Chapter 52 Fat Pig
As we enter mid-August, the busy farming season comes to a temporary end.
After resting at home for a day, everyone went back into the mountains to find wild produce. Mo An also went into the mountains with Zhao Xiaoyong, sometimes bringing back wild fruits, sometimes chestnuts, and sometimes wood ear mushrooms and wild vegetables.
The pigs in the brigade have grown to 160-170 jin (approximately 80-95 kg) and eat a lot every day, sometimes requiring three batches of pig feed to be cooked. In addition to pig feed from the mountain, Molly grows sweet potatoes and various melons, and the brigade also sends over some sweet potato vines.
Molly and Aunt Fang became even busier.
When people have some free time, they occasionally come to look at the pigs in the pigpen.
"My pigs only weigh a little over 100 pounds, how come there's such a big difference?"
"What do your pigs eat, and what do the pigs in the brigade eat? How many of your pigs are full after three meals a day?"
"Besides pig feed, what else is there?"
"I also fed them vegetables, sweet potatoes and pumpkins, but not much, only once or twice a month. The rest of the time they ate pig feed from the mountain."
“Your pigs at least grow to 100 pounds. My pig seems to be sick; it only grew to 78 pounds and then stopped growing. I plan to slaughter it in the next few days.”
"Oh my, slaughtering a pig? Do you sell pork? I'd like to order two pounds."
"We'll sell them, but we have to make back the money we spent on the piglets. But there are so many people in the brigade, and there's only so much meat from the pigs. It's impossible for you to get two pounds; at most, you can get one or two pounds."
"Okay, take as many as you want, I don't mind."
In early October, Molly decided to slaughter the pigs. The two sows in the pigpen were very pregnant and about to give birth. The pigpen was a bit crowded, so it was time to clean it up and make some room.
One day at noon, after Mo An went to school, Molly took a knife and butchered two pigs. When Mo An came home from school, he was stunned to see three large wooden basins filled with butchered pork and blood sausages hanging under the eaves.
How did his sister manage that in just one afternoon?
"You're back just in time. There's still some hot blood sausage in the pot. After we finish eating, we'll take some things over to my older sister's house." Molly said, taking out a basket and first putting in a pig's head, since her sister likes braised pig's head. Then she put in a large intestine, pig liver, pig stomach, a large piece of pork belly weighing seven or eight pounds, and a piece of pork fat.
These two pigs are very large and very fat; their fat would be perfect for rendering oil.
The entire basket weighed over forty kilograms, but it was no problem for eleven-year-old Mo'an. That year, Mo'an ate well and became taller and stronger than other children his age in the village. Because he often went into the mountains, his endurance and stamina also improved.
Mo An ate the blood sausage, her mouth bulging, "Second sister, when did you learn to make this? It's so delicious."
“I once heard Aunt Guihua mention how to make blood sausage, and I thought I’d give it a try.” Molly said, taking two pieces of blood sausage from the pot and putting them on a plate. “Take this to your older sister too.”
When Mo An arrived at Mo He's house, the Mo family of three had just returned from work and hadn't even washed their hands.
Upon seeing Mo An, Li Xiaoju was even more enthusiastic than Mo He. She first took the plate from Mo An's hand and then helped Mo An take the basket off his back.
"Wow, it's so heavy! What good stuff is it?" Li Xiaoju smiled, her face crinkling with wrinkles.
"My second sister slaughtered a pig today and brought some over for you. The blood sausage is still warm, so eat it quickly," Mo An said.
Mo He exclaimed in surprise, "They're already slaughtering the pig?"
Mo An winked at his eldest sister, but started talking nonsense, "I was craving meat, so I asked my second sister to kill it."
"This meat is so fatty!" Li Xiaoju exclaimed. "Didn't Molly bring back five piglets? How come your pigs are growing so fast? This pig must be 180 by now!"
"Because my second sister knows how to raise pigs." Mo An thought to herself that it was more than 180 jin, it was already 200 jin, otherwise her sister wouldn't have slaughtered it now.
"Why did you bring so much meat?" Mo He frowned.
"Second sister said she wouldn't sell the pork; she'd keep it all for her family. Eldest sister, please don't tell anyone that second sister slaughtered pigs, or everyone will come to buy meat, and we won't have any left to eat." Mo An didn't mention that her second sister had slaughtered two pigs. If the Zhao family found out that her second sister had slaughtered two pigs and wouldn't sell them, who knows what they would say about her.
Li Xiaoju pouted, "Your second sister really knows how to eat."
How much money could all that meat have been worth? Molly ate it all; what a waste!
Mo An's expression was not good. "Second Sister is not only willing to eat, but also willing to give you some to eat."
After saying that, he took the meat out one by one, picked up the basket on his back, and left.
"Hey Xiao An, have some food before you go!" Li Xiaoju called out to Mo An's retreating figure, but Mo An only quickened his pace. Li Xiaoju was dumbfounded. "Why is this child so temperamental?"
"He's just protecting his sister. Mother, please don't speak ill of Molly anymore," Zhao Shangxun said helplessly.
"I wasn't saying anything bad, is it wrong to complain a little?" Besides, she wasn't wrong.
Mo He glanced at Li Xiaoju, washed his hands, grabbed a piece of blood sausage and started eating it, leaving only a short piece.
"Xiaohe, shouldn't you have cut up the blood sausage and waited for us to eat it together?" Li Xiaoju said with a smile, afraid of upsetting Mohe as well.
"My sister brought it to me. She said it wouldn't taste good when it's cold, so I naturally have to eat it while it's hot," Mo He said, taking a bite in front of Li Xiaoju with a contented expression. "My sister's cooking skills are getting better and better."
Li Xiaoju: "......."
The next morning, Molly packed three sacks of pork. One sack weighed a little over 100 pounds, and the other two weighed a little less, but still over 10 pounds. In addition to the pork, she also packed a sack of yams and a sack of corn flour.
Before dawn, Molly set off with her load on her shoulder and hurried toward town. She was lucky; the driver and conductor on this bus that morning were people she knew.
As soon as she saw Molly, Sister Sun's eyes lit up, "Molly!"
"Sister Sun." Molly carried the things to the car and handed one of the bags to Sister Sun. "Same as usual, take those three bags to the usual place. You and Master Qian can decide how to distribute this bag. This is my own pig, it's very fat."
Sister Sun smiled, her eyes crinkling. "Okay. I'll make sure it's delivered to you."
As Xu Xia'an walked out of the commune after get off work, a car stopped right in front of him.
"Comrade Xu Xia'an." The driver and ticket seller clearly recognized him. "Here's something for you."
Xu Xia'an smiled and said, "Thank you for your help."
"No trouble at all." Getting two pounds of meat for free, she couldn't wait for such a good thing to happen every day.
Xu Xia'an unloaded his things from the car, went back to his office to get a carrying pole and a rope, which he had specially kept in his office to deal with this situation.
Xia An didn't get home until it was dark.
"We still need to get a bicycle ticket, otherwise in winter, it gets dark early, and we won't be able to see the road when we come back," Qiao Ye said.
Xu Xia'an was slightly out of breath. "I started saving all sorts of receipts last year. My boss has a bicycle voucher for next month, and I asked him to let me exchange it with him. He agreed. So I should be able to get the bicycle next month."
"Why are you breathing so heavily?" Qiao Ye came out with a lamp and saw Xu Xia'an putting down the load on her shoulder. When she saw the several large bags, she was taken aback. "Are these the things your sister-in-law brought with her again?"
Xu Xia'an nodded and handed one of the bags to Qiao Ye, saying, "This is a gift from my sister-in-law to our family."
Qiao Ye took it and went to the kitchen. Her sisters-in-law were preparing dinner in the kitchen. When they saw her coming in with the things, they immediately surrounded her.
Five pieces of pork belly, each weighing about two pounds, with wide, white, and shiny layers of fat, glistening with oil.
"My sister-in-law has finally stopped sending pig heads," Xu Xia'an joked.
"This meat looks great; the pig must be quite big."
"This meat is perfect for braised pork."
"We don't have any sugar at home. It's so fatty, we should render it into oil and save it for cooking."
"We can't render all of it into oil, can we? It's been so long since I've had such beautiful pork. Let's slice it thinly and make twice-cooked pork with lots of chili peppers. It'll be perfect with rice."
"I think this way of eating is feasible."
The Xu family's house was filled with the aroma of meat tonight, and the children were all eating with greasy mouths, as happy as if it were New Year's Day.
Xu Xia'an delivered 100 jin of pork, a sack of corn flour, and a sack of yams to the farm in the dark. After delivering the goods, he rushed home. He was exhausted from today's work as a porter, and he had to go to work tomorrow morning, so he needed to hurry home and get some sleep.
The entire Ji family gathered around the bag of meat, their eyes wide with amazement. Molly had indeed brought the meat to them.
The weather in October is a bit cool, but the meat still needs to be processed, otherwise it will go bad.
The aunt was a little troubled, "Should we make it into braised pork or smoke it?"
After a moment's thought, Mrs. Ji made a decision: "We don't have enough space to smoke it, so let's make it into braised pork."
Aunt: "The jars are ready, so let's get started now?"
Mrs. Ji: "It has to be made now, I don't have time during the day. I have a piece of pork fat, I'll render the fat first, then I'll fry these meats later."
Aunt: "I'll cut the meat."
Ji Liangyou: "Then I'll go fetch some water. Herun and Mom and Dad can go to sleep first, no need to wait for us."
There was a wind at night, and it happened to be blowing towards the foot of the mountain, so the aroma of fried pork wafted up the mountain, but a small amount also drifted to the Wu family next door.
Uncle Wu's wife opened her eyes and nudged her husband, "Can you smell the aroma of meat?"
Uncle Wu's son turned over and said, "No. Go to sleep, you have to go to work tomorrow."
"I can really smell the aroma of meat."
"That might have come from the Ji family. We'll find out tomorrow."
Before dawn the next day, Ji Liangyou brought two plates of meat and a few yams to the Wu family, saying, "My daughter-in-law brought these last night, you can have a taste."
The meat was in large chunks, and the plate was covered in lard; this portion was quite substantial.
Uncle Wu's eyes reddened, and he choked up, unable to speak.
Ji Liangyou smiled faintly, "It's not a big deal. We should support each other anyway."
Uncle Wu shook his head and remained silent; food was a big deal to them.
Without the Ji family's constant support, he probably wouldn't have survived long ago.
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