Zhou Jinian was not familiar with Lin Yu; he dealt with Li Dahui more.

Hearing that Li Dahui's wife had given birth to a daughter, he was very happy: "Let's find an opportunity to visit them, and I'll take you to the countryside for a visit while we're at it."

Dingxiang nodded: "Xiaoyu said the same thing, and told us to go to the factory to take a look."

As the director of the logistics department, Zhou Jinian also purchased goods from the food factory on numerous occasions.

"The employees really like what they make."

The main reason is that the supply and marketing cooperative also sells those things, and they usually buy them to eat at home. It would be even better if the factory distributed them.

Dingxiang also liked it very much: "I was the first person in our factory to eat vermicelli."

Lin Yu and Li Dahui came over to promote their hot and sour noodles, which were made at their restaurant.

"I thought those mushrooms were pretty good; the boss even took a few packs as gifts."

Mushrooms are something that people living in the countryside or at the foot of mountains often see, but city dwellers rarely get to eat them.

After all, this stuff is difficult to transport and comes in small quantities, so farmers eat it themselves and don't sell it.

But now food factories dry the mushrooms, repackage them, and take them out.

It's not a problem to keep it for a month or two after buying it.

When you want to eat them, just take a few out and soak them. They're especially delicious when cooked in soup.

It is now one of the best-selling agricultural products of the supply and marketing cooperative.

Even the leaders of the machinery factory liked to use this as a gift.

Dingxiang nodded and said, "I like it too. Xiaoyu said we should go there so we can eat fresh food."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jinian became even more interested.

So the couple decided to visit Lianhua Brigade after the New Year.

Niu Niu was very happy to hear that he was going to visit Sister Lin Yu and Uncle Da Hui.

"You brat, you like Uncle Dahui that much?"

Zhou Jinian felt that his son was good, but sometimes he was really annoying, always complaining that his father wasn't as strong as Li Dahui.

He has the air of a scholar, and it was precisely this air that attracted Dingxiang in the first place.

Unexpectedly, the child born was completely unlike either of them, and instead preferred a strong man like Li Dahui.

"Niu Niu will grow up to be just as tall."

He didn't want to be skinny like his dad; he wanted to be tall and strong like Uncle Dahui.

"Alright, if you could grow up to look like that, then I wouldn't have to worry about your physical fitness. But it's a pity, son, you probably don't have that kind of gene. You'll most likely look like your dad, hahaha."

Niu Niu is usually naughty and mischievous, and he gets very tanned, but judging from his bone structure, he will most likely end up looking like Zhou Jinian.

Therefore, Zhou Jinian always mocked him mercilessly.

Dingxiang shook her head, thinking her husband was childish, but watching the father and son playfully fighting, she had a happy smile on her face.

......

After finishing her socializing, Lin Yu went home.

They are currently at home preparing for the Chinese New Year.

The team is going to slaughter two pigs and distribute them to each household in the brigade.

These are pigs raised by the brigade itself. In the past two years, living conditions have improved, and the pig farmers have not been stingy, feeding the pigs very well.

The pigs are quite fat now.

Besides what we handed in, we can still have two left over to distribute among everyone.

Lin Yu went to watch the pig slaughter early in the morning.

The butcher was hired from another brigade. After slaughtering the pig, he was given some offal and pork.

With this skill, the pig butcher could travel all over the commune and provide his family with a life of plenty.

Lin Yu also said that if he doesn't know what to do in the future, he will slaughter pigs and sell pork.

Don't think that selling pork is shameful; people make a lot of money from it.

However, since the reform and opening up hasn't been implemented yet, private operation isn't allowed. If I could open my own pork stall one day, I could make quite a bit of money.

Logically speaking, children and young girls shouldn't come out to watch when a pig is being slaughtered.

It's rather bloody, after all.

However, the girls in the Lotus Brigade were quite bold. Lin Yu ran into Li Lanhua, Song Meili, and Ou Manqing as soon as she went out. Even He Xiaofeng, who was working part-time at the brigade, was there.

"Xiaofeng didn't go home last night?"

Li Lanhua explained, "I was working late last night repairing the car, so I told her to go to the educated youth settlement and sleep with Meili for the night. She can come over today to watch the pig slaughter."

Lin Yu nodded, thinking to herself whether it was possible to set up a dormitory in the factory so that someone could rest if they got off work late.

Only after the food factory's accounts were settled did they find out if there was any money left over.

Soon, the large pig was carried out. In fact, it was not comparable to the pigs of later generations that were ready for market in less than half a year and could weigh one or two hundred pounds.

These days, pigs raised for over a year only grow to about 100 pounds.

But people back then had very little oil in their diet, and they rarely ate meat, so everyone was drooling over this pig.

The butcher was highly skilled; he could butcher, bleed, and butcher the pig.

The pig was processed very quickly.

The butcher happily left, taking his knife and his share of offal and pork.

The remaining pork was cut up by Li Dahui, who was skilled at hunting.

Each household receives pork according to the number of people and work points; those who are called first can choose.

But in fact, the team did a very fair job; there was no difference between selecting first and selecting later.

Lin Yu's family is large, so they were called over very early.

She was given a large piece of pork belly, the fat on it making the people around her salivate.

Lin Yu was fine; her family often cooked special meals for her, so she wasn't particularly craving them.

"How much for the spare ribs?"

It was rare for the brigade to have pork without requiring tickets, so she wanted ribs.

This brigade also has regulations; spare ribs can be bought with money.

In the end, Lin Yu paid for most of a rack of pork ribs, planning to make soup when she got home.

How comforting it is to have a bowl of pork rib soup on a cold winter's day.

Of course, when she got home, Grandma Lin scolded her for wasting money, but that's another story.

The fat on the pork belly can be rendered into oil, so Grandma Lin put the meat in the pot and fried it as soon as she got it.

For a time, the Lin family's courtyard was filled with the aroma of cooking oil.

Tie Dan and Xiao Bao, two little gluttons, squatted at the kitchen door, drooling as they watched.

After Grandma Lin had fried them for a while, she scooped out two pieces of pork scraps and said, "Eat up, don't be so greedy."

Seeing how greedy the two children looked, Grandma Lin felt quite helpless.

I used to think that the kids were so greedy because we didn't eat much meat at home, but now we eat meat quite often, and these two still drool over pork.

It's clear that children are indeed prone to cravings; it's just their nature.

Grandma Lin always complains that they waste money, but when she sees the children eating heartily, she smiles even more happily than if she were eating herself.

Lin Yu took two ribs, chopped them into sections, and then took out some dried morel mushrooms made at the factory. She soaked them and put one in to make soup.

Finally, add a few large red dates.

Only those who drink it know how delicious it is.

Morel mushrooms, when stewed in soup, don't have much flavor on their own; their flavor is absorbed into the broth.

A sip of hot soup not only warms you up but is also so delicious it makes your eyebrows fall out.

Grandma Lin took a sip of soup and thought of her youngest son: "I wonder how the third one is doing now. He didn't even come home for the New Year."