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

The car headlights pierced the frozen darkness deep in the Taihang Mountains.

The Passat slowly came to a stop at the entrance of Xujia Village.

Before the car door opened, Xu Anxian saw the dim yellow lantern at the entrance of his courtyard through the car window.

The lights swayed in the wind.

A shadowy figure huddled under the lamp.

Grandpa was wearing that black cotton-padded jacket with a missing button, his hands tucked into his sleeves, like a weathered stone sculpture.

The big yellow dog was still lying at his feet, its tail tucked between its legs, frightened by the distant roar of the excavator.

"arrive."

Wang Xingbang turned off the engine, turned to look at Xu An, and his tone suddenly became solemn.

"Xiao Xu, is that the old master?"

Xu An nodded and hurriedly unbuckled his seatbelt.

"It's my grandpa. It's so cold, why is he still waiting at the door..."

Xu An opened the car door, and a cold wind mixed with the smell of diesel fuel rushed in.

He didn't even have a chance to shout.

The car door next to me was suddenly pushed open.

Director Wang Xingbang rushed to the gate of the courtyard like a cannonball.

That speed was even faster than Xu An's own grandson.

"Old man!"

Wang Xingbang grabbed his grandfather's calloused hand.

He clenched his hands tightly and shook them vigorously, his eyes shining with the same fervent light he had when he saw a revolutionary predecessor.

"You've been startled! We're late!"

Grandpa was stunned.

He looked at the middle-aged man in front of him, whose hair was disheveled, eyes were bloodshot, but whose spirit was high, and subconsciously wanted to pull his hand back.

No twitching.

"Who are you……"

Grandpa's cloudy eyes were filled with terror as he turned to look at Xu An, who had just gotten out of the car.

"My dear grandson, this...this is the creditor?"

Xu An rushed over, wanting to explain, but was interrupted by Wang Xingbang's loud voice.

"What creditor! I'm a public servant! I'm Xiao Wang from the Huixian Culture and Tourism Bureau!"

Wang Xingbang patted his grandfather's hand excitedly.

"Grandpa, you've raised a fine grandson!"

"If it weren't for Comrade Xu An's outcry, we wouldn't have known that our Xu Family Village harbored such a great treasure!"

"Don't worry, the Party and the government are taking this seriously!"

"We'll widen the roads for you! We'll speed up the internet for you! And the county will provide support and protection for tomorrow's pig-slaughtering feast!"

This barrage of questions silenced Grandpa completely.

The old man was over seventy years old and the highest-ranking official he had ever met was the village party secretary.

This bureau chief suddenly appeared, calling himself "Little Wang," and offering to protect you?

Grandpa blinked, turned to look at Xu An, and asked tremblingly:

"My dear grandson...did you tell the government that our pigsty is drafty?"

"Otherwise, why would we send so many people to fix it?"

Xu An's lips twitched slightly.

He glanced at the bulldozers leveling the threshing floor not far away, then at the bureau chief whose face was full of admiration.

"Sir, that's roughly... that's what I mean."

Xu An could only go along with the conversation and respond.

We can't exactly say that it was because I brought in five thousand foodies that scared the county into having to repair the road, can we?

Wang Xingbang, however, discerned a deeper meaning.

He looked at the old man and the young man with tears in his eyes.

Take a look!

What simple and genuine emotions!

What was clearly a top-tier campaign that generated millions of views was simply described by the old man as "repairing a pigsty".

This is what it means to handle heavy tasks with ease!

This is the essence of great skill appearing effortless!

"Yes! Fix the pigsty!"

Wang Xingbang waved his hand and pointed to the two large black pigs that were sleeping in the yard.

"These two pigs are heroes of our county! They deserve the best living conditions!"

"I'll have the construction team reinforce this pigsty wall and tile it while they're at it!"

Grandpa's eyes lit up instantly when he heard that tiles were to be laid.

"That's great, tiling is easy to clean, and pigs love to keep things clean."

Xu An: ...

Wang Xingbang spent another five minutes fussing over his grandfather's well-being, only reluctantly letting go when his secretary urged him to go to the scene to direct traffic.

"Xiao Xu, take good care of Grandpa and get some rest."

"Tomorrow will be another tough battle, so let's keep our spirits up!"

Wang Xingbang patted Xu An on the shoulder heavily, giving him a firm look that said "I believe in you," before turning and getting into the car.

The Passat kicked up dust and headed towards the construction site in the distance.

The area in front of the courtyard finally quieted down a bit.

Only the distant roar of machinery rolled across the valley like muffled thunder.

"My dear grandson."

Grandpa carried a lantern and looked at the bright lights in the distance. Several large searchlights illuminated half of the village as if it were daytime.

"Those were all... for building roads around our house?"

Xu An wrapped his military overcoat tighter around himself, walked to his grandfather's side, and took the old man's arm.

"Yes, it was built for our village."

"Aren't we making too much noise by slaughtering a pig?"

Grandpa looked uneasy, and the lantern in his hand swayed slightly.

"How much will this cost? We can't afford to lose money even if we sell our two pigs."

Xu An felt a lump in his throat.

He took out the "far ahead" sign that Wang Xingbang had given him from his pocket, and looked at his grandfather's deeply lined face by the light of the screen.

"Sir, we don't need to pay."

"This was... fixed while we were at it because everyone wanted to come over for dinner."

"Just think of it as... our family using pork to change our livelihood."

Grandpa nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

Suddenly, as if he remembered something, he pointed to the wall of the neighboring courtyard.

"My second uncle and third aunt came out just now and were peeking over the wall."

"My second uncle said he had never seen the village so bright in his life."

He said... "It's so lively, even more lively than the Lunar New Year."

Xu An looked in the direction his grandfather was pointing.

On the dilapidated walls of the neighboring houses, several dark figures could be vaguely seen.

Those were the remaining elderly people in the village.

Normally, once it gets dark, the village becomes deathly silent.

They sat in front of the television, embracing their loneliness, until they fell asleep.

And tonight.

The vibrations of the road roller rolling over the ground, the loud noise of the excavator bucket hitting the rocks, and the shouts of the workers.

These are things that should have been called "noise".

At this moment, however, Xujia Village has become the most vibrant movement in the symphony.

That's the smell of human presence.

"It's quite lively."

Xu An said softly.

"Sir, go back to your room and sleep. Tomorrow... will be even more lively."

……

No one in Xujia Village slept that night.

Xu An lay on the hard wooden bed in the main room, covered with the old cotton quilt that weighed ten pounds.

Outside the window, the roar of machinery never stopped all night.

The construction teams in the county are really working hard.

Xu An couldn't sleep.

He rolled over, clutching the black and gold phone tightly in his hand.

The screen lights up.

The notifications in the Douyin backend are still popping up like crazy.

The number of fans has exceeded 200,000.

This is nothing compared to a social media influencer with millions of followers, but for an ordinary person who only had 300 followers yesterday, it's an exponential explosion.

Xu An opened the comment section of the latest video.

Aside from those who are just making memes, joining in the fun, or shouting "The army is assembling!"

His gaze was drawn to some comments that were drowned out by the noise.

[User "ICU Nurse Xiao Liu"]:

"Just got off my night shift and saw the blogger's video, and I suddenly burst into tears. I haven't been back to my hometown for Chinese New Year for three years; the hospital doesn't close. Watching your grandfather peel garlic reminded me of my maternal grandfather. I really envy those brothers who could go to the scene. Could you eat an extra piece of meat for me?"

[User "Guangdong Migrant Worker"]:

"Tickets are so hard to get, I can't go back this year. Blogger, could you do a live stream tomorrow when you're slaughtering the pig? I just want to hear my hometown dialect and see the mountains of Henan."

[User "Frontier Guardian"]:

"Standing guard at the outpost, in minus thirty degrees Celsius. Although we can't get a hot meal of stewed pork, seeing so many people helping the blogger warms my heart. We Chinese people are just so kind-hearted."

[User "Cancer Fighter"]:

"Chemotherapy is very painful, and I can't eat. But when I saw the blogger say that there would be plenty to eat, I suddenly felt hungry. Blogger, you must do a live stream tomorrow! I want to see everyone eating so heartily, so that I can feel like I've eaten too."

……

Xu An flipped through the entries one by one.

Your fingertip slides lightly across the screen.

The anxiety and fear that had been gripped by social anxiety gradually subsided.

He initially thought it was all a farce.

It was a disaster caused by his own careless talk.

He's afraid of trouble, afraid of crowds, and afraid of things getting out of control.

But looking at these words...

Xu An suddenly realized that this might not be just about slaughtering pigs.

For these thousands of people rushing along the road, this is a carnival.

But for the tens of thousands of people behind the screen who cannot be there in person...

This is a form of emotional attachment.

It is a projection of their longing for "home", "reunion", and "the warmth of everyday life".

Xu An took a deep breath.

The air was filled with the musty smell typical of old houses, as well as the smell of dust drifting in from outside the window.

It smells awful.

But it's also very real.

"Live stream, huh...?"

Xu An muttered to himself.

As a socially anxious person who wants to hide whenever I see a camera.

This was his nightmare.

But what if this nightmare could allow that child undergoing chemotherapy to eat just one more bite of food?

It can warm the heart of that soldier on the frontier.

seem……

It's not that I can't tolerate it.

"Alright."

Xu An held his phone to his chest and closed his eyes.

"It's just embarrassing, isn't it?"

"Anyway, I've lost quite a few things since I was a child."

"As long as Grandpa is happy, as long as everyone is happy..."

"Tomorrow, we'll give it our all."

……

October 14th, 5:00 AM.

A faint glimmer of dawn appeared on the horizon.

The mountain mist had not yet dissipated.

Xu An was awakened by a sound even more deafening than the excavator from the previous night.

That was the roar of an engine.

Not one.

It is a steel torrent formed by hundreds or thousands of engines coming together.

Xu An sat up abruptly, grabbed his coat and put it on, then rushed out of the main room barefoot.

He opened the courtyard gate.

The scene before him made him stop breathing.

All that could be seen was the dirt road leading into the village, which had been widened and flattened overnight.

Two endless lines of car headlights, like a sharp sword, pierced through the morning mist of the Taihang Mountains.

The first vehicle was a black Raptor pickup truck, with a large flag stuck in the bed, on which were written several large characters in crooked handwriting:

【Pig Slaughter Vanguard Team】.

The car door opened.

A bald, burly man jumped down.

The gold chain around her neck glittered in the morning light.

Holding two freshly sharpened butcher knives, he gave Xu An, who stood dumbfounded at the door, a bright smile that looked more like a grimace:

"brother!!!"

"Da Biao leading the team, reporting for duty!!!"

"Where's the pig?!"

Xu An shrank back and instinctively put his hands back into his sleeves.

He silently groaned in his heart:

"grandfather……"

"This is the creditor you were talking about..."

"They've come to collect their debt of sex."