Feeling his gaze, Sister Nie's heart skipped a beat. Under the sunlight, his dark eyes seemed deep enough to engulf her. Was this man trying to announce to the whole village that they were getting married?

Normally, a second marriage wasn't something to boast about, especially not in the backward rural areas of the 1980s, where one would simply wear red and get married. Sister Nie hadn't thought much of it, assuming that Zhou Yueshen, like her, didn't pay much attention to such matters.

However, she didn't expect this man to be so prepared.

Glancing at the children, who were now circling around the pig with excitement, Sister Nie couldn't help but smile. "Little eldest, little second, Little Feng, Little Rain, let's go have dinner with Yao Yao."

The children hesitated, reluctant to leave. But they knew the slaughter of the pig in the village was an exciting event, and everyone passing by wanted to take a look. However, they didn't want to upset Sister Nie, so they reluctantly walked into the house.

Their reluctance quickly vanished when they saw the table set with delicious scallion-oil noodles.

The scallion oil noodles were light and delicious, adorned with a few pieces of leafy greens, with oil droplets floating on the surface of the soup, sprinkled with chopped scallions. The aroma of scallions and pork fat intertwined, making everyone's mouths water.

From the kitchen, Sini brought out a few fried eggs, perfectly golden brown and tempting. Placing the bowls on the table, she fetched another one for Yao Yao.

Younger brother immediately stood up and placed the biggest fried egg from his bowl into Yao Yao's. "Mom, you have it."

Sini relented, saying, "Mom won't eat, let Xiao Han have it."

Xiao Han grinned, "I eat eggs every day, today I'll give it to Mom."

Sini, feeling soft-hearted, took a bite and said with a smile, "Delicious."

Xiao Han beamed with joy.

Sini watched the other kids, their eyes wide with astonishment and appreciation. They all cherished the eggs, considering them precious, as they were not accustomed to such delicacies.

But generous sister served them instead. Although Zhou Yuehan didn't get an egg, he was the happiest one among them. Sini found him quite naive and went back to the kitchen to cut a heart-shaped egg for him. Zhou Yuehan's mouth formed a perfect "o" shape in surprise. He never imagined eggs could be fried into such shapes. His mom was indeed amazing.

This scene caught the attention of the other kids, who saw Zhou Yuehan's special egg and couldn't help but feel envious. Sini, being fair, said, "Next time, I'll make heart-shaped eggs for all of you. Now, eat up."

Lin Yu couldn't bear to look away from Zhou Yuehan's bowl and cautiously asked, "Do my brother and I get one too?"

Seeing the eager faces of her two younger brothers, Sini nodded. They weren't chubby like Zhou Yuedong and Zhou Yuehan, and although they were loved by their parents, their diet wasn't as good. Just one egg made them so happy.

Sini agreed, "Of course, you'll have eggs too. You can come over and play with me anytime, and there will be eggs every day."

Lin Yu's eyes lit up with excitement. "If you give us eggs, I'll bring you wild fruits in return."

"Yeah, I'll bring you nice things too," added Zhou Yuehan.

Sini chuckled at their grand plans. "Alright, I'll wait for you to earn money for me. Now, eat up quickly. You'll have to help later."

Realizing they needed to see the adults deal with the pig, the kids quickly lowered their heads and devoured their noodles.

Yao Yao couldn't understand what her older brothers were saying, but seeing their expressions, she felt delighted too. Her bright eyes sparkled like hungry little chicks, and she looked up at Sini with her mouth wide open, saying, "Mama, ah~"

Sini was melted by her cuteness and quickly fed her some noodles. After feeding the children, Sini got up and went into the kitchen. With so many people, she didn't have enough time to make a lot of fresh noodles, so she took out some pre-bought noodles and made a simple noodle soup with pickled cabbage, pork, and potato strips.

The soup was seasoned with chili and minced pork, and the pickled cabbage helped cut through the richness, making it one of the most popular noodle soups in the countryside. With Sini's seasoning skills, it tasted even better. She ladled out the soup, washed the pot, added fresh water, and waited for it to boil before returning outside.

By this time, a group of men had already started to gut the pig, while a fire burned nearby. Several kids squatted beside them, eyeing the meat hungrily. Yudong noticed and sliced a few pieces of pork belly to give to them.

The kids immediately grabbed some wooden skewers and threaded the meat onto them before grilling them over the fire. In no time, the meat was sizzling and emitting a delicious aroma. This kind of meat only needed a sprinkle of salt to be especially tasty.

Sini remembered her own childhood, when they slaughtered pigs on special occasions. She also liked to grill lean meat on wooden skewers, just like the kids were doing now.

Zhou Yueshen was splitting the pig in half, his strength evident as every cut landed in the same spot without a hint of effort. Sini watched quietly for a moment, then approached him. "I've made some soup and noodles for everyone to eat. Let's have something first."

Zhou Yueshen glanced at her and nodded before instructing everyone to help themselves to noodles inside the house. Since they were all familiar with each other and occasionally stayed at Zhou's house, they knew their way around.

But Zhou Yueshen didn't move.

Sini looked at the pig split in half and finally spoke up, "Are we keeping all of this at home?"

If so, they'd need to start smoking the meat into bacon soon. After all, in this weather, pork couldn't be stored for long. In the countryside, to preserve pork throughout the year, they often smoked it into bacon, which could last a long time. Bacon was delicious too, especially when stir-fried with garlic sprouts and spring onions, paired with sour soup. Sini could eat two bowls of rice in one sitting just with that.

Zhou Yueshen lowered his gaze and replied in a deep voice, "Half will stay at home for the banquet, and the other half will be sent to your family."