Chapter 58

"Zhenxiang, Uncle Guoqiang didn’t expect you to be so skilled at slaughtering pigs, and even making pig offal soup is so impressive."

Li Dong held a bowl as big as a basketball, filled to the brim with milky white pig offal soup, the offal piled high in the center. Han Guoqiang had given Li Dong an extra handful of offal, and no one said anything, after all, at least half of the offal was contributed by Li Dong.

"This is nothing, if there was more time, it would taste even better."

Han Guoqiang, busy and sweating, grinned widely at Li Dong’s praise, feeling very pleased.

"That’s true, Uncle Guoqiang’s skills are top-notch."

Not just Li Dong, who wouldn’t say it was good after drinking the pig offal soup? The aroma wafted far and wide, and women and elders brought the soup home to their children, pairing it with sweet potatoes, coarse grain cakes, or wild vegetable rice balls, making it incredibly fragrant.

Some families with more people could save a couple of bowls for lunch or dinner, as drinking a large bowl each would be too wasteful. After all, offal is meat, and it’s so fragrant. With the generous seasoning, they could save a lot by adding their share of wild boar meat to the soup.

Compared to women, elders, and children, the men squatted under the big tree or held large bowls of wild vegetable cakes and rice balls, eating the hot and fragrant pig offal soup, slurping so loudly that they seemed to want to eat the bowls and chopsticks too.

Some big-bellied men inevitably asked for another bowl after finishing, and Han Guoqiang would scold them a bit but still give them a ladle of soup. There wasn’t much offal left, but everyone was happy to have an extra sip of soup.

Compared to women, elders, and children, the offal was more abundant, and the soup was less, which everyone found acceptable.

Li Dong had just started eating his large bowl of offal when Xiaojuan came running over. This girl had just delivered a bowl of offal soup and now ran back to bring white flour steamed buns for Dada.

This guy, squatting and munching on wild vegetable cakes and coarse grain, the men around him stared with wide eyes. Good grief, eating white flour steamed buns in the morning, the women and children in the queue couldn’t help but swallow their saliva.

Who could be like Li Dong, eating a few meals of white flour a year was already good, most of the time they had to switch to coarse grains, or else there wouldn’t be enough food at home. Not just in the countryside, even in the city, not every family could afford white flour.

Unless you had a good job or were a leader, ordinary workers could only have a fine meal every three to five days, and families with many children might not get one for a month.

Li Dong took a bite of the white flour steamed bun and noticed everyone staring at him, with a few children even smacking their lips.

"Hey, drink your soup."

"You kids, scram."

Han Guobing thought, this kid, eating white flour steamed buns in the morning, what can I do? Most importantly, Han Guobing’s family didn’t have white flour steamed buns either, at most some wild vegetable rice balls. This kid is really over the top.

"Don’t go, stay here and cool off."

Li Dong simply swapped his steamed bun for a few children’s corn cobs, sweet potatoes, and coarse grains, and found it quite good to drink the offal soup with coarse grains.

"This kid."

No one said anything, Li Dong’s action earned him praise in everyone’s hearts, this kid is really righteous.

"Hurry up and finish eating, we need to get to work."

Han Guofu, after finishing the offal soup, felt warm and comfortable. Guoqiang’s skills could have opened a restaurant in the past.

"Everyone’s tasks for today are arranged, only Li Dong, you will go with everyone to the reservoir to clear the silt this year."

"Alright."

The reservoir’s water level had dropped, and the water source was dry, so they had to send people to clear the silt and divert water. It seemed the heavens didn’t want to give them food.

Li Feng joined the silt-clearing team and collected the tools.

Han Weijun led the group, with Han Weiguo, Han Weidong, Han Weisheng, Han Weijiang, and Han Weichao, carrying shovels, burlap bags, and poles, they set off in a grand procession.

Li Feng wondered if they would dig up any soft-shelled turtles, which love to burrow in silt. Just as he thought this, Li Dong got into trouble. "What the heck is this?" Li Dong dug and found a clam, as big as a basin.

"Good grief, this must weigh over ten pounds?"

"It’s not small, at least twenty years old."

"Pretty lucky."

"What luck?"

Li Dong was about to cry, his calf had been cut open by a large gash. This silt was deadly.

"Your leg is bleeding, go up and rinse it."

Bad luck, Li Dong didn’t know what to say. He didn’t catch any turtles, but he encountered a disaster. "Brother Weijun, I’ll take this clam, I’ll definitely chop it up when I get home." Li Dong was really angry.

The gash was as big as a child’s mouth, bleeding profusely, which was quite scary. Li Dong was furious, and the others laughed, but Li Dong was really unlucky.

"Here, take it."

Li Dong held the clam and rinsed his wound, but the bleeding wouldn’t stop. "Brother Weijun, I’m going home to treat my wound."

"Alright, don’t come back today."

The wound wasn’t big but wasn’t small either, and it wasn’t suitable for him to go back into the water. Li Dong was helpless, he was really unlucky. "Clam, clam, I’ll definitely stir-fry you, or stew you, or make clam cakes, or boil you to pieces, to vent my anger."

Li Dong’s work didn’t go well, and he had to go home to rest. After applying some medicine, the bleeding finally stopped, but he felt like he had bad luck for eight generations.

By noon, the news of Li Dong being cut by a clam had spread throughout the village. It was the first time someone in Han Village had been cut by a clam, and the large clam caused quite a stir. People came to see it out of curiosity.

Li Dong was speechless, but he didn’t expect his wound to swell the next day, which scared him. "Go see Uncle Guoqiang."

Han Guofu, hearing Li Dong wanted to go to the commune clinic, rolled his eyes. "For such a small wound, go to town? You’re making a fuss."

Li Dong had no choice but to go to Han Guoqiang’s house. Han Guoqiang was sharpening a knife, a pig-slaughtering knife, when he saw Li Dong.

"What’s up?"

"Uncle Guoqiang, my wound is inflamed."

"Inflamed? That’s serious."

Han Guoqiang nodded. "Alright, I’ll give you an anti-inflammatory injection."

Li Dong didn’t pay attention at first, but when Han Guoqiang was about to inject him, he noticed the bottle on the side, which looked familiar.

"Uncle Guoqiang, what are you injecting?"

"Penicillin, it’s great for inflammation."

Li Dong almost fell off his chair. "You’re joking, penicillin, I know, but don’t you need to do a skin test first?"

"Forgot what?"

"Forgot what? Hurry up, take off your pants, what are you waiting for? I’m still sharpening the knife."

Han Guoqiang urged Li Dong, who was completely stunned. "Wait, Uncle Guoqiang, haven’t you been to the commune clinic for training?"

"Of course, what did you learn? It’s simple, colds get cold medicine, fevers get fever medicine, inflammation gets penicillin. What else is there to learn? It wasted half a month, I was exhausted, learning during the day, slaughtering pigs at night, and taking care of my family’s land."

Han Guoqiang said. "Luckily, I’m smart, I found a place to sleep during the day."

Li Dong felt like he was in a Spartan situation. "Uncle Guoqiang, I suddenly don’t feel so much pain, no need for the injection. By the way, Uncle, I heard penicillin can cause allergies, shouldn’t you do a skin test?"

"Is that so?"

Li Dong quickly got up. "Uncle Guoqiang, I’m leaving."

"Wait, the medicine is already drawn, you can’t leave."

Han Guoqiang moved to inject him, but Li Dong waved his hands. "Uncle, I’ll give you the money, no injection, the medicine is precious, don’t waste it."

Li Dong took out two cents and ran, feeling lucky to have escaped. "I’ll tell Uncle Guofu, at least don’t use penicillin recklessly, it can be fatal. Luckily, there were no medical disputes back then, or it would have been a disaster."

"Barefoot doctors are scary, especially pig-slaughtering barefoot doctors."

Li Dong shivered, he should go back to 2018, at least an injection wouldn’t be fatal.

In the morning, Li Dong took a leave and went to the commune, he had to buy stamps for his daughter.

This time, Li Dong used a donkey cart, his leg was hurting, and it was really painful.

At the post office, Li Dong took out ten yuan and asked for ten of each type of stamp.

The clerk didn’t sell them, asking what Li Dong needed them for, with a strange look.

"For collecting."

"What’s collecting?"

The people around were puzzled, how many letters did this kid need to write?

Li Dong was confused, there was no such thing as stamp collecting back then.

"Oh, I’m planning to submit manuscripts to publishers and magazines."

"Oh, I see."

Everyone understood, writers were respected, and young people like Li Dong often had literary dreams, so submitting manuscripts wasn’t surprising.

Li Dong bought over a hundred stamps and then went to the supply cooperative to buy various items, asking about Gao Weimin and Gao Min’s wedding date.

"Gao Min didn’t come today."

"She’s getting married tomorrow, she took leave yesterday."

Li Dong learned that tomorrow, August 18th, was the big day. He didn’t know until he asked, back then, weddings were simple, just a meal with relatives and a bicycle for the bride.

He realized he needed to prepare to congratulate them, but with his injured leg, he decided to go back to 2018, buy the necessary items, and return to Han Village. He took a half-day leave, he couldn’t work with an injury.

He organized the items: over a hundred stamps, five wild boar stomachs, two bottles of Maotai, two bottles of Gujing, two bottles of Fenjiu, ten wild soft-shelled turtles, over a dozen eels, seven or eight wild chickens, two wild rabbits, and nearly thirty pounds of wild boar meat.

There were also two suspected rosewood chairs, mushrooms, black fungus, and various wild fruits. Just the mushrooms and black fungus weighed over twenty pounds, and he spent nearly thirty yuan on them.

With the recent lighter farm work, the village women and children often picked wild goods to exchange for salt.

"What to do, it’s too much."

Without the rosewood chairs, it was over 120 pounds. The chairs alone weighed nearly fifty pounds, which was too heavy.

Li Dong decided to take only one chair. "Alright, one chair, and I’ll take the clam, to cook it properly."

He waited for Xiaojuan to return, gave her a hundred yuan, and told her not to tell anyone where the money came from.

"Okay, I won’t tell anyone."

Xiaojuan nodded, selling wild goods was profitable, and now she had nearly three hundred yuan, enough to marry the prettiest girl in the neighboring village. Xiaojuan was happy, unaware that her Dada was already on the matchmaker’s blacklist.

When it got dark and the village was quiet, Li Dong carried the chair, a backpack, the fawn, a string of wild chickens and rabbits, and mushrooms, and set off.

"Dada, get a fat piglet."

"Alright."

The little girl wanted to raise a pig, so Li Dong agreed to trade the fawn for a piglet. He would build a pigpen, as long as it was far from the house, and the smell would be less as the weather cooled.