Reborn in 78, I made my fortune by working in the mountains, supporting three families on my own.

Zhao Lei chuckled and joked, "Oh, Third Aunt, you actually have moments of embarrassment?"

"You brat, so you're saying I'm shameless all the time?"

"Oh, Auntie, this isn't for you, it's for my two good brothers. Why are you getting involved?"

"Hey, Zhao Lei, you've grown wings now, you even dare to talk back and joke with Auntie San."

The two were about to start arguing when they went back and forth.

Zhang Sangong coughed by the chopping board: "Ahem, what are you doing? You're just a woman, always so fussy. Lei Zi meant well, so just accept it!"

Zhao Lei immediately winked at the Zhang brothers, Zhang Lin and Zhang Sen: "Look, the Third Prince is the most manly, so keep him."

Hearing this, the two brothers scratched their heads sheepishly and thanked Zhao Lei repeatedly: "Brother Lei, thank you."

Zhao Lei waved his hand: "You're being too polite by saying such things."

Afterwards, Zhao Lei handed out cigarettes to each of the men present, and they took a break while smoking.

At this moment, Qin Yuchan called out to everyone that it was time to eat.

Immediately afterwards, Peipei diligently ran into the kitchen to help get the bowls and chopsticks, and Granny Zhang also stepped forward to lend a hand.

The three ex-wives moved back and forth between the kitchen and the main room, and the rich aroma of food wafted everywhere, making Zhao Lei and Qin Bowen's stomachs rumble.

Zhao Lei hadn't finished his work yet, so he called Qin Bowen over, took out the salt they had bought, and started pickling the wild boar meat in the basket.

When Qin Yuchan passed by, she noticed that Zhao Lei's method of marinating the meat was very rough, and she couldn't help but click her tongue.

"Tsk, Sanshi, you're good at hunting, but why are you so clumsy at curing bacon? Stop what you're doing and come eat. My sisters and I will take care of it later."

Zhao Lei was secretly pleased to hear this. He had been waiting for Qin Yuchan to say these words, so he immediately got up and invited the men to sit down at the table.

"Alright, alright, everyone, let's eat first. We can finish the rest of the work after dinner."

The two families sat around the table, with Zhao Lei's side including Qin Bowen and their three children, making a total of eight people.

Including Zhang Sangong's family of four, the old eight-immortal table in the room was crammed full, with some people sitting and some standing.

A sumptuous dinner was laid out before them, and everyone had a hearty appetite.

Qin Bowen picked up a large piece of stir-fried pork with chili peppers and ate a mouthful of rice.

While chewing, she mumbled a thumbs-up at Qin Yuchan: "Second sister, your cooking is so delicious! I've been craving this taste ever since I last ate it."

Zhao Lei jokingly remarked, "No wonder you always come to my house for meals."

"Brother-in-law, what do you mean by 'your family' and 'my family'? We're all family, why are you making such a big deal out of it?"

Qin Bowen's words caused a burst of laughter from the room.

Everyone enjoyed a few drinks during the meal, making for a lively and pleasant dinner.

Before long, it got completely dark outside.

After dinner, Zhao Lei's family and Zhang Sangong's family all started preparing the pork.

In the late 70s, refrigerators were practically nonexistent in rural areas, let alone refrigerators; even getting electricity was difficult.

Therefore, everyone in the Southwest region has their own way of storing meat, the most common being smoked cured meat.

Zhao Lei and his team also planned to do it this way, which mainly consisted of three steps: high-salt dehydration, smoking to inhibit bacteria, and finally natural air drying. This is how they made the famous smoked bacon in Southwest China.

Besides the mainstream storage methods, there are also methods such as storing meat in oil or sealing it in jars to prevent air exposure.

Zhao Lei's family plans to make dried cured meat.

Before the meal, they had already cut all the pork into strips of meat with skin, about 30 centimeters long.

The next step is to use coarse well salt, dried Sichuan peppercorns, chili powder, and bulk grain liquor with an alcohol content of over 50% to marinate, sterilize, and remove the fishy smell.

With Zhang Sanpo, an experienced expert, and several women working quickly, along with Zhao Lei and the others helping out, the task was completed in no time.

Next, Zhao Lei called on Qin Bowen, Zhang Lin, and Zhang San, the two brothers, to build a stove kiln with the leftover red bricks from repairing the house, and add pine firewood for smoking.

There's a trick to this. Zhao Lei had prepared pine branches long ago. The fire couldn't be too big; the main purpose was to dry the pine branches. The damp pine branches were placed on the fire so that only the smoke from the kiln could escape and smoke the hanging pork.

This process lasted for about an hour.

Once the skin of the cured pork has turned golden brown from smoking, this step is almost complete.

Then it is naturally hung to air dry.

Everyone worked until after 9 o'clock before finally finishing processing all the pork.

Qin Bowen found it troublesome to take it back, so he also marinated his basket of pork.

His exact words were: "My brother-in-law's house is my own home. When I want to eat, I can just come to my brother-in-law's house to get it."

Zhao Lei didn't say much, after all, they were all family.

If Qin Bowen were taken back, it would trouble his father-in-law and mother-in-law to do half a day's work, so it's better to deal with it all at once.

Zhao Lei's three piglets, two pheasants, and two rabbits were also made into smoked bacon.

After finishing their work, everyone went home.

Zhao Lei and his family expressed their deepest gratitude to everyone for coming to help.

However, since they were all familiar with each other, they simply waved and exchanged a few pleasantries.

After a busy day, Zhao Lei was finally able to lie down in bed and get some rest.

He didn't have much energy to do anything that night, and after washing his feet, he went straight to sleep.

the next day.

Zhao Lei still got up very early. He glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was only a little past 6 a.m.

The sky outside was beginning to brighten, but a thin layer of mist still hung over the fields, and dew clung to the wild grass and crops.

Zhao Lei suddenly noticed that Qin Yuchan had also gotten up very early.

"Yu Chan, why are you up so early today? Are you going to work at the production brigade?"

Zhao Lei's family hasn't gone to work at the brigade for almost a month, mainly because they are building a new house. In addition, Zhao Lei's recent income has long exceeded the income he earns from work points.

Apart from some mandatory group labor, Zhao Lei's family usually doesn't have anyone working.

According to Zhao Lei's memory, in two or three months, the era would be rolling in, and the collective system would be changed to the household responsibility system. At that time, his family would be able to completely get rid of the hard life of relying on work points to earn meager income.

Therefore, Zhao Lei has been making long-term plans recently. When the reform and opening up are implemented at the end of the year, his family's life will take off completely.

Right now, there are many things that are difficult to do, such as starting your own business as a self-employed individual.

Although regulations have been relaxed considerably, businesses still cannot operate openly. Furthermore, private farming is also prohibited.

Zhao Lei thought about going through the formalities, but by the time all the formalities were approved, the era of change would have arrived, so it was completely unnecessary. It was best to just live peacefully for the next few months.

While washing her face, Qin Yuchan replied, "No, it's just that school starts in a week, and I need to go back to school for a meeting."