That evening, when Shi Zhen returned to Guan Baiyu's place, the stewed soybeans, pork skin, and pig's tail in the pot were ready and smelled incredibly delicious.
Shi Xinghuo kept swallowing. He had eaten lunch with the mud seller. The family wasn't too bad off, but most rural people couldn't afford to spend money on vegetables, so they rarely ate meat. Occasionally, they would have something like stir-fried eggs with garlic leaves. Remembering Shi Zhen's instructions, he didn't dare to eat too many eggs.
Now, stewed pig's tail with soybeans is incredibly delicious.
Shi Zhen ladled out two small bowls of soybeans, giving one to Guan Baiyu and one to Shi Xinghuo, and then scooped out the remaining vegetables from the pot to wash and cook.
Upon seeing this, Guan Baiyu quickly went to start a fire.
Although Shi Zhen's family was poor, his mother cooked when she was alive. After she passed away, his father cooked for a while, and then his stepmother took over.
At eighteen, he actually couldn't cook and didn't want to.
He was still young at the time, and having grown up in a remote village, his mindset was still stuck in the Qing Dynasty. He always felt that these kinds of jobs were for women, and that he, a grown man, couldn't do them.
He no longer had such thoughts; during the years he lived alone before his death, he even developed a decent skill.
While cooking rice, Shi Zhen chopped some pickled mustard tuber shreds and put them in a bowl, then poured in water and placed it on the steamer rack. This way, when the rice was cooked, there would be a bowl of pickled mustard tuber soup to drink.
This is something his stepmother often makes. Like Guan Baiyu, his stepmother would steam something while cooking rice, and that would serve as a side dish.
The pickled vegetables and preserved mustard greens were all made by Guan Baiyu. His grandmother taught him how to make them when she was still alive, and after she passed away, he started making them himself.
Luckily, he had this skill. He picked up the pickled mustard tubers that the neighboring village's pickled mustard tuber factory didn't want because they weren't growing well, as well as the pickled mustard tuber leaves that the factory didn't want, and made enough pickled mustard tubers to last him a year.
His adoptive parents had a vegetable garden, but he wouldn't go there to pick vegetables. Instead, he grew some odds and ends of vegetables by the river, and with the occasional donations from his neighbors, he had enough to eat.
It's just... we can't get meat to eat.
However, even when his grandmother was alive, he couldn't afford to eat it, so he was used to it.
He didn't know what his grandmother was like before. As far back as he could remember, his grandmother had always only cared about eating and drinking well for herself. She wouldn't even allow her daughter-in-law, who was breastfeeding, to eat her flesh, let alone him, her grandson.
Guan Baiyu looked up at Shi Zhen.
His cousin's sudden appearance initially made him a little uneasy, but now he is filled with trepidation.
This person was so good to him.
After the three finished their meal, Shi Zhen said, "We don't have enough firewood at home, I'll go out and buy some."
Upon hearing this, Guan Baiyu quickly replied, "I'll go with you."
Seeing Shi Zhen looking over, Guan Baiyu added, "I know all the families around here. If I go with them, I can get a cheaper price for firewood."
His background was awkward, and some children in the village always looked down on him and made fun of him.
However, most of the adults in the village sympathized with him and did not dislike him, especially since he had excellent grades.
After all, he doesn't bother anyone else; his biological father grew up in the village.
“I originally wanted to buy it from Uncle Guan…” Shi Zhen said.
Without hesitation, Guan Baiyu said, "Uncle Guan doesn't have any firewood. Aunt Guan works in a factory; they don't raise silkworms and they don't have any mulberry branches."
Guan Jianguo's wife worked at the village's chemical fiber factory before marriage. After marriage, she was fired from the factory because she had a child. A year later, she went to work at a sofa factory.
The sofa factory is a bit far from here, and she works three shifts, so sometimes she doesn't come home to sleep and sleeps in the factory dormitory. Shi Zhen had never seen her before.
She has a job, so she naturally doesn't raise silkworms anymore. After all, raising silkworms is hard work; you have to get up early and work late to take care of them carefully, and you don't earn much money.
Therefore, his family's mulberry land was rented out to someone else, namely Guan Baiyu's adoptive parents.
Guan Baiyu's adoptive parents were very hardworking. Every year, they would raise three or four sheets of silkworm eggs. The villagers all bought the silkworm eggs together, and the silkworm eggs were laid on sheets of paper.
When the silkworms were fully grown, the floor of his adoptive father's main room and the floor of his own house were covered with silkworms. The three of them ate and slept in one room.
Even so, they didn't earn much money because they had to build houses, hold funerals, support their two children through junior high school, and even incur debts.
Of course, there are many families like this in the village. Many of them are willing to go into debt to build a two-story house just to save face.
Guan Baiyu took Shi Zhen to his adoptive father's place.
This was the first time Shi Zhen had met Guan Baiyu's adoptive parents.
He had originally planned to buy some gifts before visiting once he had some money, but unfortunately he was too poor and could only serve a bowl of stewed pork skin with soybeans.
Fortunately, Guan Guangguo didn't care.
If Guan Baiyu's grandparents came, they would definitely complain, after all, they had helped raise the child for so long.
But Shi Zhen is just Guan Baiyu's aunt's child. According to Guan Baiyu, his mother is dead, and Shi Zhen's mother is gone too... What can they possibly care about?
Hearing that Guan Baiyu wanted to buy mulberry branches, Guan Guangguo gave him a few bundles, saying, "I don't want your money."
Zhang Xiumei, however, was displeased: "If someone wants to buy it, why should you be the good guy?"
Zhang Xiumei took out a few more bundles of mulberry branches and said to Guan Baiyu, "One yuan."
Just as Shi Zhen was about to take the money, Guan Baiyu gave Zhang Xiumei one yuan.
Seeing this, Zhang Xiumei scoffed lightly.
She knew that the old woman who had passed away must have left money for Guan Baiyu.
Even though her daughter is the real member of the Guan family, that old woman only has eyes for Guan Baiyu.
Guan Baiyu didn't say anything. Together with Shi Zhen, they carried the firewood back in several trips and placed it next to his bed.
His house was very small, so he kept his food and firewood by his bedside.
After they had gathered the firewood, they noticed that Guan Baiyu's adoptive father's house was not closed early as usual; the front door was wide open, and Guan Baiyu's adoptive father had even rolled a large vat over from next door.
"What are you trying to do?" Shi Zhen asked.
Guan Baiyu said, "Someone has come to slaughter a pig."
It's true that someone is coming to slaughter the pig.
There's usually nothing going on in the village, and everyone's pretty idle. When they heard that someone from Guan Guangguo's family was going to slaughter a pig, they all came out to watch the excitement, and some even asked Guan Guangguo for pig's blood.
Guan Guangguo replied, "I'll definitely give you a bowl later."
The butcher arrived shortly afterward. Shi Zhen was quite surprised to see the man—it was the same vendor he had bought meat from that morning.
Of course, he wasn't the only one who came; there were other vendors as well, making a total of three people.
As soon as the three men arrived, they went to the pigpen behind Guan Guang's house without saying a word and dragged out a pig. The several big men forcibly dragged the squealing pig out and put it on a bench, preparing to slaughter it.
Actually, the most convenient way to slaughter a pig is to do it directly on the ground, but they don't want to waste the pig's blood, so they use a long bench to support the pig so that the blood can be collected underneath.
Pig's blood is also a good thing; eating it can replenish blood... Guan Baiyu's condition clearly indicates a lack of nutrition, and he's most likely anemic.
Shi Zhen pondered that he needed to buy some pig's blood, and also wondered if he could take this opportunity to buy some meat as well.
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