After returning to the county from prison, the Liugen brothers and sisters accompanied Xiangzi to Xishan, the county seat, to visit Xiangzi's mother.
"Xiangzi, how about we repair your mother's grave and then return to the village." Liu Gen said.
"No, when I become rich, I will come back to build it myself, and I will build it like a palace. If I can't fulfill my wish, I will not be the invincible Xiangzi!" Xiangzi said fiercely.
Liu Gen knew Xiangzi's temper and didn't say much.
The three brothers and sisters stayed in the newly renovated house for another night. The next day, they bought some new year's goods and returned to Gangou Village.
On the early morning of New Year's Eve, Liu Gen and Xiangzi slaughtered a sheep.
Slaughtering sheep is Liu Gen's specialty, but he is a bit special when slaughtering sheep. He will cover the sheep's head with a piece of black cloth beforehand. He doesn't want to see the sheep's dying eyes, so he cuts the knife very accurately, and stabs it very quickly.
He kills the sheep by inserting it into the heart so as not to cause the sheep too much pain. Of course, he doesn't have many opportunities to kill sheep throughout the year.
Xiangzi is not good at it. He is not afraid of a fight, but when it comes to slaughtering sheep and chickens, his hands and feet tremble.
"When I was twelve years old, I slaughtered sheep and chickens for the first time during the Spring Festival. My father asked me to do it. He said it was to exercise my courage. My father always wanted me to study medicine. From the day I entered elementary school, he
He often whispered in my ears, saying how good it would be to be a doctor in the future, and asking me to start by killing sheep and chickens, so that I would not be afraid of seeing blood." When Liu Gen was peeling the sheep skin, he brushed the sheep skin neatly with the sharp knife in his hand.
While separating from the mutton, he told Xiangzi the history of slaughtering sheep and chickens:
"On the early morning of New Year's Eve that year, when my father brought a sheep here to the place where you and I slaughtered the sheep just now, my feet and hands were weak. I had been grazing that sheep for a whole year.
Ah, I have feelings for it. Every sheep in the family seems to be connected by blood with me. How could I succeed? I cried and said, "Dad, let's not eat mutton this year." Dad said, "Not at all."
"You don't have to eat the mutton, but you have to kill the sheep." I asked why. Dad said, "If you want to be a good doctor, you shouldn't be afraid of seeing blood. If you are even afraid of sheep blood and chicken blood, then you will be a good doctor in the future."
"Doctor, you can't faint when you see human blood." So I gritted my teeth and walked to where my father was holding the sheep. I squatted down and put the sharp knife in my hand against the sheep's neck. I used to watch my father slaughter the sheep.
posture, but that sheep stared at me with its eyes, as if begging me not to kill it, and I flinched under its gaze."
The sheep hanging on the wooden frame seemed to be taking off their clothes. Half of the sheepskin had retreated, revealing the fat and tender meat, which was still steaming.
Xiangzi stood aside and watched, not as scared as before: "Then did you use the knife later?"
"When it moved, I told my father that I needed to cover the sheep's eyes, so my father called Liuzhi to find a piece of black cloth and covered the sheep's head. My father urged me to do it quickly. I said I didn't want to wipe the sheep's neck, that way.
It was too inhumane to watch it struggle and bleed out to death. Dad asked me what I should do to prevent the sheep from suffering. I said that if I stab the sheep into the heart with a knife, the sheep would suffer less. Dad said that it is up to you.
, so I put the tip of the knife between the front legs, which is closer to the heart of the sheep. As you saw just now, I held the handle of the knife tightly with both hands, closed my eyes, shouted, and pushed forward with all my strength.
, after feeling a layer of resistance, it suddenly felt like the stab was empty. He threw his body forward, opened his eyes and saw, obediently, that the whole knife had been inserted into the sheep's body, and smelly blood spurted out from the handle.
I hurriedly backed away, pulled out the knife, and a fountain of blood surged out. The sheep struggled with its limbs for less than ten seconds, and then stopped moving. Dad stood up and raised his thumb.
He said, 'Gener, you are better than dad, and you will definitely be a good doctor in the future.' From then on, dad would let me do it every time he slaughtered sheep and chickens. As for me, I would cover the sheep's head with a black cloth and kill it with one knife every time.
, to prevent the sheep from suffering too much pain.”
After speaking, Liu Gen also moved the sheepskin back to the position of the sheep's head, cut off the sheep's head with a knife, handed it to Xiangzi and said: "Blank it with boiling water and shave it clean."
Xiangzi walked away carrying the bloody sheep head.
Liu Gen dried the peeled sheep skin on the rack with the inside out. One person took the sheep hanging upside down from the wooden rack, placed it on a wooden chopping board, opened the belly, and took out the intestines, tripe and other internal organs.
, at this time, he suddenly had an idea: Will what Professor Xiao wants me to do next semester be the same as what I am doing now?
Mother and Liu Zhi never arrived at the place where the sheep was being slaughtered. It wasn't until Liu Gen had decomposed all the parts of the sheep and walked back to the yard carrying the legs of the lamb that the mother and daughter took over the lamb and put what should be cooked into the pot and what should be left in the pot.
Hang to dry.
Xiangzi is picking up the sheep's head.
Liu Gen carried a bucket of hot water, went to the place where the sheep were being slaughtered, and cleaned up the intestines and tripe.
On New Year's Eve, every household in Gangou Village is slaughtering sheep and chickens. Every day in the village, no matter how poor the family is, a sheep and a chicken will be slaughtered and cooked. People who have worked hard for a year
, were all immersed in the joyful atmosphere of eating meat, and the whole village was filled with the smell of mutton soup.
In the village, the sound of firecrackers set off by children would be heard from time to time, which was unexpected and startling.
This year is a bit special. Because there is enough snow water, the aunties in the village will boil several large pots of hot water after the New Year's Eve dinner, and take a comfortable hot bath in their cave dwellings to wash themselves off.
The body was ready for the next day to wear new clothes, tie a red headband, and walk around the village to show off to others.
The Liugen family's New Year's Eve dinner was the last year they lived in these two cave dwellings, so it seemed very meaningful.
As the eldest son of the family, Liu Gen cooked the whole sheep head himself, then brought the mutton, the whole cooked chicken, incense paper money, and picked up a load. Xiangzi and Liu Zhi supported their mother and went to their father's grave to worship the deceased.
My mother didn't shed any tears, and no one cried. While paying homage, Liu Gen told his father that he would take his mother to the county seat after the new year.
Xiangzi set off a bunch of firecrackers.
Liuzhi and his mother burned the paper money.
That night, a family of four sat around the warm Kang, listening to the Spring Festival Gala on the radio (no TV), looking forward to my mother's future life in the county town. My mother heard that Xiangzi's yard had four or five acres of land.
Big, you have more ideas, such as what vegetables you want to grow, how many vegetables you can sell in the vegetable market every morning, how many chickens you raise, how many eggs you produce every day, how much income you can make every year, etc. The more you think about it, the more you think about the future.
The life will be so wonderful, a thousand times better than in Gangou Village.
Seeing their mother so happy, the Yanagi brothers and Xiangzi also felt warm in their hearts.
Xiangzi told his mother and Liuzhi some anecdotes about the prosperity and excitement of the South China Sea.
"Gen'er, that Ouyang Xue, do you like her?" Mother suddenly asked.
Liu Gen chuckled, looked at Xiangzi, then at Liu Zhi, shook his head and said, "How can I be worthy of her?"
"I think that girl Xue is quite nice. Alas...it's a pity that she is a rich girl. We and the Ouyang family are not in the same family. My mother can see it. She likes you! Oh no, if she asks you
What are you talking about? Don't let me offend you. Don't harm Xue. Her father is such a good person. We know that we can repay our kindness. We must not do anything stupid and let the girl suffer poverty with us!" Mother sighed.
explain.
"Mom, what age are we in these days, and you still say that it's wrong to be from a mismatched family. I think Sister Xue would be good as my sister-in-law. I like her!" Liu Zhi said.
"What do you know! Don't talk nonsense!" Mother glared at Liu Zhi: "Life is not based on fantasy. We come from a poor valley like us, how can we keep Golden Phoenix? Maybe Xue will like your brother on a whim.
But I will regret it when I get married in the future!"
"Mom, don't worry, I won't do anything to make you sorry, I know the severity!" Liu Gen said.
Xiangzi laughed and said: "There are so many girls who like Brother Gen, and they are all very beautiful. Brother Gen will find a good wife for me!"
Liu Gen rolled his eyes at Xiangzi: "You're still talking drunkenly even if you're not drinking!"
"Xiangzi, tell me who you know in Nanhai." My mother slapped Liu Gen on the arm and asked Xiangzi.
Xiangzi then talked a lot about Liu Gen's adventures in the South China Sea, but he only tried to find good things to say. He didn't mention the fact that the medicine man was plotted and that he was in the police station.
Mother and Liu Zhi are so happy to hear that.
In order to make her mother and sister happy, Yanagi did not interrupt Xiangzi and let him speak.
Xiangzi talked about carrying a dead man and saving a big entrepreneur, which made the mother and daughter burst into tears.
"Gen, you've done a good job. Being a doctor in the future means treating diseases and saving people. As your father said, be a good person and you will be rewarded!" Mom felt that her son had really grown up. Who is a mother?
I will be proud that my son can make a difference.
After dinner, Yanagi Gen and Xiangzi boiled the snow water in the water cellar, and asked their mother and Liuzhi to take a bath first. It was almost early in the morning, so the two brothers set off firecrackers first, and then took a comfortable hot bath and went to bed.
sleep.
The next day, the first day of the lunar new year, mother and Liu Zhi put on the new clothes brought by Ouyang Xue. Although they did not fit very well, they were very beautiful. Liu Zhi was so clean and beautiful for the first time since she was born.
She spent the Chinese New Year beautifully, and the big girl's love for beauty made her look a little proud and shy.
Seeing her mother and sister dressed in new clothes, Liu Gen felt sad. She was very grateful for what Ouyang Xue had done. She had done something for herself that a son could not do. Liu Gen kept this feeling in his heart.
"Xiangzi, I want to close the gap with Ouyang Xue." Liu Gen told Xiangzi what was in his heart when he went to bed that night.
"What's the difference?" Xiangzi asked confused.
"I also want to be like Ouyang Xue's father and become a big entrepreneur in the future." Liu Gen said: "Only in that way can I be worthy of her."
Xiangzi lay on the kang and looked at Liu Gen, who was lying on his back: "Brother Gen, you don't want to study medicine anymore?"
"Who said I shouldn't study medicine!" Liu Gen said, "I want to be both a famous surgeon and an entrepreneur!"
"So, Brother Gen decided to go back to Nanhai..."
"That's right, after we go back, we will find a shop immediately. We can't wait for others to transfer it. We have to take the initiative, spend more money, and have a business." Liu Gen said, "However, you have to resign from the entertainment city.
I have to focus on my studies, and you will take care of the business."
"Haha...I understand, Brother Gen wants to be a hands-off shopkeeper."
"If we make money, we have to agree to it, 50-50." Liu Gen said.
"You don't have to give me so much."
"Brothers are brothers, money is money, no matter what happens in the future, neither of us can be ashamed of money!" After Liu Gen finished speaking, he closed his eyes: "Go to sleep, we are moving on the eighth day of the lunar month! Leave Gangou Village!"