Chapter 9:
Luo Zhi’er tidied up the bowls and chopsticks that Li Sanmao had finished eating and came out.
She saw they had cut off a chunk of meat and were squatting there, keeping it for home to eat.
Sell off the rest!
She also saw they were about to throw away those internal organs taken out from the pig stomach…
She immediately felt it was too wasteful, so she quickly ran over,
“Father-in-law, don’t you want all these internal organs?”
Old Man Li looked up and saw it was the third wife; the other daughters-in-law had long since kept their distance… they thought it stank!
“Hehe, yes, third wife, did your illness make you silly? This pig offal is full of filthy stuff inside, how could anyone eat it?”
Oldest Brother Li Daqiang was holding a big string of things, including pig lungs, heart, liver, and such…
He was just about to throw them into the river under the bridge to wash away.
“Big Brother, can you not throw them away?”
She quickly stopped Li Daqiang; these were good things! She thought of braised pig large intestines, stir-fried pig small intestines, cold mixed stomach slices, fried pig liver, pig lung soup…
Earlier it seemed she saw them giving away the pig ears and pig trotters to others…
Luckily, the pig head was still there; she felt it would be auspicious to keep it and process it at home!
Father-in-law said they were scraps and gave them to Li Erdan.
Had they always thrown them away before?
Li Daqiang also reminded her: “Third sister-in-law, this stuff stinks to high heaven, it’s full of pig shit inside…”
Xiao Zhou Shi covered her nose,
“Sister-in-law, even if you’re greedy for food, it’s not like this; how do you eat this stuff? The stuff inside stinks to death, hahaha!”
It really was; look at how fat she ate herself into, not even human-shaped; being greedy for food was one thing, but how could she not let even that stuff go…
Chen Shi also teased along, “Exactly…” Looking at her sturdy build, a woman still needed to dress herself up nicely…
Li Gui looked on with contempt…
Everyone here threw them all away; just thinking about it made one nauseous!
“Dad, Big Brother, this stuff is getting thrown away anyway, so why not give it to me? I’ll clean it up later and it can still be eaten…”
Old Man Li’s brows furrowed slightly; could it be this third wife had her brain damaged from yesterday’s coma?
Whatever, they wouldn’t lose anything; if she wanted to eat it, give it to her!
Anyway, they wouldn’t eat it!
“Oldest, give it to the third wife.”
“Oh, Dad!”
Li Daqiang scratched the back of his head, still handing that string of stinking stuff over to her…
Luo Zhi’er happily prepared to carry it into the kitchen to wash, but Zhou Shi pointed at the back of her head and scolded…
“Stop! Don’t bring that filthy stuff into the house…”
Li Zhenzhu and the others were also clamoring nonstop!
Whatever, in for a penny, in for a pound; she turned and went to the riverside…
By moonlight, she washed the pig intestines clean…
Miaomiao followed her too; Li Sanmao stared at her back, dazed.
He hurried to finish the work, then went to the river to find her. “Wife, how do you do it? Tell me, I’ll wash for you. It’s cool at night; don’t touch the water anymore.”
Luo Zhi’er sat to the side directing him…
Li Sanmao washed them by flipping with a stick as she instructed.
Then she sent him home to fetch salt and corn flour behind his mother’s back…
He bustled about nonstop; though tired, by moonlight looking at her, her autumn-water eyes sometimes dazed, who knew what she was thinking?
From time to time acting like a child, fooling around with Miaomiao some more…
His heart actually fluttered a bit…
He gazed at them tenderly; he’d never felt this way before. With the three of them together as a family, he felt extremely content inside.
The next morning, Luo Zhi’er saw the quilt still holding some warmth and blushed a bit…
Li Sanmao had left for town before dawn…
She had been held in Li Sanmao’s warm broad chest all night.
Her body wasn’t well yet, so naturally he didn’t touch her; besides, the room was so small with no other bedding, and she couldn’t chase a man tired from a whole day onto the floor.
Though it was summer, nights were still cool; if she got sick, it’d be suffering, not to mention no silver to see a doctor.
She was too fat; the three of them squeezed together was pretty uncomfortable too.
Luckily it was an old earthen house; inside it wasn’t so hot!
For an obese person, it was still tough! From time to time she’d wake up with a feeling of suffocation.
She even heard snoring and woke to check, but no one was there?
Only when she was groggily woken again did she realize it was herself.
The snoring was pretty loud; these father and son slept soundly, probably used to it. For her snoring to wake them up was something; she felt a bit embarrassed…
She looked up at Li Sanmao; the man felt the round head under his chin moving, opened his eyes, voice muffled: “Wife, what’s wrong?”
“Uh… husband, my… snoring, did it wake you?”
The man chuckled lightly, patted her head. “No problem! Go to sleep!”
She stretched out her sore arms from the quilt, kicked her legs, then stretched.
A bit tired! She sighed; circles of swimming rings on this belly, who knew how Li Sanmao managed to hold them!
She looked at Miaomiao sleeping soundly beside her and tucked in the corner of the quilt for her.
No one was cursing outside the gate today because Zhou Shi thought left and right, uneasy about them selling the wild boar meat, afraid the silver wouldn’t add up, so she personally went along to collect the money…
She had planned to render the lard this morning but feared someone at home would sneak a taste, so before leaving she hollered a warning.
Meaning, no cutting the pig lard to secretly fry it; wait for her to come back and make it in the evening.
That crispy lard residue was so delicious; she feared they’d sneak a taste out of greed!
No one at home to watch, the other two wives sleeping in; Zhenzhu went without saying…
She dressed herself properly, tidied the room a bit, and woke Miaomiao.
She put on the clothes washed clean yesterday for her, combed her hair neatly, tied it into two little buns, very cute…
She found the wild eggs Li Sanmao gave her yesterday, put them in the bamboo basket, and stuffed a snake skin bag into the basket.
She filled a pot with water, picked two sweet potatoes from the backyard wall corner, took the sickle, got flint and salt from the kitchen, dug a bit of lard, etc…
She went out.
She saw a somewhat battered enamel mug placed under the window and casually tossed it into the bamboo basket too.
She glanced toward the main room; they were still sleeping!
To avoid the villagers and extra trouble, while they were all still sleeping, mother and daughter climbed up the slope behind the house.
To better pass through the weeds and small branches, she used the sickle to part the obstacles ahead into a walkable little path!
She gave Miaomiao a small wooden stick; she walked behind her, also beating the grass on both sides, afraid of snakes too…
