The Liu family's big pig was finally sold to the supply and marketing cooperative at 48 cents per catty, weighing 136 catties, which was one catty more than Liu's mother had estimated and earned her one more meat ticket and 5.46 yuan.
After the supply and marketing cooperative collected the pigs, the village also planned to slaughter the New Year pigs. The weather was too cold, and the pigs ate more and more every day. There was not much pig grass on the mountain, so they had to rely on the pig grass stored in the village to prevent the pigs from starving and becoming too thin.
This year, the village slaughtered a total of four pigs, including the Liu family's pig. Liu's father and mother kept 30 kilograms of pork, 6 kilograms of ribs, all the pig blood, two pig's trotters, and two pieces of large intestine for themselves. The rest were sold to the village for 30 yuan, 57 cents, and this year the family also got 3.6 kilograms of meat. It can be said that the Liu family's pork this year made the villagers envious.
Liu's mother and father were afraid that the villagers would gossip, so they explained on the spot: these 30 kilograms of pork were shared by several families, and they had to be divided among Liu's mother's brothers. In addition, a few kilograms of meat would be needed for Mingzheng's wedding later. So, their family's amount was about the same as in previous years.
Despite Liu's explanation, a few people in the village still secretly gossiped and harbored resentment. They privately discussed the village chief's purchase of so much meat this year, suggesting Xuemei must have a high salary. Many people were interested in Xuemei's marriage, but Liu's parents feigned deafness and evaded all attempts.
The next day, Liu's mother had Liu's father take five pounds of pork to Wangjia Village as an early New Year's gift. Three pounds of meat were given to Grandma and Grandpa, and two pounds to Wang Weimin's family. Wang Weimin's family only raised one pig this year to meet their production requirements. She also had Xuemei take five pounds of meat to Wang Weidong on her morning shift. Three pounds of meat was pre-ordered by Wang Weidong, and the remaining two pounds were a gift from Xuemei's family.
This left only 23.6 jin (150g) of pork at home. Liu's mother took another 7 jin (150g) of pork to the old house, 2 jin (150g) of which were New Year gifts for grandparents, and the remaining 5 jin (150g) of meat for Liu Guanghui's family. Liu's mother only asked Wang Shuihua to pay for 3 jin (150g) of pork, telling him that the remaining 2 jin (150g) was a New Year gift for them. Finally, Liu's mother asked Qingya to give 2 jin (150g) of pork to Liu Xiu's family as a New Year gift.
After all the relatives had given their gifts, only 16.6 jin (16.6 kg) of pork remained. The next day, Liu's mother returned from the old house and made two more pots of tofu. On the third day, after letting the tofu hang overnight until it was almost dry, she took out two jin (16.6 kg) of lightly fatty pork, chopped it up, mixed it with tofu and pig blood, and added salt to make 40 jin (16.6 kg) of pig blood balls, each weighing half a jin (16.6 kg), for a total of 20 jin (16.6 kg). If the sun was shining, they'd place them in a dustpan (the kind with wide crevices) and let them air dry for a few days. They'd then be hung on the kitchen's kang (cold-cold) hooks. If the weather wasn't bad, they could simply kang it and smoke it over a firewood fire. Once dry, they could store them upstairs. On the third night, at the suggestion of Xuemei's four siblings, Liu's mother cut another jin (16.6 kg) of pork to make braised pork.
At this point, there are 13.6 jin of pork left in the house. The 10 jin of meat with less fat is divided into 2 jin pieces to make bacon. When the kang is ready, one piece will be sent to each of the two brothers Wang Weiguo and Wang Weixi.
Boil all the fat from the remaining meat into oil. After boiling about two pounds, there will be about seven or eight ounces of meat left, which will be saved for making dumplings later.
On the day of slaughtering the pig, Xuemei did not have a day off. Qingya went to the supply and marketing cooperative with Xuemei in the morning, and then Qingya took Xuemei's two colleagues who were on leave that day to Liujia Village to buy meat. After the people in Liujia Village had distributed and bought the meat, they bought up the rest.
The next day, Xuemei bought two enamel basins, a thermos and a four-foot-long red cloth and brought them home, which made Liu's mother so happy that she was at a loss as to what to do.
When Xuemei got up this morning, it was all white outside. The ground was frozen hard yesterday, and it snowed all night last night. Now the snow on the ground is two or three centimeters deep.
"Mom, I won't ride my bike today. The ground was very slippery when I came back yesterday, so I pushed the bike halfway back." Xuemei said as she put on the shoes made of rabbit skin by Liu's mother.
"Okay, you put on the hat. Qingya and the others love to go out and run around and play. They sweat when wearing hats, so they refuse to wear them. You just won't wear them. It's very cold outside today. There's no fire at your counter and the wind is strong. Wearing a hat will make your ears more comfortable." Liu's mother handed the hat made of rabbit skin to Xuemei.
Xuemei doesn't like wearing hats. Once she does, she wears them for more than a month straight, unable to take them off immediately, and her hair often gets tangled. But it's been really cold these past few days, and Xuemei feels like the cold wind is blowing right into her bones whenever she goes outside.
Xuemei took the hat and said, "Mom, we haven't had such heavy snow and such cold weather here for many years." Since Xuemei started school, the weather usually only freezes for a few days in winter, and the snow usually only falls a few times and melts when the sun comes out.
"The winter you were born was even colder than this year. The snow was so thick that the roofs of several lazy people in the village were crushed by the snow. The snow that fell when Qingya was over two years old was almost the same as this year. Okay, this snow will definitely not melt today, and it's still falling intermittently. Watch your step and go to work quickly," said Liu's mother, patting Xuemei on the shoulder.
…
"Big sister, are you okay? It's all Ruirui's fault for dodging, otherwise I wouldn't have hit you." Qingya glared at Ruirui after saying that. Ruirui deliberately hid behind Xuemei and made a face. Qingya and the other two were playing snowballs in the yard, mainly Qingya and Ruirui attacking each other, while Feifei watched from the side.
Xuemei patted the snowballs on her clothes with her right hand and said to Qingya, "Qingya, go get me a basin of hot water. I just fell and rubbed my left palm and it's bleeding. Can I clean it first?"
"Ah? Big sister, what happened to you? You're such a grown-up, but you can't walk carefully." Qing Ya said worriedly.
As Xuemei sat down in the main room, Liu's father and mother came, both of them looking worried.
Xuemei quickly said, "Mom, it's okay, just rub off some skin with your hands."
Liu's mother said, "Where did you fall? I want your father to take a look at you."
"I accidentally slipped at the village entrance and fell to the ground. I used my left hand to support myself, and my palm got a little bruised."
Father Liu came over and checked Xuemei's shoulders, arms, and wrists. Finding nothing wrong, he said, "Mother, it's probably the bruise on your palm that's causing the bleeding and swelling. Everything else is fine. Please pick up the small stone in Xuemei's hand while I go to the kitchen to cook."
Xuemei washed her hands. Liu's mother took out a needle and disinfected it with white wine. She picked out the small stone from Xuemei's palm and applied mercurochrome. She then bandaged the wound on her hand, which was cracked due to the cold weather, with white gauze.
"Be careful not to touch water. After dinner, I'll go to your room and check your butt to see if there are any bruises. And you, did you leave your gloves at the supply and marketing cooperative again? If you had worn gloves, your hands wouldn't have been rubbed. I'll change them for you tomorrow. Be careful not to touch water with your hands." Liu's mother scolded.
Xuemei lowered her head embarrassedly.
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