Chapter 23: Butchering Pigs, Selling Meat

Qiao Jiangxin pointed at Li Xiaoping’s nose and repeated all the insults Lei Honghua had hurled at Liu Afang.

Before she finished, Li Xiaoping clutched her stomach and crouched down.

Qiao Jiangxin paused. Li Xiaoping’s eyes flashed with calculation, and she cried out in pain.

Qiao Jiangxin shouted, “Grandma, stop hitting the mother-in-law! Third Aunt miscarried from your anger!”

No one reacted.

Qiao Jiangxin took a deep breath, “Grandpa and Grandma, stop fighting! Third Aunt miscarried from your anger!!!”

The scene froze.

Everyone stopped.

Qiao Jianhua was the first to react, pushing Qiao Youcai aside and rushing to Li Xiaoping, “Xiaoping, Xiaoping, are you alright?”

“Where’s Liu Haimou? Find Liu Haimou.”

Gao Cuilan got up from Lei Honghua, pushing Qiao Jianhua away, “We don’t trust Gaoshi Village’s barefoot doctor. Let’s go to the hospital, quickly!”

Seeing her family and her husband’s family finally separated, Li Xiaoping feigned more pain.

Qiao Jiuwang slapped his son, “What are you standing there for? Quickly borrow a tractor!”

Qiao Jiangxin didn’t miss the gleam of satisfaction in Li Xiaoping’s eyes. She stepped into the middle of the road, “This matter must be clarified before anyone leaves!!!”

Qiao Jianhua’s eyes reddened, “Aren’t you causing enough trouble?”

Qiao Jiangxin retorted, “Grandpa, you and Grandma promised that Uncle shouldn’t marry, saying Third Aunt would have a son for him. Now you’re going back on your word, so Uncle won’t have a son!”

“Since Third Aunt won’t have a son for Uncle, you must find him a wife!!!”

Qiao Jiuwang pulled Qiao Jiangxin away, “Get out of the way! If anything happens to the child in Third Aunt’s belly, none of you will have a good life.”

They rushed away with Li Xiaoping, leaving the onlookers behind.

Qiao Jiangxin winked at Qiao Youfu, “Uncle, woo woo woo, you were tricked! Grandpa and Grandma tricked you! They said marrying a wife costs money, so you shouldn’t marry. They said they’d take care of your son later. They lied!

They said they had no money to get you a wife, or to pay for Fourth Uncle’s job.

They said they had no money for my education or my mother’s infertility treatment.

But they had money for Third Uncle’s wedding and Fourth Uncle’s job. They tricked us into not splitting up.

They wanted us to support Third Uncle and Fourth Uncle, using us as oxen and horses. They dangled a carrot in front of you, saying Third Uncle’s son would be adopted by you. It was all a lie!

Grandpa and Grandma are biased! Grandpa is so cruel! He’s even tricking his own sons! It’s all a lie!”

Qiao Youfu knew Qiao Jiangxin was acting, but he had worked hard for this family for decades, and at almost forty, he had nothing. His eyes welled up.

“Grandpa just told me to find a wife myself. Everything is controlled by Grandma.  Without their approval, how can I get married…”

Someone couldn’t stand it anymore and asked, “Youfu, are the rumors true? Did your parents really say they’ll adopt Third Brother’s son to you?”

Qiao Youfu nodded, dejected, “Yes, they kept saying there’s no money, that getting married costs money. I said I wanted to split up and save money myself, but they refused.

They said they didn’t want to split up for my own good, telling me to work hard.

They said they’d already discussed it with Third Brother and his wife, and Third Brother’s son would be adopted by me.”

A Qiao family uncle sighed, “Hey, what’s Jiuwang doing?”

Aunt Niu quickly fanned the flames, “Need to ask? The Li family came here.  Third Brother and his wife didn’t know anything about this.  Qiao Jiuwang and Lei Honghua didn’t want to pay for Youfu’s wedding, and they didn’t want to let this worker go, so they tricked him, ruining his life.”

“Hey, he remarried with two sons and found a wife. His son is so old and hasn’t even touched a woman’s hand. He’s shameless.”

“Aiya, Aunt Niu, when Lei Honghua married Old Qiao, his two sons were already grown.  Without those two old oxen, could Old Qiao alone have raised his two younger sons and daughter so well?”

“Exactly. I heard that his fourth son’s temporary work last year cost three hundred yuan, and the year before, his third son’s wedding cost one hundred yuan for the bride price alone, plus new clothes and furniture. 

It cost at least one hundred and thirty or forty yuan.  Old Qiao couldn’t have saved that much by himself.”

“Before, Youfu and Youcai were the highest earners in the team. Afang is capable too, always earning ten work points, and even Jiangxin earns seven or eight.

They never rested, and every year the Qiao family had some money left over at the end of the year. During the off-season, when did the two brothers not sign up for dam or road construction?  The money they earned was in Lei Honghua’s hands.”

“Hey, so don’t be too honest.  Working yourself to death doesn’t mean you won’t end up alone.”

Qiao Youfu hung his head in shame. The words “old bachelor” were deeply humiliating for a man.

Although there was some acting involved, the embarrassment was real.

Seeing the effect, Qiao Jiangxin said confidently, “Uncle, Grandpa said we should get married ourselves, so let’s do it!”

“You and Dad have worked for the family for almost thirty years. Everything in this family belongs to you. Let’s use our share to get married.”

Qiao Jiangxin waved her hand, “Let’s go home, butcher the pigs, and sell the grain!”

Qiao Youfu and Qiao Youcai’s eyes lit up. Lei Honghua and Qiao Jiuwang had gone to the hospital, and they had to explain the adoption to the Li family, so they wouldn’t be back soon.

No one was home, and they were morally superior.

Lei Honghua and Qiao Jiuwang controlled them because they had nothing.

If they had money…

At the hospital, Qiao Jianhua rushed his wife to the hospital, followed by Qiao Jiuwang, his wife, and Li Sanfa and his wife.

In Gaoshi Village, Qiao Youfu and his brother borrowed butcher knives from the village butcher, as Qiao Jiangxin instructed.

Qiao Jiangxin announced that they would sell pork at the big tree at the end of the village.  They would sell it to their fellow villagers for sixty-five cents a pound.

It was harvest time, everyone needed food, and pork was more expensive and harder to buy.

Sixty-five cents a pound was much cheaper than the market price, so many people were interested.

Before the pigs were even finished, almost the whole village knew the Qiao family was selling pork.

Children left at home to watch the house, hearing about the pork, ran to find their parents in the fields, shouting that the Qiao family was selling pork for sixty-five cents a pound.