Chapter 366 Return to Qingshui Village

Secretary Zhao and the village party secretary were also at the entrance of the village to greet us. They smiled from a distance and said, "Mrs. Lizhan, you really bring honor to our Qingshui Village! Our commune has specially reserved a pig and two sheep, which are being slaughtered in the square. At noon, we will make mutton soup and roll noodles to eat. We will use a large pot to cook hundreds of thousands of braised pork, fry some crispy ribs, and distribute the remaining meat to everyone."

Xia Juanjuan felt embarrassed after hearing this, as this trip caused such a big commotion.

"Secretary Zhao, I just came back to the village to take a look, but everyone was startled..."

Secretary Zhao smiled and said, "This year our village has a good harvest, and the pigs raised by the commune have given birth to two litters of piglets. Apart from the old sow, most of them have been sold. The remaining pig was agreed upon by the whole village. Everyone in the village had a buffet to celebrate. You just happened to be there."

After hearing him say this, Xia Juanjuan didn't say anything else.

There were several large tables in the square, and villagers from several villages who knew how to butcher and cut up pork and mutton were wearing large aprons and holding knives to kill pigs and sheep.

The pigs and sheep were hung upside down, their throats were cut and the blood was collected in a basin underneath.

When the blood was almost drained, a few big men lifted the body, placed it on a large table, and began to cut up the meat.

This kind of occasion has always been a grand event for the whole village, and both adults and children love to watch it.

Apart from blocking the eyes of the little guys with the first cut, Xia Juanjuan didn't care about anything else.

In a short while, the big fat pig and the two sheep were cut into small pieces.

The skins of the two sheep were completely peeled off and placed aside waiting to be tanned.

A temporary shed was built outside the commune office, three large pots were set up, and firewood was also prepared underneath.

Secretary Zhao shouted, "Light a fire!"

The person in charge of making the fire lit the fire, put cold water in the pot, and threw the large pieces of mutton directly into the pot to cook. After skimming off the foam, he took it out and put it in another pot to cook mutton soup.

The other pot is for cooking pork. The pork is first boiled in water, then taken out and cut into thin slices or small cubes, soy sauce is applied to the pork skin, and diced radishes or potatoes, or dried beans are placed in a bowl and steamed directly in the pot.

The steamer has several layers. In addition to steaming braised pork and spare ribs, it also steams mixed-wheat buns for everyone to drink with the mutton soup later.

After the pigs were killed, the children dispersed.

As soon as Xiaowen, Xiaowu and Beibei entered the village, they took the triplets and Secretary Zhao's grandsons Chaoyang and Qiming, as well as Lijie's family Yingying and Huanhuan, Dongbao, the younger Leibao, and other children from the village, and went to play hand in hand.

There was thick ice on the river in winter, so there was no need to worry about them falling into the river, and Xia Juanjuan did not detain them.

She, Xia Shuangshan and Lin Yuru went back to their own yard to pack up first, and then distributed the specialties brought back from Beijing according to households, planning to deliver them to each household in the evening.

In addition to the ones from Beijing, there were also some that Yan Haotian sent from Guangzhou, such as sausage and ham. There weren't many of them, so most of them were kept at home in Beijing, and some were also sent to the Fu family.

In addition, some was brought back to give to Secretary Zhao, Li Jie's family, Aunt Wu, and Yang Qiushi to try.

The boundaries were not so strict now, so Xia Juanjuan went directly to Yang Qiushi with the New Year's goods. Yang Qiushi handed the letter from Shen Wanxue to Xia Juanjuan and said with a smile, "The conditions over there with the Shen family's younger sister and Brother Rong are a bit tough, but the food, cotton-padded clothes and boots that you asked people to bring to them have all been received. Don't worry!"

Xia Juanjuan nodded and thanked Yang Qiushi with a smile.

She had visited several times through the space, but she didn't dare show up, fearing that she wouldn't be able to explain herself in the future. She would just leave something with the guard and ask him to give it to them.

After talking for a while, Xia Juanjuan came back and went to Zhou Qiuhe's house to visit her son for a while.

After asking, we found out that Zhou Qiuhe and Li Jie were planning to move to the county town after they turned 5.

"Li Jie works in a timber factory—now a furniture factory—and has found a temporary job unloading goods. He only works when timber is brought in or furniture is shipped out. The rest of the time, he still follows others out to deliver goods by truck. The village's medicinal herbs are still the responsibility of Li Jie and Wu Feng..."

Xia Juanjuan nodded after hearing this, and after thinking for a while, she suggested, "I think you guys are going to stay in the county for a long time, so you should think further ahead. See if there are any shops or something that you can buy first, and then start a small business in the future. It's definitely not as easy as working for the government and getting paid."

Zhou Qiuhe had worked in the supply and marketing cooperative for so long and had learned a lot. Her eyes lit up and she said, "Juanjuan, I thought so too. The other day I saw a vacant shop at the corner of the street in the county town, and I went up to ask the owner. If I wanted to buy it, it would be 600 yuan, and if I wanted to rent it, it would be 20 yuan a month. I really like it! But... this policy doesn't seem to be going to be relaxed. I'm afraid that after I buy the shop, if I'm still not allowed to run it, wouldn't I have wasted several hundred yuan?"

After hearing this, Xia Juanjuan looked at Zhou Qiuhe with new eyes. She didn't expect that she had already taken action, so she smiled and said, "Third sister-in-law, if you have this intention and have even found a shop, then I am not afraid of being blamed in the future. This policy will definitely be relaxed. The sooner you plan, the better. Otherwise, the shops will only become more and more expensive. I'll tell you the truth, I also bought two shops near the railway station with the savings of Lizhan and I, but they are also vacant now. That is, you have to be careful that if you buy at a low price now, the seller will regret it later."

To put it bluntly, buying and selling in a shop is still a private transaction. If the seller turns against the buyer in the future, the buyer will suffer a great loss.

Zhou Qiuhe suddenly became confident after hearing what Xia Juanjuan said: "Juanjuan, I listen to you! We will buy the shop after the Chinese New Year. I saw the location, it is on the way back to the dormitory area for workers from the textile and furniture factories. I thought about starting a breakfast business or something. It will definitely be tiring, but I should be able to make a lot of money!"

Xia Juanjuan nodded. She was indeed the daughter of the accountant, she was good at accounting and had a first-rate business sense.

After chatting for a while, the kids came running in and said that the mutton soup was ready and asked everyone to go and eat noodles.

Everyone went to eat mutton noodle soup together.