You see, her family has pork and mutton, but no fish. It's not that they don't have any, but since everyone catches fish from the river in front of the village, they can't be too greedy, so they only occasionally catch one or two for themselves.
The pork was distributed after the busy farming season when the weather turned cold, when the village slaughtered pigs. This time, the meat distributed by the village slaughtered pigs was quite tender, and they even invited Zhang Jianjun to come over. After all, the five wild boars they caught had all been raised. Apart from the one male and one female they kept for breeding, the other three were raised, but two of them belonged to Zhang Jianjun and his family.
Later, when Wu Qiaoqiao was cutting pig feed for the pig farm, she offered several excellent suggestions. These were all from books on pig farming that Wu Qiaoqiao had found in her spatial storage. As a result, this year's pigs, whether they were domestic pigs that had just been raised or wild boars that had been caught and castrated, were all larger than in previous years. Liu Yougen was delighted and discussed it with the village officials, deciding to give Wu Qiaoqiao work points. In addition to these work points, they also said that Wu Qiaoqiao could get a larger share when the pigs were slaughtered and the meat distributed before the New Year. So when the pigs were slaughtered, they received more than others. Although some people had objections, most of the villagers agreed. In their view, since Wu Qiaoqiao and her friends could learn how to raise pigs from books, they might also know how to raise chickens, ducks, and other animals. If they taught them, wouldn't that bring in another source of income? Of course, these were the thoughts of smart people, while those with no brains were just jealous of how much Wu Qiaoqiao and her friends got.
When Liu Yougen was butchering and distributing the meat, he stood beside the pork, his face beaming with pride. He felt incredibly proud, knowing that his village had really made a name for itself in front of the leaders this time when they delivered their quota pigs. Both pigs they delivered were rated as top-grade, each weighing approximately 270 jin (about 185 catties). The leaders' eyes narrowed with delight when they saw the two plump wild boars. They not only rewarded Liu Yougen and his group with a lot of coupons, but also rounded up the payment for the pigs. The leaders calculated that the price of a live pig was 7 mao (0.7 yuan) per jin, while they sold it for 8 mao (0.8 yuan) per jin, plus the need for meat coupons. The two pigs Liu Yougen and his group delivered weighed a total of over 550 jin, so the leaders decided to give them 390 yuan directly. At that moment, Liu Yougen was overjoyed as he held the 39 yuan notes and the coupons in an envelope in his hand. This meant that his village was about to receive a considerable amount of money and coupons again.
When Zhang Jianjun arrived with three colleagues from the police station, they were delighted to see the two wild boars that belonged to them. Wild boars are not as large as domestic pigs, but each wild boar weighed about 200 jin (100 catties). So, when they slaughtered the boars that day, Zhang Jianjun decided to leave the head and offal in the village. They cooked a "pig-killing feast" that day. He and his three colleagues carried the two boars, which weighed about 350 jin (175 catties) after removing the head and offal. After eating the "pig-killing feast," they happily returned to the police station. This year, their police station could have a prosperous New Year.
However, before leaving, Zhang Jianjun left a considerable amount of money and receipts for the village. These were collected by the police officers who knew they were there to collect pork; after all, they couldn't take things from the villagers for free. Liu Yougen initially refused to accept the money and receipts, but Zhang Jianjun said that if Liu Yougen didn't accept them, he wouldn't ask for his help in the future. After some consideration, and with Liu Mingfeng's intervention, Liu Yougen finally accepted the money and receipts. After all, it was good to have connections with the police station chief, and he didn't want to lose touch with Zhang Jianjun because of some excuses.
However, after receiving the money, Liu Yougen didn't let Zhang Jianjun and the others leave immediately. Instead, he immediately called out, asking the villagers to bring over some dried goods and vegetables they had dried. Zhang Jianjun tried to stop him when he heard Liu Yougen's call, but Liu Yougen and Liu Mingfeng persuaded him to stay. Their reason was that the dried goods were things they had picked from the mountains, such as mushrooms, pine nuts, or chestnuts—things that grew on trees on the mountain—it just took them some effort. As for the dried vegetables, they were grown on their own private plots, and they dried them because they couldn't finish them all.
Zhang Jianjun had no choice but to accept their gifts. So when he returned, the four of them, including himself, had their car full of stuff. Knowing they were coming to pick up something, they had ridden the police station's bicycles. Of course, the police station only had three bicycles; the other one belonged to Zhang Jianjun himself.
When the four of them returned, the people working at the police station jumped for joy when they saw the four bicycles full of stuff. Even the most inconspicuous dried vegetables were good things for them. After all, people like them who work in the city only have radishes and cabbages to eat in winter. Now that they have these, at least they can add two or three more dishes to their New Year's Eve dinner.
While everyone at the police station was happily distributing the goods, the atmosphere in Liujiatun was also joyous. After distributing the meat and money, the extra meat was given to others to buy. Wu Qiaoqiao and her friends, wanting to make some cured meat and sausages to mail to Liu Mengmeng and her group, spent extra money to buy some as well.
Because the weather had already started to turn cold when the pig was slaughtered, although it hadn't snowed, the meat could be preserved without any special treatment. Furthermore, Liu Mingfeng left not long afterward, and the snow had already fallen, so it was even better. However, before that, Zhao Xiuxiang had still prepared it a little. As for the mutton, Wu Qiaoqiao and Liu Mingfeng had encountered a herd of goats when they went into the mountains for the last time before Liu Mingfeng returned to his unit. They each hunted one goat, and secretly carried the two goats back home after dark.
After cleaning the foreskin and internal organs, about 130 jin of meat was left from the two small goats. Originally, Liu Mingfeng and Wu Qiaoqiao intended for their family to divide the meat equally with their second and third uncles. However, Liu Ercheng and Liu Sanqian disagreed with this division. They said that Liu Mingfeng's family had many members, and that people like Feng Mingran should also send some back home, so it couldn't be divided like that. So, Liu Ercheng and Liu Sanqian's families took a total of 40 jin, 20 jin each, and the remaining 90 jin was left to Liu Mingfeng's family. However, Liu Mingfeng didn't keep all of it. Instead, he gave 30 jin to Tan Jing, asking him to use it to build relationships with his brothers in the black market.
Looking at everyone who had done so for him, Tan Jing felt a warmth in his heart. He knew he was benefiting from Feng Mingyue's kindness, but he didn't act coy. Instead, he kept his gratitude in his heart and made a decision: he would definitely treat Feng Mingyue better and better in the future.
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