farm life

Underworld Emperor's apology represented the (unilateral) end of the Cold War. Although each other (mainly Lin Jiangsui) still had unresolved knots in their hearts, at least on the surface, everything was calm and back to normal.

The sky, which had been raining all the time, seemed to be relieved for their reconciliation, stopped crying, and showed a rare smiling face for many days the next day.

After the rain, the sky is clear and cloudless. The clear air is mixed with a touch of grass and trees and the rustic atmosphere of the soil. It is inhaled into the lungs. Although it is still cold, it makes people refreshed.

The warm sun in winter is extremely rare. Taking advantage of the good weather and whether there is any work, people from every household moved tables and chairs, brought some fruits and snacks, and gathered in the village in groups or alone. Chatting and playing cards in several open spaces that are usually used for drying millet, it is very lively.

And in front of Lin Jiangsui's house was one of the clearings in the village where the millet was dried, so when he opened the door early in the morning, it was not surprising to see people rushing outside the door and the noisy and lively scene.

As soon as the door of Lin Jiangsui's house opened, Song Jinfeng, who was sitting on the threshold of the left door, and Wang Niangniang, who was outside the corner door on the right, and several other aunts and aunts stopped their original chatting and looked at him together.

"Fuck you, get up."

Lin Jiangsui scratched his cheek in embarrassment and replied: "Well, I went to bed late last night and didn't wake up in the morning. Cousin, Madam Wang, who are you?" He pointed to the people in the open space in front of the door .

Because it has been raining for several days, a lot of water has accumulated in the open space paved with bluestone slabs in front of the door, so that the originally uneven open space is now full of puddles. There is a lot of moss, if a person walks on it, he will probably slip and fall if he is not careful.

But no one cared about it. They just found a few dry and waterless places and put a few square tables in the sun, and then put mahjong playing cards, calling friends and friends to get together and order a few The lottery, playing into a fight against the landlord, the people who didn't play the game gathered around to give advice to the players, and there were bursts of high-pitched noise from the crowd from time to time.

Adults' world, children don't understand, those little guys didn't go up to join in the fun, but gathered together to play those childish games that made people couldn't help but smile.

In Lin Jiangsui's memory, before he went to school, he often saw such a scene. He was also one of those children. If there were any weddings or funerals in the village, they would all gather together now and warmly It's been a busy few days.

"Oh, this, isn't it the Chinese New Year? Everyone is going to kill pigs." Song Jinfeng looked at the lively crowd with a smile. Her family's wife was also there. There is no entertainment in the countryside, and everyone is idle. When I have nothing to do, I like to get together to play mahjong and play cards. This is an essential daily activity.

"Kill the pig?" Lin Jiang looked at the crowd again, it didn't look like he wanted to kill the pig at all.

This time Wang Niangniang answered: "A few days ago, I invited a pig butcher to prepare to kill pigs, but it rained for a few days and it was delayed. No, everyone started to move as soon as the weather cleared. After all There are quite a few families that want to butcher pigs today, so the pig butcher has to rush to the market, first kill the pigs at the Zhang family’s mother-in-law at the head of the village, and then it will be our turn, so everyone is waiting for them.”

"There are so many people, all of them want to kill pigs at home?"

"How can it be? If you really want to kill so many houses, you can't finish them in one day. The pig butchers have to queue up to invite them. Whose house to go to today and who to go to tomorrow are all scheduled in advance. If it doesn't rain these two days After time, we won’t kill several families in one day. In our land, only your mother’s family wants to kill pigs today, and it’s my family’s turn the day after tomorrow. As for these people, they are all here to help.” Song Jinfeng laughed that he didn’t know much , causing the aunt and aunt next to him to laugh too, which made Lin Jiangsui's face dry for a while.

After laughing, the elders invited him to sit down together, and told him about the slaughter of pigs while eating snacks.

Every household in the countryside raises pigs. Although people have left for the city in the past few years, there are still many people who raise pigs. They raise one or two pigs in the pigsty built at home and get some leftovers every day. It doesn't take much effort, and everyone is happy if they can earn some living expenses for the family.

And not all the big fat pigs raised in this family are sold. Most people will take a few piglets home to raise in spring. When the piglets grow into big fat pigs in winter, they will keep one for themselves and slaughter them. Yes, it can be made into bacon and sausage, which can be stored for more than half a year. It is an indispensable dish on the Chinese New Year table here.

Lin Jiangsui's family also raised two pigs, but after his grandmother passed away, Lin Youwei sold them, so killing pigs this year has nothing to do with his family.

When someone wants to slaughter a pig at home, they will ask their relatives and friends to help. The men help to catch and carry the pig, and then wait for the butcher to kill the pig and help clean it up.

And when the pig is dead, after the butcher dismembers the pig, the women will take over the rest of the work. They process the dismembered pigs according to their parts, heart, lungs, kidneys and other internal organs and some big pieces. Meat strips, marinated with salt for a few days, and then skewered with iron heads, ready to make bacon and smoked offal, some small pieces are also kneaded with salt and marinated with pepper and other spices, and then poured into the cleaned intestines into sausages.

After finishing these, take out a wheel rack without tires, and hang the meat strips hanging on the hook on the rack.

When the pickling is almost done, the women will keep a large oil drum with no bottom and no cover on the open space, which is placed on a simple stove made of a few bricks, and burn it with a fire underneath.When the temperature inside the big oil drum is enough, put the moist cypress branches prepared in advance into it and burn them, because there is still a lot of water in the branches. After burning, thick smoke will roll up the oil drum. drilled.

The wheel racks that hung the meat and offal before will be placed on the top of the large oil drum, and then the stuffed sausages will be placed on it, covered with cardboard, and the heat underneath will be controlled, and it will be smoked for several hours. There is no fire.

About butchering pigs and smoked bacon albums, although Lin Jiangsui knew something vaguely, it was the first time he heard such a detailed explanation, and he couldn't help but feel a little curious in his heart, thinking that when he started to slaughter pigs later , must have a good experience.

He listened intently, and the others were also talking happily. A group of people were eating snacks and chatting. The melon seeds, peanuts, candies and other crumbs on the ground were thrown all over the ground. The pig butcher who rushed to the scene finally came.

"It can be regarded as coming. The water in my pot has boiled up several times." After Wang Niangniang finished speaking, she stepped forward to welcome him happily.

The elders who were playing cards before also put down the cards in their hands, and followed the butcher to the pigsty of Wang Niang's family to catch pigs. Lin Jiang saw that everyone had gone, and wanted to follow to learn more. Putting down the melon seeds in his hand, he clapped his hands and got up.

Song Jinfeng, who was not interested in joining in the fun, saw it and asked, "Sir, do you want to go and see it too?"

"Well, I haven't seen a pig slaughtered yet." When I was a child butchered a pig, adults would avoid children from seeing it, for fear of being frightened.

"What's so interesting about slaughtering pigs? You just wait here. They will carry the pigs out to kill them. Don't go in and join in the fun. The place smells bad and is crowded with people."

Lin Jiang listened to it, and it was true. In old farmhouses, the toilets are generally built next to the pigsty. There are no two partition walls. The smell of the two together makes the smell so good.

Fortunately, his family no longer raises pigs, and the bathroom was built separately.Lin Jiangsui, who has no obsession with cleanliness but can't stand too much mess, patted his chest happily: "Then I'll wait here."

"Hum hum……"

The earth-shattering cry of pigs came from Wang Niangniang's house, and Lin Jiangsui was thankful again that he didn't join in the fun.

Those who stayed in the yard and didn't join in the fun followed the people brought by Master Zhuzhu and took the things they brought out of the car and put them in the yard. Lin Jiang went up to help after seeing it.

They brought a lot of things, the largest being a large wooden barrel, in addition to a sharp knife, an iron rod with a ball-shaped front end, a knife-shaped iron plate, hooks, machetes and so on.

After the things were put away, a few of them worked together to pour freshly boiled hot water into the big wooden barrel, and waited for the pigs to be washed, soaked and depilated later.

After about a quarter of an hour, everyone came out, and four or five young and strong old men lifted the pig out on a bench.The pig's limbs were off the ground and could not use any strength, so it could only howl dryly and was carried out.It also seemed to know that its life was not long, and the scream was piercing and piercing.

The adults began to chase the children away, not allowing them to watch here. Interestingly, Lin Jiangsui was one of them, and it was Song Jinfeng who chased him away.

"The scene of killing a pig is bloody, and the pig will howl for a long time again, it's awful, so don't join in the fun, go back to the house, and help watch the children so they don't let them out." Song Jinfeng and several elders told all The child was locked in Lin Jiang's family, and he was sent in by the way, and he was also in. Several people guarded the front and back doors to prevent them from going out.

Why did you choose Lin Jiang to accompany you?Because his house has no windows facing the open space, once the door is closed, nothing can be seen.

Lin Jiangsui really wanted to say that he was already an adult, and he could survive this battle, but seeing Song Jinfeng's persistence, he could only accept his fate.

[He is caring about you, so just stay there. 】

[I know, but it's not good to be treated like a child all the time. 】【Blood all over the ground, torn apart, this kind of scene, you don't even have to kill chickens or ducks, you don't care. 】Lin Jiang thought about the scene, there was really nothing to see, so he took a few little guys to play, and waited for the pigs to be killed outside before going out to have a look.

Outside the door, the shrill screams continued for a long time accompanied by everyone's noise.