Early the next morning, the Zhou family was busy. Everyone's faces were filled with joy, and they were busy preparing what they needed to kill the pigs.

The men cleaned the yard and put a pile of earth in the middle of the yard, and put two large wooden tables on top of it, which was the case of killing pigs.

A few years ago, pigs were fattened, the small ones were more than 200 catties, and the big ones were more than 300 catties.

The women prepared wooden barrels, large pots, and boiled water, Li Guizhi and Zhou Ping cut two large pots of sauerkraut in the morning, and their hands were frozen red, so Mrs. Zhou was not enough, "Why can't you make two big pots of pig vegetables, please invite these people to have no drop of oil and water in their stomachs, and they must not eat to death!" How can there be so much meat for them to eat, put more sauerkraut! Cut another big pot! ”

Sanjiatun has a rule of killing pigs and inviting neighbors, who kills pigs, will invite people who are familiar with each other in Tunzi to come over to eat a meal of meat, good years, pigs are well raised, naturally the meat tube is enough to eat, like the current year, the pigs of the Zhou family are small, so they can only be based on vegetables.

While everyone was busy, Zhou Chen secretly took Zhou Wanwan out to take a few looks, told her what things were for, and explained to her that he couldn't take her out to see when he killed the pig, for fear of scaring her.

"Don't stand in the way!" Mrs. Zhou pulled Zhou Chen, "What are you doing when you take her out!" The old Ding Tou is here, hurry up and bring the big pot to your master! ”

Today, all the big families were turned around by Mrs. Zhou, and Zhou Chen didn't want to provoke her to scold today, so she agreed, holding Zhou Wanwan in one hand and carrying a big clay basin in the other, and sent Zhou Wanwan back to the West House first, and then trotted to deliver the basin.

"You can make an ancestral board and offer her up!" Mrs. Zhou scolded at Zhou Chen's back, she became more and more disgusted with the delicate efforts of these two grandsons to a dead girl! In the future, it will be the life of a fire girl, and I still want to be a daughter and raise it.

Lao Dingtou has been here for a long time, and he is standing by the pigsty with Old Man Zhou and several children and grandchildren of the Zhou family to evaluate the two pigs of the Zhou family.

Lao Dingtou is more than 50 years old, and he is also an all-round character of Sanjiatun, he can kill pigs, weave baskets and baskets, and raise livestock is even more handy, and he has been in charge of the big livestock in the team after having a production team.

Seeing that the preparations were almost complete, Old Man Zhou waved his hand, "Catch the pig!" ”

Zhou Jun was the first to jump into the pigsty, and then Zhou Chunfa and Zhou Fu also followed, and Zhou Yang also planned to go in, but seeing that the three of them were enough to deal with the little pig, he handed them a rope and took a wooden stick to prepare to carry the pig.

The pig was quickly placed on a wooden table in the yard and barked incessantly. Zhou Yang immediately thought of such a big movement, don't scare his sister, turned around to find Zhou Chen, and found that Zhou Chen had already entered the house.

Of course, Zhou Wanwan was not afraid of killing pigs, but when Zhou Chen held her in his arms and covered her ears with both hands, she still obediently clinged to her second brother and was a little sister who needed to be protected.

Sometimes we don't need protection because we're afraid. Zhou Wanwan is not afraid now, but she really feels that she needs the protection of her brothers, because behind this protection is warmth, companionship, and unreserved love.

The pig soon stopped howling, the Zhou family had a lot of hands, and several neighbors around it also came to help, and soon, the pig was finished removing its hair and opening its chamber, and the blood sausage was quickly filled, and the pig-killing dish was ready to be cooked.

Because Zhou Juan was going to give the second stubble ceremony tomorrow, the Zhou family moved the cauldron of the twelve seals in the team in advance. One pot is stewed with two rice mixed with sorghum rice and millet, and the other pot is made to kill pigs.

In the past three years of the famine, hunger has left a deep impression on people, so even if the production team distributes food, no one dares to eat dry rice, and most of them still retain the habits of the past few years, carefully taking out some grain to make paste and drink every meal.

The Zhou family has a lot of food, although there is no guarantee that they will eat dry rice often, it is still okay to eat one meal once in a while. But after sending so much to Zhou Hongxiang's family, the food was stretched, according to the private discussion of the Zhou Yang brothers, the Zhou family's current food will be enough to drink mushy all year round. Therefore, today's dry meal is too rare. Mrs. Zhou, who had long been ignorant of kitchen work, started it herself, and she was very cautious about measuring rice and water, for fear of ruining a pot of dry rice.

When the smell of the food came out, the neighbors who had come to eat pork also arrived. Although in such years, eating a meal of pork is something that everyone is looking forward to, but there are not many people who come, all of them are a man from each family, and some people who do not have New Year's pigs this year, no one comes, and they find various reasons to shirk it, for fear that they will not be able to return a meal of pork for nothing.

These lovely people, these peasants who have suffered so much, their eyes are full of vicissitudes, their faces are dark and thin, and their behavior does not conform to the so-called etiquette of civilized people, but they have not forgotten their upbringing and reserve at any time, and they stick to their bottom line, which is the confidence of their upright waist and standing among their relatives and friends, and it is also the only thing they can pass on to future generations.

The pig-killing dish was soon on the table, and a table was placed on the kang and underground in the east and west houses of the Zhou family, and the four tables were all guests who came to eat pork today, and the old man Zhou and Zhou Chunfa accompanied them, and everyone else had to wait for the guests to finish eating before eating.

The pig-killing dishes here in Sanjiatun are all in one pot. First cook the meat and bones in a large pot, and when it is almost cooked, add the sauerkraut, and then add the blood sausage after the sauerkraut is cooked, and a large pot of grunt exudes the aroma of meat and the sour taste of sauerkraut that stimulates human saliva secretion.

The children who could not serve the table were hungry, but they did not dare to wander around the kitchen, so they could only run back and forth in and out of the house, waiting for the guests to finish their meals and take their turn.

Zhou Hongying held a piece of meat and bones with tears in her eyes, and let her gluttony her eyes turn red, but she couldn't eat it, she was so anxious that she was so angry that she found fault and beat Zhou Ling and Zhou Xia several times.

Zhou Jun watched the meat and bones that Zhou Hongying had not eaten in his hand go back and forth, and was beaten out by Mrs. Zhou with a burning stick.

When there are outsiders, Mrs. Zhou still cares about her image very much, unless she is forced by Wang Fengying like last time, she basically will not scold others.

Finally, when the guests finished eating and left, the women and children of the Zhou family could also start eating.

It is still divided into two tables, Mrs. Zhou takes Zhou Hongying and her male grandchildren to sit on the kang table, and the daughters-in-law take their granddaughters to sit at the table, Zhou Chen hugs Zhou Wanwan and does not let go, Mrs. Zhou glared at them a few times, and finally pouted and ignored them.

The meals on both tables were the same, the pork and blood sausages were picked out separately and sliced and put on a plate, plus a large pot of stewed sauerkraut.

Of course, the same meal varies greatly in quantity. Mrs. Zhou's table is full of meals, and pork and blood sausage are also two large plates full of meat. The daughters-in-law didn't say that they wanted to limit the amount at that table, but there was only a small pot of dry rice and two pork and blood sausages at the bottom of the plate, and the only thing that could be called unlimited was the big pot of sauerkraut.

As soon as Mrs. Zhou announced that she was eating, Zhou Jun squatted up from the kang and stuffed several large pieces of meat into her mouth, and Zhou Fu didn't care about other things, and kept putting meat in her mouth with chopsticks one by one.

Zhou Yang and Zhou Chen were stunned at first, Zhou Chen was the first to react, he put the sister in his arms into Zhou Yang's arms, and was busy with chopsticks like a raindrop, and he and his brother piled up sharp meat and blood sausage in the bowl for a while, and then hugged his sister over and asked her with a smile: "Which piece do you want to eat?" ”

Zhou Wanwan looked at her little second brother and smiled and bent her eyes, Zhou Yang also smiled, touched her sister's head, and gave her brother a few pieces of meat in her bowl, before she whispered, "Eat." ”

Mrs. Zhou and Zhou Hongying turned a blind eye to the things on the table, and there were two plates of meat and blood sausage in front of them, so they didn't have to rob them with these wolf-like boys.

After eating a meal, Zhou Wanwan counted it, Zhou Yang ate six bowls of dry rice, and Zhou Chen also ate four bowls, this is still a big pot of rice that has been robbed, if there is still one, it is estimated that the two brothers can eat more. Zhou Wanwan once again clearly realized that her two elder brothers did not have enough to eat every day......

That night, Zhou Chen went down to take a look at their rabbit set at Zhou Wanwan's urging, and when he came back, Zhou Chen's eyes lit up like obsidian, and he hugged Zhou Wanwan and threw it into the air several times, and kissed her big, "Mascot!" You're really our mascot! ”

"Our family is just a good fate! Good luck in everything! Zhou Chen said excitedly to Zhou Yang, "I went over and looked, four rabbit sets, three rabbits!" Zhou Chen said that he was excited, jumped to the ground and gestured, "Guess what else?" And two pheasants! Ha ha! There is a condom that lassoes two pheasants together! ”

"It has to be our family! As soon as she went, pheasants were struggling to drill into the trap! Zhou Yang was also convinced of his sister's good luck, and he didn't think Zhou Chen was exaggerating at all, "You tell me why our life is so good!" ”

"Haha! In the future, you won't be afraid of running out of meat! Let's eat chicken thighs every day! Zhou Chen took Zhou Wanwan's arm and walked around the room a few more times, and the laughter of the brother and sister was cheerful and crisp, and Zhou Yang also laughed when he heard it.

"I'll go back tomorrow!" Zhou Wanwan hurriedly proposed that her brothers had never been able to eat enough, and it was difficult to come up with anything else in winter, so she could only let them replenish more meat.

"Tomorrow Zhou Juan will have a second stubble ceremony, let's not go out, will we go the day after tomorrow?" Zhou Yang coaxed his sister, and he was also persuading his younger brother who was eager to try, "Let's go the day after tomorrow!" ”

"People didn't want us to join in that fun, just now the eldest aunt told me, let us not come out and run around when we are not working, and then be embarrassed." Zhou Chen pursed his lips sarcastically.

"Then let's not move forward, let Zhou Juan hurry up and go out is better than anything." Zhou Yang's impression of Zhou Juan is getting worse and worse, and he looks forward to her getting married for a few days.

"Well, let her get out of the house! I see that she is so nervous, and she is a stirrger. "Zhou Chen is not as kind as Zhou Yang, he doesn't have any affection when he talks in front of his family, he is so annoying that Zhou Juan can't do it.

The next day, there were basically no outsiders who came to the second stubble ceremony, that is, the matchmaker Zhao Simao brought Xu Yidao and his daughter-in-law, as well as Xu Weiguo, plus Xu Weiguo's eldest brother and sister-in-law to Zhou's house.

The Zhou family didn't invite any guests, but at the insistence of Zhou Chunfa, they invited Zheng Mancang, the secretary of the brigade. According to the customs of Sanjiatun in recent years, most of the occasions like this invite the captain of the production team to come, but Zhou Chunfa feels that as half of the public family, he has to be more far-sighted, how can the captain have the face of the team secretary, and if he wants to work in the township in the future, he has to write a letter of recommendation from the team secretary.

The four children of Zhou Hongxiang's family also came, saying that they were here to celebrate Zhou Juan's second stubble ceremony, but they were actually here to eat pork. Yesterday when the pig was killed, Mrs. Zhou was suspicious, her grandchildren couldn't eat well, and the guests left in the afternoon, so she sent Zhou Chunxi to the county seat and brought Zhou Hongxiang a big pork knuckle and a few large pieces of meat, almost one-third of a pig. He also instructed Zhou Chunxi to take advantage of the winter vacation to bring all the four children of the Qian family and let the children eat a few meats.

Zhou Hongxiang is now unlucky enough to drink cold water and stuff her teeth, and the life at home is even more miserable, and several children of the Qian family have the opportunity to leave their grumpy father and sad mother, so they naturally can't ask for it, plus they have meat to eat, so they naturally came to Zhou's house with Zhou Chunxi happily.

Zhou Wanwan looked at the arrogant appearance of the children of the Qian family who looked at people with their nostrils and smiled evilly, and when they went back, they found that the pork sent by their grandmother's family was fishy again, and Zhou Hongxiang's body couldn't do physical work, so she didn't know if she could still stand up to the shelves of people in the city.

Zhou Juan's bride price is a lot among the girls who are engaged in the same period, two hundred yuan plus three hundred catties of wheat, and two sets of new clothes before marriage. As for the "seventy-two legs" or "thirty-six legs" that were popular in the sixties when people in the city got married, they are not yet popular in the countryside.

Even many of the girls who were engaged at the same time as Zhou Juan didn't ask for much money, but just tried to give the family as much food as possible, and Shen Yufen was one of them.

It's this winter, everyone doesn't have to worry about starving to death anymore, and the girls in the tunzi don't ask for so much dowry when they get engaged, Zhang Cuihua of Zhang San's neck family on the front street only needs 100 yuan and 500 catties of corn, and these men bargained for a long time, and finally 500 catties of corn became 300 catties of relatives before it was settled.

The year of Zhou Juan's engagement was 60 years, just in time for the worst of the famine, so the Xu family only passed ten yuan for the first stubble ceremony, and meaningfully sent eight mixed noodles steamed buns to the Zhou family, and the big head was left in the second stubble ceremony.

The Xu family was not ambiguous at all in the bride price, and happily took all the money and things. Xu Jianguo's mother was stout and stout, and while taking out the money, she turned over her dark purple sausage mouth and made a wish to Mrs. Zhou: "Auntie, you can rest assured that Juan'er marries into our family!" Can't grieve her! I don't ask for anything, I just hope that she will give me a big fat grandson as soon as possible, then she will be the hero of our old Xu family! ”

"You can rest assured! It is said that a girl is like a mother, you see the eldest daughter-in-law of our family, a man and a woman are born with flowers, who doesn't say that our eldest daughter-in-law will give birth. In terms of giving birth to a son, Mrs. Zhou is still very satisfied with Wang Fengying.

The sister-in-law of the Xu family and Li Guizhi, who had not said a word since they entered the house, lowered their heads when they heard the words of the two people. Sister-in-law Xu has given birth to three daughters, and as soon as the third child landed, her mother-in-law tossed her back to her parents' house, if it weren't for the fact that her mother's family invited the famous Manda God to give her a life, saying that she had a son in her life, how could she sit here now.

Li Guizhi is even more sad, her own life is not good, and even her two daughters are disliked, and in the future, Zhou Ping and Zhou Lan will find fault with their in-laws......

The Xu family and the invited guests had a sumptuous meal and left one after another, and Zhou Juan's marriage had to be prepared quickly.

At this time, the things that the girl here in Sanjiatun went out to accompany her mother's house are generally two boxes, a few bedding and a little daily necessities, the most common is a pair of warm pots, a basin, towels, soap boxes or something, and the people who love the girl will add some tea trays, large mirrors and the like.

Of course, the Zhou family would not accompany them extraordinarily, and Mrs. Zhou only took out twenty yuan from the bride price and asked Wang Fengying to watch it for Zhou Juan.

Of course Wang Fengying is not satisfied, although the twenty yuan is enough to buy an ordinary dowry for Zhou Juan, but Zhou Juan's bride price is 200 yuan! She didn't dare to say anything after eating the grain at home, but this bride price money had to be given to her parents according to the rules of Sanjiatun, if she let Mrs. Zhou collect it, she wouldn't want to see a penny!

Mrs. Zhou also knew Wang Fengying's thoughts, and she confidently took Zhou Fu and Zhou Jun, "They won't marry a daughter-in-law in the future?" Don't come to me then! ”

Wang Fengying immediately swallowed the words of the bride price back into her stomach. Zhou Jun is still young and is not in a hurry to marry a daughter-in-law, but Zhou Fu's family affairs have already smashed in front of him. With Zhou Fu's conditions, if you want to marry a daughter-in-law normally, the woman introduced by others is either a problem or a widow, and if you want to marry a yellow flower girl with a full beard and a full tail like Xu Chun, you can only hope to change relatives.

So Mrs. Zhou can't be offended now.

Zhou Juan pulled away Wang Fengying, who was unwilling and had to endure it. She has more important things to discuss with Wang Fengying.

Zhou Juan understands Mrs. Zhou's personality too well, the money is in her hands, and if she doesn't come back, she won't be angry. When she marries into the Xu family, she will have a good life, and now she just wants to go out smoothly and quickly, nothing else matters. (To be continued.) )