Chapter 35: Butcher Ding Dismembers the Pig
With the hot water ready, a young man ran quickly to the corner and said to a middle-aged man who was smoking, "Master, everything is ready."
Chen Fan stood aside, curiously looking at the strong man whose height was about the same as his but whose physique was twice as big, and asked softly, "Is this the pig slaughtering master?"
Being able to grow to this size in this era, he guessed, could only be a pig slaughterer who could eat meat every day.
Jiang Lili stood next to him and nodded gently. "He is Master Zhu from the commune food station. He has two apprentices and specializes in slaughtering pigs."
Chen Fan looked at her curiously. "The food station manages pig slaughtering?"
Wasn't the food station a place to sell food? How did it become a slaughterhouse?
Jiang Lili gave him a strange look. How could this person not even know this?
After a pause, she glanced around and saw that everyone was watching Master Zhu go to the pigsty to catch the pig. Only then did she say softly,
"The food station only manages one thing: pigs. Collecting pigs, slaughtering pigs, selling pork, all the pigs in the commune pass through the food station.
Nanhu Commune originally had 7 pig slaughterers. After the establishment of the cooperative, all 7 pig slaughterers were transferred to the food station to work as workers, responsible for all live pig slaughtering, including the slaughtering of private pigs in villagers' homes.
Master Zhu was originally the pig slaughterer in Lujiawan Village. So, Lujiawan always invites him over. But he usually doesn't do it himself; he lets his two apprentices do it. The fact that he came in person today is probably because Captain Yang invited him."
Captain Yang's pigsty was next to the kitchen, just like the pigsty at the Educated Youth Spot. The front was only a one-meter-high mud wall, so the scene inside was clear at a glance.
Chen Fan saw that after Master Zhu went in, he grabbed the ear of the big spotted pig. The spotted pig immediately let out a shrill cry and even tried to bite people.
As quick as lightning, Master Zhu grabbed the pig's ear with his left hand to control the pig's head, and with his right hand, he inserted an iron hook into the pig's open mouth, immediately hooking the big spotted pig's upper jaw. Only then did he release his left hand and use the iron hook to pull the big spotted pig out.
"Awoo... awoo..."
Chen Fan couldn't help but grimace, his eyebrows squeezed together. This Brother Pig must be in so much pain, he was shouting "Help!"
But he couldn't save him. If he did, what would they eat later?
As soon as the big spotted pig was dragged out, four people rushed up, threw the pig down, and deftly tied it up with ropes, binding its four trotters.
At this time, Master Zhu stretched out his right hand, pulled out the iron hook, and handed it to the apprentice guarding nearby.
Then he waved to the side. "Weigh it."
Whether they were eating it themselves or selling it, they had to weigh it first.
Captain Yang immediately brought over a large steelyard more than a meter long, passed a wooden stick through the handle rope, and hooked the hook on the scale to the rope binding the pig's trotters. Then, another person came, put the wooden stick on the shoulders of the two, and struggled to lift the pig up.
Master Zhu moved the weight on the steelyard. "156 jin."
Someone immediately shouted, "A big fat pig!"
The villagers who were watching also talked about it, saying that Aunt Yang knew how to raise pigs. The food station's purchase standard was only 120 jin, but they actually raised a 156-jin pig. No wonder he could be the captain.
Only Chen Fan grimaced. He remembered that when his grandfather's family slaughtered pigs when he was a child, the big fat pig weighed more than 400 jin. No wonder he thought this pig was small; compared to the pigs of later generations, it was several times smaller.
However, the breeds were different, so there wasn't much comparability.
After weighing it, the next step was slaughtering.
The four men lifted the big spotted pig onto a wide bench, tied the pig tightly with ropes, and pressed the pig down so that it couldn't move.
Perhaps knowing that its life was coming to an end, the big spotted pig struggled even more violently. "Awoo, awoo, awoo..."
In Chen Fan's ears, it was (Don't, ah! Help, ah! Let me go, ah!)
Unfortunately, it was being pressed down by four strong men and fixed with ropes, so it couldn't break free.
At this time, Master Zhu took the shiny foot-long pig-slaughtering knife handed over by his apprentice, scraped it twice under the pig's neck, and shook off a clump of pig hair. After the apprentice placed a large wooden basin under the pig's head, he pressed down on the pig's head and stabbed it in the heart.
The poor Brother Pig's screams came to an abrupt halt, its head drooped, and it stopped moving.
Master Zhu moved quickly, pulling out the knife, and the blood flowed out, all falling into the large wooden basin.
Chen Fan watched from the side, thinking that the next step should be scraping the hair.
But after the blood finished flowing, Master Zhu made a cut in the pig's hind leg and blew air into it with his mouth.
He took a deep breath, then put his mouth to the wound and blew into it. Before long, the big spotted pig visibly swelled up.
Chen Fan widened his eyes. What was he doing?
There was a "know-it-all" standing next to him, so Chen Fan humbly asked for advice.
Jiang Lili looked at him and said, "In a moment, they will use hot water to scald the pig. After it is blown up, every place can be splashed with water. Otherwise, the pig will be soft and the hooves will curl up together, making it difficult to handle."
So that's how it was?!
Chen Fan felt that he had opened his eyes today.
After the pig was all puffed up, it was lifted into the large bathtub. The villagers who were helping had already brought two buckets of hot water over, and the large pot began to boil water again.
This kind of work of giving the pig a bath didn't require Master Zhu to do it himself. His two apprentices, each holding an iron hook, plus two people helping, poured hot water on the pig one ladle at a time.
The scalding steam quickly spread, and mist swirled over the entire rice threshing ground, mixed with a foul odor, a feeling that was really hard to describe.
But Chen Fan found that the surrounding villagers were all swallowing, one after another. Couldn't be, right?!
Then he heard his stomach growl twice.
Too embarrassing.
Jiang Lili was closest to him and couldn't help but lower her head and giggle when she heard the noise.
After repeatedly pouring boiling water over it several times, one apprentice tried to pull out a handful of pig hair and nodded. "It's ready."
Then they began to scrape the hair. Although there were two apprentices, only one person was scraping. This was to prevent two people from getting hurt if they didn't coordinate well.
However, the other one wasn't idle. He kept splashing water on the pig, washing away the scraped pig hair.
Gradually, the big spotted pig became squeaky clean.
After scraping the hair, several people immediately got up and walked over. Iron hooks, iron chains, and wooden sticks were all used. In a few strokes, they hung the big spotted pig on a wooden frame that had been prepared in advance, and then placed a large wooden basin underneath.
At this time, it was Master Zhu's turn to come out again.
He threw away the cigarette butt in his mouth, picked up the knife, walked over, and first made a cut in the front, and all the offal fell into the wooden basin.
Aunt Yang immediately led people over to carry the wooden basin away.
Seeing that scene, Jiang Lili quickly said, "I'll go over and help."
Before Chen Fan could react, she ran over in a hurry.
After they carried the wooden basin away, Master Zhu walked to the back, switched to a thick-backed knife, cut off the buttocks, and split the pig in half along the spine.
At this point, it was basically the end.
He first took down half of the pig, spread it on the large door panel, and cut the pork into pieces, the movement was like Butcher Ding dismembering an ox, pleasing to the eye.
Seeing those neat pieces of pork, Chen Fan realized why Captain Yang had to ask Master Zhu to do it. The level was indeed different.
But at this time, it was no longer related to the villagers.
Having watched the excitement to this point, those who hadn't helped took the initiative to leave and wouldn't stay for dinner.
Captain Yang and Aunt Yang were very polite in their retention. "Eat here."
The commune members all had a unified gesture, their bodies moving forward, their heads turned back to wave their hands. "You eat, you eat. The food is ready in the house."
This was just a polite routine. Not a single one dared to stay and freeload.
And those who had put in the effort were now divided into two groups. One group was the ones who had made the stove and carried the pig, smoking and drinking tea with Captain Yang, sitting aside to rest. The women were busy washing the pig offal and preparing side dishes.
The simple earthen stove on the other side wasn't idle either. It was taken over by Liu Ju Jiang, who was preparing to make pig slaughtering dishes.
As for Chen Fan, he was staring at his attribute panel in a daze.
"Feeling inspired by watching the pig slaughter, pig slaughtering experience +5, current Butchering Skill level LV2 (5/50)."
But that wasn't the key. The main point was, when did his strength increase to 6?
(End of Chapter)
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