Chapter 3 – “Dividing Pork and Rendering Lard“

Coming from the apocalypse, Chen Rou found these words quite pleasing. For her, as long as she didn’t go hungry, this was already the sweetest love confession.

The next day, before dawn even broke, everyone had already gotten up.

Chen Rou didn’t go to watch the pig slaughter. Han Guobin went instead. After seeing the pig killed, he hurried back home to call his wife to bring a basin.

“What would you like to eat?” On the way to get their share of pork, Chen Rou asked.

“You decide.” Han Guobin replied simply.

Chen Rou had already thought about it last night. Though she had no work points of her own to count on, based on Han Guobin’s work points, they could still get a share.

However, only one pig was slaughtered this time, so every household would get very little.

When it was Chen Rou’s turn, she fixed her gaze on the fatty meat—she was counting on it to render lard!

Fatty meat was considered top-grade meat. Under the envious and jealous glares of those waiting behind her, Chen Rou shamelessly asked for a large piece of fatty meat.

It was only because there was still more to distribute that people begrudgingly agreed to let her have such a big piece.

Besides that, Chen Rou also asked for a bit of pork intestine and some lean meat—not much, just enough to add some flavor to dishes.

The couple carried these items home. Chen Rou left the intestines for Han Guobin to clean while she herself brought the meat into the small kitchen. Seeing Han Guobin busy with the intestines, she secretly took out another half a jin of fatty meat from her spatial storage.

The piece of fatty meat they brought home was at most half a jin. Now she had quietly added another half a jin from her space.

She didn’t dare to take out too much, afraid of raising suspicion.

Not only did she add extra fatty meat, but she also sliced off an extra piece of lean meat.

After all, the whole village was sharing one pig—how much could each household possibly get? Still, the autumn harvest was coming soon, so every bit helped.

Chen Rou used a chipped knife to cut the meat. She made a mental note that next time she went to town, she’d bring out the kitchen knife she had stashed away for self-defense. That knife was razor-sharp.

Heating the wok until it was blazing hot, she tossed in the cubed fatty meat. Instantly, the rich aroma of pork fat spread through the air.

While rendering the lard, Chen Rou also salted and marinated the lean meat.

Even a jin of lean meat wasn’t much, let alone half a jin, but still, as the saying goes, something is better than nothing.

Outside, Han Guobin was washing the intestines, but the mouth-watering smell of lard made him speed up his movements.

It had been so long since they’d last eaten meat.

“Guobin, how about we stew the intestines with pickled vegetables?” Chen Rou called out from the kitchen.

Han Guobin’s heart fluttered. Ever since his wife hit her head and “came to her senses,” she had become so soft and gentle.

Like now, when she called him “Guobin” so tenderly—it made him feel like he could hand his life over to her without hesitation.

“You decide.” Han Guobin replied.

Chen Rou was quite satisfied with his response, so she went to the pickle jar, took out a pickled vegetable, cleaned it thoroughly, and brought it back to the kitchen to chop.

The kitchen utensils at home were still lacking. They definitely needed to buy more pots, bowls, and basins. Right now, things were barely enough.

It wasn’t even six o’clock yet, but every household that had gotten pork was already filling the air with the delicious aroma of rendered lard.

Chen Rou knew meat was scarce now and truly wanted to take out more fatty meat to render lard. Opportunities like this were rare—once missed, who knew when the next one would come? But if her house was the only one constantly emitting that mouth-watering smell, wouldn’t the neighbors come knocking with questions?

In the end, she resisted the urge to take out more. After all, she had already doubled the amount of fatty meat they were supposed to have.

Same with the lean meat—if she took out too much, what would she say if Han Guobin asked?

But clearly, she was overthinking it. Han Guobin wasn’t the type to ask those questions.

Once he finished cleaning the intestines, he brought them in. Chen Rou took over and started cutting them. By now, the lard was almost done rendering. She scooped it into a clay jar they had hurriedly cleaned and dried yesterday.

Even though a jin of fatty meat didn’t yield much lard, in these times, it wasn’t considered little either. Originally, she planned to scoop the crispy pork cracklings into the jar along with the lard, but seeing that Han Guobin hadn’t left yet, she scooped out a sizeable piece of crackling, cooled it down, and brought it to his mouth.

Han Guobin froze for a moment, not expecting his wife to feed him. He looked at her, then opened his mouth and ate it.

It was simply delicious beyond words.

“Tastes good, right?” Chen Rou chuckled when she saw his reaction.

“Wife, you should have some too.” Though Han Guobin didn’t say much on the surface, inside, he felt deeply moved.

What man wouldn’t want to be cherished by his wife? With his wife treating him like this, how could he not be happy?

“I already had some.” Chen Rou replied casually as she continued scooping the remaining lard and cracklings into the jar.

Honestly, though it wasn’t much, the yield was decent. Considering there were still cracklings in it, it looked quite plentiful.

Chen Rou figured if they used it sparingly, it should last until after the autumn harvest when the next pig slaughter happened.

There was still a lot of oil in the wok. She tossed in the intestines and pickled vegetables, then started sticking flatbread dough to the sides of the wok.

That morning, the entire village was filled with the rich aroma of pork fat.

But to Han Guobin, none smelled better than his own home’s cooking.

For breakfast, they had stewed intestines with pickled vegetables, eating it with flatbread. There was no soup, but even so, it was absolutely delicious.

Han Guobin was especially satisfied. His wife’s cooking was excellent, and she kept encouraging him to eat more.

He had noticed in the kitchen—his wife’s lips had no oily sheen. She hadn’t eaten the cracklings herself.

She couldn’t bear to eat them, giving them all to him instead. He knew this, even though she didn’t say it aloud.

With that in mind, Han Guobin worked extra hard when he went out to the fields.

An elderly man nearby even remarked, “What a hardworking fellow. His efforts are truly admirable.”

“Well, it’s because he’s had meat. Where else would he get so much strength?” another person chuckled.

Today, everyone had managed to eat a bit of pork, so the atmosphere was lively and motivated.

With the autumn harvest approaching, this burst of energy was much needed.

The brigade leader, already over fifty, stroked his beard, feeling quite pleased with his decision-making.

While Han Guobin was out working, Chen Rou was also doing her part, diligently cutting pig grass.

She planned to apply for heavier labor work in a few days. After all, women could hold up half the sky too. She wasn’t satisfied with just earning two work points.

But before she left the house, she carefully locked away the jar of lard and the marinated meat in a cupboard.

She also locked the bedroom door. Only the outer yard gate was left unlocked. People back then simply didn’t have the habit of locking their main doors.

Besides, most households didn’t have much worth stealing.

At noon, on her way home from the fields, Chen Rou ran into Han Dajie.

As soon as Han Dajie saw her, she leaned in and whispered, “Second daughter-in-law, did you see what happened this morning?

“What did you see?” Chen Rou glanced at her. This was her sister-in-law, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Han family’s main branch, but their relationship was just so-so.

Naturally, Chen Rou wasn’t particularly enthusiastic at the moment.

Sister-in-law Han didn’t mind. She lowered her voice and said, “This morning, I saw that after the meat was distributed over there, Third Uncle carried a piece of meat and borrowed the team leader’s bicycle. He went straight out of the village. I reckon he went to deliver it to his fiancée.”

After speaking, she carefully watched Chen Rou’s expression, but the outburst of anger she had expected didn’t appear.

What’s going on with the second branch? Shouldn’t she be furious by now?

“Anything else, Sister-in-law? If not, I need to go back and cook. Guobin’s been working all day. He must be hungry,” Chen Rou said.

Sister-in-law Han said in surprise, “Nothing else, but Third Uncle gave such a big piece of meat to his fiancée’s family!”

“That has nothing to do with me. The families have already been separated—that means we’re two different households now. What does Third Uncle’s meat have to do with me? Sister-in-law, you should hurry back and cook too.” Chen Rou didn’t have the patience to deal with her.

With that, she turned around and went home.

Their small adobe house was fenced off with a wooden palisade, barely considered a courtyard. But for someone like Chen Rou, who valued personal space, she wasn’t very satisfied with this setup.

She wanted to build a proper wall with bricks and stones, so that when she was doing things in the yard, the neighbors wouldn’t see everything clearly the moment they stepped out of their doors.

But for now, that was a bit difficult. The entire family’s assets amounted to just over eight yuan.

In the backyard, the private plot had been planted with tomatoes, bok choy, cucumbers, and a small patch of peanuts.

The peanuts were almost ready for harvest. Judging by their appearance, it would take another ten days or half a month before they could be gathered.

The original owner of this body had planted these peanuts with the intention of exchanging them for peanut oil later. There was an oil-pressing workshop—not nearby, but they accepted peanuts in exchange for oil. This would at least yield a bit of cooking oil, and peanut oil was particularly fragrant.

For lunch, they still had cornmeal porridge. After it was cooked and served, Chen Rou cut up a bit of lean pork and put it into the pan, followed by the sliced cucumbers.

Cucumbers were usually eaten raw or made into smashed cucumber salad.

But since they had meat now, and with no refrigerators like in peaceful times, even cured meat wouldn’t keep well, so it was better to eat it as soon as possible.

Thus, she cooked it this way.

But she had to admit, cucumbers cooked with salted pork were incredibly aromatic. The pork was salty and savory, so no additional salt was needed. Once it was done, she ladled it over the cornmeal porridge. Just this simple combination was enough for a satisfying meal.

Han Guobin didn’t want to go anywhere after finishing work nowadays. The first thing he did was go home to wash his face and hands, and then eat.

Sure enough, the moment he came home, he could already smell the delicious aroma.

“Have a glass of water first.” Chen Rou handed him a cup.

Han Guobin first washed his face and hands before coming over to drink the water. Seeing how thirsty he was, Chen Rou said, “Next time we go into town, I’ll see if I can get you a water bottle to carry with you.”

“No need. There’s water by the river at the worksite. If I get thirsty, I can just drink from there,” Han Guobin replied.

Chen Rou frowned slightly. “Untreated water isn’t clean.”

In her spatial storage, she had water. During the apocalypse, environmental pollution was severe, and safe drinking water had been a big problem.

That was why, in her five-cubic-meter space, she had stored a whole cubic meter of water, including all kinds of mineral water, as well as small bottled cans. But those things weren’t easy to take out.

So, the next time she went into town, she could try to see if there were any suitable water bottles.

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