Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 191 The knife falls from the hand

Castrating pigs naturally requires specialized tools.

Generally speaking, castrators these days use the same type of castration knife, which is a thin wire with a small knife that looks a bit like a heart attached to the end.

This kind of pig-castration knife is not as sophisticated as medical equipment used for human surgery; it can be made from ordinary iron used for making kitchen knives and wood-chopping knives.

Chen Fan had not yet obtained his veterinary qualification certificate, so he naturally did not have the special medicine kit and equipment provided by the commune's veterinary station, and there was nowhere to buy such things.

Just as he was having a headache over this, Jiang Lili led him to the storage room next to the kitchen.

It has to be said that this former educated youth settlement, which has existed for more than ten years, is truly a little treasure.

In that storage room, one of the cabinets contained many things that the "senior educated youth" had discarded.

There were definitely no clothes. Even if someone left in a hurry and forgot to bring in the clothes that were drying outside, their fellow villagers would help them take them away.

There were two pairs of worn-out, unwanted women's shoes, which I don't know who washed and threw in the closet.

Jiang Lili guessed that it was the work of a kind-hearted woman from the year before last, because she was the one who used that cabinet at the time, and she was one of the few people who talked to Jiang Lili. Unfortunately, not long after Jiang Lili arrived, that woman went back to work in the city.

The cabinet also contained two pairs of scissors, five kitchen knives, three razor blades, two daggers, ...

When Chen Fan saw these things, he wondered why there were so many knives.

Jiang Lili said that someone had left behind a gun, but unfortunately it was quickly taken away by Captain Yang and handed over to the brigade headquarters.

pity!

Besides these, the most common type of kettle is made of aluminum.

Gufeng County is a schistosomiasis endemic area, where schistosomiasis was once rampant. Therefore, when many educated youth went to the countryside, their parents would urge them to bring a kettle and only drink hot water, not raw water.

However, since there are no honeycomb briquette stoves here, the only way to boil water is to set up an earthen stove and use firewood. Some people find this troublesome and don't even take their kettles with them when they leave, from the moment they arrive until they leave.

Chen Fan and Jiang Lili each had a kettle in their room, which was the "legacy" left behind by someone else.

To this, Chen Fan could only mutter to himself, "What a spendthrift!"
This also proves that prodigal behavior is only related to family conditions and personal lifestyle habits, and has nothing to do with the times. Even in the most difficult times, there are always such people.

However, it was thanks to these spendthrift sons that he was able to use the ox-ear knife to make a pig-castrating knife.

The tip of the ox-ear dagger is very sharp, and its shape and size are just right, making it perfect for castrating pigs.

……

Chen Fan first went to his room to take off his cotton-padded coat and put on a cotton vest that was convenient for work. In order to prevent it from getting dirty, he also put on a smock.

Then, with the sharpened ox-ear knife in his pocket, he took the lead and went to the backyard.

Before they even reached the pigpen, the foal suddenly stood up, put its front hooves on the wall, and neighed loudly at Chen Fan.

When the students saw the foal, they immediately began to whisper among themselves.

"That must be the little horse that Teacher Chen bought. It's so beautiful."

"I heard it cost 25 yuan to buy."

"If this horse were taken out and sold now, it could fetch at least 6 or 70 yuan."

"Didn't that mean you made over forty?"

"That's because Teacher Chen is capable. If this horse had fallen into someone else's hands, let alone making forty or more, they probably would have only been able to kill it and eat it."

"That's right, when Teacher Chen bought it, it was a sick horse, and he was the one who cured it."

"At that time, Teacher Chen didn't know anything about veterinary medicine. He borrowed medical books from the veterinary station and learned on the spot to cure the patient."

"If I had Teacher Chen's abilities, I would definitely buy a lot of horses." "You're so unambitious. What's so good about horses? They're not as good as oxen for plowing, not as good as mules for pulling carts, and not as good as pigs for meat. If it were me, I would buy all pigs and eat pork every day!"

"All you do is eat. If it were me, I would raise cattle, lots of cattle. Then I wouldn't have to wait for the cattle to plow the fields. I could plow all the fields in a day."

……

Chen Fan ignored his classmates' comments, played with the pony's head for a while, patted its head, and told it to go play quietly to the side.

The main problem is that it snowed the day after we bought the pony, and the ground hasn't dried up since; it's either ice and snow or mud. Otherwise, we could take the pony out to run wild instead of keeping it cooped up in its enclosure.

Then I picked up the two lambs to check on them. They were both in good health and had a great appetite.

After dealing with the pony and the lamb, Chen Fan turned his wicked gaze to the pigsty next door.

Two cute little pigs stared longingly at the large group of people, not afraid at all.

When Chen Fan moved the wooden gate and came in, they were still happily running around the pigpen, as if they had encountered the four great joys of pig birth.

Chen Fan closed the wooden gate behind him to prevent them from escaping. Then, he thought to himself with a black line on his forehead, "With this level of intelligence, they're not even as smart as a fish. They deserve to be pig grandpas."

After training with Captain Xiao for almost a month, Chen Fan is now quite agile. When a pig ran past his feet, he immediately lifted his foot and flicked it away, while grabbing its hind legs and holding the pig in his hand.

He carried the piglet upside down to the pigpen, braced himself against the fence with one hand, and jumped out with a light leap.

She was about to explain the pig's anatomy when she saw Huang Ying and Liu Dan watching curiously from the side. She was speechless. "What's so interesting about castrating a pig? Girls, please leave."

As a result, neither of the two girls showed any embarrassment.

Huang Ying added with a smile, "I've seen it many times, it's nothing."

Chen Fan blinked, almost forgetting that the countryside now is not like it will be in the future. These days, if a pig castrator comes to the village, half the village will go to watch the spectacle. Girls watching pig castration is really nothing unusual.

But he wasn't embarrassed; it was he who was.

Cut off the little pig's testicles in front of two girls?

Just thinking about that scene made him a little excited.

He waved his hand and said, "Go ahead and check if the food is heated up. We'll eat as soon as we're done here."

Huang Ying pouted, wanting to say something, but thinking of her father and uncles' words, and looking at Chen Fan, she blushed slightly, lowered her head, and turned to leave.

Since she had already left, Liu Dan naturally wouldn't stay there alone, so she left as well.

After they had all gone far away, Chen Fan handed the piglet to the students. "Come on, everyone, take a look. What is the body structure of this piglet? Also, after you've looked at it, I'm going to test your knowledge of acupoints on pigs..."

This lecture lasted for more than half an hour, and pointed out many students' mistakes in recognizing acupoints. Finally, he said, "The acupoint diagrams I drew for you are fixed, but pigs don't grow according to the diagrams I drew. Piglets and adult pigs are different sizes. Do you all have to use a ruler to measure them?"

To identify the acupoints on livestock, one must have a deep understanding of the animal's anatomy. This will allow for accurate location of the acupoints, whether it's a large pig or a small horse.

After some explanation, the piglet was firmly fixed to the ground. Then, someone poured half a bowl of strong liquor as disinfectant, washed the bull's ear knife in the liquor, and wiped the little testicles with a cotton ball to disinfect them.

Then, with a swift movement, the knife fell...

The little pig immediately burst into tears, a truly heart-wrenching cry.

For this minor surgery on a young boar, no stitches are needed. The wound is disinfected again with strong liquor, and then the piglet is placed on clean straw in the pigpen to lie down.

The little boar lay on the straw, its previous excitement gone, replaced by a look of utter despair.

Chen Fan then did the same thing to another piglet, and that concluded today's practical teaching session.

(End of this chapter)