Lin Rui took a deep breath and looked at the eleven little wild boars that were rummaging around looking for food near the rest camp. No, they were much bigger now than before and should be called medium-sized wild boars.
"Kill the pig." He said with a deep breath.
"Huh?" Everyone seemed confused by his somewhat contradictory answer: "Killing a pig? Now? We're not going down the mountain?"
Lin Rui looked at the eleven wild boars frolicking with a gloomy gaze. "We're fleeing famine, not chasing wild boars around the world. Have you seen the famine victims who died at the foot of the mountain?"
Lin Changtai nodded: "I saw it, what?"
Lin Changfa also rubbed his head: "What does this have to do with us killing pigs?"
Lin Zijun figured out the key point and looked at Lin Rui and said, "Chief, are you saying that we are being too conspicuous?"
Lin Rui was thankful that there was a smart person in their team. "Those victims who died from the disaster were all starving, their skins were yellow and thin, with only a thin layer of skin clinging to their bones, and they were as thin as bamboo poles. Almost all those who fled from other places were like this. But what about us who came out of Linjia Village?"
"At worst, we can only have porridge. We still have food in the car. After all this travel, everyone has lost some weight, but not so much that they can't walk or fall down on the road. Take cousin Zicheng for example. He was so hungry during the day that he felt dizzy. At night, he had to eat dry rice and bacon slices."
"Look at the clothes we have. We can't afford silk or satin, so we patch up linen and cotton, but we're far from naked. My aunts and my sister have been sewing non-stop, mending any holes. We, the grown men, are all well-dressed. But look at those disaster victims, many of them have their butts exposed, some are even naked."
"We already have better clothes and better food than them. Driving the ox cart is fine, but if we drive eleven wild boars on the road, wouldn't that be telling those disaster victims that we are all fat sheep, and they can fill their stomachs immediately by robbing us!"
Lin Rui's words woke everyone up from their dreams, and they nodded in agreement. They almost forgot that they should not show off their wealth when they are away from home. Fortunately, the clan leader reminded them.
Lin Changtai stood up first, waving knives and other things around: "Quick, quick, Ziming and Ziren, bring our pig over here and kill it!"
"It's so hot, if we kill so many pigs, the meat will go bad if we don't eat it all!"
Lin Rui said, "Let's go find some pine branches and smoke the meat. The weather has been dry these past two days, so as long as we stay for two days, the meat will be ready."
"Okay."
Everyone answered readily and immediately got up to find firewood and help slaughter the pig.
This night became a nightmare for the eleven wild boars. They lived off the mountains and had never eaten a single bite of the food provided by these people. As a result, when they were about to leave the mountains, they were held down one by one by these people and slaughtered and bled. The howling sounds resounded throughout the forest.
Every household lit a bonfire where Lin Rui and his friends were resting, and it was so hot that sweat was dripping from everyone's head.
Because they were not butchers and their knives were not special, they cut the pig's stomach all over the place when they were cleaning the pig's internal organs. But fortunately they still opened the stomach and took out the liver and other things inside. Because they didn't want to waste the blood, they cleaned it up and hung it in the fire to roast.
Because these little wild boars were traveling with them, they had excessive exercise along the way, so their meat was lean and had less fat. Ancient people did not like this kind of pork. They preferred pork with large pieces of fat, so that it would be fragrant whether it was added to the oil for cooking or eaten in one bite.
Pig's trotters, pig's feet, pig's ears...these parts are also cut into very small pieces, just enough for a meal at home, and you can take them whenever you want.
The pig's head was not wasted at all. The eldest sister used a kitchen knife to shave off the meat on it bit by bit. In the end, only a large pig's head skeleton was left. These skeletons were not wasted at all. They were put into the pot in the evening, sprinkled with some salt, and added some dried wild vegetables and the remaining pork scraps. A pot of bone and meat soup was cooked.
Tonight, smoke rose from every household in the camp, and the air was filled with fragrance, as if it was New Year's Day and every family had eaten their fill.
We stayed on this gentle slope up the mountain for two days until all the bacon was prepared, packed with dry leaves and placed on each family's car.
Finally, the day of departure arrived. Lin Rui asked everyone to deliberately make their clothes look a little tattered. After having a full meal yesterday and going to bed early, everyone in the Lin family was in high spirits and it was impossible for them to pretend to be weak.
Finally, they simply mixed some water and soil to make wet mud, and then smeared some on everyone's face, making them look messy. Even the children had to be smeared with mud.
After doing all this, the Lin family finally set out on their journey down the mountain.
The gentle slope they had finally found was just as high as the mountain to the north. The disaster victims who were poorly clothed and hungry were destined to not have enough physical strength to climb over the mountain they had come from and find the mountains south of the mountain where the heavy rain was coming. Just in the mountains north of Lianshan where the drought had hit, Lin Rui and his team climbed over six or seven mountains, large and small, not including small hills.
They had enough food to support them as they crossed the mountains and hills, but these disaster victims had already eaten up the little food they had left on the way to escape the famine. They were already dying after the long journey here, so how could they have the ability to cross six or seven mountains to reach the south of the mountain?
No wonder they didn't encounter any disaster victims on their way here. The first ridge in the north could easily block their way.
These adults and children who died halfway up the mountain probably wanted to gamble on this glimmer of hope, but ended up losing their lives.
They stopped and walked along the way, complaining about the chaotic times and natural disasters, but these people didn't even have the energy to complain. They hurried on numbly and mechanically, just wanting to find a way to survive, but in the end they were all cut off here.
The mountain roads on the north side were scorching hot under the scorching sun, but because the terrain was mostly rocky, it was not too tiring for everyone to walk on. Because we were carrying ox carts, we had to take a detour when we encountered a slightly steep slope.
Therefore, a distance that could be covered in one hour would often take two or three hours, or sometimes even a whole day.
It is said that going up a mountain is easy but going down is difficult. Lin Rui felt that both were difficult. One of his legs didn't feel like his when he walked. It was swollen and painful, and his calf was swollen from walking.
Everyone's situation was actually similar. They all gritted their teeth and persevered. When they really couldn't bear it anymore, they would stop for a while, untie the simple leg wraps, and punch their sore and swollen calves with their fists.
Zhao Qing, Lin Zicheng and other people who have children have to carry their children on their backs, in their arms and on their shoulders when walking. There is no other way. Because the pork is being pickled, the ox carts and flatbed trucks are now filled with portions of smoked meat wrapped in dry leaves. The children have no place to sit. If they can't walk, the adults will suffer, having to drag and carry their children.
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