Chapter 503: Chapter 501: Pork Crisis
On the morning of January 19 at 10 a.m., Jiang Feng, dragging his suitcase, boarded the train ho.
Only Mrs. Wu and Wu Minqi were there to see him off, with Mrs. Wu still driving. Wu Hanxue maintained his image of a cool, distant father and workaholic very well, choosing to go to work at the Wu Family Restaurant rather than send his future son-in-law to the train station.
Although Wu Hanxue did not see him off, he handed over two jars of pickles to Jiang Feng before he left, one short and plump, the other tall and skinny. The short and plump one contained pickles personally made by Old Sir Wu, while the tall and skinny one ca from the hands of Wu Hanxue himself. The forr and current head chefs of the Wu Family Restaurant had combined their talents to produce pickles that absolutely qualified as the highest form of honor.
It was also an acknowledgnt of Jiang Feng.
A high-speed train ride accompanied by pickles is destined not to be too lonely…
Pfft, what company on a high-speed train isn’t lonely? No matter if it’s pickles, roast duck, roast pig, roast cal—if there’s no internet, it’s lonely.
Jiang Feng, bored out of his mind, leaned back in his seat and aimlessly scrolled through his phone, which, except for WeChat and QQ ssages, had nothing else to offer. He was considering whether to bother soone and get his silly online friends to keep him company during the long ten hours when Wang Hao, the pri example of those friends, reached out to him proactively.
Wang Hao: Feng, you’d never guess what an amazing topic I’ve co up with for my thesis!
Jiang Feng sent a question mark laced with skepticism.
Wang Hao: Don’t be so cold, Feng. My thesis topic is truly a historic breakthrough for our physics departnt. Unprecedented, unmatched, it will go down in history, and countless juniors will cheer for in the future.
Wang Hao: This is a small step for , but indeed a giant leap for our physics departnt!
Jiang Feng: …
This kid must have fried his brain trying to decide on a thesis topic.
Jiang Feng: What topic have you settled on?
Wang Hao: The history of photonic crystal developnt!
Jiang Feng: …
Holding his phone, Jiang Feng was speechless for a long ti. He thought of many things, even the fact that photonic crystals were first independently introduced in 1987. If Wang Hao really planned to write about them, it would definitely be modern history, as the economic reforms and opening-up had started earlier than that.
Of course, Jiang Feng’s most recurrent thought was how Wang Hao would et his end when he submitted his proposal at the start of the term.
Would he be chopped to death by his furious supervisor or hamred to death?
On the other end of the phone, Wang Hao, happily staying ho as a ‘happy fatty,’ had no clue that Jiang Feng was once again anticipating his demise. Self-convinced that he had thought of a brilliant thesis topic while indulging at ho, he eagerly ssaged Jiang Feng.
Wang Hao: Feng, don’t you think my topic is incredibly cool?
Wang Hao: I’ve got it all planned out. Not only can I write about the history of photonic crystal developnt, but also the history of optics, laser developnt, quantum chanics, quantum optics, electromagnetic theory—it’s like everything has a history. We could write a series on historical developnts!
Jiang Feng silently exited the chat with Wang Hao, deciding to let his old roommate cool down by himself for a while.
Once the excitent wore off and his IQ returned to the average, he would realize how he was going to et his end.
Wang Hao, with his actions, proved that silly online friends could not help Jiang Feng relieve the boredom of a long high-speed rail journey. After so thought, Jiang Feng figured that on this day of welcoming the new spring and family reunion, only family could help him overco his loneliness. So he decided to announce his imminent return in the family group chat.
It was strange to say, but the Jiang Family’s group chat was always the liveliest around the New Year, because that was the only ti of year when everyone could feast on dishes personally made by Sir.
In the years past, especially the days leading up to the New Year, when so mbers couldn’t return ho early due to various reasons, the Jiang Family’s chat would be extraordinarily lively with incessant ssages making it impossible to keep up.
Pictures were sent before als, reviews were shared after eating, interspersed with flattery for Sir and, when necessary, pings towards those who weren’t able to return—joyous and tearful, both satisfaction and fat coexisting.
Yet this year, with the thrilling Chinese New Year’s Eve approaching, the family chat was quiet as a mouse, as still as a pond of water, even more silent than the class chat which Jiang Feng had muted—simply a fantasy. During Jiang Feng’s days in the Magic City and Shu, surprisingly, not a single ssage was sent in the Jiang Family’s chat.
Incredible!
In the past few days, Jiang Feng had been either on the go or accompanying his girlfriend. When not flaunting or enduring displays of affection, he hadn’t noticed this issue. Now that he had a mont to himself, he realized sothing was amiss.
Not just normally amiss, but very, very amiss.
Given the personalities of De and Cheng, even if they were the nicest guys around, at most they’d refrain from tagging him when posting pictures, but they’d definitely post pictures.
Such tranquility in the group ant sothing was up.
Jiang Feng initially wanted to simply post “I’m back!” in the main group, but after thinking it over, he didn’t think it was appropriate. He switched to the small group chat shared with his cousins.
Being a chef is nice except for the early hours: I’m back!
Being a chef is good, but you have to get up early: I’ll be at Grandpa’s house tomorrow morning!
Five minutes went by, and no one responded to Jiang Feng.
Jiang Feng didn’t believe that in those five minutes, not a single person was on their phone.
After so thought, Jiang Feng pulled out the big guns.
Being a chef is good, but you have to get up early: Uncle Wu and Sir Wu gave two jars of pickles to bring back with tomorrow. Besides pickles, is there anything else you guys want to bring back?
Although the village has Sir’s homade delicacies and the assorted no-brand snacks and spicy strips from the convenience store, there were always so snacks that couldn’t be bought in the village or town.
The younger mbers of the Jiang Family who have a sweet tooth always filled half their suitcases with snacks when returning to the village.
After two minutes, soone finally replied.
It’s good to study design, but it makes your hair thin: Little Bro, bring back a pig with you.
Jiang Feng: ???
Bring back a pig??? Is this so new trendy New Year’s greeting? Has bringing ho New Year’s goods beco so hardcore these days, that people are directly bringing pigs instead of anything else?
Being a chef is good, but you have to get up early: A pig?????
It’s good to work in ergency dicine, just with lesser pay: Yeah, Little Bro, don’t bother bringing anything else. Right now, nothing else is useful since Grandpa specifically wants a pig. If you can find a way, bring back a pig similar to Da Hua, Erhua, and Sanhua.
Jiang Feng was completely baffled by the responses from Jiang Zaidi and Jiang Shoucheng. He felt that this situation, which was beyond the comprehension of ordinary people, couldn’t be explained with just a few words over WeChat and decided to call Jiang Zaidi directly.
The call was answered instantly.
“De, what’s this about Grandpa wanting a pig that you and Cheng just ntioned?” asked Jiang Feng.
“Boss, don’t you have any other pigs here? Do you know if there’s another household whose pig hasn’t been slaughtered yet? Oh, I’m sorry for the disturbance,” Jiang Zaidi’s clearly outside, and the background noise on the phone was noisy, he even didn’t have the ti to answer Jiang Feng’s question.
“De, are you at a farm?”
“Don’t even start.” Jiang Zaidi’s voice was full of exhaustion, “We’re not at ho right now, Little Bro, you might as well not co back since there’s no one ho, we’ve all gone out looking for pigs.”
“Looking for pigs?” Jiang Feng was utterly confused; he couldn’t understand what Jiang Zaidi was talking about at all.
“Why are you looking for pigs? With New Year’s almost upon us, the yearly pigs raised by each village should have been slaughtered by now, why look for pigs now?” Jiang Feng had a fairly good understanding of the pre-New-Year pig-slaughtering situation.
“Little Bro, did you forget our family was supposed to all be in Beiping this year so Grandpa didn’t raise any pigs?” Jiang Zaidi explained, “On New Year’s Eve, Grandpa wants to cook the traditional pork dish, but we returned late this year. Not only did we miss the pig-slaughtering, but there wasn’t even any good at left. Nobody thought about it until it was too late, and by then our uncle’s family had only a little more than 20 pounds of pork left. You know how scarce pork is during the New Year’s period. Nowadays, hardly any household raises pigs, and the good ones are long taken. My dad’s even gone to the neighboring county to look around.”
“Little Bro, if we can’t find suitable pork before the 29th, our family won’t be able to have our New Year’s Eve dinner!”
“It’s a minor issue if we don’t have the New Year’s Eve dinner, but if we can’t find pork, we won’t have any at for the entire New Year’s!”
Jiang Feng swallowed nervously, “How… how much do we need?”
“If we ration it, we’ll need at least half a pig,” Jiang Zaidi said gravely.
Finding half a pig of the sa quality as Da Hua, Erhua, and Sanhua during such a critical ti was undoubtedly a big challenge.
Failing this challenge ant the New Year’s Eve feast would be greatly diminished, and pork would be in critical supply on the Jiang Family’s table throughout the holiday. This was an outco no one wanted to see.
The task was urgent and important.
No wonder no one talked in the chat group during this ti, it wasn’t just about having no at now, but potentially in the future as well.
“Little Bro, think of sothing. Our family has the best chance of finding a pig. Your uncle and aunt are already contacting slaughterhouses in the next city.”
Jiang Feng felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders and said solemnly, “I understand, De. I’ll do my best to make contact.”
“Good, I’m heading to the next village.”
The call ended.
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