Chapter 36 Pig Slaughter Feast

Molly's house remained closed. She and Mo An were making jerky and smoking cured meat at home. They hadn't sold the two large wild boars they had hunted. Molly planned to eat some themselves, send some to the farm, and also send some to Ji and Feng.

This should be her last hunting trip into the mountains before next summer. After that, when spring comes and animals reproduce, even if she goes into the mountains, it will only be to pick mushrooms and find wild vegetables.

Molly's four hens looked like they were about to lay eggs, and she planned to hatch them herself, but she didn't have a rooster. That day, when Zhao Xiaoyong came to her house, she discussed with him about going home and bringing his rooster to her hens for a few days. She promised to give him some chicks once they hatched.

The rooster at Zhao Xiaoyong's house was very well raised by his family. Its feathers were shiny, and it looked majestic and awe-inspiring. She took a liking to it at first sight.

Zhao Xiaoyong naturally agreed and brought his own rooster over that very day. The rooster held its head high and puffed out its chest. When it saw Molly's four hens, its little eyes lit up and it rushed over from a distance.

Molly's lips twitched; it seemed like things were settled.

Zhao Xiaoyong covered his face, feeling embarrassed that his rooster was too unreserved.

Because Molly's family had been refusing to let the team members visit, they never had the chance to go inside her house or exchange experiences on pig farming with her.

Molly had no idea that she had transformed from a disabled younger sister who was a burden to her older sister after her marriage into one of the most capable and outstanding people in the brigade.

Over the past month, the three adult pigs have increased their appetite, and the four wild boars have also eaten quite a bit. Molly and Moan have to cook pig feed twice a day to feed the seven pigs in their household.

The dried vegetables that were previously dried are now being used to cook pig feed, and half a sack of them are consumed every day.

After a month, Molly and Moan had used up a third of the dried vegetables they had made.

However, the more they expended, the faster the pigs grew. Those three pigs changed every day, and now they weighed at least 150 pounds, if not 170 or 180 pounds. The four wild boars, on the other hand, had an astonishingly large appetite. On the tenth day after their return, Molly castrated two of the boars. It was her first time, so she was inevitably a bit clumsy, but fortunately, it went smoothly, and the two boars recovered completely the next day.

Mo An noticed that the boar's lower abdomen was smeared with black soot from the bottom of a pot. Confused, he asked, "Where did those two pigs get soot from?"

Molly: "I did it on them. I castrated them this morning, so I put some ash on them to disinfect them."

Mo An: "......."

Is there anything his second sister can't do?

On the day before the Lunar New Year, the people from the commune arrived early in the morning, driving a tractor with a large iron scale and two large pig cages on it.

The rumble of the tractors attracted everyone from the brigade.

The captain gritted his teeth, cursed inwardly, but had to put on a smile and go to greet him.

Officer Zhang, who was on the tractor, waved his hand and, without exchanging pleasantries with the brigade leader, said directly, "To Molly's house."

Almost the entire brigade came to watch the spectacle.

Molly's vegetable garden couldn't accommodate so many people, so she only allowed a few able-bodied young men to come in and catch pigs. Several commune cadres also came in to choose pigs. The cadres originally planned to choose the two largest pigs, but they found that the three pigs were about the same size, so in the end they could only choose the two that looked the best.

Two large pigs were put into a cage and carried out, squealing shrilly all the way.

Mo An looked reluctant, his eyes almost red. Molly came over and patted him on the shoulder, "Go and keep an eye on the vegetable garden, don't let them trample our vegetables."

Upon hearing this, Mo An hurriedly went to stand guard at the entrance of the vegetable garden, his eyes fixed intently on the pairs of feet.

The two pigs were carried out, and the crowd followed. Mo An immediately closed the door to prevent anyone from coming in.

The people of the commune started weighing the pigs. Two people carried the pigs, and one person was responsible for watching the scales. Zhang, the cadre, and the brigade leader took notes.

"One hundred and sixty-eight catties, the pig cage weighs twelve catties, and the pig weighs one hundred and fifty-six catties net."

"One hundred and seventy-two catties, the pig cage weighs twelve catties, and the pig weighs one hundred and sixty catties net."

"The two pigs weighed a total of 316 jin."

The captain and Officer Zhang signed their names on the form and handed it to Molly, who also signed her name. They assumed Molly, having never been to school, would have poor handwriting, but they were surprised to see that the characters for "Molly" were written with sharp, powerful strokes, seemingly penetrating the paper. A delicate and pretty girl, yet her handwriting possessed an imposing presence.

She gained 30 pounds in a month, a number that shocked everyone.

"If you gain 30 pounds a month, and continue to raise it for a few more months, wouldn't it grow to over 200 pounds?"

“It’s more than 200 jin, I think 300 jin is not impossible.”

"If we keep raising it, it might grow to 500 pounds."

"It's a pity, we won't be able to wait until then."

"How exactly did she raise her child? Can you teach us?"

Everyone surrounded Molly, their faces pleading.

“There’s no special technique to it. They eat four full buckets of pig feed per meal. I cook vegetables, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and radishes for them. Sweet potatoes are included in every meal, and they especially love them.” Molly said earnestly, not as if she were lying. “As you know, I didn’t receive any grain in the fall, so besides vegetables, sweet potatoes, and potatoes, I didn’t have any grain to feed them. I don’t know how they grow. I guess it’s because they eat so much.”

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent. Whose pigs eat better than people?

After the commune took away Molly's two pigs, Xiaonan Village was enveloped in a strange festive atmosphere. Then, on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, the brigade leader led a group of people to Molly's house early in the morning and took away her last remaining large pig.

They weighed the pig first; it weighed 164 pounds, but they didn't record that because Molly's meat was sold separately.

The pig was slaughtered at the brigade's canteen, and a feast was even prepared for the pig.

Molly was generous and donated pig's blood, pig's stomach, pig's liver, pig's lungs, pig's heart, pig's large intestine, and pig's small intestine, etc. The team members brought a handful of rice and a handful of vegetables from their own homes, and together they cooked a pot of mixed stew.

Mo An, carrying his and Molly's bowls and chopsticks, waited with Zhao Xiaoyong on the playground outside the cafeteria. During this time, Mo An's status among the children soared. No one called him a burden, nor did anyone ostracize or bully him. Instead, they all looked at Mo An with envious eyes and asked him if his sister needed a younger brother.

Molly watched the chef slaughter pigs in the canteen. The team leader and the accountant calculated the amount of pork each household could buy based on the number of people in each household.

People lined up to buy meat, all eagerly waiting.

"Big sister, you don't need to queue, I'll save you a pig's head," Molly said to Mohe.

Mo He shook his head. "It's just a pig. If you give me the pig's head, you'll be gone."

Molly herself didn't care. "I ordered five pounds of pork ribs and two pounds of fatty meat. I asked the chef to set the pig's head aside for you; you can just take it back."

"Yeah, Mohe, your sister already said she's giving you a pig's head, so don't bother queuing up with us here. Hurry up and take the pig's head home."

"That's right, it's such a big pig's head, it must weigh over ten or twenty pounds."

“If your sister gives it to you, just take it. We’re family, don’t be shy.”

A whole pig's head, bones, tongue, and ears—it was quite a heavy meal.

Since Mohe got the pig's head, he shouldn't have fought with them for the rest of the pork. These people couldn't wait for Mohe to go home right now.

The aunties and grandmothers were eyeing her with predatory intent. Mo He, being shy, took the pig's head from Mo Li's hand and said with a blush, "Then I'll take the pig's head back first and come back to find you later."

The captain led a few people, one in charge of distributing the meat, one in charge of weighing it, and one in charge of keeping accounts, while Molly supervised from the side. The meat from the pig was quickly distributed.

Molly didn't receive a single penny; everyone else opted to keep a record so the team leader could deduct it directly from next year's work points. Molly had anticipated this outcome, so she wasn't disappointed.

She sold all three pigs, but all she got was a few pounds of meat; she got nothing else.

Oh, and there's also a meal of slaughtering pig.

After the meat was distributed, Molly took it home to store. When she returned to the canteen, the pig-killing feast was ready, and everyone had already lined up. To Molly's surprise, the first person in line was Mo An. He was holding two basins and waving at her.

Molly walked towards him, and he gave up his first place to her, saying, "Second sister, you go first."

"Hello, sister-in-law."

Hello, sister.

"Molly, thank you for treating us to the pig-killing feast."

"Molly, thanks to you, we're having a feast of pig slaughtering again."

"......"

Everyone greeted Molly warmly, and even Zhao Taohua, who used to be sarcastic towards Molly, quietly said "thank you" to her.

Molly nodded to everyone, her face devoid of a smile, but her expression was gentle, and she simply said, "You're welcome."

The head chef began serving the food, the standard being one spoonful of mixed grain rice and two spoonfuls of vegetables, which filled Molly's bowl with three large spoonfuls.

Molly's bowl had more meat than vegetables, which was specially served to her by the head chef. Mo An received the same treatment, while everyone else's bowls were simply scooped up with a spoon and whatever was served was served.

Even if there's not much meat, the vegetables still taste delicious because they've absorbed the flavor of the meat.

The head chef was a serious and taciturn man, but he was fairly fair. Everyone received roughly the same amount of meat and vegetables, and no one complained about it being unfair. Everyone squatted down on the playground outside the cafeteria and started eating, holding their bowls.

Laughter and cheerful voices filled the air, suddenly creating a festive and lively atmosphere reminiscent of the Chinese New Year.

"Molly, you've raised these pigs well. They don't smell bad, and the meat is very fragrant." Aunt Guihua gave Molly a thumbs up.

Molly swallowed the meat in her mouth and smiled. "They eat vegetables grown in the fields. If anything, our land is good, so the crops grown here are good. The pigs grow well because they eat good food."

The person next to her chuckled, "Guihua, you still say Molly doesn't like to talk? Look at her little mouth, it's as sweet as if it's been smeared with honey."

Aunt Guihua laughed, "Then I misjudged him."

"But speaking of which, this pork is really delicious. You're quite capable, little girl, raising three big, fat pigs in just six months," another aunt praised.

"It's quite capable. In previous years, I raised one, and it took eight or nine months to grow to 140 pounds."

"I was even worse off. My pig got sick and died after I raised it for three months. I was so heartbroken that I couldn't sleep for three months. After that, I didn't dare to raise pigs anymore. I couldn't afford it."

“Raising pigs is risky. If a pig gets sick, you lose everything. I already had no savings, and now I'm even poorer.”

Not many people in the brigade raise pigs each year. One reason is that pigs are difficult to raise and the risks are high; another reason is that they can't even feed themselves, let alone raise pigs; and yet another reason is that they can't afford piglets.

While her aunts and grandmothers chatted about raising pigs, Molly listened quietly and ate her meal in silence.

“Our brigade will definitely raise pigs next year. In my opinion, we should let Molly do it,” one of the aunties said.

Molly was taken aback. She was going to raise pigs?

“I think it’s a good idea. Just based on the fact that she can raise a pig weighing 160 jin in half a year, we should give her a spot in our brigade for raising pigs.”

"I have no objection to Molly raising pigs; I admire her for it."

“If she can raise her own pigs well, she can definitely raise the pigs for the whole brigade well. I’ll give the brigade leader my suggestion in a bit and ask Molly to help us raise pigs next year.”

"........"

Molly blinked. Nobody had asked her if she would like to raise pigs.