Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 38: Chapter 36 Dividing the Meat Chapter 38: Chapter 36 Dividing the Meat The date was set for the 28th of the twelfth lunar month to go to the county town, where one had to stay for at least a month before returning.

As soon as Shen Yunfang returned home, she began to ponder what to do with the things in the house.

During dinner, the eldest aunt had already taken the initiative to agree to help her raise the chickens. Shen Yunfang glanced at the few wild chickens flapping around and steeled her heart. Since there were only a few days left to raise them, it wasn’t worth wasting the grains. It was time to kill the chickens.

She changed into a new set of clothes and then boiled a pot of hot water in the main room. Only then did she roll up her sleeves and head to the western room to catch the wild chickens.

She was skilled at this task. When her parents ran a breeding farm, she often helped kill the chickens.

With her right hand, she held the chicken comb and wings, and with a few movements of her left hand, she plucked the feathers off the chicken’s neck. She then stretched out the chicken’s neck with a force of her right hand, picked up the kitchen knife, and with one chop severed the trachea, esophagus, and blood vessels. She took a bowl from home to collect the blood, waiting until no more blood flowed out. Then she threw the wild chicken into the courtyard to let it flap about on its own.

Next, she went to catch other wild chickens.

One by one, after they were bled, she placed the dead chickens into hot water to remove their feathers. Once they were clean, she cut them open, removed the innards, and then threw the cleaned chickens into a clean basket in the space.

As for the leeks and lettuce in the western room, she planned to pick them on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month. The leeks could be cut once more, and she didn’t plan to take the leek roots with her. She’d let them rest and replant them upon her return. The lettuce could grow for three more days and although it would be small, it would still be edible.

When it came to the earthworms, she didn’t have a good solution. She could only take the earthworm pot with her. Depending on the situation, she would continue to raise them if conditions allowed, or let the earthworms “hibernate” if not, waiting for the spring of the next year. Then, she’d prepare everything at home and have a major farming session.

The next day, the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, Uncle Shen’s family was slaughtering a pig. Being family, Shen Yunfang naturally had to help out and took the opportunity to scrounge a meal.

Now, in Gaijiatun, every household except Shen Yunfang’s raised at least one pig, which had to be delivered to the state. Uncle Shen’s family was well-off and raised two pigs. One was an old sow kept for breeding to sell piglets, and the other was planned to be killed and provided as fresh meat to the state. That way, their family could keep some pork to eat during the New Year, making the hard work of the year worthwhile.

Watching the men wrestle with a big fat pig, the knife going in white and coming out red, she was not scared at all; rather, she began to consider raising two pigs in the mountains next year. Whether sold or eaten, it would give her plenty of options. Yes, she must take note to grow more sweet potatoes next year to feed the pigs.

When she left, in addition to getting a full meal, Shen Yunfang also spent three yuan to buy a complete set of pig offal and four pig’s feet. These items weren’t considered valuable, and not many people liked to eat them; first, because they are difficult to clean without leaving a taste, and second, because everyone was short on fat and preferred to eat fatty meat. So when Shen Yunfang mentioned wanting to buy pig offal, Aunt Shen gladly agreed. In the end, she even threw in two large bones as a bonus.

Shen Yunfang had decided to make the purchase because she received fifteen yuan from Li Hongjun through the mail. Her pockets were somewhat fuller, and she thought that even though she was poor, it was still the New Year. Even if she couldn’t afford meat, she could still buy some pig offal.

Although she didn’t consider these items valuable, Shen Yunfang liked them. After returning home, she cleaned the big bones thoroughly, threw them into the space, and started working on the pig offal. After cleaning that too, she tossed it into the space, planning to make herself a feast on New Year’s Day.

On the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, in the morning, the production team slaughtered pigs and sheep and distributed the meat according to shares. There were two big fat pigs with a combined weight of about 300 pounds of meat, not including pig offal and trotters. There were six sheep, not very fatty, with meat and bones totaling about 350 pounds.

Gaijiatun had just over forty households, so by this calculation, each family could get about six pounds of meat.

When it was time to distribute the meat, some villagers grumbled about the fact that Shen Yunfang, a young girl, could get six pounds of meat.

Shen Yunfang understood, so in front of everyone, she told her uncle she wanted less meat as she was only one person. She would only take three pounds of meat, plus a set of pig offal would be enough.

Under everyone’s sympathetic gaze, Shen Yeqing nodded gravely and eventually cut the best part of the pig for Shen Yunfang, the three-layered pork belly, along with a set of pig offal and, taking the initiative, gave her two more pig’s feet and a pig’s tail.

The villagers generally disliked mutton, so Shen Yunfang actually got a little over six pounds of mutton, and she privately traded with families that didn’t like mutton for some lamb chops and offal.

In the afternoon, with nothing pressing to do, Shen Yunfang remembered an issue; her family’s rationed wheat had not yet been milled into white flour. How was she going to make dumplings for the New Year?

Once she went to town tomorrow, she would not have the chance to mill the flour.

After a moment’s thought, she hoisted the thirty jin of wheat on her back and made her way to Wang Family’s mother’s house.

“Yunfang’s here,” Wang Family’s mother greeted as she sat on the kang bed. She called out upon seeing Yunfang pushing open the door, “Hey, what are you carrying?” She had noticed the sack on Yunfang’s back.

“Wheat,” Shen Yunfang placed the bag on the ground.

“What did you bring this for?” Wang Family’s mother was somewhat puzzled.

“Yunfang’s come,” Dashuan’s wife entered, pushing the door open at this moment. She had just spent a while lying down with the children in the other room.

“Hey, sister-in-law,” Shen Yunfang greeted her, then addressed Wang Family’s mother about her visit’s purpose, “Granny Wang, with the New Year around the corner, I forgot to mill the wheat into flour. What should I do now?”

“Oh, child, how could you forget everything? Aren’t you going to the county tomorrow? It’s too late to handle this now,” Wang Family’s mother said, furrowing her brow.

“It’s not too late. I’ll go mill the flour with Yunfang right now. Even if it gets a bit late, we’ll finish,” replied Dashuan’s wife, a quick worker, as she picked up the sack from the ground and urged Yunfang to follow her.

“Fine, let’s see how much we can mill; this child, it’s like you have no brain,” Wang Family’s mother mumbled a few more words in the end.

The village production team had a large grinding stone for anyone to use to mill wheat. After milling, one simply needed to run it through a sieve at home to turn it into flour.

The two women took turns operating the mill; Dashuan’s wife was stronger than Shen Yunfang and thus bore more of the fatigue.

By the time they finished sieving the flour at Wang Family’s home, it had already grown dark.

Dashuan’s wife insisted on having Shen Yunfang stay for dinner, which she could not decline, so she stayed and ate.

Wang Family had wowotou (steamed cornbread), something Shen Yunfang had never made herself, so she found it quite delicious.

When she got home, realizing she’d be leaving for the county tomorrow and not knowing what conditions awaited her there, she decided to prepare some food for herself. That night, she steamed two pots of mixed-flour buns using the big iron pot at home, eight large buns per pot. She kept two for herself to eat that evening and put the rest in her space.

Then she took a winter melon and several sweet potatoes from the root cellar and made a mixed stew. She put the leftovers, along with the plate, into her space as well.

Considering she wouldn’t be at home to celebrate the New Year, and nobody would be around to keep a fire going, everything that might freeze needed to be dealt with. So, she finely chopped the remaining seven pickled cabbages that night, rinsed them, squeezed them into bundles, and put them into her space. She even poured the pickling brine into the drainage ditch outside.

As for the potatoes, cabbages, sweet potatoes, and the like, she kept about a month’s worth and placed the rest back in the root cellar.

After busying herself with these chores, it was pitch-dark outside. She felt as if she had only slept for a few hours before she got up groggily and headed to the west room to continue her work. She cut another batch of chives and removed their roots to place in her space—letting them recover by themselves. She cut the lettuce at the base, removed the roots, and threw them outside. If only she had a pig at home; it would have been a shame to waste those.

She tied up the chickens, ready to be taken to Granny Wang’s house, and wrapped the only quilt from the big kang bed around the pickle pot, planning to take it to the county when her second elder cousin came to pick her up.