Chapter 17: Picking up bargains at the meat processing plant
After a good night's sleep, Shen Anan went out for a walk around the village early in the morning to breathe some fresh air, mainly to find an excuse to take home the tiger head she had picked yesterday.
I was so busy with the wild boar yesterday that I put the tiger head in the space. I have no way to take it out unless I go out today.
When I got home, I found that Wang Sufen and her sisters-in-law did not go to pick wild vegetables today, but had been boiling lard early in the morning.
After all, it was the wild boar that Shen Lai had hunted, and the Shen family was kind enough to only ask for one-fifth of the meat, so yesterday the village party secretary took the initiative to give the Shen family a pig's front leg and a lot of pork belly.
Cut the fat into small pieces and slowly cook it in the pot. As the transparent fat precipitates, golden lard residue floats in the pot, and the meaty aroma envelops the entire courtyard.
"Mom, look what I brought back?"
"Where did you find so many tiger heads? These mushrooms are really big."
"I happened to come across a patch of mushrooms on Mount Liuhe yesterday, but I was so focused on the wild boars that I forgot to pick the mushrooms on the mountain."
Wang Sufen frowned and poked her daughter's forehead with her finger, saying fiercely, "You are so bold. You dare to go to the mountain. Don't you want to die?!"
Wang Sufen was frightened when she thought about what happened yesterday and couldn't help but raise her voice. When Shen Anan saw that the situation was not good, she quickly changed the subject.
"Mom, where's Dad? Why did he go to the fields so early today?"
"He went to the fields to brag to Old Zhao and the others. He went out with his hoe at dawn. If you didn't know him, you would think he was very hardworking!"
Wang Sufen rolled her eyes secretly when she thought of the old man's smug look.
Zhou Ping and Li Cui'er were cutting radishes nearby. When they heard this, they couldn't help laughing out loud, but they were afraid that their mother-in-law would hear them, so they blushed.
Shen Anan picked up a piece of freshly fished-out lard residue from the stove with chopsticks and put it into her mouth. The lard residue was fried crispy. With a click, the delicious taste of pork mixed with the sweetness of fat exploded in her mouth.
When Wang Sufen saw this, she simply scooped out a small bowl of lard residue and sprinkled it with sugar, and asked Shen Anan to take it out and share it with her nephews and nieces.
Because lard is being refined today, the Shen family’s lunch today consists of lard residue and radish stuffed buns, accompanied by a pot of yellow porcini soup, which makes the whole family very satisfied.
After dinner, Shen Anan was about to go back to her room, but she saw Shen Yuanjia coming out of the kitchen with a small piece of pork and hurried out the door.
Just now when she was eating, she found that her sixth brother was a little strange. Everyone was eating buns for lunch today, but Shen Yuanjia said that he was not very hungry and just wanted to drink soup.
He also wrapped the buns given to him in a handkerchief and put them in his arms, saying that he would eat them when he was hungry.
Moreover, Shen Yuanjia has been going out early and coming back late these days, and no one knows what she is doing. Even when she came back yesterday afternoon to ask people to move the wild boar, Shen Liuge was not there.
Although Shen Anan was a little curious, after thinking about it, she pretended not to see it and entered the room.
According to Shen Yuanjia's personality, he would not do anything out of line. Since he doesn't want everyone to know, he must have his reasons.
In the afternoon, Shen Anan was writing the manuscript she was going to submit at home. The matter of dividing the pork gave her inspiration. Seeing how happy Shen Lai was these days, she wanted to give her father a surprise.
Shen Anan simply used Shen Laiyou as the protagonist and wrote a story about how he fought against wild boars with wits to prevent them from coming down the mountain to destroy crops. He killed a 500-jin wild boar by himself so that the whole village could eat the meat together. The story focused on her father's bravery and the lively scene of the people of Wanyang Village sharing the meat.
Although it’s a bit exaggerated, it’s normal to make some artistic processing when writing an article!
By the way, they can also make public the fact that their family got one-fifth of the pork this time. After all, their family only got a few dozen kilograms of pork this time, and there is no guarantee that someone will remember it and bring up old issues later.
Because Shen Anan is familiar with that period of history, she is more cautious in doing things.
…
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The next day, Shen Anan came to the town's post office early in the morning.
This time, she also wrote a special letter in the manuscript she sent out, asking the editor to buy a newspaper and send it together with the manuscript fee if her manuscript was accepted.
Nowadays, very few newspapers are circulated nationwide. Most of them are distributed locally. For example, last time she didn't buy the issue of the Children's Newspaper that published her article.
Sister Zhou was busy distributing letters when she saw two steaming meat buns being handed to her. When she looked up, she saw the smiling Shen Anan.
"An An, you're finally here. I've been thinking about you!"
"Sister Zhou, I'm here now, hurry up and eat the buns, they're still hot."
"And I'd like you to mail these letters for me."
Sister Zhou kept waving her hands, "An An, what are you doing? This is your job, Sister Zhou. How can I ask for your things every time?"
"Sister Zhou, one of the manuscripts I sent out last time was selected by a newspaper. I just wanted to share my joy with you. I bought it with my royalties, so you have to honor me!"
Sister Zhou thought about it and took the meat buns, then pulled Shen Anan aside and whispered, "Wait for Sister Zhou here, it's almost lunch time, I'll take you to a good place."
After waiting for a while, it was time for a break, and Sister Zhou took Shen Anan all the way to the back door of the meat processing plant.
After talking to the gatekeeper for a few words, he took Shen Anan through the back door and arrived at a workshop a few minutes later.
"Sister, why are you here?" Sister Zhou stopped a worker at the door and said a few words. A moment later, a man who looked 50% like Sister Zhou came out.
"What do you think I could come here to see you for?" Sister Zhou glared at her brother unhappily.
Zhou Hun chuckled and led the two of them to a small room next to him. There were several buckets in the room filled with some pig offal and small pieces of meat.
"Sister, this time we can spare two pieces of pork offal and two pounds of meat. How much do you want?"
Sister Zhou explained to Shen Anan in a low voice: "My brother is in charge of the slaughterhouse here. From time to time, he can buy some scraps that don't require meat tickets. This is also a benefit for them."
"Offal is 1.50 a box, and the meat is 70 cents a pound. It's not good meat, but at least you don't need a ticket. Do you want it?"
Shen Anan took a look and said that the reason why it was not good meat was mainly because the parts that were cut were all tenderloins or leg meat, without much fat, so it did not conform to the preferences of today's people, but Shen Anan did not care about these.
"Thank you, Sister Zhou. I will definitely take this great opportunity. Sister, take enough food from your family. If there is any leftover, give it to me."
Although Shen Anan’s space has no shortage of meat, it is always good to have more channels, and she will have more names when she takes out the meat later.
Finally, at Sister Zhou's insistence, they each took a pair of pig offal and a pound of pork, and Shen Anan also specially picked a piece of tenderloin.
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