The weather was good on New Year's Eve. The sun was shining brightly in the morning, pouring down generously. People standing under the sun could still feel a hint of warmth.
But in the shade, the wind was chilly and the snow on the ground and branches had not yet melted.
Gao Mingcheng, wearing a thick military coat, gloves and a hat, drove a tractor all the way back to Gaojia Village.
When passing by Xing'an Mountains, we saw that Gao Shouwang's workshop was closed, and it was obvious that he was on holiday.
The overall economic situation of the society is average this year, but Gao Shouwang's workshop is doing well. This is because he has Gao Mingcheng, a stable big customer. In addition, he has also opened up some markets and become a well-known clothing supplier.
Dong Feixia had good tailoring skills. Gao Mingcheng gave her a lot of fashion magazines and the latest fashions from Yangcheng. After she disassembled and studied them, she made considerable progress in cutting and design. In addition, they had established connections with the county's textile factories and were able to get the latest and cheapest goods. Therefore, the products produced by the workshop were very competitive in the market.
It only takes five minutes to drive down from Xing'an Mountains and arrive at Gaojia Village.
The tractor stopped by the pond at the entrance of the village. Gao Shufang and Gao Mingli and his wife got off immediately and began to count the various things they were carrying.
Seeing that they were all able to carry it, Gao Mingcheng said, "I won't go over for now. I'll go to pay New Year's greetings tomorrow."
Gao Shufang responded: "Okay, I'll tell my parents."
After a brief stop, the tractor continued to drive towards Niuweiling. A few minutes later, the vehicle went around a small hill and stopped beside its own yard.
Dogs such as Black Tiger and Elf had already noticed the movement and came over here.
The two puppies born by Dahuang have grown a lot now. Their fur looks very soft, which can help them resist the cold.
By spring, the fluff will fade away and be replaced by shiny hair. The healthier the dog is, the better the coat color.
Xuanyuemei got off the car first, holding Xiaoxuxu, and Gao Mingcheng got off soon after. He said to Xuanyuemei, "You take the child home and rest first. I'll get the things!"
They had a lot of stuff, some of which were children's supplies and some of which were food for the New Year.
Because Gao Mingcheng did not go into the mountains to hunt wild boars, they bought 20 kilograms of pork. In addition to pork, they also bought rice, noodles, rice vermicelli, salt, soy sauce and other things.
The family only has one acre of land and grows rice twice a year. But after paying the public grain tax, there is not much left. Most of the food in the year is bought from farmers.
But fortunately, there is enough food. Although I still need to buy vegetables because I live in the county, sometimes when I go back to the village, I can bring a lot of vegetables to eat in the county.
This time when I go back to the village to celebrate the New Year, I don’t need to buy fresh vegetables. I only need to buy some dried goods, such as dried shiitake mushrooms, dried black fungus, dried bean curd, etc. As for dried sea fish and dried kelp, I bought a lot in Yangcheng last time, and now there are some left.
Gao Mingcheng was bending over to pick up something when Maozi led his brother over. Maozi smiled and said, "Brother Mingcheng, let us help you carry your things!"
"Yangyang and I cleaned the house inside and out yesterday. Brother Mingcheng, you just need to clean your room later."
"Also, Uncle Chen has prepared the fishing nets. We can start fishing as soon as you come back! Oh, and the chickens have laid a lot of eggs recently! Chickens don't like to lay eggs when the weather is cold, but Uncle Chen lights a fire in the chicken coop every night. The chickens are no longer cold, so they are willing to lay eggs."
Maozi kept talking, but his hands didn't rest either. He quickly helped Gao Mingcheng move all the things into the main room.
First move it to the main room, and after sorting it again, pour the rice into the rice jar, and take the noodles, rice vermicelli, salt, soy sauce, etc. to the kitchen.
Although Maozi's younger brother Yangyang has intellectual disabilities, he is a well-behaved person. He does whatever you ask him to do and he does quite well in things that are within his ability.
Gao Mingcheng listened to Maozi's words and saw that the house was clean everywhere, and he felt quite satisfied.
This year's New Year has more Russian brothers, which actually makes it more lively.
Just when I had finished tidying up everything, Chen Dasong came over with Chen Duofu and Chen Duoxi.
Chen Dasong laughed and said Happy New Year as soon as they met.
"Happy New Year." Gao Mingcheng replied with a smile.
"Mingcheng, do you want to go fishing today? The nets are ready, and the people have been called for you!" Chen Dasong laughed and pointed at the two sons he brought with him.
Gao Mingcheng said: "Okay, let's get ready to fish! After catching the fish, we'll kill the cow!"
"Kill the cow?" Chen Dasong was stunned.
Gao Mingcheng said: "Well, this cow never eats and howls all the time, making a lot of noise. We might as well kill it and eat its meat! Then we'll give you some extra beef so you can have a good New Year!"
The cow at home was suspected to have gallstones. Gao Mingcheng bought it for the purpose of betting whether there was bezoar in the cow's gallbladder. If there was, he would make a fortune!
Today is New Year's Eve. As soon as Gao Mingcheng came back, he arranged for everyone to catch fish and slaughter cattle. As soon as the news came out, everyone became full of enthusiasm!
Although there was snow on the grass, the water in the pond was not frozen.
In Gao Mingcheng's impression, even if it snows in the south, water sources such as ponds and rivers will not freeze, except for small puddles, which will be frozen into ice.
The pond of Gaoming Cheng's family is located at the foot of Xiaofu Mountain. It was originally a depression. After it was dug into a pond, water would gush out from the spring at the bottom. Whenever it rained, the accumulated water in the mountain would gather into the pond.
Because of the spring, the pond does not dry up even in winter and the water level is still one meter deep.
Fishing in big rivers is certainly a spectacular scene, but fishing in a small pond like this requires much less technical skills.
The mesh of the fishing net is three fingers wide, which is specially designed to catch big fish, while small fish can successfully escape from the mesh and continue to grow next year.
Gao Mingcheng stood on the left side of the pond, holding one side of the fishing net, while Chen Dasong stood on the right side of the pond, holding the other side of the fishing net. The two walked side by side for a few steps and dropped the fishing nets in their hands into the water.
There is a lead block at the bottom of the fishing net, which can fall down naturally. Because the water level is not deep, the upper half of the fishing net is exposed above the water.
After pulling the fishing net, you can walk from one end of the pond to the other. While walking, other people have to make noises to scare the fish in the pond. The frightened fish will run around and then be caught in the fishing net.
Manyuemei held little Xuxu and stood on the shore watching them fishing. The Chen Duofu brothers stood on one side and began clapping and shouting loudly. Seeing this, Maozi and his brother also started shouting and laughing, trying to drive the fish towards the fishing net.
Soon, the fish in the water were frightened. From time to time, they could be seen jumping out of the water or splashing water. Some fish were unfortunately entangled in the fishing net. As the fish struggled, the fishing net vibrated slightly.
After a while, Gao Mingcheng felt the weight of the fishing net and said, "Uncle Chen, we can lift the net now!"
"Okay!" Chen Dasong responded and cooperated with Gao Mingcheng to collect the fishing net. When the fishing net was dragged to the shore, they saw a lot of big fish entangled in the fishing net. Upon closer inspection, most of them were male fish and silver carp, because these two types of fish fry are very common and are suitable for growing in the water environment here.
In addition to these two types of fish, there are also a small amount of catfish, black carp, bream, etc. Bream is a herbivorous fish with a small head, a large body and a small tail. Because its body is relatively flat, it is easy to cook and flavor when braising. The bones are also not too many or too few.
Because there were so many large fish that they couldn't be put into buckets, they were put into bamboo baskets. The fish pulled out of the net were not dead yet and were jumping around, trying to jump back into the water.
Fish will not die in a short period of time after leaving the water. If you need to keep them for a few days before eating them, you can keep them in a basin of water.
The first net had a good harvest, but it was not enough, so they started to cast the second net. The pond was so small, and after these two nets, almost all the big fish in it were caught, and the remaining small fish were left to continue growing!
Gao Mingcheng counted the catch. There were twelve male fish and eight silver carp, all weighing more than five kilograms. The heaviest male fish was estimated to be over ten kilograms.
The reason why this fish is not big is that Gao Mingcheng caught it once during the Chinese New Year last year. During this year, he allowed it to grow without feeding it any additional fish feed.
In addition to these two types of fish, there is one black carp, two catfish, six breams, and two carp.
"Not bad, let's take it back first!" Gao Mingcheng was quite satisfied. These fish were enough to eat. He and Chen Duofu carried the fish back to their own yard, and then gave a male fish weighing five or six kilograms each to the Chen family and Zhang Chengyuan's family.
After catching the fish, it was almost eleven o'clock.
So they immediately prepared to slaughter the cattle.
A large pot of hot water had already been boiled on the stove. Although the cow did not need to be shaved, hot water was definitely needed. Otherwise, it would be uncomfortable enough to wash the cow's internal organs with cold water in this cold winter.
Slaughtering cows is different from slaughtering pigs. It is generally believed that cows are emotional animals and are very smart. If they see you holding a stick, a knife, or a rope, they will start to struggle restlessly and even shed tears.
Therefore, when slaughtering a cow, it is best to cover its eyes with an old piece of clothing so that it cannot see. Then lead it around a few times, and when it relaxes, use an axe, hammer or other tools to hit the cow's head. After a while, the cow's cervical vertebrae will be smashed and the cow will faint. At this time, cut the cow's tendons to prevent the cow from struggling and running, and then bleed it, skin it, and gut it.
However, this is a common way of slaughtering cattle. A real master can directly cut the cow's trachea with a knife and bleed it directly.
Gao Mingcheng chose the latter. He first tied the cow to a pillar, then covered the cow's eyes with an old piece of clothing, and with a knife he stabbed the cow from behind its ear and quickly cut off its trachea, causing it to die quickly. The bright red, hot cow's blood also spurted out instantly and was caught in a basin placed underneath.
Beef blood can also be eaten, but its taste is not as delicate as pig blood.
Only half a basin of blood was filled when the cow collapsed to the ground.
The next step is to skin the cow. This cow has been raised for eight years and has a big skeleton, but it is also very thin. Gao Mingcheng, Chen Dasong and Chen Duofu work together to skin it, and their speed is not slow.
When they were preparing to slaughter the cow, Xuanyuemei carried little Xuxu out of the house, not wanting the child to see this cruel scene.
But even a hundred meters away from home, the cows' wailing sounds could still be heard from afar.
Little Xuxu seemed frightened, but also looked in the direction of the sound out of curiosity.
"Don't listen." Manyumei said softly, trying to divert his attention elsewhere.
At this time, her second sister Duoyu came over with her son Xiao Shitou.
When Xuanyu saw Xuanmei, she immediately greeted her with a smile. The two sisters hadn't seen each other for a while, so they were very affectionate.
During the Chinese New Year, Xuanyu felt a lot more relaxed because on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, pig dealers would come to buy pigs. After selling the pigs at home, she naturally had a lot more free time.
Now that she has some money in her hands, she said with a smile on her face that she must build the house next year.
When she heard her second sister bring up the topic of building a house again, Xuanyue didn't ask her whether she was planning to bake bricks or buy bricks.
After the two sisters chatted for a while, they could no longer hear the cow's wailing, so Xuanyuemei and Xuanyueyu took their children and walked towards the yard over there.
When I got home, the cow was already being skinned.
It was almost noon, so Xuanmei prepared to go to the kitchen to cook, but when she entered the kitchen, she saw Maozi was already busy.
Seeing her come in, Maozi smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, I'll cook!"
He cooks and his younger brother Yangyang lights the fire, the two brothers work together quite well.
Many Americans have never eaten the food cooked by Maozi, but they have heard from Gao Mingcheng that Maozi's cooking skills are pretty good, so they asked Maozi what he was going to cook.
Maozi said confidently: "Stewed male fish head, stir-fried beef with dried chili peppers, ox blood soup, and stir-fried cabbage."
During the Chinese New Year, there will be abundance every year, so of course there must be fish on the dinner table.
Except for the fish that were sent to Chen Dasong's family and Zhang Chengyuan's family, the rest were temporarily kept in wooden basins. When we go to the old village in the afternoon, we will also send some to Xi Nainai and the others.
"Okay, then I'll wait to eat the meal you cook." Xuanyuemei said with a smile.
Since she didn't need to cook, she went to the yard and watched Gao Mingcheng and others busy themselves.
The cow's blood in the basin had begun to solidify and was bright red in color, looking like red jelly.
Pig blood and beef blood are usually cooked into soup, but they can also be fried, just a bit more troublesome.
Many beautiful eyes swept across the basin of cow blood and looked at Gao Mingcheng.
Gao Mingcheng held a sharp blade and peeled the skin quickly. With every cut, the progress of the skinning could be seen with the naked eye.
The color of the peeled beef is pretty good, the meat is red and the fat is yellow. At first glance, it looks yellow and red.
But after peeling the skin, it is more obvious that the cow is very thin.
After a few more minutes, the cow was finally skinned and could proceed to the next step.
When the belly was cut open, many beautiful women couldn't help but breathe heavily.
Because only she knew why Gao Mingcheng bought this sick cow.
Last time, Gao Mingcheng obtained bezoar from a sick cow that he bought by chance. That little bit of bezoar was sold for tens of thousands of yuan!
So, is there any bezoar in this cow's body? (End of this chapter)
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