On the second morning, Qin Huai and the other two went to Liu Er Noodle House again and ate three bowls of plain noodles (Qin Huai borrowed so noodles from Liu Er and made a bowl of hand-rolled noodles for Stone Dadan). Without Jiang Weiguo's braised at to accompany it, the plain noodles that were quite tasty the day before suddenly seed bland.
After eating the plain noodles, Qin Huai and the other two returned to the hotel to play on their phones. Originally, they intended to wander around the town, but unfortunately, the town was quite small and had no attractions worth visiting. Even the once entertaining phone gas seed dull as they anticipated what dishes from the pig slaughter they could enjoy at lunch.
After struggling painfully to play on their phones for an hour, An Youyou ca up with a bold decision—to go to the supermarket to buy two cases of milk so they could head to Jiang Weiguo's house earlier to watch the pig slaughter.
Watching a pig being slaughtered was much more interesting than lying in the hotel playing on phones.
Qin Huai and Stone Dadan thought it was a good idea.
Under normal circumstances, the visiting process should have been for the three of them to go to Jiang Weiguo's house early in the morning and talk about past events with Jiang Weiguo. But Jiang Weiguo was a taciturn old man who didn't follow the usual path; he ntioned nothing about himself, and An Youyou couldn't say much even if she talked until her mouth went dry.
Not to ntion, there were many things An Youyou didn't dare ntion, for fear that if she said anything wrong, Jiang Weiguo, being very astute, might catch a loophole in her words and ask, "How do you know about this?" If An Youyou couldn't answer, it would an trouble.
Watching the pig slaughter was more reliable, gave them sothing to do, and required no talking.
Qin Huai imdiately called the van driver he had contacted the day before. The driver said he happened to have a trip to the village and could pick up the three of them.
At 7:54, the three of them each carried a case of milk and got into the van. Two of the milk cases were bought by An Youyou, and one was bought by Stone Dadan, who felt a little awkward about eating for free since he usually ate a lot, so he decided to bring sothing as a courtesy.
Inside the van was a family of three.
The husband was a burly man over 180 cm tall and over 200 lbs, and it didn't matter whether his body mass was fat or muscle; he was a boss-level figure who could knock soone to their knees with a single punch asking him not to die.
The wife was slightly slimr but not by much; it could be vaguely seen that her facial features were quite good-looking, with a wealthy and kind appearance. When Qin Huai got in the car, she made an effort to scoot over to give him a seat in the back, her double chin doubling to a triple chin as she smiled at him.
As for the son sitting in the van's passenger seat, he was probably a student around the age of Zhang Zhiyun, skinny and small, though not short. Since it was school ti and he wasn't in school but instead returning to the village, perhaps sothing had happened at ho.
Qin Huai and the other two cautiously squeezed into the back seat of the van, not daring to speak.
"Dad, my monthly exam is tomorrow. Why on earth did you call the teacher to ask for leave and co back to Grandpa's house today?" the son in the passenger seat asked in a voice indicating a love for studying.
An Youyou was dumbfounded, her gaze at Qin Huai filled with disbelief at the existence of a student who didn't like taking leave.
The burly man chuckled, "Son, your grandma called yesterday and said your grandpa's friend's granddaughter is visiting him, and they're slaughtering a pig and cooking dishes from it today, so she asked us to co back and help."
"We've already arranged leave for you, son, for three full days, so no need to take the monthly exam!"
"Son, make sure you seize the opportunity to eat a lot today and perform well in front of your grandpa. By tomorrow, your uncle will likely hear about this, and then we won't be able to eat whatever we want. Dahua only has four trotters in total, so it's best if we cook all four today!"
The driver teased with a laugh, "Wow, it's still several months until the New Year. Your Dahua is slaughtered, so what will you eat for the New Year?"
"Erhua is also quite tasty," the burly man replied cheerfully.
Listening to the conversation, Qin Huai had a guess as to who this family of three was.
They should be Jiang Weiguo's third son Jiang Jiankang's family, according to the private investigator's data. Jiang Jiankang is the only son who inherits Jiang Weiguo's skills and worked briefly as a chef before the State-owned Restaurant closed down, so his culinary skills should be decent.
Unable to resist, Qin Huai quietly observed Jiang Jiankang, who noticed.
Jiang Jiankang didn't think much of it and asked cheerfully, "Young man, which village are you heading to?"
"We should be going to the sa village," Qin Huai replied cautiously, pointing to An Youyou. "She should be the granddaughter of Mr. Jiang's friend you just ntioned."
Jiang Jiankang: !!!
His eyes imdiately lit up as he looked at An Youyou, and seeing that both she and Qin Huai were slim and Stone Dadan was just an average fat guy who didn't look like he could out-eat anyone, he beca very enthusiastic.
"Are you...?" Jiang Jiankang was so excited that he almost wanted to hold An Youyou's hand, but as he moved, the car shook a little, and he received a heavy slap from his wife.
"An Youyou," she said, her voice trembling.
As a forr beggar leader who road all over Shanghai, An Youyou's greatest strength was knowing when to adapt. From the first glance at Jiang Jiankang, she knew she couldn't beat him for sure.
"Xiao An," Jiang Jiankang squeezed out a very kind smile, "Do you like to eat trotters?"
"Do you want to eat four trotters all at once today?"
Not expecting Jiang Jiankang to be a kindred spirit, An Youyou nodded vigorously, "I love eating them!"
"I love trotters the most!"
Everyone: ...
Twenty minutes later—
Butcher Zhang had arrived in the village early in the morning, before 7 o'clock. The most robust, fattest, and best-raised pig, Dahua, t its end under Butcher Zhang's knife amidst its wails. By the ti Qin Huai and others arrived, the at was almost divided, and Grandma Jiang (Zhao Lanhua) was distributing pig blood to the neighbors.
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