Chapter 30

Pig Killer

At night, Chen Lili and Chen Lina slept on the same kang. After all, they are sisters. Seeing that she was really having a hard time, she had to pester her and ask her some kind words.

For example, is it easy to take care of a child? Is it difficult to raise a child? And does a man have any way to avoid pregnancy when he is having sex?

Otherwise, there are only three now. When she gets pregnant, she will have another one. Even if we have a car, coal to burn and meat to eat, we will have a headache just looking at so many children.

Chen Lina fell asleep early without saying a word, which made Chen Lili quite unhappy.

In fact, Chen Lina was worried that Nie Weimin might eavesdrop. This little guy is a sneaky guy. He listens to and remembers everything the adults say.

Early the next morning, Nie Bozhao remembered to set an example for Chen Lina, so he got up early and prepared to cook porridge and soup for breakfast. However, Chen Lili got up earlier than him, and when he got up, she was already washing rice.

"My sister must be tired from working so hard. We are here, even if we only stay for a day. I will make breakfast today." We are a family, and diligence is hereditary.

Nie Bozhao couldn't get the cooking job, so he had to go out to sweep the ground. Fortunately, it didn't snow yesterday, so the yard was relatively clean. He thought to himself, "I'm sorry, for Comrade Chen to be happy, I have to sacrifice myself and set an example for you."

Who knew that as soon as I went out, Chen Lili was already grabbing the bags.

With a few swipes, she swept the yard clean.

When the three kids got up, Chen Lili had already boiled some hot water and started to wipe their faces one by one.

You know, with Chen Lina, except for Xiao Sandan who needs her help to put on clothes and she brushes his teeth herself because she is afraid that he will get cavities, Nie Weimin and Erdan both need to brush their teeth and wash their faces by themselves, and they have to pour water for them themselves.

Even the land has to be swept by Nie Weimin recently.

Nie Weimin was older and more sensible, and he also knew that people's appearance, interactions and communication in one day, one year, or even a lifetime are two completely different things.

Erdan was little and didn’t understand. He jumped up and down on the kang and said, “Ahhh, Auntie is better than Mommy. Help me wash my face.”

That was not all. After a day without having to sweep the floors or pick up coal briquettes, Erdan felt extremely happy. But when he heard that his aunt was going to Mulan Farm soon, he became unhappy.

"Aunt, Aunt, can you stay and be our mother too?" he asked as he chased after Chen Lili.

When people visit their relatives, they must be diligent. This is an old tradition of Qinzhou people.

Moreover, Chen Lili herself still has no children, so of course she loves children a little bit, and perhaps she is a little bit vain, so she said, "I want to be your mother, what will your mother do?"

Erdan thought naively, "She is also my mother, and you are also my mother. You feed us, pick up coal briquettes, sweep the floor, and cook for us. My mother..." He deliberately left the question in suspense, and then said, "My mother will be just like us in the future. She will just eat, and when she is full, she will go to the jujube forest in the back to catch sparrows and feed rabbits. I don't want her to work all day long."

Chen Lili was having fun playing with the child. When she looked up, she saw her sister looking unhappy. Suddenly she came to her senses and said, "Lina, I didn't spoil the child for you, did I?"

"They've gotten used to it. You know, it took me a long time to be a bad guy to teach them to brush their teeth by themselves, and it took me a long time to teach them to be willing to go out and fetch coal briquettes by themselves. Sister, you should hurry up and go to Mulan Farm. If you keep getting used to it, these three kids will become what they are now."

Having said that, Chen Lina turned around and went back to the house.

In view of the fact that Wang Hongbing was an illegal resident, Nie Bozhao specially found Fu Yongdong to go to Mulan Farm together.

After all, Chen Lina had just had a big fight with Huang Huacai, and there were many bad elements, stinky old nines and Su Xiu in Mulan Farm.

But if Chen Lina goes there and some bad elements are caught, I'm afraid the leaders of the mining area will have to deal with them impartially.

After watching Chen Lili and Wang Hongbing get into the Hongqi car, Erdan followed for a long time, and only returned reluctantly after the car left the base.

Moreover, as soon as he entered the room, he fell down with his dirty little butt and was about to climb directly onto the chair cushion that Chen Lina had washed clean.

"Erdan, how's your aunt?" Chen Lina's tone was sinister, well, she turned into stepmother mode.

Erdan was still heartless. "Okay, that's great. After I grabbed the coal briquettes, my dirty hands grabbed the tablecloth. She didn't scold me. She said it was okay and let her wash it herself."

"Did she wash it for you now?" Chen Lina said, and gave her a loud slap on the buttocks. "Look, I hit you. Can she do anything about it?"

"You never wash my face or feed me. I want my aunt. When she comes, I only play with her. I won't take you to the date forest to catch sparrows."

Erdan was really sad. After all, he thought that with an aunt helping with the housework, this beautiful mother would not have to work and could just play with him. But who knew that she would spank him again.

"Go out and wash your hands and pat your butt clean before coming back in, or I'll leave you in the small bedroom to sleep alone tonight."

Originally, Chen Lina did not have such deep feelings for her children. She simply felt that it was pitiful that no one cared for them, they wore tattered clothes, and were bullied. Of course, she also did not want Nie Bozhao to be like his previous life, devoting his whole life to the Republic, enjoying such a high prestige in the entire oil industry, but being dragged down by his three children, and living a depressed and unhappy life.

Of course, even the completely indulgent love he had for her in his previous life was based on the fact that he felt guilty about his children and had no way to vent his remorse, so he poured everything into her.

Somehow, as time went by, raising these three children became her responsibility.

In fact, I gradually began to feel sorry for them in my heart, but I still had to maintain the proper dignity on the surface.

These words frightened Erdan so much that he let out a cry and started crying, then went to wash his hands with soap.

In the afternoon, Chen Lina was going to visit Mama Ham's house next door.

Little Nie Weimin was feeding rabbits at home with Chen Tiantian and Sandan, and refused to go. Erdan was very worried because his mother was angry, and was also afraid that she was still angry with him, so he followed behind and asked, "Mom, can I go with you?"

Chen Lina said "OK", and the child almost jumped up with joy.

Mother Ha is knitting a skirt for herself. No matter how cold the weather is, Ha women will wear woolen pants inside and long skirts outside. They do not wear trousers like Han women.

After exchanging a few words, Mother Ham was still eager to ask whether Chen Lina had a younger sister. Obviously, she did.

Because of the diligence of the two sisters, Mother Ham was jealous and wanted to find a wife as diligent as this for Harbin Institute of Technology.

Chen Lina was not here to chat, of course. She said, "Mother Ham, you always have to feed the horses at night. Have you noticed that there are always people walking around behind our property at midnight?"

Mother Ham immediately lowered her voice and said, "Yes, it is a boy and a girl, right?"

Chen Lina nodded repeatedly, "Yes."

"I don't know if he is a good person or a bad person. I think the girl is from Mulan Farm. Who do you think the boy is?"

Because they were wrapped tightly and the wall was high, Chen Lina only saw them twice and never got a clear look at their faces, so she couldn't tell who they were.

"If they are really Soviet revisionists, it would be better to report to the base as soon as possible. Xiao Chen, who do you think should go, you or me?" asked Mother Ham.

Chen Lina thought for a moment and said, "Let's wait another night. If the two of them show up again tonight, I'll stop them and ask them about it first."

Don't let a bad guy go, but don't wrongly accuse a good guy either.

This is an age where good and evil are reversed. Chen Lina herself is a stinking ninth grader, and she is afraid that she will wrongly accuse a good person. After all, if she is caught wandering around in the oil base, she will be directly held criminally responsible.

When Chen Lili and Wang Hongbing arrived at Mulan Farm, they were so shocked that they didn't know how to describe it.

Rich, Mulan Farm is really rich.

Unlike oil bases that have coal distributed by the state as a welfare benefit, they have no coal and have to build houses on the ground. Of course, it is too cold to live in, so most of the people live in caves dug out of the ground.

Passing by a nest of trees, I saw a big white steamed bun thrown on the roof. In the middle of winter, groups of sparrows gathered around it and were eating the white steamed bun.

But when we walked a little further, we found that some of the nests did not have white steamed buns on them.

"This place is really rich. What a pity for the big white steamed buns. Throwing them away like this is a waste of natural resources."

Chen Lili looked at it and felt very sad. "We have been eating 85 flour for six or seven years. That is the best flour. Usually we eat bean flour and sorghum stalk flour. I didn't expect that the border areas are so rich that people don't eat white bread and throw it to the birds."

The driver, Xiao Chen, said, "It depends. Those are all from Zhang County, and all of them have the surname Sun. If you pass by other dens, it won't be the same."

Sure enough, after walking a little further, the holes we passed by were clean and there were no white steamed buns thrown on them.

Moreover, just by looking at the faces of those people sunbathing on the roadside with their hands in their sleeves, you can tell that they probably haven't eaten enough, and they all look pale and thin.

In Mulan Farm, the relocated households were divided according to the county-level units in the inland area. People from the same county would live together, while the educated youth lived separately.

In order to prevent Huang Huacai from crying again if she saw them, Nie Bozhao left Fu Yongdong behind and asked him to help settle Wang Hongbing and his wife. After getting in the Red Flag car, he went back to the base.

Fu Yongdong was responsible for finding a way to help Chen Lili and Wang Hongbing to register for household registration and receive daily necessities.

Fu Yongdong also had a way. Since Wang Hongbing was an illegal resident, he actually carved a seal with carrots, and then wrote a handwritten letter of introduction, in which he described Wang Hongbing as a native of Zhang County.

Sure enough, when the warehouse storage department saw that they were from Zhang County, they not only gave them adequate labor protection supplies, but also prepared to assign them to the dugout belonging to the people of Zhang County.

Chen Lili refused to agree and kept begging, and only then did the Custody Department put them with the crowd belonging to Qingshui County.

Although the distance between them is not far, the people of Qingshui are simple and honest, while the people of Zhangxian are difficult, aggressive, and clique-like, so the people of these two counties have always looked down on each other.

The comrade from the Storage Section said meaningfully, "Comrade Wang Hongbing, we have to draw a clear line here. Qingshui County and Zhang County are irreconcilable. It's either black or white. There is no gray area."

Wang Hongbing smiled, said nothing, and offered a cigarette to the comrade from the Custody Section.

After receiving a thick cotton mattress, a hoe, a plow handle and other items, they were assigned to a shabby cave. As soon as Wang Hongbing entered, he waited for Chen Lili to spread out the cotton mattress and lie down. "Oh, Lili, we are finally home. I heard that the people next door also speak with our Qingshui accent. You go to the next door and use the iron pot as an excuse. I will lie down for a while."

Chen Lili responded and went out to borrow a pot without saying anything.

After borrowing a pot and heating up the water, they cleaned and swept the room. Chen Lili was just about to take a break and untie the things her sister had tied up for her when she heard Wang Hongbing say, "Hurry up. I'm really fed up with the mutton I had yesterday. I want to eat mutton again. We have half a lamb and some noodles. Stew some mutton and make some pancakes for us."

"You just fell asleep like this?" Happiness comes from comparison. When walking to Umayyi, what Chen Lili was thinking was, oh, when I get there, I will be able to eat noodles and mutton every day, which is actually quite nice.

But when she arrived, she saw that her sister lived in a family area with a flat cement road and straight poplar and jujube trees. There was half a carload of coal in the shed outside that she could burn to feed sheep and chickens.

Looking at myself again, I was trapped in this den, with nothing at home, and of course I felt unhappy.

If they were to start a fight, Wang Hongbing would be the first to do it. "The laborer is a senior engineer at the oil base, and at home he sweeps the floor and washes dishes. But you, a capitalist roader, should be paraded through the streets in Qisi Township. I went through so much trouble to bring you here, and you have the nerve to lie down and ask me to cook for you."

The new broom came crashing down and hitting Wang Hongbing, who was so frightened that he flipped over. "Hey, you must be jealous, Chen Lili. Do you regret not coming with Nie Bozhao?"

"Yes, I regret it a lot, not because I didn't come with Nie Gong, but because you, Wang Hongbing, are not considerate."

As she spoke, she started crying.

When Wang Hongbing was lame, Chen Lili carried him all the way. Now she realized that she was wrong, so she limped and jumped up to chop and cook the mutton.

With a smile and sighing, he said, "You're right, Sun Zhuan'nan is dead. If he wasn't dead, he would definitely be the district chief in the future. As for Lao Nie, let me tell you, why do I feel that your Lina can't handle him? You don't know, he voluntarily stayed in this frontier to do research. If he went to the provincial capital of Hongyan and Beijing, many women would chase him. I guess you haven't heard that he lost his wife. If you knew, I don't know how many women would chase him to the frontier."

Chen Lili didn't think it was a big deal. In her opinion, her sister did a good job of beating up the laborer.

After all, Chen Lina was more scheming and skillful than her. If she wanted to marry a man, she would have to hire many matchmakers. She would have arranged the marriage without any hesitation.

Chen Lili felt that Chen Lina's life was not a big problem except that it was a bit troublesome to take care of the children.

Feeling a little aggrieved, she opened the large woven bags that Chen Lina had given her and immediately covered her mouth with her hands while she let out a sigh.

First, there was a small iron pot, which was said to cost 100 work points on the farm. Bowls and chopsticks were neatly placed in the pot, and there were noodles in the bowls, in small oilcloth bags, and packets of seasoning, and a can of cooking oil.

Below that was a large cotton quilt weighing ten kilograms. To buy this item at Mulan Farm, one had to earn three hundred work points.

In other words, a person has to work for thirty consecutive days a month and earn ten work points to earn it.

Below that were shoes and cotton-padded jackets that were patched for her and Wang Hongbing. Under the jackets, there were several pairs of woolen socks. No one knew where she had the skills to weave them.

If calculated in terms of work points, it would take her and Wang Hongbing nearly half a year to earn these things, and if calculated in terms of money, it would be at least three hundred yuan.

My sister didn't complain at all, so I prepared all these for her.

At the oil base, Chen Lina is cooking.

Yesterday’s roasted lamb leg was so delicious that Nie Weimin kept thinking about it and wanted to eat it again today. However, Erdan didn’t want to eat it anymore because he was hurt while eating lamb yesterday and wanted to eat lamb chops instead.

"Besides the lazy dumplings, is there anything else you want to eat, Erdan? Today, Mommy is only eating you."

After a slap, she has to give a candy, otherwise the child will not like her anymore.

To Chen Lina, I may not love you, but you have to love me, this is a must.

Erdan thought about it and suddenly remembered something. "I want to eat the cadres' rural dishes, big vermicelli, big slices of meat, fungus and eggs, and eat them with steamed bread. It's delicious."

When the cadres from Qisi Township went to the countryside and visited Lao Nie's house, Huang Guilan treated them to the cadres' countryside dishes, also known as pig-killing dishes.

Erdan wanted to get some, but his grandmother slapped him several times and sent him flying. That was the thing the kid had always been most greedy for and wanted to eat the most.

Chen Lina waved her hands and said, "This is impossible. Don't you see that there are people from different nationalities next door to us? They respect us, and we have to respect them too. At present, we can only eat mutton, not pork."

"Why, Comrade Xiao Chen, why can't we eat pork?" Little Nie Weimin was very curious.

Chen Lina didn't know what to say. "Anyway, if you want to eat it, let's go to Mulan Farm when we have time. Mom will make it for you. At the base, Mom Ham is next door, so we can't eat it. This is to respect her customs."

In fact, after the reform and opening up, ethnic taboos such as not eating pork are no longer a big deal among ethnic groups. However, before the reform and opening up, some ethnic groups were very taboo about it.

Chen Lina can make the clear distinction between not blindly following certain customs, but also not being unconventional or causing ethnic conflicts.

"But Dad wants to eat it too. He always says that when we return to our hometown, there will be country food for the cadres to eat. But when we return to our hometown, there is nothing, not at all." When he said this, Nie Weimin smacked his lips and wanted to eat it too.

Speaking of cadres' rural dishes, also known as pig-killing dishes, you really have to use pork to make that kind of taste.

What to do if there is no pork?

Chen Lina thought for a long time, cut a piece of frozen lean beef from the window, hit it with a knife first, broke all the grains and fascia inside, added star anise powder and starch to marinate, and then added soaked vermicelli and black fungus, and two loosely fried eggs. She smelled the odor after cooking it out of the pot. Hmm, this is an authentic dish for cadres going to the countryside.

The Hongqi sedan was parked outside the yard. When Nie Bozhao smelled the familiar scent of star anise and cinnamon, he felt something was wrong.

He and Xiao Chen were carrying some things. As soon as they entered the room, they did not dare to disturb Chen Lina and the children, and put them directly in the study.

When I came out of the study, the food was already on the table.

Perhaps it was a kind of nostalgia. Nie Bozhao took a bite of the food with his chopsticks and said, "This is pork. Kazakhs don't have this kind of stuff. Xiao Chen, have you found a Han Chinese businessman recently?"

"Try it again?" Chen Lina said as she pinched off another piece of meat and handed it to Nie Bozhao.

He chewed it twice and said, "It's really pork."

How should I put it? It was the taste of the dish his mother fried for him when she bought him a piece of meat, a bowl of vermicelli, an egg and some black fungus before she sold him for fifty dollars when he was a kid.

Nie Bozhao was very happy eating at that time.

She had no idea that she had to sell him for fifty dollars before she could pay for the meat he had eaten.