Chapter 155: The Aroma of Braised Pork and a Wife’s Affection

“I’ll go check.”

After tossing the white weasel under the eaves, Lin Heng stepped outside and opened the courtyard gate.

Standing there was a middle-aged man carrying all the tools for slaughtering pigs on his back.

This was Li Niu, the village butcher. Seeing Lin Heng’s smiling face, he said, “I heard you caught a wild boar. Need any help slaughtering it?”

Lin Heng knew he was offering his services after hearing the news, so he shook his head with a smile. “The boar’s only seventy or eighty jin. We handled the slaughter ourselves. Thanks anyway, Uncle Li.”

“No problem, just asking. I won’t bother you then.” Li Niu waved and quickly walked away with his gear.

Back inside, Xiulan had already brought him hot water and soap.

“You’re not hurt, right?” she asked, looking at him.

“No, it’s just boar blood,” Lin Heng grinned.

“That’s good. Wash your hands and face, then come inside to change clothes. I’m afraid if the blood dries, it’ll be harder to clean,” she winked.

“Alright.”

Lin Heng nodded, washed up, and even rinsed his hair.

In the bedroom, Xiulan had neatly laid out fresh clothes on the bed.

He handed over his dirty clothes, and Xiulan tossed them into a wooden basin to soak.

“Come eat, hurry up,” Lin’s father called—they were already sitting down.

“Okay.”

Lin Heng nodded as Xiulan served rice with three dishes and one soup.

He sipped half a bowl of spinach and egg soup before starting on the rice.

The women and kids inside were curious, especially Lin Tao and his brother Lin Wei, both eager to hear about the hunt.

Lin Heng’s father and older brother recounted the story, their smiles barely hiding their excitement.

Lin Heng had a great time today—facing down a small wild boar head-on gave him a strong sense of accomplishment. It made his blood boil with excitement.

After a while, the eldest sister-in-law went to boil water, and Xiulan filled both pots in the kitchen with water to heat.

Once they finished eating, they started processing the catch.

Lin Heng took the white weasel to skin it, with his young nephew Lin Tao helping nearby.

Lin Heng’s father and older brother handled the boar’s soup and slaughtering.

Before long, Lin Heng finished skinning the white weasel and stretched the hide on a wooden frame to dry—it could sell for over twenty yuan.

Looking at the fine meat of the white weasel, Lin Heng felt a little nostalgic—he hadn’t eaten it in years. He carefully gutted it and cleaned all the organs. Since Xiongba had already drunk plenty of pig’s blood, it didn’t need feeding for now.

The small intestines and stomach, which were going to be braised, were delicious, so he didn’t want to feed them to Xiongba. He saved a lung for the dog and planned to feed it pork next time.

After finishing the white weasel, Lin Heng noticed that his father had just started plucking the boar’s hair. He then went to prepare the wild pheasant—the poor bird’s innards were completely destroyed by arrows.

Lin Heng took out the chicken gizzards he liked and washed the rest to feed Jinbao. The little guy was shocked at the huge pile of meat and eagerly ate for a long time.

With the pheasant done, Lin Heng came to help finish slaughtering the boar. After plucking the hair clean, they weighed it—it was only seventy-five jin, about as expected.

Liu Juan laughed, “It’s the small wild boars like this that taste the best—tender and soft. The ones weighing hundreds of jin are all six- or seven-year-old hogs.”

“Right, these little ones are the best,” Lin’s father agreed.

The three cut off the boar’s head and carefully removed the organs. The wound from the spear was on the hind leg; the organs were unharmed.

After removing the organs, the pure meat weighed just over fifty jin. The boar wasn’t thin, just young. Once the head was removed, the meat was about forty jin.

After dividing the meat, Lin Heng looked at his father and older brother. “Pick some to take home yourselves—about a dozen jin each should be enough. If I divided it, I wouldn’t know which parts you want.”

Just as the two started to protest, Lin Heng added, “Don’t refuse. It’s annoying every time. We’re family, just take it and eat.”

Lin’s father smiled at Lin Yue, “Take it, take it. He doesn’t need this meat, don’t be so picky.”

He handed a ten-jin piece of front leg meat to Lin Yue, along with three or four jin of white weasel meat.

“Exactly, don’t be shy,” Lin Heng waved his hand. Their family couldn’t finish all the meat; there was still plenty left from previous boars, and even some dried musk deer meat.

“Haha, then I’ll shamelessly take it,” Lin Yue said with a shy smile and didn’t refuse anymore—his three sons could really eat meat.

Lin’s father also took a pig’s front leg and a piece of liver, which he liked best.

“In autumn we can dry sausages. Let’s turn the pig’s small intestines into sausages,” Xiulan suggested.

“I’ll help you with that,” Lin’s mother smiled.

Xiulan nodded, and the two women took the intestines and a few jin of meat to the kitchen.

Lin Heng began marinating the pork with salt and fennel seeds. The cool, dry autumn weather was perfect for curing meat. He saved one hind leg piece intact to dry into ham.

After finishing the pork, Lin Heng didn’t rest. It was already past five, and he worried he wouldn’t be able to sleep later if he napped.

He cleaned his hunting arrows, then took Xiaoxia to watch Xiulan and the others make sausages while his father and older brother worked on the pig’s head.

Making sausages was simple: cut the meat into small pieces, marinate with salt, soy sauce, five-spice powder, and other spices, then fill the pig’s small intestines with the mixture and some white liquor.

After briefly scalding in boiling water, the sausages could be hung outside to dry. The cold, dry autumn wind would thoroughly dry them in about a week.

While the sausages dried, Xiulan stir-fried some caramelized sugar and added the previously prepared braising liquid to start making the braised pork.

“Feels like the New Year—cooking a huge pot of braised meat,” Lin’s mother smiled at the full pot.

“That’s nothing. For New Year, we’ll get some beef and braise it. Mom, you’ll eat well then,” Lin Heng laughed.

The aroma of the braised pork wafted through the air—not only did the children keep sneaking into the kitchen to peek, but passersby outside the yard also suffered, their mouths watering at the smell.

Lin’s mother gave him a sharp look. “Don’t waste money. As long as we have meat to eat, pork or beef, it’s all the same.”

“But we won’t be short of meat in the next few days when we go barbecue,” Lin’s father laughed.

A few of them found a deck of cards and played while chatting. Lin’s father planned to dig up some fern roots and kudzu roots in the next few days, expecting a good haul.

Lin Heng said he’d just wait to eat and let his father and older brother go, since digging kudzu and yams wasn’t easy at all.

Near dusk, someone knocked on the door again. Lin Heng opened it to see Wang Kaidian smiling. “Uncle Wang, what’s up?”

“I heard your family’s braising meat. Can you braise some pig’s head meat for me? I’ll pay you,” Wang Kaidian said with a grin.

He loved eating braised pig’s head but didn’t have the spices at home. Hearing the Lin family’s braised meat aroma carried far, he shamelessly showed up.

“No need to pay, Uncle Wang. Go get your meat. We just finished braising ours,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

Seeing Wang Kaidian, Lin’s father came out to chat. They immediately started joking with some risqué humor. After a bit, Wang Kaidian ran off to get his meat.

Soon, he returned with a stripped pig’s head weighing over twenty jin, along with pig liver, small intestines, and stomach.

“Sorry to trouble Xiulan,” he said with a smile, setting down the meat.

“No trouble at all, it’s no big deal,” Xiulan shook her head and took the meat into the kitchen.

Lin Heng and his father invited Wang Kaidian to stay and eat with them—they owed him some luck for helping them catch the wild boar.

Wang Kaidian was a bit overwhelmed by the long table full of dishes Lin’s family had prepared, smiling, “Your food is really great. Just passing by the gate makes my mouth water.”

“Then come on in and eat, don’t sneak around,” Lin’s father said with a grin.

After a few drinks, Lin Heng asked, “Uncle Wang, how many wild boars did you encounter last night?”

Wang Kaidian replied, “There were three of us guarding, and six or seven wild boars came. My hunting rifle is good—I took down the biggest one with one shot.

The other two fired and wounded several. They found the most seriously injured small boar in the afternoon—over sixty jin—but the rest couldn’t be found.”

Lin’s father laughed, “Looks like we got lucky off you. We found blood trails in the Tongshu valley, followed them over a few mountains, and found that one. It only had a slight injury on the hind leg.”

Wang Kaidian waved and laughed, “That’s your skill. Whoever shoots it gets it—it’s wild after all. Honestly, I got the jump on it. If you had met that big boar, Lin Heng’s compound bow could have killed it with one arrow.”

Taking a sip of wine, Wang Kaidian added, “But your tracking skills are amazing. They chased it half to death all afternoon.”

“Haha, our dog has a pretty keen nose,” Lin Heng said as he ate some braised pig stomach.

Among the braised meats, Lin Heng’s favorites were the pig stomach and small intestines, along with pig ears and tails.

Pig tails might not have much meat, but they get more flavorful the more you eat, and the bones stay crunchy. Once you start, it’s hard to stop.

So Xiulan didn’t dare cut up the pig tails—she only sliced the stomach, ears, and heart.

After the meal, everyone was full and content.

The braised pig’s head for Wang Kaidian was done, and Xiulan scooped it out and put it in a bucket.

“We’re giving you the small intestines. You didn’t pay for anything, so just take them and try the taste,” she said.

Wang Kaidian took the small intestines out and placed them on the cutting board.

No matter how much Lin Heng tried to persuade him, he insisted on taking them. In the end, he just grabbed the bucket and ran off. Having been a soldier, no one could catch him.

Lin Heng felt a bit embarrassed—he’d already benefited from Wang Kaidian’s help, and now he was giving him braised meat plus a bucket of small intestines.

“Take it. That’s just how he is—always polite no matter what,” Lin’s father chuckled.

“Alright then,” Lin Heng sighed, helpless.

After cleaning up, Lin Heng washed up, utterly exhausted. He nearly fell asleep while telling Xiaoxia a bedtime story.

It took a lot of effort before he finally got to bed—and immediately fell asleep.

The next day, he slept until the sun was high. When he came out to wash his face, Xiulan was outside in the backyard drying sausages and cured meat.

After breakfast, Lin Heng lay in the yard soaking up the sun. By late October, the sun was no longer as harsh.

For lunch, they had a quick stir-fry of white weasel meat. The meat was still delicate and had no gamey taste—probably because the white weasels liked to eat fruit.

After lunch, Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and said, “Nothing much to do this afternoon. Let’s go catch some shrimp at Red Maple Mountain—they’re pretty tasty.”

Lin Heng nodded, “Sure, I’ll come along to catch shrimp for a while. I’ll also finish up the unfinished work on the wooden house.”

After tidying up, they took their daughter and dog to Red Maple Mountain. Lin’s mother was nearby herding cattle and helped out.

This time Lin Heng brought two small earthworm traps he made and tossed them into the shrimp-rich pools. After a while, he went back to continue building the cabin.

Last time, he buried the wooden posts. This time, he was putting up the beams and nailing on the wooden boards.

Nailing the boards went quickly. Lin Heng had installed wooden flooring all around the cabin. The largest section was in front, extending fifteen meters out.

Standing at the far edge, you could see the scenery on both sides of the river and the fish ponds below the mountain—a perfect viewing platform.

After finishing the floor, Lin Heng prepared some logs to make railings. Though the floor wasn’t very high off the ground, kids could still easily bump themselves.

After working for a while, he gave up—he’d need to make mortise-and-tenon joints, which he couldn’t do. He figured he’d ask his father to help sometime.

Back by the creek, Xiulan was fishing in a pool, with Xiaoxia clapping beside her.

“How is it? Fun to fish?” Lin Heng asked his wife. He’d brought a small fishing cage and a little fishing rod when he came.

Xiulan nodded. “It’s pretty fun. I’ve already caught forty or fifty creek rockfish.”

“Now you believe me that I really caught fish before, right?” Lin Heng asked, hands on hips.

Xiulan obediently nodded, indulging his quirky need for validation. “Yes, yes, I was wrong.”

“That’s good. Such a good girl,” Lin Heng grinned, then went to check his fish traps.

He had set three small traps in total, each baited with meat cut from home. When he pulled up the first one, he was instantly thrilled. “It’s bursting! There’s half a jin of tiny shrimp in here, plus seven or eight creek rockfish.”

Excited, Lin Heng hurried to retrieve the other two traps, and as expected, they were all full of good catch. Altogether, the three traps held about two jin of tiny shrimp.

“Wife, look at my haul—it’s even more than what you caught all afternoon!” Lin Heng laughed as he ran over to Xiulan to show off.

“Impressive!” Xiulan nodded, praising her husband and making him feel great.

Lin Heng happily poured the shrimp into a fine mesh fish basket. Adding the roughly one jin Xiulan had caught, they now had about three jin of shrimp, and two to three jin of creek rockfish.

After emptying the traps, Lin Heng found another pool and tossed the cages back in. He planned to come back tomorrow to collect them again.

At home, they made shrimp fried rice, which smelled unbelievably delicious.

That night, Lin Heng and Xiulan talked about the meaning of life, since relatives were coming over soon, and Lin Heng would have to endure a few days mostly on his own.

So he needed to release some energy in advance—otherwise, when Xiulan held him to rest, he really wouldn’t be able to sleep.

Early on the 22nd, Lin Heng gathered his father and older brother, loaded up some white ash, and headed to Red Maple Mountain to lay out lines and nail wooden stakes to find the level ground. They mapped out the precise terrain so when the workers arrived the next day, they could start immediately.

The fishpond construction would follow the previous plan—each row of ponds level with each other, since flattening the entire area would be too costly.

From the bottom of Red Maple Mountain near the road, they planned three rows going upward, each about four hundred meters long and sixteen meters wide. Each row could hold seven ponds, with a road in the middle.

Today’s job was to lay out these lines and find the levels. Lin Heng had worked on many construction sites in a past life, so he was very familiar with this.

“Lin Heng, look, someone’s coming!” Lin’s father pointed ahead.

Lin Heng looked up and smiled. “Finally, you have time to come down!”

(The End of Chapter)