sjar Chapter 122 Village Friendship: Distributing Meat to Impoverished Villagers
Chapter 122 Village Friendship: Distributing Meat to Impoverished Villagers
The three gunmen and the falconer had a falling out. Li Ju'an threw the tiger cub's carcass onto the sled, and the three of them, leading the mule, descended the mountain with their heavy haul.
A blond-haired dog, an old sow, a bull, a badger, a raccoon dog, and a tiger cub. All 11 dogs, except for the injured Spotted Ears, helped pull the dog sled.
The three of them laughed heartily, chatting and laughing all the way down the mountain together.
Li Ju'an felt sorry for the dog, so he put on a rope and pulled the sled with the hunting dog. He pedaled hard on the snow, braving the howling wind, and sweated profusely, but he wasn't cold at all.
Lu Zhiqiang led the mule with one hand and brandished his spear with the other, brandishing it with great flair. He shouted, "See that? I'm known as Little Lu Bu, I'm incredibly fierce! I can take on a wild boar with one hand and one spear!"
The three men entered the family settlement, where Lu Zhiqiang was still bragging. Li Ju'an shouted, "Folks, come out and see! Lu's little Lu Bu is incredibly fierce! He took down an old sow with one hand, without even a hunting rifle!"
His loud shout startled Grandpa Zhang and his friends, who were playing cards in the snow shelter, to peek out. Their eyes widened at the sight of so many wild boars. The Lu family women, who were out shoveling snow, saw the three large wild boars enter the village and excitedly exclaimed, "Oh my gosh!" They rushed over, praising, "Such a big sow, it must weigh over 250 jin! Did Zhiqiang carry them all?"
Li Ju'an laughed and said, "That's for sure. General Lu is incredibly fierce. His imposing presence is even more frightening than Lu Bu's."
Song Desheng also praised enthusiastically: "What else is there to say? We'll listen to Brother Lu."
Lu Zhiqiang felt embarrassed by the compliment, scratched his head and grinned, "Hey, what's so great about it? Why do you keep bringing up such a small thing?"
The village became lively. Before the New Year, hunters would go into the mountains to hunt, and after returning to the village with their prey, everyone would come out to help. They would scald the pig hair, butcher the pig, and cut the meat into pieces.
This was the first time Lu Zhiqiang had brought his prey back to the village. He not only received a share of the old sow, the eggs of the giant cannon, the weasel, but also a share of the badger meat.
After the division of labor, he sharpened his knife, eager to take on the work of unloading the pig. He wielded the cleaver and chopped away, then, carrying half a carcass of old sow meat, he called out to Aunt Lu, "Aunt, can you take half of it back?"
Aunt Lu hadn't seen so much pork in ages, and she was both surprised and a little incredulous: "So much! How long will it take to eat all this?"
Lu Zhiqiang chopped off the hind leg with his knife and shouted, "If we can't finish it, we can freeze it outside and save it for the New Year."
When the old man of the Lu family saw that his grandson had actually hunted back an old sow, he was very happy and prepared a feast, inviting all the villagers who had come to help to eat at the table.
The women of the village all went into the kitchen to help, with Aunt Lu in charge of cooking. The atmosphere was filled with laughter and joy as they turned almost every part of the pig into a dish. Pig bones, head meat, shredded pork, pork belly, sauerkraut and pork belly, and even lanterns—it was truly a complete set of offal. As the year drew to a close, the women showcased their skills in preparing pig-killing dishes, stewing pork belly and large bones, adding sauerkraut to the stewed broth to continue simmering, and finally adding blood sausage.
The villagers brought benches, tables, bowls, and plates to the Lu family's courtyard for a feast. The entire courtyard was filled with the joyful laughter of children.
The stew of pork stew was bubbling away in the kitchen, emitting a rich, savory aroma. The children, unable to contain their excitement, were so tempted that they forgot all their play with their knuckles and kept pestering the adults for a bite. Unable to coax them, the adults had no choice but to coax the children to go outside and play on the snow slopes while they waited for the feast to begin.
The three men divided the large wild boar into a share, and the smaller livestock also received a share. The badger wasn't large, and Li Ju'an only wanted the badger oil. He took the badger back, skinned it, and butchered it. His mother, Song Lanhua, set up a large iron pot, dried it thoroughly, and then quickly added the chopped badger meat strips to render the oil. The large iron pot was stirred evenly until fragrant, and the badger meat strips were heated evenly until golden brown, thus rendering the badger oil.
Song Lanhua, the mother, felt sorry for her son. She was cutting a large radish she had taken from the cellar when she said, "Badger oil is a good thing for treating burns, but we can't go into the mountains to hunt every day. Lu's son said there's a tiger king in the mountains. What if we run into him?"
Badger meat has a peculiar smell that must be mixed with large radishes to mask it. Song Lanhua prepared an oil jug nearby and carefully poured the extracted badger fat into it. The oil from a plump badger in winter only filled a small half-bottle.
Don't underestimate badger oil; it's a treasure. Two years ago, a couple of hunters from the next village suffered burns over 87% of their bodies from their own gunpowder. They were cured using badger oil. Otter oil is also remarkably effective in treating burns and can even cure hemorrhoids.
Li Ju'an thought to himself that once the badger oil he extracted cooled down, he could put it in the empty ointment box his mother had used up and give it as a gift.
The Lu family was having their feast, and Li Ju'an and Song Desheng were dividing the meat in the Li family's house.
Lu Wenqian ran over and called them to join the feast, saying that the old man had specifically instructed them to do so to thank Li Ju'an for toasting them. Song Lanhua, the mother, smiled and spoke modestly, but she was incredibly proud of her son.
Song Lanhua thanked Lu Wenqian and told Li Ju'an not to cut the cannonballs anymore, but to take them directly to the village headquarters and have the village head, Yang Dezheng, distribute them to the poor households.
Li Ju'an was chopping cannonballs so hard that sparks flew from his cleaver when he heard this and paused, "The Lu family has already started their feast. Half the villagers have gone. They're still missing a meal of meat for us."
Song Lanhua said earnestly, "We don't have connections in the forest farm, but if everyone in the village knows you're a kind-hearted child, then Captain Yang can put in a good word for you with Leader Chen at the forest farm. We're thinking that no matter how many gifts we give, they can't compare to a single word from Captain Yang."
Li Ju'an patted his head, gave his mother a thumbs up, and laughed, "That's why we say our family can't do without a mother. It's Mom who understands human relationships."
He wielded an axe to chop the pig's spine, split the cannonball in half, and lifted it onto a sled. He would then take it to the garrison office with Song Desheng.
In the village office, the brigade leader, Yang Dezheng, was writing a report. He looked up and saw Li Ju'an. After listening to his report, he looked at the half-eaten wild boar meat on the sled, stood up and said, "It's true that the poor households have a hard time before the New Year and can't have a peaceful year. I was just writing a report, thinking about how to mobilize the villagers, and you just happened to come to my door to do a good deed."
"The biggest difference between you and Sun Weimin is that you are soft-hearted and kind-hearted. Sun Weimin went into the mountains to mess around with the ground and encountered a bear. He didn't catch the bear, but he also injured three borrowed hunting dogs. One of them died on the way back and was beaten by his father. His father hit him with the broom handle and he screamed his heart out, but no one could help him."
Li Ju'an nodded and responded haphazardly. He thought to himself, "Sun Weimin went into the mountains too? He was lucky; he didn't encounter the adult tiger king, but he did manage to hunt down the bear, who took three dogs with him, and he still couldn't take down the bear."
“Captain Yang is right. If everyone lives in the village, I’ll share my catch with the villagers. And if the Sun family has a good catch, they’ll share theirs with the villagers too. That way, every household in the village will have meat for the New Year, and even those in need will get some.”
His words made Captain Yang Dezheng nod repeatedly, his serious expression full of praise. He said, "You and Sun Weimin are different. You should be forgiving when you can, don't hold it against him. And now that you've learned your lesson, live a peaceful life, don't think like you used to be."
Li Ju'an nodded repeatedly, and Yang Dezheng continued, "If you need anything in the future, just come to me, and I'll take care of anything I can."
Li Ju'an quickly looked up, his tone excited and grateful: "Don't worry, Captain Yang, I'll need your help a lot in the future."