Though the morning brought white frost and rime, the sky was clear with a slight breeze—a perfect time for air-drying cured fish. Li Xiang brought out the large, cured grass carp one by one and hung them in the corridor to dry.
The largest one was as long as an adult's arm, its belly propped open with three short, spaced-out bamboo skewers. With all eighteen large grass carp hung up, it was quite a magnificent sight.
The main reason was his small household—just him and his grandmother. 'If we had seven or eight people in the family, I'd prepare seventy or eighty fish and line both sides of the corridor. Walking through it, surrounded by that salty fragrance... it would be just like the "forest of meat" from the legendary "ponds of wine and a forest of meat."'
"Granny, I'm heading to Lei Family Gully for a bit," Li Xiang called out to his grandmother before setting off on his small motorized tricycle.
