The Beginning of Siheyuan: The Pig Killer of Qinjia Village

Chang Wei returned to the kitchen, left one of the braised pig heads, and put the rest into a basin and stored them in his personal space.

He ate three bowls of rice with the hot pork head. After finishing the meal, he quietly went back to the room and saw Qin Huairu fell into a deep sleep again. He took away the bowl and chopsticks and quietly left the room.

He used meat sauce to soak a bucket of wheat bran, rice bran and bean cakes to feed the pigs, then pulled the cart out of the house, turned back to lock the gate, and climbed over the wall to leave the yard.

Xiaoliang Village is a bit far away, about twenty miles away from Qin Huairu. The road is bumpy and it takes more than an hour for Chang Wei to get there by cart.

On the way, he took out a piece of braised pork head weighing about two pounds from his personal space and wrapped it in oil paper.

We arrived at Xiaoliang Village around three o'clock in the afternoon. The wheat here had been harvested a few days earlier, and people had already started plowing the fields in preparation for planting rice.

Nowadays, most people plow the fields by hand, but some use cows, donkeys and mules, depending on the situation in each village.

Qinjia Village, for example, has a small population but has three oxen for farming, so the conditions are pretty good. The villagers of Qinjia Village are basically from the same clan, so they have these three oxen as common property. Except for Qinjia Village, other villages have large livestock that are owned by individuals and will help plow the fields for other families to earn a little money.

Although Xiaoliang Village has a small character in its name, it is actually a large village with more than 300 households and one to two thousand people.

The last time Qin Zhengshan brought him to meet the family, Chang Wei went straight to the home of the village chief Liang Fengshou.

When they arrived at the door of the village chief Liang Fengshou's house, Chang Wei stopped the cart and shouted outside the yard.

"Is Uncle Fengshou at home?"

After waiting for a while, a little boy of seven or eight years old came out of the room. When he saw it was Chang Wei, he happily ran to open the door.

"My father is not at home. He has gone to the fields. I will go and call for you."

Chang Wei smiled and nodded, then took out two candies and gave them to him. "Okay, thank you! These are from Gou Wa."

Gou Wa happily took the candy and ran away like the wind.

Gou Wa is the youngest in Liang Fengshou's family. I met him last time. He was present when Qin Zhengshan brought me to meet Liang Fengshou and gave him two pieces of candy. I didn't expect that this kid still remembered him.

Sure enough, the charm of candy in the eyes of children is infinite.

Home.

Qin Huairu also woke up slowly, stretched, and felt much more comfortable.

Seeing that it was getting late outside, I got dressed and got out of bed. Now I feel okay, and I don’t have that burning sensation anymore.

After washing up in the courtyard, she went into the kitchen and saw the large intestine tied in a basin. Qin Huairu smiled sweetly with her charming eyes, and her cheeks were shaped like dimples.

The boss is good at everything except being scary at night. It's not like he can't do it himself, but he does everything well. He is such a thoughtful and considerate man.

Thinking of this, Qin Huairu took cautious steps and went home carrying the braised large intestines.

When I got home, I saw that the door was not closed but no one was there. I knew that someone must be threshing wheat at the back of the house, so I put the braised large intestines in the kitchen and went to the threshing ground behind the house.

The old-fashioned way of threshing wheat is to use a stone roller to thresh it. People born in the 1980s and 1990s who live in rural areas should have seen this.

It looks simple, but it is actually a technical job.

Before harvesting wheat, the threshing floor must be tidied up first. This treasury ...

The first step in preparing a wheat field is to plow the land. Plowing with oxen or by hand is not as deep as when planting crops, but it must be plowed thoroughly, leaving no ridges or dead corners.

The second step is to harrow the ground. Harrow in straight and diagonal lines, and harrow repeatedly. Harrow big clods into small pieces, break small clods into small pieces, and harrow the broken clods into a flat surface.

The third step is to level and clean up. Level the unevenness and clean up the exposed stones, tiles, weeds, leaves, etc.

The last step is called "gangchang", which means crushing.

This last process is very technically demanding and is the most important. If it is not done properly, the grain may become lumpy, broken, or cracked, which will not only reduce the threshing efficiency, but also easily cause grain to leak through the gaps or be mixed with sand and stones. In those days, the yield was already low, and it would be a pity if a grain was leaked.

The barnyard is usually chosen in the morning because the air is humid and the ground is wet. The roller frame is put on the stone roller, and a straw drag is hung behind the roller frame. To make a straw drag, the whole young and soft wheat is pulled up with roots, tied with ropes or wires into a fan shape that is narrow in front and wide in the back, and mud is pressed on it to make it blend into one. The stone roller compacts the ground, and the straw drag makes the ground smooth.

The water content of the soil is directly related to the condensation quality of the surface. If the soil contains too much water, it will be soft and unstable when rolled, and if the water content is small, it will not be easy to condense when rolled. Whether it needs to be aired or watered depends on experience. Without repeated attempts and the requirement of continuous improvement, it is impossible to make a good surface. It is considered a good surface when it shines, sounds when knocked, is flattened when stepped on, and is smooth when touched.

After the threshing floor is built, large water vats are placed every five or six meters along the edge. They are filled with water and placed with basins and buckets to prevent fire and ensure safety.

On the threshing ground, father Qin Zhenghai and elder brother Qin Huaiyong were pulling stone rollers to crush the wheat, while mother Meng Xiaoyun and elder sister-in-law Zhao Pan were turning over the crushed wheat with wooden forks.

Qin Huairu walked over in small steps, pulled my mother aside, smiled bitterly, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Meng Xiaoyun didn't notice her expression and started to complain.

"What's wrong, you little girl? You came back so late. Luckily I fooled your father and the others."

Qin Huairu lowered her head, pinching the corner of her clothes, and whispered awkwardly. "Mom, I can't get up!"

Meng Xiaoyun smiled like an auntie, thinking that Chang Wei was also a young man who was new to sex, and he was young and strong. He must have been restless last night, so it was natural that his daughter came back so late. "It's normal to be a little greedy at the beginning, and it will get better slowly. You didn't sleep much last night!"

I slept well, but I couldn't rest. He just gave me a break to accommodate me. Damn! I really can't handle it. Qin Huairu curled her lips and raised a finger. "Once!"

Meng Xiaoyun was puzzled. This shouldn't be the case! How could Chang Wei, who was young and strong, not be greedy? She asked curiously.

"Awei should be fine with his physique! Then why did you come back so late?"

Qin Huairu replied softly. "No problem, it just happened once and I couldn't get up, and I haven't recovered yet..."

Chang Wei waited for a while on a cart at the door of the village chief Liang Fengshou's house. When he looked up, two figures, one tall and one short, came into view. They stood up, took out cigarettes and handed them over, smiling and greeting him.

"Uncle Harvest!"

Liang Fengshou smiled and nodded, then lit up a cigarette. "Awei is here! I have already found out for you that there are more than a dozen fat pigs in the village that can be slaughtered."

People had already inquired about it, but I came here after such a long time. I feel a little embarrassed. Chang Wei feels that he needs to explain this.

"Thank you, Uncle Fengshou. I just started harvesting from the nearest village. It's a little late for you."

He then took out two pounds of pork head wrapped in oil paper and handed it to him.

"Uncle Fengshou, I brought you some braised pork head that I just braised at noon."

"Awei, your cooking skills are great. I can smell the fragrance right away." Liang Fengshou's eyes were filled with joy. He took the meat without hesitation and handed it to his son Gou Wa. "Gou Wa, take it home."

When Gou Wa smelled the meat, his eyes lit up and he ran home with the meat.

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