These days, let alone slaughtering a pig, even getting a taste of pork in any household was a rare novelty.
Xia Huai'an took the butcher knife from Butcher Zhang and said, "Last night, our Yufang went from door to door begging for help. Many neighbors stepped up warmly, and this pig was carried back together by everyone's collective effort. Of course it needs to be shared! I want everyone to know that I, Xia Huai'an, am a man of clear debts and deep gratitude—every kindness will be repaid!"
"Butcher Zhang, you put in the work to slaughter the pig. Take two pounds of leg meat first!"
Delighted, Butcher Zhang accepted the leg meat, tied it up with straw rope, and offered profuse thanks.
If every day brought a pig to slaughter, and every day yielded one or two pounds of meat, what a smooth and satisfying life that would be!
Furthermore, although Xia Huai'an had said two pounds, the cut of leg meat he actually handed over was close to three pounds!
"Those of you who went up the mountain to search for me last night will each get five pounds of meat. Following the order of seniority, Third Brother, you come and choose first!"
Hearing this, Zha Zhonghe smiled and walked forward, pointing to the rear of the pig: "I'll take this cut of belly meat!"
"Third Brother knows his meat!" Xia Huai'an gave a thumbs-up and handed the butcher knife back to Butcher Zhang. "Brother Zhang, please do the cutting."
"Only right!" Butcher Zhang set his own share of leg meat aside, then sliced off a section of belly meat, weighed it, and even added a little extra.
The others who had gone up the mountain to search for him received their five pounds of meat one after another. For those who were not present, Xia Huai'an had Yufang deliver it directly to their homes.
The rest of the villagers were instantly consumed by a mix of envy and regret.
Last night when Yufang came knocking, quite a few households had been too lazy to even open their doors.
Some families had opened up and asked what was going on, yet had been unwilling to head up the mountain in the middle of the night, brushing her off with various excuses no matter how pleadingly Yufang begged.
In the end, only about ten households had been willing to go up the mountain and search.
Consequently, the pork Xia Huai'an gave away amounted to just over sixty pounds.
That still left over a hundred pounds of pork, bones, offal, and a massive pig head.
"Everyone scatter!" Xia Huai'an called out.
The meaning behind these words was abundantly clear: the rest would not be distributed. Those who contributed nothing would not receive a single scrap of meat.
A few villagers departed with lingering reluctance, while others who failed to get any pork broke out into vicious curses.
With so much pork, they certainly couldn't finish it all—letting it rot rather than sharing it with them was simply unforgivable!
Yet other villagers fired back in mockery: "When they asked you for help, you wouldn't go, but when it's time to hand out pork you want a share. How thick is your face?"
Xia Huai'an couldn't be bothered with this bunch of shameless, unruly rabble.
Instead, he had Yufang take some offal and trotters to deliver to those who had taken part in the search the previous night.
The earlier distribution of pork had been Xia Huai'an's token of gratitude, and now having Yufang pay another visit to thank them in person fully demonstrated his sincerity.
Should the need ever arise to ask the villagers for help again in the future, everyone would be all the more enthusiastic.
Yufang was deeply reluctant, murmuring to herself: "If I'd known, I wouldn't have gone around begging people to go up the mountain to find you. Giving away this much meat is such a waste!"
Mother Xia fretted even more, muttering nonstop: "All this meat—do you know how much money it's worth? Just throwing it away to act generous, who lives like this!"
Even so, Xia Huai'an was the master of the house, so she could only let her heart bleed silently without daring to voice any opposition.
Once the villagers had left, Xia Huai'an announced loudly, "Yufang, get the fire going and cook some noodles! Today I'm going to make a dish myself: sparerib noodles!"
Xiaomao asked with a flutter of anxiety, "Big Brother, can I eat spareribs too?"
"Until you're stuffed!" Xia Huai'an laughed.
"Big Brother is the best! Long live Big Brother!" Xiaomao skipped and bounced as she ran into the back kitchen to help.
Mother Xia sighed. "Go on then, spoil this girl rotten. Eating like this, what household will ever dare to take her in as a bride in the future?"
Xia Huai'an replied, "Just find someone of matching status! Since our family can let Xiaomao eat meat every day, in the future we'll find her a husband's family where she can eat meat every day too. That'll do!"
Mother Xia was startled. "A husband's family that eats meat every day? Can this yellow-haired little hussy marry into some noble and prestigious house?"
"Hard to say!" Xia Huai'an smiled faintly.
At noon, the four members of the Xia family enjoyed a wonderfully satisfying meal.
Strictly speaking, they had stuffed themselves to the point of bursting. There was still half a bowl of noodles and a bowl of spareribs left in the pot, and even Xiaomao declared she couldn't eat another bite.
Xia Huai'an instructed Yufang, "Salt and cure the remaining meat. Braise the pig head with star anise and spices, simmering it for the better part of a day until it's tender and soft."
"What about that sow? I had someone check, and there are no piglets in its belly," Yufang asked.
After a brief pause for thought, Xia Huai'an said, "We can't finish it all right now, and with everyone in the village being poor, this pork can't be sold off here anyway. Tomorrow morning, I'll ask Old Six and Old Seven to lead it to the county town and sell it."
Feeling drowsy after lunch, Xia Huai'an took another nap, sleeping right through dinnertime.
By the time he woke up, it was already past ten o'clock at night. According to village customs, this hour counted as the deep of night, and the villagers had long since fallen asleep.
Yufang was standing watch by Xia Huai'an's side, dozing off while leaning against a chair. The moment Xia Huai'an woke up, she snapped awake as well.
"Big Uncle must be hungry. Here's a bowl of sparerib noodles, still warm." With that, Yufang brought a covered bowl of sparerib noodles from the kang and set it on the small table beside the bamboo bed.
Xia Huai'an nodded. "Go get some sleep."
Yufang said timidly, "Last night I acted on my own accord. Whatever punishment or beating Big Uncle gives me, I will accept. I only beg Big Uncle not to drive me away!"
Xia Huai'an smiled. "This wasn't your fault, it was mine! I should have come back and given word first instead of leaving you all worried!"
Yufang stared at Xia Huai'an for a moment before saying, "Big Brother talks differently from the other men in the village."
"How is it different?" Xia Huai'an asked with curiosity.
"I've heard the wives and aunties in the village say that when men talk, they're always fierce and bossy, not like Big Uncle... not like this..." Yufang struggled to find the right word.
Gentle? Considerate? Respectful?
All of them seemed right, yet none could fully capture Xia Huai'an's attitude toward her.
"Equality, I suppose," Xia Huai'an smiled faintly. "In this world of ours, men are honored and women are humble; but in the Immortal Realm, they emphasize gender equality. Since you and I are equals in status, the tone in which I speak to you naturally treats you as an equal. That's why I don't have that condescending, overbearing arrogance that village men show toward their own women."
"The Immortal Realm truly sounds like a wonderful place!" Yufang sighed in admiration.
"Everything has two sides, the good and the bad. The good is that women have higher status and can pursue their own careers to make greater contributions; the bad is that with more little goddesses around, fewer children are being born. Life in the Immortal Realm gets better and better, yet the population dwindles."
"If they don't have children, are they even women? Wouldn't their whole lives be filled with regret?" Yufang asked, puzzled.
"You can't put it that way. First and foremost, they are human beings, and only secondarily are they women. Even without having children, life can still be lived very meaningfully."
Yufang shook her head; she couldn't comprehend it.
Xia Huai'an did not continue the discussion. The concept of gender equality was simply too advanced for this current world.
After all, he had received nine years of compulsory education; playing the part of the village "big man" with a clear conscience and accepting Yufang's subservience was something he neither could nor wished to do.
After Xia Huai'an finished the sparerib noodles, Yufang cleared away the bowls and chopsticks and returned to the west room. Lowering her head, she murmured that it was warm in here and that she wanted to stay and rest.
Xia Huai'an agreed; how could he not understand what Yufang meant?
Yufang's actions last night—going from door to door begging people to go up the mountain to search for him—had fully demonstrated the position Xia Huai'an held in her heart.
Yufang felt that no man had ever treated her as well or as gently as Xia Huai'an; and for Xia Huai'an, likewise, no girl had ever been so considerate, so attentive, and taken him so deeply to heart.
Thus, this was a two-way journey toward one another.
The two of them squeezed onto the bamboo bed, and he instinctively pulled Yufang into his arms. Her body trembled slightly from nervousness and shyness.
"What I said that day wasn't just idle talk. Once your health recovers a bit more and your heart is ready, we'll get married!" Xia Huai'an said.
"Mm!" Yufang murmured in agreement. Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her face.
There was no bitterness—these were tears of pure happiness.
"Big Uncle!"
"Hmm?"
"I traded for some old dough and lye water. Tomorrow morning I'll steam some meat buns for Big Uncle to eat."
"Good! Make sure to steam plenty so we can take them as dry rations on the road."
"Big Uncle, I checked just now, some seeds have already sprouted in the greenhouse."
"Those are cucumber seedlings. They grow the fastest! In a few days we'll set up stakes for the cucumber vines to climb."
"Big Uncle, white spots have appeared on some of the fodder. They aren't moldy, are they?"
"Those are straw mushrooms successfully inoculated. Just wait, those white spots will turn into little fan-shaped mushroom caps. In a few days they'll grow large! By that time, we'll have stir-fried pork slices with straw mushrooms."
"Big Uncle, after we get married, how many children shall we have?"
"Huh? This... I haven't thought about it yet."
"Are Big Uncle and the people in the Immortal Realm like that—they don't want children?"
"No, I just haven't given this question careful thought yet. Yufang, how many do you want to have?"
"I... I want to have a few more."
"Then you need to build up your health! I hear that big hips make it easier to deliver babies."
"Oh! Then I'll eat more from now on and grow my hips nice and big. I just worry Mother might be unhappy; she always says women shouldn't eat too much."
"Silly girl! Just sneak a little extra food in the back kitchen where Mother can't hear you, and she won't nag."
"I can't do that! Big Uncle is the head of the household, how could I eat before Big Uncle does! Big Uncle, you're really good. Everyone in the village says you're a good man. The aunties all say I'm blessed."
"Don't say things like that in the future. In the Immortal Realm, when people face someone they don't like, they say: 'You're a good person.' It's called being handed a good guy card. Getting a good guy card means you don't want to associate with the other person."
"That's not what I meant at all. Big Uncle, are you truly not afraid that I'm an ill-fated jinx who brings misfortune to her husbands?"
"I'm half an immortal, you know! You can't bring misfortune to me—I'm the only one who can keep you under control!"
"That's what I thought too. Auntie Zhao said that as long as I bear a child for Big Uncle, it will break the curse of the jinx fate."
Accompanied by their rambling, endless chatter, the two of them gradually drifted off into dreamland.