My village can't be like this

Chapter 639 Chen Ze wants to roast lamb

After Zhang An finished speaking, Zhang Jianguo thought about it for a while.

They are all family territories. Zhang An understands it, and Zhang Jianguo naturally understands it too.

"That place is indeed suitable, but you have been growing grass there all the time. If you build a house there, you won't be able to graze your livestock."

In Zhang Jianguo's eyes, that piece of land was like a vegetable garden to the family's livestock.

In the past, Zhang An would sow some grass seeds there every year, and when the grass grew, the family’s livestock would go out and nibble on it.

So that place was considered a small grassland for the family, and Zhang Jianguo didn't want to waste it.

"Dad, that place is empty anyway. You can't be reluctant to give it to someone else just because you sowed some grass seeds there. If there's no place left, you'll have to exchange it with your paddy fields. Besides, you drive the sheep out every day now, so it doesn't matter whether you keep that place or not."

Zhang An didn't have any reluctance to give it up. He had vacated that space before because it had no use, otherwise he wouldn't have left it empty.

"Okay, since you said so, then take the tape measure and go out and measure it."

Seeing that his son had made up his mind, Zhang Jianguo stopped hesitating and found the tape measure at home and prepared to go out to measure the size.

After some pulling, the horizontal and vertical quantities have been measured.

This place is about the size of one mu of land, which is quite wide overall and much larger than the vegetable plots of ordinary people.

As for why Zhang An's family didn't use it to grow vegetables, it was because this was also a gravel land and nothing could be harvested no matter what was planted. Instead, the grass grew quite well, so Zhang An had been using it to grow grass to feed livestock.

"Then let's stay here. I'll ask your second uncle to come over and sort it out later and see how to dig the foundation."

The size of the three-acre plot of land is wider than the remaining half of the vegetable plot behind Zhang An’s old house. If it were all used to build a sheep pen, it would definitely be much larger than the big pen.

After all, Zhang An’s family circle only occupies a little over one acre of land, which is equivalent to half of the area here.

"Then I'll go now. My second uncle should be at home."

Zhang An nodded and said that it was noon and time for lunch, so Zhang Jianjun, who had not gone out to work, should be at home.

As soon as I reached the door, little Siqi started shouting from behind.

"Dad, wait a minute."

Zhang An looked back and saw the little guy running towards him.

After all, it wasn't something important that he was going to do, and since his son wanted to go, Zhang An naturally wouldn't refuse.

He put his hands on the little guy's waist and put him on his shoulders.

Little Siqi, who loves riding horses the most, found that he could ride on his father's shoulders again, and he immediately smiled from ear to ear.

Zhang An couldn't help but sigh that he had washed his feet very well on New Year's Eve. When he arrived at his second uncle's house, the whole family was having lunch.

"Second Grandfather, Second Grandma."

As soon as they entered the yard, the little guy got off Zhang An and ran into the main room, making a sound.

"Qiqi is here, come and eat."

As soon as Second Aunt saw Xiao Siqi, a smile appeared on her face. She picked up a piece of twice-cooked pork with even fat and lean meat and handed it to Xiao Siqi's mouth.

Even though he has already eaten at home, the little guy will not refuse when he sees food. He will immediately open his mouth wide and put the meat into his mouth.

Then the second aunt wanted to get a bowl and spoon for the little guy, but Zhang An quickly stopped her.

"Second Aunt, please eat quickly. Don't worry about him. We have already eaten at home."

Zhang An pretended to glare at his son and said to his second aunt.

"It's okay, you've already eaten, so let's eat some food."

The second aunt said this with a smile, but Zhang An couldn't stop her and she still took the bowl.

So the little guy had a meal with his second uncle's family, and his little mouth was shiny and greasy from eating.

"Xiao An, what's the matter with you coming to see me?"

Because Zhang An was waiting here, Zhang Jianwen quickly finished the rice in the bowl and then came over to ask.

"Does Second Uncle have any work recently?"

Although he knew that the project in the village had been completed, Zhang An still asked.

After all, his second uncle is a man who can't sit still. If he gets a new job, he will plan to talk about this matter later. There is no rush anyway.

"After finishing the work in the village, I have nothing to do. There is a family in Xiahewan who wants to build a house, but they have to wait until next month. It's a good time for me to take a break recently."

When Zhang Jianjun heard his nephew ask this question, he smiled and said that it was only the beginning of March and there was still a long time until next month.

He didn't plan to take on any work during this period, because he had taken on a big project in the village just after the Chinese New Year this year, and he was already satisfied.

"It's like this, uncle. My sheep are about to give birth, and the current big pen won't be big enough to keep them there, so I plan to build a new one. If uncle isn't busy, I'll get it done in the next two days."

After hearing that his second uncle was fine recently, Zhang An told the truth.

"There are at least a dozen this time. I saw them when your father went to the mountain a few days ago. The sheep's stomachs were bigger than each other. I guess they will give birth to a lot of lambs."

Speaking of the sheep, Zhang Jianjun was quite happy for Zhang An's family. After all, every time Zhang An's family slaughtered sheep, they would give some to the families of their two uncles. If they gave them to someone else's family, it would be basically impossible. The most they could do was to invite them over for a meal.

"About that. There are about a dozen ewes about to give birth. I've seen the size of their bellies. If nothing goes wrong, there will probably be about twenty lambs. That's why we're in a hurry to build a new pen."

The family’s sheep have given birth to many lambs over the years, and now Zhang An can judge how many lambs are pregnant based on the size of the ewe’s belly.

Of course, there are definitely errors in this way, but they are not too far off.

In fact, as long as he brought the ewe into the space, he could use the perspective to see how many lambs there were, but he felt it was unnecessary. The number was fixed anyway, and he would know when the ewe gave birth.

"Then let's go and check out the place. While we have nothing to do these two days, we can dig the foundation and bring back the materials. We can find a few people and finish it in a few days."

Zhang Jianjun didn't even have time to drink his tea after dinner and prepared to go over with Zhang An to take a look.

"Let's go Qiqi, it's time to go home."

Zhang An stood up and called to his son.

But this time Siqi didn't say anything, just kept shaking his head at him.

At the same time, he was still eating the food that his second aunt picked for him, and it seemed that he didn't want to leave.

"It's okay, Xiao An, you guys go ahead. If he wants to go back later, I'll take him there."

Although Second Aunt is not yet forty years old and has not reached the age where she wants to have a grandchild, she treats her nephew, Little Siqi, almost like her own grandson.

Zhang An glanced at his foodie son, shook his head and walked away helplessly.

When they got home, the three of them once again took the measuring tape and walked behind the big circle to observe and look at it.

"Xiao An, how big a sheep pen do you plan to build here?"

Zhang Jianjun just took a few glances and asked Zhang An.

"I plan to build as big as possible, so that I can save some trouble in the future. Otherwise it will be too troublesome to add more next time." Zhang An had thought about this before. This piece of land was idle anyway, and there was no point in leaving some of it empty. It would be better to use it all to build a sheep pen. This way, even if the deer are driven back in the future, there will be no need to worry about not being able to keep enough room.

"If you want to cover it completely, you can only build three sides of dry wall."

Because the land is in a large triangular shape, it is impossible to build normal dry walls on four sides.

"It doesn't matter. It's just a sheepfold anyway, not for people to live in. Three walls or four walls won't make a difference."

Zhang Anke doesn't care how many dry walls there are, he just wants to make the best use of them.

After getting Zhang An's reply, Zhang Jianjun nodded and then walked along the edge of the field.

"In that case, let's get started tomorrow. I've roughly estimated the materials. While it's still early today, I'll go order them for you. I buy a lot from you, so it's cheaper than other people ordering."

Just now, Zhang Jianjun walked around to estimate the building materials needed for building the wall.

An experienced man like him can make a rough estimate based on his own footsteps without using a tape measure.

As for ordering materials, Zhang An is not an outsider, so he will naturally help.

After all, he has taken on so many jobs over the years, most of which included all-inclusive labor and materials, so he is very familiar with the suppliers and gets certain discounts on purchases.

"Even if you don't say it, I still think so. I'll leave it to you. I'll go to the village and ask someone to dig out the foundation tomorrow."

Even if he asked outsiders to do the work, Zhang An would choose to include all the materials and labor, not to mention his own second uncle. He didn't need that little bit of money now, as long as he wasn't afraid of trouble, it would be fine.

In the afternoon, Zhang Jianjun went to help contact building materials. Zhang An and his son discussed it and then hired someone in the village.

When Zhang An came back, he found Chen Ze was already in his house.

"Why did you come here?"

Chen Ze has been elusive these days. Ever since he came back from digging bamboo shoots last time, Zhang An felt like he hadn't seen this guy for several days.

"Of course I have something to ask you. I have a few friends coming over to visit, so I'm going to get a lamb from your place and roast it whole for them in the evening. You can come along then."

Chen Ze did not waste any time and directly stated the purpose of his visit, and also invited Zhang An.

"I won't go. I can get the sheep out for you right now. If you want to slaughter it, you can take it directly to Lin Youde."

Chen Ze didn't know his friend Zhang An, so he didn't plan to go over.

"No, you can't not go. If you don't go, who will prepare the roasted whole lamb?"

Chen Ze had eaten the lamb roasted by Zhang An before, and it tasted better than the ones roasted in many other places. How could he let go of such a good tool?

"So you called me over here just to give me orders."

Zhang An rolled his eyes in protest. He didn't expect that this guy was asking him to go to work.

"What do you mean by being ordered around? That's really harsh. You have such great skills, but you don't bake a few times a year. That's not reasonable."

Chen Ze's mouth watered when he thought of Zhang An's roasted lamb and pork, but every time he wanted Zhang An to do it, Zhang An ruthlessly rejected him.

"It's settled anyway. I made a promise in front of them. If you don't go, I'll lose all my face. You can't not go."

"Alright, alright, look at what you look like now, you're just a bitch. Go pick a sheep and take it to slaughter."

Seeing that Chen Ze was about to cry, make a fuss and roll on the ground, Zhang An had no choice but to agree. It was his own fault for choosing friends carelessly, and it was too late to turn back.

After hearing Zhang An's words, Chen Ze immediately followed him to the sheep pen to pick sheep.

"Here, let's take that one. It must be delicious if it's fat."

In the end, Chen Ze picked a big fat sheep weighing more than 100 kilograms.

"Are you sure you don't want to choose a smaller one? Not only will it take time to bake such a big one, but you may not be able to finish it in the end."

Zhang An didn’t know how many friends Chen Ze had brought with him, but the one he was referring to would definitely weigh more than 60 kilograms after being slaughtered.

Even if they can eat it, assuming three pounds per person, this would be enough for at least twenty people.

"Don't worry, it won't be wasted. This is it."

Chen Ze shook his head nonchalantly, as if he had decided on the sheep.

Zhang An ignored him and found a rope to lead the sheep out.

"Wait for me here. I'll go find my aunt."

When Zhang An led the sheep out, Chen Ze did not reach out to take it, but ran into the house to find Wang Fang.

"Auntie Wang, I came here to buy a sheep. I'm giving this money to you instead of Zhang An."

After finding Wang Fang, Chen Ze immediately took out several large bills and handed them to Wang Fang.

If it were some chickens, ducks, rabbits and fish, Chen Ze would not be polite to Zhang An at all, but the sheep was a big item and he didn't think of taking advantage of it.

After saying that, he ran out without giving Wang Fang a chance to speak.

After leading the sheep, Chen Ze went straight to Lin Youde's house.

Although Lin Youde is no longer the only butcher in the village, his life is much better than before.

He made a lot of money by slaughtering pigs and selling meat in the past two years, so he set up a simple slaughterhouse at home.

Normally, he would process the pigs he collected at home. Now, if anyone in the village has something going on and needs to slaughter a pig, they will rush to his house to slaughter it. It is much more convenient than doing it at home before.

As for slaughtering a sheep, that was even easier for him.

"Zhang An, the sheep has been slaughtered. Come with me and pickle it first."

Half a while later, Chen Ze ran back from Lin Youde.

"Slaughtered? What about your sheep?"

Seeing Chen Ze coming back empty-handed, Zhang An wondered if he had lost his sheep.

"I gave the entrails to Lin Youde, so after I slaughtered the animal, he helped me carry it back."

Chen Ze himself couldn’t cook, and he felt disgusted with lamb offal, so he gave it to Lin Youde.

Sheep offal is different from pig offal, so Lin Youde naturally felt embarrassed, so not only did he not ask for the slaughtering fee, he also helped send the sheep back.

"Then wait a moment. I'll go find the steel fork for roasting lamb."

Zhang An had prepared everything very well for roasting a whole lamb, and he could take it with him now.

"No need to look for it, I have it. Today, when they heard that they wanted to eat roasted whole lamb, they bought a set and brought it here. Now everything is ready. I just need your help. If you really want to take it, please bring some seasonings. I'm afraid what they bring won't be as delicious as what you have."

Before Zhang An turned around and went into the house, Chen Ze spoke.

"Okay, then you wait a moment."

After Zhang An finished speaking, he went home and collected various seasonings and packed them together into a big bag.

(End of this chapter)