"So that's why Xu Baiqiang's house is so lively!" Old Man Xu had been wondering when his house had become so popular, but it turned out he wanted to borrow money!

"That's right. We can refuse the villagers, but what about the relatives? He has a sister who's married nearby! Just wait and see, you'll definitely come to borrow money after the New Year."

Granny Liu sees all this very clearly. It doesn't matter if your family is poor; they won't make things difficult for you.

Once you have a little money, you become incredibly popular.

Old Xu thought about it and realized it made sense. Putting everything else aside, he had one older sister and two younger sisters! Although he had never borrowed money from their family, he had borrowed from his third brother's family! After all, his third brother's family was the best off!

Last time, I heard my third brother complain that my eldest sister borrowed two thousand yuan from him. It's been several years now. At first, she would call him every year to say she didn't have the money and to wait a little longer, but later she simply stopped responding. Can you imagine how painful that must be?

...

On the 29th day of the lunar calendar, the pig for the New Year is slaughtered.

Early that morning, Xu Minghan was woken up, and Zhang Xuemei, unable to sleep, also got up.

"Minghan, you guys help me hold the pig down later. We're slaughtering it today for the New Year." Granny Liu had been busy boiling water since early morning; she'd need it to scald the pig's hair later!

Turning around, she saw that her third daughter-in-law had also gotten up. As if she had thought of something, she said, "Xuemei, the pig slaughtering will be very noisy later. Why don't you take the child to the eldest son's house? Don't let him get scared."

Zhang Xuemei thought for a moment and still refused, "Mom, it's okay, she's sleeping soundly right now! Besides, it's quite cold in the morning, and it would be more troublesome to carry her around and let her get cold. Let her stay here!"

“Okay, then Xiaowan can stay inside and watch the child while you help out.”

"Okay, Mom, I understand."

Zhang Xuemei hadn't seen a pig being slaughtered for many years. Back then, she would get hungry whenever a pig was slaughtered, thinking that she would finally be able to eat a meal of "pig-killing feast".

She's even more excited to be back now, because she'll soon be able to eat her favorite pig's blood soup, which is her absolute favorite.

"Oink oink..." The sounds of pigs squealing could be heard outside, so they must have already taken the pigs out of the pen.

"Xuemei, take the hot water out of the bucket, be careful, getting burned is no joke."

"Fengjuan, quickly add water and boil two more pots, this isn't enough. Nianmei, right, where's Nianmei!"

After assigning tasks to her two daughters-in-law, Granny Liu realized that she hadn't seen her eldest daughter-in-law all morning.

"Mom, my sister-in-law went to look for the children. Dingwen and Dingyang ran away this morning wearing new clothes. My sister-in-law was afraid they would get them dirty, so she chased after them."

Chen Fengjuan poked her head out from under the stove and quickly offered an explanation.

Upon hearing this, Granny Liu waved her hand, "Forget it, there's really no one to rely on. I'll do it myself!"

"Mom, Uncle Lai asked if you've finished preparing the pig's blood powder solution. They're getting ready to slaughter the pig," Zhang Xuemei asked as she brought in an empty bucket.

"Oh, almost done, I forgot." Granny Liu quickly took two clean basins, poured in some of her own sun-dried sweet potato flour and salt, and mixed it with water.

"Xuemei, take one out. When this basin is full, you immediately fill it up, understand?"

Zhang Xuemei nodded. She was familiar with the process, but it was a bit bloody.

"Auntie, are you ready? Come on, hold it down, I'm going to start." Xu Laicai sharpened the pig-slaughtering knife on the whetstone a few times, and then asked Xu Mingjiang next to him to wash the pig's neck to prevent it from contaminating the pig's blood later.

Several men in the house were seen holding down the large, fat pig, some even pressing down on it.

The butcher then plunged a sharp knife into the pig's neck, and blood gushed out instantly.

Granny Liu quickly placed the basin at the bottom and stirred it a few times with her hands to prevent the starch from settling to the bottom.

Seeing that it was almost finished, but the pig's blood was still flowing, Granny Liu called out, "Xuemei."

Zhang Xuemei immediately stepped forward, moved the basin over, and continued to collect the remaining pig's blood.

Granny Liu took the pig's blood back into the house, grabbed a pair of chopsticks, and stirred it vigorously to make it taste better.

The pig's blood collection was complete, so there was nothing more for them to do. They just had to wait for the butcher to butcher the pig and then make a pig-killing feast.

"Mom, are we selling half to Uncle Lai Cai this year, just like last year?" Zhou Nianmei returned just then. She had been looking for these two boys for ages. They had actually run off to play with firecrackers. If they ripped off their clothes, she would spank their bottoms.

"Hmm, this year's pigs are fat enough. Keeping half is enough, otherwise they won't keep well once the weather gets warmer." Every year, Granny Liu keeps half of her pigs and sells the other half, which is just right.

Xu Laicai was shaving the pig outside; it would be ready to be gutted soon.

The moment the contents of the pig's belly came out, Xu Minghan was overwhelmed by the stench and couldn't help but gag.

Xu Laicai saw this and teased, "Minghan, you used to love watching your uncle slaughter pigs when you were little, and you even said that pig intestines smelled delicious. Why don't you like it anymore now?"

"Uncle Lai Cai, please stop talking, I'm about to throw up my breakfast." Xu Minghan was originally about to throw up, but when he turned around and saw the lump of pig intestines being pulled out of the pig's belly, he couldn't hold back anymore.

"Alright, alright, I won't say it anymore. You really don't know what you're missing. This pig intestine is incredibly fragrant!"

Zhang Xuemei stood in the main room and looked out. She saw that the pig's internal organs had been taken out, and Uncle Lai was preparing to unload the pork!

Fearing her mother-in-law would make her wash things like pig intestines, Zhang Xuemei quickly went back inside.

"Mom, Linlin must be hungry too. I'm going inside to breastfeed her."

"Go ahead!" Anyway, there are plenty of people to do the work, so one more won't make a difference.

"Nianmei, grab a handful of firewood ash and go outside to clean the pig intestines; we'll need them later." Granny Liu knew it was time to get to work just by smelling the pungent odor.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuemei quickened her pace, fearing she would be conscripted.

"Third Sister-in-law, they're both still asleep!" Xu Mingwan was reading a storybook in the room when she looked up and saw her third sister-in-law come in. She immediately got up and said.

"It's okay, I'll stay here. Go out for some fresh air!"

Xu Mingwan nodded; she also wanted to go play with the girls in the village.

Outside, Zhou Nianmei pinched her nose and turned her large intestine inside out, gagging as she did so, "Ugh~"

Xu Mingri couldn't stand it anymore and immediately squatted down. "I'll do it! You go wash your hands and go inside to warm yourself by the fire!"

Zhou Nianmei felt pleased to see that her husband cared about her.

But she wouldn't pretend to be virtuous; she would immediately get up and wash her hands, using soap and washing them several times before she felt clean.

"Then you go ahead and wash, I'm going inside." She said, and immediately ran inside, afraid that her husband would stop her if she walked too slowly.

Granny Liu looked at her eldest daughter-in-law as she came in empty-handed, and asked curiously, "You're done washing so quickly? Where's the food?"