Yang Chunyan looked at her cute and lovely sister and recalled that she had spent a lot of effort to pursue her brother-in-law in her previous life. "Is that boy from Pulin Town still looking for you?"
Yang Dongmei raised her hand, "Sister, don't think too much, we are just classmates!"
Yang Chunyan looked at her with a smile, "I heard from mom that he seems to be interested in you!"
"He is indeed a good guy, but I always feel like something is missing!" Yang Dongmei tilted her head and thought for a while, "I think I prefer more mature and stable guys."
Yang Chunyan suddenly remembered the funny things she experienced when she was a child and looked at her with a smile, "I still remember that when you were a child you loved to stick to your elder brother the most and you even told us that you would marry your elder brother when you grew up."
"Hehe! It was really fun when I was a kid." Yang Dongmei said as she picked up the basket, "Wait, I'll boil eggs for you."
"Yeah!" Only then did Yang Chunyan see that all the bamboo baskets on the tractor had been lifted into the backyard.
Zhou Huaian and others were weighing in the backyard. After weighing about ten baskets, he looked at the time and said, "I'll leave this to you. I'll go to the guesthouse first."
Yang Weiguo nodded, "Just leave it to us."
At this time, Yang Dongmei came over with a porcelain bowl in her hand, "Brother, brother-in-law, I boiled some eggs. You can eat two first to fill your stomach."
"Okay! Eat two first!" Zhou Huaian took two and handed them to Zhou Yiding, and took two for himself, and the two walked out of the yard together.
When they walked into the alley, Zhou Yiding gave him a slight turn and asked, "Is your younger cousin also studying medicine?"
Zhou Huaian puffed up his cheeks and nodded, "Yes! I study at the city's medical school."
Zhou Yiding winked at him and said, "You look like a good match for Doctor Xiao Wang!"
Zhou Huaian glanced back and said, "They are a good match! But my sister-in-law has a much worse temper than my Chunyan, so it's better to stay out of her business!"
"That's true." Zhou Yiding stuffed the egg into his mouth, lifted the seat cushion and walked towards the front of the tractor while holding the crank.
Zhou Huaian said hello to Yang Chunyan and left with Zhou Yiding.
…
In the open space in the backyard of the Zhou family's old house, a temporary earthen stove was built with stones and bricks, on which was placed a large pot filled with hot water that was steaming.
The butcher, with a flushed face, put away the butchering stool and knife, took the salt handed to him by Zhou's mother, and put some in the wooden basin for collecting the pig's blood. Putting some salt in the basin when collecting the pig's blood will make it more tender.
After everything was ready, he and the three brothers Zhou Huairong who were waiting on the side, as well as Zhou Huaizhong who came to help, began to divide the work.
After they discussed who would grab the pig's tail and who would grab the pig's legs and ears, they went to the pigpen under the leadership of Zhou Huairong.
When the butcher saw the big fat pigs in the pigsty, he praised: "Your pigs are really well fed, their skin is shiny and fur is bright."
"My mother is good at raising pigs. She even received a reward when she was in the production team."
While Zhou Huairong was speaking, the butcher had already opened the pigsty door. Several people slowly drove the pigs towards the slaughterhouse. When they were not far from the slaughtering bench, the butcher nodded to the people and started catching the pigs.
Zhou Jiaming and others stood at the backyard gate, staring with wide eyes at the big fat pig that was howling in fear.
Zhou's mother hurriedly asked a few people to take Zhou Xiaolin away to play, for fear that she would be scared.
According to the pre-arranged division of labor, Zhou Huairong and his men grabbed the pig's tail, legs, and ears. Several strong men quickly dragged the pig to the slaughtering stool and held it down hard.
The big fat pig screamed and struggled hard.
The pig was very strong when it struggled. The butcher took advantage of Zhou Huairong and his brothers holding down the fat pig, quickly twisted one of the pig's ears with one hand, picked up the butcher knife with the other hand and stabbed the pig's neck.
After the knife went in, bright red pig blood gushed out like a fountain. Zhou's father hurriedly moved the wooden basin that collected the pig's blood toward the pig's head to prevent the blood from flowing onto the ground.
"Hehehe...Hehehe..." The fat pig on the slaughtering bench let out even more miserable screams and struggled even harder.
Zhou Huairong and his men tried hard to grab the pig's feet, while others tried hard to twist the pig's ears and tail. Despite the four strong men's suppression, the big fat pig still kicked around with all four legs.
Zhou Huaizhong and Zhou Huaishan remembered what the butcher had reminded them in advance: they should not press the pig's legs from the front, but should press them sideways, otherwise they would most likely be kicked by the pig's legs and get injured.
Because in previous years when the team slaughtered pigs for the New Year, there were incidents where the fat pigs that were pressed on the slaughtering stool broke free and ran away, injuring people.
But such incidents are extremely rare, and most of the time the pig is successfully dragged onto the slaughtering stool.
At this time, Zhou's mother had already lit three incense sticks and then lit the yellow paper and started praying, the general idea of which was to help the pig escape from the six domestic animals and be reborn as a human.
The butcher pulled out his knife, and bright red pig blood spurted out, flowing into the wooden basin that had been placed in front of the butchering bench.
As more and more pig blood filled the wooden basin, the pig's screams gradually became weaker until there was no sound at all.
I don’t know if pigs can be reborn as humans?
After the big fat pig was killed, Zhou's mother came over and asked the butcher, "Master Fang, will my family be lucky next year? Are all of us safe?"
The butcher looked at the blood on the knife and the pig blood in the wooden basin, smiled and said to her: "Your family will have a smooth year next year, and everyone will be safe and sound. Whatever you do will be successful!"
After hearing this, Zhou's mother was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth. "It's good as long as it goes smoothly! It's good as long as it goes smoothly!"
At this time, all the pig blood has been drained. The butcher picks up the bucket and pours the boiling water in it into the pig blood basin. He stirs it and lets it sit for a while. After the pig blood solidifies and changes color, it becomes delicious pig blood stew.
Then, the butcher took out a long iron rod, picked up the knife and cut a small hole horizontally on the pig's leg, and pushed the iron rod into the hole on the pig's foot with force, and then pushed it in the other direction after completing one cut.
After the stabbing is done, the butcher squats down and puts his mouth to the cut on the pig's foot, puffing up his cheeks and blowing air into it. He keeps blowing until the pig's body swells up, and then ties the opening of the pig's foot tightly with a thin hemp rope to prevent air leakage.
After this operation, the whole pig will be fuller and the hair removal will be faster and smoother.
The water in the big iron pot was already boiling, and he picked up a gourd ladle to scoop up the boiling water and kept pouring it over the pig. He poured more water on the upper part of the pig's neck, where the bristles were thick and hard, and it took a lot of boiling water to soften them.
Seeing the butcher pick up the scraper and start scraping the pig hair, Zhou Huairong and his brothers also joined in. Some took shovels and other tools to scrape the pig hair clean.
After all the pig hair is removed, the black spotted pig becomes a white pig.
Zhou's father and his men carried the clean fat pig to the front yard and placed the pig's head facing the door of the main room. Zhou's mother placed the wine and food prepared in advance on the Eight Immortals Table for the mountain gods and ancestors to enjoy.
The old man was smoking a leaf tobacco and watching happily. His whitened and plump face was full of wrinkles. He chatted with the butcher, ate snacks and drank tea.
The butcher smiled and complimented, "Old man, if you kill three fat pigs a year and keep them for your family to eat, then that's your family."
He thought it would be better to divide the business among the different households. This year the pig-slaughtering business was much greater than in previous years. He could get four cuts of pork and four red envelopes from the Zhou family alone.
"Three pigs, four grandchildren, and the old house doesn't have much pork."
"Yes! In previous years, the family only had two strips of bacon, but this year we can prepare sausages, deep-fried pork, crispy pork, and bacon."
After hearing this, the old man sighed and said, "I haven't eaten oil-bottomed meat for many years. Your family should have plenty of meat to eat after slaughtering pigs."
The butcher smiled and shook his head, "No way! In the past, the production team would call us to slaughter pigs, but no one in the village would be willing to slaughter a pig for the New Year! I heard from the elders at home that if you keep the fried meat in oil and eat it slowly, it won't go bad even if you eat it for a year."
"That's right! When you eat it, pick out a piece and steam it in a rice cooker, then slice it and stir-fry it with salted vegetables, garlic sprouts, etc. It looks greasy but it's not greasy at all. The taste is amazing."
The butcher laughed and said, "Thanks to your truffle harvest this year, my family also made some money. I originally planned to sell all the fat pigs, but my wife said that we should kill one the day after tomorrow to pickle bacon and sausages... and prepare for the New Year."
"Yes! After a year of hardship, we should prepare some delicious food and make some new clothes. Otherwise, why do we work so hard to earn money?"
"That's the truth!"
As they were talking, the sacrifice was over. The butcher tied the pig's hind legs with a rope, lifted the pig up, hung it upside down on a wooden ladder, and cut open its belly.
The internal organs were taken out from the steaming pig's stomach and placed one by one on the door panel that had been prepared long ago. The pork was then cut into long strips and placed into the baskets that had been prepared in advance.
Zhou's mother took two strips of pork chop and saved them for the pig-killing dish and invited relatives and friends to "eat the soup".
The butcher also took Zhou Huairong and his brothers to start slaughtering the second pig. By the time they were slaughtering the third pig, Zhou Huaian and the other two had also arrived home.
Zhang Xiuxiang heard the noise from the tractor and ran to the front yard to check, "He's back!"
"Yeah!" Yang Chunyan was helped down by Zhou Huaian, "Did Village Chief Qu and his men deliver the truffles?"
"Not yet!" Zhang Xiuxiang looked at the time, "I'm afraid it will be here soon."
Zhou Huaian came over carrying a bamboo basket, "Second sister-in-law, have all the remaining truffles been sent to the oven?"
"There are still one or two hundred kilograms left to be washed, and the drying room can no longer hold them. We plan to light the oven and put the remaining ones in the oven to dry." Zhang Xiuxiang said and walked towards the backyard.
"Great!" Zhou Huaian put the aniseed and salt into the backpack, "Yan'er, I'll take these to the old house first."
Zhou Yiding put down a pile of bamboo baskets and said, "Youngest, let's go over and take a look."
Jiang Yu and the others hurriedly said, "Youngest, bring the meat we want over here."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian carried the backpack and went out with Zhou Yiding.
Yang Chunyan took out the purse in the room, which contained the money from selling truffles today. This time, she sent nearly two thousand kilograms of dried goods.
200 kilograms of special-grade goods and more than 400 kilograms of first-grade goods sold for nearly 10,000 yuan, and more than 500 kilograms of second-grade, 600 kilograms of third-grade and more than 200 kilograms of last-grade goods sold for a total of more than 10,000 yuan.
After deducting the cost, expenses, losses and labor, there is still a little more than half in profit. I make about 7,000 yuan per trip, and 40% of the profit is nearly 3,000 yuan.
The bonus of more than 34,000 yuan from the eldest brother was all deposited in the bank, and Wang Zhen would buy it and build a house to rent out after he found a suitable piece of land. (End of this chapter)
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