Fish eggs, cheap fish skinned and broken bones and beaten meat, turn decay into magic. Mrs. Wang, wang Linji fish egg powder soul figure, thick and cheerful; when he was young, he was a beautiful embryo, and he studied hard until the third grade, which was not simple in the sixties.
Mrs. Wang and her children in their youth
"I have a teacher who said that what happens to people is about the circumstances in which you were born. Dragons give birth to snakes, you are snakes, snake-like encounters; Fengsheng chicken nest, you are the most popular chicken flock, fly nowhere. "At the age of 68, she never flew out of Shau Kei Wan, and tangled with fish eggs for most of her life: when she was a child, she fished in the fish egg stall; at the age of 24, she married a fish egg guy and made a fish egg rolling off three fingers; later the fish egg guy became a drunk guy, the workshop and the shop, she struggled to support herself... Incessantly, she fought fiercely one by one. The phoenix, after all, is not a chicken; like a grassroots fish egg, it has also metamorphosed into a delicacy that represents Hong Kong.
Wang Linji is at the end of Shau Kei Wan East Avenue, and there are no people outside the store on weekdays, but it is almost full of people from the morning market at six or seven o'clock. Not only do you sell fish and egg noodles, but also rich pork hands and sausages and white rice; they are either fishermen's neighbors or white-collar customers.
Mrs. Wang said that her son Ajie thought that posting celebrities was too old-fashioned, so the frequent brothers Zhou Runfa and Fang Zhongxin did not take photos.
However, the old lady Wang in front of her is really a fish egg secret book. It was 7:00 a.m. on the morning of the same day, and she received the catch from the Aberdeen buyer. When unloading the fish, she knew that the fish was fresh or not: "You see, the fish eye boy is very elf, so fresh; the one that falls down is the smell of snow instead of fishy, and it is not fresh to have a fishy taste." "Mrs. Wang is full of vigor and self-confidence.
On this day, the eels, the black eels and the white eels were harvested. "Bamboo sticks (fish) we also play because there is a shortage of fish now. There is today, and I don't know if there is one tomorrow. She had seen two or three-story fishing boats in the interior, "battleships as big as battleships, with advanced radars, and they were caught in one sweep." More than ten years ago, she found that the catch was getting less and less, and she had set up a snow house, "I will buy more fish, freeze it first, and when there is no fish, I will pull it out and use it." ”
"To make fish eggs, the fish must be fresh." Mrs. Wang often hung up on her lips. "The fish is beautiful, how you snow is useless, but the fresh fish snows, it will have a few percent of the beautiful existence." During the fish shortage such as the fishing moratorium, she pre-freezes the "sought-after goods", and mixes the fresh fish caught by the boat when she beats the eggs.
Today, many connoisseurs use the rhubarb eel, which is steadily supplied and imported from the Vietnamese Philippines, "that kind of rhubarb eel, the meat is very white, but it is tasteless, you have to put the taste down." ”
Mrs. Wang loves the black gate eel in China's waters, "This kind of eel meat is fresh and sweet, we Teochew people like to use it to cook porridge, put salt and less winter vegetables, then the pot porridge is good!" "Such an umami flavor is used to beat fish eggs, there is no need to put too much seasoning."
Some of the fish eggs are dead and solid, some are as refreshing as konjac, and she describes "loosening" as the authentic Teochew fish eggs. People will mix some starch, but she insists on using all fish meat without powder, "We like several kinds of fish mixed, such as nine sticks, black door eels, large finesse, different fibers; the more kinds of fish, commonly known as gelatin, the stronger." ”
As for how much water and salt the fish meat is mixed in, how to adjust the water temperature of the soaked fish egg so that a fish egg is smooth and soft inside and out, it all needs to be honed over the years. Mrs. Wang's uncle Wang Yanxing has been playing fish eggs for 50 years, and he has been carrying a big banner in Wang Linji.
The fiber, stickiness, fish flavor of different fish species... After all, she has been making fish eggs for more than 40 years, but this is not the path she originally wanted to take. Her real name is Liu Sunu, her ancestral home is Chaozhou, she was born on Shau Kei Wan East Avenue, lost her father in childhood, remarried her mother, had many younger siblings, and was very poor when she was a child. "We went to the fish egg stall to help people get fish for free, and people sent some fish heads and fish spring to make rice for us." Fish spring when rice fish head to make bread, not full, just stagnant. She remembered and also hiccuped.
Because her mother was illiterate, she was often bullied; Su Nu vowed to study and went to primary school by selling rotten copper and rotten iron. She looks like a mixed-race child, her grades are good, she is the limelight in the school; she was successfully admitted to middle school, but she could not pay the tuition, plus her family's food and clothing ranked first, only to go to the factory to work, but still strive to return to Clementi Night School, and strive to study until the third grade to no longer have the spirit to take care of it.
"Knowledge changes destiny" has finally come to naught. At the age of 14, Fang Xin promised wang Yanlin, a fellow countryman, "We are green plum bamboo horses, but also our first love, blind in both eyes!" When Mrs. Wang returned to the maiden, she smiled and squinted. At the age of 24, her mother, who was suffering from cancer, was critically ill, and in order to rush to the joy, the two of them worshiped the ancestors of the Wang family in the middle of the night to complete the marriage, "My mother was worried, but she left on the day I got married." So bleak! ”
Originally, her husband was cooking roasted pork at Peking University Restaurant, and it didn't take long for him to learn to beat fish eggs with his eldest brother. "I'm so afraid of making fish eggs, because when I was a child, I took Shi Chun to pick up the fish, and I squeezed it until my fingers were all bent." At that time, she did not choose: "Marry the chicken to fly with the chicken, marry the dog to go with the dog, and marry a horse to go through the mountain." Your husband makes fish eggs, and you make fish eggs with him. ”
In 1979, the two men opened a workshop in a hilltop cabin left behind by their mother at The Mountainside Terrace (The Back Hill of Tin Hau Temple, Shau Kei Wan) to wholesale fish eggs. She works at least 18 hours a day and eats 11 bowls of rice a day but weighs just over 90 pounds.
"At that time, I had dinner at 12 o'clock at night, the man slept, and I had to wash my shirt, wash the diapers, wash the dishes, and go to bed at two o'clock. I have to get up at 4:5 in the morning, the fish eggs I dip alone, cut by one person, fried by one person... By the time my husband got up, my first shipment was ready. At the age of 28, because of lack of sleep, "the fish meat was ground, inserted, inserted, and cut off." ”
She downplayed it, rubbing three fingers of her left hand: the index and ring fingers were flattened, and the middle finger was half broken; today is no longer the same thing.
The accumulated fatigue faded the lead, and in 88 years, Su Nu's waist pain was so that she could no longer push goods up and down the mountain, so she and her husband discussed buying a shop on East Avenue, with more than a dozen seats in front to sell fish egg flour noodles, and a workshop in the back. The two of them started from scratch, and the calloused hands and feet reached the floor and there was a shop, and she had been waiting to go to the law firm and sign a deed with her husband to be the owner, but her husband had already quietly written his name.
"Why didn't I?" One day she couldn't resist asking. "What's the matter?" What do you seem to be? You're like a cow!" Cattle ploughing fields and horse food valleys. Do you have a brain? You have no brain. "Mrs. Wang recalled her husband's response and was still angry." I was awakened by his words, and it turned out that I was a brainless woman. Wiping away her tears, she understood that there was no need to serve this man any longer.
Su Nu was liberated, and immediately regained her old dream - returning to night school, going to the British Council to read Free Talk, and then going to Liu Jiajie to learn English. The mother-in-law was a conservative Teochew, preferring sons to daughters, "I gave birth to three daughters, and she didn't like them anymore; I couldn't read even more." She said, why do you read so many books? You want to control my royal family!" ”
The husband used to beat fish eggs, because the fish meat had to be iced, especially cold and bitter in winter, and he used to drink strong wines such as Luzhou Daqu and Balandi to keep cold. At that time, I was already addicted to alcohol, and I didn't forget to tease her: "Why do you learn so much English?" How many ghosts are there on East Avenue talking to you? ”
The 41-year-old Su nu did seven labors and eight injuries, so she "resigned" from her husband. As soon as she left the workshop, her husband could not continue to do it, so he had to give the workshop and the subscribers to the fifth brother Yanxing. Su Nu did not participate in wholesale, only responsible for the store floor, and her husband never gave her a home since then. "The housewife taught him not to give me money, afraid that I would leave." In fact, I am not willing to give up my four children, and it is not easy to give up this family. So she "talked to her husband about the numbers": "Yes! You don't have to give me money, but you provide for your girls to study and study abroad. The husband was always fair to his son and daughter, and later let the eldest daughter and the widow read a full book.
In 2002, Mrs. Wang discussed with her uncle that Wang Linji should be used as a store store and another workshop on the opposite street. At that time, her husband was drunk and faint all day, and the store was already taken care of by her. As for the opening of the Tai Hang branch four years ago and the opening of the Chai Wan branch in September this year, the husband could not bear witness, because he was "soaked to death by alcohol" 7 years ago.
Mrs. Wang's life has been troubled since she was a child, and her heart has a thousand knots. At the age of 45, he went to Zhilian Jingyuan to study Buddhism for 4 years, planted karma, and slowly let go of his former resentment.
"The children are wronged in front of their eyes, and the husband and wife ferry." Am I too strong, or is he too inferior? Hard. Hate or hate my husband! Anyway, I have three sticks of incense inserted for him every day. She laughed.
Now, she is semi-retired in Wang Linji, the main task is to buy fish and collect fish, at 9 o'clock after eating fish eggs breakfast to do QC, she went to the shau Kei Bay typhoon shelter to swim and feed wild cats and wild dogs, the wind and rain did not change. The three breakwaters do not connect to land, but they are completely isolated islands, but there are many cats and dogs abandoned by people on the water; Mrs. Wang can't bear to see that they have no water and no food. Wang Linji used old chicken to boil the broth every day, and she would pick bones and leave meat, mix it with fish brisket or beef brisket for cat food or dog food.
"I've been feeding for 30 years. In our generation, the hours are most important to have food and clothing. She laughed and said that she believed in Christianity and Catholicism when she was a child, because the former sent milk powder, the latter sent rice, and the hungry belly talked about things. Because of her own difficulties, for decades she bought fish and counted the number of days, and did not need to buy hand pads; teaching her children to do business, not to deceive people and not to owe money to their partners.
"People are good, cats are good, dogs are good, and the most important thing is to have food and clothing." Her usual small machine boat sailed towards the stone mound and shouted, "Cat! A dozen fat cats ran out of the stone trees in all directions and meowed at her with their heads up; the other yellow dogs and black dogs on the embankment, before they could be called, saw her and kept wagging their tails and jumping.
Address: Shop A, basement of Dongbao Building, No. 10 East Avenue, Shau Kei Wan
Open: Monday to Sunday 6:30am-8:00pm
Author: Han Jieyao
Photography: Liang Weide