Chapter 57: Six-Zero Farm System (23)

"Educated Youth Xie, which part do you want?" the pig butcher in charge of dividing the meat asked Xie Yang with a chuckle. "How about this big piece of fat?"

In his view, this slab of thick fat, which had almost no lean meat on it, was the best part of the entire pig, bar none.

Xie Yang twitched the corner of her mouth and pointed at the pork belly with its layers of fat and lean: "Uncle, give me twenty jin of pork belly, and another twenty jin of leg meat. For the remaining ten jin, you decide on the ribs and pig trotters; I'll take whatever you give me."

"Huh?"

The pig butcher thought he had misheard.

He knew Xie Yang was the hero who fought the wild boar; without her, there might not have been any wild boar meat to distribute today, and there might even have been a fierce, bloody battle.

That was why the brigade had awarded her fifty jin of meat plus some work points; as the one in charge of dividing the meat, he had specifically set aside fifty jin of the best fatty meat for her.

Who would have thought she wouldn't want it!

She only wanted twenty jin of pork belly with fat and lean, and the rest was either leg meat with lots of lean and little fat, or ribs and trotters with hardly any meat at all...

Educated Youth Xie must have seen that everyone liked eating fat meat and specifically left the big fatty pieces for them; her heart was just too kind!

The pig butcher was so moved that his nose felt sore.

When he raised his knife to chop the meat, he specifically cut a bit extra for Xie Yang. Originally, ribs were ribs and meat was meat, but for Xie Yang, he left thick layers of meat on the ribs he chopped, and the pig trotters he chopped also had plenty of meat on the hocks.

Xie Yang didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

She wasn't as noble as they thought; she just simply wanted some ribs and trotters to make preserved pork ribs and stew with soybeans.

But she accepted the pig butcher's good intentions: "Thank you, Uncle!"

"What's there to thank me for! We should be the ones thanking you!"

Xie Yang exchanged a few polite words and left carrying the fifty jin of meat.

The commune members didn't have any thoughts about her taking away so much meat.

After all, this was the consistent practice of the Yuewan Brigade and even the surrounding brigades; if you were envious, you should have charged up and fought the wild boar next time you encountered one, and after taking it down, you could have divided just as much meat.

Besides, this large wild boar had a full nine hundred jin of net meat!

Divided by head count, even the families with the fewest people could get one or two jin, which was much more than the extremely thin, small sliver of meat from before.

This was all thanks to Xie Yang! They were too busy being grateful to her; who would be such a fool as to go and make Xie Yang unhappy?

Unexpectedly, there were such people among the group of Educated Youth.

One was Yang Qingqing, and another was Lu Jieqiong. Seeing Xie Yang get fifty jin of meat while they only had a piece the size of a palm, sour bubbles began to rise in their hearts.

And because they had complained too much while the pig butcher was dividing the meat, and the meat they received didn't have even a tiny bit of fat—it was all lean meat—they felt even more unbalanced.

To Xie Yang's face, they said sarcastically: "Some people, enjoying so much meat all by themselves, aren't afraid of bursting from overeating."

Xie Yang treated them like dogs barking; she didn't even give them a glance out of the corner of her eye. She was busy.

She kept two jin of pork belly to make red-braised pork and turned the rest into smoked meat.

If it were during the New Year, drying it into preserved meat would be fine, but now that spring had arrived, the temperature was getting higher and higher, and the rain was gradually increasing, so smoked meat was more durable.

As for the leg meat, she planned to make sausages, and for this, she asked the auntie washing the offal for a section of casing.

She kept a few small sections of ribs to stew fresh rib soup later, and the rest she made into preserved pork ribs along with the smoked meat.

She divided the pig trotters into three parts: one part for stewing with soybeans, and two parts for making soy-braised pig trotters.

After making the arrangements, she started getting busy.

Lai Zhaodi didn't need her to call; she took the initiative to come over and help.

She had received a piece of half-fat, half-lean shoulder meat and was happy for a long time: "Xie Yang, I plan to cut off the fat to render lard and put it in a jar. Later, when I eat wild vegetable porridge, I'll scoop a little in; it'll be so fragrant!"

Xie Yang: "..."

She had actually forgotten to get some leaf fat to render lard!

Fortunately, the Brigade Leader had thought of it for her; when dividing the leaf fat, he had specifically left two jin for her.

Of course, these two jin were deducted from her meat distribution quota.

Out of nine hundred jin of net meat, she was entitled to one hundred and eighty jin. She had already taken away fifty jin, and now the Brigade Leader had sent her two jin of leaf fat; only the remainder was converted into equivalent work points for her.

Only a few brigade Cadres knew about this; others only knew she had a work point reward but didn't know the specific amount, otherwise, they would likely be jealous.

But even though she only received fifty jin of meat and two jin of leaf fat, it still made a few Educated Youth so jealous that bubbles were rising, and their eyes shot toward Xie Yang like arrows.

"Don't pay attention to them!" Lai Zhaodi stood up for Xie Yang. "In their eyes, they only see the meat you got, not the danger you faced when fighting the wild boar. Before winter last year, the militia patrol captured a five or six hundred jin wild boar, and several people were injured. One wounded person's shoulder blade was pierced through by the wild boar's tusks, and another person's intestines even came out; they almost lost their lives. This year's one is twice as big as last year's! The Brigade Leader and the others all remember your contribution, only they are staring at that little bit of meat..."

Xie Yang shrugged indifferently: "Let them stare! Even if they stare holes into me, I won't share my meat with them."

Yang Qingqing, who couldn't help but peek because she was hooked by the fragrance of the lard: "..."

Lai Zhaodi giggled: "Right! That's exactly how it should be!"

The lard rendering rate of the Lulubeast was also incredibly high; after rendering the two jin of leaf fat, there was less than one liang of cracklings left.

The remaining approximately 950 grams of lard, once solidified, looked like fine, flawless white jade.

Xie Yang divided the lard into two glass jars; one would be sent to her aunt when the time came, and one she would keep to eat slowly herself.

As for how to store it...

"Brother System, the Lulubeast is provided by the System Mall, so there's no problem with me putting food made from its meat into the Backpack Space, right?"

Main System: 【...】

Xie Yang happily utilized the system's Backpack Space, putting away the rendered lard and the fresh Lulubeast meat she hadn't had time to eat yet.

The Backpack Space was absolutely static; whatever you put in came out the same way, which was even more useful than a refrigerator. It was a pity she couldn't put things from the outside world in, otherwise, she could be even more relaxed.

After finishing this, it was almost dark, so they took their bowls and chopsticks and went to the Threshing Floor to eat the pig-slaughter feast.

The other Educated Youth only got a small piece of meat; after putting it away, they returned to the Threshing Floor to help with small tasks and then sat and waited to eat the pig-slaughter feast.

From time to time, they would go up to the commune members in charge of the pig-slaughter feast to show their faces, hoping to get a few more pieces of pig face meat.

A bonfire was burning on the Threshing Floor, and the firelight reflected on the faces of the people who were beaming with joy; the liveliness was comparable to the New Year.

"The strong Educated Youth sister is here!"

"Sister! This is for you!"

The group of children led by Gouwa saw Xie Yang and ran over, beaming with joy, to stuff pork cracklings into her arms.

"Pork cracklings rendered by my family, they're super fragrant!"

"Taste mine!"

"Big sister, you saved me, so mine are all for you!" Maodan said with a shy smile, holding his small bowl high to have Xie Yang accept his pork cracklings.

Xie Yang could not refuse them, so she had no choice but to take one piece from each child's bowl, "These are enough, thank you all!"

The children all grinned.