My village can't be like this

Chapter 624: Smoked Bacon
After sending the old lady away, Zhang An found the big staircase in his house and carried it to the eaves of the pen room.

He had been talking about checking the roof of the enclosure a few days ago, but he had a severe procrastination problem and had been putting it off until now.

It's already the twelfth lunar month. If we don't inspect it, if there are broken tiles, it will be troublesome when it snows.

"Hiss, why are there so many leaves this year?"

Climbing onto the roof, Zhang An immediately saw that many of the tile grooves were filled with fallen leaves.

These are the fallen leaves from the fruit trees in the back mountain. They fell a few days ago and were blown here by the wind.

In fact, there were some in previous years, but not so many. This year, the ditches are completely filled with them.

"Don't you see that the fruit trees in the back hills have grown a lot? Naturally, there are more leaves. Wait for me to get a broom."

Zhang Jianguo scooped it up with his hands and found that there were a huge handful of them, too many.

"I'll go, Dad, you wait here first."

After Zhang An finished speaking, he swiftly went down the stairs to the ground level.

"Dad, what are you and grandpa doing up there?"

Ever since Zhang An and Zhang Jianguo climbed onto the roof, little Siqi has been looking up with his head raised.

"We are going to work upstairs. Please move away and don't stand here."

Zhang An went downstairs and took the little guy directly to find his grandmother.

It is normal for tiles to loosen and fall down when someone steps on the roof, so people should not stand under the eaves at this time.

"Can I go up then? I want to help grandpa with his work."

The little guy seemed to understand, not really. He had no idea what work meant. He just wanted to go up and play.

"Not now, but when you grow up you can."

Su Ying had just gotten up, so Zhang An handed his son to her, found two brooms, and ran to the roof of the pen again.

In this way, the father and son swept down the dead leaves in the gutters on the roof row by row.

You don't know until you see it. It's shocking. There is actually a small pile of dead leaves in the grooves alone.

If I clean the entire roof, there will probably be a huge pile.

If we don't clean it out, the roof will probably be covered with fungi as soon as it rains.

It took a whole morning to finally clean up the dead leaves on the roof. The originally bright green tiles had become a little black, and the smell of rotten leaves could be smelled.

If we want them to return to their previous color, I'm afraid they can only be washed clean by a few heavy rains and then exposed to the sun for them to recover.

Then he checked the tiles. Zhang An carried a large basket of new tiles and put them on the roof. He replaced any broken or cracked tiles with new ones.

"How about this, Dad? You check that side and I'll check this side, so we don't have to mess around and waste time."

There were many roofs, so Zhang An decided to check them separately so that the tiles would be stepped on less often. So Zhang Jianguo took half a basket of new tiles and went to the other side.

"Xiao An, how come you still have so much left? Give me some, I have exchanged all of this."

Halfway through the morning, Zhang Jianguo discovered that all the tiles that were allocated to him had been replaced. He wanted to go downstairs to get some, but he found that Zhang An had not used many of them.

"I don't have many broken ones here, so I don't need to replace them very often."

In fact, he had more broken ones here, but he put hundreds of them in the space. In order to save trouble, he just took them out of the space when he changed them, so there were still a lot left when he just brought them up.

By noon, the two men had finally replaced all the broken tiles on the north and south roofs.

At this moment, there was not only a pile of rotten leaves on the ground, but also a lot of broken tiles that had been replaced.

After lunch, I had to start dealing with the dead leaves and broken tiles in the yard.

Because the dead leaves that had begun to rot smelled really bad, even little Siqi, who usually liked to stay in the yard, didn't come out and kept saying "stinky".

However, this thing is not difficult to deal with. Although it cannot be burned directly, it can be picked up and placed in the orchard. After it is completely fermented next year, it will be no different from fertilizer.

So the whole family went out, each person had a shoulder pole and two large bamboo baskets, and they could carry away a lot at a time.

Wang Fang didn't let Su Ying come and get involved. Although the leaves were not heavy, Su Ying didn't know how to use a carrying pole, and it was really torture to carry them on his shoulders.

Soon, all the dead leaves were picked up and taken to the orchard. They just had to be piled up like this. There were a lot of earthworms in Zhang An’s orchard anyway, so it wouldn’t take long for the leaves to ferment into humus.

But we can’t do the same with the remaining broken tiles, we have to find a proper place to deal with them.

In the past, when the road outside the village was still a dirt and gravel road, it could have been pulled over and paved on the road.

But now the village has cement roads everywhere, so this thing really can’t be thrown everywhere.

"Dad, don't put it in the dung basket. I'll pull the carriage out and pave the stone-slab mountain road."

Since littering is not allowed in the village, Zhang An thought it would be better to throw it farther away.

When everything was finally loaded, it only took up about half the size of the carriage, but Dahei was very excited because he could go out and exercise again.

Coming back from Shibanpo, Zhang An met Zhang Xinmin at Shiyakou.

"Hey, what big equipment did Brother Xinmin bring back again?"

Zhang Xinmin came back on a tractor. There was a machine in the cargo box, but no one knew what it was used for.

"What kind of big equipment is that? It's just a small machine for making rice cakes. If you want to make rice cakes this year, remember to come to my house."

Even on the road, Zhang Xinmin never missed the opportunity to advertise himself. He not only mentioned it to Zhang Anye, but also to other people he met.

"That's easy. If you fight more or less, some will definitely come to fight."

The rice cakes made by machines are different from the ones made at home during the Chinese New Year. The ones made at home during the Chinese New Year have to be rolled into a big circle, so they are called reunion cakes.

The rice cakes made by the machine look white and plump, no different from newborn piglets, and are called pig cakes by the villagers.

Many families in the village like to make this. Every year, they bring back dozens of kilograms of it and soak it in a jar with water. It can be preserved for a long time. When they go to work in the mountains, they can take out a piece, cut it and take it with them as food.

Although this type of machine is not big, it was not available in many nearby villages before, and there was only one in Hongyan Town.

Every December, families in the nearby villages who like to make rice cakes would carry soaked glutinous rice to the town to make rice cakes, and then carry the finished rice cakes back home.

Zhang An's family is small and they don't eat much on weekdays, so they basically don't make this kind of thing. They only wait until the Chinese New Year, when they will make a steamer of glutinous rice reunion cakes that are enough to eat for a long time.

"Mom, Zhang Xinmin's family brought in a rice cake machine today. Do you think we should make some?"

After returning home, Zhang An told his mother about this. Even if he didn't say it, it would have spread throughout the village in two days at most.

"Why are you talking about this suddenly? You and Yingying don't really like to eat it."

The family hasn't played this game for many years, and Wang Fang has never thought about it.

"It's not that I don't like it, I just don't like it after it's been soaked in water. It's still delicious when it's hot right out of the pot."

Rice cakes cannot be preserved for long if left alone. They can only be preserved for a longer time if soaked in water.

But after soaking it in water for a while, it will produce a strange smell. That's why Zhang An doesn't like it.

But Zhang An likes the freshly made rice cakes. After all, they are hot when they are freshly baked. They are soft and sticky, chewy and have a sweet aftertaste.

"Then let's make some. Ten pounds should be enough. After all, we have a small family and we can't finish the extra." The family didn't make rice cakes before because they had to go to Hongyan Town, which was very troublesome. In addition, there were many people making rice cakes in the twelfth lunar month, so Wang Fang didn't want to squeeze in.

Now that it can be made in the village, it’s not wrong to make a little bit. Although you will get sick of it if you eat too much, it’s still okay to make a little bit and eat it occasionally.

"But we only have red glutinous rice at home, which is not suitable. You can go to Zhang Ping's house and buy some white glutinous rice later."

"Then I'll go now. It just so happens that my uncle just harvested the rice yesterday."

Zhang An found a bag for rice and prepared to go out.

"Then buy a little more, just enough to grind off the glutinous rice flour."

Wang Fang thought about it and added another sentence.

When he arrived at Zhang Ping's house, Zhang An found the old aunt and handed the bag to her.

"Aunt, I'm here to buy some white glutinous rice. Just weigh twenty kilograms for me."

The old lady took the bag and went to put glutinous rice for Zhang.

"Anzi, your family should kill the pig first this year."

In the main room, Zhang Jianwen was talking to Zhang An while holding a big pipe.

"No way, uncle, your family isn't going to kill pigs this year?"

In the past, Zhang Jianwen’s family was the representative of pig slaughtering in the village. Every year, only when their family slaughtered a pig would everyone else start to fight.

As a result, this year their family suddenly decided not to kill him, and Zhang An thought something had happened.

"We won't kill it this year. Zhang Ping is getting married after the Chinese New Year, and I'm going to keep the pig for his wedding."

Zhang Jianwen shook his head and explained.

"Everyone said your pork was delicious in previous years. I won't look for anyone else this year. After you kill the pig, just leave a few dozen kilograms of smoked bacon for me."

In the past, Zhang Jianwen’s family would kill a pig themselves, and when Zhang An’s family killed a pig, he would only buy a few pounds symbolically.

"So that's how it is. Don't worry, uncle. Just come over and cut as much as you want."

If it was someone else who asked, Zhang An might not agree, but since it was Zhang Jianwen who asked, he couldn't refuse. The worst that could happen was that he could just kill one more.

On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the whole village was swept by a craze of slaughtering the New Year pig.

Most families in the village have made money this year. Those families that were reluctant to slaughter pigs in previous years are also planning to make money this year.

After knowing that the village chief’s family would not slaughter pigs, many families did not wait and directly set the date on the tenth day.

Because it hasn't snowed yet in the twelfth lunar month, and if it does snow later, it's likely to be quite heavy, so everyone wants to end it early.

After all, it is too troublesome to kill pigs in heavy snow.

Zhang An's family also scheduled the wedding date for the tenth day. Early in the morning, Lin Youde came over with his ancestral dining utensils.

In fact, several families in the village had approached him, but he turned them all down because of conflicts with Zhang An's family.

"Youde, we have to kill four today. It will be very hard for you."

When Zhang Jianguo came over with cigarettes to disperse, he said to Lin Youde.

"Didn't you say there were three? Why is there one more?"

Zhang An's pigs are relatively large and difficult to kill. Even though it's just one more pig, the difficulty of keeping them alive has increased significantly.

"Youde, what are you afraid of? We can kill them all with one sword anyway."

The others looked at Lin Youde and laughed.

But what he said was true. Lin Youde always killed pigs with one knife each.

"Go, go, the knife is here, come here."

Lin Youde rolled his eyes and handed the bag of knives to them.

"We don't have your skills. I'm afraid that after a few dozen cuts, the pig will still be able to run around."

Soon the water boiled and everyone was ready to get started.

Because there were quite a few families in the village slaughtering pigs at the same time today, the number of people coming to Zhang An's house was much less than in previous years.

Although there are fewer people, the place is still as lively as ever.

Especially those tenants of Dongli Yard who had already made reservations with Zhang An's family also came here early.

They were afraid that if they arrived too late, their flesh would be eaten away.

After the pigs were killed and the meat was divided, the tenants started to think of other things.

"Zhang An, this meat is here, you can help us smoke it."

What the tenants meant was that they would pay Zhang An to help with the OEM work.

After all, they had never smoked meat before, so why not pay and save a lot of trouble?

"That may not work. My family needs to fumigate a lot of it ourselves, and we won't be able to fumigate more than that. But you can look for other people in the village. They should be willing to do it."

When Zhang An heard this, he quickly shook his head to refuse. He couldn't just ask for this. After all, so many people were watching. If he agreed to one, it would be difficult to refuse the others.

The period before the New Year was already very busy, and he didn't want to cause himself any more trouble.
And if he agreed, he would probably become a tool for smoking meat in the future.

But there is money to be made here, so Zhang An doesn't mind pushing them to other villagers.

When the tenants heard this, they immediately went to find other people. With the power of money, the villagers were very willing to take on the job.

After all, you still have to chop wood if you only smoke your own house, so it would be convenient to smoke one or two more houses.

This kind of thing happened to one family after another. The tenants saw that their neighbors had asked villagers to do the fumigation for them, and they certainly didn't want to go up the mountain to chop firewood, so one by one they also went to find the villagers.

For this reason, Zhang Jianwen came over to praise Zhang An, because he had been worried that the tenants in Dongli Yard would set the house on fire when they were smoking their own bacon.

As a result of what Zhang An said, the hidden danger was resolved.

But the problem will not disappear, it will only shift from one person to another.

Although villagers smoke bacon every year, it is not absolutely safe. Every year, a few families will burn their bacon thoroughly.

This year, everyone is helping others to fumigate, and the number has definitely increased a lot.

So in the following days, Zhang Jianwen had to use the loudspeaker to make notifications three times a day.

On the one hand, it reminds everyone to pay attention to fire prevention and not fall asleep while smoking bacon and cause a fire.

In addition, you must close the doors and windows and pay attention to anti-theft measures to prevent the smoked bacon from being taken away secretly.

No matter which of the above happens, not only will you suffer a loss, but you will also have to pay other people money.

When it comes to paying compensation, the villagers dare not be careless and are extremely careful.

(End of this chapter)