Siheyuan: A Very Happy Era

Chapter 414 Killing the New Year Pig
"Qiangzi, I'm sorry! I woke you up so early!"

When Xu Yuchang saw Li Guoqiang coming out of the house, he hurried forward and greeted him with a grin.

Following closely behind were Sun Jinda and Ma Hongjun.

Soon, the three of them surrounded Li Guoqiang, as if to shield him from the howling cold wind.

"no!"

Li Guoqiang glanced at the bonfire, then at the increasing number of villagers in the yard, and couldn't help but ask in confusion: "What are you guys trying to do?"

"that."

Hearing this, Xu Yuchang hurriedly explained, "Didn't we agree to slaughter the pig early this morning? Originally, my father wanted to slaughter the pig at my house, but Da Zi and Jun Ge's families didn't want to, so we thought of putting the slaughtering site at your house, so that no one would have any objections!"

"And the pig?"

Li Guoqiang raised his eyebrows and asked in a somewhat unpleasant tone.

"hey-hey!"

Xu Yuchang laughed awkwardly, then pointed to the stable next door and said softly, "Isn't it waiting for you to drive to the pigpen and catch it?"

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

When Li Guoqiang heard this, he immediately walked out of the yard.

In fact, he had no objection to Xu Yuchang and others' decision to slaughter a pig in his house. He was just a little dissatisfied with Xu Yuchang and others' decision to act without prior approval.

When Xu Yuchang and others saw that Li Guoqiang agreed, they all showed joy on their faces and hurriedly followed.

In fact, they cannot be blamed for this matter. It is because their respective families do not want to be dominated by the other party, so they had no choice but to think of their big backer Li Guoqiang.

Moreover, it’s not that they didn’t want to tell Li Guoqiang in advance, the problem is that there was no time.

Fortunately, Li Guoqiang was very caring towards his men, and soon they were all sitting on a sika deer cart and heading towards the pigpen.

The remaining villagers, under Qu Yinfeng's arrangement, began to set up the venue, boil water, sharpen knives, etc.

Then, Luo Huijuan and others, who were awakened by the noisy noise outside the house, climbed up from the fire pit one after another. After learning that a pig was going to be slaughtered at their house, their eyes lit up and they became energetic. Then they hurriedly began to wash and dress.

Fortunately, it is already past four in the morning, so there is no need to worry about getting tired.

After they were all dressed and packed, Luo Huijuan led them out, carrying pots of hot tea, plates of peanuts, melon seeds, candies, etc., and greeted the villagers enthusiastically.

If you don’t know, you would think that they are having a wedding!
In fact, this was no different from a wedding in their family. After all, on the one hand, the three grooms, Xu Yuchang, Sun Jinda and Ma Hongjun, were all Li Guoqiang's trusted subordinates. On the other hand, Li Guoqiang was Xu Guangshou's apprentice and a member of the Xu family.

If it weren't for Li Guoqiang's high enough status, I'm afraid Sun Jinda and Ma Hongjun's family would not be willing to set up the pig-slaughtering site in Li Guoqiang's home.

This is because Xu Guangshou was still in the pigpen helping to guide the catching of the pigs and was not here. Otherwise, he would definitely be laughing from ear to ear.

It can be said that he is the biggest winner and the most glorious person today.

At this moment, he saw Li Guoqiang, Xu Yuchang and others driving over on a red deer cart, and he immediately went forward to greet them. Then, with a face full of joy, he patted Li Guoqiang's arm, and said gratefully, "Qiangzi, thank you for your hard work today!"

"fine!"

Hearing this, Li Guoqiang quickly waved his hand and said, "We are a family and we should not talk about different things. These are what I should do."

"Ok!"

When Xu Guangshou heard Li Guoqiang say this, he felt so relieved!

It can be said that the best thing he has ever done in his life is to accept Li Guoqiang as his apprentice.

Otherwise, how could he be living such a glorious life now?

Soon, he took Li Guoqiang, Xu Yuchang and others to the pigsty entrance with ropes and sacks, then pointed at the restless fat pig in the pigsty and asked with a laugh, "Qiangzi, do you think this pig is pretty good? I specially asked the team to help keep it here."

"Not bad!"

Hearing this, Li Guoqiang took a closer look at the big fat pig in the light of the torch, then nodded and praised: "This big fat pig is indeed well-fed, weighing more than 320 kilograms.

It is full of meat and fat, and it is just right to kill it now."

"Ha ha!"

When Xu Guangshou heard Li Guoqiang's praise, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Then, he waved his hand, and Xu Yuchang, Ma Hongjun and Sun Jinda took the rope, opened the pigpen door and walked in.

Li Guoqiang was not idle either. He followed Xu Yuchang and others with a sack in his hand.

After Xu Yuchang, Ma Hongjun and Sun Jinda formed a triangle formation and drove the big fat pig over, he seized the opportunity, opened the sack and put it over the pig's head, making the big fat pig blind in an instant.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Yuchang and others seized the opportunity, pounced on it together, pressed the big fat pig to the ground, and then tied it up tightly with ropes.

The big fat pig seemed to be aware of its fate, and kept making rapid and shrill cries, making the originally quiet Jinshan Castle a little more lively.

Soon, Xu Yuchang and others lifted the big fat pig onto the sika deer cart, and then, accompanied by bursts of pig squeals, they quickly rushed back to Li Guoqiang's house.

At this time, most of the families in the village had already arrived and surrounded the gate of the courtyard, making it impossible to get in or out.

Although there was a bitingly cold wind blowing from the mountains from time to time, everyone's faces were filled with warm smiles.

This is also thanks to Xu Yuchang and others who set up the pig-slaughtering venue at Li Guoqiang's home. Otherwise, due to the face of each family, not so many people would come.

In addition, Luo Huijuan, Shang Xiuzhen and others were so generous and thoughtful that they took out peanuts, melon seeds and hot tea for everyone to eat and drink. Of course, they couldn't stop smiling on their faces.

Moreover, the enthusiasm of these villagers instantly boiled over when they saw Li Guoqiang driving a sika deer cart and pulling the big fat pig over.

If Xu Guangshou had not had experience and had not shouted loudly from a distance for people to get out of the way, it would have been impossible to drive the sika deer cart into the yard so quickly.

Afterwards, Li Guoqiang didn't even need to do anything, as the enthusiastic villagers quickly moved the big fat pig to lie flat on the long bench.

Taking advantage of this time, Li Guoqiang went back to the house, took out a set of butcher knives from the small world, and then chose a sharp knife with a cold glow, walked to the big fat pig, and gave it a chill. As the sharp knife was pulled out, a stream of warm pig blood immediately sprayed into the wooden basin that had been prepared on the ground.

The howling of the big fat pig suddenly stopped, as if it was not tortured at all.

Seeing this scene, the villagers who were watching couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

Among them, Xu Guangshou couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly, obviously shocked by Li Guoqiang's fast, accurate and fierce knife skills.

You know, the bigger the pig is, the harder it is to kill. Even if he has been killing pigs for most of his life, he can't do it as quickly and efficiently as Li Guoqiang.

This made him feel both relieved and impressed.

They say comparing oneself to others is like comparing oneself to the dead.

Nowadays, he no longer has to worry about no one helping to pass on his swordsmanship. Instead, he should worry about whether there will be someone in the future who can practice this swordsmanship to the same level as Li Guoqiang.

Soon, the gushing pig blood slowly began to dry up.

Seeing this, Li Guoqiang hurriedly reached out and pressed hard on the fat pig to squeeze out the last bit of blood. Then he gave a look to the villagers who were helping to kill the pig, indicating that they could start removing the hair.

Then, he hurriedly brought the basin of steaming pig blood into the house and asked Qu Yinfeng, Xu Yuping and others to deal with it.

Otherwise, once the pig's blood gets cold and frozen, it will be difficult to handle.

Just after he entered the house, the villagers hurriedly brought buckets of boiling hot water and poured them on the big fat pig, and then white steam floated up instantly.

It looks like it is covered by clouds.

None of the villagers were surprised by this, after all, they were used to seeing it.

Only Luo Huijuan, Shang Xiuzhen and others were stunned for a moment when they saw such a spectacular scene.

Afterwards, the villagers, one by one, took a small knife and scraped the fat pig's body, scraping off the coarse pig hair bit by bit.

Not long after, this big fat pig was shaved clean and looked quite cute.

Upon seeing this, Li Guoqiang hurried forward and took a closer look. He found that everything had been scraped clean. Then he had the fat pig carried onto the square table, ready to be gutted and cut into pieces.

When the villagers saw this scene, they all fell silent, their eyes fixed on the butcher knife in Li Guoqiang's hand.

The next moment, Li Guoqiang stabbed a knife into the pig's chest, then slashed downwards with force, directly ripping open the pig's belly.

Then he took a small knife, reached into the pig's stomach, and kept digging around.

After a while, a large pile of steaming pig offal was piled in the wooden basin at his feet.

Moreover, whether it is the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, or large and small intestines, they are all intact without any damage.

This shows how precise his knife skills are.

After he had emptied the pig's stomach, he changed to a boning knife and chopped upwards along the pig's tail. In just a few strokes, he had chopped the whole big fat pig in half.

The sharp and neat knife skills are so pleasing to the eyes, as if one is watching an art performance.

Next, he took some skin and meat from the pig's neck, belly, legs, back and other parts and put them into the basin of pig offal, then shouted towards the door.

Immediately, Qu Yinfeng, Xu Yuping and others hurried over, carried the basin of pig offal into the house, and started cooking it immediately.

Originally according to the rules, this job should be arranged by the host, but now, they have chosen to slaughter the pig at Li Guoqiang's house, so naturally, this job fell into Qu Yinfeng's hands.

Moreover, since there were so many villagers coming, let alone a little meat and offal, even if the whole pig was cooked, it probably would not be enough to eat.

With no other options, Qu Yinfeng had to cook it in two separate pots.

Among them, one pot was made with the most authentic pig-killing stew, which was served to Li Guoqiang, Luo Huijuan and others, as well as the three heads of the family, Xu Yuchang, Sun Jinda and Ma Hongjun, to taste.

The other pot was made of pork offal, sauerkraut and vermicelli stew, which was used to entertain other villagers and give everyone a taste.

Although the quantity is not large and one person can only eat a few bites at most, but with all kinds of fresh ingredients such as pork, pork offal, lard, pig blood, as well as pure natural handmade vermicelli and sauerkraut, plus plenty of seasonings such as pepper and MSG, there is no need to worry about making people feel dissatisfied.

As for that pot of stewed vegetables, it was filled with all the hard stuff.

Moreover, the ingredients here are all taken from the pig and are no more than half an hour old, so they are guaranteed to be absolutely fresh and delicious.

While Qu Yinfeng, Xu Yuping and others were busy, Li Guoqiang did not stop either. He quickly took a meat-cutting knife and cut into every part of the two pieces of pork.

After all the flesh and bones were separated, the only thing left to do was to cut out the most important part of slaughtering the pig today: cutting out the mother's meat.

Since the weight of the pig's flesh must be an even number and auspicious, and it can only be cut off with one knife, this skill is not something that every butcher can master.

Just like Xu Guangshou, he had to wait until his knife skills were highly developed before he was able to develop this unique skill.

However, this difficulty is not a problem at all for Li Guoqiang.

After asking Xu Yuchang, Sun Jinda and Ma Hongjun about the weight they wanted, he didn't even stop for a moment and made three consecutive cuts on a large piece of high-quality pork.

Then, after weighing, the result was just right, exactly 8.8 jin.

Seeing this, the villagers couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, and Xu Yuchang, Sun Jinda, Ma Hongjun and their families were all grinning from ear to ear.

Although Li Guoqiang found this to be an easy thing to do, if it were told to others, he would be able to brag about it for the rest of his life.

Soon, they hurriedly hung up the meat with a red rope, and then divided the cut pork and bones into three equal portions and sent them back home.

Other villagers helped clean the yard.

By the time all the work was done, the sky just showed a hint of paleness, and it was obvious that today was going to be a rare sunny day.

However, everyone's mind was not on the weather at the moment. They were all looking at the door of Li Guoqiang's house, looking quite anxious.

(End of this chapter)