RYEY – Chapter 173 The Stepmother Arrives

This time, Xiangyang Village had killed a total of one big wild boar and four piglets. One of the piglets had been taken by the village chief, and apart from the old village chief, no one knew where Li Huan had taken the remaining piglets.

But no one dared to complain, because everyone knew that all five of these wild boars were hunted by Li Huan alone. Even if someone wanted to take them all, there was nothing they could do.

Ever since the big boar was sold to the state procurement station, Li Huan had become famous. The village chief of Xiangqian Village and the person in charge of the state procurement station both came to consult with Li Huan about when to go hunting again.

But Li Huan refused outright. He pointed at the snow beginning to fall lightly from the sky. In this weather, organizing a hunting trip would be a death trap, especially for ordinary people with no hunting experience.

“Comrade Li Huan, let’s speak frankly. We are urgently in need of pork, and now that the year is coming to an end, the supply is just not enough. You see…”

“This leader, I’m just a clever housewife trying to cook without rice. Pork is a precious commodity, but human life is even more valuable. I cannot gamble with lives.”

“I understand that. If you don’t want to hunt, then fine. But I heard that you caught five pigs this time, sold one big one to us, and there are still four piglets.”

“Leaders are always well-informed. Out of the four piglets, one alive must be raised by us, and the remaining three are barely enough even if distributed within our village.”

“Give me one more, no, just half a piglet. Comrade Li Huan, you are the village chief—you should shoulder the great responsibility of our nation, and carry the patriotic spirit in your heart.”

Li Huan: “…”

Chen Weidang, sitting nearby, could not remain calm. He hated whoever had leaked this information. If he ever found out who it was, he would skin them alive.

A piglet, once skinned and gutted, weighed no more than seventy to eighty jin. The more than thirty villagers who participated in the hunt each got about two jin of pork. The rest had already been cooked into “slaughter vegetables” and eaten by the villagers.

As for the remaining two piglets, one was given alive to Uncle Niu to raise, and the other was butchered the same day and sold to the villagers at five mao per jin.

So there was no way they could provide half a wild boar to the procurement station chief. Chen Weidang knew this person too well—if these pigs reached him, they would certainly end up on the black market.

Seeing the tension rising, Li Huan rubbed his hands and had Shouhou buy forty jin of pork to deliver to the chief. Though it would be a loss, it could earn a small favor.

“Actually, wild boar meat isn’t as tasty as domestic pork, so I had a friend exchange the remaining forty jin for domestic pork and will have it delivered to you.”

The chief’s eyes lit up; domestic pork was more expensive than wild boar. He quickly nodded in agreement and left the village committee smiling. Chen Weidang’s expression darkened, knowing that Li Huan was about to take a financial loss to patch this problem.

“Huanzi, it’s all my fault. Once I find out who leaked the news, I won’t let them off.”

Li Huan shook his head. With so many people in the village, even if they found out, what could it change? Better to learn from this mistake and prepare earlier next time.

“I’ll call Shouhou to get forty jin of pork. Losing seven or eight mao per jin is just half a month’s wage anyway.”

“I’ll cover half.”

“Fine, it’s settled. Don’t worry, Old Village Chief. We’ll have plenty of ways to earn money in the future.”

Chen Weidang sighed. This child really was naive. For villagers, earning money outside farming is difficult. Even catching these wild boars had more to do with luck than skill.

Shouhou, receiving Li Huan’s call, could hardly believe his ears. But as someone often running errands, he understood the procurement chief’s mindset.

Because they worked secretly, they had to maintain good relations with such people. Otherwise, if discovered, the loss would be theirs to bear.

The snow fell harder, and the weather grew colder. Li Huan once again beat the village gong—finally, it was time for Xiangyang Village to distribute food and money. Once the distribution was done, the village would enter the hibernation period.

As expected, although the price of grain hadn’t increased this year, the share for men and women had decreased. Men could get up to 342 jin instead of the usual 360, and women and children only 266 jin instead of 280. Fecalball and the others wanted to protest but saw Li Huan carrying the earth-wood store and held their tongues.

“Villagers, everyone knows this year’s harvest. Matching last year’s distribution isn’t possible, but we had great success hunting, so we can use this to cover the shortfall.”

“How can you cover it? This is all the grain we have. I’d rather have grain than money.”

“Exactly. With the year’s end approaching, the grain station is sold out. To get grain, you’d have to buy on the black market at a huge price.”

Just as villagers murmured, Chen Weidang appeared, followed by several young men pushing flatbed carts loaded with bags of grain.

“What kind of grain is it—coarse or fine?”

“Wow, this must be thousands of jin. Could it be that Huanzi brought it?”

The villagers looked at the young men proudly pushing the carts, some puzzled, but most guessed why.

“Villagers, the big boar and one piglet sold for 190 yuan. I exchanged it for sorghum rice. Those who lack grain can buy it at three fen per jin. Register if you want it; once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

Li Huan picked up the megaphone again, announcing rapidly. Apart from the whistling north wind, the yard fell silent.

“Huanzi, thank you.”

Aunt Wang was the first to step forward. Everyone knew that this year’s grain was insufficient, so neighboring Xiangqian Village was already in a panic. Without Li Huan, Xiangyang villagers would have suffered the same scarcity, eating even less each meal.

The lively distribution began. Most villagers were happy—grain in the cellar, wild boar meat buried under the snow, rendered lard—all meant no worries for the New Year.

Just as everyone happily carried grain home, a woman with a red headscarf appeared at the village entrance, asking around for the location of the educated youth point.