For Zhu Yun Xuan, Li Rui’s sudden appearance didn’t bring any significant changes to his life. However, that day, when Jiang Yue Xiu rushed over with lunch and found only her son at home, she couldn’t help but repeatedly mention how she had paid the medical bills for that child but his parents never left a word of thanks.
Zhu Yun Xuan comforted his mother but also understood that Li Rui’s parents had left so quickly because of him. If it weren’t for his words that hit home every time, they probably wouldn’t have been so rude.
A large knife shaped like an axe was used to divide the already slaughtered pig into two halves, with each half further divided into the front legs, ribs, and back legs.
When Zhu Yun Xuan brought the hot water bottle he had purchased for five cents, Zhu Ah Da was already using a knife to remove the ribs from the front legs.
“Grandpa, the water is ready!” After Li Rui left, Zhu Yun Xuan quickly persuaded his grandfather to let him help in the town. Although he was only six years old and couldn’t do much, his grandfather liked him and, through the pretext of him helping, gave him a little pocket money. So, every morning, before dawn, he started coming to the town with his father.
Zhu Ah Da sold meat at the market, while Zhu Cheng Cai worked outside the market repairing bicycles and motorcycles. Zhu Yun Xuan ran between the two places, helping with odd jobs.
However, he spent more time with Zhu Ah Da. Back then, there were no electronic scales, so when Zhu Ah Da weighed the meat, he would occasionally miscalculate the weight. If it couldn’t be calculated exactly, he’d just remove some change. With Zhu Yun Xuan around, it was much easier.
“Xuan Xuan, are you tired?” Zhu Ah Da wiped his sweat with the towel hanging around his neck and looked down at his grandson.
“I’m not tired!” Zhu Yun Xuan crawled under the meat counter and stood on the inside, speaking up. He was small, so he could only crawl under, while the adults would climb over the top.
“Good, as long as you’re not tired.” Zhu Ah Da took the pig’s trotters off, then cut away the bloodied meat from the front legs, removing the bones inside. Soon, a square piece of meat, known as the “heart meat,” was processed. When someone came to buy the front legs, it would just need a little bit of slicing.
As for the ribs in the middle, Zhu Ah Da didn’t hurry to process them. Instead, he started on the back legs because the ribs were usually reserved for ancestral offerings, requiring two pieces to be cut. Restaurants liked to serve ribs and large cuts, while fast-food shops wanted fatty pork. Later, the meat would be prepared according to the customer’s needs.
Zhu Yun Xuan filled the glass bottle his grandfather used to drink water from, then crawled out from under the counter. He had seen someone earlier who seemed to be buying for a wedding, and they were still shopping for vegetables. He knew they’d definitely come to buy meat soon!
When there was a wedding in the countryside, people would carry large bags, originally used for feed or fertilizer, to the market to buy vegetables. At that moment, two young people were carrying a large bag with the words “Urea” written on it and were buying leeks. Zhu Yun Xuan couldn’t help but secretly laugh, when he was little, his father had told him that urea was made from urine. Later, he learned in chemistry that it wasn’t, but he still remembered his father’s explanation.
After they finished buying, he immediately struck up a conversation with them, and sure enough, in just a few sentences, these two people, clearly from the countryside, were led to Zhu Ah Da’s stall.
In the past, only the people from the town sold meat at the market. In recent years, some people from the countryside had also started renting stalls to sell meat, but there weren’t many of them. The two people buying vegetables were from the countryside, and since they didn’t know anyone selling meat, they were naturally willing to buy from Zhu Ah Da.
Zhu Ah Da usually sold his meat a little cheaper than others, so he could sell it off quickly and head home to rest, after all, his stamina wasn’t what it used to be.
When people from the surrounding villages in Wende Town invited guests, they would use fatty pork, cut into square pieces the size of an adult’s hand, then wrap it in [1]Zongzi leaves are the leaves used to wrap zongzi, a traditional Chinese food made of glutinous rice (often with fillings like pork, beans, or dates). The leaves are usually bamboo leaves or reed … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1700351_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1700351_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });zongzi leaves and braise it. When served, it was fragrant and delicious. Zhu Ah Da cut the meat into pieces, tied them up with straw, and called out, “Anyone want pig liver?” Soon, people brought over pig liver, which he bought for the two young people. By the end, he had also gotten some lean meat, and the stall had much less stock.
Zhu Ah Da was quite happy. He had always liked his grandson, and now that his grandson came to help every day, it was a great relief. In the past, when someone on the other side of the stall wanted to buy many things like pig kidneys, he often couldn’t get them to the customer in time. But Zhu Yun Xuan was different. He was quick and always managed to get to the front. When people saw it was a child, they were also willing to buy what he was holding. Because of this, Zhu Ah Da, who used to take until 2 or 3 PM to sell everything, was now often able to finish early enough to go home for lunch!
“Xuan Xuan, go buy a few buns to eat,” Zhu Ah Da said happily and gave Zhu Yun Xuan a dollar. Zhu Yun Xuan loved small steamed buns, and back then, each bun only cost two cents, so a dollar would be enough to fill him up.
“Thank you, Grandpa!” Zhu Yun Xuan put the money into his pocket, his eyes narrowing into a smile.
It was still early, and he wasn’t hungry since he’d already eaten porridge at home. So, if he was going to eat buns, he would wait a bit longer. Seeing that Zhu Ah Da had already sat down to rest, Zhu Yun Xuan began to sort out the pig offal that had been soaked in water.
Pig kidneys, pig stomach, pig heart, pig large intestines, and small intestines, among other things, were all still connected to what was called “water oil” inside the pig’s belly. Water oil, in essence, was just the layer of fat attached to the intestines.
The pig kidneys had to be dug out from the large blocks of fat, and the other parts had to be cleaned and separated. The water oil and pig intestines needed to be tied with straw and hung up before people would come to buy them.
In his previous life, when he was in middle school, Zhu Cheng Cai had to cut back on Zhu Yun Xuan’s pocket money because he was building a house. At that time, he liked to buy nice clothes or go with his classmates to eat things like noodle casserole, so he started helping Zhu Ah Da to earn some pocket money.
Back then, he would help Zhu Ah Da by getting water, buying breakfast, and bagging the cut meat for weighing, doing various odd jobs, but he absolutely refused to touch the pig offal for the daily “wage” of ten yuan.
But now, everything had changed. After severing ties with his family, he had done all sorts of work to earn money. What was a little pig offal compared to that? At worst, he could just take a bath afterward!
“Xuan Xuan is really good!” Zhu Ah Da smiled, his eyes squinting. He was a very kind-hearted person and loved to praise his grandchildren. Zhu Yun Xuan had been hearing him say he was smart and Zhu Qiu Yue was beautiful since he was little, and he had long gotten used to it.
However, when Zhu Ah Da praised him before, no one else would join in. But now, people from the neighboring meat stalls would agree. Nowadays, most children were only children, and many refused to enter the market because of the smell. It was rare to find a child like Zhu Yun Xuan who came early every day to help, without any ulterior motives like asking to buy this or that.
Hearing their praise, Zhu Yun Xuan couldn’t help but blush. He had to admit, in his previous life, he too had hated the smell of the market, and hated how the ground was always wet, making it easy to get his shoes dirty. He refused to go in until the entire market was renovated around 1996 or 1997, and only then did he start coming in.
Everything was hung up with iron hooks, and by the time it was seven o’clock, the scattered customers began to come to buy vegetables.
At this time, although there was a slaughterhouse in the town, many people, like Zhu Ah Da, would go to the countryside to slaughter pigs for sale. This was because Zhu Ah Da had a good temperament and, when buying pigs from the farmers, he wouldn’t try to drive down the price like some people did. When selling the meat, he didn’t price it high either, so he didn’t make much profit, but he had a lot of customers.
Zhu Yun Xuan moved a stool and helped his grandfather serve customers in a somewhat professional manner. He also helped pack the cut meat into bags and calculate the price, saving time so that some customers wouldn’t get impatient and go elsewhere.
He stayed busy until after nine o’clock. By then, the sun was high, and fewer people were coming to buy vegetables. Zhu Ah Da had gotten up in the middle of the night to slaughter pigs to keep the meat fresh, and by this time, he was already quite tired. The porridge he brought for Zhu Yun Xuan to eat in the morning had long been digested. He took out five yuan and handed it to Zhu Yun Xuan. “Xuan Xuan, go buy a few buns. Whatever is left over, you can keep.”
“Grandpa! Five yuan?” Zhu Yun Xuan was a bit surprised. In the past, Zhu Ah Da would give him one yuan for breakfast and two yuan for pocket money, but this time he had already given one yuan, and five yuan for buns still left four yuan as change!
“Xuan Xuan, didn’t you want a water gun? Go buy one,” Zhu Ah Da said with a laugh.
A water gun? Was it something he mentioned before? Zhu Yun Xuan didn’t refuse and took the five yuan to leave the market.
The small steamed buns were five for one yuan, and the large buns were three for one yuan. Zhu Ah Da always thought the large buns were a better deal, so every time he sent Zhu Yun Xuan to buy, he would buy three big meat buns.
The bun shop was right outside the market, by the side of the road. Many people passed by and would buy buns to eat. If they had time, they would also get a bowl of soy milk or some wontons to sit and eat. Zhu Yun Xuan looked at the now quiet bun shop, which no longer had the morning rush. After thinking for a moment, he spent two yuan to buy four meat buns and two pickled vegetable buns.
“You’re that kid who sells meat, right?” the middle-aged woman selling buns asked with a smile as she packed up the buns.
“Auntie, do you know me?” Zhu Yun Xuan smiled at her and took the opportunity to ask, “Auntie, where do you buy your meat?”
“I buy from wherever it’s cheapest,” the woman laughed, adding that she usually bought meat around noon.
“Auntie, my grandpa sells meat very cheaply. If you keep buying from him, I can give you a discount!” Having a few long-term regular customers like that would make it easier to sell all the meat! And…
“At such a young age, you’re already trying to make business deals?” The middle-aged woman seemed a little intrigued. She stayed for a while, and although she knew what Zhu Ah Da’s meat was like, she often went to buy meat later in the day, and by then, there was usually no suitable fatty pork left for making buns.
“Auntie, you always come to buy meat too late and can’t pick out the good cuts. Look, if you keep buying from my grandfather, I’ll bring the meat to you! It won’t even delay you from selling buns in the morning!” Zhu Yun Xuan could tell that the woman was starting to warm up to the idea.
In fact, Zhu Ah Da did have a few long-term customers. One cafeteria always bought meat from him. But this bun shop was located outside the market, and many parents who dropped their kids off at school would bring them in to eat. The amount of meat they needed every day wasn’t small at all!
“That sounds good, but I need a lot of meat every day. Your grandfather finishes selling his meat so early…” the middle-aged woman said.
“Auntie, since you’re in business, there will always be the meat you need!” Zhu Yun Xuan thought of Zhu Qiu Yue, who still had to go to kindergarten in the countryside later this year, and immediately spoke up.
“Well, tell your grandfather about it then,” the woman said. It would be great if someone brought meat over every day.
Zhu Yun Xuan received the green light and happily left. He knew that Zhu Cheng Cai had eaten breakfast early, and since porridge didn’t keep him full for long, he had left a vegetable bun and a meat bun for him. After eating a vegetable bun himself, he went over to Zhu Ah Da’s stall to tell him what had just happened.
“Little brat, your grandpa gets tired enough slaughtering one pig a day. How could he slaughter another one? If he only slaughters one pig, he might as well sell the meat to those people coming to buy vegetables, it’ll make more money,” Zhu Ah Da said with a smile. He appreciated that Zhu Yun Xuan was trying to think of ways to help, but he was getting old. Slaughtering one pig a day was his limit. If it weren’t for the hot weather and the lack of a refrigerator at home, he wouldn’t be dragging things out until 2 or 3 p.m. to go home. Right now, it was barely past nine in the morning, and he was already tired and wanted to sleep.
Winter was better. He didn’t have to wake up at midnight to slaughter pigs. He could do it in the afternoon and sell the meat the next day without worrying about it spoiling.
“Grandpa, why don’t you let Uncle come help sell meat?” Zhu Yun Xuan quickly suggested. His uncle was still working on the farm at home, occasionally doing odd jobs when someone was building a house. He was tired, and the pay was low, so Zhu Qiu Yue had no pocket money to spend. But if his uncle could come sell meat…
Zhu Yun Xuan remembered very clearly that after seven or eight years, his uncle Zhu Cheng Gong would start selling meat with his grandfather. His uncle was young and didn’t mind hard work. After selling meat for two years, he was doing better than his grandfather, and the family’s life improved a lot, even better than his own family. Now that he had been reborn, he didn’t mind letting his uncle start selling meat earlier. It was far better than his uncle making just ten yuan a day carrying bricks for someone. Plus, this way, Zhu Qiu Yue’s life would improve too. Also, Zhu Dong Yue would probably be born in the next couple of years. He remembered that at that time, his uncle didn’t have enough money, and even the money to give birth was borrowed from his grandfather. On top of that, his grandmother was dismissive of his aunt for having another daughter and wouldn’t help, so when everything was in chaos, Zhu Qiu Yue was left behind and cried for a whole day until her maternal grandmother took her to the hospital.
Cousin… Zhu Yun Xuan suddenly felt that he couldn’t help but want to spoil his cousin like a daughter.
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