Chapter 726: Slaughtering the Pig and Dividing the Meat!
The night passed without incident!
Early the next morning, Li Yi was fast asleep when he was suddenly roused by the village loudspeaker.
He opened his eyes, took a moment to compose himself, and then listened intently to the announcement.
It turned out to be Village Party Secretary Feng Kai notifying the villagers to get up and gather at the village pig farm—today was the day to slaughter the pig and distribute the meat.
Hearing that they were going to slaughter the New Year pig, Li Yi immediately perked up.
Slaughtering and distributing pork every winter was the liveliest and most bustling time in the village; practically everyone—young and old, men and women—would rush over to help and watch the festivities.
Without delay, he got dressed and got out of bed, ready to head over to the pig farm!
The rustling sounds also woke up Jiang Xue. The young girl first glanced at Yun Rui and Yun Jin beside her, finding the two little ones sleeping soundly.
Then, still half-asleep, she looked at Li Yi and asked, “Why aren’t you sleeping? What are you up so early for?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “The loudspeaker just announced that the village is slaughtering a pig and distributing the meat today!”
Hearing Li Yi’s words, Jiang Xue’s sleepy expression quickly cleared, and she sat up straight in bed.
The young girl, paying no mind to the revealing glimpse of her figure beneath her loose nightgown, hurriedly exclaimed, “I want to go see too!”
Having lived in the village for nearly four years, Jiang Xue knew full well how lively the annual pig slaughter was, and she also fondly remembered the scenes of slaughtering and distributing pork from her time working in the countryside.
“Alright, then go wash up quickly. I’ll go fetch some water first!”
“Okay!”
By the time Li Yi had dressed and stepped out of the main house, Zhang Ziqiang and Yang Zhiwen had already gotten up and were washing up in the courtyard.
Seeing Li Yi come out, the two quickly wiped the water from their faces with towels and walked over.
“Come on, let’s head to the well!”
Saying this, Li Yi picked up a shoulder pole and hoisted two water buckets onto it.
He then had Zhang Ziqiang and Yang Zhiwen harness the red mule and the black horse, and the group set off for the well, looking as though they were on a pilgrimage to the West.
By the time Li Yi and the others reached the well, a crowd of villagers had already gathered there, most of them waiting to draw water.
Seeing Li Yi approach, the crowd greeted him warmly:
Uncle Chen Liu, puffing on his pipe, asked, “Little Yi, you’re not leaving before the New Year, are you?”
“I’m not leaving. If I do, it won’t be until after the New Year!” Li Yi replied with a smile.
Zhang Danian immediately chimed in, “I knew it! You’ve finally come back—you’ve got to stay at least until after the New Year. Your parents will be over the moon this year!”
“Hahaha, they’ll definitely be happy. Last year, my wife hadn’t finished her postpartum confinement yet, so there was just no way I could come back for the New Year!” Li Yi explained.
“Xiao Yi, my daughter Chunhua’s been home these past few days. If your wife has time, she should come over for a visit!”
“Sure…”
Just as they were talking, a chorus of “baa-baa” bleats suddenly rose from the distance.
Li Yi turned to look and saw a huge flock of sheep approaching from the distance. It was a massive procession—at least a thousand or two!
Just then, Liu Darei, who was walking by carrying a load on his shoulders, immediately said to Li Yi, “Little Yi, you better water the mules and horses and lead them away right away, or the sheep will get spooked!”
“Got it!”
As Li Yi led the big red mule and the big black horse to the trough to drink, he asked, “Brother Lei, are those all the village’s sheep? There sure seem to be a lot of them!”
“Yeah. Remember you left the village 100,000 yuan for livestock farming? We spent 20,000 yuan building a sheep farm and a cattle farm, and used the remaining 80,000 yuan to buy cattle and sheep from the pastures!” Liu Darei replied.
“So how many cattle and sheep does the village have now?” Li Yi asked again.
“We have over two thousand sheep and more than eight hundred head of cattle!”
“Eight hundred?”
Li Yi asked in surprise; he really hadn’t expected the village to have 800 head of cattle.
Wow, that’s really something!
Liu Darei smiled and said, “It’s just over 800, but the calves we bought this year make up a little over half of that. The remaining 400 or so adult cattle are the calves you bought for us in the back pastures two years ago—they’ve grown up now!”
“With so many cattle and sheep, does our village have enough fodder?” Li Yi asked.
“Heh, with those huge mountains right here, why would we need extra fodder? Besides, after the autumn harvest, the village didn’t distribute any firewood or hay to the villagers—we saved it all for the livestock to get through the winter!” Liu Darei explained.
“Hmm, as long as there’s enough to feed them. The worst part about raising livestock is when they run out of food—that’s even more stressful than people going hungry!” Li Yi said with a look of deep feeling.
“Hahaha, I never would’ve guessed you knew so much about livestock, Little Yi. I’ve never seen you raise any before!” Liu Darei said with a laugh.
“You don’t have to raise them yourself to know what’s going on—just watching others do it is enough!” Li Yi said.
“Exactly. It’s like how we men can’t give birth, but we still feel the pain when women go into labor!”
Li Yi: @#￥%……
You have to admit, that analogy is absolutely brilliant!
As they spoke, the big red mule and the big black horse had both had their fill of water, so Li Yi immediately had Zhang Ziqiang and Yang Zhiwen lead them away from the well.
As for himself, he hoisted the buckets filled with water by the villagers and headed home!
Back home, his father had already gotten up. Seeing that his son had carried the water back and had also watered the mules and horses, a faint smile appeared on his usually stern face.
Seeing that Zhang Ziqiang and Yang Zhiwen were preparing to lead the mules and horses back to the corral, Li Shankui immediately stepped forward and said, “Leave it to me. I’ll take them out for a walk and let them roll around a bit!”
Yang Zhiwen immediately said, “Uncle, let me come with you!”
“No need. You two should hurry inside and eat!” Li Shankui said.
Li Yi, standing nearby, added, “Zhiwen, let Dad go. Later, you can help me see my second sister and the others off!”
“Sure!”
After a quick breakfast, he saw his second sister’s family off in the jeep, then drove the bus and the truck to the village entrance. Only then did Li Yi head to the pig farm with Jiang Xue, Zhang Ziqiang, Zhang Feng, and the others.
The village pig farm was located southeast of the threshing floor, not far from the village committee office.
By the time Li Yi and the others arrived, the area was already packed with villagers and cooperative members—men, women, the elderly, and children—forming a tight circle that left no room to move.
Upon seeing Li Yi and Jiang Xue approach, the crowd voluntarily parted to make way for them.
Li Yi didn’t hesitate; he immediately led Jiang Xue and the others through the crowd into the pig farm’s courtyard.
The pig slaughter had already begun in the courtyard. Two of the village’s renowned butchers wielded their sharp knives, relentlessly striking the struggling black-haired pigs.
Beside a makeshift stove, two large, fat pigs—half-dehaired—were already in place. Several men were pouring scalding hot water over the pigs while using pumice stones to remove the remaining bristles.
It had been many years since Li Yi had seen such a scene, and it instantly brought back countless memories from his past life…
Just then, Feng Kai and Zhang Tongfu spotted Li Yi and Jiang Xue and immediately walked over.
Seeing that they had come empty-handed, Feng Kai immediately said, “Xiao Yi, why didn’t you even bring a basin? How are we going to divide the meat later?”
Li Yi was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, “I was so caught up in watching the excitement that I completely forgot about dividing the meat. I don’t know how much there is, but if there isn’t much, we can each take a little to take home!”
Zhang Tongfu chuckled and said, “The village raised over eighty pigs this year. After accounting for the ones sold, everyone should get at least 10 jin of meat.”
“Your Li family has seven people, including adults and children. That’s still seventy or eighty pounds!”
Li Yi smiled and asked, “Does my third older sister still get a share even though she’s married?”
“Nana is married, but her household registration hasn’t been transferred out yet, so she’s entitled to her share!” Feng Kai said.
“Then thank you, Uncle Feng!”
Then Li Yi added, “By the way, Uncle Feng and Uncle Zhang, I don’t see that many pigs this year. Why don’t we just not sell them?”
“Don’t sell them? You mean we’ll just distribute them all to the villagers?” Feng Kai asked in surprise.
“Exactly. Even if we slaughter all 80 pigs, that’s only about 14,000 to 15,000 catties of meat. With over 600 people in our village, big and small, that works out to just over 20 catties per person—it really isn’t much!”
Li Yi continued, “Besides, with just this much meat, selling it would only net each person ten or eight yuan. Everyone’s already received their fair share this year—we’re not short on money!”
Li Yi said this not only because he wanted everyone to have a little more meat, but more importantly, he didn’t want the villagers to have to eat offal during the New Year festivities.
According to the village’s long-standing practice, after slaughtering the New Year pigs, the best cuts were hauled off to the county seat to be sold, while the remaining heads, hooves, offal, and unsellable parts were distributed to the villagers.
For as long as Li Yi could remember, this had been the village’s custom—all because of their “poverty.”
Back then, they had no choice. But now that Li Yi had the means to lead everyone to a better life, he truly didn’t want them to spend the New Year feeling deprived just for the sake of a few yuan!
Feng Kai and Zhang Tongfu exchanged a glance; as partners who’d worked together for decades, they instantly understood each other’s meaning.
Feng Kai then turned to Li Yi and said, “Since you’ve put it that way, Little Yi, we won’t buy any meat for the village this year. We’ll distribute it all to the villagers so everyone can have a bountiful New Year!”
“Hahaha, great! Uncle Feng, go tell everyone the good news!”
“Alright!”
With that, Feng Kai immediately walked toward the front of the crowd…
……..