Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

A pig is nothing to Zeng Wangcai. He has many other things in his space, including pigs, cows and sheep, and these things need a safe exit.

Zengzhuang is a good choice. The villagers are getting by, the village chief is easy to control, and having the handle on the cornfield is almost enough.

"Uncle San's question is a bit funny. The wild boar must be eaten. My family hasn't eaten meat for half a year." Zeng Wangcai counted on his fingers, "Uncle Er has a large family. Each person gave one or two kilograms, so more than one hundred kilograms are gone. My eldest and second aunts gave me twenty kilograms, so most of the pig is gone. I will take the rest back, and my neighbors can also get some. Are you worried that there is no place to give pork these days?"

Zeng Laosan's hands were shaking, and he spread his wings as if he was about to fly. What a prodigal son! He gave away the whole pig, and gave it away to his own family members as well as his neighbors. Are you a living Bodhisattva?

People won't be able to repay this kind of favor you give them.

"Wangcai, look, Uncle San wants to make a deal with you. You pig..."

"Wait a minute, I was the one who killed the wild boar, Uncle San, please be careful with your words."

"Kid, why are you so bothered about this?" Zeng Laosan was so annoyed that he said, "This pig you killed can produce 200 to 300 kilograms of meat. Half of it will be sold to the village. I will use half to feed the villagers. The other half will be sent to the commune. Secretary Wang of the commune wants it. I owe you a favor and will definitely pay you back in the future. How do you think?"

The meat yield of live pigs is between 60 and 70 percent. Zeng Laosan estimated it a little higher because he saw that the pig was very fat.

Zeng Laosan's words were beyond Zeng Youhuo's expectations. He thought that if Zeng Laosan succeeded, he would send all the money to the commune and would not leave a single cent for the brigade canteen.

To be honest, the canteen of the brigade has become smelly. If it weren't for the free meals offered by the workers, who would want to eat in the canteen? It's only been a little over a year and the canteen is almost unable to operate.

"Uncle San, is the commune still asking people down there for things?"

"It's not a request, it's a favor..." Zeng Laosan explained carefully, "Our production team is under the management of the commune. We have to do whatever the commune tells us to do. Although we report how much grain to hand in, the decision is still made by the commune. The matter is very complicated and it's hard to explain it in a short time."

It's not that it can't be explained, but that we don't want to say it or can't say it. Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. No matter how strict the system is, it is enforced by people, and people can find loopholes.

Zeng Wangcai wanted this: "Uncle San has said this. If you don't agree, you will be ignorant. Give half of the meat to the villagers. Whether it's for money or not is easy to discuss. My second uncle will negotiate with you. But in the end, when the meat is sent to the commune, my second uncle must go with you."

"You kid, are you afraid that your uncle will be greedy? No, I tell you, your uncle is famous for being selfless..., okay, let's go together." Zeng Laosan probably understood Zeng Wangcai's thoughts, "Huowazi, you two don't have to go to the team today, take care of the pigs at home, and after this afternoon, we will go to the commune together to deliver them to Secretary Wang. Remember to keep the centimeters."

This is the benefit of power, and this is the selfless Zeng Lao San.

Zeng Youhuo did not refuse. He was worried about letting two inexperienced guys handle such a big pig.

After seeing off Zeng Laosan and Widow Hu, the Zeng family members started to get busy around the fat pig, some boiling water and some shaving the hair.

Because the pig was already dead, a lot of trouble was saved. After the surface was cleaned, it was lifted onto the removed door panel. Zeng Youhuo then started to work. He was really capable. Although he was not a professional butcher, he used the butcher knife quite well.

"What a good pig, so fat. It's rare to find meat like this in wild boars." After removing the offal and splitting the pig in half, Zeng Youhuo said with emotion while looking at the quality of the meat.

After the pig was split open, there was more to do, so grandma came to help. She and Zhang Xiuzhi turned over the large intestines, Zeng Wangcai processed the liver and heart, and even Zeng Jinhuan and others were busy helping out.

"It's too hot. Fry a plate of pork liver tonight, save some, divide the meat into portions, and send them to my two aunts' homes this afternoon, Uncle."

"Xiao Hu will be there to deliver it soon. Daya, Daya, go to the village chief's house, borrow his bicycle, and tell him that the meat is ready."

In 59, few families in the courtyard houses had bicycles, let alone in Zengzhuang. Zeng Laosan had a bicycle at home because he often had to go to the commune. Whenever anyone in the village had an emergency, they could usually borrow it.

The eldest maid Jinhuan ran out, followed the stone road to find Zeng Laosan's house, and brought the car over with Zeng Laosan's maid Erya.

"Jinhuan, this is the wild boar your eldest brother hunted. It's so big!" Zeng Erya said enviously in the backyard of Zeng's house.

Zeng Jinhuan and her two sisters are good friends with Erya and they often play together. When Zeng Wangcai asked about it before, Jinhuan said that Zeng Erya would share delicious food with them, so she gave Erya candy.

"Er Ya, your dad didn't come?"

"My dad said he would come back later. Your family has borrowed the car, so we can't go to the commune now."

"I almost forgot about this, Erya, you can have dinner at uncle's place tonight, okay?"

The next generation of Zeng Laosan's family was much smaller than his generation. They had a son, but the next two babies died. Dao Erya finally survived, but her health was still poor, so Zeng Laosan's family would usually have some food.

Zeng Youhuo would not miss any opportunity to repay a favor, because his three daughters had benefited from Zeng Laosan's family, even though it was not intentional.

After the pig was slaughtered, Zeng Youhuo asked the four girls to go outside to play and began to cut the pork into pieces.

"The meat with plums is the most tender. Ma Ping will make some meat soup for mom tonight." Zeng Youhuo picked out a dark red strip of meat that was more than a foot long. This piece of meat was the most tender on the pig.

Nowadays, everyone likes to eat big pieces of fatty meat, but Zeng Youhuo is worried that his mother won’t be able to bear eating too much fat.

"Bullshit, how can I eat all that by myself? Have you forgotten that there is a boy at your eldest brother's house? Wangcai is going back tomorrow, take this meat back to him." Grandma said a little unhappily.

Then grandma started to be partial and kept scolding Zeng Youhuo, saying that he shouldn't sell the wild boar killed by his eldest grandson to the villagers, and that the villagers were so poor that their accounts were cleaner than their faces.

Zeng Youhuo didn't dare to talk back and just kept winking at his nephew.

Zeng Wangcai smiled and comforted his grandmother: "It's okay, grandma. We will have plenty of opportunities to eat fish and meat in the future. Let the village get some benefits, and we will be able to get good ones when the land, fields and ponds are divided in the future.

"Tomorrow Xiuzhi and I will go to the city to sell frogs to make money. With money we can buy anything."

This model has only been implemented for more than a year, so Zeng Youhuo didn't care about his nephew's suggestion to divide the land.

Zeng Wangcai did not explain. The higher-ups were not blind. If farmers were not well fed for a long time, there would be problems. Appropriate relaxation was necessary and it would not be too late.

He cut the pig into two halves, chopped off the legs and ribs. Zeng Youhuo took out two portions of meat, poked a hole in them with a knife, tied them up with a hemp rope and gave them to the eldest brother Zeng Hu, asking him to ride his bike to deliver them to his two younger sisters.

Two big fat pieces of meat hung on the handlebars of the bicycle. Zeng Hu was the most handsome boy in the two villages.