After a simple rebirth

In the middle of the night, Fu Ying heard Fu Yu knocking on the door and calling her. Probably because he was too far away, he realized that he couldn't wake Fu Ying up. When Fu Ying answered, Fu Yu was already waiting at the door.

Fu Ying quickly picked up Wang Ruiya, put on her coat, and woke her up, "Xiaoya, Xiaoya, go pee, mommy is waiting for you outside."

Wang Ruiya was still very sleepy, "I don't want to pee, I want to sleep."

Fu Ying coaxed her, "After we pee, we can continue to sleep. We can sleep for a long time."

Fu Yu was also talking outside, "Wang Ruiya, come out quickly, I'll take you to pee."

Fu Ying brought her to the door, and Fu Yu took her back after she finished peeing and handed her to Fu Ying. Fu Ying helped her take off her coat and continued to sleep.

The next day was the day to slaughter the pig.

The Fu family didn't raise pigs this year, so they bought the fat pigs from other families. They wanted to buy from Fu Ergu's family, but she had two pigs, one for her family to slaughter and one for a relative who was getting married. In the end, they bought from the family behind Fu Ergu's family.

That family was Fu Zhe's godmother's family. People here used to be quite superstitious and believed that children would be easier to raise if they had multiple relatives, and they only recognized godmothers, not godfathers.

But for some reason, among the four children, only Fu Ying has no godmother.

During the Chinese New Year, Fu Zhe and his friends would go to his godmother's house to pay New Year's greetings and receive red envelopes. Fu Ying used to envy them very much because she didn't have a godmother and couldn't receive red envelopes.

But later I came to terms with it. It doesn't matter whether there is a relationship or not. It doesn't mean that you will be close if you become a godparent. It mainly depends on your daily interactions.

Fu Yu's godmother's house is very close, and they are relatives who visit each other often, so they often visit each other; Fu Wei's godmother's house is quite far away, so they only visit each other during the Chinese New Year; Fu Zhe's godmother's house is the closest, but they seldom visit each other, so they are not too close, and Fu Zhe never goes there to play.

After breakfast in the morning, I started to boil water.

Mother Fu borrowed a large stove from Aunt Fu's house and started a fire, then used a large pot for cooking pig food to boil a whole pot of water. Two high stools were placed beside the pot. After the pig was killed, a large door-like board would be placed on top to cut up the pig's body.

There was also water being boiled in the house for backup.

Then cut the rope that ties the pork into fixed lengths, and prepare the large barrels and basins to hold the pork, and the preparations are complete.

You can hire a butcher. In the past, when hiring a butcher, you would pay him some meat as labor fee, but now you pay him in cash. When the butcher arrives, you give him a pack of cigarettes, and when he leaves, you give him a red envelope of 100 or 200 yuan.

The butcher sat down at Fu's house, and the men of the family went out and started to drive the pigs.

The Fu family went to the pigsty of that family. The owner opened the door and the male owner shouted to scare the pigs. The pigs would subconsciously flee, bumping into the exit a few times and then running away. The men surrounded the door, leaving a gap and stomping their feet when the pigs ran out, letting them run along the route left by humans.

You can’t let the pigs run too fast, as it’s hard to catch them. Every year, there are always accidents when people are chasing their pigs. The pigs run away everywhere, maybe into the fields or on the road, and then the whole family has to catch the pigs.

Also be careful not to let it actually run into people, so usually people have a stick or something like that to hit it and scare it.

If you encounter a particularly disobedient pig, you have no choice but to use props.

The props are steel bars with curved hooks. If a pig is disobedient, the hook can only be inserted into its mouth, and several people will work together to drag the pig to the place where it is slaughtered.

Even an obedient pig will have its mouth hooked when it is taken to the slaughterhouse.

The pigs are in place, and the men must also be in place.

Brother Kui is quite familiar with these things. Whenever there is a scene of slaughtering pigs nearby, he is the one who takes the tools to hook the pigs. He assigns in advance which people will press the feet and which will press the body to avoid someone not knowing what to do or causing trouble by getting hit by the pig's trotters.

When they arrived at the Fu family's field, Brother Kui quickly grabbed the pig's mouth, and at an order, all the men in the Fu family rushed forward to pin the pig down, then lifted it onto a stool and waited for the butcher to come.

It is really difficult to hold down a pig during the Chinese New Year. It knows that it will die soon, and will struggle hard when held down, wailing loudly throughout the whole process.

You have to hold it down, otherwise there will be another round of chase if it runs away.

Wang Changjie and Fu's father held down the hind legs that had the biggest movement, Fu Wei, Fu Zhe and Fu's mother held down the front legs, and Kui Ge held the steel bars tightly to fix the pig's head to make it easier for the butcher to cut it.

While everyone was held down, the butcher seized the opportunity and used his knife to cut the pig. Fu Yu quickly took a basin to collect the blood, and he collected two basins of pig blood.

After the pig's blood solidifies, some of it will be given to relatives. If the family cannot finish it, giving it to others is also a form of favor.

When the pig was completely dead and motionless, everyone let go. Then Wang Changjie and Fu's father helped the butcher to hang the pig up, one to pour boiling water on it to remove the hair, and the other to decompose it.

The hung pig is first divided into two, and then different parts are processed one by one. For example, the pig's large intestine and kidneys should be hung with ropes and placed in the main room.

After cutting one, Fu's father took a rope and quickly tied it up, and asked Fu Zhe to take it to the main room and hang it.

The large wooden board was placed on the stool, and the half pig was placed on it. The pig was first depilated. The pig was also poured with boiling water, and then the butcher used a sharp round knife to scrape from head to tail, and the pig hair and outer keratin that had been scalded by the boiling water were scraped off.

In the early years, some people seemed to buy this kind of pig hair at a low price, but now no one wants it, so everyone just throws it away.

Then the butcher cut the tenderloin and pork legs into small pieces. After the butcher had cut up the pig according to the Fu family's requirements, he finished his work.

When the butcher is free, he will stay at the host's house to have a meal together. But nowadays, many pigs are slaughtered during the Chinese New Year, and the butcher is in a hurry to go to the next house. So Fu Ma will quickly seal the red envelope and give some meat to express her gratitude.

Fu's father instructed Fu Zhe and Fu Wei to take the pork cut into long strips to Fu's mother, who was rubbing salt evenly on the pork. The rubbed pork was put aside, and in two days it would be smoked into bacon and hung on the beams of the house, to be eaten throughout the next year.

Dad Fu was still shaving the hair off the pig's head and trotters. The butcher didn't care about these difficult parts, so he just slowly shaved them clean himself.

Fu Yuze is cutting pork fat, the white meat, into finger-length strips, and will boil lard in the afternoon. After the lard solidifies, it is easy to store if sealed well, and it is also fragrant when cooking. It is also the oil used by rural families in a year.

Children are not allowed to be present when pigs are being slaughtered, especially those of Wang Ruizhong's age. One reason is that they are afraid that the pigs may suddenly go crazy and knock the children away. Another reason is that they are afraid that facing the scene of slaughtering pigs and listening to the pigs' screams will cause them to have nightmares at night.

Fu Ying has been taking care of the children. The third child is at the age where he loves to crawl. Fu Ying put one foot on the bed to stop him from falling off the bed. The first and second children were arguing loudly. They were a little scared when the pigs screamed, but after a while they heard that there was something delicious, so they were distracted.

After the pig was cut up, the children could go out. Fu Ying also carried the third child out to see.

The two children looked at the huge amount of pork and were very happy to eat the pig-killing dish.

Fu Ying is also looking forward to the pig-killing dish. In her eyes, the pig-killing dish is a delicacy comparable to the nine big bowls.

It’s not like I haven’t eaten dishes cooked with fresh pork, but they’re just not as delicious as the dishes cooked with slaughtered pigs. It may be because the cooking methods are different. Guangdong Province doesn’t have the conditions to use heavy oil and heavy ingredients.