Chapter 182: The Day of Killing Pigs
Just like before, the two families slaughtered pigs in one day, so they got up very early in the morning. This year, they had the pig-slaughtering meal at Lu Mingjiang's house, so they slaughtered the pigs here first, then had breakfast and went to Lu Minghai's house.
There was no one else there, just the team's butcher Zhou Mingqing, Lu Changfa, Lu Dongping, Lu Dongcai, and Xu Qingming. A few people were enough to hold the pig.
Lu Donglin ran out with a basin sprinkled with salt to collect the pig's blood. By the time Wen Wan got up and packed up, the pig had already died and been thrown into a yellow bucket. It was only a few days into the day, and the yellow bucket was steaming. Several people rolled up their sleeves, not caring about the cold, and rubbed their fur with stones.
The snow in the middle of the yard was swept away, leaving two large knots of elm trees there, with dry wood on them. The fire was very big, but no one was lighting it.
Wen Wan went down from the eaves to the kitchen. There was a fire in the kitchen, which was much warmer than outside.
"Mom, aunt, you're here so early? Why didn't you call me?"
Zhang Hongying was busy circling the stove. Hearing this, she said, "Why would I call you now if I'm not busy? Your father chopped the firewood yesterday, Shui Dongping also picked it out yesterday, and the pot was cleared out in advance. We got up so early this morning just to boil water to scald the pig. There's nothing else to do."
Wen Wan asked: "What are you doing now?"
"You warm yourself by the fire, and in the morning we'll have a pot of grits porridge. Your aunt and I will take care of it. There won't be anyone else around. We'll just stir-fry some pickled bamboo shoots and some salted vegetables, and add some hot sauce to go with the rice."
Wen Wan sat down by the fire, poked the firewood with the fire scissors, and the flames suddenly jumped up with a string of sparks.
"Auntie, you are here, how did you do it on the first day of the new year?"
Gao Xiulan glanced outside and said, "It's still early. He won't wake up now. I'll go back and check on him later."
By the time the people outside cleaned all the pig hair and hung the pig on the rack with an iron hook, it was already dawn.
Zhang Hongying yelled at them to eat, so Wen Wan took the kettle out to add water and told them to wash their hands.
Since they were all family, there was no need to be so particular. Each person took a bowl, put some food in the bowl, and sat by the fire inside or outside their own room, chatting and eating rice.
Gao Xiulan wiped her hands and said, "You guys eat first, I'll go back to see Chuyi."
"Okay, take a look and call Dongcai's wife by the way."
Wen Wan was sitting in the kitchen with a bowl in hand, sitting with Lu Chun'e. Lu Chun'e was telling her about Lu Mingqing's wife, Liu Liumei: "She said their family hasn't split up because the elders are still around and don't allow it. All five brothers are together, and she's the sixth among the girls, so that's why they call her that. She's a good girl, and she's pretty. If the family wasn't short of food and had to use her to exchange for food, maybe they could find someone better. Lu Mingqing has a bad temper, and Wang Mingfang is not a pushover either. It's really bad luck for Liumei to live with them."
Zhang Hongying glanced outside and said, "Be quiet! Your grandfather is still here. Why are you talking about what happened in someone else's house?"
Lu Chun'e puffed out her cheeks and stopped talking.
As the sun rose, curls of smoke rose from the scattered houses amidst the hills and fields. Cooking had begun at the educated youth camp. With so many people, the narrow shed had become unusable. After the autumn harvest, a few male educated youth had asked their team to help them cut down some trees in the woods. Then, they came back and tidied up the cooking shed. Besides the stove and chopping board, there was still some space left, so in winter, they could warm themselves by the fire. With a little care, it was still possible.
We had the same cornmeal porridge with potato lumps, and we ate it with a chili sauce Liu Changqing and his friends had bought from a member of the commune a while ago. They weren't very good at making it, so maybe the moisture hadn't dried out yet, so it tasted a bit sour after just a short while, but it was still better than having nothing to eat with rice.
After eating the hot rice porridge, Zhang Yun felt warm all over. She went back to her room and felt under her quilt. She pulled out a handful of loose change. She counted it over and over again, then carefully wrapped it in a handkerchief, put it in her trouser pocket, and went out to the nearby shed to ask, "Are you guys going to the commune?"
Huang Wancheng turned to look at her and said, "Going to the commune? With this much snow, your feet will get wet as soon as you go out, and the roads won't be easy to walk on." He clearly disagreed. The others remained silent. It was so cold, with the snow so deep, the best thing to do was to warm yourself by the fire or take a nap. You'd be crazy to go out if you didn't go to work or chop firewood in the mountains.
"Xu Wenfang, are you going?"
Xu Wenfang shook her head. "No, I just came to the city a while ago, so there's nothing much to buy." With a rare moment of free time, she decided to make shoe soles. She'd learned how to make shoe soles from the women in the team when it was hot, but she hadn't made much yet.
Zhang Yun was a little unhappy. It had been so long and there was really no friendship at all. Just treat it as going out for fun, couldn't the boy accompany her?
She felt a little regretful that God didn't go into the city with her. She was missing a lot of things and had to go.
After sitting in the house for a while, Xu Wenfang came in to get the soles of his shoes and went to warm himself by the fire under the shed. Zhang Yun thought about it and simply got up and left the house.
It’s just a commune. It’s not like she can’t find the way. It will only take more than an hour to go back and forth.
The snow kept falling, piling up thicker in untouched areas. The fire in the yard, stoked by someone nearby, burned brightly, undeterred by the wind and snow. Lu Donglin went to the cellar, got some sweet potatoes, dug up the red charcoal ash, and buried them inside.
After dinner, Zhou Mingqing didn't dare to delay any longer. He blew air into the pig first and then opened its belly.
Wen Wan hadn't come near last year; she was a guest, embarrassed. But this year was different. This was her home, and there was no need to sit still and act quiet. She took her needle and thread and sat by the fire, watching Zhou Mingqing wield the shiny butcher knife. Then, with a gentle stroke, he sliced the pig's belly open. Wen Wan watched as the pig's belly was slashed open without much effort, and a pile of colorful things fell out, accompanied by a fishy smell.
It was a bit disgusting and creepy, but she was curious and wanted to see what was going on, the whole process, while holding her breath.
Zhou Mingqing said, "Hey!" "How did you feed the pigs this year? They're really fat, they're already three fingers thick."
"No way, two fingers can reach the sky."
Wen Wan didn't understand what they meant.
The bamboo sieve was full of offal, still steaming hot. Lu Dongping brought the fire directly over. Wen Wan retreated and moved to the side.
Lu Dongping smiled and said, "You think it smells bad? You were so engrossed in watching it just now? Go to the kitchen and warm yourself by the fire. It's cold even with a fire outside. This stuff gets cold quickly, and I have to clean it up in front of the fire." As he spoke, he took the palm leaves that had been prepared long ago and roasted them over the fire. Then he twisted the heart, lungs and liver, tied them up, and hung them on the pillar under the eaves.
Wen Wan ran away with her sewing basket.
The house was not busy at the moment. Zhang Hongying and Lu Chun'e were cutting vegetables at the chopping board, and pig's blood was boiling in the pot.
Gao Xiulan and Li Laiying went back after having breakfast. After the meat was chopped, they would take a break and go to their house to slaughter the pig. They had to go back in advance to boil water and wait.
"Mom, can I help?"
Zhang Hongying looked at the sewing basket beside her and said, "You go ahead and do your thing. We don't need you right now. I washed the vegetables yesterday and chopped them up in no time. We're just waiting for the meat to be chopped in so we can cook it."
After saying that, he asked Wen Wan, "I just heard Zhou Mingqing say there were three fingers of fat?"
"Ah? Yes, they said it was thick, with three fingers, but Dongping said no, only two fingers. Mom, what do they mean by this?"
Zhang Hongying explained, "It's about fat. The fat on a pig is about three or two fingers thick." Then she muttered, "They've been eating grass all year, and only had food for the past two months. If they really have three fingers of fat, that's incredible."
Wen Wan raised her hand, stretched out two fingers and put them together to gesture.
He slaughtered pigs every year and knew how to do it. When he started chopping the meat, Lu Dongping took out a piece. It was the meat on the knife head of the pig, with bright red lean meat and a few ribs attached to the spine. Lu Dongping asked Lu Donglin to take an axe and a basin out, chop it up outside and bring it in.
Whether they are laborers or women, they actually like to eat fatty meat. Lean meat gets stuck in their teeth, not to mention bones, which are not very worth eating. However, Wen Wan especially likes lean meat and bones, and she chews on them like a cat.
There is nothing special about it. Put the fat and lean meat together to wash away the blood, and then the blood in the pot will coagulate. Don't cook it too long, otherwise it will taste bad if it is too dry.
Scoop out the pig blood, blanch the meat with boiling water in the pot, then change the water and cook again.
Zhang Hongying put salt in it in advance. There are bones in it, and the salt makes it taste better when chewed.
While Zhou Mingqing was chopping the meat, Lu Minghai and the others pushed over the yellow bucket and poured out the water. It was right at the entrance of the yard anyway, so they were too lazy to move it. They could just move the pig-slaughtering table over there and hang the pig on the rack after it was slaughtered.
After chopping the meat, Xu Qingming helped Lu Mingjiang carry the meat basket to the kitchen door. Lu Mingjiang, using Zhou Mingqing's knife, began to peel the pig's head. Xu Qingming took a look and went over to help Lu Dongping remove the internal organs. As he approached, he saw something squeezed out and stopped in his tracks.
Lu Dongping raised his eyebrows and said with a sly smile: "You can't do this!"
Knowing that he was deliberately provoking him, Xu Qingming would not fall for his trick. This man had already coaxed Wen Wan once, and he wanted to coax him again?
The internal organs are squeezed out directly in front of the pigpen. After squeezing, they are rinsed with hot water twice and then placed in front of the fire. While roasting, they are slowly turned over and passed through the sieve rack. They are hung over the fire pit and smoked for a few days. When the smoke smell overwhelms the smell on the surface, they are taken out and fried into soup and water is poured in to cook the cured meat.
He didn't go into the house. He washed his hands and sat by the fire chatting with Lu Dongping.
Lu Dongping asked him, "Are you going back for the New Year? If you are, you should go to the brigade to get a report and a certificate and a letter of introduction."
Xu Qingming asked him, "When does the busy season usually start in the spring?"
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