Chapter 92 Chapter 92 Hunting Wild Boars

With the help of Wu Shouzi and others, the house in Jucai Lane was cleaned up quickly and the store opened earlier than expected.

It happened to rain on the day the store opened.

It was impossible to have a morning market at the dock, so we sold the snacks in the shop. However, due to the rain, the business was not very good. Only some people who were rushing to work would pass by and buy one to fill their stomachs and leave in a hurry.

Yu Jin was a little disappointed, but not that disappointed.

Doing business also depends on the weather. Ordinary people have no way of guessing how the weather will change.

You can't just wait until after the rain and then choose a day to open just because you think it might rain soon, right?

She said to Sun Fangniang and Liu: "The sky has been gloomy lately and I know it might rain. If it's not today, then tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, it could rain every day. It doesn't matter."

It's going to rain anyway, so there's no need to pick a specific time.

Liu said, "In fact, we should choose an auspicious day to open the store."

Unlike her daughter, she didn't even bother to ask a fortune teller to pick an auspicious day to open her business after the house was ready.

Although she didn't know much about business, she had heard a lot of taboos and was very worried about her daughter's business.

Yu Jin waved his hand, "Those fortune tellers can't predict accurately."

She doesn't believe in fortune tellers. If they were really accurate, she would have been successful long ago.

When Liu saw her indifferent look, she felt a headache and turned to look at Sun Fangniang, wanting her to help persuade her that she should be more careful in doing things in the future and that some things should be believed.

Sun Fangniang was caught between the mother and daughter, and her scalp was tingling.

She felt that what Liu said made sense. When it comes to doing business, it is indeed better to ask a fortune teller to choose an auspicious day for opening the business. But she also likes Yu Jin's optimistic attitude, and she believes that he should not put so much pressure on himself and should just work hard.

Fortunately, at this time, Yu Li came over with an umbrella.

"Big sister!"

"Leave my mother!"

All three of them exclaimed happily and asked her why she was here.

Yu Li folded up the umbrella, put it in the corner, and said, "You guys are opening today, I came over to take a look."

Yu Jin made her a big and solid multi-grain rice ball, and added a lot of braised meat and soft and sticky bean paste into it. This bean paste was her sister's favorite, and she was very familiar with her sister's preferences.

Because it is in the store and there is a stove, multi-grain rice and other foods can be kept warm in the stove. They are still steaming hot when cooked, which not only warms your hands but also your stomach.

When the weather is cold, rice balls are naturally more delicious when they are hot.

Yu Li washed his hands, then sat there and started eating the multi-grain rice ball.

Seeing her eating so happily, Sun Fangniang suddenly felt a little hungry.

Yu Jin also made a rice ball for her. She knew that anyone who saw her sister eating would be unable to resist wanting to eat some. She was very experienced.

The sky was gloomy and the rain was falling softly, forming a layer of rain curtain outside the house.

Liu looked at the rain outside and said, "Once this rain is over, the weather will really get cold."

It’s like this every year. There are a few cold rains before winter, which proves the saying that each autumn rain brings a chill.

"Mom, let's buy some cotton to make clothes and quilts." Yu Jin said, "The cotton cores of the quilts at home are so hard that they can't be broken apart, and they don't keep us warm at all."

Moreover, they have been using this kind of quilt that is not warm for many years and have no money to replace it.

There was no way in previous years. The money was in Old Mrs. Yu’s hands and she couldn’t buy anything she wanted.

After the family split up this year, they became the masters of their own household. She definitely wanted to make more winter clothes and quilts for the people at home, so that at least they wouldn't have to wake up from the cold at night. The sisters still felt cold even when they huddled together to sleep.

Liu thought that the quilt cores of the quilts at home were indeed very hard, and said, "Then go buy some, but it's cheaper to buy them early. Don't wait until the weather gets cold, or the price will go up."

"Okay, I'll buy it when I'm free these few days."

Listening to the conversation between mother and daughter, Yu Li suddenly understood.

She is now practicing physical training, and her health is getting better and better. She doesn't feel that cold, but she is not immune to cold or heat. If the weather is too cold, she will still feel cold.

I'll go get some cloth and cotton to take home later.

As they were talking, they saw several people entering the alley and heading straight towards this side.

They all come here to buy rice balls.

Yu Jin, Liu and Sun Fangniang stopped talking and started to get busy.

Those who came to buy rice balls originally just wanted to buy one to try, but when they saw Yu Li sitting there eating the rice balls, they couldn't help but bought a few more.

Each person bought a few more, and more than ten rice balls were sold at once.

After this group of people left, another group came.

It was a rainy day and business in the alley was not very good. Only the shop selling multi-grain rice balls was crowded with customers, as if everyone came here specifically to buy rice balls.

The owners of the surrounding shops couldn't help but stick their heads out, puzzled, and even suspected that maybe it was the relatives or friends of the owner of the shop selling multi-grain rice balls who came to take care of their business?

Even if they are relatives and friends, why are there so many?

Even Yu Jin and the others were puzzled, not quite understanding why the business was suddenly so good.

Could it be that her sister is really here to protect the wealth and bring all the money over?

Yu Li ate a few rice balls and saw that business was good, so he prepared to leave.

"I'm leaving first," she said to the three of them.

Yu Jin hurriedly said, "Sister, it's still raining outside, be careful and don't get wet."

Liu also reminded her that although her eldest daughter was always cold and indifferent and didn't need her care, she still wanted to make amends.

Yu Li picked up the umbrella and left the store.

As soon as she came out of the alley, she saw Wu Shouzi and others running towards her in the rain and almost bumped into her.

"What are you doing?"

Yu Li reached out and grabbed Wu Shouzi who was about to fall.

"Li Boss!" Seeing her, Wu Shouzi and others quickly stood up obediently, not even caring about being caught in the rain.

Yu Li looked at them and suddenly asked, "Did you send someone to buy rice balls?"

Looking at those people who came to buy multi-grain rice balls just now, most of them were ordinary people. Their clothes were still a little wet, which showed that they came from other places and had walked quite a long way.

Wu Shouzi and others smiled somewhat embarrassedly.

Gao Sheng said, "Big Brother Li, the rice balls your sister and her friends sell have meat and vegetables in them, and they taste really good. One is equivalent to a bowl of shredded pork noodles, but it's cheaper than shredded pork noodles. People who have eaten it think it's quite affordable. So we told the neighbors that we sell rice balls with braised pork here, and that the store will be opened today, so they will be one cent cheaper, so they all came over..."

It was raining and many people did not go out to work. Everyone was resting at home. With nothing to do, I came over to buy a rice ball to try.

Adhering to the principle of saving every penny, and hearing that there would be meat, naturally a lot of people came.

Yu Li suddenly realized, isn’t this free advertising?

Although she seldom came into contact with these things, she would occasionally see some advertisements on the street when she went back to the city to do some renovations, such as which stores were having big opening sales and the like.

Yu Li praised: "Very good, you have worked hard, go to A Jin and ask her to make you a rice ball."

Everyone in the group smiled and looked very happy.

Oh, Boss Li actually said that they had worked hard. It seems that she thinks they did a good job this time.

A group of people entered the alley happily.

Yu Li also held an umbrella and walked towards the cloth shop.

On the way, they met patrolling yamen runners, namely Zhu and Peng.

When he saw Yu Li, he greeted him and asked, "Boss Li, I heard that Miss Yu Jin's store opened today. How is the business? I told the neighbors the address and asked them to try it too."

While patrolling the streets, they also mentioned it to acquaintances they met.

Yu Li didn't expect that even they helped with free advertising.

She thanked the two and said, "It's good. Many people go over to buy rice balls."

The two were a little flattered and quickly said that it was nothing, they just said it casually to others and did not force those people to buy it.

After Yu Li left, the two decided to go over there and buy some rice balls to try, as a way of taking care of Yu Jin's business. They also took a look around to prevent some tactless scoundrels from taking the opportunity to cause trouble when they saw the new store opening.

You know what, this kind of thing happens a lot.

Some shop owners don't want to have bad luck on their first day of business, so they have to spend money to ward off bad luck.

**

Yu Li came to a cloth shop, bought some cloth for making winter clothes, and also bought a lot of cotton.

When she finished buying the things, the rain stopped. She hurried back to the village with the cloth and cotton before the next rain came to avoid them getting wet.

When she got home, Zhou saw her buying cloth and cotton and said with a smile, "The weather is getting colder day by day. I was just thinking of making some winter clothes for you. I didn't expect you to buy cloth."

She examined the cloth and cotton, wondering what kind of clothes she could make for them.

Li Niang doesn't have any winter clothes, so I have to make a few more sets for her to change into.

Yu Li sat there drinking hot noodle soup.

The noodles are rolled by Zhou and are particularly chewy. The soup is pork bone soup, which has been simmering since last night. It is rich and delicious, and it also contains black fungus, kelp shreds, shredded meat, green vegetables, etc. The toppings are very rich.

This noodle tastes better than the ones sold outside, and the quantity is also richer.

Yu Li was very satisfied with the meal.

After eating and drinking, she went to wash up and then went back to her room to rest.

Fu Wenxiao saw her coming in with a chill and asked, "Li Niang, are you cold?"

"It's not cold." Yu Li said truthfully, "I have practiced physical skills, which can keep me warm to some extent."

Fu Wenxiao took a towel to wipe her hair. Remembering that Yu Jin's store in the county town was open today, he asked about the situation in the store. When he learned about what Wu Shouzi and his people had done, he was not surprised and even laughed.

Yu Li looked at him suspiciously, "What are you laughing at?"

Fu Wenxiao said calmly: "Nothing, I just thought that you, Li Niang, have set a good example for them, allowing them to walk on the right path, and giving them a good ending..."

Finally, he said slowly: "Li Niang has done them a great favor."

All we seek in life is a stable, smooth, and peaceful life.

This is what many ordinary people want, including Wu Shouzi and others.

If they had not met Yu Li, sooner or later, they would have become the cancer of society, doing all kinds of evil and ending up badly.

Yu Li supported his chin with both hands and didn't take it to heart.

She said: "As long as they don't do it again in the future, it's fine. If they do it again, I will have to deal with them myself."

Human life is precious. She will give it a chance to mend its ways, but there will be no second chance.

There is only one chance, there will not be a second one. This is her principle.

Fu Wenxiao smiled slightly.

He found that she would never take anyone's life easily. No matter whether they were evil bandits or bloody thugs from a gambling den, she was willing to give them a chance to live. She would not take their lives directly, but at most hand them over to the government, and let the government decide their destination.

She seemed to be guarding a bottom line, a bottom line of not killing people easily.

**

When Yu Li put on the new clothes made by Zhou, the weather was getting colder.

That day she was coming back from the county town. When she passed by the village entrance, an old lady who was sitting under a tree at the entrance and chatting stopped her.

The old lady said, "Mother Li, our village is organizing people to go into the mountains to drive away wild animals. I heard that you are very strong. Do you want to go into the mountains with us? The village chief said that anyone who signs up to go into the mountains will be rewarded."

Someone nearby asked, "What did you say? Why did you ask Li Niang to go? Usually men go for this kind of thing, how can a girl go?"

"I think Li Niang is very strong and should be able to help."

"Instead of going up the mountain, I think it's better to ask Li Niang to help kill the pig. The weather is getting cold, and we'll soon start killing pigs to make sausages and bacon. There's no butcher in our village, so we have to go to the next village every year to hire someone. It's better to ask Li Niang to do the killing."

"This is good. Li Niang is also a pig butcher."

"Mother Li, my pigs are about to be slaughtered. Do you have time to help us kill them? Auntie will treat you to a pig-killing dinner then."

“…”

A group of people were talking at once, and Yu Li got a lot of information.

She said to the lady who invited her to a pig-killing dinner, "Aunt San, when are you going to kill the pig?"

"About half a month later." Uncle San and Auntie smiled, "Kill them early so we can stuff them into sausages and make some bacon."

Every winter, families in the village would slaughter pigs and make bacon. The bacon can be stored for a long time and is also a way to store meat.

Yu Li nodded, "Okay, let me know when the time comes."

Uncle San and Auntie liked her straightforward personality and agreed with a smile.

The others also quickly told her the time when they would slaughter pigs at home and invited her to have the pig-slaughtering dinner.

When a family in the countryside slaughters a pig, they usually invite friends and relatives to come and eat the pig-slaughtering meal, and also give the butcher money and meat. The butcher can make a lot of money just from these.

In addition, if the butcher comes all the way from another village, the price will be even higher, which can be considered as a fee for running errands.

This year, there is someone in their village who knows how to slaughter pigs. Even though she is a girl, it’s enough as long as she can kill pigs.

No one wanted to go far away to hire someone and pay them extra errand fees, so it would be better to just ask Yu Li to help slaughter the pigs, which would save a lot of money.

Yu Li agreed to all of them and said that if any family needed to slaughter a pig, they just needed to tell her in advance and she would go.

The ladies all nodded happily, thinking that they could save some money by hiring her, and they looked at her with very kind eyes.

However, some people were still thinking about what happened just now and asked, "Li Niang, are you really not going into the mountain?"

Every winter, because the weather is too cold and there is nothing to eat in the mountains, wild animals will come down the mountain.

Generally, shortly after winter begins, which happens to be the slack season for farming, the village chief will organize villagers to go into the mountains to drive away wild beasts to ensure the safety of the village.

Yu Li refused. If she went into the mountains, the wild animals in the mountains would run away to who knows where and there would be no need to drive them away. So she did not want to join in the fun.

It’s not good to tell them about this kind of thing.

Yu Li didn't take this matter to heart, but unexpectedly, in the evening of that day, there was a commotion in the village.

They were having dinner when they heard the noise outside. Zhou said with experience, "Oh, I'm afraid a wild boar has come down the mountain." Seeing the two children looking at her curiously, she sighed, "Our village is backed by a mountain, and wild boars often come down the mountain, destroying crops and hurting people. Fortunately, the crops in the fields have been harvested, so there is nothing wrong. I'm just worried that the wild boars will hurt people."

As she spoke, she patted the two children's heads.

Yu Li heard the noise outside and felt a little worried, so he decided to go out and take a look.

"Li Niang, be careful!" Zhou hurriedly reminded her.

Fu Wenxiao looked at her brisk steps and knew that she was very curious about this, and couldn't help laughing.

It gets dark early in winter. Even though it is evening, it is actually already dark.

After Yu Li went out, he saw villagers lighting torches at the foot of the mountain, shouting and screaming, and he quickened his pace and ran towards that direction.

When she got closer, she saw a group of villagers driving away two large black wild boars.

The two wild boars were very strong, with extremely thick hair and two large fangs. They weighed about two hundred pounds and were truly ferocious beasts. Wherever they passed, the villagers were so scared that they ran away.

The two wild boars ran around arrogantly, even knocking down many trees and the wall of a house near the foot of the mountain. The owner was so scared that he hid in the house and locked the door.

Seeing that these people only used things to drive away the wild boar and did not dare to fight with it, Yu Li once again realized the weakness of ordinary people in this world.

They didn't even dare to face a wild boar head-on.

Someone shouted, "Go find Boss Tu quickly. He's a hunter and can kill wild boars."

"Yes, yes, yes, go find Boss Tu!"

"Someone has already passed by."

"So when will he come?"

“I don’t know…”

Yu Li looked for a while and saw that there were many broken trees around, so he picked up a tree trunk as thick as a bowl. This tree was broken in half by a wild boar and was about one meter long.

As she was pulling branches off the tree trunk, two wild boars rushed towards her.

Someone shouted, "They're passing by! Run! Run!"

Yu Li didn't care at all. When the wild boar was about ten feet away from her, it seemed to sense something and was about to run away in shame with its tail between its legs. She suddenly jumped up, swung the tree trunk and hit the wild boar's head.

With a snap, the tree trunk broke and the wild boar fell down.

The wild boar at the back let out a shrill cry and turned and ran away.

Yu Li picked up another tree trunk, chased after it, and hit the wild boar's head with the same stick, knocking down another one.

Villagers: “…”

The villagers looked at the two fallen wild boars, then looked at Yu Li standing there. A cold wind blew and they felt cold all over.

Somehow, they felt that the girl standing there was more terrifying than the two wild boars.

She hit the wild boar with one stick and it fell down. This is too...

"Li, Li Niang, is that you?"

It was dark and no one could see her face clearly. They could vaguely make out that she was a thin girl wearing a skirt, until someone nearby called out to her.

Yu Li turned his head to look over, then hummed.

Hearing her voice, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief and came over, looking curiously at the two dead wild boars lying on the ground.

Some brave people went over to check and found that the wild boar's head was bleeding and its skull seemed to be broken.

It was a fatal blow.

They hissed. This is too...

The village chief was very happy to see that the wild boar had been dealt with, and praised: "Li Niang, you are really amazing! This time it is all thanks to you, otherwise I don't know how much things would have been destroyed by them, and maybe someone would have been injured."

These two wild boars appeared here today, which shows that they came here recently.

I don't know how long they stayed nearby, but fortunately the villagers who went into the mountains to chop firewood these days did not encounter them.

It's a good thing that they ran down the mountain today. If we get rid of them as soon as possible, the village will be safe.

The village chief praised Yu Li and said that she was the one who killed the wild boar, and she could get half of the meat. The other half would be sent to the county town to be sold, and the money from the sale of the meat would be used to compensate the villagers who were injured and whose property was damaged.

This is also the rule in the village.

Every year, wild boars would come down the mountain, and whoever killed them would get half of the meat. If everyone killed them together, they would share the meat equally. This time, two wild boars came down the mountain, and Yu Li acted quickly and killed them directly, so the credit naturally went to her.

This matter was arranged by the village chief. After killing the wild boar, Yu Li went home to continue eating.

The Fu family was waiting for her.

The food on the table had already gone cold, so Zhou got a hot pot again and put the dishes into the pot and stewed them together. It was steaming hot again and the taste was even richer.

"Li Niang, are you okay?" Zhou asked with concern.

The two children also looked up at her.

Fu Wenxiao picked up some food for her and could tell that she wanted to eat more than the two wild boars outside.

Yu Li took the time to answer, "It's okay. Two wild boars came down the mountain. I killed them. The village chief said he would give me half of the meat."

Half of it is a wild boar.

Yu Li was somewhat happy, there were quite a lot of them.

Zhou looked at her in disbelief, "You beat him to death?"

The two children didn’t think as much as the adults. They looked at her with sparkling eyes and exclaimed, “Auntie is so awesome!”

Fu Wenxiao laughed, picked up some more food for her, and praised her in the same way: "Li Niang is really amazing!"

Yu Li said: "Nothing, they are quite weak."

"real?"

Zhou seemed to be unconvinced and thought that the two wild boars that came down the mountain today were piglets.

She remembered that when she was a child, she had experienced wild boars coming down the mountain. They were black and strong, like monsters, running rampant in the village and even causing deaths. She had a clear memory of these things.

Because Yu Li was too calm and didn't take it seriously, Zhou also became calm.

Until the next day, when Zhou went to the river to wash clothes, many villagers greeted her and asked her how strong Yu Li was. They said that she had killed two wild boars weighing about 200 kilograms yesterday.

Zhou was stunned. So it wasn’t a wild boar cub, but an adult wild boar?

Her hands were shaking as she washed the clothes.

When she returned home, the village chief had just asked someone to carry a processed wild boar to them. She was speechless for a moment.

At noon, Yu Li came back from work and saw the wild boar that had been processed by the villagers. He turned around and asked Zhou: "Mom, is the wild boar meat delicious?"

Zhou said: "Wild boar meat is quite tough and has an earthy smell. It is not as tender and delicious as domestic pork."

But for country people, no matter how bad it tastes, it is still meat. As long as it is stewed for a while until the meat is tender, and more seasoning is added to cover the earthy smell, it will become a delicious dish.

Yu Li no longer lacks meat to eat, so he is not too greedy when he sees this wild boar.

However, their family could not digest all the meat, so they decided to sell some to the villagers.

She went to the village chief and said she wanted to sell half of the meat to the villagers at the price of eight cents per pound.

The current price of pork is 17 wen per pound. Wild boar meat is not tasty and is usually sold at 10 wen per pound.

Yu Li set this price to take care of the people in the village.