Chapter 29 – Feeding One or Feeding Two Makes No Difference

Hearing this auntie speak, Jiang Manman glanced over at her.

This middle-aged auntie looked much like the others in the village—if anything set her apart, it was that she was a bit uglier.

Zhou Ye responded to her question:

“Because the wild boar was lured down the mountain by her. If you’ve got the skills, go up the mountain yourself and lure one down. I’ll even give you an extra set of pig offal.”

The auntie spat at his words. No way was she going to risk her life for a set of pig innards.

What if the boar gouged her to death?

“Didn’t think this little educated youth would be so gutsy.
Are you all ganging up to bully her?”

Before Zhou Ye or the others could speak, she continued:

“Oh my, look at how fat this little educated youth is, and she still wants pork?
Didn’t she already get some pig offal?”

Jiang Manman grumbled internally: You’re so old already—why haven’t you died yet?

“Auntie, if you’re free, maybe go home and brush your teeth!
Otherwise, all the wild boars within a two-mile radius are going to be choked out by your breath.”

Zhou Ye’s remark made the crowd burst into laughter.

Since someone else spoke up for her, Jiang Manman didn’t bother to say anything more.

She just shyly followed behind Zhou Ye, holding the portion of pork distributed to the two of them.

Zhou Ye helped her carry the pig offal.

“Wow, Director Zhou used to never show this much interest in any of the educated youths.
Looks like he’s got a thing for this chubby little one.”

Jiang Manman: He already gave me his life.

“Come on, aunties, be kind with your words. It’s just that she lives next door to me, so I paid for her portion of the offal.
And now you’ve all turned it into some juicy gossip.
Alright, alright, scram—go home and cook that meat!
Otherwise, next time I won’t bother killing the wild boar.”

With that, the gossipy women immediately shut up.

They only got to share the meat because the boar was killed. If it hadn’t been, it would’ve been raised for the brigade.

Tang Xiaomin came over to check on Jiang Manman.

“Manman, are you alright?
You didn’t come back for lunch, I was so worried! Thank goodness you’re okay.”

Jiang Manman smiled.

“I’m fine, no need to worry. Didn’t I even bring back a wild boar from the mountain?
We’re in for a treat tonight.”

As they talked and reached the door, Jiang Manman handed the wild boar meat to Zhou Ye.

But instead of taking it, Zhou Ye passed the pig offal in his hands to her instead.

“Keep the meat. I wouldn’t cook it well anyway—better you make something with it.
You’re not gonna charge me a labor fee, are you?”

Jiang Manman looked at him and grinned.

“I won’t charge you for labor, but can you help me wash the offal?”

Zhou Ye looked at the pig offal in his hands.

“No problem—however you want it washed, I’ll do it that way.”

Actually, the liver and lungs were fine; it was mainly the intestines that needed attention.

Their method was simple: find a thermos or teapot, pour water into one end of the pig intestine, give it a squeeze, and all the gunk would come out.

Then they’d scrub it with plant ash to clean the inside thoroughly. After that, rinse with salt water a few more times, and it would be good to go.

Jiang Manman made braised pork intestines and dry pot intestines.

She stir-fried the liver with scallions, and cooked the heart and stomach to be dipped in garlic sauce.

Still, she ate the least out of everyone.

So that the Jiang family wouldn’t fall into ruin, she only took two bites of the dry pot intestines.

“Heh heh, I swear I’m not just here to mooch! Heh heh…”

Looking at Ge Mazi walking in with a sheepish grin, Jiang Manman saw that he entered Zhou Ye’s yard and glanced her way.

“I didn’t make any staple food, but feel free to eat the dishes.”

Anyway, she had already stored a bowl of the dishes in her space,
saving it for when she craved a taste later on.

“Alright, alright, I won’t freeload. Tomorrow when we cast the fishing net, I’ll save two extra fish for you.”

“You guys are really going to net fish?”

When Jiang Manman asked, Ge Mazi replied:

“Of course. We’ll get Aunt Liu and Aunt Wang to take him with them.
No matter what, we have to get rid of him for a while.
If he rats us out or figures out how we’re doing things and tells the others, I won’t be able to stomach that.”

Hearing this, Jiang Manman nodded.

“You’re sure it’s him?”

“No doubt about it. No one else. And to think Brother Ye still felt sorry for him and let him stay on at the pig farm.”

Zhou Ye shot him a glare.

“Eat your food. Right now he’s in the dark while we’re in the open. Keeping him here means—”

He was interrupted mid-sentence by Ge Mazi’s dramatic outburst.

“Brother Ye! Jiang Zhiqing’s pig offal is too delicious!
Whenever I ate my mom’s pig intestines, they always stank. But how come Jiang Zhiqing’s are so good?
It’s amazing, just amazing!”

Zhou Ye was speechless. Sure, it was good, but this was a bit over-the-top.

“I’m going to tell your mom what you said.”

“Aw come on! But seriously, Jiang Zhiqing’s cooking is just too good.
Hey, Jiang Zhiqing, did your family run a restaurant in the city or something?”

“Nope, I just figured things out on my own. Otherwise, how else would I have gotten this fat?
But now I want to lose weight. You guys eat.”

Ge Mazi’s eyes widened.

“Lose weight? I think you’re great the way you are—blessed and lucky, right, Brother Ye?”

Zhou Ye gave him a look so sharp it might as well have been a knife.

“Can you eat properly or not?
Don’t come next time. Or I’ll smack you.”

Seeing Zhou Ye’s reaction, Ge Mazi quickly waved his hands.

“Alright, alright, say no more! Let’s eat—heh heh…”

As the sky darkened, Jiang Manman didn’t eat anything else.

She just liked watching them enjoy the food.

Luckily, she didn’t have to do the dishes—Tang Xiaomin handled all of it.

The next morning, as usual, they headed into the mountains to collect pig feed, but they managed to send Qian Duoyu away.

Getting out of pig feed duty in exchange for catching fish made him quite happy.

It’s rare to skip pig feeding and get to fish instead—most men seem to have a natural love for it.

He was thrilled, except he wasn’t happy with his team members.

“Brother Ye, you’re not going? Brother Mazi, you either?”

Zhou Ye waved his hand.

“My old injury hasn’t healed—I can’t go.”

Ge Mazi wasn’t so polite.

“You’re going, period! Quit whining. Women can hold up half the sky—what, you got a problem being paired with the aunties?”

“No, no! Both aunties are hard workers.”

Whatever Zhou Ye said to the two aunties, they were beaming as they led Qian Duoyu off.

Zhou Ye and Jiang Manman exchanged a glance.

They nodded to each other. Zhou Ye brought the corn, and Jiang Manman was in charge of mixing in the crushed herbs from the night before.

“This is a month’s worth of my food rations. If we don’t catch even one wild boar, are you going to feed me for the next month?”

Jiang Manman looked at him in surprise—he really did have a bit of a shameless streak.

But since the idea was hers, and seeing how he was willing to give up his rations to support her plan, Jiang Manman replied:

“Sure!”

After all, if she was feeding Tang Xiaomin, feeding one more person made no difference.