Chapter 117 How did the rumor come about?

"Wife..." Li Zhan called softly.

I don't know where these three little brats are going crazy today. It's so late and they haven't come back yet. While they are away...

As a result, his wife planned to run away after flirting with him.

"The soybean stewed pig's trotters are ready, wash your hands and have dinner. Why did you three come back so late today? Aren't you hungry?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiaowen, Xiaowu and Beibei pushed open the door and ran in.

"Mom, Fourth Uncle! We are back!"

Xia Juanjuan smiled and said, "You're back just in time, wash your hands and have dinner!"

This time, the wish for a fierce battle was completely dashed.

He sighed sadly.

Dinner consisted of steamed buns with pig's trotters, some stir-fried spicy cabbage, and a pot of rice porridge.

The pig's trotters and soybeans have been stewed until they are soft and tasty. Just tear them apart with your mouth and the meat and bones will fall apart. It is so delicious when eaten with the rice porridge on the steamed bun.

After dinner, Lizhan took advantage of the night when no one was around to prepare the wild boar.

Front and hind legs, tenderloin, pork belly, lean meat, ribs, short ribs, shanks, pig heads, pig trotters, offal...all were neatly cut up and hung on trees outside to be preserved until the next day.

In winter, when the temperature outside is low, you can hang fresh wild boar meat in the yard and it will remain fresh for several days without going bad. You can eat the tender tenderloin, pork belly, ribs, etc. during these few days.

As for large pieces of meat such as pork leg, they need to be preserved by salting, smoking, roasting into bacon, or drying and making into jerky.

Fortunately, the fence was built, so he could hang it in the yard without worrying about being seen. Otherwise, his family would have so much pork all of a sudden, and even if others got a share of the meat from that big wild boar, they would probably be greedy.

Lizhan instructed, "I'll get up early tomorrow to pickle the meat. While you're waiting for the meat to dry, remember to lock the yard door from the inside to prevent anyone from barging in and seeing you."

Xia Juanjuan rolled her eyes at him and said with a smile, "I'm not a three-year-old child. Don't I know how to avoid people? Do I need you to tell me?"

Lizhan chuckled and said, "But don't always eat bacon and pickled meat. Cut more fresh meat. If you don't have enough money, just send me a telegram or write me a letter and I'll send it back to you..."

Xia Juanjuan listened to his instructions and felt depressed thinking that he was leaving soon.

I had already taken a shower and was about to go to bed, but suddenly I remembered something and ran to the kitchen again.

Li Zhan wondered, "What's wrong?"

Xia Juanjuan went to the yard, brought a large piece of lean meat and the tenderloin to the kitchen, handed the knife to Li Zhan, and said, "Chop the meat into stuffing."

Lizhan was even more puzzled: "Should we make dumplings? Or steamed buns? It's just after the Chinese New Year, dumplings are not a big deal, so I'll just leave them out for cooking..."

Xia Juanjuan said, "Just chop it up if I tell you to. You'll know what to do in a moment."

After saying that, she went back into the house, and when no one was around, she took out some tangerine peel and honey, as well as some white sesame seeds, ginger, etc. that were already prepared at home, and then returned to the kitchen.

Honey, she lied that it was wild honey she collected when she went into the mountains before.

Chenpi is the dried orange peel, which is not a rare thing and does not need to be explained separately.

Chop the ginger and mix it into the meat filling. Grind the tangerine peel into powder and mix it in. Add a little salt for seasoning and a little flour to increase the stickiness. Then beat the meat filling for a while, roll it into thin slices with a rolling pin, brush the surface with honey, sprinkle with white sesame seeds, cut into small pieces, and hang them above the stove with a wire mesh and bake them slowly.

Li Zhan understood and said with a smile: "If you want to make meat jerky, there is no need to rush now. Make it tonight. You will have to watch the fire all night long."

Xia Juanjuan glanced at him and didn't explain, saying that she was afraid she would not be able to catch up if she waited until tomorrow.

The three kids were so tired that they fell asleep.

The two of them were busy until midnight before they could go to sleep on the kang. They didn't dare to fall asleep soundly because they had to get up every once in a while to check the fire, apply a layer of honey, and deal with the grease and other things from baking to prevent it from getting burnt.

Since he couldn't sleep well anyway, Li Zhan kept pestering Xia Juanjuan and did it again. Xia Juanjuan was so scared that she kept covering her mouth tightly, fearing that the noise would be too loud and wake up the kids, which would bring shame to the family!

Early the next morning, the two men pickled the wild boar meat, added some bacon and pig blood, made blood intestines, boiled them in water, and hung them up.

Xia Juanjuan steamed some new meat buns and fried some peanuts.

The packing was almost done. Xiaowen, Xiaowu and Beibei pestered Lizhan to take them to the river to catch fish.

Lizhan was a little reluctant to leave, after all, he only had less than a day left to spend with his wife.

But Xia Juanjuan poked her head out and said with a smile, "Go ahead and catch them. Don't catch anything too big this time. Catch more small fish and shrimps."

Lizhan had no choice but to take the three kids to go fishing. Sure enough, they caught a lot of small fish and shrimps at noon.

During lunch, Lizhan learned his lesson and secretly told the three kids to go out and play after lunch and come back later.

As soon as the boys left, he secretly locked the door from the inside.

Xia Juanjuan didn't know either. She had originally called Xiaowen to come over to light the fire, but when he didn't come, she was still wondering, "Where did this kid go with his brothers and sisters? Why haven't they been home these past few days?"

Li Zhan felt a little guilty, and quickly said with a smile: "Tell them what to do, I'll light a fire for you."

Xia Juanjuan didn't think much about it and just cleaned the small fish and shrimps, then coated them with batter and fried them until they were golden and crispy.

After frying the fish and washing his hands, he was about to knead the dough to make meat-filled pancakes, but was stopped by Liezhan who could no longer tolerate it.

Li Zhan directly carried her on his shoulders and carried her into the house. While stripping her clothes, he said unhappily, "I'm leaving soon, and you still have the time to prepare food."

Xia Juanjuan blushed, and pushed him away in embarrassment and anger: "I just wanted to prepare more for you so that you can take it with you on the road..."

Lizhan guessed that she had been preparing meat jerky all night last night, so he went over and bit her lips, then said with a smile, "If you're really worried that I'll be hungry, just feed me well this afternoon..."

…

When dusk fell, Xia Juanjuan finally stood up, holding her waist, and took a few large steamed meat buns that had been made that morning. She went to Zhou Qiuhe and chatted with her for a while. Then, with a red face, she tried to suppress her shame and asked, "Third sister-in-law, I...I want to ask you something..."

Seeing her like that, Zhou Qiuhe smiled and said, "Just ask whatever you want to ask. Why are you so shy?"

Xia Juanjuan bit her lip, took a deep breath, and then asked with a desperate look, "Third sister-in-law, do you know how the rumor in the village that Li Zhan was injured... and couldn't... couldn't do that thing... spread?"

There were almost no contraceptive measures in this era. Who among those born in the 1960s and 1970s didn't have many brothers and sisters?

It’s better in the city, maybe there are only three or four in each household, and four or five is considered a lot.

The number in rural areas is much more exaggerated. Even if we don't count those who cannot be raised due to poor sanitary conditions, the birth rate is almost one baby per year. Some may have seven, eight, or even ten brothers and sisters!

Many of the eldest children are in their teens or twenties and are about to get married, and they still have younger brothers and sisters who are five or six years older.

Naturally, she did not take any precautions during the several battles with Li.

It would be fine if you don't get pregnant later, but if you do get pregnant, you won't know until two or three months later.

At that time, Lizhan was in the army, and the rumors about Lizhan were known to everyone in the village. Even if she said that she was pregnant with Lizhan's child, no one would believe her!

Therefore, I can only take advantage of the fact that Lizhan is at home and the timing is right to reveal this matter first.

Zhou Qiuhe was stunned for a moment and looked at Xia Juanjuan with some suspicion.

"Juanjuan, why are you asking about this suddenly?"

Xia Juanjuan's face turned even redder, and she whispered, "I just... I suddenly remembered it, so I just asked casually..."

Zhou Qiuhe also blushed with embarrassment, coughed twice and said:

"In fact, it was probably around the beginning of last spring when my mother-in-law said that Lizhan had reached the age to marry, so she wanted to find a partner for him. For this purpose, she wrote a letter and asked my fourth brother to send back an extra 20 yuan, saying that it was for the betrothal money.

However, it seemed that the person who replied was not my fourth brother, but his comrade-in-arms.

The letter said that Lizhan was seriously injured while on duty, and his sexuality was completely destroyed, and he was now in bed recuperating. He also asked his family not to arrange for him to marry a wife in the future, otherwise it would harm the girl. Of course, he did not send any additional betrothal money.

However, I remember that only our family knew about this letter at the time... Oh, and Secretary Zhao, who helped read the letter, also knew about it. But not long after, it somehow became known to everyone..."

After hearing these words, Xia Juanjuan seemed to be lost in thought and did not answer for a while.

Zhou Qiuhe looked at her and couldn't help but asked softly:

"Juanjuan, are you...disliking your fourth brother's incompetence and wanting to divorce him?

It wasn't the third sister-in-law who was speaking for her brother-in-law.

What can we women want? Isn't it just to marry a man and have clothes and food?

Li Zhan is not good in that aspect, but his character and appearance, which man in the whole village can compare with him? What's more precious is that he really loves his wife. Most of the allowances are given to you. Just this point alone, you are far better than other men! You must think it through, don't be impulsive..."

Xia Juanjuan was stunned for a moment, then she said with a mixture of laughter and tears: "Third sister-in-law, you got it wrong! I'm asking you this not because I want to divorce him..."