Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

The news that the three children of the Zeng family had killed a wild boar spread like wildfire and soon reached the production team. The village chief Zeng Laosan and the village accountant, a widow in her thirties with some education, found Zeng Youhuo and his wife and graciously exempted them from today's work.

"Huowazi, your boy has killed a wild boar weighing more than 400 kilograms. What are you going to do with this pig?" Zeng Laosan and his two companions accompanied Zeng Youhuo and his wife to Zeng's house.

Zeng Youhuo and his wife were still confused at this time. Last night they heard that the three boys were going into the woods to play. At that time, they had the same idea as Zhang Xiuzhi: one of the older nephews wanted to play with a gun.

Unexpectedly, a wild boar weighing more than 400 kilograms appeared.

The village would occasionally hunt wild boars, but never one this big. The largest one weighed only 300 kilograms, and that was the one hunted by the village, not by private individuals.

Zeng Youhuo knew what Zeng Laosan was thinking. In the past, when wild boars were killed, very few were left in the village, and most of them were handed over to the commune by Zeng Laosan, which made him suspected of flattery.

Doing this has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it is convenient to communicate with the higher-ups when there are any issues in the village. The disadvantage is that the villagers cannot enjoy their food and can only eat offal. The meat they get in their bowls can only be counted by the slices.

"Third brother, is the commune asking you for something again?" Zeng Youhuo asked. He had a good impression of Zeng Laosan because Zeng Laosan was older than him, so he called him brother.

Zeng Lao San would not use force on Zeng Youhuo's family. He smiled awkwardly and said, "It's not the first or second time. Secretary Wang has a hard time. Although there is an order from above not to allow purchases from the city to come to the countryside, Secretary Wang has a wide network of contacts. Some people ask him for help privately. What can he do? He can only assign people to the lower levels. You know the sideline business of the production team. Just like that, help your brother. Your family can't finish eating such a big pig. Give half to the production team. The production team won't take it for nothing. Look, I even brought Accountant Hu with me..."

Accountant Hu is the widow brought by Zeng Lao San. She has fair skin and looks decent. She doesn't dress like a country girl and wears rather formal clothes.

Zeng Youhuo smiled and said, "Third brother, we are all from the same village. Logically speaking, what you said makes sense. It is not impossible for us to sell the remaining pigs to the production team. But, third brother, if we divide the pig of more than 400 kilograms into half, including the skin and bones, it will weigh nearly 200 kilograms, not counting the offal. How can the production team buy it?"

This is where Zeng Laosan gets embarrassed, money.

The production team was broke and had to deal with the chores of the commune, so how could they have any surplus food?

Zeng Laosan was too embarrassed to say "write an IOU". Once a debt like this was owed, who knew when it could be repaid? It was basically the same as asking for it for nothing. He knew he couldn't fool Zeng Laosan, so he was too embarrassed to say it.

As they were talking, the four of them arrived at Zeng's house.

Zeng Laosan saw that there were many people around and said with a big mouth: "What are you looking at? There is nothing good to see. Go back and fight if you have the ability."

The village chief spoke and the villagers dispersed.

After being introduced by Zeng Youhuo, Zeng Wangcai called him "Uncle San" and told him the whole process of "killing" the wild boar. Only then did Zeng Laosan and Zeng Youhuo know that it was Zeng Wangcai who killed the wild boar.

Zeng Wangcai made this statement deliberately. He wanted to control the distribution of pork and pave the way for what happened later.

Zeng Youhuo accompanied Zeng Laosan to the backyard, where water was being boiled in preparation for slaughtering the pig and shaving it.

Zeng Lao San looked at the big wild boar and suddenly said, "Wangcai, this pig..."

What's wrong? See the problem?

Damn, the mud hasn't been washed off yet...

"So fat..." Zeng Laosan came up with this idea.

In fact, there is a big difference between the appearance of black pigs and wild boars, but Zeng Wangcai was too worried. Who has a pig now that this dead man is dead? It's okay to raise a chicken secretly, but raising a pig is too big a target.

"This shows that the soil and water near our village are good. Even the wild boars are growing fat."

"Haha, that makes sense."

Zeng Laosan had already learned that Zeng Wangcai was the one who had the right to distribute the pig, so he spoke politely.

It was time to slaughter the pig. Zeng Laosan went out reluctantly. At this time, Zeng Wangcai took out the pig-killing knife borrowed from Lin Huyang from his bag.

Zeng Hu and Zeng Bao looked confused and said in unison: "Brother, the knives are ready..."

Are you sure you're coming back to kill pigs? I've borrowed a proper butcher knife.

Zeng Wangcai laughed dryly and explained that the knife was used for self-defense.

There was a pig, a knife and boiling water. Zeng Wangcai couldn't help with the rest. He picked up the third sister Xiaohuan and pulled the other two sisters out, leaving the battlefield in the backyard to the two younger brothers.

It was afternoon now and Zeng Wangcai's stomach was growling with hunger. Zeng Laosan was still outside, so he left his sisters outside to play and went back to the kitchen alone. Zhang Xiuzhi was braising toad and the cooking was done.

Zeng Wangcai helped Zhang Xiuzhi take the toads out of the pot. He originally wanted to soak the toads, but then he thought about having to braise large intestines and other things later, so he gave up, as they were already fragrant enough.

"Xiuzhi, did you see the bump on the back of the village chief's head? I guess I hit him there last night. What do you think..."

"What did you call me?"

"Xiuzhi, that doesn't sound good. How about Zhier?"

"Pfft..."

Zhang Xiuzhi was amused and replied with a shameless word, "The accountant Hu is the woman who was with the village chief last night."

OK, it’s confirmed, the village chief is looking for a widow...

It's a bit like the story of Sha Zhu and his son in Siheyuan. He Daqing looks for Widow Bai, and Sha Zhu looks for Widow Qin.

Zeng Wangcai recalled the information about Zeng Laosan. This man has a wife and children at home. As for his personality, apart from being a bit of a liar, there is nothing wrong with him. He is a suitable candidate.

After making a decision in his heart, Zeng Wangcai took a bowl and put a few frogs in it. He had not eaten lunch, and when he came back he was so busy that he didn't have time to eat the ones his grandmother had left for him.

Zhang Xiuzhi’s cooking skills are good, or rather, Zeng Wangcai’s recipe is very good. The toad stew is rosy in color and has a fragrant aroma.

Zeng Wangcai first brought them to his grandmother, then came back with a few more and called his three younger sisters into the house. The three girls had been craving for them for a long time, so they each held one and ate it immediately.

"Brother, it's delicious. I wish you didn't go back to Beijing. You've been here for two days and our family has had meat for two days. We even have meat at night. Erya doesn't eat as well as we do." The second sister muttered.

Eating meat twice in two days is something that people in the countryside cannot imagine. The Erya that the second sister mentioned is the girl from Zeng Laosan's family, who gets along well with the three of them.

While eating toad, Zeng Wangcai asked his three sisters about the details of the daily life in the village, such as which family the Zeng family had a good relationship with, which family they had a grudge against, how big the grudge was, etc.

"There are many people who are at odds with our family. They blame my elder and second elder brothers. They used to bully others when they were in school. Now many people in the village are afraid of them."

"That's right. My elder brother has three first grades and two second grades. My second brother has four first grades...they are very popular in school."

"Brother, my brothers hate it most when people call them repeaters. They get angry when people call them repeaters, and they start fighting. My father beat them up a lot for this..."

Well, there are not many good friends, but a lot of enemies.

Zeng Hu had five grades in primary school, and spent five years in grades one and two. Zeng Bao was even worse, spending four years in grade one...

You two are planning to call all your classmates teachers!

But fighting means nothing in the village. Using knives and hoes is considered more upscale. Zengzhuang is not bad. It is relatively united and can do something.

Zeng Wangcai went out of the yard, but Zeng Laosan had not left yet. His second uncle was still accompanying him and talking to Accountant Hu.

Seeing Zeng Wangcai come out, Zeng Laosan was overjoyed. He had been waiting for a long time and his mouth was dry. He didn't even have a sip of water to drink, and finally he came out.

"Wangcai, the wild boar you killed is so fat, what are you going to do with it?"