The two Song brothers carried the wild boar back, panting heavily and covered in sweat.
"Thank you both for your hard work today. There's some tea inside, please come in and rest." Su Yun'er said, leading the two men inside. Then she picked up the machete and returned to the wild boar.
Wild boars don't usually grow as fat as domesticated pigs, but this wild boar was the biggest of all pigs—it was enormous.
Fortunately, the two Song brothers are used to doing heavy work, otherwise they might not have been able to carry it today.
Su Yun'er took out the firewood from her spatial storage and piled it up at the demolition site. She then picked up the machete again and gestured at the wild boar, trying to figure out where to make her first cut.
Just then, the courtyard gate was suddenly pushed open, and Old Mrs. Chen rushed in, holding the hands of two children on either side.
When Old Mrs. Chen saw that half of Su Yun'er's body was covered in blood, her heart jumped into her throat.
"Mother, what's wrong?" Su Yun'er held the knife in her hand and saw that Old Madam Chen was so flustered, thinking that something bad had happened.
"You're asking me? I should be asking you too." Old Mrs. Chen let go of the two children, walked quickly to Su Yun'er's side, and examined her from head to toe.
When he saw the wound on Su Yun'er's arm, he hurriedly asked, "You're injured? You've lost so much blood?"
Su Yun'er quickly explained, "Mother, it wasn't me. My wound has stopped bleeding. The blood is all from this wild boar."
Su Yun'er gestured towards the wild boar on the ground, and only then did Old Lady Chen finally notice the large wild boar on the ground.
"It's good that it's not yours," Old Mrs. Chen said with a sigh of relief. "I was chatting with someone near He Liu's house when a child ran over and said you were injured, covered in blood, and had just been brought back. You don't know, it really scared me to death."
Grandma Chen was really frightened, her face turned pale. Su Yun'er quickly asked Xiaoshu and Xiaocao to bring a stool for Grandma Chen to sit down, and brought her a cup of hawthorn tea to calm her down.
Hearing the commotion in the yard, the Song brothers also came out of the house.
"Grandma Chen, don't be afraid. Your daughter-in-law is incredibly lucky. She went out to gather firewood and managed to bring back such a big wild boar. Don't you think she's so fortunate? You're fortunate too!"
Song Muqiang's words helped to ease the tension in Old Mrs. Chen's nerves.
"Forget about good fortune, those are secondary. As long as the family is doing well, that's all that matters. If it weren't for my wife, our family wouldn't be able to survive."
"Mom, look at you, why are you getting sad again? Little Tree, Little Grass, go and comfort your grandma."
The Song brothers comforted Old Mrs. Chen for a few more minutes, and she finally recovered from her earlier panic.
"I've made a fool of myself in front of my two nephews."
“Grandma Chen, what are you saying? We understand how you feel,” Song Shanqiang said.
Song Muqiang said, "Shanhe's wife, should we kill this pig now, or do it this afternoon?"
Seeing that such a large thing was a hassle to leave in the yard, Su Yun'er said, "Let's deal with it now. The sooner we deal with it, the sooner we'll feel at ease."
“Okay, you and Grandma Chen definitely can’t handle this by yourselves, my brother and I will help you.”
With the two Song brothers by her side, Su Yun'er found it much easier to dissect the pig.
Old Mrs. Chen was not strong enough, so she helped the children with some chores.
Xiao Shu and Xiao Cao were in charge of starting the fire, boiling a large pot of water. Su Yun'er and the other two carried the wild boar into the basin and shaved off all the stiff hairs on its body. After shaving the hair off, they avoided the head and hooves, as these areas had many crevices and it would take some time to clean the hair off them.
Su Yun'er then handed it to Old Lady Chen, instructing her to burn off the remaining pig hair with fire.
Song Muqiang asked in confusion, "Then pork and pig's trotters are edible?"
“It’s edible, and it’ll taste really good,” Su Yun’er said.
The two Song brothers looked at each other in disbelief, but neither of them said a word.
The three men continued to gut the wild boar, placing a large wooden basin underneath to catch the contents, filling it with all of the boar's internal organs.
Immediately, the yard reeked.
"Let's hurry up and find a place outside to dig a hole and bury this thing," Song Shan said, forcing himself to suppress the nausea from the stench.
"Don't throw it away! It may smell bad, but you can still eat it," Su Yun'er quickly stopped her.
“Oh right, I forgot about that. Aunt He said you can make delicious things with these.” Song Shanqiang covered his nose with his elbow, so Su Yun’er could only see his eyes.
Su Yun'er also found it smelly, but she couldn't bear to throw it away, so she held her breath, picked up the heavy basin of waste water, and hurried to the backyard.
As he walked, he said to the two brothers, "I'll take care of these things first. I'll trouble you two brothers to continue butchering the pig."
Su Yun'er went to the backyard and, seeing that no one had returned, quickly fetched several buckets of water from her spatial storage.
They squeezed out all the stinky stuff from the semen, dug a hole and buried it; then they sprinkled flour and salt into the basin, added warm water, and started washing.
After washing it several times, the smell gradually disappeared.
As for the pig lungs, Su Yun'er used a knife to make some incisions in them, then repeatedly poured water into them. The blood inside the pig lungs flowed out of the incisions along with the water. It was a tedious process; she didn't know how much water she poured in before the pig lungs turned white and the blood drained away. By the time Su Yun'er had finally finished dealing with that pile of stinking stuff, the two Song brothers had also almost completely dismantled the pig.
We used every basin we could find in the house to finally divide the pork into portions.
The two brothers carried all the bowls of meat to the kitchen doorway, washed their hands, and were about to leave when they were stopped by Su Yun'er and her mother-in-law.
"You've helped my family so much today, how can we just go back like this? You absolutely have to stay for a meal!"
Grandma Chen had already roasted the pig's head and trotters over the fire, so Su Yun'er put them aside to clear the stove and start preparing to cook.
Cut a section of pork tenderloin into strips, marinate it with ginger strips and seasonings for a while, then stir-fry it in hot oil until the pork strips are separated. Then add some carrot strips and stir-fry until cooked.
I also chose a piece of thick, marbled pork belly, cut it into strips, and seasoned it in the same way, except that I replaced the side dish with shredded lettuce.
"Mom, reheat all the steamed buns from yesterday, and then give me a few eggs."
The big, fat chicken lays two eggs a day, but the Chen family only eats one a day, so Old Mrs. Chen has saved up quite a few eggs.
The Song brothers have been a great help today, so we must bring out something nice to reward them.
Su Yun'er cracked five or six eggs, scrambled them all, poured them into the oil pan and scrambled them until the egg mixture was slightly solidified, then took them out. Next, she added scallions and garlic to the pan and sautéed them until fragrant, then added shredded potatoes. When the shredded potatoes were almost cooked, she poured the scrambled eggs back into the pan, stir-fried them together, seasoned them, and then it was ready to serve.
The three dishes are ready, but we're still missing a soup. What should we make?
"Oh, right, beans."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com