Grandma Yu didn’t favor boys over girls. Instead, because Yu Bing wasn’t in good health, she often took care of Yu Bing, no one doubted Yu Bing’s excuse.

Unfortunately, Grandma Yu, the only person in the family who was good to Yu Bing, passed away when Yu Bing was eight years old. From then on, Yu Bing became a pitiful person who everyone at home bullied.

After Yu Pan obtained the result she wanted, she excitedly began to reply. Of course, Yu Pan replaced Mrs. Yu’s meaning with her own thoughts when writing it.

Yu Wu, on the other hand, looked as if he heard a story that had nothing to do with him. After listening to a secret of his family from many years ago with interest, he continued to focus on his book. He was neither concerned about his younger sister’s health nor the sudden appearance of his second sister.

On the He Mountain Brigade’s side, the meat in the mountain was marinated until the sixth day. The four of them went up the mountain together to carry out the second process.

Xiao Lin had already gone up the mountain in advance to boil two pots of water. As soon as Yu Bing and Jiang Chun arrived, they could put the meat in the pot and cook each piece for five seconds.

Xiao Lin strung the meat and fish that didn’t need to be boiled with hemp rope, while Xiao Sheng was in charge of hanging the skewered meat and fish on the bamboo rack that had been prepared in advance. The wooden house was well-ventilated, and with the few of them taking turns to go up the mountain every day at noon to move the meat out of the house to dry, the meat would be dry by the time it was their next day off.

They moved out the collected cypress branches and sugarcane skins, then lit a few fires. They hung the meat and fish a meter away from the fire. They first used an open fire and then smoked them. After eight hours, they finally finished smoking all the meat. Only 200 kilograms of the original 300 kilograms was left.

The final number of finished products was thirty smoked fish, five smoked chickens, three smoked rabbits, a boar’s head, and four pig’s feet. The remaining meat was cut into twenty-eight pieces.

There had never been smoked meat in the county city before. Because of how rare it was, Xiao Sheng managed to get a good price.

After selling all of them, he earned 241 yuan. As Xiao Sheng was the one who contributed to the hunting, Xiao Sheng took 144.6 yuan, which was 60% of the profit. Yu Bing and Jiang Chun each took 48.2 yuan.

The price of smoked meat was much higher than raw meat. The three of them decided to sell Xiao Sheng’s prey after processing them.

After Yu Bing and Jiang Chun left, Xiao Lin ran to Xiao Sheng, who was weaving a bamboo basket, and squatted down. His eyes were filled with anticipation. “Brother, do we almost have enough for our sister’s surgery fees?”

Xiao Sheng’s hand paused and he glanced at Xiao Lin. Then, he lowered his eyes and said firmly, “I haven’t saved enough, but now that I have Yu Bing, the day we save enough for our sister’s surgery fees will definitely imminent.”

Xiao Lin knew that his family was indeed earning money much faster than selling vegetables, but he couldn’t help but feel disappointed when he heard such an answer.

Xiao Li, who was at the side, felt the heavy atmosphere. She hurriedly smiled and said, “Big Brother, Second Brother, even if I can’t see, I can still do a lot of work. Look, I don’t even need to hold onto anything when I walk, so I’m not affected that much. I’ll get treated when we save enough money. It’s okay.”

Xiao Lin didn’t know how much money they were missing, because his brother had only told him that they needed a large sum of money. He thought that they were very close to the amount after earning so much recently.

After all, he had heard that a fellow villager, Wei Huiji, had gone to the county for surgery and had been in the hospital for a week. The doctor had even said that it was a small surgery, but even so, it had cost dozens of yuan in the end. His eldest brother had said that his sister was going to have a very big surgery. In Xiao Lin’s eyes, ten times the price should be enough, but he didn’t expect it to still not be enough.

However, Xiao Li’s optimism made Xiao Lin feel less disappointed. At most, as his little sister said, she would get the surgery when they saved enough money. Hence, he touched Xiao Li’s braid and smiled. “Don’t worry. We will work harder. As long as we persevere, there will be a day when we save enough.”

Xiao Sheng tightened his grip on the bamboo basket. Not daring to look into their eyes, he lowered his head and gritted his teeth as he tried his best to suppress his emotions.

He was the pillar of the family, so he couldn’t let his siblings see his pessimistic side.

The amount of money needed for the surgery was too large, and the time left for them to save up was decreasing. Xiao Sheng didn’t dare to tell his siblings about it, since he was afraid that they would be disappointed and give up. However, no matter how difficult it was, as long as there was still hope, he would not give up.