Wu Shufen laughed. "Why are you talking about him? A boy his age is supposed to have a big appetite."
"Exactly! You're always picking on me." Wang Zhilin made a face at Yang Liqun, then grabbed a basket and ran off to the vegetable patch.
Yang Liqun watched his retreating figure and shook her head with a smile. She and Wang Zhixue each picked up a bamboo tube. They took a sausage casing from the basin, threaded one end through the tube, and folded the opening of the casing over the tube's mouth. The other end was tied into a tight knot with cotton thread.
They grabbed a few slices of well-marinated meat and stuffed them into the casing. Once a section was full, they placed the sausage in the basin and slowly squeezed and kneaded it by hand to make it firm.
They used thread to tie it into sections about a foot long, then took a small needle and pricked several air holes in the sausage to allow the internal moisture to slowly seep out.
