Chapter 3: Satisfy your appetite first eat meat? Li Long was a little surprised. He glanced at Li Juan and asked: "Didn't your family kill a pig this year?" He remembered that his brother and sister-in-law raised a pig at home. We haven't yet implemented the household contract responsibility system, but every household is still allowed to raise pigs, they just aren't allowed to raise too many. My brother and sister-in-law are both hardworking people. Two years after the household contract responsibility system was implemented, my brother Li Jianguo became a professional pig farmer in the team, and the team even allocated a piece of land for pig feed to the family. Every winter before the heavy snow falls, every household slaughters a pig and then freezes the meat in the snow so that they can be eaten until spring. Although my brother and sister-in-law's family is not rich, they can still eat pork occasionally, right? Li Juan didn't say anything, just looked at the rice paper that was almost melting. Li Qiang rushed to say:
"Uncle, the pig at home...is a superstitious pig. We can't eat it. Bury it." Superstitious pigs? Li Long suddenly realized, yes, he remembered. In this year of my previous life, my family raised a pig. When they slaughtered it in early winter, they found that the meat was full of insect eggs as big as millet grains. This thing is naturally inedible, so we had to bury it. Then this winter, I basically didn't eat any meat. When he looked up at Li Juan, he saw a trace of guilt on Li Juan's face. Li Long quickly realized that after school, Li Juan would go to the fields to cut grass for the pigs, then carry it back and chop it up, mix it with some bran and chaff, and cook it for the pigs. She may feel that it is largely her own fault that her pigs have become superstitious pigs? "Juan, don't think too much. There are many reasons for being superstitious about pigs. Drinking water and eating food are certainly one of them, but it is also possible that a bird pooped in the pigpen and the pigs got infected by it." "Uncle, is this true?" Li Juan spoke to Li Long for the first time, and Li Long could clearly see the sparkling light in her eyes. My niece is a very thoughtful person. She must be under so much pressure! "Of course it's true. I, your uncle, came back from Wucheng and worked in a food factory. The experts in the factory all know this." "Then..." Li Juan suddenly felt much more relaxed, "Then it's really not all because of the food?" "Of course. Flies may carry eggs and bacteria, so it's hard to say." Li Long understood Li Juan's thoughts and comforted her, "Besides, if there's no meat, there's still fish. Tomorrow I'll break the ice and catch fish. I guarantee we'll have plenty of fish to eat during the New Year!" "I want to eat today..." Li Qiang said in a low voice. Li Juan's opinion of Li Long changed greatly. She scolded her brother: "What are you thinking about? You won't die if you don't eat meat! It's getting dark, go back and get ready for bed!" The room was indeed dark. In those days, the team had no electricity yet, so they used kerosene lamps for lighting at night. The Li family had a more advanced kerosene lamp with a thin glass cover. When Li Long came back, Li Jianguo brought another lantern from his home for him to use. Li Long looked outside, smiled and said to Li Juan and Li Long:
"Wait a moment, I'll catch you some old sparrows and roast them for you to eat." "Really?" Li Qiang sniffed and wiped it with his sleeve, "Uncle, can you really catch it?" "Yes." Li Long looked at Li Qiang's green clothes, the sleeves of which were already shiny and greasy like starch, and said helplessly: "Qiang, blow your nose. Look at your sleeves, they've become like that..." "It's okay, uncle, when are you going to catch the old sparrow?" "Catch them now, just wait." "I'll go with you." Li Qiang said excitedly. "No, it's too cold outside." "I'm not afraid. I've been out hunting old bulls all day." Beating the old cow is also called playing with a spinning top. The children in the village made their own toys. The standard ones were big ones made by hammering a pigeon egg-sized steel ball into the nut on the truck tire, and small ones were made by knocking off the porcelain of a spark plug, so that the ignition head inside would come out and then hammering a small steel ball into it. The whip used to beat old cows is made of three strands of silk thread extracted from tractor rubber belts, while the inferior ones are made of nylon ropes or cloth strips. In winter, apart from ice skating and cockfighting, this is the only thing the kids on the team can do. "Then you should wear a hat." Li Long said after thinking for a while. Children in rural areas are brought up in the cold, so they are not really afraid. "Uncle, I want to go too." Li Juan said in a low voice. "Okay, you follow me. Go put on your thick clothes first." Li Long took out his only household appliance - a flashlight - from his bag, then put on his leather hat and went out. The fur hat was a military style and cost him more than half a month's salary. It looked much more impressive than the ones worn by the villagers. So when Li Juan and Li Qiang came out after getting dressed, their eyes immediately lit up when they saw him. The cotton-rubber shoes on his feet were much better than the cloth-cotton shoes worn by Li Juan and Li Qiang. Most of his salary was spent on these. "Juan, where is our landing net?" "It's in the shed." Li Juan pointed to the thatched shed to the east of the east room. There were some tools in it that didn't need to be taken into the house. Li Long went over with a flashlight and found the net - it was already dark, and now was the right time to catch old sparrows. Old sparrows are sparrows, and people here call them old sparrows. Li Long didn't know why. There was no animal protection law at that time. In winter, old sparrows only ate grains and grass seeds, which were considered edible by rural people. In summer, old sparrows ate insects, which were no longer edible. "Uncle, how do I catch it? I can't see it here?" Li Qiang was wearing a cotton hat that was too big for his eyes. He adjusted his hat and wiped his snot on his sleeves before asking. Li Juan also looked at Li Long curiously. Li Long's explanation just now successfully relieved the pressure in her heart, so she felt much better about this uncle. "Follow me." Li Long pointed to the haystack on top of the shed and said: "Old sparrows don't build nests in the winter, so they hide in here. Just shine a flashlight and swoop in with a net to catch them. You'll have to help get them later." As he said that, he took a flashlight and began searching on the haystack. The haystacks on top of the shed were neatly stacked, and they were used to light the stove in winter. If we borrowed livestock from the production team, we also needed to use the hay to feed them.
"Uncle, did you see that..." Li Qiang saw Li Long taking the photo and asked anxiously. "Don't talk!" Li Juan patted him, "Can't you see that uncle is looking for it!" Li Long hasn't done this kind of work for a long time. He was extremely grateful that his eyesight had improved greatly after his rebirth! Soon, he found a pair of sparkling eyes. Found it! "Come on, Juan, you shine the light where I'm shining now." Li Long turned to Li Juan and said, "I'll use the scoop net to cover it." "Okay." Li Juan took the flashlight, shook it, then aimed it at the haystack and asked: "Uncle, is this the place?" "Well. Don't move, and don't talk." Li Long picked up the scoop net, took two steps forward, lifted it up carefully, and slowly approached the place where the flashlight was shining from below. When he was about to get close, he suddenly covered it up! "Puff!" An old bird flew up in panic and dived into the scoop net. "We caught him!" Li Qiang said excitedly, clapping his hands. (End of this chapter)