After dinner, when Old Ma and Aunt Ma arrived at An Moxue's house and saw Ji Jifeng and Lightning, they felt a chill run down their spines. It had been so long since they had seen them, and their eyes were gleaming with a sinister green light, which was quite unsettling.
Aunt Ma asked An Moxue nervously, "Moxue, they look much fiercer." Old Ma nodded in agreement, even ignoring the game piled up next to them.
"It's alright, Auntie, don't be afraid. I'll have them come with me to take the wild boar away in a little while, and then I'll let them go back inside when I get back."
"Okay." Old Ma nodded.
Then Anmo harnessed them to a sled, put the largest wild boar on it, and pulled them to the village chief's house.
When Village Chief Guo watched An Moxue arrive with the wild boar on a sled pulled by wolves, he was speechless, looking rather angry but unable to express it.
An Moxue, pretending not to notice Village Chief Guo's expression, said, "Uncle Guo, this pig is one I hunted today. I've given it to the village; you can decide what to do with it. Also, tonight I'll have Gale and Lightning circle the mountains around the village. Tell the militia that if they hear wolves howling or anything, don't pay attention. I reckon if they circle around our village for two or three days, no more wolf packs will come to our village, especially lone wolves; they won't dare to come."
Upon hearing her explanation, Village Chief Guo realized that the wolves that had come before were unrelated to these two, and asked, "Does this trick work?"
"It's guaranteed to work. Two wolf kings can't even intimidate a few wild wolves?" An Moxue said confidently.
“Okay, I’ll go tell the militia in a bit, and also announce it over the loudspeaker, so that no one gets scared by the wolf’s howl and causes panic. Just let everyone know so we can be prepared. Take this pig to the brigade headquarters; someone’s on duty there.”
“Okay, no problem.” After saying that, An Moxue looked around again and found that there was no one around. She then whispered to Village Chief Guo, “Uncle Guo, you can stay up a little later tonight. Leave the door open and I’ll bring you some meat.”
After saying that, without waiting for Village Chief Guo's reply, he spurred the two wolves to turn around and head towards the brigade headquarters.
After watching her walk away, Village Chief Guo put his hands in his pockets and walked towards the militia company.
When An Moxue returned home after delivering the wild boar, Aunt Ma had already boiled a large pot of water, Uncle Ma had already skinned the deer and was skinning the roe deer, and Aunt Ma was also plucking the feathers from the pheasant.
Seeing this, An Moxue said to Aunt Ma, "Auntie, you don't know, when I first came here, during the autumn harvest, I bought a chicken. When I got home, I thought plucking the feathers would be easy, but I didn't expect it to be so difficult. It took me more than an hour, and I still couldn't get the feathers off. In the end, I finally managed to skin the chicken. Then, I thought, 'Next time I eat chicken, I'll definitely hire someone to clean the feathers.' Alas, I was too naive. After staying for a while, I realized that if you dare to pay someone to plucking your chicken, you'll definitely become famous, and not for a good reason. For a long time, I'd rather skin a pig than clean a chicken. Luckily, I have you now."
Aunt Ma suppressed a laugh, thinking to herself that she had never seen her pluck chicken feathers before, and now she realized why.
Old Ma rolled his eyes and said irritably, "You have the nerve to talk about something so embarrassing? Get back to work! How can you make two old men like us work here? You'll see."
"Hey, I'm telling you, old man, you don't want to eat meat anymore, do you? Don't forget, I hunted this myself. I just got back, and you're already refusing to do it? I think you've got quite a temper!" Turning around, he started urging Aunt Ma, "Auntie, don't go home. Stay with me these days! Let this old man go home and fend for himself!"
Aunt Ma suppressed a laugh and nodded in agreement: "I think it's a good idea."
Old Ma glared at her, then stopped talking and vented his anger on the roe deer.
An Moxue and Aunt Ma exchanged glances and secretly smiled.
“Girl, there are only a few days left until the New Year. Why don’t you spend it with us this year?” Aunt Ma suddenly said.
"No, Auntie, I'm fine on my own."
"How can it be good? Poor old couple, our son won't even come home for the New Year. We wanted to spend the New Year with you, but you wouldn't agree," Aunt Ma said gloomily.
"Auntie, is it just the two of you this year?" An Moxue had planned that since their son and grandson would be back for the New Year, she wouldn't disturb their family reunion.
"Yes, that's right. A bunch of unfilial children and grandchildren, none of them are coming back to celebrate the New Year with us. They think we're too old and they're tired of us. It's a pity about all the sacrifices we've made over the years, now we're all alone during the New Year, with no one to keep us company," Old Ma continued, feeling sorry for us.
"Okay, I'll go with you, alright?" An Moxue didn't want to listen anymore. She could tell that the old couple wanted to spend the New Year with her, but were afraid she would refuse.
"OK."
"good."
The elderly couple immediately beamed with joy.
Aunt Ma asked, "Mo Xue, is there anything you want to eat? We need to start preparing."
An Moxue thought for a moment and said, "Auntie, I want to have a whole fish feast. After I go to pay respects to our ancestors tomorrow, I'll catch a few big fish and we'll have a whole fish feast together!"
Aunt Guo asked, "Okay, is there any more?"
An Moxue thought for a moment: "Auntie, what are you good at?"
Aunt Guo said, "I'm good at cooking dishes from our northern region. If you want to talk about how well I cook them, I really can't think of any. They're all pretty much the same. Our dishes may look rough, but the ingredients are very particular. If they're even a little bit off, you can't get the right taste."
Old Ma said, "My favorite dishes are your aunt's stir-fried fatty and lean pork, braised pork intestines, pickled cabbage with pork belly, braised pork knuckle, and braised pork liver..."
Aunt Ma interrupted him, "Stop! Is there any dish I make that you don't like?"
An Moxue suppressed a laugh and said, "Auntie, I love all the dishes you make. How about we make pickled venison sometime?"
Aunt Ma said, "Then eat here tomorrow afternoon when you come back from the ancestral worship ceremony. It won't work at our house; the venison smells too strong, and the neighbors can smell it too."
The three of them continued to tidy up the wild animals while talking about food.
An Moxue said, "Auntie, how about we clean all these offal tonight and braise it?"
“Okay, we can also braise a chicken and a rabbit. Just heat them up when we want to eat them.” Aunt Ma spoke about food with great efficiency.
An Moxue sighed, "If only I were busy with food and clothing, waking up early to think about what to eat for the day and staying up late to think about what to eat for tomorrow. Three meals a day, three meals a year, four seasons a year, and the cycle of the seasons is also a kind of happiness."
Old Ma sighed, "Yes! So many people are unaware of their good fortune. For so many, even simple meals are a luxury."
He has experienced too many ups and downs, and it is precisely this simple routine of working at sunrise and resting at sunset that is most precious to him.
After the wild game was prepared, An Moxue took a basket and filled it with a large piece each of wild boar meat, venison, and roe deer meat before leaving the house.
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