The three people looked at the little girl with pity. Finally, they agreed.
Hu Chunhua helped distribute the meat, leaving a third for Su Yuanyuan. The rest was divided into six parts, which was still more than two catties.
Yang Hongwen carried the meat and said to Su Yuanyuan, "Girl, just tell people outside that you earned over sixty yuan, to avoid anyone getting ideas."
"Okay. Thank you, Captain." This way, I saved myself from worrying.
"Just say sixty-three yuan. All four of us should not say it wrong."
The three adults nodded. The two men left, and Hu Chunhua took another look at Su Yuanyuan's wound, still a large purple bruise, looking particularly frightening.
"Yuanyuan, how about I take you to the clinic to have a look?"
"Aunt, I really don't feel any pain right now. Don't worry, if it gets uncomfortable, I'll come to you."
"Alright, then go ahead and sleep. Do you know how to render lard?"
Su Yuanyuan nodded, "Aunt, I know how to. I'll render lard this afternoon."
Hu Chunhua returned home and told her husband about Su Yuanyuan's injuries, describing them even more horrifyingly, saying that the girl almost lost her life.
Su Yuanyuan went to the woodshed, took out some firewood, and then carried some dry straw to make a fire.
She intended to render lard in the afternoon, but she felt cold, so she decided to do it now. Luckily, the household's hatchet was still here, otherwise, there would be no way to explain it.
Keeping the extra pork fat for herself, she sliced it up into small pieces. This big iron pot had been used to boil water for a long time, full of water residue, only after a lot of effort did she manage to clean it, light a fire, and scrub it with pork skin; this made the pot significantly better.
After scrubbing it twice, she put in a bowl full of water, then added the sliced pork fat and started the fire.
After half an hour, a rich aroma of meat wafted through the air.
Seizing the opportunity, Su Yuanyuan washed the remaining lean meat and put it aside, realizing it would be tough if stir-fried, so she decided to mince it.
Before she could start working, Hu Chunhua arrived again, carrying a kitchen knife and a ceramic jar.
"I knew you wouldn't be able to stay idle, only you could wield this machete like that."
"Aunt, I thought if I have to build a fire anyway, I might as well render the lard. Aunt, your kitchen knife came at the right time, I thought I'd chop this lean meat into stuffing, to save it and eat slowly."
"Alright, I'll go home and get you some ginger."
"Aunt, there's ginger at home."
"Then let me chop it for you. Isn't your arm still hurting? Also, this jar is for storing the oil, since you don't have anything else."
Su Yuanyuan didn't stand on ceremony, noting that the jar was clean, she prepared to use a wooden spoon to scoop the oil into it.
While chopping the meat, Hu Chunhua watched the girl work, and all she felt was a muted heartache. From this posture, it seemed like she had done this work before.
The jar wasn't small, but this time the lard was three or four catties. There was still plenty of oil in the pot.
With nowhere else to put it, Su Yuanyuan simply poured it into the jar as well.
"This will work. You can add a bit of flavor when stir-frying in the future. But why didn't you save some to eat while it's hot? It's fragrant and quite satisfying."
Su Yuanyuan wanted to say she forgot, but she couldn't open her mouth, so she awkwardly smiled, "I'm saving it for later to eat slowly."
This made Hu Chunhua feel even sorrier for the girl. Sometimes misunderstandings can be quite endearing.
There was nowhere to put the minced meat either.
Hu Chunhua sighed, "I'll go get you a basin."
"Okay, thank you, Aunt."
Originally, Hu Chunhua didn't intend to help her so much, but she just couldn't help feeling sorrier as she watched.
"Aunt, you should take the hatchet back, or else I can buy you a new one tomorrow?"
"No need, it's just a hatchet. You should really go buy some necessities, I don't know how you've been living. Tomorrow is a market fair, go take a look."
"Aunt, are you going to the fair? I don't know where it is."
"Yes, I'll come to get you tomorrow."
Hu Chunhua left, carrying the hatchet. Poor girl didn't even know where the market fair was.
After waiting a while and getting the basin, adding some salt, she finally sat down to eat a bowl of beef noodles.
Eating too much, she felt uncomfortable, sighing inwardly, indeed a tiring life.
Better head to the mountains again, the firewood still wasn't enough. Others have corn stalks and cobs to burn; she had nothing.
On the way up, she looked at the tracks left by the Wild Boar rolling down yesterday. This was good, at least there was evidence if someone didn't believe and came to investigate.
Back at the battleground from yesterday, the place was a mess. Annoyed by the sight, it was best to leave quickly.
Walking further inside, she continued picking up branches, this was reassuring. Su Yuanyuan thought to herself, if the women's director hadn't lent her the machete, how could she explain the origin of the Wild Boar?
Picked up three large bundles, put away two, carried one on her back down the mountain.
She really did bump into a few young men halfway down the mountain. Su Yuanyuan kept her head down without plans to greet them, as she naturally wasn't a talkative person. This demeanor avoided many troubles.
The young men watched the little girl, head down, carrying a large bundle of branches down the mountain. They exchanged glances; on the way up, they had seen the trails left behind.
Two of them were the captain's sons, and another was a nephew. The three of them saw the Wild Boar last night.
To be honest, they didn't believe the little girl's story, so today they came up the mountain together.
When they reached the place where Su Yuanyuan killed the Wild Boar, they were convinced.
Back home, Su Yuanyuan boiled water to prepare making blood tofu.
This was something she could eat slowly; just not sure if Wild Boar's blood tofu would taste like domestic pig's?
If not, she could sell them, go to a county farther away to sell.
Two big barrels of steaming pig blood were placed by the stove.
She took out some salt from the space, stirred it in. Once the water boiled, she poured in the pig blood.
Made fifty pieces and stored them in the space; she wasn't in the mood to eat now. Making and eating remained quite different.
In the evening, she had a bowl of black rice porridge, which she cooked herself; it was especially delicious.
While lying in bed, she thought about buying everything she lacked now tomorrow. At least knives, axes, basins, and bowls were a must.
If possible, get two sets of clothes made. Counting it all, she really lacked many things.
Speaking of which, those young men went down the mountain straight to the captain's house afterward.
"Dad, we went up the mountain, it looked pretty scary all the way up. And on the slope, there's pig blood soaked into the ground."
"You'd all better not go up the mountain next time. That girl is a bit strange. Just because she's fine doesn't mean you won't be."
"Are you saying we're no match for a little girl?"
"Indeed, you're not. The day I pulled her from the water, she was floating on the surface."
No one spoke after that. Which young man doesn't know how to swim? And who floats when in water?