Colorful years

When it comes to slaughtering pigs for the New Year, there's definitely a lot to talk about!

Speaking of the Zhang family, they have a very comprehensive plan when it comes to raising pigs! Every year, they carefully raise two fat and healthy pigs.

One of them will be obediently handed over to our great country; while the other will be kept as a spare pig.

However, we'll have to wait until the production team's year-end settlement to find out what this spare pig will actually be used for.

If you're lucky during the year-end accounting, the grain you receive will not only be enough for your family to eat well for a year, but you might even get an extra few dozen silver dollars!

In this situation, the spare pig naturally transforms into the New Year's pig that everyone joyfully celebrates! Imagine the whole family sitting together, enjoying the fragrant pork—how heartwarming that scene would be!

But if the year-end distribution is not ideal, for example, if the grain allocated is meager or there is hardly any cash inflow, then this reserve pig will have to shoulder an even more important mission—it will have to be sold to meat processing stations as a contribution pig.

The money earned from selling pigs was used to supplement the family income. For example, it was used to buy new clothes for each member of the family so that they could celebrate the New Year in a presentable manner.

In Diaolan Village, where Tujia people live, slaughtering the New Year's pig is an important activity, full of excitement and fun.

The morning sun shines over the village, and shouts, laughter, and chatter awaken the tranquil village.

At dawn, when it was still dark and all was quiet, my parents quietly got out of bed.

The mother hurried into the kitchen, lit the stove, and boiled a pot of water. The steaming water filled the room, as if bringing a touch of warmth to the cold morning.

The father wasn't idle either. He first moved a huge oval pig basin out of the storeroom. This basin was specially used to remove the hair from pigs and was usually left unused in a corner, but now it was going to come in handy.

Then, he carried out a thick, heavy chopping board and placed it under the osmanthus tree in the center of the courtyard.

The surface of this cutting board has become smooth and flat after years of use, but some bloodstains and traces left from slaughtering pigs in previous years still remain on it.

Before long, the whole family arrived one after another under the osmanthus tree. They gathered together, chatting and laughing, their faces beaming with undisguised anticipation and joy.

Children excitedly darted and played among the crowd, while adults chatted about this year's harvest and the upcoming New Year.

At this moment, the entire courtyard was filled with laughter and joy, and it was very lively!

Just then, a burly butcher with a fierce face strode in.

He was wearing a set of work clothes stained with oil, which made him look somewhat slovenly, but the extremely sharp pig-slaughtering knife he was holding tightly in his hand emitted a chilling light.

With a confident smile, the butcher nodded to the crowd, then walked straight to the osmanthus tree, ready to slaughter the pig for the New Year.

Seeing this, the father quickly ran to the pigpen, opened the gate, and gently called to the fat pig.

The pig seemed to realize it was about to face its fate, and it grunted and refused to come out. But in the end, it couldn't resist its father's urging and slowly walked out of the pigpen.

Then, the father called on Congcong's older brother, Zhang Ming, to come and help. The two of them worked together and with great effort finally managed to lift the 200-pound pig onto the chopping board.

Zhang Ming held the pig's head firmly to prevent it from moving, while his father gripped the pig's hind legs tightly to prevent it from struggling to escape. In this way, with the tacit cooperation of the father and son, the poor fat pig was finally firmly fixed to the cutting board, unable to move.

After all the preliminary work was completed, the strong butcher stood calmly in front of the fat pig waiting to be slaughtered.

He took a deep breath, gripped the razor-sharp knife tightly with both hands, and stared intently and sharply, as if trying to see the upcoming harvest through the pig.

In the blink of an eye, the butcher swung his right arm, and the gleaming cleaver stabbed straight at the pig's neck with lightning speed!

With a muffled "thud," the butcher's knife plunged deep into the pig's neck, followed by a heart-wrenching scream that echoed throughout the quiet village.

The pitiful scream, like a thunderclap, shattered the peaceful atmosphere, but it also heralded the start of a grand feast.

In an instant, crimson pig's blood gushed from the wound, like a red torrent, and quickly flowed into the huge wooden basin that had been placed there beforehand.

The thick blood swirled in the basin, steaming hot and emitting a strong, fishy smell.

This fresh pig's blood is an essential ingredient for making delicious blood sausage and tender blood tofu.

However, the bloody and horrific scene, along with the nauseating smell, did not cause the family members gathered there to feel any fear or discomfort.

Instead, they all stared wide-eyed, watching the butcher's skillful techniques with great interest, their eyes gleaming with anticipation for the sumptuous meal that was about to be served.