Chapter 1006

After the Winter Solstice, the days gradually grew longer, and so did the morning sunlight.

Just as it hit seven o'clock, a ray of brilliant winter sun shone through the tightly drawn curtains into the room. Because it was dawn, it still carried a warm golden hue.

This warm color in the bleak winter made people feel especially wonderful at first sight.

Old Zhu and the others got up in this warm glow, and as soon as they walked out the door, they sneezed loudly.

"Ouch!" Brother Xiao Du nervously approached, but Old Zhu waved his hand: "It's nothing, why are you nervous about a sneeze—the air outside is cool, it makes you feel refreshed as soon as you step out!"

Then he whispered to Old Zhou and the others: "Why do I feel like it's better to sleep here in the mountains?"

They were old and light sleepers, so it was normal for them to wake up a few times at night. Usually, in the mountains, they would wake up by five or six o'clock. But now?

There was no night entertainment in the countryside, and their eyes were tired, so they didn't like scrolling through their phones; they rested around nine o'clock last night.

But now, looking at the time after getting up, it was seven-thirty!

Wow! This sleep was truly satisfying!

They had slept well the night before too, sleeping until dawn after dinner... sigh, this alcohol tolerance is embarrassing, better not mention it.

In short, this sufficient and high-quality sleep made the group feel exceptionally energetic.

Old Yang pondered: "Maybe it's because we were too excited yesterday and got tired from shopping."

That's true.

Although the market wasn't too big, they wandered around, tasting things at stalls on the east and west sides... and talking and gesturing, which was indeed more mentally draining than being in the mountains.

Plus, they were already full at the stalls, but they couldn't help themselves on the road, each holding two rice puffs and crunching away—

Come to think of it, although this thing is puffed, it really doesn't keep you full!

Even though they had been eating all afternoon, there was still room in their stomachs. After returning, Master Jiang cooked spinach and fried dough twist soup...

They watched the spinach being shoveled from the ground; the old variety's leaves weren't as oily and bright as what they had seen before, and even the green was deeper.

Because it was flat-ground spinach, it was covered in dust when shoveled out, looking quite unappealing.

But the fried dough twists were brought back by Qiaoqiao, so it wouldn't be right not to eat some, right?

And so, while whispering that the ingredients weren't as good as Old Song's, they praised that the old varieties still had more flavor.

So everyone drank a big bowl again.

To the point that Old Li said: "We were tired from shopping in the afternoon, and we need to digest after eating at night, the brain is oxygen-deprived, so it's normal to sleep soundly."

Just as they were pondering and heading to the cafeteria, they heard Master Jiang calling them from far away: "Hurry up and eat breakfast! We have work to do today after eating!"

"Good, good, good!" Old Zhu responded immediately.

No other reason, it wasn't that they loved working, they just wanted to get more to eat.

And in the cafeteria, Master Jiang was also mysterious: "Song Tan just sent us a jar of fermented beans!"

What?

The grandpa squad became excited instantly: "This must be eaten with porridge, right? Come, come, come, where is the porridge?"

"What porridge! Eating with porridge has no oil, how will you work in the morning without it! We're having egg pancakes this morning."

Scallions and eggs were stirred evenly with a little salt, and a large piece of lard was melted in the pot, making the black pot oily and shiny.

Then the silky batter was poured into the pot, and with a light turn of the pot by Master Jiang, a thin farm-style egg pancake was formed.

When this thin pancake, which was almost thirty centimeters in diameter with crispy edges and a soft center, was taken out of the pot, he scooped out a spoonful of fermented beans and rolled them one by one inside...

"Come, come, come! One pancake per person! Go drink a bowl of spinach soup—Secretary Zhu said, don't let you eat too much, just this much."

What the heck?!

Old Zhu was immediately unhappy: "Is this little bit enough for anyone?"

"That pancake roll in your hand is a huge lump!" Master Jiang, as a chef, was never afraid, and said at this moment:

"I heard you've been eating a lot these past few days! Secretary Xiao Zhu said, you're old, you should maintain your health, just be full, no more."

He scooped the batter from the basin into the pot: "Anyway, I'll give one pancake per person—that guy, Brother Xiao Du, you guys eat more! I'll give you three pancakes, young men get hungry fast."

This meal made the grandpa squad angry, but the scallions in the pancake were so fragrant, and the egg pancake they got from the pot was exceptionally soft and tender, and the fermented beans wrapped inside were delicious with every bite, the salty and fresh taste was especially moving...

Hmph! One is one! I'll just make up for it at the pig slaughtering feast!

And after breakfast, the Old Song family really had work to arrange.

"Come, come, come, help move these door panels and the large bathing tub down—don't put them on the cement floor on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the blood is hard to wash off!"

Three burly pig slaughterers were brought over by Song Tan with their equipment, the truck bed piled high with those strange tools. Iron racks, large iron hooks, air pumps, and sharp, bright slaughtering knives, cleavers, and boning knives...

Old Zhu and the others were overjoyed: "Oh my! These look like old hands, they have experience in slaughtering pigs—Brother Xiao Du, you should learn more when they slaughter the pig!"

Brother Xiao Du's expression was indescribable.

Old Zhou was also instructing Brother Brother Xiao Sun: "You learn well, if they slaughter pigs at their house next year, I'll send you again, and you can be the slaughterer then—I heard the rule for farm pig slaughtering is to give the slaughterer a set of pig small intestines!"

Of course, there was also the wage.

But for Old Zhou, the pig intestines were more valuable!

Brother Brother Xiao Sun was then full of energy: "Good! I'll definitely learn fast!"

Coincidentally, the slaughterer heard it and laughed directly: "Learn what, don't learn, it's scientific slaughtering now, people like us have no market."

As soon as he said this, the other two slaughterers also laughed: "Right, don't learn from us! We only know the old methods, it's slow and troublesome... if you ask me, don't learn this, there's no future."

"Yes, slaughterhouses either use electricity or a machine to drive an iron rod directly in, unlike us, it's troublesome and bloody, and people won't even let you broadcast it if you film it now."

"Yes, they don't allow raising pigs in the village now, and slaughtering is all done in slaughterhouses... look at the Old Song family, if they hadn't reported it and didn't intend to sell the meat, people wouldn't even let them slaughter it themselves!"

The three burly slaughterers chatted about this, full of sighs.

Times were good and there were more pigs, but they, the slaughterers, were unemployed.

This was sincere; Wu Lan was carrying a basin out, and hearing this, she also sighed:

"That's for sure, you can't find slaughterers now. Look, I asked around several villages, asked all over the town, and only found these three people."

The other party laughed: "Yes, there are no pigs to slaughter, why stay at home? Going out to work can earn more!"