Chapter 85
Because of his leg problems, Mu Lingyun now works as a butcher, occasionally buying pigs, slaughtering them, and taking them to town to sell.
Wild boars have thicker skin, so preparing them inevitably takes longer than preparing domestic pigs.
Mu Lingyun carefully chiseled off the wild boar's large tusks, cleaned them, and kept them at home to ward off evil spirits.
Upon hearing the news, villagers who were craving meat quickly brought ten or so copper coins to the hunter's house.
Mu Lingyun carefully prepared the wild boar and wild goat that she had left behind. Zhou Si put the goat skin away and put it in the kitchen to prevent it from being stolen if she wasn't careful.
The pig intestines were smelly and fishy, and it took Hibiscus and Cotton a long time to clean them just barely.
My hands smelled strongly of pig manure. I washed them with soap three or five times, but the smell was still awful.
Helpless, Mu Jin could only wait for the smell to dissipate on its own after a while.
Pig lungs, liver, and kidneys are not something farmers know how to cook. Although they are cheap, they usually just buy the meat directly.
Lamb is scarce and expensive, so only farmers with a little extra money are willing to buy a pound or two.
Mu Qing and Zhou Wushi also came over. Hearing that Zhou Lin had also gone into the mountains, they thought they could get a few pounds of meat for free.
There were many villagers coming from their village, and the two of them, not caring about their reputation, started to argue and make trouble. They looked around but didn't see Zhou Lin; instead, they saw Mu Jin, who was bothering them.
He pursed his lips, joined the back of the line, and chatted with the villagers while waiting for Zhou Lin to return.
Halfway through the pork sale, a group of men returned home noisily, their voices sounding quite excited.
Zhou Lin returned the mule cart to Mu Zhaoye and then went to the Mu hunter's house.
As soon as Zhou Wushi saw him arrive, she asked, "How much did you get?!"
Zhou Lin shook his head, "It hasn't been divided yet, Mother. Second Brother, are you here to buy meat? There's no one at Lingyun's place right now."
Zhou Wushi squeezed out a few wrinkles, "You brought it back, what's this about buying it or not? Your father wants to eat braised pork, cut me a few pounds."
Mu Qing remained silent, only smiling at Zhou Lin along with Zhou Wu Shi.
Zhou Lin looked troubled. "Mother, I didn't do much hunting, and the meat wasn't all mine."
Zhou Wu's smile turned to anger. "What can I possibly expect from you? You're hopeless."
Uncle Mu sighed repeatedly, and Zhou Si's expression was also not good.
Mu Jin walked over unnoticed. "Brother Lingqiao wants you to come and help."
Zhou Lin felt as if he had been granted a pardon and immediately followed Mu Jin away.
Zhou Wu was furious, feeling that ever since Zhou Lin separated from his family, he had truly stopped respecting her as his mother.
Uncle Mu, mindful of their kinship, shared some of the unwanted pig intestines and lungs with Zhou Wushi and Mu Qing.
Mulan seemed not to notice and helped clean up the mess in the yard.
Zhou Wushi and Mu Qing's expressions softened after receiving the benefits. They took out ten copper coins and bought a pound of pork belly.
“Father-in-law, next time there’s something like this, remember to invite Erming along. He’s very strong.”
Uncle Mu nodded in agreement, only thinking about getting the mother and daughter-in-law away as soon as possible.
Anyway, now that they've gone deep into the mountains, they won't be going again this year. Next year, it's none of his business who the family wants to go with.
Zhou Wu's expression turned satisfied. Seeing that Mu Jin was there, she knew she wouldn't get anything good and would only get angry. So she picked up the meat and left.
Uncle Mu breathed a sigh of relief. If it weren't for his second son liking Zhou Si, and Zhou Si being such a good person, he would never have agreed to be related to such a family by marriage.
Mu Jin glanced at Zhou Si, noticing his pale face, tugged at him, and whispered something in his ear.
"Uncle Mu is a reasonable person. He won't dislike you because of what happened with Mother. Don't overthink it."
Zhou Si sighed, "As for my elder brother, I know in my heart that if Lingyun hadn't had difficulty walking, my father would definitely have chosen a better one for him, just like my brother-in-law. My brother-in-law's parents are harmonious and his family is well-off. When he came back from visiting relatives during the Mid-Autumn Festival, he brought back a lot of good things. Unlike me, my parents only felt that I didn't bring enough. In front of Lingyun, they said that I only brought such a small amount of meat. We still hunt at home. And then that thing happened at home a while ago. I really... sigh."
Mu Jin was helpless; she never expected that Zhou Si would have so many thoughts after not seeing him for a while.
However, one's birth is not a choice, and family members cannot choose for themselves. The best thing is to rely on oneself and make a living.
"Don't think too much. You can embroider and earn money on your own, which is already very good."
Zhou Si forced a smile, "I know, big brother. I'll be fine once I figure it out. It's nothing."
Mu Jin nodded. After Zhou Lin and the others finished dividing the silver, there was still half a wild boar's head left on the chopping board. Apart from the sheep's head, all the mutton was sold out.
Mu Lingqiao told Mu Lingyun to divide it into six portions, one portion for each of the six men.
Zhou Lin carried about ten pounds of pork and went home with Mu Jin, Bai Qiqiu, and Wen Zhaoran.
After placing the meat on the kitchen counter, Mu Jin eagerly pulled Zhou Lin back into the house.
Bai Qiqiu and Wen Zhaoran watched from behind, thoroughly amused.
Before she could even take out her money, Mu Jin hugged Zhou Lin without caring about getting dirty.
He gave Zhou Lin a big kiss.
This was the first time his husband had ever kissed him on his own initiative, and Zhou Lin's excitement was beyond words.
They took the initiative, their lips and tongues entwined, and they lingered passionately for a while, finally relieving some of the pain of longing they had endured for each other.
After a long kiss, the two held each other tightly, breathing softly for a while before smiling at each other.
Zhou Lin hugged Mu Jin for a while before taking the money pouch out of his bosom. In the past two weeks, Mu Jin was not the only one suffering from lovesickness.
"We were divided into thirteen taels and one mace. The foxes were all hunted by Brother Lingqiao, so there was no need to divide them. The sika deer, because they had antlers, sold for a lot of silver."
The smile on Mu Jin's face vanished when she saw Zhou Lin's injured hand.
"What happened? It's all swollen! Why didn't you tell me?!"
Zhou Lin sighed inwardly at his miscalculation; in his excitement, he had forgotten about the injury on his hand.
"It's nothing serious, just a scratch from a branch, it'll be fine in a couple of days."
Mu Jin frowned slightly and put the money pouch aside.
Leading Zhou Lin, they carefully cleaned the wound on his hand, found some herbs to reduce swelling, crushed them, applied them to his hand, and carefully wrapped it with a strip of cloth.
"I'll go boil some water for you. You've been in the mountains for so long, you need to wash up properly. I'll scrub your back and wash your hair later."
Looking at the strips of cloth wrapped around her hands, Zhou Lin felt a warmth in her heart, and her eyes softened with tenderness as she nodded gently.
Zhou Lin washed his hair twice and felt much lighter. Mu Jin sat behind him and gently dried his hair.
"Is hunting better or carpentry?"
Mu Jin asked with a smile.
Zhou Lin squinted, enjoying the moment, and then thought about what he heard.
"It's better to be a carpenter. There are too many snakes, insects, rats and ants in the mountains, and wild boars are too fierce. When we were hunting one, Brother Lingqiao almost got gored. Although you earn a lot of money, it's really dangerous."
Hibiscus threw the soaked cloth into the basin, then replaced it with a dry one and continued wiping.
"Then you shouldn't go up the mountain anymore. Just stay home and do carpentry work with Uncle Heng."
Zhou Lin nodded, then added, "However, I've already made arrangements with Brother Lingqiao and the others on the mountain. When the snakes hibernate, we'll dig up their nests. The gallbladders of the venomous snakes can be exchanged for a lot of silver."
Mu Jin gently patted his shoulder. "Don't be like that. It's scary. If you get bitten, no one can save you. Besides, a poisonous tongue is only worth a little over a coin. It's not worth taking such a risk for that coin."
Zhou Lin naturally listened to her husband and said, "Then I'll tell Brother Lingqiao that I won't be going to catch snakes in the winter."
Mu Jin nodded. Few people in the village dared to provoke venomous snakes.
With his hair half-dry, Mu Jin patted him and laughed, "Okay, tie it up when it's completely dry."
As he spoke, he threw the cloth aside, put the thirteen taels of silver in the purse into the hidden compartment of the purse, and put the remaining one tael of silver under the bedding.
With Zhou Lin back, Mu Jin finally felt relieved. She got out of bed and went briskly back to the kitchen to prepare lunch.
Wen Zhaoran and Bai Qiqiu glanced at Mu Jin with a teasing look. When she came out to boil water, her lips were red and swollen, which meant she had done something naughty back in the house.
Mu Jin coughed lightly. "We're making locust flower and pork buns for lunch today. Qi Qiu, take the dried locust flowers from the cupboard."
The weather is cool now, so the meat can be stored. After making steamed buns, we can make dumplings in a couple of days.
After Zhou Lin's hair dried, he carefully tied it up before leaving the house.
The aroma of meat buns wafted from the courtyard, so enticing and tempting.
The weather is cool and pleasant in autumn; this is the most comfortable time of year.
After lunch, Mu Jin brought out four or five ripe persimmons, which were sweet and juicy and very delicious.
When Zhou Lin saw the persimmons, he slapped his forehead and said, "When Brother Lingqiao and the others went to hunt foxes, I found a grove of persimmon trees, hawthorn trees, as well as plums and jujubes. Today, I took advantage of some free time and picked quite a few. At that time, I was in a hurry to bring down the prey, so I forgot about the fruit."
Mu Jin sighed, "Is it easy to find there?"
Zhou Lin nodded, "It's not very deep, I still remember the way."
After tidying up the dishes, Mu Jin sighed and said, "Shall we go and get the things now? Should we bring the cart? Since it's still early, we can take it to town to sell later."
Zhou Lin nodded, pulled the cart, and the group took some snake and insect repellent powder, closed the door, and gave Night Owl a rough-dough meat bun, telling it to guard the house well.
It was even colder in the deep mountains, with all sorts of trees blocking out the sky. Luckily, Zhou Lin had a pretty good memory, otherwise, it would have been really hard to find the place.
Since they were already there, Mu Jin led Bai Qiqiu and Wen Zhaoran to pick a lot of fruit.
The plums were sweet and sour, and I picked and tasted several hibiscus as I went.
The cart was full, and it was a bit of a struggle for several people to push it, but their faces were full of smiles. They could take these fruits to town and exchange them for some money.
After a difficult journey, the group returned home. Mu Jin thought of Zhou Si and said to Zhou Lin, "Later, pick two baskets of the better fruit and take some to Si'er."
Zhou Lin nodded, went back into the house and brought out two bamboo baskets.
"Qi Qiu, do you see if Brother Zhao Ye's mule cart is free? Go to town early and take the fruit there to sell while it's still fresh."
"I should have some free time, I'll go and fetch it right away."
With that, he hurriedly left the house.
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