Chapter 18 Killing the Cow

"Why am I a turtle?" Xiao Yan asked.

"How did you guess that?" Lu Qiniang muttered softly, and then she said casually, "It's nothing, I just picked up a lame turtle that lay on the kang every day without moving."

Isn't it exactly the same?

Xiao Yan: "...Why didn't I see it?"

"Why, do you still want to meet it and become friends with it?" Lu Qiniang asked.

Xiao Yan: "..."

Just when he didn't know what to say, he heard Lu Qiniang say again: "That thing, of course I ate it after I found it. San Ya liked it, so I let her play with it for a few days. She got tired of it, so I stewed it."

Who has the leisure to keep one as a pet?

They are not the young masters and young ladies of the Zhou family.

Xiao Yan thought, fortunately, humans cannot eat their own kind.

Lame turtle... Haha, I didn't expect that he would have this day.

"Don't get me wrong, 'turtle' is not an insult, 'turtle' is a good thing!" Seeing that he was unhappy, Lu Qiniang deliberately tried to make amends.

But when she met Xiao Yan's eyes that seemed to see through everything, she felt a little guilty and blurted out, "A thousand-year-old turtle, a ten-thousand-year-old tortoise, you said you're long-lived!"

Xiao Yan didn't want to listen to her excuses anymore, so he said, "Have you remembered it? If you have, go to sleep and save some lamp oil."

If he doesn't look at it, he can pretend it doesn't exist.

Let's take a good look at him tomorrow during the day and see how much similarity he has with that lame turtle!

"Yes, go to sleep quickly. You have to get up before dawn tomorrow. You have to get up too."

"You go and kill the cow, shall I go too?"

"Of course you have to go." Lu Qiniang said confidently, "I have to take you out for a walk so they know there's one more person in our family and they can give us more meat."

"Hasn't the head tax already been paid to the village head?"

"It's not like everyone knows this. I'm just going to show you the way tomorrow. If there are any benefits in the future, you won't be left out."

"Apart from paying more head tax, what other benefits are there?" Xiao Yan said self-deprecatingly.

He didn't expect that he would become a burden to others.

Lu Qiniang thought to herself that there really didn't seem to be any benefit.

Besides helping her block some bad peach blossoms.

But now, thanks to her weight, she has "eradicated" all the bad romantic opportunities.

Well, the good peach blossoms are gone too.

"There's strength in numbers!" She managed to utter these words after a long while. "Alright, alright, go to sleep. Oh, by the way, I'll bring you the chamber pot first, go to the bathroom first..."

Xiao Yan didn't object this time.

It wasn't because he had a need, but because he had experienced being forced to defecate, and he felt that in order to save time and effort, it would be better for him to cooperate.

The next day, Xiao Yan was still fast asleep when he was suddenly slapped hard on the face, causing him to cough uncontrollably.

"Get up, it's time to get up. If you're late there will be too many people!"

Lu Qiniang stood up, put on her clothes hastily, tied her shiny black hair into a pigtail, and then put it on top of her head, neatly.

"Hair gets in the way when we're slaughtering the cow. Put it on quickly!"

She thought Xiao Yan was taking too long to get dressed, so she did it herself.

"Come on, stretch your arms—lift your legs—"

She quickly helped Xiao Yan put on his clothes.

"Mom, are you okay?" Erya urged from next door.

It turned out that the three daughters knew that they were going to slaughter a cow and share the beef today, so they got up early in excitement.

"Okay, okay, here I come."

As she spoke, Lu Qiniang picked up Xiao Yan and carried him sideways with great ease.

"No, you're wearing too little. I see there's a thick layer of snow outside, and the wind is strong. It's okay for us to walk back and forth, but you can only sit there. You must be cold."

As she spoke, she put Xiao Yan back on the kang, then spread out a quilt, put Xiao Yan on it, and wrapped him in the quilt.

Just like swaddling a baby...

Xiao Yan closed his eyes.

He just thought he was dead.

Thinking of the last time he was mistaken for a corpse, he felt that this was nothing.

Lu Qiniang put him on the flatbed cart, found her boning knife, and called her daughters, "Let's go!"

There was thick snow on the road, which made a noise when you stepped on it.

Lu Qiniang pushed the cart forward and said, "We're not the first to arrive so early! Look at how many people have walked on this road."

Killing cattle and distributing meat during the Chinese New Year is a big happy event for the entire Tonghuafang.

The family quickly arrived at the open space where they were going to slaughter the cow, and sure enough, there was already a circle of people gathered there.

"Make way, make way—" Lu Qinniang kept pushing the flatbed cart to the front, even though many people were complaining that she shouldn't do that.

"My husband," Lu Qinniang introduced him to everyone generously, "has difficulty walking and is cooped up at home all day. I hope he doesn't get sick, so I brought him here to see the fun."

When everyone heard this, their eyes fell on Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan lowered his eyes and let everyone look at him.

"Mom, that cow is so big. Every family will get a lot of beef." Erya has never taken her eyes off the old cow since she arrived.

"There's more meat, and there are more people. We said yesterday that everyone, regardless of gender, age or status, will get six taels of meat." Lu Qiniang had already inquired about it.

"So little?" Erya was a little disappointed.

"It's good to have meat to eat. You sisters, don't go too far, or you might get kicked by the cow if you don't hold it down. Just stay here with your father."

All three nodded.

It’s one thing not to recognize him at home, but once you get out, you have to recognize him as your father.

After all, if they don't recognize Xiao Yan as a member of the family, then they will have to get six taels less meat. Who would have a problem with meat?

Lu Qiniang drew her boning knife and stepped forward.

"Abandoned mother, how dare you come here to kill cattle?" Butcher Wang spat a mouthful of yellow phlegm into the snow, and half of the butcher knife was exposed under his greasy apron.

"What's there to be afraid of?" Lu Qiniang walked up and patted the old cow's head, then pulled out a piece of cloth from her sleeve to cover its eyes.

"What are you doing?" asked Wang the Butcher.

"It's worked so hard its whole life, I don't want it to see blood, let's kill it. Come, come and hold it down together."

Several men gathered around.

When the tip of Butcher Wang's knife was against the cow's throat, the people in front did not hold it down, and the old cow shook and struggled to get up.

At this time, Lu Qiniang suddenly moved, pressed the cow's neck with her left knee, and the old cow was pressed firmly into the snow pit.

She didn't wait for Wang the Butcher, but raised her knife and chopped it down herself, and the hot fishy smell sprayed on her face.

"Basin, catch the cow's blood!"

I don't want to waste even a bit of cow blood.

She did not stop exerting force on her hands. When she reached the basin, she twisted her wrist, and the blade wedged into the bone, and a column of hot blood shot up into the sky.

The old cow soon stopped moving.

Everyone applauded and praised Lu Qiniang for her clever tricks, saying that she even surpassed Wang the Butcher.

Butcher Wang didn't look too happy.

Lu Qiniang said, "That's all my brute strength. Come, skin me!"

The result of Wang the Butcher's anger was that he quit his job.

This was exactly what Lu Qiniang was worried about.

I'm sorry, Lao Wang, I have my own plans today.