Waves
Li Guorong's expression changed. How did things go back to his past life? In his past life, his eldest sister got rid of her mental illness but couldn't find a suitable partner in the village, so she had to look outside. In the end, she borrowed his name to change his ID card, making himself several years younger, and married someone from Hebei.
Because it wasn't the first time, the older sister felt guilty. Her husband didn't do any housework, and she still had to go to the market and farm. He looked older than her.
"If you can't find a partner locally, why travel thousands of miles to look for one? What kind of good family are you?" Seeing his older sister's face darken, Li Guorong quickly tried to smooth things over, "Sister, you're still young. Why are you in such a hurry? Let's celebrate the New Year first, and we'll talk about it after the New Year."
Holding her clothes, Li Guolan was no longer excited. Her eyes were filled with the happy look on Li Guoqiang and his wife's and Li Guorong's faces. She returned to her room feeling depressed.
Lin Shaocheng gave Li Guorong a meaningful look, and Li Guorong had no choice but to reluctantly whisper to him in secret.
"Guorong, your older sister is going on a blind date, why don't you want to go?"
Li Guorong rolled his eyes. "There's no good one."
"Whether there's a good one or not is also an opportunity. If you get married, your older sister will definitely be anxious since she doesn't have a partner. If it's not suitable, then we can talk about things that aren't suitable."
Seeing that the two looked uncomfortable, Wu Cuihua secretly followed them. After hearing what they said, she thought it made sense; at least they should meet more people.
Li Guorong shouted, "You know nothing at all! My eldest sister isn't married yet, she'll find a good one no matter what!"
Lin Shaocheng sighed, "I'm worried that this will affect your relationship."
Li Guorong didn't think these little things would affect their relationship. "Don't worry, my sister and I have a great relationship."
Li Guojian shouted from outside, "Slaughtering a pig! Shaocheng, come watch the pig being slaughtered!"
This year, the family earned some money, and with the subsidies from Li Guorong, they added a wooden two-story building to the house. Lin Shaocheng was pulled up to the second floor, and Li Guorong took out a tracksuit from his bag. "Catching pigs is very dirty, wear this. It's easy to wash."
Li Guorong also changed into a red tracksuit. As the two came down the stairs, Li Guojian quickly praised, "You look really smart."
Li Guoliang, munching on jujube paste cake, remarked, "Second Sister is so vain; she even changes clothes while watching the pigs being caught."
Li Guorong put his hands on his hips and said, "You brat, if you say another word, I'll take all your toys and snacks away."
On the table were several boxes of pastries from Beijing Daoxiangcun, a few electronic watches, a radio, and all sorts of clothes, which were quite rare in Chongchuan Village. Several villagers stared at the large bags and packages, wondering whose son-in-law was returning to the village with so many gifts. They wondered if the family was struggling financially.
Li Guorong and Li Guojian pulled Lin Shaocheng up the hillside. A black, fat, and strong boar struggled on the hillside, with several Li family relatives chasing after it.
Li Guojian quickly said, "Shaocheng, don't go over there, you might get hurt."
Lin Shaocheng looked a little tired. Li Guorong said, "That's really stupid. Just block its left side and flank it from the right."
The pig seemed to have overheard Li Guorong's treacherous plan and rushed straight towards them. Li Guorong's face turned pale; she was all bark and no bite. She quickly ran back, shouting, "Shaocheng, run!"
Lin Shaocheng's expression turned serious. He twisted his waist and grabbed the pig's ears tightly with both hands. Li Guojian, seeing this, grabbed the pig's head but was knocked away by the pig's snout and fell to the ground with a cry of pain.
Lin Shaocheng frowned, squatted down, and knocked the pig down. The people behind him rushed over and lay on top of the pig, tying its feet with rope.
The pig, tied to a stick, was carried away by several men, squealing. One of the men patted Lin Shaocheng on the shoulder, "What a fine man!"
Li Guorong ran back and touched Lin Shaocheng up and down. There was a clump of ash on Lin Shaocheng's face. She reached out and wiped it off, and then breathed a sigh of relief. "Luckily you're not hurt. You scared me to death."
Lin Shaocheng has fought with people more than once, so a pig is nothing to him.
Li Guojian shouted from the side, "What a hero!"
Several of Li's relatives also surrounded Lin Shaocheng. Because of Lin Shaocheng's skill in quickly catching pigs, Li's relatives and friends accepted him.
The pig was carried into the courtyard, its limbs tied up. Li Guorong pulled Lin Shaocheng to go in. She loved killing pigs because there was meat to eat. The pigs from Chongchuan grew up eating grass, so they tasted even better, and the pig's blood was also very fragrant.
Lin Shaocheng frowned and stopped outside the courtyard. “A gentleman, when he sees birds and beasts alive, cannot bear to see them die.” [1]
Li Guorong looked completely bewildered. "What?"
Lin Shaocheng said, "My clothes are dirty, I need to change them, I don't want to look."
Li Guorong knew that Lin Shaocheng was a clean person, but that was a pig slaughtering ceremony, which could only be attended to once a year. "You go ahead, I'll watch for a while."
Li Guorong entered the courtyard. The pig was lying on the slaughtering bench, squealing desperately. The butcher raised his knife and brought it down, killing the pig instantly. The pig fell silent.
The butcher pulled out his knife, and fresh blood gushed out. The aunt took out a basin containing a little water and salt. The pig's blood and water mixed evenly and quickly coagulated.
Li Guorong stepped forward, took the basin, and set it aside. He then proceeded to scald the hair, skin the pig, and remove its internal organs. Li Guorong tied on an apron, inflated the pig's bladder, and handed it to Li Guoliang, who was watching eagerly from the side.
Several children rushed forward, patting the special "balloon" and giggling.
Li Guorong and Li Guolan, along with the women, placed the pork in a shed filled with salt, Sichuan peppercorns, and star anise, all of which had been stir-fried. One of the Li family aunties remarked, "Guorong, your boyfriend is both cultured and skilled!"
Li Guorong's mouth was practically stretched to the back of her head; Lin Shaocheng really made her proud today.
Li Guolan gripped the meat tightly with her hands, which were submerged in salt, her face lowered and her lips pursed.
The aunt added, "Guolan should find someone like that in the future."
Li Guolan forced a smile; she certainly wasn't that lucky.
After finishing his story, the aunts asked about Beijing. Li Guorong chattered on about Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall, leaving the aunts bewildered. They then touched the fabric of Li Guorong's clothes and his curly hair.
The aunt said, "It's really amazing that selling pot-boiled chicken at the entrance can make so much money."
Li Guorong stopped what he was doing. "Let me tell you, people in Beijing are very rich. I'm the one supporting the family now. Lin Shaocheng doesn't drive in the winter, so he doesn't earn much. And his mother still controls him."
My aunt asked, "So how do you manage?"
“Lin Shaocheng was rich before; we even bought a courtyard house in Beijing.”
Li Guolan stood up, startling the others.
"Sis, what's wrong?"
Li Guolan clutched her stomach, trembling as she said, "My stomach hurts, I want to go back." Li Guolan ran out of the yard, tears falling onto the muddy ground, scattering ashes.
Lin Shaocheng was packing up Li Guorong and his clothes when he heard crying downstairs.
Li Guolan said, "I'm the laughing stock of the whole village now. Everyone compares me to Xiaomei. I'm an old maid, nobody wants me."
Wu Cuihua hugged her eldest daughter with heartache, saying, "Those men from the north will be in town on the eighth day of the lunar new year. Go and see if any of them are honest and reliable. I won't stop you."
Lin Shaocheng stopped what he was doing and stood outside the window. The mountains of Chongchuan were yellow, with exposed brown stones. Birds in the mountains were searching for food and fruit on the branches. He felt a little worried. Even in winter, there was too much bare land on the mountain. There was also the matter of Guorong's family. People are not worried about scarcity but about inequality. [2]
Li Guorong returned smelling strongly of pork and quickly went inside to take a shower. Li Guolan also perked up and started talking to her sister, who had just finished showering.
The three most important steps in celebrating the New Year in Chongchuan are slaughtering pigs to worship ancestors, and the waist drum parade through the streets. The waist drum parade selects outstanding young men and women from the village to parade through the streets on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, which is meant to bring good fortune to every family.
Li Guorong was not originally selected, but a girl from the same village was pregnant, leaving a vacancy. Li Guolan quickly accepted the spot on behalf of her younger sister.
Li Guorong was naturally willing, but she couldn't help feeling uneasy. She hadn't played the waist drum in a long time; could she do it?
Li Guolan comforted her, "What's wrong with that? Look at you now, you're the tallest and fairest among all the young women and wives in our village. You've grown quite a bit taller since you went to Beijing, and you look very stylish."
Li Guorong couldn't help but smile. Ever since she returned to the village, she had been praised constantly. Although it was all true, the excessive praise still made her blush. "Then I'll get up early these few days, sister. You teach me, and we'll rehearse together."
Li Guolan smiled, but there was a hint of bitterness in her expression. They were all born to the same parents, and she believed that she had always cared for her brothers and sisters and respected her parents. She looked up and saw that they were all young and beautiful. Her younger sister's skin was now fair and translucent. She tucked her yellowed and calloused hands into her sleeves.
Lin Shaocheng stood in the middle of the stairs, not going down, his eyes slightly dark, and said, "Guorong, come up."
Li Guorong quickly got up. She hadn't told Shaocheng about the exciting part of slaughtering the pig yet. There were specific techniques for marinating the pork. She strode upstairs, her footsteps making a loud thud on the stairs.
Wu Cuihua scolded, "Be more careful."
Li Guorong made a funny face at Lin Shaocheng, and Lin Shaocheng couldn't help but smile.
The warm atmosphere made Li Guolan clench her hands, which were hidden in her sleeves. She lowered her head, not daring to look any longer, for fear that she would become jealous and do something bad.
Li Guorong entered her new house and saw a large wooden bed, a wardrobe, and a dressing table made of bamboo. She exclaimed, "I really wanted my own room when I was a child, and I never thought I would have one after getting married."
The room next door belonged to the eldest brother and sister-in-law, who were busy preparing for the New Year. Only the eldest sister, Wu Cuihua, and the two of them, who still lived downstairs, remained.
Lin Shaocheng gently pressed down on Li Guorong's body, which had been running around everywhere since he returned. Even though he had said he was tired on the tractor and didn't want to come back, he said, "Guorong, don't tell your older sister how great I am or how great Beijing is."
Li Guorong said loudly, "Then."
Lin Shaocheng quickly covered her mouth, saying, "My dear wife, everyone down there is listening."
Li Guorong nodded, pried Lin Shaocheng's hand away, and whispered, "You're worried that my older sister will be unhappy? She's very good to me and won't be jealous of me."
Lin Shaocheng sighed. His unhappy appearance was like spring flowers withering and lotus leaves being battered by rain. Li Guorong wasn't arguing with Lin Shaocheng now, so how could he see him unhappy? He leaned close to Lin Shaocheng and said, "I know you mean well. Everyone keeps asking. What can I say? If I say Beijing is terrible, no one will believe me."
Seeing Li Guorong's bright and cheerful appearance, Lin Shaocheng was afraid that his words would hurt her feelings, and he was also worried that others would use facts to attack Li Guorong. So he frowned and told Li Guorong what Wu Cuihua and her elder sister had said.
[1] Selected from Mencius, King Hui of Liang, Part 1
[2] Selected from the Analects, Chapter 16, Ji Shi
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