Once they reached the foot of the mountain, they walked to Jiang Zhou’s place and unloaded the wild boar. Since Jiang Zhou didn’t know how to handle the animal, he let others helped him with the meat.

In this village, meat was rare and only served on special days. Therefore, when they heard that Jiang Zhou caught a wild boar, they all went to gather in his house. There were also wealthy families who want to buy some meat.

Soon a large pot was brought to boil the water, Liu Sanlang held a long knife, he stabbed the wild boar on the neck and went down to the chest. The blood was flowing down the knife. The villagers didn’t eat pig blood, they all thought it was too fishy. Jiang Zhou knew something from the memory, so he caught the blood in a basin and put it aside, waited for it to be solid block.

Another man with big arm and thick waist scalded the wild boar’s hair with hot water, then he slitted open the belly, took out all the intestines and threw it aside under Jiang Zhou’s initiation. While Liu Sanlang and others were cutting the meat, the villagers gathered around Jiang Zhou, “Jiang Da (eldest), can you sell the meat?”

Jiang Zhou replied, “Of course I can. This wild boar is half mine and Liu Sanlang, I can’t eat too much. If you want anything just tell me, Liu Sanlang will handle the other half.”

Liu Sanlang was surprised, “You killed this wild boar, I didn’t do anything. How could I get so much share?”

“You were the one who found the wild boar, later I helped killing it. Don’t refuse it, this half must be yours.” Jiang Zhou shook his head, if Liu Sanlang didn’t discover this wild boar and fought so hard with it. He might not know what was going on and be able to kill it. Besides, he just woke up after such a mess from the traveler, it was a good time to change people impression of him.

Liu Sanlang couldn’t refuse, so he agreed, “Since you said it, I won’t say anymore. I, Liu Sanlang, owe you a favor.” He wiped his hands and pointed to a few big men who were helping him, “Those brothers helped us cutting the meat so they have a share for it. Since you already gave me half, can their share come from mine?”

Jiang Zhou nodded without arguing with him. Liu Sanlang split the whole wild boar with a knife, he gave Jiang Zhou all trotter then cut off three kg of pork belly, “I’m not good at cooking. This will be leave to you.”

Jiang Zhou smiled, “Okay, leave it to me. Let’s share the meat with everyone first.”

Except the meat they kept for themselves, there was one hundred kg meat for the rest. Jiang Zhou borrowed a yard and sold the remaining meat. However, the villagers weren’t rich and rarely had extra money. Most of the meats were bartered with other things, some bought ten kg, others only bought half a kg. In the end, Jiang Zhou was left with four trotter and thirty kg meat, there was chickens, ducks, fish even eggs used by other villagers to barter. He also got money almost one tael. It could be seen this wild boar was really fat and full of meat.

He happily carried his meat and prepared to cook for the villagers who helped him. Although, the old Yang’s house was almost broken, there was stove inside so he could cook a simple meal. The villagers who helped carry the wild pig felt a little ashamed when they saw the two of them use a lot of meat for them. Jiang Zhou needed to repair his roof, so he had no choice but set up a stove outside and cook in the yard.

He looked around the things brought by the villagers; Jiang Zhou decided to cook pork noodle. He got rice noodle from the barter, it was brought by aunty Chen, the family had a lot of land but they can’t take care all of it, there was a shortage of fertilizers so the land was a bit barren. Rice noodle was a thing that Chen family had figured out in their spare time, they occasionally sold it in the market. Because of the labor cost, the price wasn’t cheap but many people were willing to but it.

Jiang Zhou put the pork belly into the pot to blanch it, then he boiled some sugar until brown and took out the meat to fried it with the sugar for color. Once done frying, he put the meat back into the pot and added onion, ginger and garlic. He covered the pot and waited until it was fragrant, the smells weren’t strong but it attracted a group of people who hadn’t eaten meat for a long time. They all swallowed their saliva and looked into the pot.

Jiang Zhou didn’t care and quickly cut another pork belly and sliced them; he chooses the section with most fat. He threw potato, garlic sprouts, a spoonful of fermented bean sauce given he got from the villagers, then he added the pork belly and stir-fried them. The smells drilled into people’s noses.

Liu Sanlang sniffed hard and said, “How come it smelled so good when you cook it?”

In the village, they usually only bought small portion of meat during new year. Most of the meat was sacrificed for the God and it was forbidden to add any seasoning, they just boiled the meat and put a little salt. The taste wasn’t that good, they could only feel salty.

When Jiang Zhou was cooking, aunty Lu came back with vegetables basket from afar, she stuffed him two eggplants and said, “I thought there was only some old eggplant left in the field, instead I found these two tender eggplants. Your uncle and I are tired of eating it, so I’ll give it to you.”

She was kind, so Jiang Zhou cut a piece of meat for her. Unexpectedly, aunty Lu ran away before he could say anything to her, “It was only two eggplants, it’s not worth much money. You just take it, don’t give me meat. I’m not here to cheat on you, I don’t want it!”

Jiang Zhou had no choice but to pay her back later, he turned around continued to cook and stewed a big bowl of custard, fried the eggplant then asked everyone to eat.

Five men sat around together; they devoured the foods until there was nothing left. While they were eating, Jiang Zhou cleaned the four trotters. He stewed one with soybeans and boiled the other with sauce. He saved the other two and tied it with a straw rope, he prepared to go out.

Liu Sanlang was helping him cleaning the dishes and saw him almost went out, “Where are you going?”

Jiang Zhou said, “Go to Wen Yan’s house.”

Liu Sanlang winked at him, “You do know how to love your wife.”

Jiang Zhou was a little helpless, in fact, he didn’t know whether Wen Yan would talk to him. Before he was unconscious and replaced, Wen Yan said he felt was weak and lethargic. He was worried Wen Yan was sick. He went to invite the doctor in the town. Surprisingly, Wen Yan was pregnant! He had known that ger could pregnant but the chance was low. He and Wen Yan had close relationship since childhood, their parents also satisfied with the marriage. Others were worried about his bloodline, he also planned to have no children, who knew that Wen Yan was pregnant.

He was so excited that day and fell of the carriage in a daze…

From the traveler’s memory, the man actually thought it was unbelievable for a man to be pregnant and he regarded Wen Yan as a freak. Although the man didn’t say anything but the attitude was different from Jiang Zhou, Wen Yan had always been smart, how could he didn’t feel it?

Jiang Zhou thought, the reason behind Wen Yan and the traveler fought probably from this reason and not from the failed business. After all, Wen Yan once held his hands and told him, he would stay with him in one boat, through thick and thin. How could he fight over a shop?