The pig is slaughtered in the morning, and the women of the Gu family start cleaning the pork in the afternoon.
Stuffing sausages, frying crispy pork, rendering lard, and curing bacon.
Uncle Gu then took Lu Zheng, Xue Qianyu, Huo Junhao, and Meng Meng to chop firewood outside the city.
Uncle Gu looked at the children with satisfaction: "I didn't expect it would still be us, your grandfather and his family!"
Huo Junhao sidled up to Uncle Gu and said, "Uncle, although I'm not as good at kung fu as the three of them, I'm a few years older and stronger. I can definitely carry the firewood back!"
Uncle Gu rolled his eyes at him: "You little brat, trying to steal work from the horse? Look, the horse is even spitting at you!"
Huo Junhao: ...
Uncle Gu patted him on the shoulder: "We're chopping firewood today, and I reckon you'll get the least, sigh!"
Then, Huo Junhao started hacking away with his machete, but it was no use. The other four had already cut down two trees, while he showed no signs of collapsing.
Meng Meng laughed at him: "Little mouse, you'd better go gather some firewood! You're not strong enough!"
Xue Qianyu: "Brother Meng, you should call him Lord Huo!"
Meng Meng: "Hahahaha, right, right, I forgot, our little mouse has become Lord Huo!"
Huo Junhao said with a sorrowful expression, "...Brother Meng, have you forgotten Huo Junhao who accompanied you in Sanchakou Village that year?"
Meng Meng nodded seriously: "I forgot."
Uncle Gu burst into laughter. He had been working in the fields all day back then, and he knew that Meng Meng had teamed up with Huo Junhao every few days to try and mess with Lu Zheng and Xue Qianyu, only to be outmaneuvered instead.
Lu Zheng, wielding his axe, also smiled.
The Gu family has changed throughout his life, and so has he. With Xue Er by his side, Meng Meng joined the army earlier, and even Huo Junhao has begun to seriously pursue a career in government. Everything is developing in a positive direction.
...
After chopping firewood all afternoon, the cart made several trips, filling the kitchen courtyard to the brim.
This much firewood will last until the end of January.
In the evening, Gu Nian and the cook prepared several tables of food, all of which were meat, with only one vegetarian dish: a cabbage soup and an old pumpkin soup.
This old pumpkin was brought back by Uncle Gu this time; it had just come out of the field, and he planned to sell a batch of it a few days before the Lunar New Year.
The entire Peng family was having dinner at the Gu family's house. After the women finished eating, they chatted with Cai Xiaolian and her sisters-in-law, while the men drank with the Gu brothers and a few younger ones. The scene was even more lively than during the New Year.
Madam Peng the Fourth was the only one of the four wives in the Peng family who did not join the army; she managed the Peng family's household affairs.
She was getting a craving for the pig-slaughtering feast and was thinking that her family should host one next year, so she asked Zhang about it.
For some reason, Zhang Shi had no appetite for the meat on the table today. She only felt better after eating a few oranges. After hearing what Madam Peng said, she told her that the Gu family planned to start a breeding farm in the spring. The old lady was bored at home and planned to raise pigs, sheep and chickens on a hill.
Upon hearing this, Madam Peng thought, "Hey, this is a great idea! Our family can get a lot of land by cooperating with the Gu family to reclaim the wasteland in Chunnan City." So she asked Madam Zhang if they could cooperate as well.
Madam Zhang waved her hand, "Fourth Madam, you've really stumped me. I can confirm with you about other things, but this breeding farm, which is something our old lady wants to do, I have no idea what she's thinking. Why don't you go and ask her yourself?"
Madam Peng was somewhat intimidated by Grandma Gu, so she turned to ask Cai Xiaolian instead.
Cai Xiaolian also didn't know what the old lady was planning to do; she only knew that the old lady had this idea.
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