Chapter 326: It will be another happy year

Early in the morning, Li Long and Li Anguo's four people from the Old Ma Hao side finished breakfast, and led the wild boar to the Li family.

For the convenience of slaughtering the pig, this wild boar was already driven to a separate pen yesterday, and it wasn't fed this morning, so it was relatively easy to tie it with a rope and lead it away.

Uncle Lao Luo had to finish feeding these things before going to the Li family.

The two stoves in the Li family courtyard were already burning fire, the water in the pot above was full, and the water was steaming, although it wasn't boiling, it shouldn't be long.

The neighbor opposite, Lu Yingming, was already in the courtyard, chatting with Li Jianguo.

Seeing Li Long and the others come over, they greeted one after another.

Liang Wenyu came out of the room, greeting people with a smile. Li Juan was washing pickled vegetables in the room, while Li Qiang happily pulled Li Long's clothes corner, asking this and that.

Not long after, the pig slaughterer Wang Cai Mi rushed over with his set of knives, seeing so many people in the courtyard, immediately smiled:

"This time it's stable. Old Li brother, before I looked at your pig, I was still thinking that three or five people couldn't hold it down, you still slaughtered two pigs at once. So many people, all are strong laborers, all held it down."

Li Jianguo said with a smile:

"This year, not saying anything else, we just have many people!"

This is the truth.

By the pigsty, a door panel had already been padded with adobe and wood, and the pig would be slaughtered on this case later. Beside it was a pile of grass, low in the middle and high on both sides, after the pig was slaughtered, it would be scalded, scraped, and cleaned here.

People came one after another. Some were called by Li Jianguo and Liang Wenyu, some came spontaneously. No matter how they came, they were guests, and the Li family welcomed them very much. No one would be driven away on this day.

Most of the women who came brought teapots, this was to hold boiling water to scald the pig hair later.

"Old Li brother, next year when your family slaughters pigs, you have to call two pig slaughterers." Wang Cai Mi's voice was the loudest in the courtyard, today he was

Chen Xingbang watches Wang Cai Mi for a while, then whispers to Li Long:

"Without Xiao Long, actually, back home, I can slaughter pigs too..."

"Really?" Li Long is a bit surprised, and then the memories of his previous life awaken. Chen Xingbang settled down here later, and after he finished selling bottles, he spent quite a long time slaughtering cattle and sheep where he lived.

So slaughtering pigs shouldn't be a problem, right?

"Of course it's true." Chen Xingbang nods and says, "It's just that I don't have the tools on hand right now."

"That's simple. I'll go to the blacksmith's shop this afternoon and get a set for you. There are still quite a few pigs at home," Li Long says with a smile. "You'll have your turn to slaughter."

"That's fine—I just think he talks too much!"

Li Long understands Chen Xingbang's words; it's just like how "literature has no first, martial arts has no second." People in technical trades like pig slaughtering look down on each other; it's similar to how scholars belittle one another.

Wang Cai Mi is currently considered the team's number one pig slaughterer, so naturally, he is the leader when it comes to slaughtering pigs. At the very least, everyone respects him today, and if he says something a bit boastful, others won't think there's anything wrong with it—he has the skill, after all.

Even if he teases Li Long a bit today, Li Long won't think there's anything wrong with it either.

But Chen Xingbang, who is also capable of slaughtering pigs, feels uncomfortable. It's not about character or personality; it's purely the mutual dislike caused by this "profession."

"The people are almost all here, get ready to slaughter!" Wang Cai Mi looks at the many people in the courtyard and says, "Two pigs, it's going to take a while."

"Then let's slaughter this wild boar first." Li Long points to the wild boar they led over and says, "It's already tied up, so it won't be any trouble."

Once he says this, naturally no one has any objections. Five or six people come up and directly surround the tied-up wild boar, knock it down, tie three of its legs with rope, and lift it onto the table.

"Pull the head outward, otherwise it won't be convenient to stab it later, and it won't be convenient to catch the blood." Wang Cai Mi instructs those holding the pig down.

The wild boar probably knows its time has come today; it keeps roaring, its voice very loud. Li Junfeng and Tao Daqiang, who are holding the head, both turn their heads away—it's just too piercing to the ears.

When the Li family got their New Year pig before the New Year, that wild boar was a dead carcass brought back by Li Long. Although everyone got to eat wild boar meat, that thing was dead, and they hadn't felt its power.

Today, the people holding the pig truly felt the strength of the wild boar—five or six people holding down a wild boar weighing less than a hundred kilograms, and they actually had the feeling that it could bolt away at any moment!

"This wild boar is strong!" Lu Yingming, who is holding a leg in the back, exclaims. "Wang Cai Mi, be careful, don't let it kick you with its hoof. If it really kicks you, your leg will be lame for half a month!"

"Don't worry, could I let it kick me?" Wang Cai Mi talks big, but his actions are very careful.

Sister-in-law Lu, who is catching the pig blood, comes over with a basin. Wang Cai Mi tells her to stand aside and measures the spot on the wild boar's neck with his knife.

The wild boar suddenly stops roaring. Wang Cai Mi sees his chance and stabs it in with one stroke.

It can be called "steady, accurate, and ruthless"!

After stabbing it into the neck, he even twists it around before preparing to pull the knife out.

Before the knife is even pulled out, a stream of blood has already spurted out.

Sister-in-law Lu is squatting there, leaning back while holding the basin to catch the blood.

Flour and salt have already been put into the blood basin; this is for steaming pig blood buns in the evening.

Just when everyone thinks the matter is basically over and is waiting for the bleeding to finish so they can skin the wild boar, the wild boar suddenly lifts its head, lets out an "Aoo" cry, and shakes its neck. The knife directly slips out of Wang Cai Mi's hand and is flung away by the wild boar!

The wild boar's huge resistance force almost flips over the people holding it down, and it almost bolts away! The flung pig-slaughtering knife lands in a snow pile five or six meters away, with only the handle left sticking out.

Wang Cai Mi is also startled and takes several steps back before steadying himself.

Fortunately, at this time, the people holding the pig all know not to let go until the pig is completely dead, so the wild boar's desperate struggle doesn't break them free. After the knife flies out, a large amount of blood spurts out, splashing into the basin, with quite a bit landing outside.

As the fresh blood drains, the wild boar struggles again. This time, the force is much smaller, and it is easily held back down by the people.

The blood slowly stops flowing. Wang Cai Mi recovers his senses and says to the people holding the pig, "Press down hard, let as much blood out as possible, otherwise if it flows into the cavity, it won't be easy to wash."

A few minutes later, the wild boar stops moving completely.

Li Long doesn't get involved; there are plenty of people holding the pig, and he can't get a hand in, so he just watches from behind with Gu Xiaoxia. When the knife flew out just now, he even shielded Gu Xiaoxia and stepped back a few steps, which won him a warm smile from her.

"Alright, it's my turn now." Li Long says to Gu Xiaoxia. "You go into the house and warm up for a while."

"I'll go to the kitchen to help the sister-in-law..." Gu Xiaoxia doesn't want to be treated as an outsider.

"I don't think you'll be needed; there are plenty of people here today..." Li Long just says this and heads toward the wild boar.

Wild boar hair isn't scraped; it needs to be skinned. Li Long is quite familiar with skinning.

!.

He takes the knife he had already sharpened, bends over, and starts working on the wild boar.

First, he cuts off the pig's head and puts it aside, then cuts off a large piece of the neck meat. Yang Yongqiang is ready to take it over there, but Li Long waves his hand and says:

"Wait until I peel the skin off the neck." He uses the knife not only to peel the skin and hair but also to cut off the lymph nodes and such; this stuff really can't be eaten. People aren't picky these days, but Li Long finds it disgusting.

The pig is his family's, so naturally, no one has any objections to how he handles it.

After finishing, Yang Yongqiang immediately takes the meat inside; it needs to be cut into pieces as soon as possible, and later it will be stewed with pickled vegetables—the stewing time is quite long.

"Wang Cai Mi, you've slipped up this time." Lu Yingming is older and jokes, "I didn't expect you to have a moment where you'd slip up."

"Who would have thought this wild boar would be so strong!" Wang Cai Mi makes excuses for himself. "But since it's so strong, the meat will definitely be delicious later!"

Li Long listens and smiles. These days, wild boar meat doesn't really suit everyone's taste; after all, it has little fat and is relatively tough. Of course, stewing it together with the domestic pig that will be slaughtered later will definitely be fine.

He has people lift the wild boar to another table aside to skin and gut it. Another group of people over there follows Li Jianguo's instructions and starts pulling the domestic pig out of the pigsty, preparing to slaughter the other pig.

That's the benefit of having many people. Although it's an icy, snowy world, the courtyard is very lively, and everyone doesn't mind the cold much. If it's a bit cold, there are two stoves there, so they can just warm themselves by the fire.

Usually, with such stoves, someone would definitely think about roasting a potato or something, but today, not a single person has such an idea; everyone is thinking about having a good meal of meat later. A wonderful meal of meat.

Steamed buns are being steamed on the stove in the house. Steamed buns are best when freshly steamed, and Liang Yumei is already making space to put them. Over there, the wild boar's neck meat has already been cut into squares the size of mahjong tiles, and large basins of pickled vegetables have been prepared, just waiting for the neck meat from the other pig.

As Li Long skins the pig here, several people watch and marvel. Who would have thought Li Long, being so young, could skin a wild boar so neatly?

After the wild boar is skinned, the domestic pig over there lets out a scream, and then enters the blood-catching stage. Compared to the wild boar's desperate struggle, the domestic pig's final effort is not worth mentioning and is easily resolved by the cautious Wang Cai Mi.

The domestic pig's neck meat is quickly sent to the kitchen, Li Long starts gutting the wild boar here, and the domestic pig starts being scraped of its hair over there.

Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang wait here with large basins, and Li Long takes the offal from the wild boar's belly and puts it into two basins for them to take and process. Some women have already come over, taking the liver, lungs, heart, and such into the kitchen to cut them up in preparation for stir-frying the offal.

The pig-slaughtering feast here is different from the Northeast; pickled vegetables stewed with large pieces of meat is the main dish, followed by stir-fried bean sprouts with pig liver, stir-fried celery with pig heart, and if there's time, they can make a sauce-braised pig bone—this depends on the number of stoves the host has; after all, if there's only one stove for stir-frying, two or three main dishes are about enough.

These days, having one very signature dish is enough to satisfy the guests.

Li Long doesn't think so; since everyone is here to support him, let's stew some ribs too.

The wild boar doesn't have much back fat; this is for steaming the pig blood buns. This wild boar has three fingers' thickness of fat, which is already quite good.

By the time Li Long finishes breaking down the wild boar meat, someone has already come over to ask:

"Without Xiao Long, weigh me two kilograms of meat; the kids at home are craving meat."

"I'll take two kilograms too."

"Get me a leg! Thanks to Without Xiao Long, I have some extra money this year, so I have to have a good meal this winter." Someone says very generously, and others laugh when they hear it.

There are many people weighing meat, and Li Long starts getting busy again.

One can feel that everyone's feeling about eating meat is clearly much better than last year. They have indeed earned some money this year.

The sense of happiness in life is truly increasing.

By the time the wild boar's intestines and stomach are washed, more than half of the wild boar has been weighed and taken away by people.

Not only this wild boar, but more than half of the domestic pig has also been bought by people—most of those buying meat come over, buy the meat directly, and then leave in a hurry. Although Li Jianguo and Li Long repeatedly invite people to stay and eat, everyone politely refuses.

The Li family's house is only so big; it simply can't seat that many people. (End of chapter)