The Game of Life - Chapter 506

Chapter 506: Chapter 504: Meat Arrives from All Directions

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“Aunt, I can carry it in, you go on with your work,” Jiang Feng said to Aunt with a smile.

“Okay.” Aunt nodded her head, looked at Jiang Feng hesitatingly as if wanting to say something, then after thinking for a bit, she still spoke, “Feng, even though you only managed to buy pork, don’t be discouraged. Next time, remember to think more flexibly and come up with other solutions. Don’t just follow one path until the end, blindly; learn from your older cousins.”

After saying this, Aunt left with a sigh.

Jiang Feng, holding the large pig’s trotter, was on the verge of tears.

Taking a deep breath, settling his chi in his lower abdomen, Jiang Feng tried hard to suppress his emotions, pretending as if he had just arrived and hadn’t heard the earlier conversation, and put on a falsely jubilant smile.

“Grandpa, I’m back!”

Jiang Feng took a step forward and came into everyone’s field of vision.

Dressed in a down jacket, huffing and puffing, with fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead showing a tendency to trickle down, his face was adorned with a bright smile. The sack in his arms was dragging on the ground a bit, with the blood from the bottom of the sack clearly visible, staining his shoes and the hem of his pants, making it look as if he had just come back from a crime scene of dismembering a body.

Old Sir, surrounded by people, glanced at Jiang Feng and nodded, “It’s good that you’re back. What’s that you’re holding?”

“Grandpa, this is me…” Jiang Feng was about to use an array of rhetorical devices such as exaggerated metaphors and personification to vividly describe to Old Sir how incredibly hard-won these several dozen pounds of pork and pig’s fore-trotters in the sack were – how he had to outthink and outwit, have a stroke of genius, and bravely go it alone to get this precious pork – when he was interrupted by an even louder and more resonant voice coming from outside the yard.

“Lanhua, Lanhua, Lanhua, are you there?” Not only was the voice full of strength, but it also sounded very familiar.

“Nanny Li, what brings you here? Mom went to town to buy some things this morning,” Aunt reappeared in the yard.

“I’ve come to bring you some blood sausages and streaky pork,” Li Cuihua said.

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Blood sausages!

Jiang Feng, shocked, said nothing more and put down the sack and ran outside. The other people more or less had the same reaction; a group of chubby folks and a skinny one rushed out the kitchen door nearly at the same instant.

Li Cuihua: …

“Oh, you’re all here, I thought you wouldn’t be back until tomorrow,” Li Cuihua laughed.

“I figured you hadn’t managed to buy much pork these few days; it’s so late now, if there were pigs to be slaughtered it would have been done already.” Li Cuihua looked at several sheep in the yard somewhat perplexed and walked toward Old Sir with a basin, “Jiang, I know your family always eats ‘pig-slaughter meal’ on the 28th or 29th. I only raised one pig this year and even shared some with my sister’s family, so I can’t spare the prime cuts like trotters and hocks or ribs. But don’t disdain what I have brought you.”

“We might not have all the dishes, but we must prepare the sauerkraut with white meat and blood sausages. I will leave this basin here with you; when you’re done with it, Lanhua can bring it back to me,” Li Cuihua continued.

All eyes turned to the big iron basin in Li Cuihua’s hands, filled to the brim with blood sausages and streaky pork, what lay beneath those was not visible to everyone.

The quantity was definitely enough for the Jiang family to have a big feast.

Old Sir was a man not adept in speaking pleasantries, and faced with Li Cuihua’s big basin of blood sausages and pork, he was at a loss for words. Although his face was expressionless, his eyes betrayed his shock and emotion.

“How can we accept this, it’s the festive season, you should keep it for your grandson,” Old Sir said, trying to decline.

“This isn’t just from me, my pig couldn’t possibly produce this many blood sausages, and nobody at my house even knows how to make them.” The iron basin was so heavy, Li Cuihua had been holding it for so long while speaking that she had gotten tired, so she put it down and carried on, “These blood sausages are from Old Qian’s, Little Ma’s, and Zhuzi’s families, and the streaky pork is from my house. Plus, San Fuzi’s family also gave a bit. Oh yes, there are ribs from Little Pang’s family and Old Gao’s at the bottom.”

“It’s not much individually, but added up, there is quite a bit. I still have some offal, pig’s ears, pig’s tails – the odds and ends that I didn’t bring because I was afraid they’d mix the flavors here. If you want them, I can bring them over later.”

Sir found himself a bit lost for words.

“Jiang, it’s not that I want to criticize you, but my husband is already quite reticent. I never imagined that sometimes you could be even more so than him,” Li Cuihua said earnestly. “Why decline at a time like this? With so many strapping young men in your family, how can you not eat pork during the New Year’s celebration? When it’s time to accept, just accept. It’s not anything valuable—just some pork, what’s the big deal? And it’s not even high-quality meat at that.”

“Tha… thank you,” Sir said, looking at the plate of pork on the ground. “I’ll bring you dumplings on the first day of the lunar year.”

“Let it be for this year, don’t bother sending any. Just pay us back double next year when you’ve bought some meat,” Li Cuihua said with a smile, “Today it’s because Lanhua isn’t here. If she were, I’d have a good talking-to with her. She wasn’t raised in the city like some delicate lady—she grew up in our village just like I did, in the same village. Not to know to ask someone to set aside some pork when you don’t raise pigs during the New Year’s, forgetting something like this, honestly! I thought I was the one getting senile, but it turns out she’s the one who’s really lost her marbles.”

“Alright, I won’t hold you up. I see everyone’s just come home today and your place looks pretty chaotic. I’m sure you need to tidy up, so I’ll be heading back first,” said Li Cuihua as she turned to leave.

Seeing Li Cuihua about to depart, the Jiang family’s “rainbow fart” junior squad, already prepared, hurriedly followed.

“Nanny Li, thank you so much. It’s been a year, and I feel like you’ve gotten quite a bit younger!” Jiang Jianguo struck preemptively.

“Yes, yes, I also think Nanny Li looks younger. Not just younger, but you seem to have more energy, radiant and glowing. Nanny Li, is there perhaps some happy event at home recently?” Jiang Jiankang chimed in right after.

“What happy event could there be? Just a grandson that’s nothing to boast about. He loses weight as soon as he’s out, talks about having a girlfriend but I haven’t seen her, don’t even know if it’s true,” Aunt shook her head.

“Look at you, Aunt, talking like that. Liangliang is sturdy. He’s bound to be popular with the girls outside,” Jiang Jianshe wasn’t about to be outdone.

“Yes, yes, and if you look at yourself, Old Madam Li, you’re very attractive—such big, bright eyes. My grandmother always used to tell me that back in the village, you were considered the most beautiful. With your genes as the foundation, how could Liangliang’s elder brother possibly fail to find a girlfriend?” Jiang Junlian flashed a sycophantic sweet smile that was much favored by elders.

“Old Madam Li, let me escort you home, and I’ll also bring back the offal. You came all the way over here personally; we can’t let you deliver it again,” Jiang Zaide squeezed into the circle.

“Yes, yes, we…”

Due to a lack of technique, physique, and strength, unable to squeeze into the circle or produce “rainbow farts,” Jiang Feng: …

Jiang Feng silently looked to the sky, not expecting to lose twice in such a short time.

The New Year was proving to be much more difficult than he anticipated.

Already suffering two consecutive defeats before it had even begun.

“Feng, bring the basin inside and help me with the pork,” Sir, already used to the scene, nonchalantly turned and went into the kitchen.

Leaving Li Cuihua alone, lost in a sea of flattery.

“Alright, Grandpa!” Feng’s face broke into a brilliant smile as he eagerly picked up the basin and followed Sir into the kitchen.

“By the way, Grandpa, have you decided what to make for the New Year’s Eve dinner? We can’t make a lot of dishes with the shortage of pork this year,” Feng asked with a sneaky undertone.

“Didn’t you buy a front trotter? Make that into a pork knuckle dish as planned. We’ll still make dumplings. If we don’t have enough pork belly, we’ll skip the braised pork. No spare ribs since we’re making them today, and as for the rest…” Sir looked back at the sheep wandering aimlessly in the courtyard.

“This year is a big year for our Jiang family. Since we don’t have enough pork, I will make something different for you all,” a hint of a smile appeared on Sir’s face.

“Something different?”

“This year, we’ll have a whole lamb feast.”