Chapter 316 Let's have some meat!
The main road in Dahe Village was blocked.
The snow, mixed with rocks and soil, crumbled down the hillside, and the only main road out of the village was gone.
Of course, there are also smaller paths, but these are all mountain trails, especially those between two mountains, where avalanches are more likely to occur, so no one dares to take them.
Countless women stood in the distance, looking at the towering snow-capped mountains, each one still feeling lingering fear.
"Luckily we didn't have time to leave the village, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to come back."
"We can't afford to stay in an inn in the city. If we really can't come back, we'll become homeless people begging on the streets."
"If we can't go to the city, what will we do for this year's New Year's goods? Tomorrow is the Little New Year."
"Luckily, I bought some meat a couple of weeks ago, marinated it and hung it under the eaves. I still have half a pound left. If I eat it sparingly, it will last until the New Year."
"This is the first time I've had money but couldn't spend it. It feels worse than not having any money at all."
"..."
A heavy snowfall extinguished the burning passion of the people of Dahe Village.
The thatched huts were all crushed, the road out of the village was blocked, and it was uncertain whether the crops in the fields would survive...
Moreover, it's getting colder and colder than any other year.
I was wearing all my clothes, but I was still freezing. It was cold to stay indoors and not move, and it was also cold to go outside and be exposed to the wind.
On the day before the Lunar New Year, the snow was even heavier. The north wind blew with snowflakes, and people standing at the door could not see anything more than ten meters away.
Cheng Wanwan huddled on the kang (a heated brick bed), pondering before speaking, "In previous years, a dozen or so loads of firewood would be enough to get through the winter. This year it's so cold, we'll have to burn firewood all day long. Some families might not have enough. Xiao Chui, how much firewood is left at the soap workshop?"
Wu Xiaochui opened the ledger: "There are 150 catties of coarse firewood left, 430 catties of fine firewood, and 320 catties of hay bales."
Cheng Wanwan said, "Ergou, tell the whole village that anyone who needs firewood can come to our house to buy it. We'll sell it back to you for the same price we buy it from."
Even in the face of difficulties, she would not betray her conscience to make money off the villagers.
Zhao Ergou put on a cloak and a bamboo hat, then got up and went out to run errands.
Cheng Wanwan stopped sitting idly and started preparing a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner for her family.
When she was running a braised food business, her family would buy hundreds of kilograms of offal and pork every day. She would keep some of it and make it into cured pork and sausages, which she would hang under the eaves so that she could take them out and eat them when the weather got cold.
The cabbages in the garden were almost frozen, so they were all picked and stored in the cellar. She used the cabbages and cured meat to make dumplings as her staple food. She sliced the sausage and stir-fried it with pickled cowpeas. She killed one of the chickens to make salt-baked chicken, and also ate one duck to make eight-treasure duck. She stewed chicken and duck offal with radish. She picked most of the chives from the soap factory, chopped them up, and made a chive and egg pancake...
Because of the continuous heavy snow, Kong Xiuniang, Cheng Zhao, Afu, and Wu Xiaochui were unable to go home for the New Year and had to stay here to make do. The dishes were limited, but each one was very plentiful.
After the dishes were cooked, Cheng Wanwan scooped out a little of each dish and asked Chunhua to take it back to eat with the Zhao family.
In the entire Dahe Village, only Cheng Wanwan's family could afford so many dishes. What about the other families? Take Old Zhao's family, whose living conditions were slightly better, for example. Since it was the Little New Year, their staple food was dry rice, a stir-fried cabbage, a cabbage soup, a bowl of pickled radish peel, and an egg for each person... They killed a chicken, cut off a little bit to stew with radish, and saved the rest for the Lunar New Year. There was nowhere to buy fish or meat...
"Sister-in-law's family lives so well!" Sun's mouth watered instantly. "The cured pork dumplings smell so good, and the cured sausage smells so good too... The chive and egg pancakes are so delicious..."
Grandma Zhao smacked her bowl with her chopsticks: "Eat, eat, all you know is how to eat! If you eat so much, what will the children eat?"
Mrs. Sun didn't feel embarrassed at all: "I'm pregnant too, so I'm eating for two, and I didn't eat much... It's just that, Mother, you always make some cured meat every year, why didn't you make any this year? What are we going to eat for the New Year?"
When this matter was brought up, Grandma Zhao was also upset.
She's busy in the soap workshop every day, so she doesn't have time to go to town to buy meat. She originally planned to go after she stopped working, but first the plague broke out, then it kept snowing, and now the exits are blocked. She definitely won't be able to make cured meat this year.
But if we don't eat meat during the Lunar New Year, it always feels like something's missing.
Old Zhao put down his chopsticks and said, "It snowed on the first day of the Lunar New Year last year too. I went up the mountain once. Do you remember what happened?"
Zhao Erwang's eyes lit up: "Grandpa caught a rabbit, a really fat one... Hmm, but Grandma's rabbit meat isn't as good as Auntie's..."
"You little rascal, food can't shut you up!" Madam Wen slapped her youngest son on the back of the head, then looked up and said, "The snow is too heavy this year, it's easy to slip and fall on the mountain. Your father is old, don't go through all that trouble, just stay at home. We don't necessarily have to eat meat for the New Year."
Zhao Youyin nodded: "An avalanche on the hillside is no joke. Uncle Village Head was buried in the snow and looks several years older."
"Hey, you little rascal, talking bad about me behind my back!" The village head suddenly lifted the reed curtain and walked in, tapping Zhao Youyin's head lightly with his pipe. "Tell me, just how many years older do I look?"
Zhao Youcai came to the rescue: "Uncle Village Head misunderstood. My second brother meant that you look younger. Come on, sit down here. There are still some sausages left. Have a bite. My sister-in-law brought them over especially. They're very fragrant."
The village head had already eaten, but seeing the glistening sausage, his mouth watered uncontrollably. He coughed and said, "Alright, I'll reluctantly try a bite."
When you put the sausage in your mouth, the salty and spicy flavors, along with the meaty taste, explode on your taste buds, making you want to swallow your tongue too.
He ate one piece of sausage and that was it. The old man was reluctant to drink water, silently savoring the taste of the sausage.
At the same time, it further strengthened his determination to get his hands on meat.
"Today is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. In a few more days, it will be the New Year. Even when we were poor, we would still buy meat to eat during the New Year. Whether it was two ounces or half a pound, we always had to have some meat to treat ourselves." The village head sighed and said, "This year, every household has made some money. We can't live even more shabbily than before. I'm planning to get some meat for the people in the village."
Old Zhao became interested: "How do you prepare the meat?"
Some people in the village raise pigs, but they are all piglets, and even if they are slaughtered, it's not enough to eat.
There are chickens and ducks too, but they are all precious eggs-laying animals, and the villagers are reluctant to kill them for food.
“I’ve observed it. The southwest side of Dadong Mountain is sheltered from the wind and has no snow. The road is a bit muddy and not easy to walk on, but it’s still passable.” The village head took a puff of his pipe. “When it’s cold, the prey’s reaction is slow. If we can catch a wild boar on a trip up the mountain… tsk tsk, then the whole village can have meat to eat.”
"Ah, this..." Old Mrs. Zhao stared in disbelief. "Catching wild boar is too dangerous. Wild boars are no joke. Even Hunter Zhao doesn't dare to face a wild boar head-on. Where do you, an old man, get the confidence?"
Old Zhao stroked his chin: "The village has arranged for fifty or sixty men to go up the mountain together. If everyone goes together, they might actually be able to... We should bring Xiao Dian along too. That guy is clever; catching wild boars is a piece of cake for him."
The village head stood up: "I'll go recruit people and hold a meeting right now."
"Sigh..." Old Mrs. Zhao wanted to stop him, but the village head had already run away in a flash. She slapped her thigh in anger, "You're all so old, how can you act like a young boy... Only you two old folks are so ignorant and dare to catch wild boars, no one else is that stupid!"
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