Chapter 67 Chapter 67 Carrying back a pig.
The ferocious creature that had been running around earlier was already dying on the man's shoulder.
Everyone was shocked that this man dared to go into the mountains alone at night, and they were also jealous that he had caught a wild boar, which weighed hundreds of kilograms of meat!
"Tian Shaofu can fight wild beasts with his bare hands. He's stronger than all of us put together."
"We've just worked so hard, but it's all in vain."
"What are you going to do with such a big beast?"
The villagers were talking about it. They could hardly eat meat twice a year. If they said they didn't want to eat the meat, that would be a lie, because there was something else behind their words.
I saw Mr. Tian lifting a wild beast weighing hundreds of pounds with strong muscles in his arms. Although it was still cold in spring, he was only wearing a black jacket and a green headband, and he walked steadily and quickly. Unlike them, they were walking on the mountain road after the rain with empty hands and almost fell down.
"I carried it to the butcher shop and sold it."
After hearing what Mr. Tian said, everyone felt discouraged. Although they coveted the meat, it was someone else who had the ability to hunt it.
Moreover, although this man was only the Tian Shufu of the Ministry of Agriculture, a low-ranking official, he was better than the three-foot-tall officials like them. After all, he was in charge of supervising thousands of acres of public land, counting the acres of land in spring and collecting land taxes in autumn. They could see Tian Shufu in such matters and did not dare to offend him.
I couldn't help but envy her. "This pig must weigh at least 300 kilograms. It can be sold for thousands of dollars. Wow."
"Mr. Tian, do you often find hunting in those deep mountains?"
"Have you ever hunted bears, leopards, or wolves?"
"You're not afraid of those beasts? There was a man from the Liao family next door who went into the mountains and his body was never found."
When everyone saw him carrying a bow and arrow and walking down the mountain, they started asking him all sorts of questions.
Mr. Tian only picked out one or two and brought them back. He was a man of few words, but when he mentioned it himself, he said:
"This beast has a wound on its front leg. Did you stab it?"
Wang Mazi interrupted, "Exactly! We worked together to capture him. Old Man Chen used a sharp piece of wood..."
He described the whole process in detail, especially saying that he used all his strength.
Tian Sufu had no expression on his face, he just said:
"In that case, I won't sell this beast. I'll give it to you all to divide up. I won't let the villagers waste their efforts."
"well!"
"Mr. Tian is truly a generous and giving person!"
"Let's go to my house and divide it! My house is at the foot of the mountain!"
"You'd better come to my house. I have a very sharp iron knife at home. I can ask my wife to boil some hot water. It will be done quickly!"
Everyone's faces turned happy, and they danced and asked for guidance, surrounding Mr. Tian.
After hearing this, Ji Feng also had an idea about the meat, but unfortunately, he was short and could only jump three feet high outside.
"Mr. Tian has come to the second house of my Ji family! There's a fire in the stove right now, and there's hot water in the big pot!"
If the pork meat was distributed to someone else's yard or burned on someone else's firewood, that person should be given more. No wonder everyone is scrambling for it.
"Go to her house. I have a dagger that can cut flesh and remove bones."
He peered through the gaps in the crowd and saw Ji Xudao standing outside, quietly holding a torch.
When everyone heard this, they said:
"That's good. We found this pig at Ms. Xu's house, and now we're dividing the meat at her house. That's a complete ending!"
Furthermore, some of them had recently gotten water from Xu Nu during the dry season and even eaten her fried fish. How could they not be grateful? If anyone else had taken advantage of this, they might not have forgiven her, but if it was Xu Nu, they would have been willing to give it to her.
As they spoke, they gathered and went to the second branch of the Ji family, making loud noises and making a lot of noise.
"Is the real hunter back?"
Some people heard the sound and came out to look, and when they saw the huge procession, they were full of envy.
"It's all thanks to Mr. Tian! I'm just about to go back and divide it up!"
"If I had known this, I would have gone!"
They thought that this time they could only chase the beast back to the mountains and there was no way they could hunt it down. But now they saw the leader, Mr. Tian, carrying a pig back on his back, and they regretted it so much.
Liao turned around and went in, and started to scold her husband Cui Dalai.
"Look, you chose a good time to twist your ankle. Anyone who goes there tonight will get some pork! Look at that Wang Mazi, he's so impressive. If you didn't know better, you'd think he was hunting something."
A lot of people came out at once, not even sleeping, to watch the pig being slaughtered. It was a rare and lively event in this poor place like Benguli.
After returning home, Ji Xu moved two wooden tables to the yard. Tian Shefu took the wild boar off his shoulders and dropped it heavily on the table with a bang.
Ji Xu then took out the pottery basin and placed it on the ground.
"This basin is for you to collect the pig's blood."
Mr. Tian nodded, then pulled out the arrow, and pig blood trickled into the basin.
"This blood is boiled and cooked, and it is extremely fresh when used to make soup."
Ji Xu said this and brought out a large bucket of hot water, which was used to scald the pig skin.
One bucket was not enough, so Ji Feng was busy adding firewood to the stove. Xiaozhu also woke up and helped to carry the firewood.
Ji Xu brought three buckets of boiling water and poured them on the pigs with a ladle. Suddenly, a hot mist with a fishy smell rose.
The others lit a bonfire beside the table to provide some light, and the wild boar's fur became clear.
Tian Shefu skillfully scraped off the gray-black hair with a sharp blade. Ji Xu washed it with a bucket of water, revealing the white pig skin.
Then it was turned over, the hair on the other side was scraped off, and the belly was cut open. The lungs, heart, and pig stomach were removed one by one and thrown on another table.
The dagger was small, but in his hand, it was like a butcher knife, easily cutting through the meat and slicing it one by one.
The pig's hind leg was carved very beautifully, in the shape of a pipa.
He tore off the fat in his belly with one hand and threw it onto the table.
People who see it are astonished.
"What a coincidence!"
"I heard that Mr. Tian used to work as a pig butcher with his father-in-law. No wonder he has such skills!"
Tian Shefu paused slightly, his hands were covered in blood, and the cold light of the dagger flashed across his sharp brows.
Glancing towards the kitchen, I saw Ji Xu cooking pig's blood inside. A figure of a person could be seen faintly through the linen-covered lattice window.
He gripped the dagger again and continued cutting the flesh.
"How are you going to divide the meat? If there's any left, give some to my family." The onlooker said with envy.
"I couldn't get you to chase the pigs just now, so why aren't you lazing around in the house now? You won't get any share of the meat when we distribute it!" Ji Feng snorted.
Later, when the meat was cut, everyone in the group asked Tian Sefu, who had made the greatest contribution, to carry it first. Tian Sefu then asked Mr. Chen, who was the oldest, to carry it first.
Old Man Chen raised his hands and said, "I don't deserve it. Without Mr. Tian, we can't even touch the pig hair. Mr. Tian, please don't be polite and choose."
"Yes, you can choose!"
Everyone was aware of this, and although they all had their eyes on the meat, they did not fight over it.
While waiting for Mr. Tian to choose first, the three sisters Xu, Feng, and Zhu were also in the crowd. Ji Feng pulled Ji Xu aside and whispered:
"Which cut of meat does Sister like? Which one should we choose when it's our turn?"
Ji Xu set his sights on the pig's hind leg. He had wanted to make ham before. This freshly cut hind leg had a good shape and fresh meat. It would become more fatty the longer it was cooked, and it would taste salty and delicious when sliced.
However, they were at the back of the line and probably wouldn't have the chance to choose this.
I saw Tian Shefu point the tip of his knife at one of the hind legs and say:
"I want this one."
Everyone agreed and asked the elderly Mr. Chen to choose.
Mr. Chen couldn't refuse, so he stepped forward. He didn't act arrogantly and picked the good meat with fat. Instead, he asked for a piece of bone-in pig head and a pig heart.
"Who's next... Miss Xu! Miss Xu, come and choose!"
"Yes, we borrowed your place and belongings, and burned all this firewood. It's only right that you came to choose. If you hadn't called us in the middle of the night, this wild boar would still be nowhere to be found, and who knows how much vegetable fields it would have destroyed."
"Yes, this wild boar trampled on your vegetables. You should pick some good ones first to supplement your family's income."
Ji Xu pushed it away, thanked him, and then chose the remaining hind leg.
Seeing that she had picked out the pipa hind leg she wanted, Ji Feng smiled happily. Ji Xu was also happy and said to her:
"It's time to make ham."
In fact, the hind leg meat was not considered the best in everyone's mind. What they were staring at was the white fat, which must have weighed more than ten pounds! It could be used to make ointment, and the family could save it to eat for a long time.
Then there’s the fat on the belly. The fatter it is, the more popular it is, and it will be more oily when cooked.
Next, the man whose fishing net was broken by the wild boar was allowed to choose. He chose a piece of fat meat, and everyone laughed and said:
"Now that you go back, are you still worried about the women at home nagging you?"
Later, Deng's father and son, Wang Mazi and others gradually chose the meat. Feng Er came late and did less work, so he was the last one to choose. A pig's ear was left for him, and he was happy about it.
The group of people gradually dispersed while chatting and laughing, and those who were just there to watch the fun also walked away gossiping.
When Ji Xu was about to clean up the place, he saw a hind leg left on the table, so he called out to Tian Shefu and said,
"Is this meat reserved for me?"
"Well, I can't sell this leg alone to a butcher shop."
She was just joking, but she didn't expect Mr. Tian to say that. She couldn't accept it and said:
"It's just inconvenient to sell it, so I can just take it home and cook it."
Before he could finish his words, he recalled the simple roasted rabbit meat he had eaten before he had cooked it thoroughly at Niupi Mountain, and he said:
"I'm planning to make ham from this hind leg. If Mr. Tian doesn't mind, I'll make it for you, okay?"
"I don't like pork."
But Mr. Tian said, this is strange, as he is a butcher and doesn't like pig meat.
Ji Xu thought that she was tired of it and didn't want to touch it again, so she asked for money to buy another hind leg. Tian Shufu didn't say anything, but stared at the pig bristles she picked up and asked:
"What are you picking these for?"
I saw that she picked out the row of hard bristles on the pig's back and put them on the winnowing basket. She swept up the rest of the soft hairs with a bamboo broom and dumped them into the vegetable patch behind the house to make compost.
She said, "Pig bristles can be used to make toothbrushes for brushing teeth. I picked some to make these. They are better than willow branches."
Toothbrushes were rare at that time, usually made of bronze and pig bristles, and were not popular. Ji Xu thought that Tian Shefu didn't know about it, so he made a brushing motion up and down, left and right without a real object.
Mr. Tian did not accept the money for the pork, but said:
"I want a toothbrush you made."
"good."
Ji Xu agreed, but it was just to do one more thing.
When Mr. Tian left, it was still dark. A bucket of tofu pudding had been prepared with gypsum water before he lit a torch to hunt the pigs, and the three large sheets of tofu had also been pressed.
The twenty-five yuan that could be sold from Zhuang Hui Niang were picked out first, and the remaining one hundred yuan or so were left on a wooden board and a bucket of tofu pudding, which was pushed to the county at dawn.
She took advantage of this opportunity to clean up the two pig's hind legs. Tian Sefu had carved the legs into a very good shape, round like a pipa, so she didn't need to trim the edges.
Just keep rubbing it with salt, turning it over and over, allowing the salt to penetrate into the epidermis, and don't forget to squeeze out the blood clots in the blood vessels along the trigeminal bone.
Then they rubbed the salt like playing with snow. The sisters also joined in rubbing it, making a rustling sound. They squatted beside the basin, working very hard, looking forward to seeing what the ham would taste like in the future.
After rubbing them enough, she stacked them in a bucket and waited for her to come back in the afternoon to salt them a second time. Taking advantage of the low temperature now, after adding salt, she placed them in the bucket for about half a month, and then added the third layer of salt before hanging them in a cool place to dry.
Speaking of the big room,
Jin Shi was awake because of the noise next door about dividing the pork. She lay down by the wall and listened for a while, then went back to Ji Fu and said:
"I told you to go earlier. They took advantage of Mr. Tian tonight! They brought back such a big pig, and the second wife's little hoof got a whole leg!
Even the poor butt-selling Wang Mazi's family got a piece of meat! It must have weighed over ten pounds!"
Ji Fu couldn't help but think about it, and turned over and said, "Are you going to let me rest? Without me making money outside, even if you share the meat tonight, can you eat it for the rest of your life?"
Feng family,
Feng Er brought the pig ear home. When Aunt Xu heard that the Feng family was the last to receive the meat, she said:
"Why are you bringing back pig ears? Aren't you ashamed?"
Bao Yu didn't mind it at all. He roasted it and ate it for breakfast. He didn't care that Aunt Xu didn't pick up her chopsticks. He just wanted to have a satisfying meal.
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