image below.

"3 million... Euros, these are Euros! What kind of eyesight do you have?" Bai Xue rolled her eyes at her younger brother, looking at him as if he were an idiot.

"One Euro is more than seven yuan, three times seven is twenty-one... Damn it!" Yang Qi couldn't help but swear.

The three looked at each other, and after casually flipping through a few pages, they lost interest in looking further.

Yang Qi spoke, "I have a feeling I've contracted a serious illness."

Bai Lang asked in surprise, "Ah~! What serious illness have you contracted?"

Yang Qi slowly replied, "Poverty."

The three burst into laughter, and the atmosphere finally lightened.

"Alas~! No more looking, it's upsetting. Let's just work hard and earn money!" Yang Qi got up to check if the chicken was tender. He poked the chicken with chopsticks; it still needed a bit more. Continue to stew it!

Actually, the world of yachts is very deep, especially imported yachts, which often cost tens of millions! Even second-hand imported yachts cost five or six million.

When purchasing domestic yachts, there are mainly two taxes: a purchase tax and a 10% luxury tax.

However, when purchasing imported yachts, in addition to these two taxes, an additional 30% - 45% customs duty is applied. With that, it would be strange if it were cheap.

After a few more minutes, Yang Qi poked the chicken in the clay pot. It was relatively easy to pierce with chopsticks now, so he sprinkled in a handful of goji berries.

He added some fine salt and tasted it for seasoning.

Oh my! It was so delicious, so fragrant, truly worthy of being free-range chicken soup.

He brought it to the table, which was covered, with a thick mat placed under the clay pot. This allowed the residual heat of the clay pot to continue simmering the chicken soup.

Next, it was Bai Xue's turn to prepare the steamed Yellow Chicken Fish.

You could say that steaming fish is simple, and it is; but you could also say it's difficult, and it truly is. After all, to make it truly delicious, you need to pay attention to knife skills, ingredients, timing, heat, and the pouring of the sauce.

Just in terms of timing, a two-catty Yellow Chicken Fish like this needs to be steamed on high heat for 13 minutes, then simmered for another 2-3 minutes after turning off the heat.

If it's a Yellow Chicken Fish weighing around one catty, it's steamed on high heat for 10 minutes, then simmered for 2 minutes.

This ensures the maximum delicacy and freshness of the fish meat.