There was a burst of laughter around them, leaving the young man from the livestock station scratching his head in confusion.
Wang Yongshun’s face turned bright red, while Li Chunjuan kept yelling, “You didn’t weigh it—how do you know it’s not enough?!”
The young man replied, “I’ve been doing this job for years. One look at the pig and I know it’s underweight.”
Wang Ying laughed too. This guy was kind of funny, just a young lad pretending to be a seasoned expert.
“Alright, alright, let’s weigh it!”
Li Chunjuan was causing such a ruckus that the young man couldn’t handle her anymore.
“Look here, you’re over forty jin short of the standard. Take it back and keep feeding it.”
Another round of laughter erupted. The young man scratched his head, thinking this brigade was really something else.
“That’s it then. We’ll take these few pigs. Can you double-check the count?”
Tian Youfu signaled the brigade’s accountant to calculate the money, then turned to Wang Yongshun and his wife: “See? I told you, even if you handed in this pig, we couldn’t use it for distribution. It’s that underweight. You either switch to someone else raising it or take it back and keep raising it yourselves.”
Li Chunjuan opened her mouth, trying to act tough and say she’d take it back to raise.
But Wang Yongshun understood the situation. He tugged at his wife and wiped his face, “We won’t raise it anymore.”
Even though their household now had two fewer mouths to feed with Wang Ying and Wang Lingling gone, it also meant fewer sources of income. Wang Yongshun felt like he was bleeding inside. “We won’t raise it anymore. Can the brigade at least count the work points for those dozens of jin we did manage to raise?”
Yes, raising pigs earned work points—not a lot, but every bit counted.
Wang Yongshun was hoping to get whatever he could out of it.
Li Chunjuan wasn’t convinced. She felt they hadn’t met the standard, sure, but they had raised most of it. They should get work points and a share of the money.
Tian Youfu sneered, “You didn’t deliver the pig, so how much could you possibly get? And besides, we only calculate extra contributions. Yours didn’t even meet the requirement—why should we give you anything?”
He waved them off, “That’s enough, you get nothing. Be grateful we’re not holding you accountable. If you don’t like it, take the pig back and keep raising it.”
Taking it back was out of the question. Even someone as foolish as Wang Yongshun wouldn’t do such a money-losing thing.
Tian Youfu dismissed the couple and turned to Wang Ying, “Wang Ying, do you want to raise this pig?”
He still had to ask—after all, raising pigs in winter was more troublesome.
Wang Ying thought for a moment. “I want it.”
Even though it was easier to go up the mountain now and she’d discovered a fish pond there, meat—especially pork—was still in short supply. Xu Shuang worked at a restaurant, so her monthly meat ration was fixed; it wasn’t like she could get meat freely.
Only being able to eat meat once a year during New Year? Wang Ying couldn’t stand that.
To her, raising a pig was worth it just to eat meat.
Once it got warmer next year and she handed the pig in, they’d be able to get a nice cut.
And so, Wang Ying led a scrawny pig home.
Behind her, Li Chunjuan shouted mockingly, “What a joke! With how lazy she is, watch her raise it even skinnier!”
Wang Ying and Xu Shuang went home together. There was already an abandoned pigpen in the yard. Xu Shuang patched up the gate with leftover bricks. “Tomorrow I’ll call someone to come put a roof on it.”
Wang Ying nodded. When Xu Shuang wasn’t looking, she poured a bit of spiritual spring water into the pig’s feeding trough.
Just as they finished tidying up, the sound of gongs rang out—the task pigs had been handed over, and the brigade was ready to slaughter one!
The pig slaughtering was a scary process. Many kids were both terrified and curious, covering their eyes but peeking through their fingers as the pig died, sucking in cold breaths in fear.
Tian Youfu didn’t call in a butcher from town. He had the strong young men from the brigade hold the pig down, and a village elder who often helped with slaughters handled the job quickly and cleanly.
Once the pig was slaughtered, the meat distribution was the most joyful part.
Tian Youfu had the accountant calculate everything in advance. All that was left was calling out names for people to come collect their meat.
Xu Shuang told the accountant, “Count my household and Wang Ying’s together.”
The accountant calculated it in a few quick moves. By the time it was their turn, they were in the middle of the queue. Xu Shuang and Wang Ying stood in front of the meat.
Xu Shuang pointed to the pig’s neck area. “That piece.”
Wang Ying immediately thought of the many ways to cook pork neck. Her eyes sparkled with anticipation.
Xu Shuang took the lead and picked out three jin of pork neck. The rest was up to Wang Ying.
With a professional chef like Xu Shuang on her side, Wang Ying was bold: “The leg bone, a pig’s trotter, some large intestines, and the pig’s brain too.”
Li Chunjuan nearly laughed to death beside them—Wang Ying had picked all the scraps!
Nearby, an older woman teased, “This girl doesn’t know how to run a household. You’d better teach her properly.”
Old Lady Xu squinted her eyes and said proudly, “What’s the problem? You’ve never had my little one’s pig trotters! Once you’ve tasted them, you won’t ever want fatty meat again. How many folks from town go to the restaurant just for the pig trotters? You don’t know anything, so don’t try to lecture me. I think she picked perfectly.”
Tian Youfu stood nearby, watching. Every time they distributed pork, the most troublesome part was dealing with the offal and scraps. The villagers didn’t necessarily refuse them—on the contrary, if there was no choice, any household would be thrilled to get pig offal. But with big fatty chunks and pork belly available, the offal lost its appeal.
Everyone knew those parts could be tasty when cooked well, but not every household had the right ingredients. If you didn’t remove the odor properly, the offal would taste worse than lean meat.
Then there were fatty meat slices. Not everyone was crazy about eating fat. The real issue on everyone’s mind was oil.
In the countryside, most people used soybean oil. Each family usually grew some peanuts to supplement their oil supply. Even then, it wasn’t enough. Meals were mostly bland and watery.
It wasn’t much better in town. Oil ration coupons were limited. Few families had enough to last the whole month, so everyone had to scrimp.
Only after crossing over into this world did Wang Ying learn there was something called “oil cloth.” People would dip cloth into oil and slide it across the bottom of a pan—that was the oil intake for the meal.
Out of oil — everyone was counting on the pork they got to render lard from it. That little bit of pork fat had to last them until the double harvest in the summer of next year.
Wang Ying had picked the offal, and Tian Youfu didn’t want her to suffer a loss: “We’ll count three pounds of offal as two, and give you a bit of pork belly to make up the rest.”
Wang Ying nodded, practically drooling.
So much meat! She had so many recipe ideas already!
Xu Shuang wasn’t the least bit unhappy. He packed up the meat they were allocated, called over Grandma Xu, and went home with Wang Ying.
Behind them, a wave of whispering broke out.
“That Ying girl really doesn’t know how to run a household.”
“Oh, let it be. No one’s taught her, so of course she’s like that. But that Xu Shuang is too soft — he just lets her do whatever she wants.”
“Tsk tsk, the Xu family boy’s clearly not the one wearing the pants. Looks like he’s going to be whipped by his wife in the future.”
…
Xu Shuang had no idea his reputation would be stuck in that misunderstanding for a long time. He was too busy cleaning the pig intestines.
Wang Ying wasn’t just watching either — she cleaned the pig’s brain thoroughly. Before leaving, Tian Youfu had even given her a small piece of pig’s blood. She set the cleaned brain aside and said to Grandma Xu, “You’ve got a bit of high blood pressure. I’ll go home in a bit and get some gastrodia. Xu Shuang can stew it with the brain — if you drink it for two days, and take some extra medicine, you should be fine this winter.”
Grandma Xu waved her hand. “I can just take the medicine, no need to waste the pig brain. Let Xiao Yao make you some spicy brain.”
Wang Ying recalled the deliciousness of spicy pig brain, clearly reluctant but firm. “We’ve got plenty of meat — what’s one brain? Xu Shuang will stew it for you this afternoon.”
Grandma Xu beamed with joy. She really wanted to drag those gossiping old ladies over and show them how much Ying girl cared about her.
Such a good wife — you couldn’t find one like her even with a flashlight!
Xu Shuang finished cleaning the pig intestines. He split the femur bones in half and put them in a deep pot. With a pork trotter in one hand and intestines in the other, he asked Wang Ying, “How do you want to eat these?”
Wang Ying’s eyes practically reached out with longing: “Fatty intestine noodles! And soy-braised pig trotters!”
Xu Shuang: “Alright.”
He took a clay pot, cleaned the two trotters, and tossed them in with some soybeans to stew. Midway, he added more than half a cup of yellow wine. The fragrance billowed out of the clay pot.
The intestines were stir-fried to release their aroma. With freshly hand-pulled noodles, a scoop of fatty intestine on top, and a bit of cabbage in the soup—
The broth was rich, and every sense screamed “delicious!”
Wang Ying polished off half a pig trotter and a big bowl of intestine noodles. She couldn’t eat another bite. Xu Shuang left the remaining soybeans at the bottom of the pot.
“Save them for dinner with rice!”
If she hadn’t been craving the noodles so much, the soy-braised trotters should’ve been eaten with rice. Pour the rich sauce over the rice, stir it in — that’s the good stuff.
Grandma Xu didn’t think Wang Ying ate too much. She ate a big bowl of noodles herself, and after she stopped, she felt like life was really good these days.
But she still worried about her eldest son.
Grandma Xu fell silent. Still, she could only hold it in. Her eldest son wouldn’t be able to come back until at least next year. This year, he’d have to suffer where he was.
Xu Shuang had told her a few days ago about Wang Lingling’s report. Grandma Xu regretted it so much — how could she have gotten involved with Wang Yongshun’s family? And that wretched girl Wang Lingling!
Looking at Wang Ying now, she couldn’t be more satisfied. If only she had arranged the marriage back when Wang Ying’s mother was still alive, things would’ve been different.
Wang Ying wouldn’t have had to suffer for two years, and her own family wouldn’t have ended up in this mess.
After the pork was distributed, it was time to divide the grain. Tian Youfu was too busy to sit still. As soon as that was done, he started organizing people to go into the mountains to hunt wild boar.
The annual wild boar hunt lasted about seven to eight days. Several nearby teams would join together and head deep into the mountains. The meat from any boars they caught would be split among the villages. Wild boar meat might be gamy, but when you’re trying to survive the winter, who could say no to meat?
Once the hunting team left, Wang Ying went to the fish pond again. Thankfully, it wasn’t far. It was secluded and, surprisingly, hadn’t been discovered.
But that made sense — the fish were so big, they had probably been growing for years. Clearly, no one had been watching this spot.
Wang Ying caught another fish to fill her stomach. With the wedding coming up, she and Xu Shuang agreed not to serve fish at the banquet. Xu Shuang said if they brought it out, it would raise questions — no local pond produced fish that big. So, the two of them kept it as a secret, planning to stock up again after the wedding to prepare for the winter.
The closer the wedding got, the more idle Wang Ying felt.
Xu Shuang had taken care of everything — besides his master, his senior apprentice brother from the county was helping with the cooking. His great-aunt, Old Lady Su, brought fresh vegetables and even helped collect sun-dried ones from the summer. Every detail of the banquet was already set.
After lounging around at home for two days, Wang Ying finally decided to get back to business.
She first visited the home of Tian Dazhu — the household with a pregnant woman that Tian Youfu had specifically mentioned.
As soon as she walked in, Wang Ying frowned. Tian Dazhu’s house was downhill from the main team site, and it was damp and cold inside. With a pregnant woman in the house, they should’ve been heating the kang bed-stove already. Adults might tough it out, but pregnant women needed extra care.
A little girl with a sooty face hid when she saw Wang Ying. Another short girl darted into a room. Wang Ying could only call out loudly.
Soon, a skinny woman came out. Her belly bulged, and there were deep lines etched into her face. “What do you want?”
Wang Ying greeted her politely, “I’m the barefoot doctor from our team. You must be Sister Juhua, right? The team leader asked me to come check on your pregnancy.”
Qian Juhua snorted coldly. ““My pregnancy is just fine! I don’t need you to check it!”
Wang Ying patiently explained, “You’re over five months along now. At this stage, the fetus grows quickly. Let me check your pulse to see if there’s anything wrong with the baby. You’ll also need to be careful over the next few months. If the baby’s position starts to feel off early on, I’ll have to do some adjustment…”
Before she could finish speaking, Qian Juhua exploded in anger, spitting furiously, “What the hell does a little girl like you know?! This one is a son! I’m taking good care of him! And you come in here cursing my baby’s position like that? Besides, have you even given birth before? When it comes to childbirth, I know way more than you! What are you nagging me for? Get lost, get lost! Don’t let me see you again!”
Wang Ying frowned, “You don’t need to vent your emotions like this. Let me just check you over. The mountains will be closed off for over two months soon. You need to be careful, and there are things you need to be aware of. I need to make sure you understand—”
“What do you know, huh?! I’ve already had two kids! Both went just fine! I don’t need you meddling in my business!”
“I’m offering to help you for free. It won’t cost you anything.”
“Just leave already! I don’t want some girl like you checking me!”
Qian Juhua yelled while retreating into the house. As she stepped back, she didn’t see the little girl behind her and knocked her over.
She screamed and gave the child a harsh kick: “Get lost! Didn’t I say you two aren’t allowed in the house? Get out now!”
She shoved the two children out and slammed the door shut with a bang.
Only then did Wang Ying clearly see the faces of the two children. One was a bit older—probably around ten—and the other seemed to be just over five.
The older one timidly said, “Big sister, you should go. My mom said that little brother gets scared when he sees too many girls and hides back inside.”
The younger one nodded and added, “Mama said little brother doesn’t want to see me or big sister, so we’re supposed to stay away from her.”
Wang Ying had already had a bad feeling earlier. Now, hearing it from the kids, her expression turned even more troubled.
She had anticipated some degree of son preference, but seeing it expressed so blatantly and stubbornly was still disheartening.
She crouched down and took out two pieces of candy, handing one to each girl. “Alright then, big sister will leave now. But if your mom doesn’t feel well, you two need to be smart and run out to call someone, okay?”
There wasn’t much else she could do. The adult had completely refused her help, and those poor kids had the misfortune of being born into that kind of family.
Wang Ying turned and left, planning to find Tian Youfu to report the situation. Since Qian Juhua wasn’t cooperating, maybe her husband would listen to the team leader?
She’d ask the team leader to talk to her family—at the very least, they could heat the kang (brick bed) at home and get the pregnant woman some extra nutrition. Judging by Qian Juhua’s appearance just now, she was unnaturally thin.
Wang Ying couldn’t help but glance back at the two little girls, who were clutching their candies like treasures. Her mood grew heavier.
The Seventh Production Team was one of the better-off teams in the area. There hadn’t been anyone starved to death there, nor had any families consistently gone hungry. But even so, the benefits of that relative prosperity didn’t seem to reach these two little girls.
Their team didn’t have a primary school. Any child in the Commune who wanted to go to school had to walk over an hour every day to reach the commune’s school. If they were lucky enough to make it to middle school, they’d be transferred to Red Flag Middle School in the nearby Xipo Town.
Currently, you could count all the children in the Seventh Team who were attending school on two hands—and not a single one of them was a girl.
Wang Ying returned with a heavy heart and reported the situation at Qian Juhua’s house to Tian Youfu. He was troubled too. He had always known what kind of person Qian Juhua was, but he hadn’t expected her to even reject medical help.
“You don’t need to worry about it anymore. I’ll talk to her husband. But that guy doesn’t say much. He might not be able to control her. You didn’t know? She’s gone crazy wanting a son.”
How could Wang Ying not know? Just seeing the way they treated the two girls made it crystal clear what kind of values this family had.
It reminded her of some boys she’d seen before the apocalypse—boys with multiple older sisters. Just hearing that told you exactly what had happened.
Setting aside the mess at Qian Juhua’s place, the other two elderly patients she visited were better. Wang Ying prescribed them two affordable sets of medicine. Both families reluctantly bought them and agreed to check in with her again before the Lunar New Year, in case anything else came up.
When Wang Ying got home, the first thing she did was feed the pigs in her sty. Strangely, the spiritual spring water that used to only work on her body was now showing effects on other things too. After arriving here, the spring water had revived some nearly-dead medicinal plants, and now it clearly worked on the pigs as well.
She suspected it was the change in environment that was affecting the spring. Back in the apocalypse, the harsh surroundings limited the spring’s effects to just her. But now, in this lush, clean setting, the spring in her consciousness had expanded significantly.
The once skinny pig hadn’t gained much weight yet, but its energy was visibly better. It grunted eagerly when it saw Wang Ying, asking for food.
There was a large millstone in Wang Ying’s yard. She planned to use it in winter to grind down the bran distributed by the production team and leftover fish bones into pig feed.
After feeding the pigs, Wang Ying went to the state-run restaurant to find Xu Shuang.
She’d felt upset after her visit to Qian Juhua’s house and just wanted a hot meal. This was a good time to catch dinner, and they could walk back to the team together afterward.
As she approached the restaurant, Wang Ying spotted the small-eyed Xie Yuejin talking to someone at the side of the building. She lightened her steps and paused about five paces away before being noticed. Only then did Xie Yuejin look up and see her.
He quickly ended his conversation and gestured for the other person to leave, then enthusiastically walked over.
“Here to see Brother Xu? He’s in the kitchen! I’ll take you.”
Wang Ying gave a small “Mm” and asked, “What were you talking about just now?”
Her question was abrupt—normally, people wouldn’t ask something like that unless they were close.
The small-eyed Xie Yuejin mumbled an excuse, “That’s my cousin. He came to talk about some family stuff.”
Wang Ying said, “Oh.”
But with her keen hearing, she’d clearly caught what was actually said: Xie Yuejin had mentioned that Xu Shuang would be returning to the team for the winter next month, and he planned to sell off the dried goods from the restaurant.
I am just a novice translator and Chinese is not my native language. I try my best to translate the chapters as accurate as possible.
If there are any mistakes then kindly comment and remind me. Your support means a lot.
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