Chapter 301 Uninvited Guest

There was a big stove in the yard. The thick wood under the stove was burning with a crackling sound. The flames licked the bottom of the stove and soon a pot of boiling water was boiled.

The sturdy man put the big-eared black pig on its side on the stove. A sturdy man wearing an apron and holding a shiny steel knife walked to the black pig's belly with a cigarette in his mouth. He first reached out and pressed the pig's belly and neck, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "Well, it's time to raise it!"

The burly butcher squatted slightly, made a horse-like movement, and touched the pig's neck again. Then, in a flash, he stabbed the pig's neck with a sharp knife. The black pig continued to scream and twisted violently for a few times, then suddenly became motionless.

"Where's the basin? Bring it over here quickly!"

The basin was in place, and the butcher stood up to make way, pulling out his sharp knife. "Puff" the pig's blood spurted out from the wound like a small spring and fell into the basin. The person holding the basin kept adding salt and stirring it with straw to prevent blood clotting.

After a while, when the pig's blood was drained, the butcher used an awl to poke a hole in one of the pig's legs, inserted a straw into it, and blew air continuously. After a while, the pig's body swelled up again.

Several men kept pouring hot water on the pigs with gourd-made ladles. While pouring, they shaved the pigs' hair with knives. The "scraping" sound made people's teeth itch just by listening to it.

After shaving one side, shave the other side.

The butcher was sharpening the knife with a whetstone, and from time to time he would sweep his thumb across the blade to test its sharpness.

After removing the pig hair, the butcher went into action again and cut the pig's neck open with a knife. All kinds of pig viscera, accompanied by a strong stench, fell into the large basin with a diameter of at least 1 meter under the pig stove.

After a few cuts, the internal organs were cleaned out, and the large basin filled with internal organs was immediately lifted up by several sturdy women and taken to the water for washing.

First, a circle was cut on the pig's neck with a small sharp knife, and then the pig's neck was chopped off with an axe. The pig's head was taken away by several women as usual, and first it was burned with fire, and then the pig's hair was carefully scraped off with a small knife, including the ones in the pig's nostrils and ears.

The butcher continued to divide the meat. After cleaning the pig head, he threw it directly into the big pot, covered it with a lid and started to cook. The heart, liver, lungs, intestines, and trotters were also washed and thrown in. The aroma of black pork finally came out.
"Oh, your commune is slaughtering pigs so early this year? Doesn't it take another two days to start the harvest?"

At this time, several figures smelled the scent and walked in from the darkness at the gate of the cooperative.

As they walked into the courtyard, the light from the fire gradually illuminated them. Wang Deming could see clearly that these people were all wearing Zhongshan suits, white shirts, and black leather shoes. They all seemed to be county cadres.

"Haha! I was wondering if you came here because of the smell?" Zhao Dabao greeted them enthusiastically, "I just came back from the capital tonight, and the pig was just slaughtered when you arrived."

"It's better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early!" The leader was about 30 years old, wearing a pair of glasses. He adjusted his glasses and replied with a smile: "We just knew that you, Lao Zhao, were coming back from a meeting in Beijing today, so we came to find you."

“I didn’t expect to have such a good taste.”

"Those who are blessed don't have to be busy!" Zhao responded boldly.

"Old Zhao, tell us quickly, during this meeting in Beijing, is the per-acre yield in other places really that high? Our county can't fall behind!"

"Come on, sit down! Sit down! Let's talk slowly!"

Zhao boldly led the visitor to the north door of the compound. Several people stood up and gave up their small benches, including Wang Deming.

"Oh, who is this?" Wang Deming, who stood out from the crowd, was noticed by the visitor at first sight. Especially when he saw the camera hanging on his chest, their eyes flickered and he asked Zhao Dadan first.

"Oh, this is Comrade Wang Deming, a journalist whom I met on the train on the way back. He happened to be coming to the countryside to do something, to collect folk songs, yes, to collect folk songs. So I invited him to our county. Haha, Comrade Deming couldn't resist my pestering and I dragged him here. Otherwise, he would have gone somewhere else." Zhao Dabing added a little artistic processing to highlight himself more.

"This" the visitor was a little hesitant. "Sit down! This reporter Comrade Deming may be from Beijing, but he is very friendly to us peasants and country brothers. He even let me use his camera." As soon as Zhao Dadan said this, the young and old men in the village immediately exclaimed "Wow".

"Ahem." Zhao Dabing looked at Wang Deming who continued to smile. When he saw the latter nod, he shouted loudly: "Tomorrow morning, Comrade Deming will show everyone the camera!"

"Good! Oh!" The cheers were deafening.

After a few people sat down, they first passed around cigarettes, and then asked as usual about the grain production estimates in other places in the newspaper, wondering whether they were reliable.
Zhao Dabing repeated what he had said at the village entrance.

The visitors took the opportunity to smoke and looked at each other secretly.

"Lao Zhao, come on, walk with us to the fields."

"This..." Zhao Dadan looked at Wang Deming.

"Old Zhao, you go with the county leaders. Haha, I'm waiting to eat meat!" Wang Deming had just learned from their conversation that the visitors were all county leaders from Suiping County, and it was obvious that the county leaders had an ambiguous attitude towards him, with a fake smile.

He took the initiative to stay, which made several county leaders look much better.

Accompanied by Zhao Dadan, the group left the courtyard. After a while, Wang Deming heard Lao Zhao's voice coming from afar in the wind. He suddenly shouted, "How can this be possible?"

"Isn't this a fraud?"

"Hey, Comrade Zhao, how can you be so stubborn?"

"How is this considered fraud? Isn't this an experiment? Besides, after we submit the report, will the leaders give our county and your cooperative more fertilizers, pesticides and good seeds? Then the yield next year might be even higher than this year."

"Old Zhao, think about it. County Magistrate Liu is about to be transferred. Is the reporter who came today reliable? I have invited a reporter from Zhumadian to come tomorrow."

"Let's drink more tonight and not go home until we are drunk. Lao Zhao, why don't you hurry up and take action in the next two nights to find out where to move the wheat to the experimental field?"

"Uh, I still don't think so."

"Why is it not okay? You are so stupid. We are all county officials. How can we make mistakes?"

Wang Deming smiled slightly and said, "You guys underestimate my hearing now. I can't see and hear from afar, but it won't be a problem to reduce it by a hundred or ten times."

"Sizzle!" The pork fat in another big pot is almost ready. The aroma of the lard covers the aroma of the pig head and fills the entire yard.

The children, leaning on the edge of the pot, drooled and swallowed their saliva as they looked at the golden lard residue.

The woman who made the lard gave each of the children a small piece of lard residue and then drove them away: "Hurry up and leave, or you will get burned!"

Immediately, the lid of the big stove used to stew the pig's head, trotters and internal organs was opened. Immediately, the fragrant smell of meat mixed with the aroma of lard made everyone's eyes fixed on the stove.

The butcher took a big hook and hooked the pig's head out of the pot. Suddenly, a group of children surrounded him.

"Get away from me first! The knife is very sharp!" The butcher raised his knife and "bang!" split the pig's head in half!
(End of this chapter)