Travel through the farm and live a leisurely life by farming

Old Mrs. Su was worried that Su He might be useful in other ways, so she started asking first.

"The beans in our vegetable garden are growing well. Braised pork belly is the most delicious. I bought two kilograms and will make a delicious meal for everyone tonight."

Today, Su He reached a cooperation agreement with Qianweilou, and he also wanted to improve the food for his family.

Moreover, he casually mentioned to Su Chi last time that pork belly stewed with green beans is delicious, and he has been craving it for a long time.

"Then I will process this piece of fat first and make lard from it."

Xia Mei picked up a piece of fat meat in her hand and said to Su He with a smile: "Ah He, let's have the pork belly later. I'll learn on the side first and I'll be able to do it next time."

Su He is a good cook, and Xia Mei knows that. She is worried that she might cook such a good piece of meat poorly, which would be a waste.

Su He nodded in agreement with a smile.

"Save the lard for later. I bought some flour today and will make dumplings for everyone tomorrow."

Su He shouted towards Xia Mei's back.

Ever since Su He made dumplings several times, everyone in the Su family loves to eat them, but white flour is expensive. Today, the family’s debts have been repaid, Su Zhiyan has returned to the academy, and he has also reached a cooperation agreement with Qianweilou, so it’s time to celebrate.

"Hey, I got it."

Xia Mei washed the fat in her hands and went into the kitchen.

Su Mu didn't have time to rest and followed Xia Mei into the kitchen, saying he wanted to help.

Outside the yard, Old Lady Su and Su He looked at each other, smiled softly and did not expose each other.

After a while, the smell of burnt lard wafted from the kitchen.

There were a lot of dried black fungus and vegetables drying in the Su family's yard. Su He looked at Old Lady Su standing in front of a bamboo mat, slowly turning over the dried vegetables in the winnowing basket, and smelling the aroma of lard wafting from the kitchen.

There were also the low voices of Su Mu and Xia Mei, and Su He felt a surge of emotions in his chest that seemed to be about to overflow.

Life is simple yet warm. Now that the debt has been paid off, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Old lady, old lady, come and see what this is."

Su He came back to her senses when she heard a voice coming from outside the door. She heard that the voice was that of Old Man Su, so she hurriedly got up and almost bumped into Old Man Su who pushed the door open.

"You old man, you are so reckless at your age. You almost bumped into Ah He."

When Old Mrs. Su saw that she almost bumped into Su He, she was shocked and kept muttering as she walked forward.

"What are you holding? Why are you humming?"

Old Man Su was holding a bamboo cage in his hand. When he saw what was inside, he shouted in surprise: "Oh, this... this is a piglet. Where did it come from?"

Hearing the noise, Su Danian, as well as Su Mu and Xia Mei in the kitchen, hurried out to take a look.

Several people gathered around Old Man Su, staring into the bamboo cage in his hand.

The only one who raises pigs in this village is the headman's family. Could it be that this pig was caught there?

Old Mrs. Su thought secretly: It seems that I heard a while ago that his pigs were about to give birth, but later the Su family had a lot of things to do and didn't pay attention to this matter.

"Dad, where did you catch this? Is it ours?"

Su Danian was very surprised. This was a piglet. It was the only one raised in the headman's home in the whole Yunli Village.

"This little piglet is so cute!"

Su Mu stared at it intently, unable to suppress his joy.

"Of course it's ours. I was just at the village head's house. His pig gave birth a while ago. I liked it when I saw it."

Old Man Su put down the bamboo cage in his hand. It still felt heavy in his hand.

"I will send the money for the piglets to his family tomorrow."

"We will take good care of this piglet and not sell it. We should be able to eat it during the Chinese New Year, and have a good year!"

The Su family has a large population, and the family situation has not been good in previous years. It is considered good enough to be able to have enough to eat during the New Year.

Now that the situation has improved, there is no problem in keeping the piglets for our own consumption. If we can’t finish them, we can sell them in the village.

Su He looked at the little pig and felt happy, but she thought that there seemed to be only a few chicken coops in the backyard, so she didn't know where to raise the pig.

"Where should we keep these piglets?"

Before Old Man Su could say anything, he heard Su Danian cheerfully say:

"It's okay. When we come back from picking mushrooms tomorrow, your uncle, Amu and I will go to the back mountain to fetch some stones and soil to build a pig pen. It will only take half a day."

These are the things that are most in demand here. It just takes some manpower. The Su family is large, and if several people work together, the pigpen can be built in half a day.

"Yes, your father and your uncle can do it. Don't worry, the piglet will be kept in the cage in the backyard tonight."

After hearing this, Su He felt relieved. There was a large open space in the backyard of the Su family. Once the pigpen was built, Su Danian and the others could build a cowshed.

They would probably have to go to the town quite a lot in the future, so Su He thought that after some time, he could consider buying a cow. It would be convenient for them to go to the town in the future, and it could also plow the fields, which was much less labor-intensive than working bit by bit like his father and the others.

Moreover, every time I go to town, I have to rent Old Man Wei’s ox cart. Not only is the price not low, but I also have to walk to the entrance of the next village.

It’s okay on weekdays, but sometimes it’s very inconvenient when you have a lot of things to carry, and every time you need someone to wait at the intersection and carry the things back together.

Not only is it laborious, it also wastes time.

Su He had already thought about it secretly in his mind and planned to wait until they built the pigpen tomorrow before discussing this matter.

"What are you looking at?"

At this time, Su Dawu and his group had just finished their work in the fields and returned carrying hoes.

Su Chi ran forward quickly, and when he saw clearly what was in the bamboo cage, he couldn't help but scream loudly: "It's a piglet..."

He turned around and shouted to the Xie family and their group behind him: "Mom, it's the little pig."

After shouting, he squatted down, reached his hand into the gap of the bamboo cage, poked it, then retracted his fingers and laughed.

When the people behind heard Su Chi's voice, they hurried forward and, just like Su He and the others just now, looked into the bamboo cage with joy on their faces.

"Where did this come from?"

Hearing the inquiry, Old Man Su repeated what he had just said. Everyone became excited when they heard that the pig would not be sold and would be kept for their own consumption during the New Year.

That’s the New Year pig. This year they won’t have to suffer from hunger or cold, as they still have the New Year pig to eat.

Thinking of that lively scene, the Su family couldn't help but start looking forward to it.

Su He took a handful of sweet potato leaves picked by Xie and slowly stepped back with a slight smile on his face.

I fetched water from the well to wash the sweet potato leaves, then went into the kitchen and started cooking dinner for tonight.

The Su family members outside the yard were still surrounding the little pig, sighing in admiration.