PCJ – Chapter 150 Roasted Wine

Zhang Dechun wandered around the village for a while, visiting almost every household. The losses for the Meizi Village production team were significant. Besides Zhang Enzhong’s family losing two pigs and dozens of chickens and ducks, there were other considerable damages.

Zhang Benrui’s house, which had nothing left after a fire earlier in the year, surprisingly didn’t suffer any loss this time. However, this guy had a bizarre idea: he decided to hunt a wolf for its meat. Instead of catching the wolf, he got a bite from it, and had to go to the hospital for a tetanus shot and rabies vaccine, costing him more than buying several pounds of meat. His wound was quite severe, with a large chunk of flesh bitten off by the wolf. In such cold weather, it would take a long time to fully recover.

“That wolf was so skinny, just skin and bones. Even if you chewed it, it wouldn’t be tasty. You really had nothing better to do after eating, huh? Now look, you almost crippled yourself,” Ma Jinxi complained bitterly about her husband. Their family was already struggling, with the house not yet rebuilt, and now they had to spend a significant amount of money, meaning they would have to continue living under someone else’s roof for even longer. Although they were living in the old house, it never felt as comfortable as having their own home.

Zhang Benrui, head down, silently smoked his cigarette.

Zhang Dechun was also furious at Zhang Benrui’s reckless behavior. “Benrui, use your brain when you do things. How could you think you could hunt a big wolf? Do you think it’s just a local dog? Even ten local dogs wouldn’t stand a chance against one big wolf. Do you think you could handle ten dogs?”

“I had already stunned one wolf with a stick, but another one came up from behind. Otherwise, I would have succeeded,” Zhang Benrui said regretfully.

“You pig-headed fool! You’re not even as smart as that beast. You thought you could take down a big wolf with one stick, but that wolf was just bait. You fell right into their trap. Have you ever seen a wolf enter the village alone? They always work together. You don’t even understand that? And you call yourself a militiaman? Your combat awareness is worse than ordinary folks,” Zhang Dechun said, wishing he could knock some sense into Zhang Benrui.

“He’s just a pig! His brain is full of mush. How could he not see that?” Ma Jinxi was furious.

“You’re blaming me now? When I said I was going to hunt the wolf, you were asking what wolf meat tasted like. Now it’s all my fault,” Zhang Benrui glared at his wife.

Frightened, Ma Jinxi took a few steps back and said nothing more.

“Stop arguing about whose fault it is. Go to town quickly. Get the rabies vaccine and the tetanus shot immediately, and don’t let anything else go wrong,” Zhang Dechun said before leaving.

Zhang Manyin and his wife initially wanted to invite Zhang Jiaohua’s family to stay for dinner. However, Liu Qiaoye insisted on going back home. She didn’t want to trouble the elderly couple. If they stayed, Ma Donghua would have to prepare more dishes, and the elderly couple hadn’t bought much for the New Year. If they ate their food, the elderly might run out of supplies, as it was hard for them to earn money and they always budgeted carefully for the New Year.

Back home, the first thing Zhang Youping did was to reinforce parts of the house he felt were still not sturdy. The courtyard wall was previously just over a meter high, built with stones and topped with a fence. He had worried that wolves might get into the yard, but luckily, the big wolves only passed by outside.

Zhang Youping believed this was thanks to Shanbao, their dog. In reality, it wasn’t the dog’s doing, but the household god’s protection. The wolves sensed the divine presence and avoided Zhang Youping’s home.

“Dad, you don’t need to reinforce it anymore. Last night, the wolves didn’t dare come in. We have the ancestral master’s protection; even if the wolves had twenty times the courage, they wouldn’t come in,” Zhang Jiaohua said while eating sunflower seeds, occasionally taking one out of his pocket. Zhang Jiaohua was different from other kids his age, who typically wore aprons over their clothes to keep them clean while eating. He disliked aprons and refused to wear them despite Liu Qiaoye’s efforts to persuade him. Eventually, Liu Qiaoye gave up, warning him not to dirty his clothes or he’d have to wear the apron. Fortunately, since learning Meishan magic, Zhang Jiaohua was more capable and kept his clothes clean, so Liu Qiaoye stopped insisting on the apron.

“What do you know, kid? And stop spitting seeds all over the place. Look, the floor is covered in them,” Zhang Youping said, irritated by Zhang Jiaohua’s leisurely attitude.

“Dad, look, it’s snowing. In a while, the snow will cover the seeds,” Zhang Jiaohua said, bringing a small stool to sit on, watching Zhang Youping busy himself.

“Jiaohua, what are you doing? Come help me with the fire,” Liu Qiaoye called from where she was making rice wine.

Zhang Jiaohua, having just settled on the stool, was annoyed but glanced at the house and didn’t move right away.

Zhang Youping chuckled, “Your mother is calling you. Better go.”

Zhang Jiaohua put the sunflower seeds back in his pocket, clapped his hands, picked up the stool, and slowly walked inside, looking very cheeky.

“Jiaohua, help me watch the fire and don’t let it get too big. I’m going out to pick some radishes for the New Year’s radish stew tomorrow,” Liu Qiaoye said.

“Okay. Mom, will this jar hold all the wine? What if it gets full?” Zhang Jiaohua looked at the wine jar. It was large, with a narrow neck, able to hold thirty to forty pounds of wine.

“It won’t get full. One jar holds less than thirty pounds, maybe just over twenty. This jar can hold more than forty pounds,” Liu Qiaoye laughed, thinking her son’s question was childish.

“That’s not necessarily true. I’ll invite the ancestral master later and chant the wine-making spell. This jar might not be enough,” Zhang Jiaohua said seriously, though his youthful appearance made it look cute no matter how serious he tried to be.

Liu Qiaoye laughed until her stomach hurt, “Well, if it gets full, I’ll use our water bucket, and if that’s not enough, our water tank can hold hundreds of pounds of wine.”