"Not to mention their dislike, even those of us who aren't picky eaters don't really want to eat wild boar meat," Wu Tianxiang said, also expressing some disdain.
Seeing that Si Cheng was still a little confused, Wu Tianxiang said, "Since the climate has returned to normal, both the green plants we planted before and the vegetables in our own gardens are growing rapidly. The animals we raise at home are also getting enough nutrition. We are harvesting eggs and duck eggs every day. In order to prevent the eggs from overflowing, every household has started to slaughter their poultry. With this comparison, no one wants to eat wild boar meat."
Hou Yunhai said, "Moreover, we've set up many traps on the back mountain, and we're reaping the rewards every day. Now, every household is even less interested in those wild boars."
Si Cheng never expected this reason. This life was nothing like the apocalypse; even before, he could never have lived like this.
"Keeping it like this isn't a solution. Let's process it once and smoke it into cured meat or jerky to exchange for supplies later."
“But making it into cured meat would use too much salt. Everyone worked so hard to carry the salt back all the way. It doesn’t seem worthwhile to make it into cured meat and exchange it,” Hou Yunhai said, explaining another reason why everyone disagreed with slaughtering the animal. “Salt is much more precious than meat now. We can’t afford to waste it like that.”
Si Cheng hadn't expected this reason. "Other places must also be short of salt. Even if we only have cured meat, we won't have trouble exchanging it. In fact, cured meat with salt is definitely more popular. We can also increase the exchange rate. We can't let ourselves suffer losses."
“But meat isn’t worth much right now. Every household around here raises livestock. Apart from the amount you brought to Yancun last time, the village can’t even consume all the meat it needs,” Hou Yunhai said with some distress.
“Even so, we can’t just leave it like this. We still need to clear out what needs to be cleared out. Otherwise, as the space inside gets smaller and smaller, those wild boars will easily get sick. Our whole village lives here, so we still need to be careful,” Si Cheng said with a frown.
Although a layer of lime powder is sprinkled at the bottom of the ditch every time it is cleaned, this is not always the case.
When he got home, Yunqi saw that he had his brows furrowed and asked him about it out of curiosity.
Si Cheng didn't hide anything and told Yun Qi that the village didn't want to deal with wild boars anymore. Yun Qi was also stumped by everyone's ideas.
"Everyone else is still trying to fill their stomachs, but our village is still picking and choosing?"
Yun Zhiming disagreed with his daughter's statement. "It's not that the people in our village are arrogant, but there has to be a trade-off. Putting aside the dangers of your trip, just carrying so much salt back by manpower is no easy task. Meanwhile, the wild boars in the ditch can thrive naturally by feeding them some green plants. Naturally, everyone will feel that salt is much more important in comparison."
Mother Yun chimed in, "That's right. We not only have to exchange these salts for the herbs we've worked so hard to grow, but we also have to add manpower. Everyone will definitely cherish the salt even more. Besides, everyone was discussing the dangers you encountered along the way today. Many people said that if it wasn't necessary, we shouldn't let you continue on that road, because no one knows what we'll encounter next."
At this moment, Si Cheng and Yun Qi were both secretly cursing those people who liked to exaggerate and boast. What were originally small things became incredibly important after they were embellished by their words.
Just as Yun Qi finished thinking to himself, he noticed that his mother was glaring at him with her eyes full of reproach.
"We've gone off-topic. Shouldn't we be discussing what to do with the wild boars?" Yunqi quickly steered the conversation back on track. "We can't just keep raising these wild boars forever, can we?"
“If we don’t use salt, the meat won’t keep for long, which is a real headache.” Yun Zhiming looked at his son-in-law, hoping to get an answer from him.
Si Cheng frowned and kept thinking; they couldn't just throw away all that meat.
Yunqi was a little confused. What were they worried about? "We can't just stop using salt because we're afraid of running out, can we? Besides, we've transported so much salt this time, enough for our village to squander for several years. Why are we being so cautious?"
Mother Yun tapped the table lightly with the basin. “Still wasting resources? Today I heard your second grandmother say that she’s going to hide all the salt in the house in the cellar and try to put out less in the future. If she hears you using the word ‘wasteful’ to describe the salt, she’ll definitely come over and lecture you.”
Yunqi shrank back. "I was just using an analogy. We really don't need to be so cautious. At worst, we can make another trip when we have time, and then we'll have everything."
As she spoke, her voice grew softer and softer until she could only look to Si Cheng for help.
Si Cheng immediately stepped forward and said, "Actually, these kids always like to talk big. You can only believe a fraction of what they say. It wasn't as dangerous as they said along the way, otherwise we wouldn't have had the time to pick those wild fruits."
"Wild fruit, we want to eat fruit!" As soon as Lele and Junjun heard about fruit, they immediately put down their little building blocks and ran over.
Yun Zhiming said, "Didn't we just eat this yesterday? Grandpa will go to the back mountain in a couple of days to help you look for it."
"Is it the same as what Mom brought back?" Lele asked curiously, and after a while, she added in a low voice, "It can be like what Dad brought back last time."
She was referring to the persimmons she brought back last time, but in her memory, the wild persimmons from yesterday were sweeter.
Yun Zhiming said, "There are so many wild fruits on this mountain, and there must be many that our Lele and Junjun haven't eaten yet. Grandpa will find them for you."
Yunqi said, "Dad, we can't spoil them with everything, or they'll become unruly."
Yun Zhiming was displeased upon hearing this and glared at her directly, "It's just some wild berries, how is that spoiling them? Your grandparents spoiled you before, and you weren't lawless then, were you?"
Yunqi smiled. "Dad, are you praising me? Are you admitting that your daughter is very outstanding?"
"That's our family's good genes, what does it have to do with you? Besides, it's rare for these two darlings to make requests, so we have to fulfill them no matter what." Yun Zhiming affectionately patted the two children's heads.
Si Cheng was a little worried. "I'll go to the back mountain tomorrow. You guys shouldn't go up the mountain by yourselves. We don't know what the situation is like there now. If a large animal comes down, it's no joke."
This trip has lasted so long, and the only thing that helped us avoid was those few traps in the back mountain. But we can't rule out the possibility that some might slip through the net. If we're not prepared, it won't be a joke if we run into them.
Yun Zhiming knew his limits. "I know that even if I'm going to the back mountain, I'll definitely go with the villagers."
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