Chapter 388: Chapter 201: Dividing the Flesh_1
Second watch, begging for pink.
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The pig’s large intestines were full of feces and still steaming; it was no wonder that Lady Gu, used to being the Scholar’s wife, vomited. Lian Manman hastily walked away a bit farther.
Perhaps it was due to being accustomed to the delicacies of land and sea in the county town, Lady Gu could no longer stomach the food at home after returning. Especially since the Lian Family started wrapping buns, breakfast had become monotonously the same, either steamed buns with pickled cabbage soup or Chinese cabbage soup. Of course, the soup contained no meat, at most a spoonful of lard. Old Master Lian and Lady Zhou were old and liked to eat their food cooked until mushy. Often the vegetable soup was too well-cooked, losing its freshness and acquiring an earthy, fishy stench.
Lady Gu obviously didn’t like it.
That morning, Lady Gu was severely scolded by Lady Zhou again, and as a result, she hadn’t eaten anything till now. Luckily, her stomach was empty; otherwise, vomiting would have been quite a spectacle.
As Lady Gu bent over retching, Lady Zhou’s expression grew even darker. In her eyes, Lady Gu was deceitful; Lady Gu’s retching was fake, a sign that she didn’t want to work, an intentional jab at her.
"Don’t create a mess at the doorstep. Take the basin to the back courtyard and clean it up," Lady Zhou commanded Lady Gu.
"Mother, I really can’t. Let me do some other work, anything will do," Lady Gu lifted her head and forced a smile at Lady Zhou, "Mother, you know I don’t eat intestines, I can’t stand the smell."
"So you want me to do it if you won’t?" Lady Zhou now had a handle on Lady Gu and immediately glared, berating her as she pointed at Lady Gu’s nose, "You don’t eat, you don’t work—oy, everyone, listen to this, has any daughter-in-law ever said such a thing? As the eldest daughter-in-law, are you not part of the Lian Family? You are acting like an ancestor of the Lian Family. It’s such an inconvenience for you to work. Perhaps we should place you on the ancestor’s shrine and worship you! Our Old Lian Family is cursed for eight generations to have married such a disobedient and unfilial thing like you!"
In the courtyard, those slaughtering the pig and working were busy with their own tasks, none looking this way. Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu were not working; both of them listened to Lady Zhou’s scolding and hung their heads. Lady Chiang, with Lian Duo and Niuniu, stayed in the western room and did not come out.
Lady Zhou’s scolding was extremely harsh and in front of Butcher Zhang, an outsider. Moreover, people outside the gate who heard the Lian Family was slaughtering a pig and had come to watch out of curiosity.
When Lady Zhou scolded the other sons’ wives, it was typically indoors.
Lian Manman realized that Lady Zhou was doing this on purpose, aiming to shame Lady Gu and trample her reputation into the mud.
Lady Gu, who was being scolded, blushed deeply and glanced at Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu, but both avoided her gaze.
"Whose family slaughters a pig without cleaning the intestines? In the past, the wives of Old Second, Old Three, and Old Fourth, who hasn’t washed them? As the eldest son’s wife, look at you; what resemblance do you bear to a daughter-in-law, to an elder sister-in-law? You even have the nerve to say you don’t want to. You claim you’ll do anything—what can you do? You won’t even clean this. If you won’t work, then just don’t. Go and lie down; I’ll do it," Lady Zhou declared loudly.
Lady Zhou rolled up her sleeves, ready to wash the intestines herself. Lady Gu could not really let Lady Zhou do it; otherwise, she would become notorious as the undutiful daughter-in-law in the whole village and would lose all respect.
"Mother, I’ll wash. I’ll do it right now," Lady Gu hastily wiped her tears and squatted down by the basin.
"It stinks! Don’t do it at the front. Take it to the back courtyard," Lady Zhou said.
This time, without any hesitation, Lady Gu took the wooden basin and went to the back courtyard.
Lady Zhou followed her.
The first step of cleaning the intestines was to get rid of the pig feces inside. While crying and retching, Lady Gu used her hands to squeeze the intestines, clearing out the feces.
"Use both hands to scrub," Lady Zhou stood at the doorway, giving orders while watching Lady Gu work, "Clean it thoroughly, then turn the intestines inside out and scrape them with straw. Make sure it’s squeaky clean. Don’t roll your eyes and think of any tricks. If there’s even a slight bit unclean, you’ll eat it."
Lian Manman knew that to clean the intestines thoroughly, wealthy families would normally use soybean flour. Soybean flour was still considered grain, and a handful of soybean flour could save a life in a famine year. Tenant farmers wouldn’t use such a wasteful method to clean intestines. They used straw to scrape little by little, being careful neither to rupture the intestines nor to leave them dirty. It required great care to clean them thoroughly. While scraping and washing several times, they also had to endure the smell.
Lady Zhou watched as Lady Gu scraped the intestines bit by bit and figured that Lady Gu didn’t dare pull a stunt, so she stopped watching and went back to oversee the other children working.
