The little girl pointed outside with a fierce look and said:

"Those old women in the village are slandering my sister. I'm going to chop them up!"

Geng Xiaoyun's story was so vivid that everyone in the room laughed:

"Is this true? Is this really true?"

Geng Xiaoyun waved her hand. "Of course not! We do have some people who are shy and timid, but the majority are bold, courageous, and driven!"

Lu Miao smiled and interrupted:

"Whether it's true or not, you can tell by looking at Xiaoyun."

"Hey! It's true!"

There was another burst of laughter in the room.

January 19, 1977, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

The county equipment group officially stopped working before the New Year.

Fu Jingyou received his salary and various ticket subsidies, and wandered around the county department store that day, taking home bags of all sizes tied to the front and back of his bicycle.

When they got home, he parked his bicycle and was responsible for unloading the packages, while Lu Miao stood at the table and was responsible for unpacking them.

"What did you buy with all these bags?"

"We have everything we need to eat and use. It's time to prepare for the New Year."

Lu Miao glared at him angrily and took a few raisins to taste.

The raisins are soft and chewy, and have a nice sweet taste.

Lu Miao grabbed some and put them in a small bowl, letting Dabao and Erbao grab some and eat them for fun.

"There's still almost a month until Chinese New Year. If you buy these now, they'll be gone in a few days."

Fu Jingyou smiled and picked up Erbao from the fence and kissed him:

"You eat it, not others. Just buy more after you finish eating it. It's not worth anything."

And I must go to the county before the New Year.

The office issued a lot of subsidy tickets, many of which were about to expire.

As he spoke, thinking of Lu Miao sewing and mending and learning to make clothes for children, Fu Jingyou said:

"I've saved quite a bit of money this year. I'd like to buy you a sewing machine by the end of the year. Do you want one?"

Lu Miao shook his head: "Let's wait until after the college entrance examination! What if I really pass the exam? It's not easy to take such a big thing out. It costs more than a hundred yuan..."

Fu Jingyou disagreed: "It's not difficult to bring it. We can just disassemble the machine and bring the metal parts ourselves, and send the rest through the post office."

Fu Jingyou has considered it very well.

Because there is no doubt that Lu Miao will pass the exam.

“Don’t buy it yet…”

Lu Miao still shook his head, his attitude was persistent:

"I'm just sewing for fun, not really wanting to be a tailor, so I won't do that for now."

Fu Jingyou stopped talking and changed the subject:

"The equipment team is on holiday, and there's nothing to do before the New Year. I figured it's getting cold enough now, so I'll have someone come over to kill the pig tomorrow."

"Killing so early?"

In previous years, the team would slaughter pigs during the last few days of the year.

Although meat doesn’t spoil in cold weather, it is definitely more delicious when it is fresh.

Fu Jingyou held Erbao's butt with one hand and his back with the other, shaking him back and forth and whistling to tease him:

"Kill one first, keep some fresh for home consumption, send some to my uncle's family, and make the rest into bacon, hang it up to air dry, and send some to Beijing before the New Year."

The remaining one will be killed at the end of December.

The two pigs in my family were raised earlier than those of other families in the team. Naturally, they are much fatter after being raised for an extra six months.

When the time comes, hand in half of the pig for the task, and keep the remaining half at home to eat slowly.

The benefit of widely promoting pig farming is that everyone can eat meat at the end of the year, and pork can also be bought and sold privately.

The higher-ups will turn a blind eye and won’t say anything more.

Fu Jingyou has always been the one who takes care of the pigpen during his get off work hours. Lu Miao usually just throws some vegetable stalks and pours some slop into the pigpen to feed it.

She thought the pigpen was dirty, so she didn't care much about what happened there.

Seeing that Fu Jingyou already had a plan, Lu Miao said no more and just followed his arrangements.

Fu Jingyou and Lu Miao agreed on the idea and went to the team to look for help after dinner.

We agreed to start work at 5:30 the next morning.

Fu Jingyou stopped by the He family to tell them that he was going to slaughter a pig and asked Chen Guifen to go over and help tomorrow.

In the countryside, pigs are always slaughtered early in the morning, but the children are all asleep at that time, so Lu Miao definitely can't spare the time to pay attention.

Chen Guifen understood and told him not to worry, she would definitely go the next morning.

After staying at the He family for a while, Fu Jingyou went home.

They said the pig would be slaughtered at five o'clock the next morning, so Fu Jingyou got up at four o'clock.

It was pitch black outside. Lu Miao was pressed on the hair by him, and it hurt a little before he woke up dazedly:

"So early?"

"Um."

Fu Jingyou stroked her forehead and pressed the quilt against her shoulders:

"We need to get ready first. We'll start working right away when people show up. It's still early, why don't you sleep in a little longer?"

"Um……"

Lu Miao yawned and rubbed his cheek against his palm, still in a daze.

"Please fix the stove, it's a bit cold..."

"good."

Fu Jingyou replaced a new piece of coal in the stove and turned up the air damper a little before going out to work.

Lu Miao turned over, took Dabao, who was sleeping on the inner side of the bed covered with a small quilt, into his arms, kissed him, and continued to sleep with him in his arms.

The little guy probably nestled into his mother's arms out of instinct, and even in his half-sleep state he couldn't stop his little hands from scratching around.

Lu Miao pulled his little hand out of his arms and replaced it with a finger for him to hold.

Fu Jingyou built an earthen stove at the door and took two pots from the kitchen and placed them in front of the door.

Halfway through his work, he thought the newly replaced coal was burning, so he tiptoed into the room and turned the stove damper back down.

When he walked out of the room again, he ran into Chen Guifen.

"Is Miao girl awake yet?"

"I didn't let her get up. The little brat made a fuss last night, so I let her sleep a little longer."

Chen Guifen nodded, put on her jacket and got busy.

It was just half past four, and Chen Guifen had come early to make preparations.

At five o'clock, the workers came to make a pot of tea and boil water for the pigs.

Chen Guifen first filled the two thermoses at home.

There is a thermos in the main room, so that people can pour it for themselves when they are thirsty.

Another kettle was quietly brought into the room.

When Lu Miao got up, it was convenient for him to drink and also to make milk for the baby.

Gradually more and more people came to the door.

Lu Miao always heard people shouting and talking, and couldn't sleep well.

I just calmed down and prepared to get up after warming up.

In front of the door.

Fu Jingyou removed a door panel from the main room, propped up the door panel with two benches, and went to the pigpen with his two uncles to catch pigs.

The Fu family started raising pigs in the autumn of last year, and they have to raise them for half a year longer than other families who catch piglets in the spring.

The two pigs looked much larger than the pigs raised by other people in the team. They were estimated to weigh about 250 or 280 kilograms.

Looks fat.

The uncles and aunts who came to help praised me:

"This pig is really well-raised. I haven't seen such a fat pig in years! Xiaoliu, your family is slaughtering a pig today. Are you selling the pork as well?"

Fu Jingyou selected the pigs, drove them to the corner of the pen and said:

"Let's take a look first. I'll give some to the Yue family, and sell any leftovers."