Little Miss Fortune: I Will Bring Prosperity to My Tang Family!-Chapter 13: Goodbye Beloved Fermented Fish

Chapter 12

Goodbye Beloved Fermented Fish

The family of three left the blacksmith’s shop without spending a single coin, as Master Zheng Luan wanted to try making the items first and agreed to accept payment later if they were satisfied.

"Where shall we go next?" Xiaolin, sitting snugly on the wooden cart, craned her neck to ask her mother who was walking beside the cart.

"I don’t know what else to buy. We’ve already bought rice, spices, or fabric, haven’t we?" Hui Ning squeezed her daughter’s cheek, looking affectionately at her little face deep in thought.

"How about we visit the port, Mother, Father?" She turned to her father, batting her eyelids to persuade him. Tianrong smiled at her gesture.

"The port is full of big foreigners. Aren’t you scared?"

"Like when I ran into one last time?"

"Exactly."

Having foreigners meant it was likely before the colonial era. So, there must be lots of things for sale. But the name "Daqing" region didn’t seem to exist in history.

Xiaolin pondered for a while before shaking her head to dismiss the thought, smiling broadly in anticipation of her trip to the port.

"Let’s go, Father, Mother."

Hui Ning looked at her husband questioningly. Tianrong frowned slightly. Although born and raised here, seeing foreigners frequently, he had never visited the port, having heard rumors of the intimidating and unruly behavior of these large foreigners.

"Are you sure, Xiaolin? They are not like us." Tianrong tried to persuade his daughter, but the little girl furrowed her brows deeply instead.

"What’s different about them? They are people just like us." She asked with wide, innocent eyes.

"Well, even so, we might not understand each other."

As he finished speaking, the little girl’s lower lip trembled, and tears welled up, making Tianrong halt the cart to console his usually cheerful daughter, not wanting to see her cry.

"Xiaolin, they can be very scary," Hui Ning tried to explain. Having worked in the city, she had often encountered foreigners and was intimidated by their sheer size.

"They’re not scary at all. They’re just big, that’s all. Look there," she pointed at a foreigner giving steamed buns to a young beggar, smiling kindly at the child.

 

"Sigh, your child is really stubborn, isn’t she?" Hui Ning glared at her husband, causing Tianrong to sit in bewilderment. Seeing this, Xiaolin giggled.

Eventually, they gave in to the determined little girl. Xiaolin hummed a tune, swaying happily as they made their way to the port. Hui Ning watched her daughter with a tender heart.

A li away from the city, they reached the bustling port filled with shops and stalls, livelier than the city itself. Xiaolin looked around in wonder, not only at the Westerners but also at other foreigners, and thought she saw someone in a sarong out of the corner of her eye.

"Father," she tugged at her father’s shirt impatiently.

"What is it, dear?"

"Where are those people from?" Xiaolin pointed towards a group dressed distinctly in dark short-sleeved shirts and sarongs, their short hair setting them apart from the other foreigners who typically dressed more loosely and kept their hair long.

"I’m not quite sure myself. Their attire is quite different from the others," Tianrong observed the group his daughter inquired about. Their short hair and sleeveless attire revealing their arms and legs were indeed unusual.

Xiaolin watched the group with keen interest, confident that they were her ancestors from a past life.

"Do you want to see something specific?" Hui Ning asked her daughter, equally excited to explore the port market since it was her first visit due to fears of the foreign crowd.

"Not sure yet. Can we just look around first?"

"Of course," Tianrong agreed before pushing the old cart deeper into the market.

Xiaolin surveyed her surroundings with interest, noting the variety of exotic goods for sale: collectibles, vases, ceramics, brassware, fabric, and stalls selling both fresh and dried seafood, mostly small fish and a few types of shellfish. Surprisingly, there were no squid or shrimp for sale.

"That’s right. Otherwise, your uncle would never stop eating," Tianrong joked as Xiaolin laughed at the thought of her father and uncle voraciously consuming squid and shrimp.

Suddenly, her attention was drawn to a large crowd surrounding something with the sounds of traditional music playing, followed by a pungent smell unfamiliar to the locals but aromatic to her.

"Father! Over there," she stood up in the cart, pointing determinedly ahead. Tianrong frowned but didn’t say anything. He wheeled the cart closer to the commotion.

"What’s that awful smell?"

"Who brought rotten stuff into the market?"

"The smell is coming from over there!"

A large group of people stood around watching the foreigners dressed oddly as they lifted a jar out of a wooden crate and untied the cloth covering the mouth of the jar, releasing a foul odor that quickly spread outside, causing them to cover their mouths and noses hurriedly.

The noise grew louder when they saw one of the foreigners scoop dark-colored liquid from the jar and pour it into a pot on the stove. Many people said that these foreigners consumed rotten and foul-smelling things, so not many dared to buy goods from them.

"Excuse me! Please move," Xiaolin shouted to the group of people who were talking with disgust but still stood watching without moving. She herself didn’t understand why these people behaved so contradictorily.

"Xiaolin!" Hui Ning tried to grab her daughter jumping off the cart but was too late.

"Little lady, don’t go there, or those people might catch you for their curry," joked a plump middle-aged woman, prompting Xiaolin to look up at her.

She sighed before walking into the crowd carelessly, the Isan (Northeastern Thailand) child spirit within her trembling with an unceasing craving for fermented fish sauce. She had to buy some for herself.

Before she could continue, her little body was lifted from the ground by her father, who quickly caught up to her. She wriggled and squirmed, but her father held her tightly.

"Father, let me go." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Why did you run off like that? What if something happened to you?" Tianrong scolded his daughter, who pouted unhappily.

WHINE!! But I want to eat some fermented fish!

Tears brimmed in her eyes as she pouted.

"Don’t make such a face. I still won’t forgive you," Tianrong said, looking down at his little daughter, who was making a sad face and quietly whimpering in his arms.

"Father, please."

I need fermented fish!

"Gosh, why are you so stubborn, child?" Hui Ning followed, looking tenderly at her daughter, who she had failed to grab in time, feeling her heart drop.

"I wanted to see it," Xiaolin whimpered, clutching her father’s shirt tightly.

"Your child is really stubborn, isn’t she?" Tianrong teased his wife, earning a glare in return.

"Let’s go back," Tianrong decided to take his wife and the little daughter back, considering the port was too chaotic.

"Father.." Xiaolin’s voice was weak, tears ready to fall from her eyes. Tianrong turned away, cradling his daughter in one arm and guiding his wife with the other back to the cart, leaving Xiaolin to rest her chin on his shoulder, gazing longingly back at the fermented fish sauce with tears streaming down.

Oh, my beloved fermented fish sauce, let’s hope we meet again in the future...

Placed back in the cart, Xiaolin turned to wave sadly at the group she had just left, her little hand waving goodbye to the dearly beloved sauce. If only she knew how to make fermented fish sauce herself. She had a rough idea but had never tried it.

The little girl remained sullen all the way home, prompting Hui Ning to nudge her husband. Recently, their daughter had been lively, almost never quiet, so seeing her this subdued was heartbreaking.

"Do you want to buy anything, Xiaolin?" Tianrong sighed softly before asking his daughter. He also felt uneasy, but those foreigners were very intimidating, and communication was difficult. He feared that his daughter might upset them, which could escalate into a big issue.

Xiaolin shook her head, pouting with tears welling up, longing for the enticing scent of fermented fish sauce. She had braced herself for the difficulty of finding Thai food here, but to have her hopes dashed after coming so close!

CRIES. The spirit of a young woman in the little girl’s body mourned to the utmost. How she missed fermented fish sauce! Som Tum! Bamboo shoot curry with that tangy sauce, all the salads she could make with it, and so much more. Why must fate be so cruel to a little girl like her?

"Honey," Hui Ning softly called to her husband upon hearing the quiet sobs of their daughter.

"Xiaolin,"

Tianrong stopped the cart before they reached the city gate. He sat next to the cart, calling his daughter who was downcast. Seeing her round cheeks stained with tears only made him feel guiltier. The young father lifted his little daughter for a hug, rocking her gently to comfort her.

"Why is my little Xiaolin being so stubborn and grumpy today? Can you tell me why, hmm?"

"Father," Xiaolin buried her round cheeks into her father’s shoulder, her little hands clutching his shirt tightly.

She didn’t want to cry in front of her parents! Stupid tears!

"What is it?" Tianrong gently rubbed his daughter’s tousled hair, also wiping away her tears.

"I wanted to go see the stinky jar from the foreigners," she lifted her face to tell her father, her little nose red from trying to hold back sobs.

"Why do you want to see that? Don’t you know it could be some rotten animal?" Hui Ning interjected.

Oh, mother, that’s delicious stuff!

"Let’s go home. Tomorrow, I will go out to sea and catch some squid for you. How about that?"

"How long until winter comes?" She raised her hand to wipe her tears decisively. She’d wait until she was older to catch small fish and ferment them into fish sauce herself. For now, she thought about the upcoming events.

"In about three months. Why do you ask, child?"

"We need to prepare supplies for winter," she remembered her father’s mention of squid, thinking if he said there were plenty, she would dry a lot of them.

"About a month before winter, how about that?" Tianrong looked at his daughter affectionately. Over the past two weeks, his daughter had changed a lot, but as it was a positive change, he and his wife didn’t mind. Moreover, their little daughter had been a big help in ensuring the family had enough to live on.

"We need to prepare early. If we wait until it’s too late, what will we do?" she pouted, making her parents laugh with her serious face.

"Alright, alright. But tell me, little miss, what would you like dad to do for you?"

Xiaolin giggled before sharing her idea with her parents, "We can catch long squids and dry them. They can be stored for a long time. When we want to eat them, we can grill, fry, or boil them in soup."

"Is that so?" Tianrong looked at his wife, excited. Previously, to get through each winter, they had to rely on dried vegetables boiled with a little dried fish.

"In that case, I’ll take your uncle out to the sea tonight," Tianrong said excitedly, grateful once again for his ingenious little ancestor. He wanted to get started before he could forget.

"I can’t with you," Hui Ning shook her head at her husband’s enthusiasm. Xiaolin laughed happily, enjoying the moment.

After finishing their conversation, Tianrong hurried home with his wife and daughter to discuss the squid-catching plan with his brother. He was as excited as a child about to receive a new toy.

Tianrong quickly dragged his brother into the forest to cut bamboo for making the squid drying racks. Along the way, his daughter had shared what needed to be prepared and how to make dried squid. Besides the drying racks, they also had to build a temporary hut on the beach since they needed to gut and dry the squid there for convenience and speed. Given they also had to build a house in the next few days, it wouldn’t be practical to dry the squid at home. Tianchen followed with confusion at first, but once his brother explained, he eagerly joined in.

"Where are the two brothers hurrying off to now?" Hui Song asked as he came back from checking on their sweet potato field, seeing the backs of the two brothers disappearing quickly.

"They went into the forest to cut bamboo," Hui Ning replied. She had just arrived and immediately went to help her mother-in-law and Grandmother Liu with the sweet potatoes. Liu Hao, on the other hand, was overseeing the workers turning the soil on his new land.

"What for?"

"It’s Xiaolin’s idea to catch squid and dry them."

"Squid? What is that?" Zhang Rua also asked.

"It’s a creature that can be caught from the sea. She said she wants us to prepare it for the winter," Hui Ning replied with a smile, affectionately looking at her plump daughter who was sound asleep on the mat behind her.

"Hmm, if it can be done, that would be good. Ordinary villagers like us don’t have the means to buy preserved pork legs or preserved meat to stock up for the winter like the rich folks in the city," Hui Song nodded in agreement.

"But is this squid actually tasty?"

 

‘Som Tam’ or papaya salad is a traditional Northeastern Thai food (Isan). It is a spicy dish with the main ingredients being papaya and fermented fish sauce.

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