Meng Sheng, who took his wife home, threw some of his parents' instructions to the wind.
Not long after Chen Hongxing and his wife left the village, Meng Sheng began to sharpen his knife.
He also ordered Feng Yijia: "Wife, go boil some more water!"
Feng Yijia was puzzled: "Why boil water?"
Meng Sheng raised his head and replied as a matter of course: "Kill the chickens and ducks!
Please boil some more water, I will kill all the chickens and ducks at home later!"
Feng Yijia couldn't believe her ears: "Are you going to kill all the chickens and ducks at home?"
While sharpening his knife, Meng Sheng replied affirmatively, "Kill them all and pickle them.
The rooster starts crowing in the middle of the night, and the other chickens and ducks have to be fed and watered at dawn, otherwise it will be too noisy to be honest.
It’s winter, and I’m too lazy to get up early every day to take care of them!”
The nights of spring are short, and the women are sweet and beautiful, and there is no shortage of money to buy chickens and ducks. Who would have the patience to get up early in the morning in the cold winter to serve a group of animals? Anyone who does that is a fool.
The man said this, and Feng Yijia was not the kind of person who would find work for herself. However, thinking of what her mother-in-law said before she left, she still hesitated: "That's not good. My parents will definitely scold me if they find out!"
Meng Sheng skillfully scraped the blade with his fingers to check its sharpness, and said nonchalantly, "Let them scold me, it's not like I'm going to lose a piece of meat anyway. At worst, when they come back, I can just buy some chickens and ducks to make up for the number."
If they go away for ten days or half a month, I doubt they will still remember what the chickens and ducks at home look like.”
Her husband had made up his mind, so Feng Yijia said no more and ran to boil water.
The two men worked together to wipe the necks, scald and pluck the feathers, cut open the intestines, wash and marinate. By the evening, twenty or thirty chickens and ducks were all naked and accompanied by strips of pork hanging upside down from the eaves.
In the stove hole below, fresh cypress branches were burning, and thick smoke with a special fragrance was curling around in the meat forest, gradually turning the white and rosy meat into a waxy yellow.
Feng Youcai took a day off and came out from the field to look for his daughter. He saw the densely packed meat hanging in the smoke and fire.
I couldn't help but turn around and look at it, clicking my lips: "Tsk, tsk, it seems that life is really good now. In the past, the landlords in Baishui Town didn't have this much meat during the New Year!"
After saying that, he made the common mistake of older people and walked beside Feng Yi's house, reminiscing about the past.
"I have lived for more than 20 years, and even in the most prosperous years of my life, there was only a pig's head and four pig's trotters hanging on the stove at home.
That was when you were four years old. I went to the mountains to set a trap and caught a wild boar. I sold the valuable parts and kept the parts that didn't sell for a good price to smoke for the New Year.
At other times, having two or three pounds of meat is considered a fat year.
Especially before we got married, my parents were in poor health and we kids ate a lot, so whenever we found something in the mountains, we had to exchange it for money or food.
The family was so poor that we could often eat a bowl of pickled vegetables and meat from New Year’s Eve to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
We put it on the table when guests come. But when they know our situation, they won’t eat too much. At most, they will take one or two slices to taste.
After the guests leave, the remaining meat is put away and served hot on the table next time someone else comes.
After the New Year, we can share what’s left. If there’s nothing left, we can only smell it.”
As he spoke, his eyes were still staring at the pork, and his throat was rolling subconsciously.
Obviously greedy too.
That scene reminded Feng Yijia of the feeling when he was a ghost, where he could see but not eat, and he couldn't help but feel distressed and sad.
Feng Youcai saw the look in his daughter's eyes and felt more satisfied than if he had just eaten meat. He reached out and stroked her head, smiling, "Silly child, Xiaoguai has enough meat to eat. This makes me happier than if Daddy could eat meat himself."
This sentence made Feng Yijia's eyes red, as he was already feeling very sad.
Feng Youcai liked his daughter's concern for him, but he didn't like her being unhappy. Seeing that she was about to cry, he winked at Meng Sheng beside him, asking him to comfort her, and then he quickly slipped away.
Meng Sheng watched his elusive father-in-law disappear, took two steps forward, and gently embraced him, saying softly, "Don't cry. Look, your red eyes scared our father away!"
Then, with a turn of his eyes, he said, "How about we go to the mountains and take a closer look at the books left by the old Taoist priest?
See if there is any way to help Dad."
Although his motives were somewhat impure, he absolutely and sincerely wished the best for his father-in-law.
Feng Yijia was not a sentimental person. The suppressed and uncomfortable emotions soon passed. He nodded in agreement to Meng Sheng's proposal and looked up to discuss with him about going to the mountains.
“It’s quite far from the village and we can’t get back there that day.
There's no one home, and there's such a huge pile of meat. We're not at home, so don't let anyone else take it all away, leaving nothing behind!"
There is some truth in the saying that poor and remote areas produce unruly people. Even though most families in the village are related to each other, it does not prevent people from complaining from time to time that their homes are short of chickens, ducks, food or money.
Meng Sheng already had a plan in mind: "We'll work hard to dry the meat over the next two days. If it doesn't go bad, we can store it away. We'll also ask the Chen family next door to help watch over the yard. We'll just give them some money or something when the time comes."
There was not only meat in the house, but also a lot of things hidden in private. Feng Yijia was still a little worried when he heard this. He closed his eyes and carefully recalled the road he had walked with his father last time.
After a while, he said, "I remember the way to get there, and then I'll ask my father to watch over it at home.
If something goes wrong, at least we know who did it and where the things went, so it will be easy to find them!"
With an added layer of insurance to ensure that nothing could go wrong, Meng Sheng naturally nodded, and the matter was settled.
So, for the next two days, thick smoke never stopped billowing from the thatched-roof kitchen.
The energetic Meng Sheng not only makes his wife enjoy his own benefits at night, but also has to get up several times to fill the stove with branches.
Although this place is not the Northeast, which is known for its cold weather, the snow in the mountains in winter can often accumulate to more than half a foot deep.
Once the snow covers the original terrain, entering the mountains becomes much more dangerous than usual.
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