Chapter 84: New Year's Pork Stew

After Gu Weidong and Miao Xiujiu and Gu Dayong had talked about this, they began to move some of their belongings to the thatched hut in the new house. Although the thatched hut was simple, it was sturdy and durable, and could be used as a kitchen after the new house was built.

Since they were moving, they needed household items. The big pot was bought by Miao Xiujiu with public money for everyone, and the rest were bowls and household items, which each family got when the family divided up.

Gu Weidong and Miao Xiujiu took their two eldest sons to pack up their things and first carried the salt, pork and other belongings over. Fubao and Gu Shengtian followed behind to move some firewood to the new house.

Who knew that at this time, Xiuni also happened to go over to get firewood.

Everything in the Gu family was divided, except for the firewood behind the house. They said that everyone could share it, and when it was used up, everyone could chop it for themselves.

Now Fubao was picking up firewood from the pile. She was thinking about stewing meat. She couldn't use straw or hay that couldn't be burned. She had to pick a few big and thick dry firewood and put them in the stove to simmer slowly. The meat would be fragrant and tender when stewed.

She picked a long and thick one, which was the strongest and most resistant to burning.

Fubao's pull made Xiuni, who was just there to get firewood, unhappy: "Fubao, we need firewood too. You can just pick the top ones. Why do you only pick the good ones?"

Fubao: "There are several thick sticks here, why don't we each take a big one back?"

Xiuni pouted, still not very happy.

She doesn't like Fubao.

Everyone in the family likes Fubao, including the brothers from the first and second rooms. Even her sister, Baoni, always thinks Fubao is nice. Speaking of which, her sister is also stupid. She doesn't know that her mother doesn't like Fubao, and she dares to speak for Fubao. No wonder her mother always scolds her sister.

Originally, she felt a little bit sad about these things, but this sadness was hidden deep in her heart, and she, a little child, might not be aware of it. After all, she was still young, and even if she pouted and glared when she was unhappy, she would not say that she had hatred in her heart.

But the problem is that Xiuni and Fubao are the same age, both in the first grade of primary school, so they will inevitably compare with each other. It was fine before the separation, but after the separation, the difference in treatment gradually emerged. Usually, Liu Guizhi is willing to give eggs to Fubao, but Liu Zhaodi is reluctant to give them to Xiuni.

Liu Guizhi went to the market and bought a big red gauze for Fubao. The big red gauze was so soft and beautiful. Liu Guizhi tied two small braids for Fubao, which made him look particularly cute.

But she was using the hairpin that her sister Bonnie had worn. Not only was it old, but the color was also not fresh.

Comparing yourself with others is the most infuriating thing.

Xiuni felt somewhat aggrieved and dissatisfied with the little things in daily life, thinking that Fubao ate and used things better than her in every way.

What made Xiuni's dissatisfaction most apparent was that Fubao scored 100 points in the exam, while Xiuni only scored 84 points.

To be fair, 84 points was already very good, but she did not perform as well as Fubao, or even Gu Shengtian, so she was scolded by his mother.

Xiuni felt aggrieved and thought that if she had not adopted Fubao, her life would definitely be better than it is now.

Xiuni stood there, holding the stick in her hand, looking at Fubao's pocket. She knew there was something delicious in it, some crispy candies she had brought back from her grandmother's house. She thought Fubao was a bad person. Why didn't he think of giving her something delicious?

They have separated, but she still calls me sister normally.

At this time, Xiuni curled her lips again and said, "If you need firewood, use it. Take as much as you can. If you carry firewood out of the house, who would know what you are going to do?"

Upon hearing this, Fubao frowned slightly. "Sister Xiuni, you know, my parents are planning to go to the new house to start a fire. Of course, I'm going to take the firewood to the new house. We need firewood anyway, so it doesn't matter where we burn it."

Xiuni: "It's different. The firewood in our family's house can only be burned in the old house! Otherwise, I don't know what you would do with the firewood!"

At this time, Gu Shengtian came over and was immediately unhappy when he heard this: "Xiuni, what are you talking about? These are all our firewood. Fubao and I picked them up in the mountains. Why can't we use them?"

Xiuni snorted, "Why are you so loud? You two are bullying me, how can you be right?"

Gu Shengtian was annoyed by what he said: "Is Xiuni still reasonable?"

Even though Gu Shengtian was only seven years old during the Spring Festival, he was a boy after all. He had a loud voice and looked fierce. Xiuni immediately felt wronged, pouted, and started crying: "Brother Shengtian bullied me!"

Having said this, he ran home crying.

Gu Shengtian and Fubao were stunned and looked at each other.

What did they say? What did they do? Who did they bully?

Gu Shengtian gritted his teeth and said, "Who is this person? I never recognized him before!"

Fu Bao, in turn, comforted Gu Shengtian: "Forget it, forget it. I guess because I scored high on the test a few days ago, her mother scolded her, and she felt uncomfortable and was unhappy to see me."

Gu Shengtian thought about it and it made sense. At that time, Third Aunt scolded Xiuni in front of the whole family. Not to mention Xiuni herself, even they thought it was too much.

It was normal for Xiuni to feel unhappy, but they were not the ones scolding her, so why shouldn't she vent her anger on Aunt San?

Fubao took Gu Shengtian's hand and said, "We can go to the mountains to pick up some firewood to burn. We can also see if there are any wild vegetables or mushrooms in the mountains. When we stew pork, we can throw the fresh wild vegetables and mushrooms into the broth. That way it will taste good!"

Gu Shengtian drooled after hearing this, and after thinking about it, he said, "Forget it, I won't bother with her!"

From the courtyard came Liu Zhaodi's voice scolding Xiuni: "You useless little girl, why are you crying? Why are you so stubborn when others bully you? Go and bully the person who bullies you? What's the point of having you? I gave birth to a loser like you!"

Fubao stuck out his tongue and said, "Let's run quickly, otherwise it will sound really uncomfortable."

When Liu Zhaodi scolded Xiuni, she was of course also scolding someone indirectly. Who would like to hear this during the New Year?

Fubao and Gu Shengtian ran to the mountains. They were familiar with the place and both knew where to easily pick up firewood. They went to pick up firewood first, and then went to the back of the mountain to look for mushrooms.

They were lucky and soon found a small patch of mushrooms in a secluded place. The two of them squatted there and picked them greedily. They picked half a basket of mushrooms. The mushrooms were fresh and tender, and water would come out if they were gently squeezed. If they were washed and thrown into the pork soup, they would taste so delicious.

Fubao and Gu Shengtian were both impatient and unwilling to collect more firewood, so they ran down the mountain when they had enough.

Who knew that when he was going down the mountain, he actually met Nie Laosan's wife.

Seeing that they were not going home but to the new house, Nie Laosan's wife asked, "What are you doing?"

Fubao and Gu Shengtian were very wary of Nie Laosan's wife and said cautiously, "Let's go home."

Nie Laosan's wife took a look at the Fubao basket and saw the fresh mushrooms inside.

How could she have gathered so many mushrooms in the middle of winter? These mushrooms were delicious if simply rinsed with water and mixed with mashed garlic and onions. Normally, picking them wasn't easy, so how could two little kids have gathered so many?

Her heart skipped a beat, and she suddenly remembered what she had been thinking about recently.

Could it be that Fubao is really blessed with good luck, and whoever treats her well will benefit from it, while whoever treats her badly will be unlucky?

Nie Laosan's wife felt jealous. She remembered that her husband could pick up whatever she wanted to eat during her confinement period.

She just stared at Fubao.

Fu Bao felt uncomfortable when she looked at him, and couldn't help but take a step back: "You, what are you doing?"

Gu Shengtian rushed over and blocked Fubao: "Don't bully my sister! This is my sister!"

Nie Lao San’s wife: “Bah! When she was my daughter, you had nothing to do with her. What’s the point of calling her a younger sister or not? I raised her for four years after all!”

Fubao felt something was wrong after hearing this. He had occasionally met Nie Laosan's wife before, but she was never like this. She was very mean to him at that time, so why did she suddenly change her tone?

But she didn't want to talk much with Nie Lao San's wife.

She was an adult, and Gu Shengtian and I were just children. Who knew how we would fall into her trap?

So she took Gu Shengtian's hand and said, "Let's go!"

Gu Shengtian hated Nie Lao San's wife very much, and was even more disgusted by what she had just said. He wanted to beat her up, but when he thought about how young he was and that his family was still waiting for firewood, he just listened to Fu Bao and left.

Before leaving, he threatened Nie Lao San's wife: "If you dare to bully my sister, I'll ask my brother to beat you up!"

Nie Laosan's wife watched the two little kids running down the mountain. The small bamboo baskets on their backs swayed, and the mushrooms inside also shook.

Her heart ached.

When she came back from the pig farm that day, the man's frustrated words came back to her ears.

Could it be that Fubao really brought her wealth and fortune? Could it be that all the good fortune she once had was brought by Fubao, and that she had been mean to Fubao later, and not only had her good luck disappeared, but she had become even more unlucky?

Is that really true?

If that's the case, then why did she send Fubao away?

Thinking of this, Nie Laosan's wife felt as if her heart was being stabbed by someone, and it hurt so much that it was unbearable.

But is this really the case?

She stood there with her eyes wide open and bloodshot, and decided to go over and see what the two little brats were doing with all the firewood on their backs.

——

Actually, it’s cold here in the new house.

The new house's land is located in the northwest corner of the production brigade. It is surrounded by new houses, some of which have been built and some have not yet been built, so the wind in the new house is stronger than the wind in the old yard.

The new house is just made of adobe to block the wind. As for the thatched kitchen, the windows are temporarily covered with plastic sheets, which naturally cannot keep out the wind and heat.

But the six members of the Gu family huddled in this thatched hut, and they were all very happy.

Gu Yuejin and Gu Yuehua were chopping pork stuffing with knives in the corner. They chopped the meat one piece at a time, watching it gradually become minced meat. They imagined that the dumplings made from this meat would be even more delicious than the ones made by grandma, so they chopped it with great vigor.

Gu Weidong and Liu Guizhi wanted to put the meat in a large iron pot, boil water, rinse the meat, and remove the remaining red blood. Then they took it out, cut the meat into pieces, and cut the offal into thumb-sized pieces. As for the large pieces of meat, they cut them into large pieces. After cutting, throw it all into the hot pot, add a little sweet bean sauce bought from the market and stir-fry. When the color of the meat turns red, add water and various spices, fennel, garlic cloves, chopped green onions, wild ginger, etc. and start stewing.

In rural areas, people rarely stew meat. They only stew big pots of dishes during weddings and funerals. Otherwise, they don’t know that these seasonings should be added to stew meat, let alone using brown sugar to stir-fry sugar color first.

Liu Guizhi was in charge of making the fire, and Fubao and Gu Shengtian filled the stove with the large pieces of dry firewood they had just picked up. This kind of firewood burned vigorously and the flames were strong. The flames licked the stove, making the whole hut warm.

Gu Yuejin and Gu Yuehua, who were chopping the meat, laughed: "It's quite hot. I'm sweating."

As he said this, the breath coming out of his mouth was white, and the wind outside blew up and blew away all the air.

Fubao and Gu Shengtian squatted there, and when they saw them like this, they both laughed. While laughing, they stretched out their little hands to warm the fire in front of the stove.

I don’t know why, we usually sit by the fire, but today it’s especially warm.

The cold wind was howling outside, and the family huddled in such a small hut. Although it was small and the windows were drafty, everyone felt very comfortable.

This is their future home and their future kitchen. They will live separately and each family will have their own kitchen.

There was pork stewed in the big iron pot. They ate it themselves and would not give it to others.

Thinking of the bites of meat and the delicious taste of the stewed meat, my heart is full of anticipation.

"Mom, I can't wait to move to our new home!" Fubao couldn't help but say this as he was pulling the bellows nearby.

When she said this, everyone couldn't help laughing.

Gu Yuejin smiled and shook his head: "Fubao, Fubao, our house is still made of mud bricks, and you are looking forward to moving in?"

Fu Bao nodded vigorously: "Of course I am looking forward to it. I am looking forward to it being built quickly and moving in quickly."

Liu Guizhi had told her long ago that once they moved in, she would be able to live in a room of her own, while her three brothers would share one. Just thinking about it was such a wonderful thing. She would no longer have to smell the sweat of her eldest brother Gu Yuejin's feet, nor would she have to hear Gu Shengtian's grunting.

Gu Shengtian held his cheek and said, "I'm actually looking forward to eating meat. When will this pot of meat be ready?"

Liu Guizhi knew that the children were greedy, so she smiled and said, "Prepare porridge quickly, and cook meat slowly. Stew the pig's head neither quickly nor slowly. Stewing meat requires slow cooking."

Then she asked Gu Weidong, "Take another look and see how hot it is."

After hearing this, Gu Weidong lifted the heavy wooden lid of the pot. As soon as he did so, white hot steam spread out, filling the entire hut with white steam, and within that white steam was the rich aroma of meat.

"It smells so good..." Several children couldn't help drooling.

Gu Weidong poked a large piece of meat with his chopsticks and shook his head: "It's not completely rotten yet."

When stewing meat, what you need to do is to be able to penetrate it with a chopstick gently. This means it is ready, but now it is still a little short of cooked.

The children were immediately disappointed. Gu Yuejin chopped the meat with a weak breath and muttered, "I want to eat meat, I want to eat meat..."

Fubao stared at the flames in the stove and swallowed secretly.

When is the best time to stew pork?

At this moment, Gu Weidong opened the pot again and pricked up his chopsticks, then his face became solemn.

The children were all worried: "Is it done?"

Gu Weidong looked at the four children with the same eagerness, knowing that they were greedy, and smiled: "You can eat it now!"

"Wow!!" The four children cheered, their faces full of anticipation.

Gu Yuejin was the smartest one and had already stood up to get the dishes and chopsticks.

You need a bowl to eat meat!

Liu Guizhi took the bowl, put a large piece of meat on it, and handed it to Gu Yuejin: "You guys eat it first, we'll put some mushrooms and beans in it."

Gu Yuejin took it hurriedly, and the four of them squatted in the corner, surrounding the bowl of meat.

This is a large square piece of meat. The skin on top is crystal clear and trembling, and the meat underneath is fat and lean. It looks red because of the sugar color. It smells fragrant and tastes a little sticky to the lips. It is fragrant and very satisfying to eat it in big mouthfuls.

For the first time in my life, I can eat meat in such big mouthfuls. It makes me so happy that I want to cry.

“Delicious, so delicious!”

“The meat is so delicious!”

“It would be great if I could eat meat like this every day!”

From Gu Yuejin to the youngest Fubao, they squatted there without feeling tired, their mouths full of delicious food, and they kept shouting that it was delicious.

Liu Guizhi watched the children eat with relish, and she also took out a small piece to taste with Gu Weidong. After taking a bite, she couldn't help but say, "This meat is really delicious, even better than the stew my grandma made during the Chinese New Year."

Gu Weidong: "Your family is well-off and you can even stew meat during the New Year. When I was a kid, we didn't even have cornmeal steamed buns during the New Year."

As he said that, he also took a big bite. It was delicious, really delicious.

Being able to taste a piece of meat with such a big mouthful in this life, life is worth living!

And in the corner outside the thatched hut, Nie Laosan's wife was facing the cold wind, holding her breath, pricked up her ears, and tried hard to listen to the movement inside.

At that time, Fubao and Gu Shengtian came here instead of going to their home with mushrooms and firewood, so she became suspicious. Now she followed them secretly and took a look. She never expected that they were actually eating meat!

Of course, Nie Laosan’s wife knew that the Gu family had shared more than 30 kilograms of meat.

But Nie Laosan's wife never expected that they would be willing to stew so much meat all at once? How could rural people do such a destructive thing?

But that's how the fourth branch of the Gu family eats meat! They stewed it all in one go!

More than thirty pounds of meat!

She secretly peeked in through the crack and saw bubbles bubbling in the big iron pot. The big red chunks of meat inside were cooked through and looked soft and fragrant when bitten.

Nie Laosan's wife was so greedy that her saliva kept flowing down and she swallowed it with gulps.

They actually eat meat in big mouthfuls like this??!

Nie Laosan’s wife opened her eyes wide, feeling so much pain in her heart!

She also wanted to have a bite. How long had it been since she had eaten meat?

If she had so much meat, she could produce gold and silver for her family.

Nie Laosan's wife stared at Liu Guizhi's chopsticks through the gap. She saw that the chopsticks had picked up another small piece of meat. The meat was still covered with broth and was steaming. Liu Guizhi blew away the hot steam on it with her mouth, and then swallowed it in one gulp.

Liu Guizhi chewed the soup with her cheeks puffed up, saying repeatedly, "It's so delicious. I'll serve a bowl for my parents later."

Gu Weidong also took a piece like Liu Guizhi and nodded, "Okay, let's give it to our parents to try too. They probably won't be willing to use sugar to fry it, and they won't be able to gather all the seasonings."

Nie Laosan's stomach growled. She remembered the sweet potato steamed buns she had eaten for lunch today. She thought that she had no oil or water in her stomach, but others were eating meat, big chunks of stewed pork!

Nie Laosan suddenly wanted to cry. She remembered the time when she was in confinement and the time when she was living a good life.

Back then, life was so good...

At this moment, amidst the rich aroma of pork, she completely regretted it.

Why give Fubao away?

Why do you dislike Fubao?

Why do you think Fubao is a jinx?

Look at the fourth branch of the Gu family, they adopted Fubao and are eating pork with big mouthfuls!!

They both raised pigs, but other people ate meat with great pleasure. She worked hard to raise pigs for a whole year, wasting so much pig grass, so much pig slop, and even corn kernels. But in the end, she didn't get a single piece of meat!

Her family is really bad at nothing. They are unlucky wherever they go and nothing goes their way!

Comparing yourself with others can make you angry to death.

What else can she say except that she is unlucky?

Fubao...Fubao, that's a blessing!!

Nie Laosan's wife hid in the cold wind, smelling the aroma of meat, and regretted it so much that her intestines turned green.

After a long, long time, when her face was frozen, she finally murmured in her heart: "No, no, Fubao is my child. It was my family who adopted Fubao..."

She has to find a way to get Fubao back.

When Nie Laosan's wife made up her mind, Liu Guizhi and her family were chewing on pig's trotters. "It turns out pig's trotters are so delicious, so chewy."

Nie Laosan's wife's heart suddenly sank, and she almost couldn't stand up due to the pain. She gritted her teeth and swore to herself in her heart: I will come back! !