Li felt distressed again and muttered, "It would be great if we could use our own meat to make dumplings today when we slaughtered the pig. I should have just endured it for a day if I didn't buy meat yesterday. It was a waste of money."
Zhulan couldn't help rolling her eyes. Why didn't she say that when she bought the meat yesterday? Why didn't she say that when she ate the dumplings? She said after the fact, "Isn't your own meat money?"
Seeing that her mother was unhappy, Li slapped her lips and changed the subject, "Mother, how much meat should be left this year?"
Zhulan had never thought about it. In previous years, the family didn't keep much meat. After all, the family had two holes to burn money. Every year, they raised two fat pigs and kept at most a dozen pounds of meat. Zhulan calculated the time of winter and thawing time. She was a meat lover, and her own meat was cheaper than the purchased meat. The more she kept, the more money she saved. "Leave a whole pig's ribs, four elbows, a pig's offal, and another 60 pounds of meat will be enough."
Excluding the weight of the pig's blood, the meat that can be sold from a 250-pound pig is less than 100 pounds.
Li was happy to have more meat to eat, but couldn't help but ask, "Mother, isn't my third brother going to private school next year?"
"Who told you that? Did the third brother say he couldn't go?"
Li waved her hands hurriedly, "I guessed. Mother was reluctant to save meat in previous years. I thought she thought that my third brother was wasting money on studying and didn't allow him to go."
Zhulan let out a sigh, thinking that her third son was tired of studying, and explained, "I was wrong before. I won't be reluctant to eat in the future. After a serious illness, I would rather eat well than spend money on medicine. It's better to eat well and drink well to keep healthy than to spend money on medicine. Don't you think this makes sense?"
Li thought about it and it was true. In previous years, the child would get sick in the winter. This year, the child had good food and clothes, and was strong and had not gotten sick. She had indeed saved money on medicine. "Mother is right. Mother, do you want to save some more meat?"
Zhulan wanted to eat sausages, but Wang Ru didn't make them. She didn't dare to make them. It seemed that sausages needed fresh meat, and there was no point in keeping more. "I know what I'm doing, so don't worry about it."
Butcher Li came with his tools. There were enough male laborers in his family, so there was no need to hire outsiders. One pig was slaughtered quickly, and the other pig could be brought directly to Butcher Li's house. The whole pig was sold at five cents and a half per pound, and the butcher charged seven cents per pound for pure meat. Zhulan's family earned more than two taels of silver from the two pigs.
Zhulan calculated that if she raised pigs with some coarse grains, they would grow fast, and she could make some money from one pig after deducting the cost. If she didn't spend enough grains, the pigs wouldn't grow big and the meat wouldn't be fat. The price of a pig wouldn't be high, but she could still make some money. Zhulan's family made an extra 100 grams from the two pigs, not counting the pork.
Unfortunately, in ancient times, there was no vaccine for pigs and the mortality rate was quite high. There was really no one in the village who specialized in raising pigs. Most families raised one pig so that they wouldn’t have to buy meat during the New Year and could earn less money. No one expected to get rich by raising pigs as the risk was too high.
Of course, there are also people who don’t have enough to eat, and every family is not rich and cannot afford to raise pigs.
Zhoujia Village is considered a good village in the surrounding area, because Zhoujia Village is a large clan with the surname Zhou in the surrounding villages. There are several scholars in the clan, and each scholar is exempt from tax on 20 acres of land. There are five old scholars and new scholars in the Zhou family, so nearly 100 acres of land are exempt from tax. They can earn a lot of extra money every year, and are richer than other villages.
Of course, life is still tight for a family with a scholar, and it costs even more money to take exams for a higher level scholar. However, the family members who have registered their land under the name of the scholar and those who have no educated people in the family have some spare money.
After Zhou Laoda sent Li the butcher away, Zheng came with Sun. Zheng took advantage of the situation and said, "Sister-in-law, they slaughtered a pig. I heard it very clearly at home. It was a big fat pig. Sister-in-law, you raise pigs really well. Look, there's a basin of pig blood. Sister-in-law, there's so much pig blood, can you give me some?"
Zhulan said in her heart, "No."
Zheng was embarrassed and snorted, "Stingy."
Zhulan would not get angry unnecessarily and would just pretend not to hear it.
Wang Ru touched her hair. She had been taking care of it for so long but it still didn't grow well. Looking at the pig blood, she remembered that pig blood was good for health and cheap. However, she knew that the Zhou family would not sell it to her. She didn't want to make trouble. She might as well go to Li the butcher's house to buy some. She came here for a purpose. "Grandma Zhou, I remember Aunt Li's family sells spicy cabbage. Why hasn't there been any sales for more than half a month?"
Li's brush fell from her hand. "Oh, how could I have forgotten this!"
Zhulan, “… … ..”
I have to admit that Li is really kind!