Snowflakes like goose feathers were flying in the air, and the north wind was howling and biting.

Several pieces of raw wood as thick as thighs were burning in the fire pit. The fire was not violent, but the charcoal fire left by the wood was very durable and had an amazing amount of heat.

Above the fire pit is a rectangular wooden shelf. Two finger-wide wooden squares are spliced ​​together with mortise and tenon joints. The shelf is composed of four rectangles and two end squares. It is blackened by the smoke of firewood and has a layer of wood attached to the whole body.

Thick soot.

Seven or eight pieces of raw wood as thick as a thumb were placed across the rectangular shelf, and strips of almost smoked bacon hung underneath.

In recent years, with the popularity of liquefied gas tanks and liquefied gas stoves, even though they live at the foot of the mountain, for the sake of convenience and cleanliness, the villagers do not burn firewood very much. Most of them use liquefied gas.

When the weather gets cold in winter, people start to burn firewood and charcoal.

As a result, the miscellaneous trees on the mountain have grown wildly year after year, and their roots have become huge.

However, in order to smoke bacon, basically every household has a firepit. As soon as the winter months come, people go into the mountains in droves to cut down wood and prepare to smoke bacon during the Chinese New Year.

Some older people have insisted on running to the mountains every day since October, picking up a piece of miscellaneous wood as thick as a thigh, and carrying it back from the mountain little by little. One piece of such wood can be burned for a whole day, and a little

If it's bigger, it won't be a problem to burn it for two days.

Wang Zhong and Liu Li were sitting by the fire pit. The lights were on, so it was not dark. Liu Li was holding a poker in her hand and was fiddling with the fire.

Bacon is said to be smoked, but it is actually smoked and grilled. If it is only smoked, it will indeed look better, but it will not taste as good as smoked and grilled.

"How is it? Are you interested?" Wang Zhong asked.

Liu Li looked at Wang Zhong with interest and said, "Of course I'm interested!"

"So it's a pleasure to cooperate?" Wang Zhong said tentatively.

"Old classmate, you are a little too hasty, you have to give me some time to think about it!" Liu Li said with a dumb smile.

Wang Zhongdao: "Of course you have to think about it carefully. Although the salary here is not as good as outside, there is one thing that even the outsiders can't keep up with!"

Liu Li said: "Is it close to home?"

Wang Zhong said: "Of course, it's right in front of my house, it only takes a few minutes to walk."

Liu Li covered her mouth and nodded with a chuckle, "It's really close."

Wang Zhongdao: "Although the world outside is vast, the economy is more prosperous, and we can travel as we like, but at our age, we have to consider not only our own future, but also our families."

Liu Li said: "That's what I say, but sometimes there is nothing you can do to make a living. After all, the salary level here is incomparable to that outside!"

"By the way, what have you been doing outside these years? Why do you want to come back and do farm entertainment?" Liu Li changed her tone and asked curiously.

Wang Zhongdao: "I used to draw construction drawings for people in the provincial capital. I worked very hard to earn only a small amount of money, and I still had the food of my youth."

Liu Li said: "You only earn so much money? A farmhouse as big as yours is about to open. If you say so, wouldn't we all be beggars?"

Wang Zhongdao: "I want to go begging. Now all those beggars outside are invisible rich, and their lives are much better than ours."

Liu Li sighed and said with emotion: "Yes! I didn't know this was the case before. At that time, I sympathized with the beggars. Every time I saw them, I would give them all the change I had."

"Don't talk about you, I didn't give less in the past!" Wang Zhong said: "Now that I think about it, it was really stupid at that time. In today's society, even those who are missing arms and legs get subsidies from the state every month, so how can it be enough?

If you can’t survive, you have to beg for food.”

Liu Lidao: "You are young! I have never experienced severe beatings from society, and my compassion is overflowing!"

"By the way, what have you been doing outside these years?" Wang Zhong asked.

Liu Li said: "Old classmate, I'm not like you, with good grades and even going to college. I went out to work after graduating from high school. I worked in factories, worked in sales, stood at the counter, and basically did everything!"

Wang Zhong smiled and said: "You are so versatile! My farmhouse lacks talents like you."

"You..." Liu Li laughed dumbly.

Wang Zhongdao: "Yes, yes, I won't go into details. Let's add a contact information. If you think about it, you can contact me at any time!"

As he spoke, Wang Zhong took out his cell phone from his pocket.

Liu Li did not refuse. She took out her mobile phone and added her contact information with Wang Zhong.

"When is your farmhouse planning to open?" Liu Li asked as soon as she added her contact information.

Wang Zhongdao: "It's the beginning of the year. During the New Year period, those who work outside should also come back. I want to take advantage of the new year to advertise for a few days to build up some momentum, and then officially open the business after the New Year."

Liu Li nodded, "Then I'll contact you after thinking about it."

"Okay!" Wang Zhong also stood up as he said this: "Then I won't disturb you."

"Would you like to sit down for a while?" Liu Li said politely.

"No, no, I still have things to do at home! I'll treat you to dinner later when I have time!"

"Okay, you have something to do first, and we'll get together later..."

After saying a few polite words, Wang Zhong left.

Liu Li stood at the door, looking at Wang Zhong's retreating figure, her eyes flickering uncertainly, as if showing some strange emotion.

Wang Zhong studied early when he was a child, and the schools in the village are not as strict as those in the city. Even the principal has lived in the village for decades and has become a villager, so he is naturally easy to talk to. Therefore, Liu Li is one year older than Wang Zhong.

age.

Liu Li, as she said, went out to work after graduating from high school. From waitress to real estate sales, from waitress to working in a factory, she has done almost everything and tried everything. Now that she has reached this age, it is time to start

Plan for the rest of my life.

It's just that after being out for so many years, although she has achieved nothing, her horizons have broadened. And with the influence of those idol TV series over the years, Liu Li's vision is naturally not low, otherwise, she would not still be single now.

Those who are still single at Liu Li's age are either very career-minded strong women who don't care about love and marriage, or they are discerning and picky, and people with good conditions will look down on her, while those with slightly worse conditions will look down on her.

Some people, she looks down upon.

Especially now that short videos are the most popular, some people, in order to make profits, spread those "poisonous chicken soup" on the Internet, such as Cinderella will always meet the prince, and what deserves the best.

Early the next morning, Wang Zhong turned on his phone and saw the message from Liu Li, but instead of agreeing directly, he wanted to visit Wang Zhong's farmhouse first.

Wang Zhong agreed and made an appointment with Liu Li to meet at the entrance of the farmhouse.

It just so happened that the two aunts hired by Wang Zhong had started to clean up in the past few days. Wang Zhong also went over to help every day. His uncle and grandma couldn't sit still at home, so they often ran over there, helping sweep the floor, handing things and so on.

.

"You spent a lot of money on this!" The two-story wooden structure, plus the decoration, there is a parking lot next to it that can park more than 20 cars, as well as water features, pavilions...

Although Liu Li is not in this business, she has worked in real estate sales and has some understanding of it.

"No, my fortune and life are all on this!" Wang Zhong joked, his expression completely calm and composed, without any trace of nervousness or worry.

Yu Li looked at it curiously and asked: "With such a big investment, aren't you worried about losing money if you don't have a business?"

Wang Zhongdao: "What is there to lose? The parking lot was built with money from the county. I just rent it from the village. It doesn't cost much every year. I have already bought the homestead under this house. Even if the farmhouse does not make money, I will

You can live there by yourself.”

"Besides, there is no business in this world that is guaranteed to make money without losing money. You won't know until you do it whether you can make money or not."

"Look at your posture, you are very confident!" Liu Li said.

Wang Zhongdao: "Do your best and obey the destiny!"

"You are so free and easy!" Yu Li turned to look at Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhongdao: "People have to be more open-minded in this life. Besides, money is something that you can't take with you whether you live with it or die. Just enough is enough."

Liu Li said: "Then you still want to build such a big farmhouse?"

Wang Zhongdao: "I don't do this farmhouse for myself."

Liu Li looked at Wang Zhong thoughtfully: "When will I come to work?"

"If you're fine, go back and change your clothes and come over to help clean up. You'll have a full day of work today!"

"Then I'll go back and change clothes first!"

Yu Li doesn't look stunning, but she would still look good if she dressed up a little.

Wang Zhong also specially made a contract and signed it with Yu Li.

In a blink of an eye, it was the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, and the uncle's family finally rushed back from the county. Early in the morning, Wang Zhong drove to the county to pick up the uncle's family, and went to the vegetable market to do some shopping on the way.

The bacon at home is almost smoked. I bought the meat from a pig farmer in the village. He said that he is usually fed corn and tofu dregs. The taste of the meat is indeed much better than that of those large pig farms, but it is different from the pig farmers in the village.

The domestic native pigs of the past are still incomparable.

The pigs raised in the past had to go to the mountains every day to cut fresh pig grass, wrap it with rice bran or ground corn, and cook it together before feeding it to the pigs.

The combination of carbohydrates and dietary fiber makes the pork taste less fishy and more sweet.

In order to smoke bacon this year, Wang Zhong had already ordered a large pig of nearly two hundred kilograms from the pig farmer. On the day of killing the pig, Wang Zhong personally performed the operation. After that, he took advantage of the days when the pork was marinated with salt.

Wang Zhong went into the mountains and chopped down nearly 30 loads of raw wood. He mixed it with grapefruits and ponkans that he had just returned from the fields, and cooked the bacon with the skin and meat. He asked his uncle and his grandmother to help smoke the meat.

Wang Zhong picked out some fat and thin pork belly, made two bacon ribs, and ran to the duck pen at the back to catch a water duck weighing more than six pounds. He boiled water and put it away early in the morning.

Ducks are much more troublesome to clean up than chickens, as duck feathers are finely shredded and difficult to peel.

Fortunately, Wang Zhong was skilled and skilled. After more than ten minutes, the duck meat that he was looking forward to came out of the pot. Duck meat is different from chicken. Duck meat has a strong taste, especially this kind of home-raised duck, which is cut into pieces.

There is no need to blanch the rice after it is cooked, it can be put into the pot directly.
To be continued...