Chapter 103
Carefully put away the five bolts of silk from the Zhao family. With the New Year approaching, there was no time to dye them, and the dyeing would have to wait until after the fifteenth of the first lunar month.
On the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, the fat pigs raised at home were taken out of their pen.
Zhou Lin called Mu Sheng, Mu Lingyun, and Mu Zhaoye, and they slaughtered the family's New Year's pig.
Mu Lingyun wielded the knife, and with a swift motion, he cut down a wooden basin that Mu Jin had specially placed under the cutting board, filled with more than half a basin of pig's blood.
Once the water was boiled, Mu Jin, Zhou Si, and Bai Qiqiu carefully scraped off the pig hair.
"Brother, how much are you planning to sell this pig for?"
Hibiscus carefully picked at the pig's trotters; this place was the most likely to harbor filth and dirt, so it required extra care to clean it.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "Keep thirty catties of meat and ten catties of pork fat at home, and sell the rest."
This pig, raised with great care by Mu Jin, weighs about 120 jin (approximately 60 catties) after removing its internal organs and head.
With the Lunar New Year approaching, meat prices are slightly higher than usual. A pound of pork now costs an average of fifteen coins for a whole pig in town.
All things considered, this pig can be exchanged for more than one tael of silver.
"This pig is fat, brother. I'll buy ten pounds to take home later."
Bai Qiqiu covered his nose as he cleaned pig intestines; the stench made him frown.
“There’s no need to buy any. This pig is so fat because of the pig feed you guys have been cutting. Later, you two each cut ten catties and take a catty of pig intestines back with you.”
Bai Qiqiu smiled and didn't stand on ceremony with Mu Jin anymore, "Then thank you very much, elder brother."
Many families in the village don't raise pigs, but upon hearing that Zhou Lin's family was slaughtering their New Year's pig today, they came here early.
They were afraid that if they were a step behind others, the best meat would be picked up.
Mu Jin asked Mu Lingyun to help her cut out the thirty catties of pork that his family had kept for themselves. They kept fifteen catties of pork belly, two catties of pork rump, pork shoulder, pork shoulder, and about ten catties of pork shoulder. They also kept about one catty of pork neck. It wasn't much, so they kept it all.
Zhou Si and Bai Qiqiu carried their ten jin of meat, while Mu Lingyun cut five jin of pork belly and five jin of pork leg meat.
Mu Jin kept the pig's head and trotters for her own consumption.
I'll make some stew tomorrow or the day after and serve it to Zhou Lin as a snack with his drinks.
There wasn't much meat left, and most of it had some fat on it, so the villagers bought it in small quantities.
A stew of pork stew was simmering in the pot, with hibiscus picking out fatty pork to cook, and the aroma of the meat filled the yard.
The villagers who bought meat to take home walked much faster, eager to get home and stew it.
When making "pig-killing stew," Mu Jin generously adds meat, oil, cabbage, hazel mushrooms, wood ear fungus, tofu, sweet potato vermicelli, and a whole big pot of mixed ingredients.
Bai Qiqiu and Wen Zhaoran were sent to the Mu family to invite Mu Bai and Mu Zhou to their home for a pork stew.
Mu Jin kept three large bowls for herself and asked Zhou Lin to take a bamboo basket and deliver them to Mu Mian, Mu Nianjun, and Master Zhou Lin so that the three families could have a taste.
Zhou Lin glanced at the three large bowls of stewed pork in the bamboo basket, hesitated, and ultimately didn't open his mouth.
While serving the dishes, Mu Jin glanced at him and saw that her husband looked conflicted. She then picked up the bamboo basket, turned around, and went out the door.
The wooden ladle holding the pork stew paused for a moment.
She sighed softly, steeled her heart, but still didn't stop Zhou Lin. She filled another bowl and sent it to the Zhou family.
When Bai Qiqiu and Wen Zhaoran returned, two large basins of stewed pork were served, steaming hot in the cold winter.
There were many people, and the courtyard was very lively.
The steamed bun is stuffed with plenty of slices of meat and glass noodles; one bite and you're overwhelmed by its delicious aroma.
"Big brother's cooking skills are getting better and better."
Mu Bai took a big bite, savoring the rich aroma of oil and pork, and exclaimed in delight.
He's been staying at home these days, eating his uncle's cooking, and he's finding it a bit hard to get used to it.
Mu Jin smiled and said, "Eat as much as you like."
As she spoke, she placed another large, fatty slice of meat on his plate.
Zhou Si picked up a piece of cabbage with her chopsticks and said softly, "Big brother, tomorrow is Xiao Suo'er's full moon celebration. Have you prepared the gift?"
Mu Jin nodded, "My little nephew was born in the Year of the Tiger, so I made him a tiger-head sachet and filled it with some insect-repelling herbs."
Zhou Si smiled and said, "I embroidered a tiger head bib for him, which is exactly what my older brother was thinking."
Just as Mu Jin was about to say something, Zhou Lin's cousin's somewhat anxious voice came from behind.
Is my cousin home?
Because there were many people at home today, the gate to the courtyard was not closed, so he walked in quickly.
"Cousin, what's wrong?"
Zhou Lin hurriedly stood up, almost falling over with the stool he was sitting on.
Zhou Lin's cousin paused for a moment, then said, "My uncle's ex-father-in-law and his wife brought a group of people to our house to cause trouble. My grandfather asked me to call you over to calm things down and send them back."
Mu Jin was surprised. He remembered that his uncle had been gone for over twenty years. How could they still be connected?
Zhou Lin swallowed the last bite of steamed bun, not even drinking the rice porridge for fear of delaying things. "Let's go."
Mu Jin wanted to go along to take a look, but there were guests at home, and he and Zhou Lin couldn't both leave without someone to entertain them.
Unexpectedly, no sooner had Zhou Lin left than the men in the kitchen quickly finished their meal in a couple of bites.
"Jin'er, let's go and take a look. No matter what, we can't let people from other villages bully the people of our Mu Family Village."
Hibiscus: "…………"
If Mu Sheng had less of that gossipy gleam in his eyes, he might have believed it.
"Let's go, let's go, we won't be able to help much if we're late."
Bai Qiqiu had already stepped out of the house and was out of the yard in the blink of an eye.
Mu Jin glanced at the untouched soup on the table and sighed in exasperation.
After closing the courtyard gate, a large group of people headed towards the village entrance.
We encountered many villagers on the way who wanted to see what was going on.
When Mu Jin and the others arrived, they saw an old man sitting in Zhou Fengnian's courtyard, slapping his thigh and shouting about his deceased brother.
Zhou's grandfather, great-grandfather, and third grandfather stood in the courtyard with sullen faces, while Zhou Lin and his cousins were herding the people from Wangjia Village out of the courtyard.
“Oh, my poor son! You left so early, leaving your father and me alone in this world to be bullied by everyone. Your heartless husband has been bewitched by a vixen and doesn’t care about us old folks anymore. We really can’t go on living like this. Your father and I will go with you now, we will go with you now.”
But all we saw was the old man howling, without shedding a single tear.
It's unlikely that he genuinely felt sorry for his son who died young.
Zhou Fengnian stood to the side, his fists clenched.
"Father, Uncle, haven't you two made enough of a scene? Aren't you ashamed?!"
"Shameful?! You only realize it's shameful now? Why weren't you ashamed when you took that little one?!"
Zhou Fengnian said in a deep voice, "I am Xue'er, whom I married through proper channels. The county government has stamped the document and she is registered in my household. She is my husband, Zhou Fengnian's husband, not a concubine."
"You...you still say that? Oh my, my buddy, look down there! This is the man who insisted on marrying you back then! You must have been blind!"
As he spoke, the old man glared hatefully at Zhou Chuxue, who was standing next to Zhou Fengnian, and slapped the ground hard.
The crowd was in an uproar.
"It's been so long, and they still won't allow him to remarry? What kind of in-laws are they?!"
"Most men in the village remarry within a year, but Fengnian's brother didn't remarry until about twenty years later, which is already quite affectionate."
"Who says otherwise? So, if you marry his son, you're supposed to stay with him for life? That's not fair."
"That's right, that's right."
Hearing the villagers' whispers, the old man immediately became angry, got up, pointed at the crowd at the door, and started cursing.
"Pah! A bunch of lousy bastards, gossiping and useless. They're like babies who can't even have a vagina."
This angered the crowd. The hot-tempered old woman rolled up her sleeves and was about to go up and fight him.
"Alright!"
Zhou Fengnian, his face grim, roared.
"Father, little father, I know why you've come. Do you really want me to tear off this mask in front of so many people?!"
The old man paused, then said, "What are you saying?!"
Zhou Fengnian closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again.
“Ah Liu left in a hurry without leaving a single word. I know that before he left, he was most worried about his two elders at home, so I took care of you for over twenty years. I dare to say in front of the villagers that even your sons are not as devoted as I am. During the wheat harvest, the autumn harvest, and the festivals and holidays, I have never missed a single one of these years.”
Mu Sheng and the others had gone over to help Zhou Lin stop the people from Wangjia Village.
Few people were not taken aback upon hearing this.
Such a kind and affectionate son-in-law is the kind of son any family with a son would not want.
"Isn't this what you should be doing?! You owe our young master a life!"
The old man turned around and started yelling at Zhou Fengnian.
"Wow, what a shameless old woman."
"A small favor is appreciated, but a large one breeds resentment. If you ask me, Brother Fengnian shouldn't have taken on this family in the first place."
The old man from the Wang family glanced at Zhou Chuxue a few times before finally speaking, his voice hoarse and rough.
"I can tell you still care about my son. Otherwise, your new wife wouldn't look so much like him."
Upon hearing this, the old man gave a soft snort.
“It’s not that we forbid you from marrying. You’ve helped him these past few years, and now that Liu’s younger brother is of marriageable age, he looks more like Liu than this boy. Your uncle and I don’t need too much dowry, five taels of silver will do. As long as you treat him well in the future, that’s enough.”
Liu Ge'er's youngest brother was the youngest son of the Wang family, born more than two years after his death.
When I was a child, I had a fever that damaged my brain, leaving me with the mental capacity of a four or five-year-old. Now I am seventeen.
Zhou Chuxue's face turned deathly pale.
Mu Jin hurried over and gently helped him up.
The veins on the back of Zhou Fengnian's hand bulged. "I only consider him Li Ge'er's younger brother, you...you..."
The Wang family owned a moderate amount of land, just enough for the family to live on.
Zhou Fengnian is a good, honest and kind person. The old couple had long wanted to marry Wang Li to him.
Being able to get rid of such a burden, such a good son-in-law didn't run off to someone else's house.
Unexpectedly, this week, Fengnian quietly married a husband.
The family received the news a couple of days ago, and they couldn't sit still.
The old man gave Wang Li, who was hiding behind and gnawing on his nails, a push.
Wang Li was not paying attention and was pushed so hard that he stumbled and ended up next to Zhou Fengnian.
Zhou Fengnian was afraid he would fall, so he quickly helped him up.
Wang Li's eyes were innocent and pure, without a trace of impurity.
She recognized Zhou Fengnian and looked up at him with a sweet smile.
"elder brother."
Zhou Fengnian looked at the boy in front of him who looked exactly like Wang Liu. He regarded him as a younger brother and watched him grow up.
I feel terrible about this situation.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com