Chapter 12: Complaint

How could a young and beautiful girl like Xia Yujiao be involved with such a greasy middle-aged man? And why did that man seem so familiar to her?

Xia Daohua slowly sipped the sweet soup, turning the bowl in her hands. Xia Yujiao looked at her worriedly. “Daohua, does your head hurt?”

Xia Daohua shook her head and set the half-finished bowl aside.
“Auntie, sometimes I remember certain things or people, but it feels like there’s even more that I’ve forgotten.

Just now while watching the pig being slaughtered, someone suddenly came to mind—short, sturdy, with a full beard…”

She described the bearded man’s appearance as best she could but purposely left out what he was wearing.

Finally, Xia Daohua looked at Xia Yujiao expectantly.
“But no matter how hard I try, I can’t remember who he is. Auntie, do you know him? Is he a relative or a neighbor?”

Xia Yujiao’s face changed abruptly, then quickly returned to normal.
“Oh, that person… the way you describe him, he does sound a little familiar. But I can’t place him either. Must be someone we all know.

Don’t worry, maybe one day when you see him again, you’ll remember.”

After saying that, Xia Yujiao picked up the bowl Daohua had used and gulped down the remaining sweet soup in one go.

Xia Daohua noticed the sweat forming on the tip of Xia Yujiao’s nose and couldn’t help sighing inwardly.

Her aunt’s attitude was vague, and that bearded man clearly didn’t look like someone who would give up easily. Who knew how this matter would eventually unfold?

The old couple clearly loved Xia Yujiao deeply.

But if this matter ever blew up and damaged the Xia family’s reputation, how would the old couple respond?

Xia Daohua didn’t dare think about it.

She felt the Xia family was quite warm and kind, but the way the family split had shown that Old Lady Zhou was strong-willed and hot-tempered—not the gentle, soft-hearted type.

After resting in Xia Yujiao’s room for a while and seeing her become increasingly unsettled, Xia Daohua got up and took her leave.

Better to let her aunt think it through on her own for now.

When Xia Daohua returned to the crowd, she saw the chopping board had already been cleaned. Everyone in the Xia family was busy—every adult had something to do.

Butcher Hu had worked all morning and had already finished processing both pigs.

The daughters-in-law had cleaned the offal and filled the blood sausages. A lot of ground pork had been prepared and used to stuff meat sausages. In the courtyard, a large pot was already simmering with pork belly and sauerkraut.

The aroma of the pork and sauerkraut stew drifted through the air, wafting into everyone’s nostrils, intentionally or not.

The old couple kept two pig heads, eight pig trotters, and the offal from one pig. The offal from the other pig was given to Butcher Hu to take home, along with ten pounds of fatty pork as a thank-you.

As for the rest—lard, pork belly, leg meat, ribs, front and hind quarters—they were divided equally among the branches of the family. They tried to be as fair as possible.

Lastly, the old couple cooked all the blood sausages in one go, intending to treat Butcher Hu, a few helpful neighbors, and the children who had come to watch the spectacle.

This was a special tradition in Beiguan Village.

Whenever a household slaughtered pigs, the village kids could all come and enjoy the feast—eat as much as they liked, and no one would say a word, much less drive them away.

Even if two families didn’t get along normally, if your kid came to eat my pig-slaughtering feast, I’d still welcome them with a smile. Driving them out would be absolutely unthinkable.

The onlookers all gave thumbs-up and praised the old couple for their fairness.

Even Sun from the second branch and Wu from the third nodded repeatedly at the compliments, showing sincere admiration.

The children cheered joyfully, feasting at the Xia household. With greasy mouths they were reluctant to wipe, they quickly dashed off to catch the feasts at the Chen, Lu, and Xu households.

Xia Daohua also had a small bowl of sauerkraut and a few slices of blood sausage specially cut for her by Madam Jiang. Seeing Jiang’s smiling eyes, Xia Daohua had no choice but to pinch her nose and accept the goodwill.

She had to admit, the best thing about pig-slaughtering dishes was the freshness. Even someone like Xia Daohua, who didn’t usually enjoy blood sausage, found herself a little addicted to the tender, smooth taste.

The bustling day came to an end.

Madam Jiang counted the meat they had received, unable to hide her delight.

The fourth branch got a total of about forty to fifty pounds of meat—including lard, pork, and ribs.

That much meat, eaten sparingly, could last the whole winter!

The other branches were just as joyful.

In previous years, when everyone celebrated New Year together, the two pigs were usually sold.

When had they ever gotten to eat so much meat themselves?

Old Lady Zhou had always been good at calculating.

After slaughtering pigs, she would typically only keep the heads, trotters, offal, one slab of lard for rendering, and ten pounds of meat to make dumplings and New Year’s dinner.

The rest would all be sold for money!

So even the dumplings at the Xia family’s New Year’s Eve dinner had no pure meat filling—there had to be lots of cabbage mixed in.

This year, aside from what was given to Butcher Hu, not even a pound of meat was sold. It was something the family had never dared dream of!

However, back in the second branch’s room, Sun still wasn’t happy. After closing the door, she complained to her husband, Xia Yougui:

“This way of dividing the meat might look fair to outsiders, but look—how many people does the third branch have? How many in the fourth? The fifth? Our parents are obviously playing favorites!

Er Lang is already so big. San Lang and Si Lang are both growing boys, and Taohua and Xinghua eat a lot too! Only Meihua is still little, but she’s growing fast!

And yet, the amount of meat we got is the same as the others! No matter how you spin it, our second branch is at a disadvantage!”

Xia Yougui scolded, “Stop complaining! No one else is saying anything, just you going on and on!”

But deep down, he actually agreed with his wife.

The third branch only had two girls—giving meat to them was practically a waste. The fourth branch’s kids were all small—the oldest, Lihua, was only twelve. How much could they eat? The fifth branch couple lazed around every day, always stuck together like glue, completely unaware of how improper they looked. And their two brats were barely out of diapers.

When it came down to it, their parents were clearly playing favorites!

With so many people in the family, it was like the old couple went out of their way to shortchange their second son!

(End of Chapter)