I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 307: Chapter 291: What Kind of Fish Is a Sow Shell?

As mentioned before, Li You was interested in catering village banquets.

It wasn’t about the money; he simply liked that style of feasting.

If a suitable offer to be the head chef for a village banquet came up in the future, he would consider it.

After chatting about village banquets for a while, Luo Yunlin and his relatives said their goodbyes to Li You.

They still had to head back to Luo Yunlin’s house.

”Boss, your food is incredible. You’re practically a culinary god.”

”We were so happy to be able to eat here.”

”Boss, we’ll definitely be back.”

”...”

The relatives showered him with praise as they left.

Li You smiled. ”I’m just glad you all enjoyed it. You’re welcome back anytime.”

”We’ll be back for sure. Goodbye, Boss!”

”Goodbye! Take care.”

After seeing off Luo Yunlin and his relatives, Li You returned to his rocking chair at the storefront to rest.

There were still customers eating inside, but for now, all the orders were out.

A little while later, his phone rang. It was a call from Lin Guodong from Taoshan Village.

Li You answered.

”Xiaoyou, I caught two ’mother sow shells’ while fishing today. This fish is pretty rare. I’ll bring them over for you.”

’Mother sow shell? A fish?’

’What kind of fish is that? What a strange name.’

Li You was baffled. He had never heard of such a fish.

”Uncle Guodong, what kind of fish is a ’mother sow shell’?”

”Huh? Xiaoyou, you don’t know what a mother sow shell is?”

”Nope! This is the first time I’ve ever heard of it.”

”What kind of fish is it? Hmm, how should I put it? I don’t really know how to describe it. I just know that’s what we call it around here. Tell you what, Xiaoyou, I’ll bring it over to you right now. You’ll probably know what it is once you see it.”

”Alright then. Thanks, Uncle Guodong.”

”What’s there to be polite about? See you in a bit.”

”See you in a bit.”

Li You had wanted to tell Lin Guodong to keep the fish for himself, but he was too curious about what a ”mother sow shell” actually was.

So, he didn’t refuse Lin Guodong’s kind offer.

Twenty minutes later, Lin Guodong arrived at the parking lot on his motorcycle.

Li You saw him, immediately stood up, and went to greet him.

After parking his motorcycle, Lin Guodong walked over, carrying a bag.

As they met, Lin Guodong handed the bag to Li You and smiled. ”This is the fish. We all call it a mother sow shell. Take a look.”

Li You took the bag, nodding with a smile. ”Let me see.”

He opened the bag, and upon seeing the fish inside, his face lit up with pleasant surprise.

It was a mandarin fish!

’So they call mandarin fish ”mother sow shells” around here?’ This was the first time Li You had ever heard that name for it.

’What a bizarre name.’

Putting the name aside, Li You said joyfully, ”Uncle Guodong, this is a mandarin fish! To be precise, it’s a type of mandarin fish called a big-eye mandarin fish. It’s an incredibly delicious and highly nutritious fish.”

”Expensive fish?” Lin Guodong asked. ”Does that mean this fish is very expensive?”

Hearing Lin Guodong’s question, Li You knew he had mistaken the word.

It was a common mistake. The character ”鳜” (guì) was a bit obscure, and many people didn’t know how to pronounce it.

He then explained, ”It sounds like ’expensive’, but it’s a different word.”

As he spoke, Li You typed out the character ”鳜” on his phone to show Lin Guodong, adding, ”It’s the same ’guì yú’ from the poem, ’White egrets fly before the western hills; peach blossoms, flowing water, fat mandarin fish.’”

Lin Guodong said, ”If you hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have even known how to read that character. And that line you just said, that’s a poem, right? I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before.”

Li You smiled. ”It is a poem. ’Fisherman’s Song’ by the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Zhihe. The next two lines are, ’A bamboo hat, a coat of green straw; slanting wind and fine rain, no need to go home.’”

Lin Guodong said, ”I think I have heard it. So, does this mean this fish was commonly eaten back in the Tang Dynasty?”

Li You said, ”They might have been eating it even earlier. By the way, Uncle Guodong, where did you catch this fish?”

Lin Guodong replied, ”Right in the river in our village. Caught it using live shrimp.”

Li You nodded. Mandarin fish are carnivorous and aggressive predators. They attack and eat any small fish or shrimp they see.

Using live shrimp was indeed a good way to catch mandarin fish.

”Uncle Guodong, are there a lot of mandarin fish in your village’s river?” Li You asked.

Lin Guodong said, ”There should be quite a few. People catch them pretty often.”

Li You’s eyes lit up.

’What a great river!’

’Mandarin fish are a real treasure.’

’I wonder if the river in my own village has mandarin fish?’

’It probably does.’

’After all, both rivers are part of the same basin.’

’Not only that, but there should be some in the deep pools of Jiulong Gorge too.’

’I’ll have to go fishing for them some day.’

Just then, Lin Guodong said, ”Xiaoyou, you can have these two mother sow shells... I mean, these two mandarin fish. I’m heading back now.”

Li You quickly said, ”Uncle Guodong, I’ll just take one. You should take one back to eat. This fish is delicious.”

Lin Guodong said, ”You take both. If I want to eat some, I can just go fishing again. By the way, how do you usually cook this fish?”

Li You replied, ”Any common household method works, like steaming or braising. If you want something easy, just steam it.”

Lin Guodong said, ”That works. That’s how we cook it. Looks like we haven’t been doing it wrong.”

Li You chuckled. ”There’s no right or wrong. You can cook it however you like, as long as it’s cooked through.”

Lin Guodong laughed. ”That’s true. Alright, Xiaoyou, I’m off.” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

With that, Lin Guodong waved and turned to walk toward the parking lot.

Li You quickly said, ”Thanks again, Uncle Guodong. I’ll walk you out.”

He took a few quick steps to catch up with Lin Guodong.

Lin Guodong said, ”Xiaoyou, you’re being too polite.”

Li You laughed. ”Alright, alright, I’ll stop being polite then.”

Lin Guodong nodded. ”That’s more like it.”

They reached the parking lot, and amidst their goodbyes, Lin Guodong rode off on his motorcycle.

Li You returned to the front of his restaurant, carrying the two mandarin fish.

Just then, a customer came out of the restaurant, saw the bag in Li You’s hand, and asked, ”Boss, what have you got there?”

Li You opened the bag to show the customer.

The customer looked in the bag, and his eyes lit up. ”Mother sow shells! And these two aren’t small. Each one must be around a pound and a half. Boss, where’d you get these?”

This customer also called them ”mother sow shells.”

’Am I the only one who didn’t know this name?’

’That can’t be possible, can it?’

While thinking this, he replied, ”Someone just brought them over. He caught them himself in the river.”

The customer nodded. ”Yeah, you can catch them. With live shrimp. I’ve caught them before, too. Just not this big; mine was maybe just under a pound.”

Li You smiled. ”Do you like to fish, too?”

The customer said, ”I do. But I’m not addicted. Not like some people who have to go fishing the second they have free time, or they get antsy. By the way, Boss, you should consider adding these mother sow shells to your menu! This fish is delicious on its own. If you cooked it, it would be unimaginably good.”

Li You smiled. ”I think that’s worth considering.”

The customer was thrilled to hear this and said he was really looking forward to it!

...