Chapter 141: Delivering Meat to the School

After unloading two bags of pork bones, Luo Dapeng and the others headed to the school again.

It was Friday, a regular school day, and the children were in class, fully focused on their studies. Nowadays, studying was a peaceful affair—no worries about anything else, with food and clothing provided, and no forced labor at home. How wonderful was that!

The school playground had been greatly expanded, thanks to a suggestion from Zhou Yimin. Some of the nearby wastelands were incorporated into the school grounds.

In the future, some sports facilities like ping-pong tables would also be added to the playground.

Moreover, when the village held events, there would be a proper venue. For instance, movie screenings or village meetings. This was precisely the reason why the old Party Secretary, the brigade leader, and the others supported improving the school.

Their village was small. Larger villages even had halls for such activities.

Zhou Zhigao, who was teaching at the time, glanced outside and immediately figured it must be Yimin delivering supplies to the school again. He quickly wrote two problems on the blackboard and told the students to work on them first.

Then he walked out of the classroom toward Zhou Dazhong and the others.

The school kitchen had also been completed and had officially started cooking yesterday. Zhou Zhigao’s wife was in charge of the kitchen. In fact, she was the only person working there.

Cleaning, washing vegetables, cooking—it was all her doing.

Zhou Zhigao and his daughter would help out when they had time.

“Dazhong, Dapeng, and this is…?” Zhou Zhigao recognized Luo Dapeng.

Zhou Dazhong introduced him, “This is Li Youde, one of Uncle Sixteen’s close buddies in the city—he’s family. Uncle Zhigao, about that half side of pork, take a knife and cut half off. That’s what Uncle Sixteen instructed. He also said to make extra food today and let all the kids under fifteen in the village come to the school for lunch.”

Zhou Zhigao shook hands with Li Youde and nodded, “Alright, I’ll have your aunt start cooking. But as for the kids who aren’t students here, you’ll have to notify them. Best if the villagers take care of it.”

The school was really understaffed—father and daughter had to teach, and his wife had to cook and handle everything else.

Luo Dapeng lifted the cloth covering the half side of pork.

Zhou Zhigao was taken aback at the sight.

That was a massive half side of pork. Giving half of that to the school? That must be fifty to sixty catties at least!

There was plenty of fat, which could be rendered into lard—the resulting cracklings crispy and fragrant. Who wouldn’t love that?

The rest of the meat could last them a while. It definitely shouldn’t be consumed all at once. Zhou Zhigao was already thinking up a few plans.

“Alright, I’ll send someone to notify the others later.”

Just as Zhou Dazhong finished speaking, Zhou Zhigao’s wife came out carrying a knife.

Luo Dapeng took the knife and chopped from the middle, giving the hind leg portion to the school, per Zhou Yimin’s instructions.

“The hind leg goes to the school?” Zhou Zhigao was surprised again.

After all, the hind leg had more meat and was thicker. Anyone would choose the hind leg over the front if given the choice!

He thought maybe these guys had made a mistake.

Li Youde laughed, “That’s what Yimin said to do. He thinks the front leg is more tender.”

But to Zhou Zhigao, that was clearly just Yimin’s way of looking out for the school.

Sure, front-leg meat was indeed more tender.

Since pigs use their front legs more, the meat there was finer and more delicate, making it a bit more tender than the hind leg.

But who would care about such a subtle difference in taste?

Everyone would pick the chunkier, meatier part without hesitation.

“Alright then! No more chatting, we’ve still got things to do.”

Zhou Dazhong hoisted the hind leg and brought it to the school kitchen, then dropped it off.

“Okay, you all go ahead.”

Once they had walked off, Zhou Zhigao turned to his wife and said, “Let’s slice half of it and cure it into preserved pork. That way, the students can get a bit more meat in the future.”

Actually, their whole family could eat well today.

The couple, along with their children, could all eat at the school. The two elders would be at the birthday banquet site and would eat even better than those at the school.

“Mm, sounds good. I was thinking the same thing.”

The couple had the same idea.

With that much meat, how could you bring yourself to finish it all in one or two meals?

They started planning lunch, and Zhou Zhigao, being a teacher, had a rough idea of how many kids were in the village.

Zhou Dazhong and the others drove their tricycle and bicycle to the front gate of Zhou Yimin’s grandfather’s house. The rural road passed right by the gate. As soon as they parked, villagers began to gather.

When they saw the meat and seafood they had brought back, the old Party Secretary and others were visibly stunned—some even gaped in disbelief.

Half a side of pork, several large chunks of beef that looked like over fifty or sixty catties, a whole tub of rare large shrimp, and three big tubs of fish.

Wasn’t this banquet just for the village elders? At most, there’d be one table of guests from the city—wasn’t this too much food? And it was all meat!

Forget the pork, beef, and fish for a moment.

Those giant shrimp—were they from the capital? They were clearly not local.

Villagers knew exactly how rare and valuable this kind of fresh produce was.

“What are you staring at? Help unload! Uncle Sixteen’s hired chef is on the way,” Zhou Dazhong said.

On the way, they had run into Master Quan and his team. They had taken the earliest public bus to Hongxing Commune and then walked over from there.

Now, everyone scrambled to unload and pile up the food.

“Where’s your Uncle Sixteen?” the old Party Secretary asked.

“He’ll be back a bit later,” Zhou Dazhong replied. “He asked you to host for now, Secretary.”

He then introduced Li Youde to everyone.

Li Youde wasn’t shy at all. He pulled out two packs of Da Qianmen cigarettes and started handing them out to every man who looked old enough to smoke. In no time, the cigarettes were gone.

“Secretary, can you find a few people who know how to clean fish? It’ll lighten the chefs’ workload,” Li Youde said.

The old secretary nodded, “Exactly! We can’t leave everything to the chefs. Xu Qiang, you guys handle the fish—don’t break the gallbladders!”

He also instructed the women at the scene to start washing the mushrooms and other ingredients.

Luo Dapeng took Li Youde into the house to meet Zhou Yimin’s grandparents.

Just like Luo Dapeng, Li Youde also respectfully called them Grandpa and Grandma, and exchanged a few warm and cheerful words with the elderly lady, who was clearly delighted.

They knew these two young men were their grandson’s best friends in the city. Because of their fondness for Zhou Yimin, they extended their kindness to Luo Dapeng and Li Youde as well.

“Yimin probably went to pick up his fiancée. He’ll be back before lunch,” Li Youde said to the elderly lady.

“Good, good!” Grandma was looking forward to meeting her future granddaughter-in-law.

Before long, Master Quan and the others also arrived.

Thanks to Zhou Dazhong giving them a heads-up, they had no trouble entering Zhoujiazhuang even on their first visit. Someone from the village was already waiting at the entrance to guide them in.
(End of Chapter)