Chapter 49: The Grand Performance Begins in Sanshuiawan Village

After seeing off Huang Shan, Su Yu hurriedly entered his house, carried the burlap sack over to the water vat, grabbed a laundry basin, and dumped the pig's head and offal into it.

There were no large basins at home, and only the laundry basin was big enough to hold so much meat.

"Wow... Third Brother, is this the good food you brought back for me?"

"Haha, exactly. How is it? Is this enough for a little glutton like you to eat?"

Upon seeing the pig's head, the little girl was not scared at all; in fact, she was almost drooling.

Su Yu chased Blackie aside and gave it a command, "Sit down, don't move around."

There was no help for it; the dog smelled the raw meat and kept trying to approach the laundry basin, which simply wouldn't do.

"Little girl, go get Blackie's bowl, and then bring me a knife."

Su Yu pulled over a small wooden stool, took out the pig's head first, and placed it on the burlap sack. Because they had been in a rush, the hunters hadn't even shaved off the bristles; they had merely chopped off the pig's head, gutted the carcass, and handed the offal over.

Although Huang Jianmin had used a cannon-style trap basket, when they were up on the mountain being rewarded with the tiger-headed boar, they had eaten the entrails right there from the trap basket. In contrast, the other wild boars hadn't been gutted on the spot, so although their entrails were removed on the way back, they were still completely intact.

Su Yu cut off a piece of pig lung and gave it to Blackie, letting the dog chew on it slowly.

Then, Su Yu lit a fire, placed the pig's head over the flames to singe off the bristles, and used a knife to scrape away the charred hair and outer skin.

The pig's large intestines also needed to be turned inside out for cleaning. Ordinarily, washing pig intestines required rubbing them repeatedly with flour or cornmeal, but in the countryside where people struggled to have enough to eat, such luxury was out of the question. Su Yu had to use sandy soil as a substitute, finally rinsing them clean with clear water.

As for the pig's heart and liver, they only needed a thorough wash before going into the pot to boil. It was the pig's head and large intestines that were extremely troublesome; after working all morning, he finally got them thoroughly cleaned.

Su Yu wasted no time in starting the preparation. First, he braised the two pig heads. Then, he tossed the large intestines into the pot, brought them to a quick boil, scooped them out, changed the water, and repeated the process.

Finally, he braised the pig's heart and liver. These were very easy to cook, so he saved them for last.

Once all of that was done, Su Yu picked up the burlap sack, brought over the small intestines to wash them, cut them into sections, dropped them into the boiling water for a quick blanch, added a bit of salt for curing, and then scooped them out to air-dry. These were meant for Blackie.

People wouldn't eat pig small intestines, primarily because they were too difficult to clean. Being so narrow, turning them inside out was a hassle, and there were bound to be impurities inside. Dogs didn't mind, however. Su Yu had brought back two strings of pig small intestines, which would be enough to feed Blackie for two or three days.

By the time Su Yu finished his chores, his younger sister had already eaten her fill. Naturally, she had been waiting eagerly as soon as the pig's head came out of the pot, and Su Yu had simply sliced off two pig tongues for her.

As for Blackie, besides the small intestines, it also had pig lungs to eat. However, once Liu Yuzhi came home, the pig lungs would most likely be confiscated, so Su Yu deliberately gave Blackie extra pig lungs so it could stuff itself in one go, preventing Comrade Liu Yuzhi from saving them for human consumption.

Once boiled, the pig lungs were perfectly fine for people to eat, but this was a wild boar. Wild boar meat was naturally gamey and pungent, let alone the offal. Moreover, since they had been scooped out and left soaking in a wooden barrel overnight at the commune without anyone tending to them, the smell was exceptionally strong.

By the time he wrapped everything up, Liu Yuzhi, Su Jin, Su Sheng, and his father, Su He, had all returned.

Seeing that their son had brought back so much good food, they were pleasantly surprised, but at the same time deeply worried, wanting to hear about his hunting expedition. Su Yu naturally glossed over the details with a few casual words.

At noon, a whole basin of pork was sliced up. His older brother, father, fourth brother, and mother all ate with great satisfaction—only the little sister truly couldn't fit another bite.

"Oh, right, since you weren't in the village yesterday, something happened."

"Oh? What happened?"

Little Su Jing chimed in eagerly, "I know, I know! Lai San came to our village and tried to drag Educated Youth Xu away to register their marriage, but he was stopped by the village chief uncle."

Goodness gracious, Su Yu thought to himself. Lai San certainly had nerve.

"Not only that, during the commotion, Su Bin stepped forward to play the peacemaker and even said that if worst came to worst, he could help pay off her debt. Apparently, Educated Youth Xu accidentally broke Lai San's newly bought radio, and it costs eighty yuan!"

"In the end, things fell apart and the police were called. Educated Youth Xu claimed they had set a trap to frame her, and even accused Su Bin of being the mastermind behind the setup. But the police conducted a brief investigation and found no conclusive evidence to prove it was a scheme."

"Ultimately, the radio still had to be paid for, but they couldn't force her to marry him. The police explained that freedom of marriage was a right and debts had to be repaid, but the two matters were unrelated. Still, Lai San used the debt as an excuse to pressure her into marrying him out of desperation."

"After giving Lai San and Su Bin a stern warning, the police left. They negotiated a settlement, seemingly giving a seven-day deadline. If Educated Youth Xu can't come up with the money after seven days, she's likely to end up in the police station—perhaps sent away for re-through-labor."

Su Yu was dumbfounded. Re-through-labor? Even professional deadbeats in the twenty-first century didn't get treated like that! If they did, who would dare default on a debt? But nowadays, failing to repay money could actually get you locked up? Was that for real? Were they just trying to scare people?

Scaring people wasn't out of the question. After all, people's legal awareness was weak back then, and while the police wouldn't act recklessly, they sometimes used scare tactics intentionally.

"And then?"

Although Su Yu hadn't planned on getting involved, he was quite curious about how the matter unfolded.

"Heh, nobody knows what happened next, but Educated Youth Xu made those accusations against Su Bin in public, and the whole village heard it. So now, everyone in the village is looking at Su Bin very strangely."

"You should've seen Su Bin's face—it was practically green, whether from anger or frustration."

"Tsk tsk tsk, he really is quite unlucky."

"Oh, right, the police came to make inquiries later and specifically stopped by our house. They even asked if you were home. I told them you weren't, that you had gone to Huang Village to hunt. They specifically mentioned that they'll be coming back later to ask you a few questions. What is this all about?"

The whole family looked at him with intense curiosity. Su Yu was speechless; needless to say, Educated Youth Xu must have sold him out.

Naturally, the police would have questioned Educated Youth Xu: How could you be so certain it was a trap? How did you guess that Su Bin was the one behind it?

Her expression must have given her away, failing to fool the veteran police officers, and under further questioning, she had exposed herself.

Su Yu wasn't panicked, though. After all, he had merely made an educated guess; he had nothing to fear.

"Oh, it's nothing, don't worry. It's probably just a routine inquiry. By the way, I'm heading into town this afternoon, don't worry about me."

He planned to go into town to buy a gun and drop by the police station along the way, sparing the officers the trouble of visiting his home and letting the entire village let their imaginations run wild.

The crux of the matter was that such business was utterly shameful. If word got out, people would think their whole family was engaged in infighting, with cousins deliberately trying to frame one another.

Furthermore, it wouldn't look good for his father either. Although the two households didn't have a great relationship, they hadn't openly fallen out on the surface. Once the police showed up at their doorstep, smart people would inevitably figure out the correct answer.

Rather than waiting, he decided not to give the police that opportunity. He would proactively present himself to clear things up. Besides, everything was just speculation and didn't constitute a crime.

"Alright then, if you want to go to town, go ahead. Just watch your step on the road."

His father was always concise with his words, taking after his grandfather.