The villagers of Hushan Village have no concept of the New Year. The first day of 2007 was just an ordinary thirteenth day of the winter month to them.
If there is any difference, it is that it is closer to the Chinese New Year than yesterday.
For rural areas, the Chinese New Year is a big event.
In the rural areas of Shuzhou, there is one item that must be prepared in advance: sausages and bacon.
Even if they are poor, every household will tighten their belts and try to prepare as much as possible.
Otherwise, not only will it be embarrassing to not be able to serve food to relatives during the Chinese New Year, but the ancestors will also think that the descendants are useless and will not even be able to eat sausages and bacon (of course, this is just a self-imagination in traditional folk customs).
In those wealthy rural areas, every household would slaughter a pig for the New Year, hang up loads of sausages and bacon, and the aroma of meat would fill the yard.
But in a poor village like Hushan Village, although every family raises pigs, they all aim to sell them for money. Only the "rich" in the village can afford to slaughter the New Year pigs.
For example, Gu Daqiang’s family.
As for other farmers who cannot afford to slaughter pigs for the New Year, they come to help and buy some at a low price, so they can make do.
There are thirty or forty households in a group, and if four or five families slaughter four or five pigs, that is basically enough.
After years of adaptation, these remote and poor villages have developed their own way of life of sticking together for warmth.
This year, because Huo Qianli was going to stay here for the New Year, and Gu Daqiang also wanted to give some sausages and bacon to Mr. Hu and Mr. Tang to take back, the time for slaughtering the New Year pig was moved forward by two days.
On the first weekend after New Year’s Day, it’s time to slaughter the New Year pig at Gu Daqiang’s house!
Liu Xiaoyu's crew certainly would not miss such a scene. Early in the morning, they brought people to the courtyard in front of Gu's building.
After these days, the villagers gradually became familiar with these people and machines. They were no longer restrained when seeing them and just went about their business.
A stove pit had been dug with a hoe on the earthen slope of the courtyard, and a large pot was placed on the pit.
Not far from the big pot, a few bricks supported a precast cement board.
Next to the cement board, there is a square table covered with plastic paper.
Liu Xiaoyu turned into a curious baby, pulling Huo Qianli beside her and asking him non-stop what he was doing.
Huo Qianli glanced at her and said, "Director Liu, have you ever thought that your curiosity may also be the curiosity of the audience in front of the TV in the future? So, watch it slowly with curiosity, and everything will have an answer."
Liu Xiaoyu:......
She looked cunning, "I see, you don't know either?"
Huo Qianli rolled his eyes at her and said, "Do you think I'm as stupid as you?"
Liu Xiaoyu:......
She glanced at Huo Qianli silently, slowly moved a step towards him, then stomped hard on Huo Qianli's instep and ran away in an instant.
The expected "hunt" did not come. Huo Qianli just silently looked at the eye-catching mud marks on the clean uppers of the shoes, and looked at Liu Xiaoyu resentfully, "Just painted it a few days ago."
Liu Xiaoyu was stunned for a moment, then turned her head away proudly, her ponytail shaking, pretending not to see it.
Huo Qianli rolled his eyes, "You are so childish even though you are an adult. Be careful of retribution."
Liu Xiaoyu stuck out her tongue, "Lululu!"
The childish kids are making a fuss here, and outside the building, many people gathered are also busy doing things.
A woman carried a bundle of firewood and lit a fire under the iron pot.
Another woman carried a bucket and poured water into the pot. Three or five buckets filled a large pot.
A butcher in his fifties or sixties, smoking a cigarette, was silently sharpening his knife. His movements were slow and just right, like a peerless swordsman who had not been out of the martial arts world for a long time.
There was an incense table behind him, and a few unburned incense sticks produced green smoke that rose and dissipated from behind his head.
It was a sacrifice to the Pig God and a prayer for the salvation of the souls who died under the knife.
On the road on one side of the building, four or five men stood in a row, holding various sticks and poles in their hands, smoking cigarettes and talking and laughing.
Suddenly there was a loud shout from the backyard, "Here they come! Here they come!"
As the shouting continued, a fat white pig came into everyone's sight, swinging its hooves.
I have been curled up in the pigsty for most of my life, and today I finally escaped!
After being in a cage for a long time, they are finally able to return to nature, so they will let go and run wildly with excitement.
The people standing on both sides of the building immediately stamped their feet and reached out their hands, hitting and driving it with sticks, trying to adjust its route.
Everything went according to the familiar plan. The fat pig was unknowingly driven step by step to the yard and was about to enter the "ambush circle".
At this moment, I don’t know whether a light bulb suddenly came to the pig’s head or it sensed the danger instinctively, but the fat pig suddenly changed direction and rushed to the other end of the yard.
The men who were surrounding him were caught off guard and failed to stop him.
In front of the fat pig's sprint were Liu Xiaoyu and the photographer!
Seeing the creature weighing more than 200 kilograms rushing towards her in a crazy manner, Liu Xiaoyu was so scared that her face turned pale.
Zhang Yang on the side rushed forward quickly, trying to knock the pig down, but when he got to the point, he saw the dirt on the pig's body and hesitated for a moment. As he hesitated, he was knocked to the ground by the pig.
It seemed like a long process, but in fact it only took a moment. Liu Xiaoyu stood there stupidly, unable to even dodge. She could only close her eyes, cover her ears, and let out a piercing sound, "Ah!"
So much so that she did not see the exciting scene where a young man in a yellow bib suddenly rushed out and knocked the escaped pig to the ground.
A group of men rushed over, all stretched out their hands to help hold the pig down, then tied up its four hooves with a knot, and lifted it directly onto the precast concrete slab.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
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