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

Xu An sat on the threshold, the chill from beneath his bottom rising straight to the top of his head, but the cold was nothing compared to the panic in his heart.

He hadn't memorized the criminal law, but he hadn't skipped the university's course on moral character and ethics.

Five thousand people.

If they all flooded into Xujia Village, even a single step by one person would cause the stone bridge at the village entrance to collapse.

More importantly, what is this called?

This is called a "large-scale mass event".

There was no reporting, no approval, and no security plan.

If a stampede occurs, or someone gets food poisoning at his house, Xu An's only future job, besides raising pigs, will probably be working as a sewing machine operator.

"No, I have to turn myself in... no, I have to report it to the authorities."

Xu An suddenly stood up, but because he had been squatting for too long, his legs went numb, and he almost knelt down before his grandfather.

Grandpa was putting peeled garlic cloves into a porcelain jar when he saw this and was startled: "What's wrong, my dear grandson? Giving such a big gift before the New Year? Are you in a hurry for red envelopes?"

"Sir, I can't say any more to you." Xu An didn't bother to explain, and his usually slow face showed a rare hint of anxiety. "This matter has blown up, I have to go to the county."

"What are you going to the county for? It's so late at night." Grandpa put down the garlic jar, looking worried.

As Xu An stuffed the hot phone into his pocket, he walked toward the electric tricycle in the corner of the yard, which made noise everywhere except for its bell.

"Go...go see the official."

Xu An didn't dare mention going to the police station, afraid of frightening the old man. "I'll just report our pig-slaughtering work to the government."

Upon hearing "reporting on work," Grandpa's hunched back straightened instantly, and his cloudy eyes lit up.

"Beat! Beat!"

"He even has to report to the government to slaughter a pig? My grandson's really something!"

Grandpa took two shaky steps after him and called out to Xu An's retreating figure, "Don't go empty-handed! Take that bag of walnuts with you! Let the leader have a taste!"

Xu An didn't turn around, he just waved his hand.

With walnuts?

All he wants to bring right now is nitroglycerin.

……

The roads in the Taihang Mountains at night are as black as ink.

The wind blew into my collar like a knife.

Xu An turned up the collar of his military overcoat, hunched his neck, and sped along the winding mountain road on his electric tricycle—at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour.

From Xujia Village to the county seat, it's a 40-kilometer mountain road.

Xu An's mind was filled with images of those ten full WeChat groups and Da Biao's words, "thirty brothers."

"I'm a law-abiding citizen..."

Xu An sniffed, his eyes reddening from the cold wind.

"I just wanted to eat some meat, I never intended to rebel."

8:30 p.m.

Xu An finally parked the tricycle in front of the county public security bureau's public security brigade.

The lobby was brightly lit and well-heated.

Police officer Lao Zhao, on duty, was holding a thermos, blowing on the tea leaves while watching an anti-Japanese war drama. At this moment, it was the climax of Li Yunlong's attack on Ping'an County.

"Knock knock knock".

Someone tapped on the marble countertop of the emergency call center.

Old Zhao didn't even lift his eyelids: "What is it?"

"Officer..."

A timid voice came from behind, with a heavy nasal tone and a Henan accent, "Um... I'd like to file a record."

Old Zhao looked up.

There stood a young man wearing a military overcoat, his hands tucked into his sleeves, his face red from the cold.

He is quite handsome, but his eyes look a bit dull.

"What kind of registration? Did you bring your ID card?" Old Zhao put down his thermos, going through the motions.

Xu An quickly pulled his hand out of his sleeve, rummaged around in his pocket for a while, pulled out an ID card and handed it over, then quickly pulled his hand back into his sleeve.

"That's how it is."

Xu An swallowed hard, organized his thoughts, and said, "My family is slaughtering a pig tomorrow."

Old Zhao was taken aback for a moment, then laughed: "Slaughtering a pig? What are you doing at the police station if you want to slaughter a pig? Go to the slaughterhouse, or the animal quarantine station."

These days, people still need to report to the police station when they slaughter a pig?

Is this child going crazy from studying too much?

"No..." Xu An was so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead, and his toes were frantically digging into the ground inside his shoes. "It's just that... there are a lot of people coming."

"A lot?" Old Zhao picked up a pen dismissively and scribbled in the register. "How many could there be? All the distant relatives are here? Thirty or fifty?"

Xu An shook his head.

"A hundred?" Old Zhao raised an eyebrow. "Is this your family hosting a wedding banquet?"

Xu An shook his head again, his voice growing softer and softer, as if he had done something wrong: "Well...maybe, maybe, perhaps...one or two thousand."

pat.

Old Zhao dropped his pen onto the table.

The hall fell silent instantly, with only Li Yunlong shouting on the television, "Second Battalion Commander, where the hell is your Italian cannon?"

Old Zhao stared at Xu An for a full five seconds, his eyes looking at him as if he were a seriously ill patient who had escaped from a mental hospital.

"One or two thousand?"

Old Zhao laughed in exasperation, pointing to the pitch-black night outside the door. "Young man, do you know what a thousand or two thousand people means? The largest square dance team in our county only has three hundred people! Are you going to invite the entire county to slaughter a pig?"

Are you slaughtering a pig or an elephant?

Xu An's face turned bright red, and after a long pause, he said, "I really didn't lie to you. If you don't believe me, look at my phone."

As he spoke, he quickly pulled out the phone he used for "physical cooling" from his pocket.

Press the power button.

The screen lit up, displaying the familiar frame-dropping animation.

Old Zhao watched with amusement, picked up his thermos and took a sip of tea, thinking to himself that young people these days would go to great lengths to get free Wi-Fi, even making up such lies.

however.

The moment the phone connected to the incredibly fast WiFi in the police station lobby.

"Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding—!!!"

A rapid, sharp, and continuous warning sound, like an air raid siren, rang out in the quiet hall.

Xu An's phone began to vibrate violently, a hardware spasm caused by tens of thousands of unread messages flooding in at the same time.

Old Zhao almost spat out the tea he had just drunk.

"Holy crap? Is this phone going to explode?"

Xu An frantically tried to open Douyin, but the phone screen was frozen on the desktop, and the black musical note icon seemed to be frozen in place, not moving at all.

"Um... it's stuck." Xu An awkwardly raised his head, his eyes looking extremely innocent.

Old Zhao frowned, finally sensing that something was amiss.

This commotion doesn't seem staged.

Just then, the door to the office next door opened.

A young policeman came out, carrying a bowl of instant noodles and humming a little tune.

He was Xiao Wang, a newly assigned intern and a serious internet addict.

"Uncle Zhao, what's all this noise about?"

Xiao Wang asked casually, his gaze sweeping over Xu An, who was standing in front of the dispatch desk.

next second.

Xiao Wang's fork froze in mid-air, his eyes wide as saucers, and the instant noodles hanging from his chin, which he forgot to slurp.

He rushed over suddenly, grabbed Xu An's arm, and was so excited that he was incoherent:

"Holy crap! Alive! Uncle Zhao! He's alive!"

Old Zhao slapped Xiao Wang's hand away: "What nonsense are you talking about? Everyone's alive! This is the person who reported the crime!"

"No, Uncle Zhao!"

Xiao Wang tossed the instant noodles onto the counter, excitedly pulled out his phone, and pointed to the top trending topic on the screen:

"This is the 'Food-Providing Guy'! The 'Pig-Slaughtering Emperor'! The 'Most Honest Man on the Internet'!"

"Uncle Zhao, look! This video has already received 800,000 likes! 20,000 comments! And it's been shared over 50,000 times!"

As Xiao Wang shouted, he shoved his phone right in front of Lao Zhao's face.

Although Lao Zhao doesn't use Douyin (TikTok), he understands numbers.

800,000 likes.

Based on this ratio, the page views would be at least several million.

Let's look at the comments section.

[Taihang Speed ​​Demon: The convoy has assembled, and we are 30 kilometers away from Xujia Village!]

[A famous restaurant review blogger: I've arrived at the hotel in the county town, and I'll be live-streaming first thing tomorrow morning!]

[Henan natives' group chat: Come on, fellow Henan natives! It's time to make Henan proud!]

Old Zhao felt a buzzing in his head, and his blood pressure soared to 180.

Although he was a veteran policeman, he had never seen anything like this before.

This is not just one or two thousand people.

At this rate of internet dissemination, if left unchecked, the people flooding into that small mountain village tomorrow might flatten the mountain!

This is hardly a pig slaughter.

This is clearly a massive mass incident that is unorganized, unplanned, and could spiral out of control at any moment!

Old Zhao suddenly stood up, causing his chair to tip over with a loud thud.

He stared intently at Xu An, his voice trembling, "Young man, what... what did you do? You've stirred up a hornet's nest!"

Xu An shrank back in fright, instinctively tucking his hands back into his sleeves, looking weak, pitiful, and helpless.

"I...I just posted a video, hoping to find two people to massage my pig."

"I even specifically advised them not to come..."

Xu An was almost in tears. "Officer, does this count as turning myself in? Will I get a meal... no, will my sentence be reduced?"

The hall was deathly silent.

Only Xiao Wang's phone was still playing Xu An's honest voice on a loop: "Food provided, all you can eat..."

Old Zhao took a deep breath and, with trembling hands, picked up the internal telephone on the table.

The public security brigade couldn't cover this up anymore.

This needs to be reported to the bureau chief.

No, even the bureau chief might not be able to withstand it.

We need to find the county magistrate!

"Hello? Is this the command center? This is Zhao Guoqiang!"

Old Zhao shouted into the microphone, his voice so loud that it hurt Xu An's eardrums.

"Something terrible has happened! Notify the chief immediately! Right now!"

"Someone wants... no! Several thousand people are coming to our county to slaughter pigs!"

"Activate Level 1 duty mode! Quickly!"

After hanging up the phone, Lao Zhao looked at Xu An, who was still squatting on the ground trembling, and his feelings were extremely complicated.

Who would have thought.

This kid looks like a coward who wouldn't even dare to kill a chicken.

He did it all by himself.

It paralyzed the entire county's public security system.

At this moment, Xu An had only one thought in his mind:

This is it.

This pig is probably doomed.

Even that pot of stewed pork might be confiscated as evidence.