How did hiring someone to press a pig image during Chinese New Year become a top trend?

On January 13, 2026, the Great Cold will arrive.

Xujia Village is located deep in the Taihang Mountains in northern Henan.

The sky was overcast and gray.

Xu An squatted on the low wall of his pigsty, his hands tucked deep into his sleeves due to inertia, his neck hunched, looking from a distance like a large, earthen mushroom growing on the wall.

The military green cotton overcoat he was wearing looked quite old.

The cuffs were worn white, and there were still some dried mud spots on the hem, but in the cold wind, this thing was more effective than any down jacket.

Xu An sniffed his nose, which was red from the cold, and stared intently at the two large black pigs that were rooting around for food in the pigpen.

The pigs are growing really well.

Their black fur was shiny, and they were plump and strong; each one weighed at least 300 pounds.

This is the result of Grandpa's hard work feeding them for a year. He usually can't bear to throw away even a little bit of leftover food, but it all went into the bellies of these two beasts.

In previous years, Xu An would have jumped for joy to see this pig grow to such a size.

But now, he only feels his legs are weak.

"What do we do now...?"

Xu An sighed and exhaled a cloud of white mist.

The sound was so soft that it was instantly carried away by the wind.

He returned home six months ago after graduating from university.

The reason he didn't choose to live and die in a big city was simple—his grandfather was old and had difficulty walking. Xu An had been raised by his grandfather since he was a child, and he was worried about him.

After returning to the village for half a year, he made a living by running errands for the elderly left behind in the village, buying them oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, and also by shooting short videos about the countryside.

The video account is called "Xujiacun Xiaoan" and has 328 followers.

Twenty of them were zombie accounts that claimed to be "divorced singles with children seeking partners in the same city".

This is very awkward.

With only two weeks left until the Lunar New Year, according to the customs of rural Henan, the New Year pig must be slaughtered in the next few days.

Grandpa talked about it all night yesterday, saying he wanted to eat freshly cooked pork stew and that he wanted to share the pork with Second Uncle at the east end of the village and Third Grandma at the west end.

Xu An readily agreed: "Okay!"

But when the time came, he realized he had been hasty.

Xujia Village is a typical "hollow village".

The young people have all gone out, leaving behind only the old, the young, and the sick.

Uncle Erda needs a cane to walk, so if you asked him to help hold down a pig, he probably wouldn't be able to hold the pig down before he had to prepare a feast.

Third Auntie has a loud voice, but her physique is probably not even as strong as a pig.

As for Xu An himself?

He looked down at his small, somewhat thin frame, which was 1.8 meters tall.

Then look at the black pig in the pigpen, which is making a loud clanging noise as it struggles to eat from the stone trough.

Xu An felt that if they really got into a fight, this pig would probably pin him down on the chopping board and kill him.

"A sorrowful person."

Xu An pulled his hand out of his sleeve and scratched his head helplessly.

Find someone?

Should we go to the next village to find the butcher?

The neighboring village is ten miles away, all along mountain roads. When the butcher heard about the terrible road in Xujia Village, he wouldn't come even if he was offered more money.

unless……

Xu An reached into the inside pocket of his cotton-padded jacket and pulled out the domestically made mobile phone with a cracked corner on the screen.

I swiped my finger across the screen twice and tapped the app with the black musical note icon.

"Let's try anything, even if it's a dead end."

Xu An muttered something.

He was truly at his wit's end.

Although he suffers from severe social anxiety and is always tongue-tied when speaking to strangers, he feels he can make a small sacrifice for his grandfather's sake.

He stood up and stomped his numb feet.

I held up my phone, pointing the camera at myself.

In the shot, a delicate but slightly awkward face appeared.

His skin was a healthy wheat color, and his features were regular, but his eyes revealed a kind of pitiful naivety and innocence, commonly known as—clear stupidity.

The background is a dilapidated red brick house, and two grunting "parties involved" in the pigsty.

There was no beauty filter, no filters, not even a fill light.

Only the whistling wind serves as background music.

Xu An cleared his throat, his cheeks slightly flushed, and he spoke somewhat awkwardly to the camera:

"Um...did everyone eat something?"

His very first words revealed an honest and straightforward nature ingrained in his DNA.

After saying this nonsense, Xu An felt a little embarrassed. He scratched his head, then put his hands back into his sleeves and turned slightly to let the pig behind him into the frame.

"I am Xiao An from Xujia Village, Henan."

"It's almost Chinese New Year, and my two pigs have grown a bit too big."

The camera shakily gave a close-up of the two pigs.

The pig seemed to sense something, grunted at the camera, and revealed its two tusks, displaying its ferocious nature.

Xu An's voice trembled slightly in the wind:

"Over 300 pounds, that's quite strong."

"There are no able-bodied men in our village, and the rest are all elders. We really can't keep them under control."

"Um... I wanted to ask if there are any guys in the same city who could lend a hand?"

At this point, Xu An paused, seemingly feeling that getting something for nothing wasn't a good idea, and quickly added:

"Although we can't afford to pay you, we'll provide meals."

"You can eat your fill!"

He thought about his grandfather's cooking skills, and his tone became more confident:

"My grandpa's pork stew is so fragrant, with big slices of fatty pork, stewed with glass noodles, and served with rice."

The wind ruffled the stray hairs on his forehead.

Xu An's eyes darted around, glancing at the empty, even somewhat potholed, bluestone path in front of his house.

It's too deserted here.

You can't even see a ghost normally.

A strange sense of loneliness welled up inside him, making him inexplicably want to crack a joke to alleviate this damned feeling of desolation.

So, he gave the camera a shy yet slightly self-deprecating smile:

"Um... it would be best if the guy coming could drive."

"Nobody usually walks on this road in front of my house."

"If you could send a few more cars and block this road, that would be best."

"This way...it makes my family look prestigious."

After saying that, he laughed sheepishly, his big white teeth standing out brightly against the gloomy sky.

"What are you talking about? You're just spouting nonsense."

"Two people are fine."

"That's all for now, meeting adjourned."

Tap to stop recording.

Xu An didn't even watch the replay, and casually added a title:

#SlaughteringPigsForNewYear #RuralLife #LookingForPeopleOnline #MealsProvided

Then, click Publish.

After doing all this, Xu An let out a long sigh of relief, as if he had completed some huge project.

He shook his head and gave a wry smile.

"Xu An, Xu An, you've really lost your mind."

"With only a few hundred followers, I doubt anyone can even get them."

"Blocking the road? Even a scrap collector's tricycle coming by would be considered to have a high fever."

He put his phone back in his pocket and stopped thinking about it.

Compared to this illusory online solicitation, feeding the pigs is much more practical.

Otherwise, when we slaughter the pig tomorrow, it will be even harder to control it because it will be starving.

Xu An picked up the bucket of mixed pig feed from the corner of the wall and poured it into the stone trough with great effort.

"Hmph hmph hmph—"

The two pigs immediately buried their heads in the hole and made a series of cheerful chewing sounds.

"Eat up, eat up, this is your last full meal."

Xu An patted the pig's head, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

After feeding the pigs, he dusted himself off and turned to walk towards the main room.

The main room was dimly lit, with only an old-fashioned television set displaying static.

Grandpa was sitting on a stool peeling garlic when he heard footsteps. He looked up at Xu An, his cloudy eyes filled with loving kindness.

"Xiao An, have you made contact yet?"

Grandpa's voice was a little hoarse.

"My second uncle's health isn't good, and there's really no one else. I'll go and invite that pig butcher from the next village. It's just a little extra money."

Not wanting his grandfather to worry, Xu An quickly went over and took the garlic cloves from his grandfather's hand.

"Sir, please don't worry about it."

"I just... posted a video to call for help."

"There are many people online, and many of them are kind-hearted. Someone might contact us soon."

Grandpa didn't quite understand what "posting a video to call people" meant, but he believed his grandson.

"Yes, yes."

"Then we should prepare more food; we can't let them help us for nothing."

"If people come, let's kill that old hen that lays eggs too."

Seeing his grandfather's serious expression, Xu An felt a lump in his throat.

This is what elderly people in China look like.

They were afraid of troubling others, yet also afraid of mistreating them.

"Okay, whatever you say."

Xu An was peeling garlic with his head down, but in his mind he was thinking about whether he should go to town to find some porters if no one came tomorrow.

Just then.

He felt a sudden jolt in his inner thigh.

It's not the kind of short, vibrating message notification.

But...

Buzz—buzz—buzz—buzz—!

The phone in his pocket started vibrating wildly, as if it had an epileptic seizure, so fast that Xu An's thighs felt numb.

What happened?

Is your phone broken?

Or is there an electrical leak?

Xu An's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition instantly enveloped her.

This phone was a "flagship" model that he bought for 1,200 yuan. If it breaks, he'll lose money before the New Year is even over.

He quickly dropped the garlic in his hand and frantically pulled his phone out of his pocket.

The moment the screen lights up.

Xu An was stunned.

I was completely dumbfounded.

On the phone's lock screen, the previously clean message bar was now scrolling wildly at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.

[User "Loves Braised Pork" commented on your work]

The user "Don't Want to Go to Work" has followed you.

[User "Henan's Deepest Affection" shared your work]

[User "Culture and Tourism Bureau Observer" liked your work]

……

99+

99+

All of them are 99+!

The phone got extremely hot because it couldn't handle such a massive data flow, and the interface even started to lag.

"What...what's going on?!"