Chapter 35: The Cellar

There was still plenty of goat meat left in the bowl.

Gu Cheng was surprised and asked, “Why aren’t you eating anymore?”

Liu Yinyin smiled at him and mumbled, “You don’t know this, but pregnant women shouldn’t eat too much meat. We need to control our weight; otherwise, if the baby gets too big, it’ll be harder to give birth.”

Of course, not many people had this kind of awareness in these times. Most families could barely afford to eat meat, so they never had to worry about such things.

As a man, Gu Cheng truly had no idea that childbirth involved such considerations.

Liu Yinyin picked up a piece of goat meat and placed it in his bowl, smiling. “You’re the hero of our family—eat more. If we don’t finish it, it’ll spoil by tomorrow.”

Gu Cheng had a big appetite. He finished the two pounds of goat meat, as well as all the radish, though there were still two corn cakes left.

“Let’s save them for breakfast tomorrow,” he said, feeling completely full.

The couple thoroughly enjoyed their meal.

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The next morning, with nothing urgent to do, Gu Cheng harvested the pumpkins in their yard.

When they built the house, Liu Yinyin had planted quite a few pumpkin vines along the courtyard walls.

Now, the vines were starting to dry up, so it was time to collect the pumpkins.

He piled them up in the storage room. Pumpkins could be stored for a long time, and the longer they were kept, the sweeter they became, so there was no rush to eat them.

However, there were indeed a lot of pumpkins. The ones grown in this area were long and gourd-shaped, with yellow skins and large sizes.

The storage room was now filled with pumpkins—twelve large ones, with the lightest weighing five or six pounds and the heaviest estimated at over ten pounds.

There were also more than twenty smaller pumpkins. It was quite a sight.

Every household in the village grew some pumpkins, so they weren’t anything special. There was no need to give them away—better to keep them and eat them slowly.

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In the afternoon, Liu Mingyuan came to find Gu Cheng, and the two of them went for a walk in the mountains.

Since he was bringing his brother-in-law along, Gu Cheng didn’t dare venture too far. They just wandered around the nearby hills.

Even so, they had a good harvest. When they returned, Gu Cheng was carrying two wild rabbits.

Liu Mingyuan wasn’t empty-handed either—he was happily holding a wild pheasant.

There wasn’t any more space at home to raise rabbits. The two wild pheasants they caught yesterday were still in the chicken coop.

Earlier, Gu Cheng had brought home five little chicks from Aunt Pang’s house to raise.

The pigsty had been divided into two sections—one side housed six laying hens, while the other side held the five little chicks.

Once Liu Yinyin gave birth, the five chicks would be slaughtered for food. They didn’t require much effort to raise.

However, they couldn’t keep the two wild pheasants for too long. If someone saw them, it might cause trouble. But since they had just eaten goat meat yesterday, it didn’t feel right to immediately kill and eat the pheasants today. So, they decided to keep them for a few more days.

As for the rabbits, there were no village rules against raising them.

Besides, Gu Cheng noticed that one of the female rabbits had a swollen belly—it was probably pregnant. That meant they definitely couldn’t slaughter it now.

Sigh!

Liu Yinyin never expected that one day, she would be worrying about not having enough space to raise chickens and rabbits.

Since Gu Cheng wasn’t busy at the moment, he built a small enclosure out of adobe bricks specifically for raising rabbits.

Once the mother rabbit gave birth, they would have a few more little rabbits at home.

Even if they couldn’t buy pork in the future, they wouldn’t have to worry about having no meat to eat.

After all… Liu Yinyin had plenty of food to feed the rabbits.

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Once they finished taking care of things at home, Gu Cheng went back to work.

Since his job was in the county town, he didn’t come home for lunch—he ate at the factory cafeteria.

Meanwhile, the villagers were busy harvesting sweet potatoes.

After a full week of work, they finally finished bringing in the harvest.

This marked the end of the village’s autumn harvest for the year.

Due to the recent drought, this year’s grain yield was 10-20% lower than last year.

Still, the villagers were in high spirits. Everyone was eagerly waiting for their share of the harvest. After working hard for more than half a year, this was the moment they had been looking forward to.

Even though the harvest was done, there was still work to be done in the fields.

That evening at dinner, Liu Yinyin smiled and told Gu Cheng, “The village has made an announcement—we’ll be distributing the grain after work tomorrow.”

After saying that, she picked up a piece of braised pork and ate it.

The steel factory was a large operation, and the cafeteria meals were decent.

She had heard that they served braised pork once a week, and even on regular days, there would be bits of minced meat in the dishes.

These past few days, Gu Cheng would bring home a portion of meat dish every time he got off work.

Distributing the grain was a big event, and naturally, Gu Cheng was excited. “It just so happens that I have a day off tomorrow. It’s about time we dig the cellar—I’ll invite a few more people to help out.”

He only had one day off, so the more people helping, the better the chance of finishing the cellar in a day.

This time, Liu Yinyin didn’t object.

It was indeed time to dig the cellar—otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough space to store all their grain.

In the village, everyone faced hardships at times. When asking for help, there was no need to pay wages, but it was customary to provide a meal.

Liu Yinyin muttered, “Let’s slaughter one of the wild pheasants tomorrow.”

They still hadn’t gotten around to eating the two wild pheasants they had caught earlier.

Since they were asking people for help, they had to prepare some good food to host them properly.

Gu Cheng added, “I’ll head to the river later and set up a trap—see if I can catch some fish.”

With both chicken and fish, their meal would be respectable enough.

Gu Cheng worked at the steel factory and was even a deputy plant manager. The villagers were all eager to build good relations with him.

The next day, besides Liu Mingcheng and his two brothers, Gu Cheng also invited five other villagers to help.

Including Gu Cheng himself, there were nine strong men working.

After breakfast, they started digging in the courtyard, shoveling away at the dirt with great effort.

Jiang Cuihua, knowing that her daughter’s family was digging a cellar today, came over specifically to help prepare lunch. She also brought a basket of vegetables, a handful of sweet potato vermicelli, and several large bowls.

The meat dishes Liu Yinyin prepared included one wild pheasant, half a bucket of assorted fish, and ten eggs.

There were even more vegetable dishes—eggplant, chives, loofah, cabbage, pumpkin, and potatoes.

“Braised wild pheasant with mushrooms, stir-fried fish with garlic sprouts, and scrambled eggs with chives. Mom, will these three meat dishes be enough?” Liu Yinyin asked. It was her first time hosting so many people, and she felt a bit unsure.

“It’s more than enough! With so many good dishes, how could it not be?” Jiang Cuihua’s eyes lit up.

The wild pheasant alone weighed about three to four pounds—this was already an incredibly lavish meal. Other families in the village wouldn’t be able to put together such a feast for guests.

Liu Yinyin smiled and continued counting on her fingers. “Then I’ll make five vegetable dishes: braised cabbage with vermicelli, eggplant with string beans, garlic stir-fried loofah, stir-fried pumpkin, and stir-fried chives.”

Jiang Cuihua nodded. “That’s eight dishes in total—plenty to go around.”

With so many people eating, it wouldn’t look good if there weren’t enough dishes.

For the staple food, they made cornbread buns.

Since there were plenty of dishes and an abundance of cornbread, everyone ate heartily. Liu Yinyin was generous with seasonings, making even simple vegetables taste better than what most families could prepare.

By the end of the meal, even the leftover sauce was mopped up with cornbread, leaving the plates spotless.

With full stomachs, the men worked even harder in the afternoon.

By around six o’clock, the cellar was completed.

Afterward, Gu Cheng handed out a pack of cigarettes and distributed two cigarettes to each person.

Everyone left with smiles on their faces.