Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1302 A Lively Winter Slaughter: Time to Eat Meat!
Yushanjiang and Halim brought not only Bektalihar, but also Saskenasen and Yerjiang.

Both vehicles were packed full of people.

Knowing that he was Li Long's friend, Li Jianguo, who was in charge of the overall management, immediately invited him to sit down at the table in the shed. Tao Daqiang was the person who was most familiar with these people besides Li Long, and he took the initiative to pour water for them.

The children couldn't stay still. Li Qiang had heard Li Long talk about these people, so he brought Mingming and Haohao over to chat with Nathan and Sasken. He found that they spoke Chinese very well and were also in school, so he immediately took them to play together.

Patiguli then asked Yushanjiang to go find Li Juan and Han Fang. He had met Han Fang before and knew that she was the one who called Li Long "uncle" in Li Long's courtyard.

Han Fang pulled Li Juan over to chat with Patiguli for a few minutes, and the three girls then went to talk together—mainly because they were all close in age and could chat easily.

Seeing that the children were all taken care of, Yushanjiang and the others took a couple of sips of hot tea, smiled, and got up to help.

"What can you do to help? It's alright, have a seat, we have enough people here." Li Long smiled and pointed to the area.

"Look, the cattle and sheep have already been slaughtered. The meat will be stewed soon, and the offal will be stir-fried quickly too. We won't have naan today, but try our steamed buns."

"It's alright, it's alright, we're just killing time anyway... Oh right, let me give you the things first." Yu Shanjiang and the others stood up, went to the car, got the things, and handed them to Li Long.

“I am a wolf pelt, I hunted it a few days ago,” Halim said with a smile. “Recently, there has been heavy snow, and the wolves in the mountains have started to graze near the sheepfold again. I hunted two, and this pelt is better.”

“These are my antlers. Look at the forks, aren’t they beautiful?” Talihar said with some pride. “They’re not damaged at all. Judging from the marks, they must have fallen off last year.”

"So beautiful!" Li Long said sincerely, looking at the pair of antlers, each with three forks.

Yu Shanjiang gave Li Long a roe deer pelt, saying he'd gotten it from someone else. He hadn't been into the mountains much lately and hadn't gotten anything good.

Buick brought a flat piece of jade, about the same size as the stone Liang Yuemei used to press down the pickling jar, saying that his father found it in the mountains after his leg healed, and insisted that Li Long accept it.

The jade is of very good quality, and the color is also nice. It's not as dark as ordinary jasper; it has a light, sea-blue feel to it.

Li Long thought it was too expensive, but Buick said his father insisted on giving it to Li Long.

Li Long couldn't refuse, so he accepted it.

Two other young and strong herdsmen who had come along also brought their gifts. Although they were not as close to Li Long as Yushanjiang and Halim, they were people Li Long often talked to after he entered the mountains. They also brought gifts for Li Long.

A Siberian goat's head, judging by the number of segments in its horns, it's almost twenty years old, shaped like a scimitar, over a meter long, giving it a very majestic feel.

This doesn't need any embellishment; just hang it in the house and it will look great.

It was a red deer hide, not very large, but quite intact, rolled up together. It looked ordinary, but Li Long could tell at a glance that it was a very good hide, a winter hide.

If we're going to collect them, let's collect them all at once. He knew that the Kazakh herders valued the winter slaughter very much, and Li Long's formal invitation meant they truly treated it like a festival.

Look, the clothes you're wearing today are all different.

“Everyone else is busy, so they won’t be coming,” Yu Shanjiang explained. “The women in my family don’t speak very well, so I didn’t ask them to come.”

Some Kazakhs still hold very strong patriarchal views, even exhibiting serious male chauvinism. Money is primarily managed by men, and these ideas were particularly prevalent among herders in the 1980s and 90s.

Things might get better in the future.

Of course, no matter what, it's much better than the group that Tielanhua's father belonged to—just think about that nineteen-year-old woman from Linxia who died before she even finished her postpartum confinement these past few days…

Well, we've gone off on a tangent again. The main issue is that in some villages in the valley that value "customs," it's not uncommon for 18- or 19-year-old girls to not get married, but instead have someone recite some scriptures as a form of marriage. After having children, they only get married when they reach the legal age.

Yu Shanjiang and the others were quite happy to see Li Long accept the gifts and put them in the Land Cruiser. They were eager to go and help – there were still two deer to slaughter, which they were good at!
Seeing Yushanjiang and his group take action, Li Jianguo offered a few words of advice but then stopped. They were true friends; they wouldn't just sit idly by and watch others get involved.

Li Qiang took Nathan Sasken to see the red deer, roe deer, and wild boar in the old horse ship. The two children said they had seen them before.

Li Qiang felt a bit frustrated. He had been thinking of waiting for his classmates to come over and watch it together, but now the two new friends who joined him weren't interested in it.

At this moment, Xie Yundong shouted, "Qiangqiang, come here, here's a piss for you!"

Li Qiang was delighted when he heard this, ran over, and picked up the bladder.

Nathan Sasken knew this too, and immediately went to help Li Long break off a piece of reed tube. Several people took turns blowing on it, and soon the bladder was inflated.

Li Qiang went to Old Ma's place and found a shoelace to tie up the bladder opening. Then the group started kicking it in the snow.

Because there were guests, including Mingming and Haohao, we kicked the bladder in a more civilized way. Everyone stood in a corner, keeping a distance, and the person who got the bladder could kick it to another person at will.

Nathan and Sasken were delighted at this point.

In the kitchen of Lao Ma's restaurant, Uncle Luo watched the steam rising from the three-tiered steamer. He would occasionally turn his head to look at the clock on the table—the glass on the brick-sized square clock case was cracked, and Uncle Luo couldn't bear to replace it.

"Time's up, open the steamer!" Seeing that the minute had reached the expected time, Uncle Luo shouted, then carried the steamer down layer by layer and sat on the pickle jar against the wall.

Just as he was about to prepare the steamed buns to send out, Li Juan came over with Han Fang and Patiguli. They immediately offered to help, and Uncle Luo smiled and gave them a few enamel plates, asking them to carry the hot steamed buns to the table.

The women started stir-frying lamb offal on another stove. The sound of stir-frying filled the air, and the aroma began to waft through the air, attracting the attention of many children outside.

More and more people came here, and those who arrived earlier joined the work team, tearing off lamb legs, washing offal, and pulling hides.

Later, when there was no place to work, they started sitting at the table cracking sunflower seeds or watching Li Qiang and the others kick pig bladders.

Actually, Li Qiang's family has a soccer ball, but he didn't think about playing with it when he came over this morning.

A short while later, three teenagers on bicycles arrived at the roadside. They stopped and looked around the area, then spotted Li Qiang and shouted, "Li Qiang! Li Qiang!"

Li Qiang had just kicked the pee bubble at Hao Hao's feet when Hao Hao happily tried to kick it back, but missed and slipped, making everyone laugh. He laughed along with Hao Hao—children at this age aren't dramatic and won't cry just because they fall.

Just as Hao Hao got up, Li Qiang heard a shout from the roadside. He turned around and saw it was his classmate. He smiled and shouted back, then ran over.

After Hao Hao got up, he originally intended to kick it back to Li Qiang, but Li Qiang ran away, so he kicked it to Mingming instead.

"Zhao Lifeng, Chen Minghui, Du Fenglin, why did you all come together?"

“I went to find them,” Du Fenglin, whose home was the furthest away, said with a smile. “I left early, and when I found their house, they hadn’t even left yet.”

Du Fenglin was a slightly chubby student. Zhao Lifeng was the tallest and most handsome of the three, imitating Aaron Kwok's style with a very "trendy" hairstyle. Chen Minghui, like Du Fenglin, was about 1.65 meters tall, but he wasn't fat and wore glasses.

"I never expected you to make such a big scene, with so many people!" Zhao Lifeng exclaimed, looking at the scene.

"Come on, let's park the bikes. I'll take you to see the red deer, and oh yeah, the roe deer and wild boars too!" Li Qiang planned to show off the animals in Old Ma's boat again, "They're all raised by my uncle."

All three classmates were close to Li Qiang. Actually, he also had female classmates he was close to at school, but at this time, men and women were strictly separated, so he couldn't invite them over.

In northern Xinjiang, in Ma County, although people from many provinces and cities have come together and brought many different customs, they are still very conservative about male-female relationships at this time.

After showing his classmates the animals in the old horse boat, Li Qiang then led them to kick urinals.

Zhao Lifeng thought this wasn't fun, so he went over to help carry the plates—the lamb offal had already been stir-fried, and the lamb in the pot was bubbling away, with some children standing on tiptoe around the big pot, looking up at it.

The adults, including Li Juan and the others, took hot steamed buns, broke them open, filled them with mutton offal, and gave them to the children to eat first as a snack.

Yu Shanjiang and his men acted swiftly, quickly bringing down a deer. A woman rushed over to collect the blood—deer blood was a valuable commodity, even if it wasn't deer antler blood, it was still highly nourishing.

Yushanjiang had Halim skin the red deer, with Bek helping out. He, Talihar, and the others then dealt with the other red deer, followed by the roe deer.

The red deer are quite large, so some members of the team come over to help them, pulling on their legs or something to make it easier for them to skin them.

Li Qiang hurried past Li Long with a steamed bun in his hand. Li Long smiled and said to him:
"Qiangqiang, you and your sister are mainly responsible for taking care of these little guys today."

"Understood, Uncle," Li Qiang said loudly.

His classmates were too embarrassed to come to the table to eat, so Li Qiang took steamed buns and stuffed them with stir-fried mutton offal, making them eat like meat buns.

Li Qiang also gave Nathan and Sasken some steamed buns, which the two children accepted without hesitation and ate.

After playing for a while, I was a little tired and cold, so I couldn't resist the hot steamed buns.

Li Long watched the mutton in the pot by the stove, occasionally poking it with his chopsticks to see if it was overcooked.

A child stood by the stove, eating a steamed bun while wiping his nose and waiting.

Li Long was both amused and exasperated; this was affecting his appetite.

Seeing that the meat was almost ready, he brought over a large plate and, while scooping out the meat, called out to Li Qiang to come and help.

Li Qiang quickly called over the children to help.

A large plate was set up, each plate piled high with bones and meat, one plate for each table.

Next, they gave small enamel basins to those who were not busy. The children were too embarrassed to go to the table to get the meat, so Li Long served them meat from the stove, one piece in each basin, and told them not to burn themselves.

The air was filled with the aroma of cooking meat.

Li Juan and the others then brought the second dish to the table.

"Juan, take them to eat meat," Li Long called out. "It won't taste good if it gets cold."

"Okay." Li Juan replied, put the plate on the table, waited for Han Fang and the others to come together, then went to the stove to get the enamel basin, waiting for Li Long to serve them meat.

"Take the food to the stables over there, it's cold here," Li Long said as he served the meat. "Don't just focus on the work, there are plenty of people to help."

Most of the people who come here are perceptive; they'll help out with any tasks they see.

Someone like Wang Caimi would skin a sheep, gut it, clean out the offal, and then wash the offal again.

Uncle Luo and his colleagues kept bringing warm water to each processing area—cold water wouldn't work, as the fat would solidify and make processing difficult.

Water that's too hot won't work either, as it can scald the intestines and other parts until they're half-cooked and mushy.

Some people only know how to eat, and they don't mind if others laugh at them.

Li Long didn't have time to worry about so much. Since he had already said it was a treat for everyone, he just needed to make sure everyone was well taken care of. He would try to assign the work to the most capable people and make sure that those who did too much work didn't get any meat.

On the two stoves outside, there were still plenty of meat in the two large pots. Li Long cooked a whole sheep and a lot of beef, which was enough for him.

After the cattle and sheep were slaughtered, most of the people in charge washed their hands with warm water and sat down at the tables to chat and eat. Li Jianguo set out wine on each table—both sweet and spicy wines were available for each person to choose from.

Actually, we didn't drink much; we mainly ate meat.

Li Long and Li Qiang would occasionally take the cooled meat to the big pot, reheat it with boiling broth, and then take it back.

Eating hot meat and then having a bowl of hot soup helps to fight off the chill.

Although Yushanjiang and his men slaughtered the animals later, they were not slow at all. After they had slaughtered, skinned, and gutted the animals, the other areas were still not finished.

The task of dealing with the sewage was left to the women—it's a division of labor, after all.

Li Long invited them into the shed to sit at a table and began gnawing on bones.

Yushanjiang's son, Yeerjiang, was with him and had been helping out. His daughter wasn't there; he glanced around but couldn't see her. Li Long then told him, "Patiguli went inside to eat with Li Juan and Han Fang."

Yushanjiang nodded.

Halim watched his two sons following behind Li Qiang, along with Mingming and Haohao, holding bones and laughing and joking, or helping with chores, and smiled without saying a word.

He hoped his child would have a good relationship with Li Long's child, and isn't that how it is now?

Gu Boyuan treated the guests like the host, and only after he had finished being busy did he sit down with Wang Caimi and the others, eating meat and chatting.

He invited Li Jianguo to sit down, but Li Jianguo said he was busy. Gu Boyuan joked, "Don't bother, what's there to be busy about? He's taken care of the rest himself. Come and have a bite to eat, look at your face, it's all blue from the cold."

Li Jianguo was genuinely cold, but he didn't refuse. He sat down, picked up a piece of lamb neck, and started gnawing on it, saying as he ate, "Hey, eating meat outdoors in the dead of winter is really something new."

"In the summer, let Xiaolong build another big house next to the stable, and in the winter, we can slaughter the sheep right inside the house. Wouldn't that keep us warm?"

“No need. We’ll build the cooperative’s yard there after spring. We’ll set up a few large workshops, put tractors there, and leave an empty space. If we really want to fleece people, we’ll do it there.” Li Jianguo pointed to the location.

"Hey, your cooperative is really doing well!" Gu Boyuan said with admiration. "Xiaolong is really amazing, he makes everything he does work."

"Then why don't you do it? Look how well you've made it over there, and you've even married a wife. Aren't you satisfied?" someone teased Gu Boyuan.

"That's right." Gu Boyuan wasn't modest at all. "A tree dies when transplanted, but a person thrives. How will you know your abilities if you don't go out and explore?"

Yushanjiang and Halim looked at the lively scene and felt a mix of emotions, including a touch of envy. It was clear that the people here got along well, there were many children, and Nathan Sasken and his friends were having a great time.

“It seems like moving to a production team would be quite nice,” Halim suddenly said. “If the production team we go to is the same as here, that would be great.”

Yushanjiang understood his thoughts.

Humans are ultimately social animals and need to interact with others. In the past, herding tribes were small groups, but each family's winter shelter was quite far apart.

Adults are fine, but children tend to be more introverted.

In the production team, children would come out in groups, and even the more introverted ones could easily communicate with others or find suitable companions within the group. At that time, there wasn't such a big distinction between ethnic groups, especially with people like Li Long, who made Halim and Yushanjiang feel less alienated from the Han people.

The others didn't say much, but most felt the same way. This winter feast felt much more lively than theirs, filled with laughter and a completely different atmosphere.

Although there was no singing or dancing, the children were playing around and the adults were chatting, and they seemed quite happy.

As they were marveling at this, Wang the Money-Grubber arrived with a wine glass:

"Hey friend, the way you butchered and skinned that deer was really impressive! Come on, want to have a drink?"

Yu Shanjiang was a little surprised, then smiled and poured himself a drink, explaining, "They have to drive, so I'll drink. We're Li Long's friends, and we're very happy to be here today, let's drink!"

Wang Caimi was stunned for a moment. He felt that he might have been a bit reckless, making these ethnic guests think that he was representing the host to offer a toast.

But since we've already picked up the cup, let's not worry about anything else and just drink.

Yushanjiang and Halim can drink, but the other young men shouldn't. Yushanjiang is worried that they might drink too much and lose control here.

Seeing that they had started drinking, Li Long came over and chatted for a bit. Yu Shanjiang offered to let them know that they wouldn't drink too much since someone was driving.

Li Long laughed. Yu Shanjiang's way of thinking had definitely changed since he started doing business down in the mountains. If he were still in the mountains, he certainly wouldn't have done it this way.

After cleaning this area and nearly cleaning the drains, and with the women in the kitchen almost done, Liang Yuemei told Gu Xiaoxia to invite Teacher Song to go and have something to eat.

Teacher Song also looked on with curiosity. She had participated in winter slaughtering in the river valley and in the homes of ethnic minorities, but this was the first time she had participated in this Han Chinese custom, and she was quite interested.

Although Song hadn't had much contact with Gu Xiaoxia, the two had a good relationship. Over the past six months, Song would occasionally call Gu Xiaoxia to chat, and since they were both teachers, they had a lot in common.

The women in the village were quite curious about Teacher Song. Some just looked at him, while others asked him directly about things on the other side of the valley. Teacher Song didn't understand the local dialect very well and needed Gu Xiaoxia to translate for him.

Therefore, many people can tell that Gu Xiaoxia and her stepmother have a good relationship.

But Gu Xiaoxia mostly followed Liang Yuemei around, doing this and that, and she was also quite talkative.

This attachment formed in childhood has become ingrained and cannot be changed.

The women are usually busy until the very end before they start eating. Luckily, there's a table set up here too, and the leftover food is still in the pot; we just need to stir it a couple of times when we're ready to eat.

Uncle Luo and the others had already gone out and started eating at the various tables. They didn't eat much, but they enjoyed the lively scene.

Watching the kids gnaw on bones while playing, watching the young people sit at the table eating while chatting and bragging, watching the kids get red-faced and play drinking games to calculate who wins and loses, even if they lose and have to drink, they don't say anything soft, it makes me quite happy.

Yushanjiang and the others knew Uncle Luo and the other elderly people. When they saw them coming, they quickly invited them to sit down and asked about their health.

The respect for the elderly and care for the young is consistent across all ethnic groups; although they may not say much, their attitudes are similar.

Although Uncle Luo and Uncle Zhao couldn't eat much meat, they found the bones quite delicious.

Except for Yang Laoliu, he ate meat with gusto, even more so than some young men, and he was also a heavy drinker, accepting any toast from anyone, and seemed not to get drunk at all.

Even Li Long was amazed; this Yang Laoliu was truly remarkable.

During the day, the sunlight is strong, there are several stoves, the meat is constantly heated, and the vegetables can be stir-fried and served again. While drinking alcohol, these people don't feel cold.

But eventually everyone had to leave. Li Jianguo and Li Long arranged for cars to take all the drinkers home, since there had been incidents where people who had been drinking and returned home late at night hadn't made it back and had frozen to death on the roadside.

Both Kazakhs and Han Chinese were represented, so Li Long remembered this very well.

Yushanjiang and the others were fine. He and Halim had drunk alcohol, but Taliharbek and the others didn't, and someone was driving.

“Take this meat with you, one leg of lamb for each family,” Li Long said, “and a piece of venison. Take the venison back and cook it for the elders to help them recover.”

Each family has one piece, weighing about seven or eight kilograms.

The slaughtered deer are large, and each one can yield more than 100 kilograms of meat, comparable to a calf.

The herders have no shortage of beef and mutton, but it's the thought that counts; the venison from this farm is truly high-quality.

Yushanjiang and the others did not refuse, and left after saying goodbye.

Li Long and the others started cleaning up the mess. Li Qiang, along with Mingming and Haohao, also wandered around, carrying a basket and picking up the scattered bones they had finished eating. They would take these bones back to feed the dogs later.

The old horse boat had a dog, which was already full. The children who wanted to see the red deer and roe deer gave the dog the clean bones they had gnawed.

After Li Qiang's classmates finished eating, they left. It would be quite a distance to ride a bicycle home. Li Qiang had invited them over mainly to treat them to a meal of meat.

Although farmers' family conditions were much better in the 1990s than in the early 1980s, it was still quite difficult to have a proper meal with meat.

Li Juan and Han Fang helped out in the kitchen with Gu Xiaoxia and the others. Han Fang would occasionally go over and say a few words to Sister Yang, who would just smile.

Now that my daughter has a bright future in school, my dried meat processing workshop is about to be expanded into a factory.

Despite a bright future ahead, she remained low-key and never sought the limelight.

Even though I came to help today, I didn't talk much about my own affairs; I just listened to everyone gossiping.

Even when wearing masks, the women in the jerky processing workshop would gossip about all sorts of things, which was even more noticeable in the village.

However, she found the gossip and idle chatter quite interesting, unlike her hometown where she could talk about all sorts of random things for a while.

However, the women talked more about Li Long's abilities and the development of the cooperative.

After listening to Sister Yang, I had a general understanding of the village. The village has plenty of land and enough food to eat, and now they are just thinking about what to grow to make more money—mainly focusing on cotton.

There is wasteland that can be cultivated, and no fees need to be paid for the first three years, which can be considered as an initial benefit for the village.

However, all fees still need to be paid, even if it's excessive. These include management fees (agricultural tax), provident fund, public welfare fund, and various levies.

She compared the fees and found that the fees paid here were less than those paid back home.

The women also talked about family planning. Sister Yang also found that the local government handled the issue of having more children than allowed quite humanely. Basically, there was no requirement to induce labor or take away family property if someone had more children than allowed.

Because farmers here are generally wealthier, the proportion of those who pay fines is also relatively high.

Usually, when people have one child and want a second, they'd rather pay a fine to have another one.

It's just different.

However, it is not usually required that there be a boy here; having two girls is also acceptable. In terms of valuing boys over girls, it is much better than in other places.

Moreover, they don't ask for too much; they are usually content with having two children at home.

Sister Yang sighed, but she was only commenting and comparing as an observer.

The women ate a bit slower, but they were quite efficient at tidying up. Some of the items were brought by themselves, some were from Old Ma's shop, and some were brought by the Li family.

The women were to sort and put these things away neatly, and the men would then arrange for them to be returned.

By the time everything was arranged and cleaned up on the old horse ship, the sun was already setting in the west.

Mingming and Haohao continued to tirelessly follow Li Qiang around the field. They had already cleaned up the bones and were now shoveling snow to cover the bloodstains on the ground to prevent attracting small animals at night.

Li Long and the others also cut up the meat, leaving some at Lao Ma's place. Xie Yundong and the others who came to help each received a few kilograms. When the women left, they also divided up the remaining vegetables to take back with them—of course, they also left some for Lao Ma's place.

Gu Boyuan offered to take some meat, but not much. He would only stay here for a maximum of twenty days before returning home, and bringing too much would be a hassle as he wouldn't be able to finish it all.

Wang Caimi jokingly told him to take a deer antler velvet back, which earned him a few scoldings from Gu Boyuan. Wang Caimi wasn't angry, and walked back with a red face. He refused to let Li Long see him off, saying he was fine.

There was no way to deal with the stubborn man, so Li Long still had Li Qiang ride his bicycle over to take a look, and told him to watch Wang Caimi return to his own yard before coming back.

Li Jianguo took some of the remaining meat, but not much; he let Li Long take most of it back.

“You still have so many people to deliver to, take more back with you, especially this venison,” Li Jianguo said. “Our family is also going to slaughter a pig, we can’t eat that much meat.”

The mutton I brought back a few days ago hasn't been finished yet.

After a busy day, by the time I got home and put the meat away, it was already dark.

Everyone was busy today, including Han Fang, Li Juan, and Mingming and Haohao. Mingming and Haohao didn't come back with Li Long today; instead, they went to their uncle's house with Li Qiang.

"I wonder if they've had dinner yet," Gu Xiaoxia said as she took off her coat.

"Eat? I bet you'll fall asleep as soon as you get to your brother's house. You've been running around all day. You're not tired while you're playing, but you'll definitely fall asleep as soon as you rest." Li Long cleaned the ashes out of the stove, saw that there were still a few embers left in the firebox, put some wood scraps in, pressed down some coal, and then went out to empty the ashes.

As I was leaving, I saw Han Fang feeding Xiao Hei with bones, so I said, "Xiao Fang, tell your mom not to cook. She ate a good lunch and a good afternoon, and she's had a long day. She should get some rest tonight."

"Okay, I'll go tell them now." Han Fang poured half a basket of bones into the dog's food bowl, put the basket aside, and went inside.

Li Long poured the ashes into the outhouse, added water, returned to the house, washed his hands, watched the fire in the stove ignite, and then picked up the teapot and placed it on the stove lid.

With the first major task of the year completed, the next step is to slaughter the wild boar, which can then be done together with the slaughtering of the New Year's pig by my elder brother's family.

There's no need to invite Harim and his group; we can just hold it in my older brother's yard. It'll be a small event, with fewer people and less noise.

Gu Boyuan had also drunk some wine today. He drove back to the yard, tidied up the car and locked it. Teacher Song was already tidying up the stove to prepare water for cooking porridge.

"Stop messing around." Gu Boyuan, reeking of alcohol, said as he walked towards the bedroom, "You've been working hard all day, let's rest."

"It's alright, I'm not tired." Teacher Song was in good spirits, and said while fixing the stove, "It was quite lively today, so many people, and I heard quite a bit of gossip."

“Don’t believe those old women, they’re all just making things up about others,” Gu Boyuan said. “Just laugh it off. In the countryside, even if there’s nothing serious, people will come up with something to believe, and they’ll believe anything they hear.”

"I didn't think so, it's just quite fun, different from the city," Teacher Song said with a smile.

"Then you just wait. For the next few days, there will probably be similar things every day. They'll either invite us for drinks or ask us to eat pork stew. You and I won't be able to stay idle at all."

"That's great! Otherwise, we'd be so bored just sitting in the yard." Teacher Song was very happy. "By the way, someone said today that Xiaoxia and I look like mother and daughter, which made me really happy."

Gu Boyuan hummed in response but didn't say anything. He thought to himself, "You two look like mother and daughter? They don't look alike at all. Can't you tell when someone is complimenting you?"
Of course, these words shouldn't be said aloud, as they would be hurtful.

Teacher Song hummed a song as she cooked corn porridge. She felt that eating meat and offal for lunch was too greasy, so she needed the porridge to cleanse her palate and cut through the richness.

Gu Boyuan didn't care. He had drunk quite a bit today. Although he was still sober, his body was protesting, so he simply lay on the bed and dozed off.

The room gradually warmed up, and he slowly drifted off to sleep. He only woke up when Teacher Song called him to get up and have some porridge. When he looked outside, it was already dark.

For the next few days, not only did Bo Yuan and his wife eat out every day, but Li Long did the same, running to the fourth team every day, because on the day of the winter slaughter, someone had already made an appointment with him, and someone would slaughter pigs every day thereafter.

Not just anyone can be called upon to help with a pig slaughter. Close friends will ask each other when they're slaughtering their pigs, so they can schedule their slaughters at different times to avoid overwhelming those who need help.

In the past, pig slaughtering in rural areas was a way for close friends to help each other. Now it has become an excuse for winter gatherings, much like the winter slaughtering in Kazakhstan.

At that time, almost every household raised pigs, mainly so that they wouldn't have to buy meat. After all, raising pigs was as simple as picking some pigweed from the fields and mixing it with some coarse grains and bran—at that time, a pig that could be fed to 80 or 90 kilograms was considered quite large, unlike in later generations where pigs were fed to over 100 kilograms in half a year.

In the rural areas of Ma County, not many people buy meat. After slaughtering a pig, processing it, rendering the oil and meat, and sealing it up, it can be eaten until the following summer.

If you have chickens at home, you can slaughter one to entertain guests. As for beef or mutton, you can buy some meat from the sheep and cattle farmers in the village when they slaughter their animals.

Or, if you have money, you can simply buy a sheep, slaughter it, and process it in the same way as you would a pig: render it, seal it, preserve it, and eat it slowly.

Although Li Long tried to avoid drinking alcohol when going to eat "pig-killing feast," it was unavoidable. He was famous and wealthy, and he helped the team, especially the cooperative members, make money, which made others envious.

Putting everything else aside, he's been running the small lake for years. If you want to catch fish in it, even if you don't pay him, you should at least try to build a good relationship with him.

So for the next few days, although Li Long was able to eat fresh pork stew every day, he was also constantly surrounded by the smell of alcohol.

Fortunately, if he drank too much, he wouldn't go back. He would just sleep in the fourth team's house with a stove in his own room.

Gu Xiaoxia was quite happy too, because every time Li Long came back, he would bring back some pork offal. This kind of thing wasn't appreciated in the village, but once they moved to the county and couldn't eat it often, they started to crave it.

After all, dishes made from pigs slaughtered that day just taste different.

This continues for about a week, until the eve of the Lunar New Year, after which each family basically prepares their own New Year's items.

Nowadays, the Lunar New Year celebrations begin from the Little New Year and are basically done strictly according to the nursery rhyme: cleaning, preparing ingredients, offering sacrifices to ancestors, frying fried dough sticks and meatballs, steaming buns and steamed bread...

If you prepare all the staple foods, snacks, and other necessities for the fifteen days of the Lunar New Year, you won't be too busy during the holiday.

Even when relatives or guests come, the main focus is on cooking dishes; the staple food is simply heated up from what was prepared beforehand.

Those with better resources would also fry ribbonfish, make eight-treasure rice, steamed pork with rice flour, braised pork belly, and so on.

It seems like the whole year is just for these few days.

(End of this chapter)