Chapter 67.1

Translated by Aviana

After the twenty-third day came the twenty-fourth day, the day on which the entire house would be thoroughly cleansed.

This day, Lin Qingwan and Yao-shi got up early in the morning, finished breakfast, and began cleaning the entire house. After they gave the inside and outside of the house a thorough cleaning, they washed all the kitchen utilities. The main room also seemed to be cleaning this day, for Wang-shi was bustling in and out of the house, appearing quite busy.

The entire day, round the clock, everyone was busy. Even Yang Tiezhu kept hustling in and out of the house as he helped Lin Qingwan. During supper, suddenly, a loud commotion came from the main room.

It was Wang-sh; her voice was extremely loud and seemed to be very agitated. Intermittently, He-shi’s voice could also be heard.

They couldn’t hear clearly from the second branch’s room, for all the door curtains were pulled shut, and the doors were closed, perhaps because of the cold weather.

Lin Qingwan could only vaguely hear Wang-shi’s something along the lines of ‘pig’ ‘starving and working herself to death for about a year’ ‘meat’ and so on, while He-shi’s voice wasn’t clear.

The four adults having dinner in the room exchanged looks. Yao-shi softly said, “Perhaps mother wished to sell the pig at home, and elder sao is against it.”

嫂 (sǎo): older brother’s wife / sister-in-law

Seeing everyone’s gaze fall on her, including the two little girls, Yang-shi’s face reddened as she quickly added, “Earlier today, I saw mother ask the eldest brother to call the pig butcher in the village. But later, the eldest sao ran out and said some words, after which the pig butcher left.”

Lin Qingwan bit her chopsticks—in other words, He-shi was planning to sell the pork and was not intending to kill this year’s pig?

The people in the Luoxia Village had a practice of killing pigs after the twenty-third day. Usually, when they slaughter the pigs, they invite all of their near and dear ones to have a pig slaughter feast, just like Yang-shi, who had invited all the relatives to her house on the twenty-sixth to have a pig slaughter dish.

In rural northeastern China, farming households hold a pig slaughter feast to celebrate the end of a lunar year and usher a new, hopefully even more prosperous one. It’s an inviolable tradition that sees families, close friends, and important guests get together to share the fruits of a year’s labor.

The poor Luoxia villagers usually invite their close relatives and friends to have a pig slaughter feast. A portion of the pork would be kept aside to celebrate new year’s day. While the leftovers would be sold either to the pig butcher or to the other families in the village who couldn’t raise the pig that year. Only those whose families were suffering through wretched poverty or the extremely stingy ones would not butcher the pigs. Rather they would sell the entire pig directly to the butcher. The meaning of selling the whole pig was self-evident—the family wouldn’t have any meat for the new year celebrations.

This was indeed an ignominious affair, but He-shi was willing to do it?

That was unpleasant to say, but He-shi was not only ruthless to others but also herself. It could be said that she was highly stingy all the time, but at the same time, one couldn’t see her enjoying life either. Even if, once in a while, she secretly showed preferential treatment behind others’ backs, it was only for Yang Xuezhang. He-shi, too, always ate what others ate.

Recalling Yang Xuezhang’s upcoming marriage, everyone in the room became silent. He-shi must be saving silver for Yang Xuezhang’s marriage. No wonder they weren’t eating this year’s pork!

However, how does that matter regarding He-shi slaughtering this year’s pig or not concern them? They could eat pork solely because they earned it through hard work.

“It’s the first year since we had separated. Should we give them an end-of-the-year gift?” Yao-shi paused momentarily before continuing, ” I ran into eldest sao in the yard today. Though she didn’t directly say anything to me, she loudly said that the ones who had separated from the family ought to give an end-of-the-year gift to the elderly couple. I reckoned that she was saying all for me to hear.”

Lin Qingwan blinked her eyes, perplexed. End-of-the-year gift? What’s that?

Yao-shi explained, “Generally, sons who separate from the family when the parents are still alive would prepare an end-of-the-year gift for the elderly parents every year.”

Yan Tiezhu and Yang Tiegen were both aware of this tradition. Generally, it was said that one must not separate when both the parents were still alive, but this hadn’t always been the case in the Luoxia village. Few families in the village got separated before their parents passed away. Generally, such parents would stay with their eldest son, while the other younger ones would prepare an end-of-the-year gift for them. Whether the affection between the two was still there or not was secondary, for when such rules are there, it would be better to follow them rather than leave room for others to criticize. It hadn’t been long since Lin Qingwan arrived here, so it was natural for her to be not aware of this norm.

In such a case, should they give an end-of-the-year gift?

Subsequently, four people couldn’t help but look at each other.

After a moment of contemplation, Lin Qingwan asked, “Generally, what sort of gifts are given as a part of end-of-the-year gifts?”

“This depends on the family’s financial situation. Usually, they give one or two jins of pork and two jugs of wine for the elderly couple to drink. If the family’s situation is better, they also prepare two sets of clothes for them.”

Lin Qingwan thought briefly and replied, “Let’s do this. They might have been improper. But let’s not stoop low and learn from them. We will surely give them end-of-the-year gifts. Just cut a jin of pork from what we have at home and buy a jar of wine. After all, at the moment, our days ‘aren’t quite easy’. In this situation, as for the rest, let’s ignore them. As long as we follow basic etiquette, it will be alright. Besides, we had just given annual support to them just the other day.”

斤 (jīn): catty, about 500g.

The three of them understood what she meant. They must handle the matter properly on the surface to avoid others pointing their fingers at them. As long as their mouths were blocked, their future days would be peaceful. Their village had such a practice; thus, they would abide by it. It was as simple as that. No need to mull over it for long.

Yao-shi also seconded with a nod, “Alright, we will do as such. We have to be filial. Anyway, it isn’t much either.”

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