Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 600 Hug your grandchildren soon, mom, my dad wants to cut me!
Xu Laonian, holding two strings of firecrackers and two double-bangers, squeezed through the crowd and came out of the yard. He spread the two strings of firecrackers on the street and placed the double-bangers on a flat stone used for firecrackers. He turned his head to look at the people standing at the door, lying on the wall, and scattered around the yard, as well as the old women busying themselves in the outer room.

He suddenly felt happy in his heart, and then his brows raised with joy. He raised his eyebrows and couldn't help but pull the corners of his mouth. This joy was like an honor. Why?

Xu Laonian was also an ordinary person who loved fame and honor. How many pig slaughterers were there in the entire Taiping area in recent years? Apart from the butcher surnamed Zheng and the wild boars hunted in the mountains, who else could afford to slaughter pigs?
So he exuded a feeling of superiority and refreshment from the bottom of his heart, which was almost like the Xu family had an extra tractor that day. Besides, slaughtering pigs was a rare thing these days, because most families could not afford to raise pigs. They could not even have three meals a day and could only fill their stomachs with two meals, which consisted of radishes and bran.

Even wealthy families are reluctant to raise pigs, because the men and women in the family have legitimate jobs! For example, the Sun family in Sandaohe, although the second and third aunts are idle at home, they have to drag a group of women to sort the fish every time they go fishing, and the same is true for the women in the Chai family in Wangxing...

Liu Lizhen and Han Fengjiao said they wanted to raise pigs. No matter how unhappy Xu Ning was, he had to go along with his mother and second aunt. After all, they had nothing to do except cooking. Besides, there were more and more old women in the family, so raising pigs could be considered a way of making a living. Even if the pigs died, wouldn't it be fun?

When Liu Daming held the rope around the pig's neck, and Li Fuqiang and Lao Wei pinched the pig's ears on both sides, and dragged the 280-pound pig to the yard, everyone exclaimed in amazement. They never thought that a domestic pig could grow so big.

Wang Erli laughed in the crowd and said, "It has to grow meat! My elder brother and I take care of it every morning, just to get more meat! We have fed it all the good stuff in the past two months. We haven't fed it much bran or wheat bran, but only corn flour and fine bran."

"Hey, you're doing so well? It's normal for it to grow this big!"

Lao Jiang held a rope in his hand. When the pig came to the table on the kang, he walked over, raised his hand and grabbed the pig's hind legs, then wrapped the rope around the legs.

Li Feng and Da Laba worked together to easily knock the pig down. Even though the pig let out ear-piercing screams, no one had any mercy on it.

"Take it down! Hey, Guoxing, tie up its front legs. Find an ash basin to scoop out the poop..."

"Here comes the basin!" Wang Biao held the ash basin and placed it under the pig's tail.

Li Fuqiang said, "Who's holding the line? I need to change my pants."

Lao Wei said: "I just press it and the pants will work! Nothing will happen."

When Old Wei's wife heard this, she smiled. This year, Old Wei's family picked up a lot of clothes from Old Xu's family. All the clothes and pants that Xu Long and Xu Ning had discarded were given to Old Wei.

At this time, Xu Laonian, who was outside the courtyard, shouted, "Are you ready? I'm setting off firecrackers!"

Liu Daming held a knife in his right hand and an aluminum basin for collecting blood in his left hand. Wang Hu next to him was holding a meter-long elm tree, ready to stir the blood later. On the other side was Guan Lei, who was holding a small box with salt in it.

"Brother-in-law, let it go!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Laonian pinched his cigarette and lit firecrackers and double-shot bullets. With a series of crackling sounds, the pigs' screams were covered up.

The white knife went in and the red knife came out, a stream of blood spurted out from the pig's neck, the pig's screams were deafening, and its four hooves kept struggling, but with Lao Wei and others holding it down, it had no way to go up to the sky or down to the ground, and could only vent its anger by squeezing out two balls of feces into the ash basin.

"Very good! Daming's technique is quite skillful."

"Hahaha, of course I learned that from my brother-in-law."

Guan Lei sprinkled some salt into the blood basin, and Wang Hu held the elm tree and stirred the blood continuously, and soon blood bubbles appeared.

As time slowly passed, the pig's screams became quieter and quieter, indicating that its life was about to come to an end.

Xu Ning put his arm around Meng Ziyan's shoulders and stood in the corner as if nothing had happened. Since there were more people than work, he was not needed for such dirty and messy work. He was happy to be idle, unlike Xu Laonian who had to rush to do the work.

After setting off the firecrackers, Xu Laonian squeezed into the yard, trotted over in a panic, glanced at the pig, and clapped his hands, saying, "Very good! This pig is really fat!"

Liu Lizhen stood at the door and glanced at him, then called to Guan Lei: "Leizi, give the scraper to your uncle. Your uncle is bored now, let him do some work."

"Okay!" Guan Lei responded, turned around, picked up the scraper on the windowsill of the lower room and handed it to Xu Laonian.

Xu Laonian was very excited when he saw the scraper. He was afraid that Liu Lizhen would regret it, so he quickly took it over: "Leave this job to me! I specialize in this kind of work."

"Dad, don't break the pig's hair! Juan'er is thinking of asking sister-in-law to make some jelly." Xu Long said.

Xu Ning continued, "Don't let the jelly you make end up with a mouth full of pig hair. That would be a big credit to my dad."

"Get lost! You're everywhere... What are you doing? Let go!"

When Xu Laonian saw the little jerk hugging Meng Ziyan's shoulders, he immediately raised his finger and pointed at him, glaring at him and speaking righteously.

Who would have thought that Meng Quezi, who was standing under the eaves, looked back and said with a smile: "Oh, there's nothing to be afraid of. We're getting married tomorrow."

Liu Fenfang smiled and said, "Not really, I'm still thinking about having a grandson sooner rather than later."

When everyone heard that Xu Ning's father-in-law and mother-in-law were so sensible, they burst into laughter.

This made Meng Ziyan feel embarrassed. She lowered her head and ran into the house in three or two steps. Her face was flushed and her whole body was hot. She was so shy that she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

However, Xu Ning was shameless and grinned: "Look at you guys smiling so hard in front of my wife that you are too embarrassed to face others."

"Oh my god, calling her daughter-in-law sounds so good." Aunt Zhao joked.

Xu Ning said: "It has to be said smoothly. We have even obtained the marriage certificate. We are now a legal couple, do you understand?"

"Oh my god, when did you get it? Why didn't you listen to the letter?"

Xu Ning smiled and said, "You can't get the certificate quietly, right? I got it a few days ago."

Yang Yusheng said: "That's even more correct, the law has recognized it!"

"It's not good..."

He and Meng Ziyan indeed did not get the marriage certificate, but he had to say that because Xu Laonian was so blind that he drew everyone's attention to the two of them with just one shout. If he didn't say that, someone would spread rumors tomorrow, saying that they had already done the job without doing anything.

Liu Lizhen glared at Xu Laonian, who knew he had said the wrong thing. He shrank his neck and said nothing more, only muttering to the dead pig lying on the table on the kang: "I'm going to skin you alive today..."

The pigs' screams had stopped. The children lying on the wall and the crowd standing outside the yard dispersed. They all knew what was happening. They had no connection with the Xu family. What else could they do here? How could they sit down and eat meat with such a shameless face? They should leave early and not embarrass each other.

Those who stayed in the courtyard were relatives and friends, such as Chai Liangyu, Chang Danian, Xu Pao, Ma Liu, Yang Yusheng and others. They all went into the east wing, sat on the edge of the kang, smoked and chatted, and from time to time glanced at Xu Laonian, Liu Daming and others who were shaving pigs in the courtyard.

After Xu Long and Li Fuqiang put the large aluminum basin in the courtyard, Xu Laonian had only shaved half of the pig hair when Xu Ning said, "Dad, if you can't handle it, let my uncle take over. Can you stop trying to show off?"

"Is this called showing off? Why don't you do it?"

"I didn't say I was going to do it. It was you who insisted on shaving the pig."

Liu Daming grabbed the scraper and said, "Brother-in-law, go and take a rest over there. It's really hard for you to shave."

"Hahaha, my dad is the hard-working one."

Upon hearing this, Xu Laonian looked up at Xu Ning, then ran towards him. Seeing this, Xu Ning turned around and ran into the outer room, shouting, "Mom! My dad wants to cut me!"

Liu Lizhen rushed to the front with a water scoop in hand and protected Xu Ning behind her. She pointed the scoop at Xu Laonian and asked, "What do you want to do?"

"We are just joking, Jane, don't be so angry."

"You can act crazy just because there are so many people around. How can you be such a father?"

Xu Laonian curled his lips and said, "He always uses words to provoke me. Wouldn't you be angry?"

"Isn't that just a joke? Can you be reasonable?"

Xu Ning felt quite safe behind his mother and said with a smile: "Dad, please be reasonable and don't make fun of us."

"You are the worst! You always take the moral high ground in everything you do..."

Liu Lizhen pushed him and said, "Take the third brother and the others back first, make some tea and eat some sunflower seeds, don't just stay here, why are you so dull?" "Oh, I...it's not you, you...it's all my fault, I'm the worst, okay?"

Xu Laonian turned away angrily, ran to the east wing and said, "Third brother, shall we go back first? There's nothing to do here."

"Then take a stroll."

Ma Liu asked: "Erning is not going back?"

Xu Laonian laughed and said, "He's afraid that I'll cut him, so how could he dare to go back?"

Yang Yusheng grinned and said, "You guys are always making noises and getting along like brothers. My two sons' legs tremble when they see me."

Chai Liangyu said: "My three sons are almost the same. I beat them with weapons, but they still cling to me like bastards. Oh, I can't say anything..."

Du Shoucai said, "Not really. Ask Manzhi if he trembles when I glare at him. A few days ago, I used a firewood stick to hit him, but he didn't dare to run away."

Xu Laonian smiled and said, "My three children are spoiled by their mother. They have been riding on my neck and shitting since they were young. Only Dalong is afraid of me. That little bastard goes against me all the time."

"This is what we call a family atmosphere. My third child is really envious of your family."

"What's there to envy? You're always angry...Brother, why did you fight with Manzhi a few days ago?"

As they walked out of the courtyard, Du Shoucai turned around and asked, "Didn't Erning tell you?"

"What did he tell us? He's very tight-lipped and wouldn't easily tell us useless things."

"Ah, that's what happened..."

Middle-aged and elderly people have many common topics and can talk about family and children for three days and three nights.

Not long after they left, the old woman cleaned up the outer room and left in a hurry.

Xu Ning squatted under the eaves, watching Liu Daming gut the pig. After he took out the lanterns, he said with a smile, "Take the pig intestines back and let my dad wash them."

Lao Jiang said, "Come on, I'll wash it right here."

"Er Ning is able to do something bad to harm my brother-in-law."

"Hahaha, didn't he want to cut me just now?"

"How do you cut the meat? Use the axe to chop it in half, big chunks or small chunks?"

"Just cut off the big pieces. My mom and the others will cut the meat themselves when we roast it later. This knife is very sharp, so be careful not to prick your hands."

At this time, the sound of a car roared from the street. Xu Ning stood up and looked outside, and saw Yang Liguo and Zhao Lan sitting in the passenger seat and Lao Jin sitting in the driver's seat.

"I killed them all as soon as I thought about it." Old Qian pushed the door and got out of the car with a smile.

Xu Ning and the others went to the door to greet them. He said, "It's not long since we finished the killing. You can go directly to the new house."

Xu Long, Li Fuqiang and others waved and said hello. At this time, Liu Xuemin, Lao Jin, Scarface and Dazhi in the back car jumped out of the car.

"elder brother!"

"Erning!"

Xu Ning smiled and asked, "When did you get to the street last night?"

"It's five or six o'clock now. Brother Qian treated us to a restaurant and let us stay at his house. He also gave us..."

Lao Qian waved his hand and said, "As I should! We are all brothers, why should we talk about this?"

Xu Ning saw what Scarface and Dazhi were wearing. Although their clothes and pants were not new, they looked very straight, much more upright than when he saw them in the provincial capital before. They were also wearing a pair of new cloth shoes, which he guessed were prepared by Lao Qian.

"Come, let me introduce you two. This is our uncle, Uncle Jiang..."

Everyone greeted each other, and Liu Xuemin asked, "Zhibin didn't come?"

"He should be in the new house."

Xu Long said, "Erning, you and Big Brother go ahead and I'll just stay here and help unload the meat."

"Okay then, let's go first."

Xu Ning climbed onto the back of the carriage and saw two donkeys, two baskets of meat and a live chicken in a sack. The money for the ingredients had been used to purchase the food for the restaurant yesterday.

Liu Xuemin, Lao Qian and others never came empty-handed, and this time was no exception. The carriage was filled with bags of rice, flour, peanut oil, as well as cigarettes, alcohol, sugar and tea.

"Who is this donkey-riding machine for?"

"Your villager, Old Tang, bought it on the street a few days ago, and I thought I'd bring it over to him today."

"Ah, who else in our village bought it?"

Liu Xuemin frowned and said, "I don't know exactly who bought it, but Guoxing and your uncle should know that they went to the street to order it. Hey, is your third brother Wangxing coming over today?"

"I've already come here and am staying in the new house now. What's the matter?"

Liu Xuemin said: "He placed an order for 16 units from me and I said before that I would give him one unit if he sold five units. Now he has sold 11 more units, so I have to give him some commission!"

"How did the sixteen donkeys get transported to Wangxing?" Xu Ning asked.

"Someone from Wangxing came to pull him over. He didn't come in person. That person seemed to be his friend..."

"Your surname is Huang? Is it about the incident before?"

"Yeah! He charged 380 yuan for one donkey ride, so the total was 6080 yuan. I took the whole amount. I think I should give him at least 800 yuan, right? He was the one who introduced this business."

Xu Ning said, "Then you two can find a place where there's no one to chat later."

Liu Xuemin nodded: "Okay, if he doesn't accept it, you can help him put in a few words, and we can be brothers sincerely."

"If he doesn't want it, then don't give it to him. He doesn't want to earn money from the villagers, and he doesn't want you to lose money."

"Why would we lose money? Although the cost has gone up, we can still make a lot of money... I bought this for your girlfriend's uncle, and the cost price was 280 yuan. We sold it to him for 300 yuan, so we still made 20 yuan."

Xu Ning grinned and said, "You call this making money? Besides the three of you, other people also have to share! What can you do with 20 yuan of profit? I don't even know what to buy as a gift."

Liu Xuemin said quietly: "Anyway, the three of us have made a lot of money recently, and I'm a little overwhelmed. I don't feel confident at all!"

"Then you can try to do something else and try to make money with money."

"You have a plan? Then you have to participate this time, and you have to own a large share!"

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Let's study it further. There's no rush now."

(End of this chapter)