Be a little landlord

Chapter 37 The Butcher

    In the winter afternoon, the sunlight reaches the center of the earth through the treetops with sparse leaves, leaving yellowish shadows on the stone steps, shining on people, barely dispelling the force of the cold wind. Several rooms resounded heavily through the sky, rumbling to people's ears.

The village hired a butcher, a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, with a fat head and big ears, and a red face. He held a sharp machete in his hand, with a thin and shimmering blade. Extremely stable, his legs are nailed to the ground like wooden stakes, he has no shirt on, and he is shirtless in the cold weather. While wiping the blade carefully, he directs the strong men in the village to control the fat boar that is constantly struggling and neighing. live.

Someone pressed the legs, someone grabbed the tail, and four or five men pushed the huge boar down on a long wooden bench, hanging above the neck, and placed a wooden basin below, as if knowing his next fate, the boar He yelled wantonly on the bench, the sound hit his ears, it was extremely tragic.

A large group of villagers gathered around to watch, Lin Lixuan dragged Brother Yan to stand in the crowd, Zhao Liniang said that she could not see such a scene and not come to watch.

"This pig is so strong, it must be a good pig..."

"Look, I can't hold it anymore."

The voices of the discussion continued, and Brother Yan, like the people around him, waited for the butcher with the intention of watching the excitement In the opening scene, Lin Lixuan felt terrified when he heard the sound of killing pigs. He was a person who had never even killed chickens and ducks, so it was too exciting to come to watch the killing of pigs.

No wonder the sound is called the sound of killing a pig, but the sound of killing a pig is too sharp and harsh.

The white knife went in and the red knife came out, and the bubbling red water flowed into the round wooden basin. The sharp sound was another long cry, long and painful, and it stopped when the last drop of blood flowed out. Brother Yan pushed Lin Li beside him. Xuan, "What's the matter?" Brother Lin's complexion was not very good-looking, and there was a blue color in the white.

"Oh, it's nothing..." It's just a little disgusting. Lin Lixuan regretted it in his heart. If he had known, he wouldn't have come to join in the fun. The shrill pigs screaming, the bright red blood... couldn't eat pork properly.

After killing the pigs, the meat began to be cut. Village head Zhao was standing next to the pigs with his notebook, and a rural man in his thirties stood behind the village head with a scale in his hand, "Don't worry, everyone, line up! "

"I want two catties..."

"I want the foreleg meat..."

Brother Yan also went up to line up holding the wooden basin, and the people around were surprised, "Brother Yan, why did you bring a basin?" Some people only buy two or three catties or four or five catties of pork, and walk back with it in their hands. They all line up empty-handed.

Brother Yan was surrounded and questioned, clutching the wooden basin tightly in his arms, blushing involuntarily, Lin Lixuan who was standing behind the line saw this, and didn't hold his stomach to feel sick anymore, and hurried to Brother Yan , smiled and said to the surrounding villagers: "We bought a lot of meat this year..."

After hearing what he said, the surrounding villagers laughed in their hearts, how much more can there be? It was necessary to bring a basin, why didn't Zhao Liniang of their family come over, and sent two inexperienced young couples to buy pork, and they both brought a basin, and this was the first time they had met.

It must be because she was afraid that the pork would dirty her clothes. Lin Xiucai is a scholar, and scholars are poor and fastidious.

The one in front bought the trotters, and the one who cut the meat tied them up with straw and carried them. He hooked the trotters in the air with his index and middle fingers. When he heard the sound behind him, he also smiled at Lin Lixuan and the others. He was considered a member of the village. A wealthy family can afford a pig's trotter. Of course, if the family's new daughter-in-law hadn't just given birth, he wouldn't be able to buy this.

When Lin Lixuan and the others finished picking their own meat, they piled up a large mountain of meat in the basin, fat and thin snowflake pork belly. This pork was of excellent quality, and the pork belly was thick and thick. Layers of pink lean meat, clear in color, very beautiful, it is the best pork belly.

Lin Lixuan pointed to a piece of pork ribs placed on the top again. This big pot of things shocked the people around him, "Lin Xiucai, do you still buy meat for other people?" Could it be for his father-in-law? There seemed to be no one at home, but the two of them didn't need that much, and someone in the crowd said that Ji's daughter-in-law sent a lot of rabbit meat and pheasant meat to her family, and she didn't have to worry about meat for the New Year, so she stopped buying pork.

Then why buy so much meat?

Lin Lixuan paid the village chief with the money due, more than one or two taels of money, such a large amount of money caused people around to discuss again, "Although the meat in the village is cheap, you shouldn't buy so much..."

"I can't eat so much Isn't it going to be spoiled, what a pity..."

"Oh, a good piece of meat I was looking for was picked away."

Even though I asked each family how much meat they needed, the pigs I bought and everyone's wishes were the same. There is a gap, the village head buys more but not less, some people will buy more temporarily, and some people will decide not to buy, just like this year's Ji's family, they reported the quantity by themselves when they had something to do at home, but they didn't want it. However, the village head has always been responsible for this kind of thing, and he bought as much pork as he had left. Before Zhao Liniang wrote down the tens of catties of pork, he was really afraid that the Lin family would not want it temporarily. Clutching the money in his hands, his eyes were narrowed into slits with a smile, and he even gave Lin Lixuan a piece of pig intestines for free.

"Thank you, village chief. I bought these for my own food..." Lin Lixuan arranged the meat in the basin evenly. The five or sixty catties of meat are really heavy to hold. , the meat on it falls to the ground and the loss outweighs the gain.

Eat at home? Others in the village murmured in their hearts. Their Lin family only had an adult man, a woman and a twin. How much meat could these three people eat?

Many people in the village were shocked by the Lin family's generosity. No family had ever bought so much meat during the Chinese New Year. They thought that the Lin family had really paid off during this period. Can doing business in the city make so much money?

Although they were envious, the villagers did not believe that the Lin family could make a lot of money selling food in the county town. If the money was so good, why didn't they move to live in the county town, but stayed in Bixi Village? Didn't Zhao Liniang always hope for her son? Studying and taking the imperial examination to become an official?

"One or two taels of silver, our family can't spend that much in a year..." "Could it be that Brother Yan is pregnant, so he can make up for him?" I really don't recognize him when I grow up." "Brother Yan is a blessed child, I was worried about him when he married Lin Xiucai." "I didn't expect the Lin family to be so kind to him... It is said that when the Lin family married him, they were so kind. I gave the Ji family more than a dozen taels of silver..." "I found out that the Lin family couple, that old man Lin and that Zhao Liniang, both like to spend money recklessly. Look, Lin Xiucai is also pregnant..." "Yes, yes, We depend on God for food, so we can't save some money every year, how can we spend it all, what if there is a disaster year..." The

surrounding villagers thought of Lin Lixuan and the others like this: If you have some money, you can show it off. They don't know how to save money to live, they will always suffer in the future...

Brother Yan and Lin Lixuan hugged the wooden basin and crossed the crowd to go home. He doesn't have the slightest thought, at least now, he is no longer greedy for meat; on the other side, brother Yan, he also can't be happy, listening to everyone in the surrounding village saying that he is fat, is he really fat?

I didn't even dare to eat meat anymore...

When I got back to Lin's house, Zhao Liniang, who was about to leave the house, hurried up to greet her, "I'm coming back now... I'm going to help you get the meat back..."

"There's so much meat. "Zhao Liniang pinched the pork with her fingers to feel its elasticity. Their family had never bought so much meat. They would buy pork to make steamed buns and rolls in food shops on weekdays, but they were all in small quantities. And the ribs, She has never eaten it, and she doesn't know how to fix it.

Now cut up a few pieces of meat, Zhao Liniang took them away to smoke the bacon by the fire, Yan Geer and Lin Lixuan chopped pork belly and lean meat into minced meat, they were going to make steamed buns and dumplings, Lin Lixuan cut them off when finishing the pork It was a big piece of pigskin. Facing so many pigskins, he thought that instead of throwing them away, he might as well use them to make soup dumplings.

Pull out the pig hair, cut the pig skin into pieces, put salt, green onions, ginger and a few spoons of chicken broth and cook in a pot, boil the pig skin in a bowl, put it in a wooden basin filled with ice cubes, and cool it into skin Ice cubes are made by reacting saltpeter with water, and saltpeter can be recycled and reused. In order to make snowy mooncakes, their family has always kept saltpeter.

When making steamed buns, in addition to adding the seasoned meat stuffing, add skin jelly, and the steamed steamed buns are filled with soup. Take a bite, the juice will overflow, and the lips and teeth will be fragrant. Brother Yan is skillful, and the steamed buns are exquisite in appearance. Lin Lixuan rolled out the dough for him and put the finished buns in the steamer.

The two ate and cooked, and in front of the delicious food, they forgot all their fear of pork.

One afternoon, I made several steamed steamed buns. In the evening, there were six or seven steamed buns per person, so there was almost no need to eat. I made a lot of steamed buns. Zhao Liniang said to Yan Geer: "Yesterday I ate rabbit meat from your sister-in-law's house, and today I put the buns we made Send some over too."

"Okay, reciprocity." Before Brother Yan could nod his head in agreement, Lin Lixuan answered for him first, and the two of them went out with a basket of soup dumplings covered with a white cloth. It was covered, but the smell of the steamed stuffed bun was still there. Along the way, several villagers were hungry and stretched their necks to see what was in the basket.

After Zhao Liniang waited for them to leave, she also took a basket of steamed buns to walk around the neighbor's house.

When Brother Yan and Lin Lixuan arrived at Ji's house and took the buns to Ji and his wife, they learned how the Ji's and Zhao's handled the matter of Zhao Qingqing and Ji Ya.