Chapter 329: One thing after another kept his hands and feet tied

Chen Xingbang was indeed capable of slaughtering pigs. When the first pig was still squealing while being held down by Li Anguo, Li Junfeng, and Li Junshan, Chen Xingbang spotted the right spot, pressed down on the pig's head, and plunged the knife in. Liang Yumei, who was squatting to the side, placed a basin under the pig's head. Chen Xingbang just pulled the knife back slightly, and a stream of blood spurted out, landing right into the basin.

The pig struggled violently, and almost at the same time, Chen Xingbang shouted:

"Hold it down!"

The few people holding the pig exerted force simultaneously. The pig arched its back sharply but failed to break free. Chen Xingbang did not pull the knife out immediately; he pulled it out a bit more and twisted it, causing the blood to spurt out again.

By the time Chen Xingbang completely pulled the knife out, the pig was only twitching.

Li Long watched, feeling that Chen Xingbang was even more experienced at slaughtering pigs than Wang Cai Mi.

Basically, not a drop of blood was wasted. The knife had gone straight into the heart, so the pig only had the most strength in that initial struggle; afterwards, it had no strength left, making it easier for those holding it.

Li Long guessed that Wang Cai Mi slaughtering pigs was actually just a case of being forced to do it; he might have been a novice originally, but since no one else had slaughtered one, the task fell to him.

"In times without heroes, a mediocrity becomes famous"—that was probably the meaning.

Of course, in the previous life, by the end, Wang Cai Mi's pig slaughtering could be called craftsmanship; after all, with over a dozen or dozens of pigs a year for him to practice on, he had practiced his way to it.

For ordinary people, slaughtering this thing comes down to two points. The first is overcoming the fear of taking action. Most people can still handle slaughtering chickens or ducks, but for larger pigs or sheep, they might not dare to take action, mainly due to a sense of compassion, unable to bear seeing it die.

This did not exist for Li Long.

The second is whether one can strike the vital point—this was exactly what Li Long had been watching just now. The position and angle of the knife entry are very important, and the timing when pulling the knife out and how to make the blood flow the most are also matters of technique and proficiency.

Li Long intended to try it himself on the next pig.

Once the pig was slaughtered, the next steps were scraping the hair and opening the carcass. At this time, slaughtering a pig also involved blowing air into it to make it swell up, which made scraping the hair easier. Li Long was responsible for pouring water on top, while Chen Xingbang did the main scraping.

By the time the pig hair was scraped clean, the carcass opened, and they were ready to turn and wash the intestines, Tao Jian She and Tao Daqiang arrived pulling a donkey cart.

Li Jianguo went up to meet them and chatted with Tao Jian She for a few words. This had been arranged yesterday; they were here today to weigh half a pig.

Tao Daqiang walked up to Li Long and greeted him:

"Brother Long." Then he greeted everyone else one by one.

"How is the preparation going?" Li Long said with a smile, "Do you need to build a stove in your courtyard? Do you need help?"

"No need, no need. Our courtyard has already been cleared out, and the two stoves will be built in these two days."

"Have all the other things been bought?"

"Most have been bought." Tao Daqiang answered just like answering a teacher's question, "Things can be stored; we haven't started soaking them yet."

"Have you hired the head chefs?"

"Hired, Old Huang and Old Dong from our team. Once we take the pork back today, we'll start preparing."

Holding a banquet in winter is not ideal; some dishes get cold quickly after being served. But there was no other way this year. Throughout the autumn, first there was the autumn harvest, then land distribution after the harvest, then winter sowing after the distribution, and then reed harvesting; things came one after another. Even if Tao Daqiang's family had held the banquet back then, I'm afraid not many people in the village would have gone.

It could only be postponed to winter.

However, in this day and age, it's good enough to have a banquet to eat; not many people would care if it's in winter. What goes into the mouth is meat, even if it's cold, it's still meat, isn't it?

When a team holds a banquet, there are usually head chefs in the village. For ordinary people, preparing a rural banquet is basically being a layman. But these master chefs basically worked as head chefs when the team ran collective canteens back then. They know what dishes to make, how to make them, how to prepare, and how much ingredients to prepare; they have a count in their hearts.

When dealing with fish a few days ago, Li Long let Tao Daqiang pick a bag of carp. Once this thing is taken back and made into braised whole fish when the banquet starts, it will be a dish with a very good meaning and a very substantial one.

Of course, for such a substantial dish, unless it's a banquet held by the villagers themselves, the villagers basically don't eat outside fish in the later generations. There's no way around it; their appetites have been spoiled by the fish from Little Haizi. Most of those carp, silver carp, etc., from outside are farmed fish, and the taste really can't compare.

"Xiao Long, split that pig, put it on the scale and weigh it. Daqiang's dad is going to take it back to process it."

"Okay." Li Long found an axe and split the carcass on the chopping board from back to front, one axe after another.

"Xiao Long is really capable; this axe doesn't even need a second strike, his hands are really good!" Tao Jian She watched Li Long's movements and praised.

"Haha, he's used to handling those wild animals in the mountains, his hands are accustomed to it." Li Jianguo was very happy; praising Li Long gave him a sense of accomplishment.

Soon, the pig was split into two halves. Li Long stepped aside and let Tao Jian She choose which half he wanted. After choosing, it was weighed on the platform scale.

"Fifty-six kilograms." Li Long looked at the number and said.

"That's fine." Tao Jian She smiled, "This fat is not thin, at least three fingers thick... Old Li, your family's pig was fed well this year!"

"That's for sure!" Li Jianguo was also very proud, "That matter last year disgusted me for more than half a year, but this year it's finally better."

Tao Jian She knew he was talking about the superstitious pig, so he smiled and said: "That matter was just an accident; look at your family's life, it's getting better and better."

After weighing the meat, Tao Jian She paid on the spot. Li Jianguo collected it at 1.5 yuan per unit. Tao Jian She declined a bit, but then agreed.

The relationship itself was good, and since they were giving face, we should accept it. At most, we'll just let Daqiang follow Li Long and work hard later.

Tao Jian She and Tao Daqiang pulled the meat away, and the Li family continued to process the meat. People came one after another to continue weighing meat. Li Long, after Li Junshan, Li Junfeng, and the others finished turning the intestines, harnessed the horse cart to bring a wild boar over to slaughter.

"I'll try this one." Li Long said to Chen Xingbang, "Brother-in-law, you watch and guide me."

"Do you still need guidance?" Chen Xingbang said that, but he stood directly beside Li Long, truly intending to guide him.

He had heard about Li Long's hunting exploits and admired them. Although he hadn't seen them, to be honest, the wild boars and deer raised in the Old Horse Corral were enough to demonstrate his strength.

But hunting uses guns, while slaughtering pigs uses knives; it's different. So Chen Xingbang didn't think Li Long could slaughter a pig perfectly like this for the first time, so he was more prepared to step in and save the situation.

The wild boar was pulled out of the pen and started thrashing. It took three big young men to hold it down—although this pig was smaller than the previous domestic pig slaughtered, it had much more strength.

It seems that a domestic-raised wild boar is still a wild boar!

Fortunately, the three big young men were not weak, and with the wild boar hooked by an iron hook, it couldn't break free. Finally, it was held down by the three, tied up, and pulled to the Li family.

The Li family planned to keep the other pigs, two sows were to be kept, and the rest were to be pulled to the purchasing station to be sold by live weight.

This was convenient.

The wild boar was pressed onto the chopping board. Li Long washed its neck area. Roughly knowing what he was about to face, the wild boar struggled desperately.

!.

Li Long held the slaughtering knife in his hand, found the right spot, pressed the pig's head without any hesitation, and plunged the knife in.

"Aow—!"

This wild boar's cry was much louder than the domestic pig's. Chen Xingbang shouted:

"Hold it down!"

When the wild boar cried, its body had already straightened up. Li Long gripped the knife with one hand and pressed the pig's head desperately with the other, while Li Anguo, Li Junfeng, and Li Junshan pressed the pig tightly. Li Junshan's body was almost pressing onto the wild boar.

Li Long didn't dare to be negligent. He pulled the knife back slightly, twisted it, and the blood spurted out, spraying into the basin prepared in advance.

"Xiao Long is capable! This knife went straight into the heart—" Chen Xingbang said with a smile, "Not bad, not bad. Later you can completely slaughter pigs by yourself."

"Hehe, it's not over yet." Li Long smiled, pulled the knife again, and the blood spurted out again.

The wild boar's strength softened, and Li Anguo and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

"Be careful, this wild boar is very fierce; it might charge later!" Li Long knew the ferocity of wild boars and shouted immediately, "Must press it tightly!"

Li Anguo and the others exerted force again immediately. Sure enough, at this moment, the wild boar arched its body again, trying to break free from the others' control. Fortunately, this force was applied, and it had lost most of its own strength, so it didn't succeed.

After experiencing this, it wasn't until the wild boar stopped moving completely and the blood stopped flowing that Li Anguo and the others let go.

"This guy is much fiercer than that domestic pig!" Li Anguo finally evaluated, "If we hadn't been prepared in advance, it might have run away just now."

"That would have been a big joke!" Chen Xingbang said with a smile, "Fortunately, it's fine. Next is up to Xiao Long, skinning it. Skinning this wild boar, hey!"

He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was obvious; it was quite rare.

"Brother-in-law, why don't you try?" Li Long asked.

"I'll pass." Chen Xingbang waved his hand hurriedly, "I can muddle through skinning a sheep, but I don't know how to skin this."

Li Long didn't stand on ceremony, untied the rope, and began to skin the wild boar.

Others were watching from the side, helping to turn the pig's body along the way.

Because there were few people, it wasn't until past three o'clock that everything was finished. What surprised Li Long a bit was that there were still people who wanted to buy wild boar meat to get a taste. This wild boar was finally bought for one-third.

After lunch, Liang Yumei still wanted to call people over to help steam pig blood buns. Li Long and the others, under Li Jianguo's command, caught the two pigs, tied them up, put them on the horse cart, and pulled them to the purchasing station.

The township purchasing station was responsible for purchasing live pigs for the whole township. There used to be tasks, but now with the household responsibility system, this system wasn't so strict, and the purchasing station's tasks weren't so rigid.

But live pigs were still purchased.

"1.1 yuan per kilogram for live weight." A small blackboard was hung outside the door of the purchasing station, marked with the purchase price of live pigs, and the price was quite good. Thinking about it, it's normal. Now is an era of generally scarce materials. Unlike the interior where almost every family raises pigs, the number of families raising pigs in the whole village is less than one-sixth, and the whole township is about the same.

So the price of live pigs is naturally the same as the price of pork, rising slightly.

The horse cart entered the courtyard, and the staff who were warming themselves by the fire came out. Everything was negotiated by Li Jianguo, and Li Long just watched the novelty from the side.

The snow in the courtyard hadn't been swept clean, and no cart tracks were seen. The snow in the pig pen next to it hadn't been moved either. Li Long guessed that after this snowfall, the purchasing station's purchasing hadn't started yet.

After the technical staff checked the condition of the two pigs, they weighed them. The two pigs totaled 236 kilograms, which was a very good weight.

"Are you a professional pig-raising household? These pigs were fed well!" (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 330 =====