Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ling Ran carefully parked the Volkswagen Jetta in the garage at his home. After he shut the gate, he walked around his car. Right before he left, he thought for a while and found a car cover from the corner of the garage and spread it over the vehicle.
The maintenance fee for the Volkswagen Jetta was affordable as it only cost from a few hundred to 1,000 RMB. Even though it was still slightly troublesome, he could not call for a car every day.
Ling Ran tried his best to take good care of it before he locked the door of the garage. He had used his first bike for eleven years, and he hoped this far more expensive Volkswagen Jetta would surpass the record.
At 8 o’clock, the clinic was still quite crowded.
There were some who were here for consultation, others for medicine, even more for massage, and some who went there to for some chitchat. They were gathered in different parts of the court, and they had their own fun in their little worlds.
The huge courtyard in Lower Groove Clinic was like the activity center for Lower Groove. It was even the activity center of a few other streets.
Ling Jiezhou had just returned from Europe. He chuckled and chatted happily in the yard. He added some hot water into some old men’s insulation cups and passed several blankets to some old ladies. He conducted a neighborhood business, and he liked to talk to the neighbors the most. He also liked it when there was a huge crowd in the clinic. The current Lower Groove Clinic was exactly the clinic of his dreams.
Tao Ping sat behind the tea table on the first floor while she served the sisters and fake friends who were about her age. Meanwhile, she also passed the products that she helped them purchase from different countries.
Tao Ping was definitely the fashion leader and fashion standard in this area in Lower Groove.
Over the past twenty years, when Tao Ping put on her trench coat in spring, there would be a lot of women in trench coats in the alley. When Tao Ping started wearing T-shirts, the sales of T-shirts in the night market would also rise…
She did not only affect the women who were around her age, but also the young girls and middle-aged women. They would also pay attention to Tao Ping’s outfits, cosmetics, hobbies, and interests…
This time, when Tao Ping went overseas, she used up many of her credit cards just to help the people she knew buy their stuff. The mileage that could be claimed with the credit card points was already enough for her to claim a round-trip ticket for business class flights between China and France.
“Has our son come back?” Ling Jiezhou heard the sound of a car entering the garage, so he deliberately poured a glass of hot water for him.
When Ling Ran drank the glass of hot water, he felt his body grow warm. He still thought hot water to be the best among all the meals made by his father throughout the years.
“Doctor Ling, you’re back.” Lu Jinling immediately jumped out of the kitchen when she saw Ling Ran. She still had a Chinese perch in her left hand, which was as long as her arm. It still swung its tail vigorously.
Lu Jinling lifted the knife with her right hand and swung the back of it on the fish. The Chinese perch then fainted.
“Did you buy this? How did you get such a big Chinese perch?” Ling Ran was very surprised when he saw the Chinese perch. It had sharp mouth teeth and thorns at its back.
Lu Jinling smiled and said, “I caught it using a lure. Aren’t I good? This is a Mandarin Fish [1] that weighs 5.73 pounds.”
“5.73 pounds?” Ling Ran recalled the fifty-five Treasure Chests he obtained, and for some reason, he felt uneasy.
Lu Jinling did not quite understand it. She said with some emphasis in her words, “Only Mandarin Fish can grow this big. The Mandarin Fish will not grow any bigger than 5.51 pounds. I caught it at Liangzi Lake, and I immediately asked someone to transport it back via helicopter.”
Ling Ran nodded curiously.
“A total of seven types of Chinese perches can be found in the country. Although Mandarin Fish are the most common, they are also the most orthodox Chinese perches, and this is especially the case for wild and big Chinese perches, they are delicious no matter how they’re cooked.” As Lu Jinling spoke, she lifted the Chinese perch and said, “A big fish like this is very suited for hot pot. Ling Ran, you like to eat hot pot, right?”
Ling Ran nodded again.
Lu Jinling gave him a thumbs up before she brought the fish into the kitchen.
She was a girl who grew up in the fish market, so she was very good at cutting and cooking fish.
Ling Jiezhou coughed before he shouted and said, “We’re closing at 9 o’clock. Employees can clock off at 9.”
The neighbors looked at him in a lackadaisical manner. Those who were free just joked and said, “Are you not inviting us for the hot pot?”
“It’s not healthy to eat hot pot as supper.”
“All of you can’t finish such a big fish, right?”
Ling Jiezhou pretended he did not hear them. He went on a round and collected all the money.
Regardless of what the neighbors said, they still left slowly.
Once the door of the clinic was locked, Ling Jiezhou immediately took out the square table used for hot pot. Then, he took out a few benches and lit up the hot pot stove underneath a starry sky.
Lu Jinling served the nicely cut fish fillet on the table. She also made a white soup to serve as the hot pot soup. Once she brought out the sauce as well, she said, “I cut the slices very thinly. You can cook them like how you would cook tripes in hot pot, the taste will be about the same.”
Tao Ping first nodded before she sat near the table with an excited look. She commented with a praising tone. “Little Lu, you have really good knife skills.”
“I trained up my skills after practicing many times.” Lu Jinling sat close to Ling Ran and acted in a humble manner.
Dong Sheng who worked as an illegal part-timer in the clinic to earn Mayinglong Musk Hemorrhoids Ointment Cream also wore the earth-yellow saffron robe while he sat beside the table. He got himself a plate of cucumber while he chomped down on a carrot quietly.
Once everything was ready, under Lu Jinling’s guidance, Ling Ran picked a thin piece of fish fillet. As Lu Jinling cheered him on, he rinsed the fillet in the soup eight times and took it out the soup seven times. Then he started to hesitate…
“Take it up higher. Then, you will have rinsed it eight times and raised it eight times.” Tao Ping knew her son well. With just one sentence, she cleared her son’s doubt.
Ling Ran came to a realization. After he followed his mother’s instructions, he put the fillet into his mouth. The fillet was indeed fresh and tender in texture. It was very delicious.
“The Chinese perch our ancestors loved was the Mandarin Fish. We can see that from the picture.” Lu Jinling twirled her hair, and she did not look as fierce as when she took a ride on her motorbike. She said in an introductory tone, “The big Chinese perch that we can eat now are Mandarin Fish and Siniperca. Both look very much alike. The Golden Mandarin Fish can also be found, but it is not as fierce as the Mandarin Fish.”
“They are aggressive seafood.” Tao Ping agreed and nodded.
“Yes, yes.” Lu Jinling nodded immediately and said, “I think that the siniperca undulata is quite nice too. I couldn’t get it this time. By the way, there’s also the siniperca liuzhouensis, which is a famous product at Liuzhou, and it is best to cook in soup. It is also the smallest species among the Chinese perch.”
After she said that, Lu Jinling added one more sentence, “The Coreoperca Loona was also considered as one of the Chinese perch in the past, but it was removed, and it’s considered as one of the local siniperca obscura.”
“You know the Chinese perches very well.” Tao Ping praised her again.
Lu Jinling was delighted after she received a compliment. She said, “It’s because I love to eat this, so I always take a look at it. Doctor Ling… Do you like to eat Chinese perch?”
“It’s very tasty.” Ling Ran nodded in satisfaction.
Ling Ran was not picky when it came to food when he was fed by his dad, but as a young man who always tried the delicious food Tao Ping made, Ling Ran still had very good taste buds.
The Chinese perch had always been a delicious fish species. Since the past, it was ranked together with the Grouper, Yellow River carp, and long-tailed anchovy as high-class fish species.
Wild Mandarin Fishes were the most outstanding among Chinese perches.
In truth, Mandarin Fishes bred in the modern era was also delicious. If the scientists had not tried so hard in the study of mixing the genetics of different Chinese perches and developing that field of study, people could buy that fish with their eyes closed, and the fish would still be very delicious.
Lu Jinling consumed fish as she grew up, so, naturally, she demanded a higher quality of fish.
But Lu Jinling felt very confident with this fish. She used serving chopsticks to take a fish fillet and put it into Ling Ran’s bowl before she said, “Eat more if you like it. There are still plenty of them.”
*Crack.*
The young novice monk Dong Sheng bit the carrot. He enjoyed his food without being bothered by all the things around him.
*Knock, knock.*
Someone knocked on the door of the clinic gently.
Ling Jiezhou got up immediately and shouted, “Did you come here for a consultation?”
Clinics still paid a lot of attention to emergency treatment.
The person outside the door hesitated for a few seconds and did not answer immediately.
Ling Jiezhou decided to boast about his son’s popularity a little. “If you’re from the pharmaceutical sales company, we can talk tomorrow.”
“Excuse me… I’m Doctor Ling’s colleague. I am Zuo Cidian.” Zuo Cidian carried a gift box and stood outside the door. He looked quite nervous.
Giving gift boxes to his leaders in their houses was something normal for Zuo Cidian. Although it looked like a practice in the villages, Zuo Cidian believed that people would never think that they had accepted too many gifts from others.
Ling Ran nodded to his dad before he walked forward and opened the door. He then asked, “Is there an emergency?”
“I brought some local products from my hometown for you to taste.” Zuo Cidian smiled. There was a humble look on his face, which he acquired after giving gifts for so long.
“Thank you.” Ling Ran expressed his gratitude, and this was the rule of conduct he adopted after he received gifts for so long.
“Ling Ran’s colleague, is it? Come in and have some hot pot.” When Ling Jiezhou looked at Zuo Cidian, he tried to guess his age, but he was not sure. He stood up and dragged him to a seat.
“Ah, I’d be imposing…” Zuo Cidian acted humbly.
“It’s a hot pot with Chinese perch.” Ling Ran did not say much, but he still did his best to introduce their food.
“Ah! I’m truly sorry to be imposing,” Zuo Cidian said to keep up appearances.
“Thank you for performing surgeries early every morning.” Ling Ran picked up the serving chopsticks as he spoke. He took a piece of cooked Chinese perch for Zuo Cidian.
Zuo Cidian was already used to Ling Ran ordering him around. He was taken aback.
He quickly grabbed the fillet and put it into his mouth. He did not bother to enjoy the taste before he took the teacup for a drink and used the steam released to cover up his tearing eyes
“Compared to the hardships in life, the hardships in work is not tough at all,” Zuo Cidian said softly. He still had a humble smile on his face, just like usual, but hope could still be seen from his eyes.
