Time passed quickly, and it was already the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. Tian An personally went to the farm and selected two fat and strong pigs to slaughter for the New Year.
When slaughtering a pig, you need to build a simple stove with stones in advance, or find a place with different heights, dig a stove directly, and add firewood from below to boil water.
You need to use a large pot to boil water, which will be used to scald the pig skin to remove the hair. The water should not be too cold, otherwise the hair will not be removed, nor too hot, otherwise it will burn the pig skin. Just the right temperature is good.
Of course, Chen Qiang had already arranged these trivial matters. When Tian An picked the pig, the water was already boiled.
After Wu Zhuang drove the pigs selected by Tian An out of the pigpen.
Two people were responsible for pulling the pig's hind legs, and one person in front was holding an iron hook to hook the pig's mouth.
The pig's mouth was hooked, and it let out a piercing scream that instantly resounded throughout the village. As a result, the news that the Tian An family had slaughtered the pig spread throughout the village.
After hooking the pig's mouth, three people simultaneously pushed the pig down onto the chopping board.
The pig blood basin was prepared, and the person in charge of killing the pig took the knife to the pig's neck. With one cut, the pig's blood flowed out, and the pig's wailing became louder.
As the wailing became quieter, the blood stopped flowing and the pig died.
Several people brought a wooden ladder, lifted the pig onto the ladder and secured it, then carried the ladder to the big pot, scooped hot water with a ladle and poured it on the pig. When they felt the hair was soft, they picked up a razor and began to shave the pig's hair.
Because of the horrific pig squeals just now, many villagers have come to watch the fun.
"An An, the pig your family slaughtered today is really big. I'm afraid the screams can be heard by the people in the next village!" teased the uncle from the same village.
An aunt tried to test her: "Girl, do you want to sell your pig? Please weigh two kilograms for me!"
"Auntie, do you want to buy it? It's eighteen cents a pound in the county town. We are from the same village, so I'll charge you seventeen." Tian An said with a smile, pointing at the fat pig whose hair had fallen off half of its body.
"Wow! I don't have to go out and it's still one cent cheaper than in the county town. That's great! I'll give you two more pieces later." The aunt was very happy to be able to buy cheap meat. Saving a penny is a penny. Who doesn't make a penny count?
When others saw that Tian An was willing to sell it outside and even offered a discount, they all spoke up.
"An An, you can't be partial! Sell two to uncle too! My wife hasn't prepared the meat for her family's holiday gift yet!"
"It's the same at my house! We need a lot, and we have two daughters-in-law! We have to eat during the New Year too."
Everyone has to buy meat during the Chinese New Year, and during this period, meat is more expensive than usual. Now that there is cheap meat, you would be a fool not to buy it.
Seeing that they all wanted some, Tian An said cheerfully, "Once the pigs are processed, everyone can buy some. There's plenty of pork."
Next, everyone chatted with Tian An while waiting for the farmhands to process the pigs.
After the pigs were shaved clean, a farmhand removed the door panel from his house to release the pigs. Farmhand Zhao Da took a long knife and deftly cut off the pig's head. He then cut open its stomach, removed the entrails, and dumped them into a basin. He then placed the large and small intestines in another basin and handed them to the women to clean.
After the pig's internal organs were processed, it was time to start selling the meat. Tian An asked people who wanted to buy meat to line up and come forward one by one to weigh the meat.
It was still some time before the Chinese New Year when Tian An's family slaughtered the pig, and most of the villagers had not yet gone to give them holiday gifts.
With a large family and many relatives, the gifts naturally came in large quantities. Plus, meat was cheap at the time, so they bought quite a bit. Sometimes they bought over ten pounds, which they had to divide into two- or three-pound pieces each, then tie them up with straw.
Fortunately, Zhao Da, who was cutting the meat, had good knife skills, and the size and weight of the cut meat were not much different.
The people who bought the meat happily carried the meat back home and showed off to everyone they met along the way. They bought cheap meat without going out, so saving money is the same as making money!
When the man heard him showing off, he thought of the pig's squealing he had heard earlier, so he turned around and went home to discuss with his family and get money to buy meat.
More and more people who bought meat started wandering around the village carrying it, advertising Tian An's services. It wasn't long before the whole village knew about Tian An's cheap meat. Everyone rushed to Jiayuan, fearing they'd be late and out of meat.
Seeing that there was not much left of the first pig slaughtered, but the number of people queuing up behind was still increasing, Tian An asked Liu Hui to drive out the previously selected pigs and start slaughtering the second one.
Looking at the ever-growing line, Tian An figured two wouldn't be enough, so he went and picked out three more pigs. He would kill two for his family and keep one as a reserve. If the first two weren't enough to sell, he'd kill another; if not, he'd stop.
"All the pig kidneys should be sent home, and a pair of pig intestines and livers should be sent home. The rest of the pig heads and offal should be sent home with a bowl of noodles after all the pigs are slaughtered."
Braised pork has been around for quite a while now, and while many people know about it, many haven't tried it. Chinese New Year is approaching, and after a year of hard work, everyone has some extra money. Everyone wants to buy some braised pork, so even though it's cold, it's still in high demand, and demand outstrips supply every day!
Tian An gave Chen Qiang instructions and took Deng Xue back home. Ever since Deng Xue recovered from her last illness, she'd been training non-stop every day. But whenever Tian An left the house, he'd watch her like the apple of his eye, afraid she'd get hurt.
After Tian An arrived home, Xiaokang happily ran towards her with two strings of candied haws, "Sister, brother-in-law Yiming bought them yesterday. They are sour and sweet and delicious." Then he handed the string that she had not eaten to Tian An.
Tian An reached out to take it and bit off one. After chewing it twice, the sweet coating stuck to his teeth and slowly melted in his mouth. The sweet and sour taste of the hawthorn stimulated his taste buds.
She squinted her eyes in enjoyment and said incoherently, "Mm! The candied haws that Brother Yiming bought are delicious."
Tian An finished one and was about to take a bite of the second one when he heard Xiaokang scream "Ouch!"
Then he caught the candied haws that he spat out with his hands, pulled it twice, found his white teeth in it, and looked at Tian An with tears in his eyes: "Sister, my duck ate it."
Xiaokang is six years old this year, which is the age for changing teeth. His upper front teeth have been a little loose in the past, but unexpectedly, a candied haws directly stuck them off.
"Puchi...hahahaha..." Tian An couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Xiaokang looked at Tian An, who was laughing so hard that he was out of breath, with resentment, and looked at the two remaining candied haws with reluctance.
After a while, seeing that Tian An finally smiled, he handed the remaining two candied haws to Tian An like a hero cutting his wrists.
Tian An took the candied haws and asked doubtfully, "You don't want it anymore? Don't you like candied haws the most?"
Xiaokang pouted and turned his head to the other side, his teeth chattering and his words became even funnier: "My duck is beautiful, it can't be worse."
"Hahahahahahaha..." Tian An burst into laughter again.
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