Long afterward, everyone who had attended the Li family's "wild boar feast" would still praise it to the skies. At other families' pig-slaughter feasts, serving sliced meat was normal, but there were usually more vegetables than meat, mostly dried vegetables, and what little meat there was tended to be lean.
At the Li family's wild boar feast, there were plenty of thick slices of fatty meat. Everyone ate until their mouths glistened with grease, and the two steamer baskets of cornmeal buns were polished off. When they left, quite a few people even took leftovers home-these days, nobody turned their nose up at taking leftovers home. Quite the opposite: they were delighted.
After all, the dishes were rich with fat. Taken home and stir-fried with some other vegetables, they would make another delicious meal.
They borrowed tables from the Lu family and set one up in the East Room and another in the West Room, while the women ate at the small table in the kitchen-not because women weren't allowed at the table, since there was no such rule here, but because they still had work afterward, helping the Li family render the leaf fat and fatty meat.
Although wild boars didn't have as thick a layer of fat as domestic pigs, these two weren't lean either, and rendering the fat took a great deal of work.
Of course, when the women finally left, each would take home a bowl of rendered lard and cracklings as payment for their work.
Li Long actually had a fairly easy time throughout the whole process. All the important jobs that required skill were done by others. Nobody slacked off at a time like this; by working eagerly, they could eat their meat later with a clear conscience.
Even after the meal, the Li