The man's wailing, mixed with the shrill cries of a frightened child, was particularly jarring in the early morning.
Zhang Fan got up and opened the door, only to see Li Chunyan rushing out as well.
"Let's go take a look."
Stepping out of the courtyard and looking down the mountain, I saw Zhang Jianye sitting on the ground next to his pigsty, slapping his thigh and wailing.
"Damn it, my pig!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhang Tiegen shouted, "My pigs are sick too!"
Fifty meters from Zhang Tiegen's house, a simple pigsty was built with stones and covered with thatch.
There was a pig inside, which they planned to slaughter and eat during the Chinese New Year.
Zhang Fan ran to the outside of the pigpen and saw the pig lying on its side on the ground, its skin and lips were purple, its eyes were rolled back, its mouth was wide open, and it was breathing more out than in.
Aunt Pang said in a panic, "Go call the veterinarian."
Zhang Fan frowned slightly. Although he only knew how to treat people, he could tell that this pig probably wouldn't live for more than an hour.
When the other villagers heard that the pigs of the two families had both been affected, their faces changed drastically, and they all rushed to check on their own pigs, fearing that it was swine fever.
Zhang Fan sniffed and smelled an unpleasant, pungent odor in the air, a faint smell that appeared and disappeared intermittently.
He whispered to Xiao Hei, "Xiao Hei, go find out what smells so pungent."
Little Black let out a soft cry, sniffing around.
Zhang Tiegen had already run to find a veterinarian, and Li Chunyan held Aunt Pang's arm to comfort her.
A short while later, Little Black suddenly yelled and stretched out its paws to frantically dig at something.
Li Chunyan looked up at Xiao Hei and suddenly noticed something in front of him.
"Auntie Pang, that looks like fertilizer?"
Aunt Pang wiped away her tears and looked in the direction Li Chunyan pointed. Sure enough, she saw a white bottle, which was the compound fertilizer commonly used in the village.
Zhang Fan remembered seeing the ingredients of this pesticide before; it contained a large amount of nitrite, so the pigs were likely poisoned by eating chemical fertilizers.
Human poisoning can be treated primarily by inducing vomiting and excretion.
The pig is almost unconscious and we must induce vomiting as soon as possible.
"Could it be that the pig has been poisoned by eating this fertilizer? What should we do?"
Li Chunyan: "It will be better if you let it vomit it out."
Aunt Pang: "How can this pig be so obedient?"
Zhang Fan: "Sister-in-law, I learned in school that feces can induce vomiting."
He was still trying to persuade the two when he heard Aunt Pang immediately say, "Then hurry up and feed them manure."
Li Chunyan was closest to the manure scoop and scooped up the manure directly: "Pry its mouth open."
Aunt Pang tried to pry open the pig's mouth, but the pig struggled instinctively and was difficult to control.
Zhang Fan pounced on the pig and pinned it down. With his current strength, he could take on ten wild boars, let alone a poisoned one.
Under Zhang Fan's control, the pig became very docile, allowing Li Chunyan to feed it manure.
After the third spoonful was fed, the pig suddenly arched its back and vomited. Then, as if a valve had been opened, it vomited profusely, with undigested cowpeas mixed with stomach acid gushing out, along with a few undigested white particles.
Zhang Fan immediately recognized that this was undissolved fertilizer. The fertilizer contained a large amount of nitrite, and the pig's purple skin and fainting were consistent with the symptoms of nitrite poisoning.
It seems someone deliberately poisoned it.
Zhang Fan frowned slightly; it seemed the footsteps he heard last night were those of the poisoner.
"Eating more and eliminating more waste will help detoxify faster," Zhang Fan said. "Sister-in-law, the book says to drink more water."
Aunt Pang quickly scooped up some water for the pig to drink. The pig drank a few mouthfuls, then vomited violently.
After several times, the pig's snout gradually returned to its pink color, and its squeals became much stronger.
"It should be all better now," Aunt Pang breathed a sigh of relief.
Li Chunyan breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly heard Zhang Jianye cry out, "My pig!"
Aunt Pang said, "I'm afraid Zhang Jianye's pigs died."
Li Chunyan frowned: "Both of your families' cowpeas have run into trouble. Could it be that you ate something bad with the cowpeas?"
Aunt Pang denied it: "Impossible! I picked some cowpeas yesterday and stir-fried them, and I was fine. How could a pig be in trouble?"
Before she could finish speaking, someone outside shouted, "Li Chunyan, come out right now!"
Li Chunyan and the others quickly crawled out of the pigsty and saw Zhang Jianye walking towards them menacingly.
"Zhang Jianye, what's wrong?"
Zhang Xingguo snorted coldly: "My brother's pig died after eating your cowpeas, you have to give me an explanation."
Li Chunyan was so shocked that she stammered, "How...how could this be?"
Zhang Jianye slapped his thigh, blinked with a pained expression, and said, "Yesterday I fed him some cowpeas and wild vegetables. The wild vegetables were fresh, so there shouldn't be any problem."
Zhang Xingguo: "I think that pig was obviously poisoned. I saw on TV last time that it was poisoned by salt, and its whole body would turn purple."
Zhang Fan: "Nitrites?"
Zhang Xingguo: "Yes, it's nitrite. I saw experts say that vegetables will produce this stuff if they are left out for a long time. So the pig probably got poisoned from eating your cowpeas."
Aunt Pang looked regretful: "I sold you some cowpeas because I saw that your pigs weren't eating. I should have known better than to give them to you."
Zhang Jianye: "I also bear some responsibility for this, but it was Li Chunyan's stuff that was poisonous. We should share the responsibility equally. You just need to compensate me for the price of half a pig."
In rural areas, people usually eat meat from pigs they raise themselves. If a pig dies, they might not eat meat for at least half a year.
Feeling guilty that the problem stemmed from her own cowpeas, Li Chunyan agreed to the compensation.
Seeing that Li Chunyan agreed so readily, Zhang Xingguo's eyes darted around: "Wait a minute, it's not just about compensating for the pigs, I think you should also compensate us, maybe your kimchi is poisoned."
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