The Butcher's Little Husband - Chapter 99

Li Wenxuan and the others had no idea what Li Yiran was going through at the capital.

They had their own struggles—because of the pigs at home.

Li Wenxuan was a novice. Although Father Li knew how to raise pigs, he had forgotten that the pigs raised at home were different from wild animals. If you wanted them to grow fat, they had to be castrated—unless you were keeping them for breeding.

Li Wenxuan had bought more than twenty piglets, of which only three were sows—the rest were males. There was no way they could keep that many for breeding.

At first, they didn’t know this. It wasn’t until an old man from the village came by for a visit and saw the pigs in the back mountain hadn’t been castrated that he pointed it out to them.

Father and son looked at each other. Neither of them could do it. They only knew how to butcher pigs, not castrate them.

Fortunately, there were people who specialized in this work—pig-castrators.

Li Wenxuan wandered around the county for several days before he finally found one. 

These castrators had their own set of tools. After arriving, the host would need to treat them to a meal and then pay according to how many pigs were castrated.

The castrator came to the Li family’s back mountain and frowned when he saw the piglets. “They’re almost two months old—why haven’t they been castrated yet?”

Li Wenxuan scratched the back of his head awkwardly. This was his first time raising pigs—how was he supposed to know? He only sold pork and dealt with slaughter, not raising!

Though the piglets were a little big, the professional castrator quickly subdued one, pressed his sharp knife down, and with a squeal, the first piglet was done. 

Before he even brought out the next tool, Li Wenxuan already felt a dull ache three inches below his navel. He muttered something to Father Li and walked off.

Tian Xiaoman and Li Amu were preparing to serve lunch to the visiting craftsman. After a rain two days ago, they had picked a lot of mushrooms and tender bracken in the back mountain. Today they were stir-frying them to entertain the guest.

The castrator finished castrating all the piglets in just one morning, leaving only one male to be raised for breeding.

After enjoying a good meal, he took his payment and left. 

Tian Xiaoman mentioned wanting to check on the piglets.

Li Wenxuan agreed and led him to the back mountain. 

After being castrated, the piglets were lethargic. Most of the feed was untouched as they lay sprawled on the ground.

“What’s wrong with the pigs? Are they sick?”

Li Wenxuan pursed his lips and whispered in Tian Xiaoman’s ear.

After hearing the explanation, he looked at the piglets with sympathy. He hadn’t expected there were pig eunuchs, too—just like human eunuchs!

He decided they’d make the pig feed a little better today, to comfort the poor little things.

That afternoon, Tian Xiaoman stayed home, and Le Ge’er, for once, didn’t go play with Liu Xilin. He sat on a small bench, resting his chin in his hand with a melancholy look on his face.

Tian Xiaoman found it funny—how could such a young child already have troubles? “Le Ge’er, what’s wrong?”

“Momoi…” Le Ge’er pouted and looked up at him with teary, aggrieved eyes.

“What is it?” Tian Xiaoman lowered his voice.

“Brother Lin doesn’t play with me anymore…”

“Why?” He found it hard to believe—Liu Xilin was always good to Le Ge’er.

“Because, because I… wuwuuu… I lost Brother Lin’s slingshot… wuwuuu…” Le Ge’er sobbed uncontrollably, his little face flushed and tears rolling down like beads.

Yesterday, while playing with Liu Xilin and the others, they’d decided to shoot birds. Le Ge’er had noticed how impressive Liu Xilin’s slingshot looked and asked to play with it too.

Liu Xilin was reluctant—it was a slingshot he had carefully carved from wood and hadn’t even used much yet. But as a big brother figure, he pretended to be generous and lent it to him.

Le Ge’er was overjoyed and clutched it tightly all afternoon, not letting anyone else touch it. They spent a long time trying to shoot birds without any luck, and later decided to go to a small puddle to catch fish.

The kids played for hours. When it was time to go home, Liu Xilin awkwardly asked for his slingshot back—but Le Ge’er searched all his pockets and couldn’t find it.

Seeing Liu Xilin’s cold expression, he got scared and ran off in a panic. Because of that, he didn’t dare go near Liu Xilin today.

Tian Xiaoman pieced the story together from his scattered explanation and couldn’t help laughing. So he was hiding out of guilt.

Le Ge’er blinked his teary eyes and looked at Momo, who was trying hard not to laugh. Feeling pitiful, he started crying again.

Tian Xiaoman quickly stopped laughing and comforted him. “Don’t worry, Brother Lin won’t blame you. It was just an accident.”

“But he won’t play with me!” He hadn’t seen Liu Xilin all day… never mind that he had stayed home to avoid him.

“Do you want Brother Lin to play with you again?”

“Yes!”

“Then when Uncle comes home later, ask him to make you a new slingshot. You can give it to Brother Lin and say sorry. Then he’ll play with you again, okay?”

Le Ge’er thought it over and decided it might work. He finally smiled again.

In the end, Tian Xiaoman’s idea wasn’t even needed—Liu Xilin soon came over, asking why Le Ge’er hadn’t come out to play. And just like that, the two kids ran off together happily again.

Tian Xiaoman watched them go, feeling helpless. He didn’t understand kids at all—how was he supposed to raise one of his own in the future?