Chapter 3: Satisfying the Craving First

Eat meat?

Li Long was a bit surprised. He looked at Li Juan and asked:

Didn’t the family slaughter a pig this year?

He remembered that his brother and sister-in-law had a pig.

The household contract responsibility system had not yet been implemented, but every family was still allowed to raise pigs, just not many of them.

His brother and sister-in-law were both hardworking people. Two years later, after the household contract responsibility system was implemented, his elder brother, Li Jianguo, would become a specialized pig farmer for the team, and the team would even specifically allocate a plot of land to their family for growing pig feed.

Every year before the heavy snow in winter, every household would slaughter their pigs, and then they could freeze the meat in the snow, which allowed them to eat it until spring.

Even though his brother’s family wasn’t wealthy, they should have been able to eat pork occasionally, right?

Li Juan didn’t speak, just watching the glutinous rice paper that was almost melting away, saying nothing.

Li Qiang blurted out:

Uncle, the pig at home… it was a superstition pig, we couldn’t eat it, so we buried it.

Superstition pig? Li Long suddenly realized. That’s right, he remembered.

In his previous life, that year, the family raised a pig. When they slaughtered it in early winter, they found that the meat was full of insect eggs that looked like millet grains.

This stuff was naturally inedible, so it had to be buried.

And that winter, they basically didn’t eat any meat.

When he looked up at Li Juan, he happened to see a trace of guilt on her face.

Li Long quickly understood. When Li Juan came home from school, she would go to the fields to cut pigweed, then carry it back, chop it up, mix it with some bran and chaff, and boil it for the pig.

She probably felt that their pig becoming a superstition pig was largely her own fault.

Juan, don’t overthink it. There are many reasons for a superstition pig. Drinking water and eating certain things are of course among them, but it’s also possible that a bird just pooped into the pigsty, and the pig rooted around and got infected.

Uncle, is that true? It was the first time Li Juan spoke to Li Long, and Li Long could clearly see a crystalline shimmer in her eyes.

His niece was sensitive and carrying so much pressure!

Of course it’s true. Your uncle here came back from Wucheng and has worked in a food factory; those are things the experts in the factory talked about.

Then… Li Juan suddenly felt much more relaxed. Then it’s really not all because of what it ate?

Of course not. Even flies can carry insect eggs and bacteria; it’s hard to say. Li Long understood Li Juan’s thoughts and comforted her. Besides, if there’s no meat to eat, aren’t there still fish? Tomorrow I’ll go break the ice and catch some fish. I guarantee we’ll have plenty of fish to eat for the New Year!

I want to eat it today… Li Qiang said in a small voice.

Li Juan’s impression of Li Long had changed greatly. She scolded her younger brother:

What do you want? You won’t die if you don’t eat meat! It’s getting dark, go back and get ready for bed!

The room had indeed darkened. In this day and age, the team hadn’t been electrified yet, and at night, they used kerosene lamps for lighting. The Li family had a relatively high-end kerosene lamp with a thin glass shade on top. When Li Long returned, Li Jianguo had brought over the other lantern from the house for him to use.

Li Long looked outside, smiled, and said to Li Juan and Li Qiang:

You guys wait a moment, I’ll catch a few sparrows for us to roast.

Really? Li Qiang sniffed his nose and wiped it with his sleeve again. Uncle, can you really catch them?

I can. Li Long looked at Li Qiang’s green clothes, the sleeves of which were already so greasy and shiny from wiping, and said helplessly:

Qiang, go blow your nose, look at your sleeve, it’s become like that…

It’s fine, Uncle, when are you going to catch the sparrows?

Catching them now, you guys just wait.

I’ll go with you. Li Qiang said excitedly.

No, it’s too cold outside.

I’m not afraid. I played with the top outside all day today.

Playing with the top, or spinning the top. It was a homemade toy for the village children. The more elaborate ones used a steel ball the size of a pigeon egg hammered into the nut of a truck tire, while the smaller ones used a spark plug, knocking off the porcelain, flushing the ignition head inside, and then hammering in a small steel ball.

The whip used to spin the top, for the better ones, was made by twisting together three strands of thread pulled from tractor rubber belts; for the worse ones, they used nylon rope or strips of cloth.

In winter, besides ice skating and fighting chickens, that was all the children in the team could play.

Then go put on a hat. Li Long thought for a moment and said.

Children in the countryside grew up in the cold, so they really weren’t afraid of it.

Uncle, I want to go too. Li Juan said softly.

That’s fine, you come along too. Go put on your thick clothes first.

Li Long took his only home appliance—a flashlight—from his satchel, put on his fur hat, and walked out.

The fur hat was a military style, costing him more than half a month’s wages; it looked much more impressive than the ones the villagers wore.

So when Li Juan and Li Qiang came out wearing their clothes, their eyes lit up immediately upon seeing him.

The cotton-padded galoshes on his feet were also much better than the cloth cotton shoes on Li Juan and Li Qiang’s feet; his wages had basically all been spent on these things.

Juan, where is our landing net?

It’s kept in the shed. Li Juan pointed to the grass shed built on the east side of the east room. This was where some tools that didn’t need to be brought into the house were kept.

Li Long went over and used the flashlight to find the landing net—it was already dark, and now was the right time to catch sparrows. Here people called them old birds, though Li Long didn’t know why.

At this time, there was no Animal Protection Law. And in winter, the sparrows only ate grain and grass seeds, so in the eyes of rural people, they were edible. By summer, when the sparrows ate insects, they couldn’t be eaten anymore.

Uncle, how do we catch them? We can’t even see them? Li Qiang, wearing an oversized cotton hat that almost covered his eyes, adjusted it, wiped his nose with his sleeve, and asked.

Li Juan also looked at Li Long curiously. Li Long’s explanation just now had successfully relieved the pressure in her heart, so her perception of this uncle had improved quite a bit.

Follow me. Li Long pointed to the haystack piled up on top of the shed and said:

In winter, sparrows don’t build nests; they all hide in here. As long as you shine a flashlight on them, you can catch them with a swoop of the landing net. You guys will have to help hold them later.

As he spoke, he started searching the haystack with the flashlight.

The haystack on the shed was piled neatly; it was used for starting the stove in winter. And if they borrowed livestock from the production team, they would need to use this forage to feed them.

Uncle, did you see any… Li Qiang, seeing Li Long shining the light, was impatient and asked.

Don’t talk! Li Juan patted him. Can’t you see Uncle is looking?

Li Long hadn’t done this work for a long time either; he was incredibly thankful that his eyes were truly good after being reborn!

Soon, he discovered a pair of bright, shiny eyes—he had found one!

Come, Juan, you shine the light where I am shining now. Li Long turned to Li Juan and said, I’ll go cover it with the landing net.

Okay. Li Juan took the flashlight, swayed it for a moment, then aimed it at the haystack and asked:

Uncle, is it this place?

Yes. Don’t move, and don’t talk anymore. Li Long picked up the landing net, took two steps forward, lifted it carefully, approached slowly from below the spot illuminated by the flashlight, and just as he was about to reach it, he swooped it up suddenly!

Flutter!

A sparrow flew up in a panic and dived into the landing net.

Caught one! Li Qiang clapped his hands excitedly and said.

[End of Chapter]