Yu Rujia glanced at the meat on the table. Apart from a little bit of pork belly, the rest was either all lean meat or scraps, with some offal on one side.
Upon closer inspection, the intestines and pig stomach in the offal had been turned inside out, and there was no yellow stuff on them. Even the pig lungs had been washed until they were white. It seems that the team members are quite meticulous in their work.
What she didn't know was that the offal was hard to sell; apart from a few individuals, no one was willing to use it.
A few families in the team who were better off didn't want to fix the sewage system because it was too dirty, so they didn't buy it.
But the water supply is also a source of income. If no one buys it, the brigade cadres will have to pay for it themselves.
Don't assume that just because they are brigade cadres, they are rich. Everyone has a large family and many expenses. They don't have spare money to buy this kind of wasteful offal that has no oil. They would rather buy good meat.
In order to sell the sewage, they would clean it very thoroughly each time, and even turn it inside out to show potential buyers that it was clean and they didn't need to put in much effort to clean it.
Even so, in the past, when they slaughtered two pigs, they could only sell half of the offal at most. The remaining offal would cost each of the brigade cadres at least one or two yuan, which was enough to buy two or three catties of good meat.
Every time they bought wastewater, the brigade cadres' families would be filled with complaints.
Yu Rujia: "Secretary Li, are these offal items sold by weight, just like meat, and paid for with work points?"
In December, because Yu Rujia was being gossiped about, Gao Shujing was worried that she would be hurt, so he didn't let her come to collect the meat.
To prevent Gao Shujing from having to stop working on the electricity to collect the meat, Captain Huang himself came over, divided the meat, and personally carried it to Yu Rujia's side.
When Yu Rujia arrived at the meat distribution site for the first time and saw how clean the offal was, she was immediately tempted and thought about finding an opportunity to take more back with her.
Party Secretary Li: "The offal isn't divided into work points; it's sold separately. However, it's oil-free and has a strong flavor, so it won't taste good if you don't add a lot of seasonings. If you want some, I'll sell it to you for one cent per pound. How many pounds do you want?"
If anyone else asked, Secretary Li would definitely try to sell them offal directly. Yu Rujia was the team doctor and worked with Gao Shujing, so the two of them were quite influential in the team, and Secretary Li said a few more words to them.
If it can be solved with money, that's fine. Yu Rujia said, "We have a large family, and we want to buy more drainers. Has anyone ordered any drainers? If no one has, I think I'll buy them all."
Party Secretary Li confirmed again, "No one has ordered the offal. Both sets of pig offal are here, weighing a total of sixty or seventy jin. Are you sure you want that much?"
Yu Rujia: "If you can finish it, feel free to weigh it."
The brigade cleaned the wastewater very well, so it wouldn't be a waste for her to take it back and clean it again. However, there were many people in her family, including more than a dozen people in the cowshed.
When the two sides are divided, they will probably only have about 30 kilograms left.
Yu Rujia plans to have hot pot on New Year's Eve, and pig lungs, tripe, and liver can all be used in the hot pot. Most of the other offal will be braised, which she will do when she gets home today.
There's not much offal actually used for stir-frying.
Party Secretary Li: "Okay, I'll weigh it for you."
Seeing that Yu Rujia had bought so much wastewater, some team members said, "Yu, you're wasting materials. You've bought so much, the materials alone cost more than seven yuan."
"Yes, there aren't enough ingredients. The offal we made is inedible. It's such a waste to buy so much. If you really want to eat it, just buy a few pounds and cook it yourself. It would be a shame to throw away so much if it doesn't taste good after cooking."
"People from the city just don't know how to manage money. No matter how much money you have, you can't squander it like this."
"That's right. With that money, you might as well buy more meat. It's delicious, and you can render oil from it. Isn't that great?"
Yu Rujia: "Thank you all for reminding me, but I can handle the drainage myself and won't waste it."
Party Secretary Li: "You, the two sets of undergarments weigh a total of seventy-two jin, but let's say seventy jin for you. That's seven yuan. Do you really want to buy this much?"
The offal from one pig accounts for 30%, and with two pigs weighing over 500 jin (250 kg), the offal collected should have exceeded 150 jin (75 kg). After the team cleaned up all the garbage, only 72 jin (36 kg) of offal remained. How practical!
Yu Rujia: "That's all, I'll buy them."
After giving the money, Yu Rujia asked again, "Secretary Li, are you still going to give me my two or three pounds of meat?"
Party Secretary Li: "The underwater meat was bought with money, so it's not included in this. Look at those two or three pounds of meat, which piece do you want?"
Yu Rujia: "This piece of pork belly, shall we?"
Party Secretary Li: "Okay, I'll weigh it out for you."
While Secretary Li was weighing the meat, Yu Rujia's gaze fell on a pile of bones. The meat on these bones had been removed cleanly, almost to the point that the skin and bones were being shaved off as well.
There's no way around it; bones can't be rendered into oil, they're not meat, and unlike modern times, there aren't various electric or gas pots that you can use to cook them by yourself after preparing them and setting the timer. Here, bones are even less popular than offal.
Yu Rujia: "Secretary Li, how should we arrange these bones?"
Party Secretary Li glanced at the shaved bones: "One cent per pound, do you want to buy some?"
Yu Rujia: "Except for the bones in the head, all the other bones weigh fifty jin in total."
Compared to her extravagant spending of seven yuan on offal, people around her were more accepting of her spending five mao (0.5 yuan) on bones, though some still called her a spendthrift.
Some envious people deliberately said to Gao Guojing, who was taking care of the child, "Comrade Gao, Yu Zhiqing can't be like this. She spends money recklessly and wastes it all. You have to ask your brother to persuade her, otherwise no amount of money will be enough for her to squander."
Others may not know Yu Rujia, but Gao Guojing lived with her for nearly two weeks and ate all sorts of delicious food, including pig lungs, pig stomach, and pig intestines. He couldn't stop eating them.
Seeing how much waste Yu Rujia had bought, his mouth was practically watering, so why would he try to dissuade her?
As for the bones, he believed Yu Rujia wouldn't be at a loss and would definitely make them taste delicious. Besides, even if they couldn't finish the bones, they could afford the 50 cents.
Moreover, Gao Guojing didn't dare to interfere with Yu Rujia's decision. His father had given all his money to Yu Rujia, except for a small amount for the family. Even his older brother didn't get a penny.
It's easy to imagine how high Yu Rujia's status was in his family.
Gao Guojing pulled back Duofu, who wanted to argue with others, and said to everyone, "If Sister Rujia can buy these things, she can make them. It won't be a waste. We believe in her."
To prevent Yu Rujia from backing out, Secretary Li readily had the team members dividing the meat weigh out fifty jin of bones, including the ribs and bones from two pigs.
Yu Rujia took care of all the offal and even the bones. Today, Secretary Li, who didn't have to pay out of his own pocket, generously gave Yu Rujia eight catties of pig's blood.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
