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Chapter 95: Chapter 91 Preparing to Slaughter the Pig (4th Update)
Speaking of Gaijiatun, after Li Hongxing left, Shen Yunfang and Brother Dashuan’s wife each carried a sack on their backs and walked home.
"Your mother-in-law’s family is really something to talk about. You haven’t even married over there yet, and they’re already eyeing your grain. If you really do get married and move there, I bet life won’t be easy for you," Brother Dashuan’s wife spoke openly and honestly.
Shen Yunfang laughed. She wasn’t someone who could be easily bullied. Even if she did marry Li Hongjun in the future, she wouldn’t let her mother-in-law dominate her. She would fulfil her filial duties without fail, but when it came to asking for more, that would depend on their behavior. It couldn’t be that they looked down on her while she still went out of her way to give them this and that. As for the current lifestyle where the in-laws manage everything in the household, she definitely wouldn’t accept it.
Of course, all these were not her problems, at least not yet. If she really ended up with Li Hongjun, they would definitely need to figure out a way to split the household and live independently; there was no way she could go on living in a communal family setting.
"All that’s for later; I’m not worried about it now. As long as I can get through the days ahead, that’s enough," Shen Yunfang said with a smile. "Sister-in-law, I think the two pigs at home should weigh almost two hundred pounds by now. I don’t plan to raise them until New Year’s. How about we slaughter them now? What do you think?"
The home-raised pigs don’t get fed feed, so reaching around two hundred pounds is quite significant. Shen Yunfang estimated that her two pigs at home were each over two hundred pounds. Even raising them for two or three more months wouldn’t add much more weight, and slaughtering them now could save some grain.
"Slaughter them now?" Brother Dashuan’s wife was somewhat surprised. It was rare for anyone to slaughter pigs after autumn unless there was a celebration in the family.
In the countryside, pigs are usually slaughtered before New Year’s when the weather is cold, which makes it easy to preserve the meat. Plus, pork prices are higher just before the New Year, bringing in a little extra money.
Also, pig feed in the countryside is quite simple, often just swill or forage. In better-off families, pigs occasionally get fed sweet potatoes and the like. So, managing to raise a pig to two hundred pounds in a year is already an accomplishment.
"It could work, but it wouldn’t be easy to convince the villagers." They needed a good reason to explain why she was slaughtering the pigs so early; if it wasn’t convincing, there’s no telling how much the villagers might gossip behind her back. "Hey, but really, the way you’ve raised your pigs is impressive." Whether one liked it or not, other families’ pigs were only weighing in at around 150-160 pounds, while Yunfang managed to get hers up to two hundred pounds.
"Of course, you haven’t seen what I’ve been feeding them," said Shen Yunfang with a hint of pride. Other families were reluctant to feed their livestock grain, but she was willing. While others fed swill and wild greens, she fed her pigs milk, earthworms, and sweet potatoes, which naturally resulted in good growth.
Of course, she valued the grain and always fed her pigs in moderation, never haphazardly. Since catching the two pigs in March, she had spent a lot of time foraging wild greens for them. From March to October, not once did she lapse, sprinkling in some sweet potatoes occasionally, which was relatively light on grain usage.
"I’ve thought it through. In a couple of days, once I’m ready, let’s go ahead with the slaughtering," Shen Yunfang said. Ever since she and Brother Dashuan’s family collaborated in selling the wild boar, she had been contemplating this matter. She considered countless methods and concluded that this was the most reliable one; it shouldn’t be a problem.
"Fine, as long as you’ve thought it through. When the time comes, let Brother Dashuan do the slaughtering for you," Brother Dashuan’s wife agreed.
After returning home, Shen Yunfang tidied up the yard briefly. These days had been busy with the autumn harvest, leaving her home looking a bit neglected.
The grain had already been sorted and stored, but several drying racks remained in the courtyard, now holding sweet potato slices that had been drying since the harvest.
After collecting the sweet potatoes, Shen Yunfang would steam a potful at night, leave them overnight, and start slicing and drying them the next day.
She didn’t like the kind of sweet potato slices that were dried crisp, preferring those that were semi-dry and chewy, with a texture that didn’t get stuck in the teeth. Now that her evenings were free, Shen Yunfang would steam a pot of sweet potatoes, lay them out to dry the next day, flip them at midday, and gather them into her space in the evening, making it very convenient to grab a few to eat whenever she wanted.
Shen Yunfang went to the backyard to check on her two fat pigs, estimating how much money they could fetch. The several roosters at home had also been fed for months and had grown handsome and sturdy. Feeding them for a few more days would allow for them to be sold as well.
After feeding the chickens and pigs at home, she finally turned to herself. In order to enhance her own nutrition these days, she alternated different delicious meals for herself.
Over the past two months, she had begun to reap the benefits of Essence of Life. The first thing she noticed was that after improving her physique for over two months, her strength had noticeably increased. Although she couldn’t lift a millstone with one hand yet, the hoe that used to tire her out after holding it for a short while had become something she could now play with—this was a significant improvement.
Another change was in her face, which used to be dark and skinny. In these two months, her features had filled out considerably. Looking at her reflection in the basin of water, she felt her features were clear and handsome. If this progress continued, she wouldn’t be far from being considered beautiful. Moreover, her skin had become finer and whiter, which added to her charms.
A few days ago, Dashuan’s wife had even clicked her tongue in admiration. After a busy autumn, while other people’s skin had peeled from the sun, hers had gotten whiter the more she was exposed.
Shen Yunfang found it difficult to explain and could only claim that she was naturally beautiful.
She quickly steamed a pot of sorghum rice, smashed a few cloves of garlic, sliced a plate of pig’s head meat, and stir-fried some chili peppers with pork strips. With that, dinner was ready.
After dinner, she went to the west room to check on the mushrooms and Chinese leeks. She hadn’t stopped cultivating mushrooms all summer, and after several cycles, her storage space already contained over four hundred pounds of fresh mushrooms. She was confident that the amount would exceed six hundred pounds before the new year.
After September, she took one third of the Chinese leek roots and planted them again. With this rotation, she expected to harvest a good amount before the year’s end. 𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
As for the earthworms, they now had a considerable scale, but because the west room didn’t offer much space, she could only sustain six boxes of earthworms.
Fortunately, two pigs were to be slaughtered soon, reducing the demand for the earthworms, and the remaining six boxes would suffice for the chickens at home.
After finishing all her work, she lay on the kang in the east room, and under the dim light of the oil lamp, began to write a letter to Li Hongjun.
My respected fiancé,
November is fast approaching. Our Gaijiatun’s autumn harvest is completely over, and the production team has already distributed the grain. I did well in my work this year and estimate that, after deducting provisions, I will still have some money left over.
You have no idea how tiring the autumn harvest can be. I wasn’t even busy with the team’s work, just with our private plots and the backyard, and I felt as if I had shed a layer of skin after more than a month.
However, the outcome is joyful. This year is a year of abundance. I have gathered a lot of grain and expect to raise four piglets next year.
Speaking of which, I haven’t told you that the two pigs I’ve been raising are almost two hundred pounds each. I think they won’t gain much more weight if I continue to feed them, so I’ve decided not to waste food and plan to sell them to the subsidiary food collection station in a few days.
I’ll earn a good sum of money, so you don’t need to send me so much each month. I have enough cash on hand, you should keep some pocket money for yourself.
Shen Yunfang thought for a moment. Since March, Li Hongjun had been sending her a considerable amount of money each month. It started with thirty-seven yuan for the first three months, then it changed to twenty-seven, amounting to nearly two hundred and fifty yuan to date. She hadn’t touched this money (she planned to repay what she had spent previously when she had money) and was saving it for Li Hongjun. After all, the future was uncertain, and if they didn’t end up together, she would return every penny to him. Of course, she didn’t see the need to tell Li Hongjun about this yet.
There’s something else I think I should tell you. Today, your brother came to ask me for grain again, claiming that your father was ill with malnutrition...
I didn’t know if it was true or not, so I didn’t give it to him. I hope you can understand.
