Chapter 141

The original and authentic recipe for blood sausage is actually quite simple. Chopped perilla leaves and Chinese chives are mixed with a little salt water and soaked. After kneading the juice into the salt water and filtering out the residue, a bit of sugar and five-spice powder are added for seasoning. This mixture is then added to the already-kneaded and filtered pig blood and stirred until evenly mixed.

Li Yufeng had already tied one end of the pig’s large intestine with water grass. Pig blood mixed with salt water easily solidifies when exposed to cold air. At this point, the action must be quick. Li Yufeng inserted the funnel she usually uses for oil infusion into the other end of the pig’s large intestine, quickly poured the pig’s blood into it, sealed it, and then tied it at intervals of about ten centimeters with grass ropes. After letting it sit for about ten minutes, it could be put into the pot to cook.

Once the entire blood sausage swells up during cooking, it can be removed from the pot to cool down. In summer, it can be directly cooled in cold water, while in winter, it can be left as it is.

At this point, another sauce is prepared. Heat the oil in a pan, add perilla leaves and Chinese chives, stir-fry briefly, then pour in a small bowl of water. Once the water boils, add salt, sugar, and a little soy sauce for seasoning. Finally, thicken it with a thin slurry made of cornstarch and water.

The blood sausage is cut into segments for serving, and the knife used for cutting must be sharp enough. Cut it into slices about half a centimeter thick, then drizzle with the sauce. A truly authentic blood sausage, only found at rural pig slaughter gatherings, is now ready.

Today’s butchering task is quite heavy. Su Zhenhua returned home again near noon and said he would eat at the tavern for lunch and wouldn’t come back. He still had to distribute pork in the afternoon.

Su Xiaoxiao prepared quite a lot, so Su Zhenhua just took it away.

For breakfast today, they had pig’s blood and sweet potatoes. The large pot of porridge Li Yufeng cooked still hadn’t been eaten, so they had to finish it for lunch.

Su Zhenzhong and Liang Hongmei returned home at noon, also carrying large and small bags. The couple were extremely delighted to see their twins, and they couldn’t bear to let them go once they hugged them.

“When we last met, they were just slightly bigger than Doubao, but now they’ve grown so big and beautiful. Look at our little girl; she’s so pretty,” Liang Hongmei said as she held Xiao Tangyuan, who had two little buns tied up. The Su family members were all fond of their granddaughter. In their generation (the kids), there was only one girl, their only granddaughter, Xiao Tangyuan, so they showered love on her deeply.

Su Xiaoxiao said, “Big brother and sister-in-law came back just in time. We were about to have dinner.”

Li Yufeng had raised a lot of bean sprouts. Su Xiaoxiao blanched half of them in the soup that had been boiled with blood sausages, laying them as greens at the bottom of the dish. On top, she arranged half a basin of sliced blood sausages, drizzling sauce over them and putting them on a small charcoal stove to stew.

At noon, the whole family gathered around the small charcoal stove in the kitchen and had a hearty meal.

The task of cleaning up the dishes today was very heavy. Except for the youngest four children who went to nap after lunch, everyone else continued to scrub and clean. The whole family worked together diligently for another afternoon to thoroughly clean the inside and outside of the house.

At this time, Su Weimin and Su Zhenhua came back carrying a large plate of pork.

Li Yufeng took a sharp intake of breath, “We have so much meat this year?”

Su Weimin nodded happily and said, “Thanks to Teacher Yang, our production team had a bountiful year. The pork from our team is fat and good. The members from the neighboring second team are all envious.”

Su Xiaoxiao was very surprised to see Su Weimin still carrying a large plate of pig blood and a pair of pig intestines in the basket, “Dad, why do you still have so much pig blood and intestines?”

Su Weimin felt a little embarrassed, “My daughter, everyone says your blood sausages are delicious, so I brought them all back. I’ll give them two or three pieces each later. The members who came to help us are from families with difficult circumstances. They hardly get to eat meat a few times a year.

Like Shu Gen’s family, they have an 80-year-old grandmother at home. He said his grandmother hasn’t eaten blood sausages for decades. At lunchtime, he even asked if he could take his portion home and give it to his grandmother to taste. He saves the few pieces of offal from the morning’s pork porridge for his grandmother to eat secretly. I couldn’t bear to watch, so I told him to eat it and bring back the pig intestines and blood for you to make later. We’ll give each of them a little later. Daughter, this amount is too much. You’ll be tired if you do it alone. You don’t have to do it yourself. Command Zhenzhong and Zhenhua to help you. What do you think?”

Su Weimin was such a brigade leader. The time when he had the biggest temper was during the two years before Su Xiaoxiao got married when villagers gossiped behind her back. Whenever he heard someone gossiping about his daughter, he would scold them without hesitation. After his daughter got married and lived well, he became peaceful again. He possessed the most simple and honest qualities of working people, such as kindness, diligence, fairness, and prioritizing others over himself.

Su Xiaoxiao said, “This is not difficult to do. Big brother and second brother can help me wash clean the pig’s large intestine, and after straining the pig’s blood, I’ll handle the seasoning.”

Su Weimin was overjoyed and rubbed his hands together, “That sounds great. By the way, cure some of this meat for later. You can take it back to the army to eat.”

Su Xiaoxiao sighed, “Dad, both Han Cheng and I have salaries and meat vouchers. The kids even earned their own rations, and it’s not difficult for the family to have meat to eat. You don’t have to keep worrying about us.”

Su Weimin chuckled, “You and Han Cheng have saved so much money at home. Our mother listens to you and buys meat from the county every week. Your older brother and sister-in-law also bring back meat. Over these past two years, there have been more people secretly selling meat, many of whom don’t require vouchers. Life at home is quite good. The pigs we raise ourselves taste especially delicious.”

Life in the old Su household couldn’t compare to that in the city, but in the village, they were doing quite well. After improving their diet, all three children in the family were among the healthiest in their age group, and they were all content individuals. They were quite satisfied with such a life.

Su Xiaoxiao knew that in a few more years, life at home would surely improve even more. After some thought, she said to Su Zhenhua, “Brother, you could actually learn pig farming techniques with Teacher Yang. Having an additional skill means having another way out. Perhaps it will come in handy in the future. Dad, if possible, we could apply to the commune this year to raise more pigs. If the task is completed well, maybe we can even set up a large-scale pig farm to increase the commune’s secondary income, ensuring that every household in the commune has meat to eat.”

What Su Xiaoxiao is thinking is that the current situation is under the planned economy policy, city dwellers had money but couldn’t buy goods without vouchers. Many people actually saved a lot of money. In the initial stages of the market economy opening up, with everything in need of development, people’s desire to buy would suddenly surge along with the opening of the market. The need for material goods would experience a sudden increase, especially for essentials like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.

Her mother could open a tailor shop to sell ready-made clothes. In the future, there might be an opportunity to open a clothing factory.

As the saying goes, “Food is the paramount necessity of the people.” Her older brother and sister-in-law had accumulated a lot of experience working in a food processing factory over the years. After the reform and opening up, most of the conservative state-owned enterprises fell from grace, so it wasn’t impossible to start a food factory of their own.

Her second brother and sister-in-law can set up a breeding farm in the village. Sujia Village is very close to the county town and has a unique geographical location, which can save a lot of transportation costs. In addition to selling fresh meat, they could also supply raw materials to her brother’s factory.

Of course, these were all blueprints constructed by Su Xiaoxiao herself. Whether they could be realized, and whether people would be willing to do them, everything was still unknown. But this was indeed a very ideal industrial chain. If it could be implemented, lifting the entire village out of poverty and into prosperity, striving for a moderately prosperous society, wouldn’t be a dream. As the saying goes, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Having an additional skill means having another way out.

Su Weimin took in a sharp breath of cold air. In his view, ensuring that every member of their production team could have meat to eat during the Lunar New Year was already quite satisfying. Setting up a pig farm was something he didn’t even dare to think about. How could he dare to think big and let all the commune members have meat to eat?

“Girl, your idea is a bit too ambitious.”

Su Xiaoxiao smiled and said, “Dad, I just said it casually. I don’t know anything about raising pigs, do I? But you’ve been the head of the production team for so many years. Isn’t the old secretary about to retire? Didn’t he talk to you about taking over his position in the future? You used to consider the affairs of the production team, but in the future, you might have to consider the affairs of the entire commune. Think carefully about it, isn’t that the case? Besides, it wouldn’t hurt for Second Brother to learn some skills.”

Su Xiaoxiao stopped there, but her words indeed planted a seed of hope in both Su Weimin’s and Su Zhenhua’s minds. Even Su Zhenhua, who rarely thought about such matters, pondered if there might be some truth to it.

Su Zhongzhong strongly agreed with Su Xiaoxiao’s words, “Dad, Xiaoxiao is right. Now the practice has proven that Teacher Yang’s pig-raising method is feasible and very successful. It’s possible for Zhenhua to learn from him, and after the New Year, we can indeed apply for more piglets from the commune. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt for Zhenhua to go to the pig farm to gain experience. It might really come in handy in the future.”

As a perceptive person who had read books, Su Weimin, although unable to articulate it precisely, could sense some changes in the times.

Seeing his eldest son agree, Su Weimin nodded, “Let’s talk about these things after the New Year. Today, our main task is to stuff sausages and air-dry the cured meat.”

Seeing that there was still a piece of sausage left, Su Xiaoxiao decided to make the most of it, “Dad, let’s stuff some more sausages, too. They taste better than cured meat when seasoned well.”

Su Weimin always indulged his daughter’s requests. How could he not fulfill such a small request? He waved his hand happily, “Alright, today we’ll stuff sausages and air-dry them along with the cured meat.”

The whole family was proactive; when they decided to do something, they did it.

They saved enough meat for the New Year and used the rest to make sausages and cured meat.

With many hands on deck, Su Xiaoxiao only needed to handle the seasoning. Apart from stuffing sausages, Su Xiaoxiao also planned to make some meat sausages for the Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner.

With many hands, the work was quickly done.

After the blood sausages cooled down, Su Weimin and Su Zhenhua each took three sections to deliver to the families of the villagers who had participated in the pig slaughter. They also sent three sections to Yang Nanhuai’s family. There wasn’t much left for their own family, but too much of these things could be overwhelming, so two or three meals would suffice.

In the blink of an eye, it was the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, the day when every household would heat up their oil pans. This year, the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month wasn’t just about heating up the oil pans; it was also the annual day for releasing fish into the ponds.

The children in the family naturally wouldn’t miss such a lively event. In previous years, when the children were younger, the family didn’t feel comfortable letting them go alone. But in the past two years, as the children grew older, the three elder brothers were already around 1.45 meters tall, about the same height as some of the shorter old grannies in the village. Taking their younger siblings with them posed no worries.

On this warm winter morning, with the sun shining brightly, it felt particularly comfortable. This year, the family had also added three little tails. After breakfast, the three older siblings each carried one of the younger ones on their backs. Xiao Doubao wore the new rooster-shaped backpack that Grandma had made for him. A lively group of children marched happily towards the fish ponds, basking in the morning sun. It was quite a spectacular sight.