The Little Widower (farming)

63

In the past few days in the county town, Zhou Yuan was very busy. He not only had to deal with matters in the escort agency, but also had to handle all aspects of management in person. Fortunately, his hand was injured, so he drank a lot less.

By the time all things are settled, it will already be the fifteenth day of the winter lunar month, and it will be the twelfth lunar month in another half month, so we have to prepare for the New Year.

Before they went back, they went to the county town for a walk. Chen Qing was worried about Zhou Yuan's injury and insisted on asking him to go to the hospital for another look.

The doctor said Zhou Yuan's wound healed well and there was no major problem.

After coming out of the hospital, Zhou Yuan finally felt a little prouder: "Look, I told you that I would get better quickly!"

Chen Qing was really relieved now. He took a deep breath and held Zhou Yuan's arm. His arm: "Don't let anything happen to you again."

"Okay, I promise you." Zhou Yuan reached out and hugged Chen Qing, feeling a little distracted.

He has been back for so long, but Chen Qing just won't let him touch him. The lesson he learned this time is enough. He must be more careful in the future.

They bought some New Year's goods that their family needed, and Qi Shuning followed happily. Li Xin must have taken money for him when he stepped out, and now he is following them, wanting to buy everything he sees.

Zhou Yuan ignored Chen Qing's objections and bought him two jackets. He also bought a pair of clothes for Aunt Sun and Zhang Yin each. He also bought a lot of dried fruit candies and snacks. He planned to buy other things for the New Year after the New Year. Go buy it.

Finally, they almost bought an oxcart of goods before they rushed home.

There happened to be no fog on the day I returned home. When I woke up in the morning, the sun was shining brightly. The winter sun was not very warm. Chen Qing's hands were stiff from the cold and suffered from frostbite.

Zhou Yuan looked at himself and felt very guilty. Chen Qing seemed to be fine: "I heard my mother say that as long as you have chilblain once, you will get it every year in the future. It's not a big deal."

Zhou Yuan looked at it . His red and swollen hands felt cold to the touch, so he put Chen Qing's hand on his neck.

Chen Qing smiled and put his hand under his collar again. Qi Shuning, who was sitting behind the bullock cart, suddenly felt a little lonely and thought that he could try it next time, but Xinxin might just strangle him by the neck and kill him. He choked to death.

When I got home, everything in the yard was like new.

Chen Qing couldn't take any time off, so he wanted to take out the bedding and wash it. No one had lived in it for half a month, and the cotton wool was damp. Taking advantage of the sun today, he simply moved it to the yard to dry in the sun.

Zhou Yuan helped him build the shelf and took out all the mattresses on the bed to dry them.

After Chen Qing dried the mattress, he wanted to go to the river to wash clothes, but Zhou Yuan stopped him: "The water in the river is freezing, and your hands are still frozen. I'll fetch water, and we'll boil hot water for washing."

"Okay. " Let's go."

So Zhou Yuan went to the river to fetch water, and Chen Qing boiled water at home, and it took a lot of time to wash the sheets.

They set up a rack to dry clothes on the other side, and saw Zhang Xu standing outside their yard, feeling a little embarrassed.

Zhou Yuan saw him and greeted him to come in, only to find that he was carrying a backpack and their twin daughters behind him.

Zhang Xu scratched his hair: "My boss, we are not thinking about celebrating the New Year. We have nothing to give to your family. These are small things picked up by the children. Don't dislike the roughness."

Chen Qingbu He was good at dealing with this kind of thing. He ran back to the room before Zhou Yuan could react. Zhou Yuan smiled helplessly and took the thing from his hand.

Zhang Xu sincerely thanked Zhou Yuan and Chen Qing. If it weren't for them, his wife might have to go to the town to wash clothes for people in this cold winter, and the children would not have any clothes to keep out the cold. How could they still Have a full meal during the Chinese New Year.

"It's okay, just farm well." Zhou Yuan patted Zhang Xu on the shoulder.

Chen Qing came out again at this moment, holding the candy they bought in the county town in his hand, and handed it to the twin girls: "Thank you, I saw that the handkerchief is very beautiful, did you embroider it yourself?"

My sister was a little confused . He nodded shyly: "We just learned, and we are not good at embroidery."

Chen Qing reached out and touched their hair, and took out two handkerchiefs from his arms. They were embroidered by Chen Qing in his spare time. Take it to sell, keep it for your own use, and now it happens to be given to two little girls.

The two of them were too embarrassed to accept it, and Chen Qing didn't know how to persuade him, so he had to look at Zhou Yuan for help.

"Take it." Zhou Yuan was tall, his voice was deep, and he still had a murderous aura. The two little girls quickly put away the handkerchief and ran behind their father.

"We still have something to do, so we won't keep you here." Zhou Yuan sent them to the door without any unnecessary greetings.

Zhou Yuan walked up to Chen Qing and looked directly at him. Chen Qing felt uncomfortable when he looked at him: "What are you looking at?"

"A Qing is partial." Zhou Yuan muttered.

Chen Qing looked at him with some confusion: "What are you talking about?"

"You haven't even given me a veil." Zhou Yuan said.

Chen Qing looked at him speechlessly: "There are so many handkerchiefs in the box beside the bed. Besides, you don't need a handkerchief. When you sweat in summer, you just wipe your shoulders and wipe them off. Eat a wild fruit." Just wipe it on your body. Why do you need to use a handkerchief?"

"..." For the first time, Zhou Yuan felt that Chen Qing was too smart and could make him speechless.

After they finished a meal, they went to Aunt Sun's house. Winter was coming and Aunt Sun had nothing to do. This time they went to discuss the matter of killing the New Year pig.

This was the first time Chen Qing came into contact with the matter of killing New Year pigs. In the past, in his hometown, few families in the village could afford to raise pigs. After their family separated from his grandmother's family, they became even poorer. Even those who had killed New Year pigs, They won't ask their family to go see it, for fear that their family will be shocked by the autumn wind.

There was a butcher in the village, and Aunt Sun had made an appointment with the butcher before to come and kill the pigs.

Asking a butcher to kill pigs. Some families will sell half of the pork to the butcher because the family can't finish the pig. Aunt Sun also planned this, so that she can save the money of hiring a butcher separately and get back some money.

Zhou Yuan and Chen Qing went to see the pigs in the pig pen. To be honest, Zhou Yuan was a little worried, fearing that Chen Qing would not be able to let go of the pig he had raised since childhood. But he didn't expect that Chen Qing disliked it so much that he hadn't even gone there yet. The pigsty is pinching its nose.

None of them had any experience in killing pigs. Zhou Yuan thought that killing pigs was just a matter of stabbing the pigs to death with one knife, and was still wondering why they wanted to invite a butcher.

After hearing what he said, Aunt Sun patted his shoulder: "It's not that easy. If we kill the pigs like this, the butchers will stop working." Then she ordered Zhou Yuan to fetch water, and she took Chen Qing went to dig a hole in the open space outside.

Why do you need to dig a pit? Because the pot used to kill pigs is very large. This pot is placed in the ancestral hall of the village. Whenever there is a pig to be killed in the village, you need to make a simple earthen stove in advance, and then go The ancestral hall brought the pot back.

Zhou Yuan wanted to wait until he finished carrying water to dig the hole, but neither Aunt Sun nor Chen Qing agreed because Zhou Yuan didn't know how to swing a hoe.

By the time Zhou Yuan finished carrying the water, Chen Qing and the others had already dug the pit. After digging, they would use water and mud to make a stove.

Zhou Yuan marveled at their dexterity, and was then called out by Aunt Sun to get the pot from the ancestral hall.

Early the next morning, the butcher came to the house with all his tools.

Many people in the village came to watch the fun. Meng Qi and Meng Shuanzi had already finished their last dart before the year and came to help them catch pigs today.

Chen Qing was not used to having so many people at home, but he no longer wanted to hide like before. Instead, he sat by the big stove and made a fire.

Li Xin was also standing next to him. It was rare that he didn't make iron today, so he came to join in the fun: "We agreed, I want a piece of lean meat. Qi Shuning said that he stole the skills from Tianji and they have a very delicious tenderloin." Wait until he makes it for me. If it tastes good, I'll make it for you."

Chen Qing nodded, naturally agreeing to him.

"And those things in the water, Qi Shuning said they are all delicious. Shopkeeper Tian's shop has a lot of delicious food." Li Xin also stayed in Yunxi Town for a long time. Sometimes he went for acupuncture, and shopkeeper Tian would pack a lot of food for them.

"Okay, let's keep them all."

After a while, several people carried the pig out. The pig was fed very well by Mrs. Sun. After Chen Qing and the others left the house, they invited someone to chop the pig into pieces for meat. Could be more delicious.

The pig weighed about two hundred pounds and was howling so loudly that Zhou Yuan could hardly hold it down.

Chen Qing saw the butcher holding the knife, and now he felt a little unbearable, so he took Li Xin and hid in the room.

The two of them were chatting in the house where Chen Qing used to live, and soon they heard the howling of pigs, which took a while to stop.

Aunt Sun used a basin to catch the pig's blood. When Chen Qing went out again, the butcher was already undressing the pig and cutting it open. The butcher wanted one half, weighed it and put it aside, and helped them dismantle the other half.

Chen Qing had seen New Year pigs being slaughtered in his hometown from a distance. After killing the pigs, he would use pig blood, plum blossoms, etc., with a pot of sauerkraut and cook a pot of pig-killing vegetables.

Chen Qing has never eaten it because his family is poor, and poor people are more ambitious, so they don't want to take advantage of others.

Luohe Village does not have the tradition of killing New Year pigs to make pig-killing dishes. Many people left after seeing the excitement. , the butcher also paid the money to buy the pigs and left, leaving only Li Xin and Qi Shuning here.

Although this is Zhou Yuan's pig, Aunt Sun has been feeding it for the past year, so both Chen Qing and Zhou Yuan believe that this pig belongs to Aunt Sun and let Aunt Sun decide how to divide it.

Aunt Sun didn't hesitate. In addition to giving Li Xin the lean meat he wanted, she also cut two pounds of hind leg meat and a few ribs for Li Xin to take back.

Li Xin happily accepted it. The Chinese New Year is a matter of human relations. If Aunt Sun gave them meat, then their family would naturally reciprocate the gift, so there was no need for any psychological burden.

After sending Li Xin away, Aunt Sun asked Chen Qing to work together. There was definitely more meat to eat, so she picked out a few pieces that she wanted to eat recently, and rubbed the rest carefully with coarse salt on the meat. Keep it longer.

It's winter now, and pig's blood solidifies quickly. Aunt Sun plans to use fried pig's blood for lunch today, and she will also make lard in the afternoon. The lard jar at home happens to be empty.

I feel like when the New Year comes, things at home just come one after another and never get done. Although it is trivial and tedious, it makes people enjoy it.

At noon, Zhou Yuan had a hot meal of stir-fried pig blood with kimchi. On this winter day, Zhou Yuan was sweating all over.

In the afternoon, Zhou Yuan sat in front of the stove, lighting the fire and watching Chen Qing busy.

The snow-white pork suet was cut into small pieces by Chen Qing and thrown into the pot. Zhou Yuan looked at it: "That's it? No need to add anything else?"

Chen Qing shook his head: "No need, just simmer slowly. What comes out now is water, and what comes out after the water is boiled is oil. "

Sure enough, the pot started to gurgling after a while. At this time, the pot should be full of water and a little turbid. Zhou Yuan waited patiently. After a while, after all the water came out, the liquid in the pot gradually became clear, the pork net oil floating on it gradually turned brown, and the aroma of the oil also floated out.

After the oil was boiled, Chen Qing put the oil into a lard jar, but it couldn't fit into one jar. He asked Zhou Yuan to go home and get his own jar, and he also filled a full jar.

Chen Qingdu picked up the lard residue and put a piece to Zhou Yuan's mouth. Zhou Yuan hesitated before eating it. He thought the lard lard would only be greasy, but he didn't expect that it tasted burnt and oily. , fragrant and crispy.

"When I ate this for the first time, I felt that nothing in the world tastes as delicious as this." Chen Qing also ate a piece.

Zhou Yuan saw the right opportunity, lowered his head and kissed Chen Qing on the corner of the mouth. Chen Qing stretched out his hand and slapped him on the back: "Be more serious."