Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

According to the village custom, after slaughtering a pig, half is kept for personal consumption, and the rest is sold at the market. However, a skilled butcher must be hired to slaughter the pig, because pigs slaughtered by professional butchers sell particularly well and look especially good.

Even if you want to sell half a pig, you have to ask a butcher to help you sell it; otherwise, you won't get a good price if you try to sell it yourself.

But hiring a butcher in the village was a big expense. At that time, it cost about two yuan to butcher a pig, which was not cheap in those days. In addition to the wages, the host family would also treat the pig to a good meal with good wine, meat and vegetables, and give some gifts, such as pork, when the pig left.

You can't just call someone a "pig butcher" in public, it doesn't sound nice. You usually call them "master". When a pig butcher comes to your house, the host family usually treats him with great respect. After all the work is done, there are many benefits to be had.

Li Ju'an wouldn't waste the money. After hunting the wild boar, he had already bled it and gutted it in the mountains. Now he opened the wild boar's abdomen, took out the lantern hanging with snow inside, and hung it on the old Li tree in front of the old house.

The lanterns are made of pig offal, and even the entrails are meat. The pig offal hangs brimming from the old plum tree; at a glance, it's all meat, making one's mouth water.

Following the prayers offered to the mountain god, he shouted to the lanterns hanging on Old Li's tree: "Mountain God, may you ensure a safe journey into the mountains and a bountiful harvest upon your return."

His fluent and professional jargon drew frequent nods of approval from the veteran hunters around him.

Uncle Lu couldn't help but praise, "The Li family lad is bold and meticulous. He hasn't been wasting his time these past few years; he's actually gone into the mountains and learned some skills from others."

In the brigade headquarters office, some gossiping women were already spreading the word about the Li family slaughtering a pig to the brigade leader.

There were guests sitting in the brigade headquarters office, and the brigade commander still didn't quite believe it.

But the sisters-in-law embellished the story, making it increasingly vivid and detailed, leaving even the brigade leader, Yang Dezheng, puzzled and skeptical. The young men from the Li family had never gone hunting in the mountains with the team before, and the Li family didn't raise pigs. It wasn't even the New Year, so why were they slaughtering pigs?

Captain Yang Dezheng was a highly respected figure who cared deeply about everything that happened in the village. He took a sip of hot water, got up, and decided to go to the Li family's house to see for himself.

……

Li Ju'an began unloading the pig, first removing the head, then the two front legs, and then the two hind legs. On the wooden table outside the old house, neatly arranged were the chopped pork hock, ribs, tenderloin, heart meat, and fatty meat... as well as a very large pig's head.

Logically speaking, an 18-year-old boy in the village would be playful and wouldn't do such things. However, when Li Ju'an went south to do business in his previous life, he often bought "things" from butchers and hunters in the village. During festivals, he also learned some skills in the village with his partners.

Now, Li Ju'an has cleaned the pig inside and out. With the help of his aunt and sister-in-law, the nearly 300-pound wild boar has been neatly divided up.

Uncle Lu's eyes lit up. Li Ju'an's experienced technique showed that he had specialized in processing pork before; the changes were astonishing.

Uncle admired Li Ju'an, but the old man was still stubborn. Uncle spoke wholeheartedly for the Lu family's children, Lu Zhiqiang and Lu Jinyang.

"Young man, that's settled, stop showing off. The butcher and butcher is Zhiqiang, he and Jinyang will do it, those two are skilled at butchering pigs."

“Zhiqiang, come here. Our nephew is so handsome. He’s been hunting in the mountains since he was a child and can even slaughter pigs. Girls from all around would be scrambling to marry him.”

There were many women present, including sisters-in-law and wives who had married into the village from other villages.

There are many young men of marriageable age in the village, and matchmakers are lining up to arrange marriages, but they can't keep up with the demand. The Lu family has been very worried about their two sons' marriage prospects, and they have given the matchmakers a lot of gifts during festivals. But the two boys are the least promising.

Now, Uncle Lu seizes every opportunity to have his two nephews perform well in front of the women in the village, hoping they might catch the eye of some family and have a chance to meet a girl.

The old man praised them for a long time, then turned around and saw that the two brats had disappeared.

Lu Jinyang had been squatting eagerly beside the pig's head for a while. However, he wasn't there to help unload the pig; instead, he swallowed hard, his eyes gleaming with a greenish light as he stared at the pig's head, wishing he could devour it whole.

Lu Zhiqiang wasn't much better; he shamelessly addressed Li Ju'an as "brother" in an extremely affectionate manner.

"Brother Li, what's this? Can you give me a piece of meat too?"

Uncle Lu was hoping his two nephews would perform well in front of others, but when he turned around and saw them, he was so angry that his eyes rolled back and his blood pressure spiked.

Those two shameless brats, they won't do a single chore, their eyes are practically glued to the pigs.

Li Ju'an cut off a piece of rib and began to cut the meat.

"Lu Zhiqiang, give this piece of meat to Sister-in-law Wang."

"Give this piece of meat to Aunt Zhang."

"These two pieces are for Brother Liu and Aunt Chen, who helped unload the pig earlier."

There are many social customs and interpersonal relationships in the village.

He carried his hunted game home, and when the villagers saw him, they came over to help him unload the pig. Of course, he couldn't let them work for nothing, so he had to cut some meat as a token of his appreciation. This is how neighbors in the village get along: you help me today, I help you tomorrow; when one family has meat, they share it; when there's no meat, they help each other out. All this builds up goodwill.

In his previous life, Li Ju'an was a naive young man when he left the village. After going south to do business, he mingled with shrewd people and gradually came to understand the benefits of human relationships.

The sisters-in-law happily accepted the meat, and the Lu brothers helped drag the pig down the mountain, each receiving a piece of meat in return.

Li Ju'an cut a piece of pork leg and gave it to Uncle Lu. His strong eyebrows and eyes were full of youthful vigor, and his smile was refreshing.

"Lu Bogang gave me some pointers. Without your guidance, I wouldn't have been able to disassemble it so smoothly."

Uncle Lu was stunned for a moment, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

He spoke up for Lu Zhiqiang and Lu Jinyang, who were his nephews and naturally received preferential treatment, but his appreciation for Li Ju'an was genuine.

The pork leg was a little too hot to handle, and the old man of the Lu family blushed, not immediately taking it. He scratched his chin in embarrassment and casually called out.

"Little Li, I heard from your mother that you want to go up the mountain to hunt. If you're willing to learn, come to my house for a meal sometime, and I'll teach you how to hunt."

"Let me make this clear first, kid, don't cause any trouble. Don't go into the mountains alone again, or you'll get robbed by the black bear. If you want to venture out, go ahead, but you'll need someone to guide you."

The villagers in the surrounding villages all showed joy on their faces.

Li Xiao's mother, Song Lanhua, hugged her tightly, her eyes slightly red.

The Li family in the village was the poorest, with the most difficult conditions, unlike the Zhang family, who were on welfare. Given Li Ju'an's past reputation as a scoundrel, the villagers would rather avoid him than admit it. This was the first time someone had invited Li Ju'an to their home for a meal, and it was none other than Uncle Lu, a respected figure in the village.

Moreover, the Lu family's ancestors were hunters, and they had connections in the forest farm. They used their connections to get Lu Zhiqiang and Lu Jinyang temporary jobs at the forest farm. If you're close to the Lu family, you might be able to pull some strings and get a stable job at the forest farm, which is much better than working alone.

Mother Song Lanhua twisted her hands, tears welling in her eyes, and quickly said.

"Son, help Uncle Lu deliver the meat. Auntie's back isn't good, so help her with some chores later."