This year, the village slaughtered pigs on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. The Liu family received 5.6 jin of meat according to their work points, while Xuemei and Han Chen received 2.3 jin of meat.
After the villagers distributed the meat, Xuemei ordered 12 pounds of pork. Since it was what the villagers had left over, the fat with skin on weighed just over 1.6 ounces, meaning 90% lean meat and 10% fat. She also ordered two pig's trotters, each weighing over 1 pound, 1.6 ounces of intestines, and a pig's tail, for a total of 9.27 yuan.
This year, the family had plenty of meat. Father Liu and his friends gave some of their game to their relatives, and the rest was made into bacon and baked on the kang. Father Liu and Mother Liu planned to take some to Beijing for Xuemei and her family, and to send a few pounds to Wang Weiguo and Wang Weixi for their own consumption.
Therefore, Liu's mother only asked for a large basin of pig blood and did not ask for any other meat.
After bringing the pork home, Liu's father took Han Chen to the mountain to cut some pine and cypress branches. After bringing them home, as long as the kitchen was not in use, Liu's father would make a fire in the stove with pine and cypress branches and orange peels. Liu's father and mother planned to dry everything on the kang before Xuemei and the others went to Beijing, so that Xuemei and the others could take them with them.
After dividing the pork, Liu's parents got busy. Feifei and Qingya and the others were the ones who made the chestnut cakes, while Han Chen either helped Qingya and the others or Liu's parents. In short, wherever help was needed, Han Chen would go.
Seeing that the chestnut cakes were selling well, the supply and marketing cooperative signed a seven-day contract with the Liu family 21 days later, and agreed to deliver ten kilograms of chestnut cakes to the commune every day.
The dried chestnuts left at home had long been used up, so Liu's father and mother went to the old house and Liu Xiu's house to buy thirty kilograms. Fearing that it was not enough, Liu's father and mother asked Han Chen to go to Wangjia Village and ask Wang Weimin to buy eighty kilograms of dried chestnuts in the village. They bought them at two cents and five cents per kilogram, spending two yuan.
Wang Weimin bought some dried chestnuts in the village, and Ruirui personally rode his bicycle to Wang Weimin's house to bring them back.
On the 24th, Liu's mother and father worked from dawn to dusk, pounding four pots of white tofu and one pot of chestnut tofu. Even Han Chen, who was helping, felt exhausted. To avoid interrupting Feifei and the others' chestnut cake-making, Liu's father and Han Chen built a makeshift earthen stove in the yard to pound the tofu.
On the 25th, Liu's father and Han Chen made two more pots of white tofu. Liu's mother used two pounds of meat, a large basin of pig's blood, and a pot of white tofu to make two baskets of pig's blood balls, more than forty in total, each weighing about half a pound.
At Xuemei and Hanchen's request, the meat was made from the twelve pounds of pork Xuemei had bought. Liu's mother made one pot of raw tofu, two pots of dried tofu, and ate the remaining few pieces of fresh tofu.
He gave away the pot of chestnut tofu to the villagers, and only kept two pieces for himself.
On the 26th, Liu's mother steamed ten kilograms of glutinous rice, and Liu's father and his family beat thirteen kilograms of glutinous rice cakes, making nearly a hundred of them. Liu's father and Ruirui did most of the beating; Han Chen wasn't very strong, but after mastering the technique, he was almost done.
By this point, the family had almost finished preparing the New Year's goods and the things Xuemei and her children would take to Beijing. On the 27th, Liu's mother used rabbit and roe deer skins from her household to make four hats and four pairs of gloves. She even sewed two rabbit ears on the tops of the hats. This was a special gift for the children of the eldest and second Lin brothers.
The three siblings Qingya felt jealous and said that after they turned ten, Liu's mother had not made such cute clothes and hats for them. When Liu's mother heard this, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was originally the three of them who disliked childish things and asked Liu's mother not to make those decorations.
Starting from the 28th, the family began to clean the house. On the 29th, Liu's mother was frying things at home while the others continued to clean the house.
On the 30th, Xuemei returned from work at noon. Everyone was in the kitchen making buns and dumplings. Liu's mother and Han Chen rolled the dough, while Liu's father led the others in wrapping the dumplings.
We still went to the old house for dinner on New Year's Eve this year. Xuemei started to cook as soon as she came back. She put two pig's trotters, more than a pound of pig intestines and a pig's tail into a large iron pot and started to stew them.
Father Liu and Han Chen had already cleaned up the pig intestines and other things, so Xuemei could just start working on them when she came back.
After steaming a pot of buns and dumplings, the family packed up and headed back to the old house. They could steam the remaining buns later or tomorrow morning, as they would be eaten that morning anyway. The dumplings were for tonight's New Year's Eve celebration, so they didn't make many, and only about seven or eight per person were left.
With Han Chen in the family this time, they had to bring more food to the old house. Xuemei served a pig's trotter, cut up a plate of large intestines and pig's tails, and steamed a chopped pepper fish.
The fish were distributed by the village. This year, they had caught more than half the fish from the pond and distributed them according to each family's work points. Liu's family received a large fish weighing over two kilograms and a fish weighing over a kilogram, while Xuemei and Han Chen only received two fish weighing around a kilogram.
After returning from the old house, the family sat in the firebox or by the brazier to warm themselves. Liu's mother went into the room, took out some money and a notebook, and said, "Okay, since we have some free time tonight, let's divide the money we earned from making chestnut cakes a while ago."
Qingya and the other two immediately sat up straight in the fire box, looking at Liu's mother with shining eyes. Han Chen, who was sitting next to Xuemei, also straightened his back and looked at Liu's mother curiously.
Mother Liu looked around and said, "We made chestnut cakes for a total of twelve days. Five pounds a day for the first five days, and ten pounds a day for the last seven days. That's nineteen yuan in total. After buying chestnuts and sugar, we still have sixteen yuan and fifty-five cents left."
This time, the profits from our chestnut cakes will be distributed according to the principle of "those who work get more, those who work get more." Sixteen yuan and fifty-five cents will be divided into ten parts, each equaling one yuan, sixty-five cents, and five cents. Feifei will get three and a half parts; Qingya and Ruirui will each get two parts; your father and Xiaochen will each get one part; and since I didn't help much, I'll get half.
Mother Liu then raised her head and asked, "Big sister, do you have any objections? If not, then let's divide it like this!"
Feifei raised his hand, and Liu's mother motioned him to speak. Feifei then asked, "Mom, where is my eldest sister's? Also, I feel like I got too much. Did I take away my eldest sister's?"
Mother Liu explained, "Your eldest sister told me she doesn't want any. As for you, I didn't give you much. I made the chestnut cake on the first day, but you and the others made it the rest of the time. This is what you deserve! Don't worry."
The night before yesterday, when Xuemei saw Liu's mother calculating how to distribute the chestnut cakes, she told her not to include her. She went to work every day and could not help at all. She just took the chestnut cakes to the supply and marketing cooperative in the morning.
Feifei turned around and looked at Xuemei, who nodded, indicating that what Liu's mother said was right.
Seeing that no one raised their hands, Mother Liu asked again, "No one has any questions, right?"
Ruirui said anxiously, "Mom, we have no doubts. We all agree with your division. Mom, you better divide the money quickly! I can't wait to see my labor reward!"
When Liu's mother saw that everyone had no objection, she started distributing the money one by one as she had just said.
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