Happiness

"Whew~"

When he reached the entrance to the courtyard, Li Chengfeng could not help shaking the heavy wild boar off his shoulder and onto the ground. The mouth of the burlap sack was jolted open at once, revealing the corpses of the wild boar and that python.

He let out a breath and was just about to rest for a bit, then call Liu Yuniang out to help him carry the wild boar back in, skin it, cut the meat, and clean it up, when he saw two strange gazes.

Turning his head, he saw the Wang woman from next door and the Chen woman staring at him as if they had seen a ghost.

When they saw him look over, they withdrew their gazes as if shocked by lightning, their faces dark as they each left their courtyard gates and went back into their own houses.

"They're that unhappy to see me doing well and catching prey?"

Li Chengfeng looked at their expressions and frowned. Just as he was thinking about it, the wooden door of the main house inside the courtyard creaked open, and Liu Yuniang, her face full of joy, ran out of the house in excitement.

"Chengfeng, you're back!"

With boundless surprise and delight on her face, Liu Yuniang rushed out of the house and came to the courtyard gate. She pulled it open at once, looking at Li Chengfeng as she spoke in happy excitement.

"Puff~"

As she spoke, accompanied by a uniquely tempting fragrance that flooded into his nose, Liu Yuniang's soft, fair, delicate body flung itself into Li Chengfeng's arms. She held him tightly and took a deep, fierce breath. "This is so good. You're back. This is so good."

Liu Yuniang murmured in a low voice, almost fiercely. Then, after she let go and lifted her head, she discovered the wild boar corpse and the huge python corpse placed beside them, and her expression immediately turned stunned.

"Ah, Chengfeng, you even caught a wild boar and brought it back, and caught such a big python too!"

Liu Yuniang cried out in surprise. As she looked at Li Chengfeng, joy overflowed from her eyes uncontrollably.

But then she seemed to think of something, and she restrained herself again, pursing her lips as she pulled Li Chengfeng toward the house. Just as she was about to step forward, she remembered and hurriedly said to Li Chengfeng, "Come, Chengfeng, I'll help you. The two of us can carry this thing in together."

"All right. Sorry to trouble you, Yuniang."

Li Chengfeng looked at Yuniang's manner and spoke with a smile on his face. As he spoke, he also gathered a bit of strength, squatted down, and together with Liu Yuniang carried the wild boar meat and the python corpse that had been thrown on the ground into the courtyard.

Once they were in the courtyard, Liu Yuniang immediately shut the courtyard gate. Then she walked over and asked Li Chengfeng with concern, "Chengfeng, are you thirsty? I'll pour you a bowl of water."

"Sure."

Li Chengfeng nodded with a smile. The two gourds of water he had brought had long since been drunk dry in the mountains, and now he really did feel thirsty. Hearing this, Liu Yuniang hurriedly poured a bowl of water and brought it over to him.

Li Chengfeng took the water and drank it. Liu Yuniang then brought him a basin of clean water, along with a towel, to wipe his sweat and wash his face.

Once he had finished tidying himself up, he felt heat surging at his waist again, and some of the strength he had used up recovered. He immediately stood up. "This pork has to be cleaned up quickly. Render the fat into oil, salt the lean meat and keep it. We'll leave some to eat over the next few days. This pig will be enough for the two of us to eat for quite some time."

"All right. I'll help you."

Liu Yuniang hurriedly spoke, and when she heard that Li Chengfeng seemed not to want to go back into the mountains, she was very enthusiastic.

"No need. Hurry and take the pig's blood from the gourd and handle it. Eat it while it's fresh."

Li Chengfeng shook his head, got up, fetched a pot of water to boil, and looked at the wild boar corpse while rubbing his fists and palms together. "I'll handle this wild boar. You can come help me later."

"All right!"

Hearing this, Liu Yuniang also spoke full of energy. After she finished, she poured the pig's blood into a basin, mixed in sections of scallion, and set it aside.

After Li Chengfeng brought the water to a boil and scalded the hair on the wild boar's skin, she took a firewood knife and scraped the pigskin together with him.

After they finished scraping the pigskin, they cut open the belly and took out the innards. Then Li Chengfeng swiftly cut down the pork by section.

By the time everything was cleaned up at the end, the inside of the house was packed full of hanging pork.

Li Chengfeng hurried out in time to buy a large bundle of salt, then personally went into the kitchen. He rendered the fatty meat into oil, cut the lean meat into chunks, and boiled out a full small earthenware jar of lard.

Then he stir-fried the oil-rendered meat together with the cracklings and greens, cooked the prepared pig's blood, and put the cleaned pig heart, pig liver, and three jin of pork into the pot one after another.

When the rice was ready, Li Chengfeng and Liu Yuniang held bowls of rice and ate it with the pork dishes on a stone slab, their mouths shining with oil as they ate to their hearts' content.

"Gulp~"

After Li Chengfeng and Liu Yuniang had filled their stomachs, they suddenly heard the sound of someone swallowing saliva nearby.

Li Chengfeng turned his head and saw that it was the children from Aunt Wang's and Aunt Chen's families, lying at the courtyard entrance and watching the pork the two of them were eating.

"Some people really are something. They don't have the ability to let their own children eat meat, but they get red-eyed when others eat meat. They sit at the courtyard entrance every day making sly, sour remarks. Anyone who didn't know better would think their own days were going so wonderfully."

When Liu Yuniang saw the two children, she snorted, then suddenly spoke in a loud voice.

As soon as she spoke, Aunt Wang and Aunt Chen came out of their houses with ugly expressions, cursing as they called the two children back. Then, amid the children's crying and shouting, they shut their doors.

The corners of Liu Yuniang's mouth immediately pressed into a hint of a smile.

"Come on, Yuniang. Let's go deal with the rest of the meat."

Li Chengfeng observed their words and expressions, and then thought of Aunt Chen's and Aunt Wang's embarrassed faces when he returned. He understood in his heart.

He smiled as he spoke to Liu Yuniang. "No matter whether what others say is nice or not, we have to live our own days well. This meat has to be handled properly. We can't let it spoil. Even if my appetite has grown a lot, it'll be enough for the two of us to eat for a month!"

He could guess that those two old aunties must have said something ugly out of jealousy. But matters between women were not something he, as a man, could easily interrupt. It was enough for him to support his own woman from behind.

Just like with these children drooling—going by the heart he had before his rebirth, forget saying much, there would have been no question of letting them come in and eat together.

But now, he did not say a single extra word. Silently, he supported Liu Yuniang's actions.

As he spoke, Li Chengfeng thought in his heart of how difficult his predecessor's life had been, and how these two neighbors had not helped much either. His heart grew even colder.

"Mm, all right!"

Liu Yuniang was in a pleasant mood and nodded happily. Then, her face full of joy, she went with Li Chengfeng to salt the remaining meat.

There was a good amount of meat left from the whole wild boar, and they carefully divided most of it into smaller pieces, cured them, and hung them with rope in a well-ventilated spot to prepare them for long storage.

They left out enough for them to eat for about three days, placed it in a cool spot in the house, and covered it with cloth.

Then they went and processed the python meat as well. Only after that did the two of them wash up in cheerful spirits and lie down on the bed, utterly comfortable, to sleep.

They had spent so long slaughtering the pig and working busily away, and after all that labor, Liu Yuniang soon entered dreamland.

Li Chengfeng had expended even more effort, and slept deeply.

With their bellies full of meat and their whole bodies warm and toasty, the two of them slept in bed until dawn the next day, only waking to feel comfortable all over.

After they woke up, while Liu Yuniang was making breakfast, Li Chengfeng pondered to himself that he should build a stove.