At noon, the most important pig-slaughtering ceremony of the Laba Festival began in the village. All the villagers gathered in the threshing ground, waiting for the team to distribute the New Year pigs.
Su Jin had never seen the pig-slaughtering ceremony before. When she heard Lu Shiyi talking about slaughtering the New Year pig, she acted coquettishly and asked to come and watch.
Lu Shiyi was waiting for Su Jin to come out wearing a military coat. As soon as they walked to the threshing ground, they heard the cry of the New Year pig, which scared Su Jin so much that he started to tremble.
"Su Zhiqing, this is your first time watching the New Year pig being slaughtered, right?" The villagers' faces were all filled with happy smiles. The biggest gain during the New Year was having the New Year pig.
Su Jin nodded: "The pork in the city is all cut by the supply and marketing cooperatives. I've never seen this before."
The village butcher cut up the New Year pigs with swift and skillful hands, while the accountant stood on the platform and called out the names of each family.
Su Jin's eyes sparkled. She arrived late, and Lu Shiyi was staying in the armed forces department. Neither of them was eligible to share the New Year pig this year.
"There is always leftover pork from the New Year pigs at the end of every year. You only need money, no tickets required. I can buy some more and freeze it for you." Lu Shiyi noticed a bit of loss in Su Jin's eyes, and immediately spoke to ease her mood.
Su Jin clasped her hands together and said, "I want pig's trotters, a set of offal, and a pig's head. A pig's tail would be even better."
Lu Shiyi chuckled. Su Jin's preference for eating pork was different from others. He liked to gnaw on the bones and didn't like to eat the fat.
"Su Zhiqing, those are all things no one wants!" Aunt Lu Wu was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. She came out with her own porcelain basin and just happened to hear Su Jin's words, "Every household has little oil and water, so it's cost-effective to buy fatty meat. The ones you mentioned are left over every year, probably half a rib and some bones."
The more Su Jin listened, the brighter her eyes became. Lu Shiyi memorized the parts of the food she liked to eat and planned to buy them for her often when he was in the city.
Aunt Lu Wu looked at the expressions of the two and sighed helplessly. Lu Shiyi was willing to pamper them.
After the villagers had distributed the meat, Lu Shiyuan said that they could use money to buy meat. Some newly married young wives used their dowry money to buy meat as a New Year's gift when they returned to their parents' home for the second time.
"Uncle, please help me chop the ribs into pieces, and also chop the four ribs. I want them all." Lu Shiyi stepped forward, and Su Jin looked at the butcher and took half a slab of ribs.
Su Jin found that the ribs had more meat than modern ribs. Before Lu Shiyi came over, she told him what kind of ribs he wanted.
"Xiaoyi, if there is no meat, your uncle has some meat to share with you." Lu Shiyuan immediately retorted when he heard Lu Shiyi wanted these bones.
"Uncle, Xiao Jin likes to eat these. She doesn't like fatty meat very much." Lu Shiyi always takes care of Su Jin's diet. When Lu Shiyuan heard his words, he waved his hand and the butcher processed all the pork as required.
Lu Shiyi brought a large porcelain basin and put the bones, pig head, pig trotters, etc. into it. Su Jin ran forward happily and thanked the butcher and Lu Shiyuan happily.
Lu Shiyuan looked at the two well-matched figures from behind and sighed how great it was to be young.
"Old Lu, is this good news coming?" The butcher looked at Lu Shiyuan and asked, "Xiao Yi is one of the few good boys in the family, and Su Zhiqing is also a good one."
"Su Zhiqing is from a big city, and Xiaoyi is worthy of him. It's just that the food is too fine." Lu Shiyuan complained.
Lu Shiyi and Su Jin didn't care about these things. On their way home, many villagers looked at the bones in their porcelain basins and looked at them with sympathy.
After returning to the yard, Lu Shiyi started chopping wood. He used all the firewood at home to make dried fruits and a lot of dried meat. Even half a jar of honey sent from home was used up.
She took some wild boar jerky and fed it to Lu Shiyi: "This is a bit spicy, try it and see if it tastes good."
Lu Shiyi put the wild boar meat jerky in his mouth. It was spicy with a slight sweetness, and had no fishy smell of wild boar meat at all.
"Delicious!" Lu Shiyi chuckled, "Xiao Jin's cooking skills are really good."
"Ayi, share the wild boar jerky tonight. That pot is a favor for you." Su Jin got a lot of dried chilies. "Give some to our comrade in Sichuan Province. The chili powder he mailed is what makes it so spicy."
Lu Shiyi is a protective person. As long as the food is cooked by Su Jin, he will definitely not give it to others.
"Just buy him two buckets of malted milk and a bucket of milk powder in the county town," Lu Shiyi firmly opposed giving the dried meat away. "He has children at home, and these are the most important things."
Su Jin looked at Lu Shiyi helplessly. Ever since she agreed to be his girlfriend, his protective behavior had shattered all her filters.
"Give us some dried meat! We don't like cured meat, so give the cured duck and chicken to our comrades." Su Jin pointed to the warehouse and said, "I want to smoke some ribs and bacon so that we can use them in cooking in spring."
Su Jin had also seen recipes for bacon in modern times and had experimented with it many times. Almost all the seasonings mailed from Sichuan Province could be used to make bacon.
Lu Shiyi frowned slightly: "Okay, I don't really like eating bacon. If you want to eat meat, how about going into the mountains to dig traps?"
"Okay, bacon fried with chili peppers is also delicious." Su Jin said without looking at Lu Shiyi, "The villagers eat this way too. You can say that you have a lot of food rations, but not meat."
Lu Shiyi's ability allows his family to eat meat every meal, but the outside environment does not allow it.
"Xiao Jin, you're right to be cautious." Lu Shiyi looked up at her after hearing what she said next. "I'll leave the house to you. I'll pack the cured meat for mailing now, and you can take it to the post office tomorrow."
"I'll go with you and buy stamps." Although there was no one at the Su family, Su Jin wanted to continue collecting stamps.
In modern times, a single stamp of this era can be sold at a very high price. She looked at Lu Shiyi. She remembered that the two types of military stamps were also very expensive.
"Ayi, do you have any Blue Army stamps?" Su Jin asked Lu Shiyi, "My parents used to like collecting stamps, and we bought stamps every year."
"There's a whole sheet of blue military stamps in the room, and there are also whole sheets of other military stamps." Lu Shiyi nodded, "If it's not enough, I'll write to my comrades and ask for some more."
Su Jin's eyes sparkled: "Ayi, it would be great if you could have another edition. It would be great if there was also a red landscape of the motherland."
Lu Shiyi nodded helplessly. Both of the stamps Su Jin mentioned were available.
After breakfast, Lu Shiyi packed five bags and put them into a bamboo basket. Inside the bags were fried dried fruits and cured meats wrapped in oil paper, with each bag evenly spaced.
The back seat of the bicycle was wrapped with a cotton cushion, and Su Jin sat on it. Lu Shiyi put the bamboo basket in the front basket, pedaled the bicycle, and quickly rushed to the post office in the county town.
Under the winter sun, the snow that fell in the past few days has begun to melt. Villagers clean the road from the village to the county town every day. Because the temperature at night is too low, the road is frozen into ice.
Villagers walking or riding bicycles on the road may fall down if they are not careful.
"Ayi, ride slower." Su Jin looked at the icy road and worried that Lu Shiyi might slip and hit the bike. "It would be bad if the cured meat got smashed."
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