CH 75

Li shi felt distressed again, and muttered, “It would be nice to kill a pig today and make dumplings with your own meat. It’s a good day if you don’t buy meat yesterday. It’s a waste of money.”

Zhulan couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Why didn’t you mention it when we bought the meat yesterday? Why didn’t you mention it when we were eating dumplings? Your hindsight is always poor. Isn’t your own share of the meat worth any money?” she retorted, feeling a bit frustrated.

Mother was upset, Li shi quickly slapped her mouth and changed the subject, “Mother, how much meat will you keep this year?”

Zhulan hadn’t really considered it before. In previous years, there wasn’t much left in the house. After all, they had two money-draining holes in the family. They raised two fat pigs every year, but they only had around ten kilograms of meat left after accounting for the winter and thawing time. Zhulan enjoyed meat, and their own meat was cheaper than buying it. The more they saved, the more money they could save. “Keep a whole rack of ribs from one pig, four trotters, a set of pork belly, and leave sixty kilograms of meat. This should be enough,” she calculated in her mind.

Excluding the weight of the pig’s blood, a pig of two hundred and fifty catties yielded less than 100 catties of meat that can be sold.

Li shi was happy to keep more meat to eat at first, but couldn’t help but ask, “Mother, is the third brother not going to private school in the coming year?”

“Who told you? Did the third child tell he won’t go?”

Li shi waved her hands hurriedly, ” I guessed. Mother is keeping more meat this year than in previous years, so I thought Mother thought that the third brother was a waste of money to study and refused to let him go.”

Zhulan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that her third son had lost interest in studying. She explained, “Mother was wrong before. In the future, when it comes to food, I won’t hesitate to eat well. After experiencing a serious illness, I would rather spend money on good food and drink than on medicine. It’s better to invest in good food, good drinks, and taking care of our health. Don’t you think that makes sense?”

Li shi thought it was true. In previous years, the child would be sick in winter, but this year, he ate well and dressed well, the child’s body was strong, and he didn’t get sick. So they really saved money on medicine, “What Mother said was true. Mother, do you want to save more meat?”

Zhulan was a little tempted to eat sausages, but unfortunately, Wang Ru hadn’t made them yet, so she didn’t dare to make them. It seemed that fresh meat was best for making sausages, and it was useless to keep more. ” I know what I am doing, so don’t worry about it.”

Butcher Li came with his fellows. There were enough men in the house for this job, so there was no need to invite outsiders. One pig will be slaughtered in their yard, and the other pig will go directly to Butcher Li’s house. The whole pig was sold for 5.5 copper coins per pound, while Li the butcher charged 7 copper coins per pound for the well-prepared meat. Zhulan’s family earned more than two taels of silver from the two pigs.

Zhu Lan figured out that if you raise the pigs with some coarse grains, you can grow very fast. A pig can earn some money after cutting off the cost. If you are not willing to it grain, the pig will not grow big, and the meat will not be fat. The price of a pig was not high, but you can still earn some money. Well, the two pigs of Zhulan’s family, not counting the amount of pork they kept, still made a couple of bucks.

It was a pity that the death rate of pigs in ancient times was quite high without vaccines. There was really no one in the village who specialized in raising pigs. Most families raised one pig in order to save money by not having to buy meat during the Chinese New Year. No one was expected to raise pigs to get rich, the risk was too high.

Of course, there were also people who can’t eat enough. Their families were not rich, and they couldn’t afford to raise pigs at all.

Zhou Village was considered a relatively prosperous village in the surrounding ten-mile area. This was mainly because the Zhou family, a large clan in Zhou Village, had several scholars among them. Each scholar was entitled to a tax exemption on twenty mu of land. With the presence of five scholars in the Zhou family, they are exempted from taxes on nearly one hundred mu of land, which brought them considerable additional income each year. This relative prosperity set them apart from other villages in the region.

Certainly, even with scholars in the family, life can still be financially tight. Pursuing higher levels of scholarly examinations can be even more costly. However, the family members who register the land under the name of the scholar enjoy some financial benefits. They have spare money in their hands, unlike those without scholars in the family.

Boss Zhou sent Butcher Li away, and Zheng shi brought Sun shi to their house. Zheng Shi took advantage of the situation and said, “Sǎozi, you slaughtered a pig, right? I heard it very clearly at home. It must have been a big, fat pig. You raise pigs so well. Look, there’s a whole basin of pig’s blood. Could you give me some of it?”

Zhulan pouted in her heart, her face was really big, “No.”

Zheng shi’s face was distorted, and she couldn’t hold back, and snorted, “Stingy.”

Zhulan won’t be unnecessarily angry, so she pretended she didn’t hear it.

Wang Ru touched her hair and realized that despite raising pigs for a long time, she hadn’t done a good job. Looking at the pig’s blood, she rembered that the pig’s blood was good for health and inexpensive, but she knew that the Zhou family would not sell it to her. She thought of going to Li Butcher’s house to buy some. She came here for a purpose, “Grandma Zhou, I remember that Aunt Li’s family was selling kimchi. Why haven’t they made any progress in the past half a month?”

The brush in Li shi’s hand fell off. ” Oh, how did I forget this!”

Zhulan, “…”

One has to admit that Li Shi was indeed generous-hearted!