Chapter 669: The System of a 1950s Mother (26)

After Zhishu Xifu finished speaking, she stuffed a bag of peanuts grown in her own field into Xie Yang's arms and hurried away, saying she was going to her maiden home to share this good news with her family.

At the same time, the broken copper gong under the big locust tree at the village entrance was struck by the Party Secretary, summoning the villagers to a meeting to announce the useful information that "grass seeds can fertilize fields and increase production."

Xie Yang then went to the Post Office.

Since her submission had been published, surely there would be a payment for it?

Sure enough, there was a letter and a money order for her.

The letter was sent by the editorial department of the Farmers Daily, praising her submission for being close to real life and highly practical, and encouraging her to write more similar articles for future submissions.

The payment for this article was twelve yuan, which Xie Yang collected on the spot.

For an agricultural technique submission of about a thousand words, this was a very good return.

Clutching this extra income, Xie Yang strolled along the street—

Passing a general store, she replenished some daily consumables like needles and thread, candles, and Matches, and also bought a yellow clay stove that was much larger than her small red clay stove. A stove was still the most useful thing for boiling water daily.

Passing a cloth shop, she went in and bought a piece of fine white Cotton Cloth to make herself a set of undergarments; seeing a grain and oil shop, she took the opportunity to weigh out a few catties of newly available Peanut Oil.

Although she had grown several rounds of fresh peanuts in her Smart Vegetable Garden and was not short on Peanut Oil in her stockpile, she only had rapeseed oil on the surface, and occasionally she wanted to change her palate.

After buying the Peanut Oil, her basket was full.

Finally, she weighed out two catties of old-fashioned cakes and one catty of Egg Rolls at a non-staple food store, returning home fully loaded.

……

Around the time of the Little New Year, everyone in the village who raised pigs began to slaughter their New Year pigs.

Xie Yang was no exception—she planned to slaughter both of the pigs she had raised.

Zhishu Xifu helped her hire a pig butcher and even brought her son and daughter-in-law over to help.

To avoid dirtying the courtyard, the group busily tied the two big fat pigs to bamboo poles, carried them to the open space outside the backyard, and built a stone stove on the spot to boil water.

It was inevitable to pass through the backyard to get to the Pig Pen, and upon seeing the square little pond, Zhishu Xifu remarked, "Why did you think to dig a pond in the yard? Though it is certainly convenient for drawing water to irrigate the fields."

But she focused more of her attention on the two big fat pigs: "Yangyang, how did you raise these? These pigs are raised so well! They must be over two hundred catties, right!"

At this moment, the two pigs had already been weighed, and the pig butcher let out a "Yo," while his apprentice had already announced the weight: "One is two hundred and thirty-six catties, and one is two hundred and forty-five catties!"

"Whoa!"

Everyone present was quite astonished.

In this day and age, people couldn't even get enough to eat, let alone pigs. If anyone's pig could be raised to one hundred and eighty catties, it was considered very well raised.

Even with all the strong laborers in the Party Secretary's family, their fattest pig was only about one hundred and eighty catties.

Looking at it this way, Xie Yun's daughter was quite the expert at raising pigs! Just raising two casually, not only did they exceed two hundred catties, but they were almost at two hundred and fifty catties!

"Xiao Xie, how did you raise these pigs? Do you have a method?"

The pig butcher couldn't help but ask as well.

Thinking back on his thirty years in the trade, having handled so many pigs, this was the first time he had seen big fat pigs weighing nearly two hundred and fifty catties.

Xie Yang smiled and said, "Uncle Weimin, what method could I have? It's just that I'm on my own, so I have plenty of time. When I have nothing to do, I go up the mountain to cut pig grass and chicken grass to give the chickens and pigs at home extra meals. Sometimes I even feed them at night. As the old saying goes, a horse won't get fat without night grass; perhaps it's the same for pigs. If they eat more, won't they gain weight?"

"That makes sense!" Everyone nodded in agreement, "Actually, it's the same as people. If a person eats four or five meals a day, I don't believe they won't become a big fatty."

"Hahaha!"

"That's true!" The pig butcher also laughed, "But it's mainly because you, Xiao Xie, feed them so meticulously."

Xie Yang: "Uncle Weimin, please don't praise me. I only raised two, which is why I have the energy. If there were a few more, the pig grass I cut wouldn't be enough to go around, and perhaps I wouldn't be able to raise even one to over two hundred catties."

"That's true indeed!" Zhishu Xifu slapped her thigh, "My family raised two extra, but the pig grass we cut every day is only enough for them to eat one meal. We don't have the conditions to feed them night grass, so of course they didn't reach two hundred catties!"

"Thinking about it carefully, that's the logic!"

The daughters-in-law of the Party Secretary's family also chimed in with a laugh:

"Piglets, piglets, raising pigs is no different from raising children."

"Isn't that so? If there are many children, the rations each child gets are less, so it's lucky they aren't sallow and thin. But if there's only one child, the whole family can focus on feeding them, so how could they not get fat?"

"Mom, are you talking about me?" Liuqiang came back carrying a bundle of firewood, having vaguely heard a bit, and asked curiously.

His mother laughed out loud: "That's right, we were talking about you! You little piglet!"

"……"

Liuqiang didn't understand, so he simply stopped listening and carried the firewood to the front yard to stack it neatly in the woodshed.

Xie Yang gave him the wrapped roasted flour, and today she even rewarded him with an orange candy.

"I heard you got two hundreds on your final exam? Worthy of praise!"

"Thank you, Sister Yangyang!"

Liuqiang took the roasted flour and the orange candy, cheered, and went to find his good friends to share them.

The others were all in the backyard helping with the pig slaughter and didn't see, but Zhishu Xifu saw it and said to Xie Yang: "This kid, he's eaten a lot of good things at your place, right? Don't give him any next time; giving it to him is like casting pearls before swine."

She had learned the phrase "casting pearls before swine" from the fourth daughter-in-law in the city, and although she only had a half-baked understanding of it, it didn't stop her from applying it.

Xie Yang couldn't help but laugh.

If Liuqiang knew his grandmother was comparing him to a pig, he wouldn't know what to feel.

"Xiao Xie! Is the salt water bucket you were asked to prepare ready? Bring it here quickly! And bring a kitchen whisk over, it's time to drain the pig blood!"

"Coming!"

Xie Yang immediately went into the kitchen, poured the two bowls of cooled boiled water into two clean and dried large buckets, added the appropriate amount of salt, stirred it well, and carried it to the slaughter site.

The pig blood was collected into the buckets, and while it was being collected, it was stirred with the kitchen whisk to prevent it from coagulating.

The blood released from the two pigs filled exactly two buckets.

The pigs she raised were much fatter than ordinary domestic pigs. After draining the blood, removing the offal, and setting aside the pig head, pig trotters, pig tail, and various bones, each pig still yielded about one hundred and ninety catties of net meat.

"Xiao Xie, what are your plans for so much meat? Do you need your uncle to help you contact a buyer in the city?" The pig butcher asked Xie Yang proactively.

Almost every household in the village raised pigs, and even if they didn't raise them themselves, they always had relatives who did, and they would have pre-ordered from their relatives before the slaughter.

Therefore, if one wants to sell Pork in the village, generally not many people will buy it.

Because the pig butcher often travels to the countryside to help people slaughter pigs, through these repeated visits, he has gotten to know quite a few buyers in the city. However, he generally does not reveal these connections unless the relationship is close.

He is willing to introduce them to Xie Yang also because he sees that the two pigs she raised are indeed plump and sturdy. While introducing business to her, he is also helping himself maintain his network of favors.

Such fat and healthy Pork—if it weren't for the fact that his own family raises pigs, he would even want to pay money to buy some to take back.