Siheyuan: There are three little cats at home

Chapter 549: Slaughtering sheep during the New Year

The sky was overcast, with snow still falling, and it was evening again. The cold wind blew snowflakes flying in random directions. Xu Qingshen stepped on the snow one foot at a time, leaving his footprints in the half-inch of snow.

The suburbs these days have just begun to develop, and it was Xu Qing who started it. Last year, many people also started construction, but after winter, it has stopped.

Snow has fallen on the planned industrial land several times, but no one has ever cleaned it. In the end, it melted away little by little due to the good weather and sunshine.

Xu Qing took a breath of air and didn't smoke. He could still see the nearby scenery clearly through the dusk, but in fact, there was nothing to see.

There is snow everywhere, all white.

The same goes for overlooking.

Xu Qing arrived at Sanhuzi's pigsty. Ermazi was helping Sanhuzi's mother spread a pile of wheat straw under the asbestos-tiled shed.

Sanhuzi was working on the pig trough alone.

Twenty piglets filled the pig pen, running around and howling wildly.

Xu Qing has long been accustomed to this kind of situation. He had also caught some piglets before and raised them in the breeding workshop of his meat factory.

"Sanhuzi, you're going to the western suburbs this afternoon. You're not in trouble, are you?"

"No," San Huzi raised his head, clapped his hands covered with mud and snow, and said to Xu Qing:

"Qingzi, when I got there in the afternoon, I hadn't even taken out the specially prepared peony cigarettes. When the directors of several breeding farms over there saw the letter you wrote, they handed me the cigarettes first, saying Piggy It’s all ready, just waiting for me to come.”

Xu Qing smiled faintly, hummed, and asked:

"Have you checked Piggy? Is he not sick?"

San Huzi took off his white-threaded gloves whose color was no longer visible, threw them aside, took out a crumpled peony cigarette, handed one to Xu Qing, turned around and threw another one at Er Mazi, then turned around and said:

"They are all good. The factory directors have told me that they have specially selected them. If there is something wrong with them, it is impossible for me to pull them. When I loaded them into the car, I looked at them one by one and there was nothing wrong with them. It was so loud that it didn’t stop all the way back, and the driver said it was so noisy that his ears hurt.”

Xu Qing took Sanhuzi's eyes, held them in his hand, nodded with a smile, and then said:

"Let them lie in the straw tonight?"

"Well, let's deal with it like this for now. I'll think of another way tomorrow. It shouldn't freeze. I saw that several breeding farms over there are similar to mine. The conditions are relatively better, but the piglets are not small anymore. I asked I passed the people raising pigs over there and they said it was fine.”

Xu Qing took out his lighter, lit a cigarette, and lit it for San Huzi.

The fire lit up under the dark sky, dazzling and dazzling, but was quickly extinguished by the wind.

But the cigarette was already lit, and Xu Qing and San Huzi were smoking and chatting.

Er Mazi, sweating profusely, walked out from under the shed, lit the cigarette in San Huzi's hand, raised his hand to wipe his forehead with the sleeve of his military coat and said:

"Sanhuzi, my aunt said, steamed buns with pumpkin fillings will be made tomorrow. You have to get some treats for your brother. I've only been here to care for you for a short while. Look, I'm sweating on my forehead. .”

Sanhuzi smiled when he heard this and said, "Okay, I will send it to the meat factory early tomorrow morning."

Er Mazi chuckled, puffed on his cigarette, looked at the piglets still running around, and couldn't help but say happily:

"Three tigers, you will be busy starting tomorrow. Look, there are twenty piglets, each running faster than the other."

When San Huzi heard Er Mazi's words, he frowned and immediately relaxed and said:

"It's okay, let them run. Anyway, I have a wall around them, so they can only run in this half-acre of land."

At this time, Sanhuzi's mother carefully spread the wheat straw and sprinkled it under the shed. There were a lot of debris from the wheat straw on her clothes. She patted and walked to Xu Qing and Ermazi, and said with gratitude:

"Xiaoqing, Deer, I would like to thank you on behalf of my son. If it weren't for you, my three sons would not know what they would do next year."

Xu Qing hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Auntie, San Huzi and I have been friends for many years. I opened a meat joint factory and San Huzi raised pigs, which can be regarded as helping me. In the future, when San Huzi makes a lot of money raising pigs, you can follow me. Enjoy it.”

Sanhuzi's mother could not hide her excitement. She looked forward to her son's betterment every year and said to Xu Qing:

"You kid, you always speak with your heart in mind, my aunt. No wonder you got married earlier than my three sons. You don't say anything when you have the ability, and you are so lovable with your words."

Er Mazi said quickly from the side:

"Auntie, I got married earlier than Qingzi."

"Yes, and De Er, you are also capable."

Er Mazi laughed and smoked a cigarette, feeling refreshed and happy.

The sky turned dark without realizing it, and the snow fell a little less. Xu Qing finished smoking, put out the cigarette butt and said:

"Auntie, San Huzi, Er Mazi and I are leaving first. We will go back to the factory and then back to the city. Don't stay here. We'll talk about everything tomorrow."

"Ah, Xiaoqing, Deer, you two can't leave. You must have dinner at your aunt's house tonight before returning to the city."

Xu Qing heard the sound and laughed:

"Auntie, let's forget it today. It's snowing. I might not be able to walk back to the city if it's too late."

Sanhuzi's mother thought about it and thought so, and then said:

"Xiao Qing, De Er, why don't you two stay at my aunt's house for the night, and sleep with San Huzi and the three of you. I'll go back and light up the fire over there later, so that he won't get cold at night."

Sanhuzi echoed from the side: "Qingzi, Ermazi, my mother is right, you don't go back to the city tonight, we three brothers will have a good drink tonight.

Qingzi, don't you have a phone number in your office? Just call your home and say no to Jinghong. "

Xu Qing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry:

"San Huzi, my house has a telephone, but Er Mazi's doesn't have one. It doesn't matter if I don't want to go back, but Er Mazi is afraid it won't work."

Er Mazi wrapped himself in a military coat, took two strong puffs on the butt of his cigarette, threw it on the ground, squandered it with his feet, smiled innocently, and said:

"Auntie, Sanhuzi, Qingzi's wife is considerate, but my wife is not good enough. If I don't come home tonight, she will take my son to Qingzi's house to find me."

Sanhuzi’s mother had no choice but to say:

"Then Xiaoqing, Deer, please ride more slowly on your way back to the city later. It's winter, everything is frozen solid. If you stumble, it won't be pleasant."

Xu Qing and Er Mazi nodded in agreement, indicating that they had remembered, then turned around and walked out of San Huzi's pig pen, returned to the meat factory, cleaned up briefly, and left the factory with Hui Dehai's master and apprentices, heading towards Back to the city.

Early the next morning, the sky was overcast, but there was no snow.

After Xu Qing rode his bike to the outskirts alone, he first went around the grain station warehouse before entering the meat factory.

At around eight o'clock in the morning, buyers from Red Star Steel Rolling Plant No. 3 and No. 5 came over on time to pull pork and mutton.

Xu Qing asked Er Mazi to take people to move it quickly. After weighing, he loaded it onto the trucks of the third and fifth factories.

Two sheep were slaughtered yesterday afternoon. Except for the two sheep skins, the meat and the water were all taken away.

After all, it was said that it was a whole sheep, so there wouldn’t be anything left.

The sheepskin was left to dry overnight in the slaughterhouse last night and was still wet. Xu Qing asked the two pockmarks to dry in the factory yard.

It's not snowing. It's cold, but it's also dry.

This is the characteristic of the northern weather. He has not yet decided what to do with the sheepskin. Whether to sell it to fur collectors or keep it for making clothes. Xu Qing did not think about it, so he planned to wait until it was dried.

In the afternoon of the second day, it snowed for a while, but then it stopped falling.

There is a lot of snow in the winter, just like there is a lot of rain in the summer.

The only difference is that you don’t need an umbrella when it snows.

The snow fell on me and fell off as soon as I patted it.

The weather is still cold, but after the severe cold, it won't get any colder no matter how cold it is.

Sure enough, after the big cold, there was less snow than before.

It took several days for the next show to start, and it was all at night. It stopped just before the morning, and it was not big.

The biggest one only rained an inch thick.

Time is slipping towards the new year in this intermittent snow.

Xu Qing was sitting in his office, drawing on the paper with a blue ink pen, thinking about who should be managed after he slaughtered the few remaining sheep in the factory tomorrow, the New Year's Day. In order to set up a meat joint factory, he traveled a lot, and now the factory is successfully established and operational.

So as the New Year approaches, I always have to thank those who have helped me.

Just like the refrigerators on credit, he still thought about it before New Year's Day. As soon as he collected the payment from the third and fifth factories of Hongxing Steel Rolling Plant, he hurriedly went to the state-owned store to find Director Liu and settle the money he owed for the three refrigerators.

However, he has been so busy recently that he has not paid attention to it. Thinking of it at this time, Xu Qing smiled bitterly in his heart, secretly feeling that Director Liu was probably anxious.

However, he never received a call from Director Liu.

Xu Qing stopped the pen in his hand, took a puff of cigarette, looked out the window at the bright winter sun, walked out of the office, stretched, raised his hand to touch the dry sheepskin, and turned to face the man who ran out of the big stove in the cafeteria. Er Mazi said:

"Brother Mazi, you put the sheepskin away later and help me find a bag to put it in. I will take it home at night."

"Okay, Keiko!"

Er Mazi responded, carrying the hot water bottle that had just been filled with boiling water, back to the office and putting it down, then walked out and put away the hard sheepskin.

Xu Qingze had already gone to the breeding workshop and told the workers not to feed the remaining sheep today but to slaughter them tomorrow.

Then, he went to the slaughtering workshop and told Hui Dehai, who was busy killing pigs, that all the sheep would be killed tomorrow, the New Year.

Hui Dehai smiled and nodded. Said no problem.

The next morning, as soon as Xu Qing arrived at the meat factory, he heard that Hui Dehai and his apprentice were already killing sheep in the slaughtering workshop.

When he passed the door of the slaughterhouse, he smelled the mutton smell of sheep that was stronger than the previous days. Of course, there was also the strong smell of blood.

At around ten o'clock in the morning, Xu Qing asked the chef in the cafeteria to get some mutton and mutton bones, make mutton soup at noon, and stew a pot of mutton offal and pig offal.

It’s the New Year’s Day, no matter what, you have to have a good meal to express your gratitude to the workers in the factory and the workers in the grain station and warehouse.

During lunch, Er Mazi held a bowl, picked a lot of sheep tripe, and sat next to Xu Qing. He ate happily and muttered, regardless of burning his mouth:

"Qingzi. You guys can eat delicious food today. A bowl of mutton soup and a bowl of haggis. I have never enjoyed this kind of treatment before when I worked in our No. 3 Factory."

Hui Dehai on the side also followed: "Director Xu, I am an old man, and to be honest, my apprentices and I never had it even once when we were in the state-owned meat joint factory."

Xu Qing ate two steamed buns, a bowl of haggis, and drank the white mutton soup. Hearing Hui Dehai's emotion, he couldn't help but say:

"Master Hui, it shouldn't be right. The state-owned meat factory is celebrating the holidays. Why don't you give your workers something good to eat?"

The young apprentice next to Hui Dehai interjected:

"Director Xu, you don't know something. The leaders of the state-owned meat factory entertain people with mutton and pork. It's our turn to be workers. For lunch, the oil in the food in the cafeteria is... It’s not as much as what we got on our hands when we were killing pigs in the workshop.”

Old Wu from the grain station warehouse sat at the same table as Xu Qing and said with a look of disbelief:

"Master Hui, is this true? I heard people say that people who work in state-owned meat factories don't have to buy oil at home all year round. They say they just take a piece of pork home and cook it themselves."

Hui Dehai's little apprentice said anxiously: "Master Wu, you must have heard people's lies. The state-owned meat joint factory is very strict. We are not allowed to take the skin of the meat home. How can we let a piece of pork leave the factory casually?" .”

Hui Dehai glared at his young apprentice, "You are the only one who talks a lot, who asked you to sit next to me?

Go, go and sit with your senior brothers. Is this where you should sit? "

The young man, who had a round head and a thick neck, and whose right arm was almost bigger than his left arm, flexibly grabbed the rice bowl with his right hand, lowered his head and stood up angrily, went to sit down at the next table, and did not dare to speak again.

Seeing this, Xu Qing smiled calmly and said:

"Master Hui, you are very strict with your apprentice."

Hui Dehai shook his head and said with a smile: "Director Xu, I am making you laugh. My little apprentice is very quick at work. He only talks a little and talks a lot. He can even chat with a five-year-old child. What he just said is not entirely correct." , but it’s also true.

In our country, meat and oil have been in short supply over the years, and the supply has been unable to keep up. In the first few years when I joined the factory, the atmosphere was very good. Every once in a while, the factory would give each of us one tael of lard.

Those who are cadres can get one or two more.

Then things changed, and I was fooled a few times by some people. I felt that one ounce of lard was too little, so I stole pork from the factory. During the most powerful period, the factory just happened to set up a 'G Committee'. If this didn't hit the target directly, the factory would start strict inspections and no longer provide lard. Over time, it became what it is now. but."

Huidehay paused and said:

"On the other hand, around this time every year, as the Chinese New Year is approaching, the state-owned meat joint factory will set aside a batch of meat separately, so that the workers in the factory can buy two kilograms of meat and take it home without using meat stamps."

Xu Qing understood and took a sip of mutton soup.

Old Wu understood and said in a loud voice: "I'm just telling you, there are so many rumors out there that you don't have to buy oil to eat when working in a state-owned meat factory. So that's what it is."

Er Mazi quarreled: "Old Wu, your ideological consciousness is still not high. Think about it, there are so many workers in the state-owned meat factory. If every worker steals a piece, it will be as big as a fingernail. It will cost you nothing in a day." Steal a few pigs?"

Old Wu looked embarrassed and hurriedly said, "The second shopkeeper is right."

Xu Qing smiled and said: "Old Wu, don't listen to Er Mazi's nonsense, it's not that outrageous."

Er Mazi chewed the sheep tripe in his mouth, grinning happily, and his back molars were exposed.

Xu Qing finished the mutton soup, washed the bowls and chopsticks, and walked out of the cafeteria first.

Outside in the factory yard, the weather was sunny, it was midday, and the sun was shining warmly on the side.

Xu Qing walked into the slaughtering workshop, took three kilograms of mutton, left the meat factory, and delivered it to San Huzi's family.

Over at the grain station warehouse, San Huzi's mother helped keep an eye on it at night.

The dogs brought back from the countryside the year before last were also fed by Sanhuzi's mother.

He offered salary before, but Sanhuzi's mother initially refused, but after accepting it twice, she refused to accept it again.

From then on, Xu Qing took some grain and several kilograms of meat and sent them there every month.

In the afternoon, at around four o'clock, Xu Qing asked Er Mazi to carry dozens of kilograms of mutton on a bicycle and return to the city to deliver them one by one according to the address he gave.

He is going to the state-owned store to ask Director Liu for money to borrow the freezer, and to visit his father-in-law and his master, Lao Zhang.

As soon as Er Mazi left, Xu Qing didn't stay at the meat factory for long. After finishing half of the things in the factory, he used his bicycle to carry three portions of pork and pork, each weighing more than five kilograms, and headed back to the city.

As soon as he returned to the city, he first went to the state-owned store. After giving the pork and mutton to Director Liu, he took out the money from the freezer and handed it over:

"Director Liu, are you not angry that it took you so long to give you the money for the freezer?"

Director Liu laughed and said:

"Xiao Qing, if you don't give it, I'm going to come to your house in a few days to block the door. I have to hand over the money for the freezer to the government. Your kid hasn't shown up in front of me in the past six months. What are you busy with all day? ?”

Xu Qing smiled and sat on the sofa next to Director Liu, drinking tea and saying:

"Hey, you are busy. The meat factory has opened and I have to take care of it. I also have to take care of the grain station business. Things from both ends are piled up together. I am busy from morning to night all day long."

Director Liu heard this and said happily:

"Xiao Qing, get back to work and don't let your body collapse. You are still young, unlike me. I am old and will retire in a dozen years. You can still work hard."

Hearing this, Xu Qing nodded, put down the tea cup, and then said:

"Director Liu, you are still at work, so I won't disturb you any more and go ahead."

"Are you leaving just now?" Director Liu stood up and asked hurriedly.

"It's not a small year today. I have to go to my father-in-law and my master. I'm so busy on New Year's Day that I didn't even take the time to visit."

After Xu Qing finished speaking, he waved his hand. After leaving the state-owned store, he looked up and saw that the sky was getting dark.

The afterglow of the sun disappeared almost without a trace at the end of the western sky. I looked down at the radar watch on my wrist and saw that it was almost six o'clock in the afternoon.

I pedaled my bicycle hurriedly towards my father-in-law's house.

(End of this chapter)