Chapter 99 Chapter 99-Two-in-one pig killing
Sun Hu and the others were waiting. Lin Chuntao did not chat much with her aunt and the others. She sent them to the village entrance and reminded them to bring their cousins with them tomorrow.
As I watched them walk away, dusk fell and it seemed as if the whole village was quiet.
Pei Ying asked, "Let's go check out the homestead?"
Lin Chuntao nodded, and the two of them walked over there while talking.
Today is the first day of work. The foundation has been completed, and a lot of mud bricks have been made and are drying on the side. There are also several rammed main walls. A lot of yellow clay was also brought in today. This is probably the advantage of having a lot of people.
The most exciting thing was the well. The mouth of the well was quite wide and deep. Since they had dug it so suddenly, Lin Chuntao was worried that curious children would come and see it. She said to Pei Ying, "We need to plant some thorns to block the side, to prevent the children from the village from running over to play here."
Pei Ying nodded. "There's a thorn bush over there. Let's go home and get a sickle to chop it down."
After talking, the two went home.
Not long after they left, seven or eight children appeared at the wellhead. Just now, Sun Hu and the others were there, so they were curious and didn't dare to come to see. Now that there was no one around, they came here without telling their parents.
"Wow, it's so deep!"
"Didn't they say water was coming out of the ground? Why can't I see it?"
"You're stupid! It's coming up from below, and it's covered by water. How can you see it?"
"My mother said that Duo'er and the others won't have to carry water anymore, but the water is so muddy, how can we drink it?"
"Are they going to have to eat this muddy water from now on?"
“…”
Several children were squatting by the well, talking to each other.
Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying came back with sickles and looked at the little kids squatting in a row around the well. She didn't even dare to shout, for fear that one of them would suddenly be frightened and fall in.
She pulled Pei Ying and said, "Let's pretend we didn't see them and go ahead of them."
After walking to the opposite side, Pei Ying coughed lightly. The children heard the sound and looked up.
Seeing that it was Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying, they hurriedly stood up and dispersed, taking a few steps back. Seeing that they were not so close to the wellhead, Lin Chuntao turned her head and looked over.
"Are you coming to see the well?"
Lin Chuntao asked. The leading child was a little timid. "Sister Chuntao, we have never seen a well dug, so we came to watch." After saying that, he did not forget to explain to Lin Chuntao: "We are just looking, we are not doing anything."
Lin Chuntao approached and said, "It's getting dark. You've come here without telling the adults, haven't you? Come back tomorrow when the adults are here. It's late at night now, and there's water down there, and it's so deep. If you fall in, you won't be able to climb out. Go home quickly."
The children were not very old. When they heard Lin Chuntao's words, they thought about how they had gone to the river to play without permission and were beaten when they came back. They shuddered in their hearts and ran away obediently.
Pei Ying looked at the thorns and surrounded the well with a circle. After thinking it was still a bit dangerous, he inserted a few wooden stakes next to it and took a hemp rope to surround it.
While cooking and steaming beans during the day, Lin Chunxing only braised the eggs and had not yet made the bone soup.
After tidying up, I made the bone soup first.
The next day, Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying did not go to the county town. Lin Chunxing did not go so early either. She went there when it was almost dawn. The things she carried were a bit heavy for her to carry alone, so Lin Chuntao borrowed the mule from Aunt Guizhi's house for her and asked her to drive it.
Lin Duoer had nothing to do at home, so Lin Chuntao arranged for her to accompany Lin Chunxing.
She had wanted to watch the pig slaughter at home, but Lin Chuntao said, "What's so interesting about slaughtering a pig? The blood gushed out when the knife went in. I can't even watch it. It would give me nightmares. You go with your second sister and come back early. I'll have the meat cooked by the time you get back, and we can eat it when you come back."
"Sister, I want to eat pork kidneys."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely save some pork kidneys for you. But there were so many people at lunch, and I fried one for everyone and it was gone. I'll fry it for you tomorrow night."
"Okay!"
After hearing what he said, he happily followed Lin Chunxing.
Lin Chuntao reminded Lin Chunxing: "Work slowly and be careful."
Lin Chunxing responded and left.
We agreed to slaughter a pig today, so my uncle and his friends came to help. They came very early and met Lin Chunxing and the others a little way out of the village.
This family needed a long table to slaughter the pig, so Lin Chuntao borrowed a table from Lin Cunzheng's family yesterday. They were helping to dig the yellow clay, so they didn't say much. Several of them came early carrying the long table, and Grandma and Aunt Guizhi also came with them.
The two families met at the intersection below and came up together.
When Pei Ying got up, he lit a fire outside and filled a large iron pot with water, which was almost boiling.
At dawn, the sound of pig's feet echoed throughout the village.
Lin Chuntao and her friends received half a basin of pig blood.
Many villagers who had just woken up and were still dazed woke up instantly after hearing the pig's cry.
"Whose family is slaughtering the pig?"
Someone suddenly asked, and the person next door took over, "I heard that the sound was from the old house of my uncle's family?"
"Chun Tao and the others want to kill a pig? They can't. Their piglets are still very small."
As soon as the two of them finished speaking, a voice came from the side.
"Yesterday I saw Chuntao's family driving a pig back. They must be the ones who slaughtered the pig."
After he finished speaking, the surroundings fell into silence.
After a while, someone said, "How did these sisters suddenly become so rich? Looking at the house building yesterday, I saw 20 or 30 people. Yesterday, I thought they would eat up a lot of food, and today they're actually slaughtering a pig?"
"Is this killing a pig to build a house?"
No one responded to this, and they just made a few guesses.
However, Chen Dongniang went to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables, and people asked her about Lin Chuntao's family along the way.
They either ask how much the house builders earn per day, or what they do to make so much money!
Chen Dongniang smiled when she heard this and replied, "I don't know. We didn't ask Chuntao. If you're curious, you can ask Chuntao."
"As for making a lot of money, Chuntao and her friends set up a small stall in the county town. They usually go into the mountains to pick mushrooms. They don't make a lot of money, they just work from dawn to dusk and save pennies."
Chen Dongniang's words were unsatisfactory. The man scoffed and said, "Everyone works hard, but I've never seen money come in so quickly."
Chen Dongniang was speechless after hearing this. She laughed and said, "Sister-in-law, you really don't get up early and go to bed late. You get up when the sun is almost out, and you go to bed as soon as it gets dark. Chuntao and the others are still busy after dark, and they go out before the rooster crows in the morning."
“This is what it means to get up early and stay up late.”
The woman pulled the corners of her mouth with a forced smile.
"If I had that much money, I wouldn't have to sleep."
Chen Dongniang also smiled. The mountain has been there for decades. There are so many people in the village, and many of them pick mushrooms. Everyone will run into the mountains for a walk and pick some to eat. No one has ever thought of picking mushrooms and carrying them back to the county town to sell them.
You have to do it first to get money. In their words, Lin Chuntao and others did it only because they had so much money.
She frowned slightly, then said, "Anyone can go pick mushrooms in the mountains, including my sister-in-law. You can live in the mountains and carry the mushrooms to the county town to sell them the next day. No one will stop you."
The woman choked and felt a little angry. Thinking about how Chen Dongniang and her whole family were helping Lin Chuntao with work, she sarcastically said, "Dongniang, you are really saying that. Do you think your family gets a share of Lin Chuntao's earnings? Is a little girl worthy of your praising her like this?"
Chen Dongniang's face changed slightly, but when she thought about how Lin Chuntao had even given money to Lin Changzong and the others for helping them dig the yellow clay, it turned out that their family had received more than a hundred coins every day in the past few days, and other families still hadn't received it yet.
She chuckled and turned to look at the woman with a smile.
"Chun Tao is young, but she has a good mind for making money. I admire her for her ability, so what? Besides, she does help us make money, but it's only a few dozen coins a day, which is a small amount and not worth publicizing. Sister-in-law, please don't tell anyone."
After Chen Dongniang finished speaking, she filled her two vegetable baskets, picked up the baskets and turned to leave.
The gossipy woman was left standing there in shock. "A few dozen coins?" "Small change?" "No wonder Sun and Hu had been running to Lin Chuntao's place these past few days. It turned out they were actually working for her!"
A few dozen coins a day is not a small amount of money. Ten coins a day can save up to three hundred coins a month!
Watching Chen Dongniang's back as she walked away, the woman suddenly felt a little regretful. She wanted to chase after her and ask her, but she felt too embarrassed to do so. She could only stomp her feet in anger. She planned to find some time to find Lin Chuntao and see what she was doing. If the Sun family and the others could do it, then she could do it too!
In fact, Chen Dongniang also felt a little regretful. Her mother-in-law told her to keep a low profile on this matter, but she was so angry that she told others about it.
And she also has to talk to Lin Chuntao about it.
This morning, Lin Chuntao and her friends slaughtered a pig, so she went to the vegetable garden to pick some vegetables to bring over. There were many people eating at Lin Chuntao's place now, so they wanted a lot of all the dishes.
When Chen Dongniang came over, Lin Chuntao and the others had just brought the pig blood into the house, and Pei Ying and the others were also scalding the pig hair.
Seeing Chen Dongniang coming, Pei Ying turned around and greeted her.
Chen Dongniang smiled and walked into the small courtyard carrying a basket of vegetables.
The yard was very lively. Everyone came early. Lin Chuntao had not had breakfast yet. There were still a lot of fried Yuanbao dumplings. Lin Chuntao steamed some and asked everyone to eat.
As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and saw Chen Dongniang carrying a basket of vegetables into the yard. She greeted him with a smile.
"Aunt, come and have breakfast."
Chen Dongniang handed her the basket of vegetables, one basket of cabbage and one basket of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers.
"I picked some vegetables for you. If you need any, go get them directly from the fields, or tell me and I'll get them for you."
After Chen Dongniang finished speaking, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I can get some from my fields. If you need me, I won't hesitate. Thank you, aunt."
"Why are you being so polite to us?"
The pigs outside had not been shaved yet, and the meat had not been brought in yet, so there was nothing to do. Everyone ate two Yuanbao dumplings and then went to get the beans with a winnowing basket.
Lin Chuntao and Sun said, "Grandma, after we finish picking this bag of beans, we need to pick some dried chilies instead."
Sun agreed, and then she realized that Lin Chuntao didn't soak the beans last night.
"Have you made enough beans?"
Lin Chuntao nodded, "This batch is enough. Get the peppers out. In two days, when the beans are ready, we can start covering them."
As they were talking, the aunt-in-law and the others asked Lin Chuntao what dishes she was going to cook for lunch.
Lin Chuntao thought for a moment and said, "Let's make stir-fried cabbage with oil residue and stewed pork ribs with potatoes. We've killed a pig today, so let's make twice-cooked pork."
The aunt-in-law wanted to say that the meat was too much, but since it was Lin Chuntao's arrangement and there were so many people around, she didn't say much.
When she first came yesterday, she thought these people were just helping out, but after watching them for a day, she realized that although they were helping out, they were also being paid to do the work. Lin Chuntao had an idea, so she just had to do what she said.
While my aunt and the others were peeling potatoes, Chen Dongniang helped pick and wash the cabbage for lunch.
Lin Chuntao looked at the piece of meat she had carried back yesterday. After cutting off all the ribs, she probably couldn't finish them all for this meal, as she would have to stir-fry the pork twice, so she didn't cook too many ribs.
Just make enough for three dishes.
Chop the ribs into small pieces and soak them in cold water, adding some dried ginger slices to remove the fishy smell.
After everything was done, I cut a long piece of pork belly, about one pound, cut it into several pieces and put them into the pot, then put it on the stove with cold water and started cooking.
Pei Ying was very fast at shaving pig hair. The knife in his hand was sharp, and he had cleaned up all the hair on a pig in just a short while.
This pig hair has a great use. It is not dirty and is all put into a dustpan, waiting to be dried when the sun comes out.
The whole pig is cleaned, gutted and the meat divided.
Lin Chuntao took out several basins, one for pig liver and pig heart, one for lard, and separate basins for pig stomach and pig intestine.
It is difficult to flush the pig intestine. I have put the pig manure here. If I use water to wash it, I don’t know how many times I will have to wash it to clean it.
The eldest uncle, the second uncle and the eldest uncle simply took some wood ash and carried the pig stomach and intestines to the well to wash them.
A pig, two ribs, four legs, a pig's neck, a pig's tail, and a pig's head. If the pig is fatter, those pieces of meat will still be very substantial.
But this pig is not fat, and the pig legs brought in feel a little small, especially the front legs, which feel like they may only weigh about 20 pounds.
In the past, my grandmother’s family also slaughtered a pig for the New Year every year, but the pig was almost always weighed less than 400 kilograms. She felt that the dried cured legs were much bigger than this.
If this meat is dried and made into bacon, it should be smaller.
She planned to eat the front leg meat next.
After processing the pig, the pork belly in Lin Chuntao's pot was almost done, so she took it out, cleaned it and put it aside.
Taking advantage of the fact that the fire was relatively idle, Lin Chuntao took out the lard and cut it, preparing to boil the oil and store it. Although the pig looked lean, the lard was okay, snow-white without any nodules, and the portion was also good.
Chen Dongniang was quick at preparing the cabbage. After she was done, she brought a stool over and helped Lin Chuntao cut the lard.
When dividing the meat, some shapeless pieces of meat were also cut off, and there was a lot of fat. Lin Chuntao cut them all up, and put all the fat and lean meat in to fry together.
Chen Dongniang watched Lin Chuntao cut up a lot of lean meat and asked in confusion, "Chuntao, are you going to put these lean meats in too?"
Lin Chuntao nodded. "Duo'er and the others like to eat fried oil residue. I'll put some in and fry it together. It will be more fragrant this way."
Chen Dongniang smiled. It was delicious even when fried alone, let alone when fried together with a big pot of lard.
Every year when pigs are slaughtered, the children would gather around the oil wok and look for lean meat and greasy residue in it, but they never thought of putting some lean meat in to fry for the children to eat.
Looking at Lin Chuntao again, she is so nice to these sisters.
They had just been busy for a while when the sun slowly rose. Sun Hu and the others also arrived at the doorstep. The hoes and other tools that they had not taken home last night were all in the yard, so they could just come and take them today.
Before the group of people entered the yard, they smelled the aroma of meat. Then they looked outside at the cleaned stove and realized that Lin Chuntao and the others had already slaughtered the pigs.
The courtyard door was open. Yu Meixi knocked on the door and Lin Chuntao looked up.
"Morning, Sister Chuntao!"
"Sister-in-law, good morning! Have you had breakfast?" Lin Chuntao asked.
Yu Meixi said, "We've eaten. We ate at home before coming here." As Yu Meixi spoke, she went to get a hoe and saw Lin Chuntao cutting lard. It was only a short time, but the pigs had already been slaughtered.
They might have to come earlier in the future, otherwise they would feel embarrassed.
Lin Chuntao's soaked ribs and freshly cooked pork belly were placed in the yard. The workers who came in could see them. It was obvious that they were prepared for today's meal, and they felt more motivated to work.
My uncle and his friends washed the pig intestines and brought them back. Coincidentally, Sun Hu and his friends also arrived, so everyone started working together.
Lin Chuntao cut the lard and put it into the pot to boil, then went to the homestead.
She mainly went to see the well water. After a night of sedimentation, the water became much clearer.
But after this night, the water level rose a lot.
It just so happened that Sun Hu and his team needed to mix yellow clay with water, so they took a bucket to get some water out. When they found that there was not much water left, Lao Sang and his team went down to continue digging. Lin Chuntao used a lot of water, so she thought that since they were already digging, they should make the reservoir bigger to save trouble in the future.
Today, many children in the village came to see the well out of curiosity. Some of them even ran to the side of the yard after learning that Lin Chuntao's family was slaughtering a pig today.
The smell of boiled lard is very fragrant and strong. When the wind blows, the tempting aroma can be smelled outside the yard.
A group of children had a bad relationship with Lin Chuntao and her friends, so they went home to look for their parents with their mouths watering. Some of them got a big pancake bought a few days ago, while others were beaten.
Others blamed Lin Chuntao for slaughtering the pig before the New Year, which embarrassed her.
Lin Chunxing and her friends came back early at noon, with a sack of things on the mule cart. As soon as they arrived at the gate of the yard, they called Pei Ying to carry the things in.
After entering the house, Lin Chuntao asked, "What is this?"
Lin Chunxing said, "Chai Xingyu brought it here. He said he bought the salt for his sister."
Lin Chuntao opened the bag and took a look. The quality of this salt was better than that in the salt shop. It looked much whiter and finer.
Lin Chuntian turned around and looked at Lin Chunxing: "Did you ask him how much it cost per pound?"
"He said sixteen, which is exactly one stone."
Lin Chunxing said: "I told him I would give him the money tomorrow, but he said no, he didn't ask for money. I didn't ask what he meant by not asking for money."
Lin Chuntao frowned slightly, perhaps they had some other relationship with the person who sold contraband salt.
She smiled and said, "Take the money with you tomorrow and give it to him."
Lin Chunxing nodded.
Lin Duoer went to the county town today and didn't even buy breakfast. She said she wanted to save her stomach for meat when she came back. Lin Chunxing didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but she agreed with her.
Lin Chuntao has already prepared the dishes and is ready to eat.
Seeing Lin Duo'er looking for the pork kidney, Lin Chuntao said, "There's some lard residue in the bowl over there. I'll put some fried lean meat in there. Go and eat. You'll have dinner soon."
Lin Duoer also likes the lean meat fried with oil residue.
She went to bring it over, picked up a piece and fed it to Lin Chunxing before eating it herself.
Lin Chuntao asked Pei Ying to put the salt into the grain cabinet. There were so many people around and it would be inconvenient to leave so much salt outside.
After finishing, Lin Chuntao asked Lin Chunhe to call people for dinner.
Lin Chuntao made three dishes today. The pork ribs and potatoes looked like yesterday's stewed meat and potatoes, with a rich aroma. The twice-cooked pork was bright red and looked very appetizing.
People in Yizhou also love chili peppers, and everyone scooped up some twice-cooked pork and started eating.
Yu Meixi and Sun Hu had already eaten it once, while Lao Ma and Lao Sang were eating it for the first time. After taking a bite, they began to ask Lin Chuntao, "Madam Lin, what kind of sauce did you use on this meat? It's so fragrant?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "It's just the homemade sauce I make at home."
Lao Sang asked, "Is it a lot? Can you sell us a few pounds?"
Lin Chuntao said, "There's not much left now. We need to keep it for family use. But we're working on it these past two days. In about twenty days, there will be a lot."
"Leave me your address, and I'll send you a few pounds when the time comes."
Lin Chuntao's words surprised Old Sang. He quickly said, "Sure. My home is not far from Old Sun's. My wife loves to eat soy sauce. Please save ten kilograms for me when the time comes."
"Okay, I'll remember that."
Lao Ma and the others didn't say anything. They would still be working here in about twenty days, and they could directly ask Lin Chuntao to buy some to take back.
It's different for Lao Sang and the others. They have almost finished digging today and will build the well in the afternoon. Maybe they won't need to come tomorrow.
After lunch, everyone went back to work. Lin Chuntao went back to the house to check on the beans. The beans cooked on the first day were already ready. They had grown yellow-green mold and had a bit of the smell of fermented rice wine. Lin Chuntao took out the winnowing basket and placed it in the sun to start drying the beans.
Because there were so many people and she was afraid of the wind, Lin Chuntao still covered herself with gauze to dry in the sun.
When there were no people around, Chen Dongniang talked about what happened when she picked vegetables that morning. She said to Lin Chuntao, "Chuntao, I'm so sorry. I'm afraid I'm causing you trouble."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "How can this cause any trouble? No, after the house is built, I will have to make more sauce, and I will definitely need to find someone to help with the work. It's okay to ask, but I can't agree to come to everyone who asks. I know what I'm doing."
After hearing Lin Chuntao's words, Chen Dongniang breathed a sigh of relief.
The eldest aunt said, "Chun Tao, if you are too busy, you can call me and your second aunt, we can all help you."
Lin Chuntao said, "I've been thinking about this for a long time. It's a little far away, and I don't have a place to rest here. You guys are tired from coming early and leaving late. When the house is built, I have an extra room for sleeping. You can rest here at night when you come."
When my aunt heard what she said, she felt happy.
Logically, Lin Chuntao is closer to them, her uncle and aunt, but unfortunately they are a little distant from each other, and she thinks that distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. Lin Chuntao likes these cousins of the Lin family more, and although she can understand it, she can't help but feel a little jealous.
I didn't expect Lin Chuntao to have such an idea, and my heart suddenly felt warm.
She looked at the piglet in the pigsty, and the many chickens that Lin Chuntao and the others had raised. Then she thought about the scene a few months ago, and it seemed like a long time ago.
After drying the beans, Lin Chuntao took the pig intestines and washed them twice. She was going to eat braised food in the evening.
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