Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 80: Chapter 78: Killing the Pig Chapter 80: Chapter 78: Killing the Pig Though Dashuan was not a professional butcher, men were generally stronger in this regard than women.

Under the existing conditions, the three of them worked together: Dashuan wielded the knife, Shen Yunfang assisted, and Dashuan’s wife directed from the side.

It was then that Shen Yunfang realized Dashuan’s wife was pregnant again. Dashuan, concerned about his wife straining herself, told her to just give directions from behind.

The couple had it tough. Xiaojuan had been ill since childhood, so for many years they chose not to have another child, instead saving every penny for their daughter’s medical expenses. Now that their daughter’s health was finally improving, they dared to consider having another child.

Although Wang Family’s matriarch had said nothing, the rumors about Dashuan’s wife in the village were not pleasant to hear. One could imagine, in the countryside what matters most is a son. Without a son, no matter how rich your family is, you won’t be respected, for that’s an end to the family line.

Shen Yunfang sincerely congratulated Dashuan’s wife.

Then, they got down to business. With limited time, they couldn’t afford to shave the pig’s hair. Dashuan quickly went to work with his butchering knife, skinning where possible, and arranged the cut pieces of meat on a clean plastic cloth.

Due to Dashuan’s lack of professionalism, the cuts of meat were uneven and the knife marks jagged.

But none of that mattered, as the pork still looked tantalizing.

“This must weigh at least three hundred and ten pounds, right?” Dashuan washed the blood off his hands in a basin and looked over the various sizes of meat.

“Hmm, at least that much,” Dashuan’s wife immediately understood what her husband meant, then asked Shen Yunfang, “Yunfang, are you planning to eat all this meat yourself?”

Shen Yunfang picked up on the subtext in Dashuan’s wife’s question, “Sister-in-law, do you have a good idea?”

“Hehe, I think there’s so much pork here, and you can’t eat it all at once. If the meat is just left out until tonight, it’s likely to go bad. Making it all into cured meat is a big task too…”

“Sister-in-law, just say what you’re thinking,” Shen Yunfang seemed to catch her drift.

“Well, I was thinking, if you can’t eat all this, have you considered selling some of it?” Dashuan’s wife said with a smile, but she felt a little anxious. Although she knew Yunfang was not a stubborn girl—otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to buy grain from both Shen Family’s matriarch and Erzhu’s wife—selling grain privately in the village and selling meat to the city were different matters. She was not sure how Yunfang would react.

Shen Yunfang brightened up upon hearing an idea that matched her own, “What’s the plan, sister-in-law, do you have connections?”

If it was just for one wild pig, she wouldn’t sell it for anything; without it, she wouldn’t know where to buy meat in the future. But now, with one large and five small pigs in her space, amounting to over seven hundred pounds of pork, she could eat for years if she was careful.

Besides, when winter came, her own pigs would be ready for slaughter, so she would not have to worry about lacking pork. Therefore, if she could find a good outlet, she was willing to sell now.

Dashuan’s wife glanced at her husband and, upon seeing his nod, pulled Shen Yunfang into the house and said in a low voice, “I’ll be straight with you. Your Brother Dashuan has a distant uncle who is a procurement officer at the steel factory’s cafeteria in the city. Over the years, our family’s eggs and grain have mostly been sold to him. The price is higher than what the state offers, or else where would I get the money to make herbal soups for Xiaojuan? You can trust his character, absolutely no problem, or else how could we have dealt so safely all these years, right? Now the question is whether you want to sell or not.” Dashuan’s wife was revealing her family’s biggest secret.

“Sell. Sister-in-law, if you say there’s no problem, then I trust there’s no problem. It’s perfect because neither of our families can finish all this meat on our own, and selling some could really help out,” Shen Yunfang replied, her face blooming with joy at the possibility of getting a better price than the state’s.

Hearing Shen Yunfang repeatedly mention sharing the meat between their families, Dashuan’s wife felt reassured and warm-hearted. She had not made a sisterly bond in vain.

“Okay, if you agree, I’ll have Brother Dashuan take the day off, and he can deliver the meat this noon. If it spoils, that would be a total waste,” Dashuan’s wife clapped right away and decided.

“How are we going to deliver it? There’s so much meat, Brother Dashuan can’t carry it on his back, are we taking a horse-drawn carriage?” Shen Yunfang worried about the transportation.

Dashuan’s wife laughed with a snort, “Taking a horse-drawn carriage? By the time we get to the county, we’d probably have to throw away the meat. My parents have a bicycle. I’ll have Dashuan borrow the bike first and then strap the meat on it to take into the city.”

“Will that work, won’t people see us in broad daylight?” Yunfang felt she was the best transporter, carrying the meat in her space where no one could see or know, but she couldn’t expose her space, which made things difficult.

“You don’t need to worry about this, Brother Dashuan is smart enough to handle it,” Dashuan’s wife was not concerned, as sneaking things out secretly was nothing new to them. “The main thing is, how much do you want to sell the meat for? You need to give us a number so Brother Dashuan has something to go on.” Although they could help sell the meat, they couldn’t help with setting the price.

Yunfang thought for a moment, “Sister-in-law, I really don’t know the price?” She truly didn’t know how to set the price, knowing only that the state sold meat for 86 cents a pound, but she was selling to a private party, so what was a fair price to set?

“Usually it’s higher than the state price. I reckon a dollar a pound is certain, and if someone really wants it, you could probably sell it for a dollar one, a dollar two.” Dashuan’s wife conservatively estimated the price.

“How about this, no matter what price Brother Dashuan sells it for, I’ll just take a dollar a pound. If Brother Dashuan can sell it for more, the rest of the money is yours,” Yunfang thought it fair to offer them a cut since they were helping her out.

“How can we do that? We’re not eyeing your money,” Dashuan’s wife quickly waved her hand, indicating she didn’t want it.

“That’s not taking my money, that’s earning it with Brother Dashuan’s own skills.”

Yunfang and Dashuan’s wife haggled for quite some time before Dashuan’s wife reluctantly agreed. Geez, even giving money away wasn’t easy.

Afterward, Dashuan and his wife discussed it and set off to carry out their plan separately.

Dashuan went to borrow the bicycle from Xiaojuan’s maternal grandparents first, and then took a back path home to load the pork.

Yunfang and Dashuan’s wife prepared at home by packing the pork to be sold into sacks. Once work hours began, Dashuan’s wife helped ask for leave for Dashuan, claiming that he needed to go to the city to pick up medicine for Xiaojuan.

Everyone in the village knew that little girl from the Wang Family was frail and often needing medicine, so Dashuan making trips to the city for this reason was not suspicious to anyone.

After Dashuan left, his wife finally remembered to ask about the wild boar.

Yunfang then recounted the story she had concocted.

It was when she was herding sheep on the mountain that she noticed the footprints of a wild boar. So, being vigilant, she dug a pitfall where the wild boar had been seen before. To her surprise, right before finishing work yesterday, as she took a stroll by there, she indeed found a large wild boar caught in her trap, utterly exhausted.

Yunfang wanted to keep the prize to herself, therefore she didn’t tell anyone. When night fell and all was quiet, she went up the mountain with a kitchen knife. She succeeded in killing the boar, but forgot the part about bringing it back home. Just when she felt helpless, a group of soldiers in green uniforms appeared and said they were there on a secret mission. They came to her aid only after seeing her in distress.

So, the wild boar was caught by her trap, but it was the People’s Liberation Army who brought the boar down from the mountain.

In choosing this reason, Yunfang had thought it through carefully. In that era, soldiers were the most beloved figures, and it was plausible for them to appear when people needed help. Additionally, by assigning them a ‘secret mission,’ Yunfang successfully managed to stifle any nosy inquiries.