NOVPUB
Chapter 101: Chapter 97 Killing the Diseased Pig (5th Update)
Early the next morning, Shen Yunfang went to check the pigsty and then hurriedly made her way to Uncle Shen’s home.
"Uncle, Uncle," Shen Yunfang called out at the door, her voice growing louder with each call, revealing her anxiousness.
"What’s wrong now, so early in the morning?" Auntie Shen was in the kitchen making breakfast and turned around to see Shen Yunfang burst in like a gust of wind.
Shen Yunfang didn’t bother with Auntie but went straight into the house looking for Shen Yeqing, "Uncle, please come and take a look at my house. I don’t know what’s wrong with our pig. When I went to feed it this morning, it was just lying on the ground unable to get up, and it was twitching all over. Could it be sick?"
At that time, chickens and pigs were the household’s economic resources, and any problem with them was a big deal, let alone pigs, which were large animals. If there was an issue, the loss would be great, so Shen Yunfang’s nervousness was justifiable.
"What? It can’t get up, and it’s twitching?" Upon hearing this, Uncle Shen’s expression turned severe, and he quickly got out of bed to put on his shoes, "Let’s go, I’ll take a look. This isn’t a small matter."
So the two hurried back to Shen Yunfang’s home.
"Uncle, what do we do now? What should we do?" Shen Yunfang paced around the fallen pig wringing her hands.
Uncle Shen frowned; there were few pig-raising households at that time, and he had seen few cases of illness, so he couldn’t say for sure what was wrong with the pig.
"Your pig must be sick," Uncle Shen said with a hint of hesitation.
"What sickness? Can it be cured? How do we treat it? Will it be expensive?" Shen Yunfang barraged him with questions.
Uncle Shen fell silent; how would he know? He also didn’t dare to offer just any advice—after all, the pig was worth more than a hundred yuan.
"Oh, Uncle, please speak up. I’m so anxious," Shen Yunfang pressed, seeing Uncle Shen not responding.
Uncle Shen looked up and glared at Shen Yunfang, then said grumpily, "I’m not a vet, how would I know the treatment? But there’s an agricultural institute in our county, and the technicians there should be able to cure it."
"Then, then shall I go to the county to get someone?" Shen Yunfang asked uncertainly.
Uncle Shen glared at her again, "Going to the county means at least half a day by horse carriage both ways. Even if you manage to bring someone back, the pig may be long gone."
"Then what do we do? This won’t work, that won’t work—Uncle, please give me some advice here!" Shen Yunfang said in desperation, pacing in circles.
"Stand still. It’s just a small matter, and you’re already losing your head. You’re behaving utterly improperly," Uncle Shen scolded as he too walked a circle with his hands behind his back, then finally suggested, "I think this pig won’t make it. What we need to consider is minimizing losses."
Shen Yunfang nodded, showing an expression that read ’Whatever you say.’
"How about this—we quickly find someone to butcher the pig and then sell the pork to the meat processing plant in the city as soon as possible. We’ll take whatever money they offer. What do you think?" Uncle Shen offered, frowning.
Only the city meat processing plant would accept meat from a sick pig, since they have methods to sterilize pork at high temperatures before selling it. However, this high-temperature pork sells for less than regular pork, and certainly, the buying price would also be low. Still, it’s better than nothing.
Shen Yunfang clutched her fists in her heart, yes!
"Alright, let’s do as the elder says." Shen Elder’s idea was exactly what she wanted, and so it was settled.
Subsequently, the two of them started their separate tasks, Shen Elder went to look for someone to slaughter the pig, while Shen Yunfang needed to ask Brother Dashuan at Wang’s wife’s house for a favor—to borrow a bicycle from his wife’s family home. After all, bicycles are faster than horse-drawn carts, and when selling the pork, she would also need Brother Dashuan’s help.
Shen Elder had found a professional village butcher, a master with the slaughtering knife, who was far better than Wang Dashuan, and much better than Shen Yunfang.
With the help of several people, a big fat pig was thus slaughtered and carved up.
Because it was a sick pig and they were in a hurry to sell, Shen Yunfang didn’t host a dinner after the slaughter. Instead, she gave the butcher a piece of money, and a piece of two jin of pork for each family that came to help, including Elder Shen’s and Wang’s wife’s, considering it settled.
However, Shen Eldress looked at the meat in her hands, then at the money in others’ hands, and with a laugh pushed the meat back into Shen Yunfang’s hands, "Yunfang, why so formal with your own folk? Just came to give a hand for a bit, I can’t take so much meat from you."
Shen Yunfang was taken aback by this, but before she could say anything, Shen Eldress continued speaking on her own, "The meat, our own family knows it’s fine, but when selling it, you still have to tell the truth to others. After all, the pig was sick, and if you sell it without proper treatment, it may cause trouble."
Shen Yunfang raised an eyebrow, what did that mean?
"But if you ask me, there’s nothing wrong with this meat, as long as you cook it well it’s the same to eat. It’s just that the price won’t be good, you’ve worked hard for a year for nothing. Normally, if the slaughtered fresh pork is good quality, it could be six or seven mao per jin, but for your sick pig meat, you have to reduce the price by at least half, being able to sell it for three or four mao per jin would be nice," Shen Eldress said while looking at the meat in Shen Yunfang’s hands and then glancing at the butcher’s retreating figure.
Shen Yunfang suddenly understood. She knew this meat wasn’t from a sick pig, and by market price, it should be worth more than a kuai, which is why she gave meat, not money, to her family members. But Shen Eldress didn’t know that. She thought that two jin of sick pig meat wasn’t worth a kuai.
"Hehe, Eldress, you’re absolutely right, once the pig got sick, my whole year’s efforts went to waste," said Shen Yunfang, as she stuffed the meat in her hand into a sack as well. If you don’t want it, I’ll just sell it all. "Since Eldress doesn’t want the meat, I’ll just give you money directly. This time you mustn’t refuse, otherwise, if I need help from Eldress and Elder in the future, I’ll feel too embarrassed to ask."
What Shen Yunfang did was exactly what Shen Eldress wanted, but she still had to maintain appearances. After some back-and-forth, Shen Eldress finally left with a piece of money.
After that, Shen Yunfang stuffed chunks of pork into clean sacks, strapped them to the rear seat of the bicycle, and asked Dashuan to carry them to sell in the city.
Watching Brother Dashuan’s figure disappear, and with no outsiders left in the courtyard, Shen Yunfang then jokingly teased Dashuan’s wife, "Sister-in-law, do you want the meat or the money? If you think the meat isn’t good or valuable, I can give you money too."
Dashuan’s wife gave her a sidelong glance, "You think I’m silly? This meat sells for eight or nine mao per jin outside, and you even need coupons to buy it. For this piece alone, it should at least be two kuai, and you think you can send me off with one kuai, dreaming!"
"Hehe, always sharp-eyed with calculations, sister-in-law," Shen Yunfang buttered her up.
Dashuan’s wife playfully hit her, "More sharp-eyed than you? Oh please. By the way, that medicine you gave the pig, it’s not harmful to humans, right?"
"No harm at all, rest assured. I only gave the pig such a little bit, just to produce those symptoms. Didn’t you see me urging them to hurry with the knife? I was worried that if we waited any longer and the effect of the medicine wore off, the pig would start thrashing about again and that would really screw things up. Besides, the drug has no harmful effects on the human body. Even if someone ate it, there wouldn’t be any problem. And in just two or three hours it would naturally evaporate, leaving no residue at all. So, our pork is still top-notch," Shen Yunfang wouldn’t dare to mess around with anything that goes into the mouth; she was fully confident in what she was doing.
Hearing this, Dashuan’s wife picked up the meat in her hand and joyfully said, "As long as you know what you’re doing, I won’t bother you. I’m in a rush to go home and make a pork stew for Xiaojuan."
"Ah, sister-in-law, I still have so much stuff left to deal with here," Shen Yunfang said, frowning at the pig’s head, trotters, and offal in the basin.
"Haha, I’ve still got one in my belly, you expect me to tire myself out for you? So, you clean up by yourself, you’re not working today anyway," Dashuan’s wife said, already heading out of the courtyard.
