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Wan Chunmei saw this scene in front of her and immediately lost all interest in eating meat. She quickly ran to Tan Yiliang, holding Little Qiyue, and pulled him to the left, right, up, and down, saying, “Yiliang, are you hurt?”
Tan Yiliang wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled, saying, “Mother, I’m fine. Come look at this pig—big, right? If we butcher it, we might be able to eat for a year or so.”
Seeing that he was really unharmed, Wan Chunmei shifted her attention to the wild boar.
The boar was very sturdy, probably weighing around 500 to 600 pounds. It wasn’t just a year or so; even eating for two or three years would be no problem.
She smiled and said to Tan Yiliang, “That’s right, that’s right. When your father gets back, we’ll butcher this wild boar.”
Because the noise from the wild boar chasing Tan Yiliang was so loud, it attracted a lot of villagers.
They all stared wide-eyed.
“This wild boar is really huge!”
“Yeah, the Tan family is really lucky. A ferocious wild boar, and it ended up killing itself. This is something you wouldn’t even believe if you told people!”
“That’s right, that’s right. This boar’s head alone could feed us for quite a while! Our family hasn’t had a taste of meat since New Year’s.”
“Yeah, we haven’t had any meat in a whole year.”
There weren’t many families in Fengping Village who raised pigs. One reason was the lack of piglets, and the other was the lack of knowledge. As a result, only a few households in the whole village raised pigs for meat, and for slightly poorer families, it was common to go half a year without eating meat.
The Tan family was the poorest; they hadn’t tasted meat in two whole years.
“Move, move! What are you all gathering in front of our door for?!” Old Tan (Tan’s father) huffed as he returned, wanting to check if Tan Yiliang was safe.
The villagers slowly stepped aside. “Old Tan family, you’ve struck it rich! That wild boar literally crashed to its death right in front of your door.”
Upon hearing this, Old Tan quickly walked forward. When he saw the scene in front of him, he was both shocked and overjoyed.
Wan Chunmei waved at him. “Husband, husband, come quickly and drag this pig out to butcher!”
Old Tan snapped back to his senses and chuckled, “Aha!”
He then grabbed Tan Erqian, who was still panting behind him, and said, “Come on, help your father lift the pig.”
“Yes, Father.” Tan Erqian, seeing the large wild boar, was also thrilled.
The villagers gathered around, all feeling the festive mood as they helped lift the pig.
Especially the eldest son of the Xu family next door, who smiled and said, “Uncle Tan, let me help you.”
Old Tan, hearing this, smiled and replied, “Alright then.”
A joyful group of people carried the boar into the yard.
Meanwhile, the old Chen family next door poked their heads out to take a look.
Aunt Chen couldn’t speak, so she could only watch anxiously, unable to hide the jealousy, envy, and resentment on her face.
Uncle Chen looked up and gave his wife a sideways glance. “What does it have to do with you that they caught a wild boar? If you keep meddling in other people’s business, you won’t just lose your tongue, you’ll lose your eyes too.”
Upon hearing this, Aunt Chen wisely kept silent.
Uncle Chen glanced over again. Having once been a seasoned butcher in the town, he thought for a moment and then decided to go to the Tan family to help.
“Xiao Tan!” Uncle Chen stroked his long beard and said, “Let me help you with the butchering.”
Old Tan, upon hearing this, was very pleased. “Great, great! If Uncle Chen can help, that would be the best!”
In the end, a group of people hurriedly butchered the pig.
Because of the bloodshed, Wan Chunmei stayed inside with Little Qiyue and the Tan family’s younger brothers, not coming out.
About half an hour later, Old Tan began to bring in the chopped-up pork bit by bit.
Wan Chunmei, while nursing Little Qiyue, instructed, “The villagers all helped today. You should send a piece of meat to each household.”
Old Tan nodded, “Alright, alright. Should we send some to the village head?”
Wan Chunmei replied, “Although Sister Liu hasn’t treated us well, the village head has always been kind to us. You should send some to him too. This pig is so big, we can’t possibly finish it all at once.”
Old Tan nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll go right now.”
Although the villagers hadn’t been very kind to them in the past, this wild boar was too conspicuous. To avoid unnecessary trouble, it was best to send some meat to each household.
Wan Chunmei wasn’t concerned about the meat; after all, it had fallen from the sky, and it was a gift from fate.
She carefully placed Little Qiyue, who was sound asleep, on the bed and turned to Tan Sanyuan, who had been quietly watching without saying a word. “Sanyuan, take good care of your sister. Mother has to go take care of something.”
Tan Sanyuan nodded obediently. “Yes, mother, go ahead.”
“Such a good boy,” Wan Chunmei said with a smile as she stood up.
Tan’s fourth and fifth sons also followed her, while Tan Yiliang and Tan Erqian helped deliver the meat.
Wan Chunmei took the fourth and fifth sons to pick up the pig intestines and brought them to the water’s edge to wash.
Although the fourth and fifth sons were young, they had endured hardships before and weren’t afraid of getting dirty or tired.
Before long, the pig intestines were almost cleaned.
Wan Chunmei kept some aside, planning to stir-fry it for that day, and saved the rest to make sausages.
When the fourth and fifth sons heard there would be sausages, they became extremely excited and worked even more enthusiastically.
Soon, a large pile of pig intestines was completely cleaned.