Chapter 277: Pigs’ Worst Nightmare
Zhang Dawei shook hands with Captain Huang with one hand while patting his shoulder with the other, a broad smile on his face.
“Old Huang, let’s skip the formalities. Lead the way. Let Doctor Ning castrate your pigs first — that’s the important work. We’re in a hurry to get back anyway.”
Ning Xiyue nodded to Captain Huang, smiling politely: “Captain Huang, please lead the way.”
“All right, follow me. I’ve prepared hot water, just waiting for you, Doctor Ning.”
Captain Huang led the way, walking a few steps ahead, introducing things they passed along the route. As they walked, the team members noticed that the pig castrator they’d invited was young. Many were curious about Ning Xiyue, which drew an ever-growing crowd following behind.
Even trying to shoo them away didn’t help — some left, others came. Ning Xiyue didn’t mind; they could watch as long as they didn’t disturb her when they reached the pigs.
Captain Huang repeatedly assured her that no one would interfere with the castration.
During the conversation, Captain Huang had already led Ning Xiyue to their pig-raising area.
Zhang Dawei followed as well. Their cows were also kept next to the pig pens.
Once there, the captain followed the Da Rong team’s secretary and accountant to the cowshed to select cattle.
Ning Xiyue walked into the pigsty. The onlookers were stopped outside, on the yard, which made the area much quieter without their chatter.
But just as one wave of noise stopped, another began.
Ning Xiyue seemed like a signal light. As soon as she stepped outside the pen with the little pigs and laid her hands on the gate, the pigs seemed to sense her. They started squealing and running in panic inside the pen.
Seeing the pigs react like this, Ning Xiyue felt a bit speechless.
She had only castrated 22 pigs she raised herself and 18 from the team — forty in total. That’s not that many. Could these little pigs really sense the hostility from someone of their kind?
They were incredibly sharp.
The team pigs were just as clever. She now dared not go chat with Aunt Chunsheng near the team pig pen; the pigs she had castrated would see her and start screaming, as if they remembered her.
She was quickly becoming “the one pigs dread.”
Pigs dread her, pigs dread her, when pigs see her, they hide their tails in fear.
Fortunately, the pigs in her personal space were still managed by her robot caretaker, so she didn’t need to watch them constantly. Otherwise, if all 22 pigs screamed at once, the deafening noise could rupture eardrums.
Captain Huang behind her saw this and laughed with delight.
“Ha ha, that’s exactly it. When the old veterinarian castrated pigs, they were like this too — they seemed to know what was coming and started panicking.”
Judging by their reactions, he was confident Ning Xiyue was highly skilled.
Ning Xiyue rubbed her ears, slung her medicine box over her shoulder, and walked back to the brighter area at the gate. “Captain Huang, let’s begin. Bring the water over. I’ll castrate one pig, and you grab another and hand it to me — that’ll speed things up.”
“All right, wait a moment.”
Captain Huang called two young men, each carrying a stool. One stool was for Ning Xiyue’s medicine box, the other for her to sit on.
“Thank you.” Ning Xiyue sat down, opened her medicine box, and arranged the tools and medicine on the lid for easy access during the castration.
The young man who brought the stool blushed seeing such a beautiful girl thanking him. Ning Doctor was far more attractive than any of the youth in their team, and his heart fluttered.
But when he saw Ning Xiyue take out a sharp castration knife and start wiping it clean, his smile vanished. He stepped back, tightening his legs, and his thoughts of romance vanished. How could he have forgotten that this beautiful girl was today’s pig castrator?
“Why are you two just standing there? One of you go inside the pen to catch pigs, the other hand them to Doctor Ning from outside,” Captain Huang called out, slightly annoyed at how clueless his young men looked.
“All right, got it, Captain.”
The two quickly got into position, ready.
“Captain, I’ll handle catching the pigs Doctor Ning castrates,” a young man volunteered, glancing at Ning Xiyue and moving a few steps closer to ask, “Doctor Ning, is that okay?”
Ning Xiyue adjusted her stool, looked at him, and raised an eyebrow. Really? If he was going to do it, just do it — why ask her? She gestured with her castration knife and said flatly: “Don’t distract me while I’m working.”
“All right, that’s settled.” Captain Huang nodded, satisfied someone volunteered. Then he asked Ning Xiyue: “Doctor Ning, can we start?”
Ning Xiyue disinfected her knife and nodded: “Yes, let’s start.”
“All right, Shunzi, start catching the pigs,” Captain Huang shouted to the person inside the pen.
He didn’t go in himself, standing outside to help Ning Xiyue hold the pigs. He worried that the young girl might be too weak to restrain them.
“Oink! Oink! Oink!”
The pigs caught screamed miserably.
The crowd nearby grew excited: “It’s started, it’s started!”
They watched Ning Xiyue lift each pig carefully.
“Doctor Ning, let me hold the pig for you,” Captain Huang offered.
“No, just move the basin of hot water closer to me.” Ning Xiyue refused decisively. Having someone hold the pigs would only slow her down. She had enough strength to manage the little pigs herself.
She lifted a pig, using her legs to squeeze it tightly, immobilizing it while it squealed.
Captain Huang relaxed and moved the basin over.
Ning Xiyue wet a cloth in the basin and wiped off dirt and feces from the pig’s scrotum, then disinfected it.
Castrating a pig was a small procedure, minor compared to her previous experience assisting sows with C-sections. After castrating forty pigs, she was now skilled enough to do it effortlessly, as if she were drinking water.
She picked up the castration knife. With swift, precise motions, she cut — the pig’s testes were already in her hand, all within a minute.
Captain Huang, impressed by her skill, quickly brought a bowl forward for the testes: “Doctor Ning, put them here. I’ll fry them later.”
Ning Xiyue glanced at him and dropped the two lumps into the bowl.
She then applied iodine and her homemade hemostatic and anti-inflammatory ointment to the pig’s wound.
Her movements were skilled; one small knife was enough. The incision was tiny, and with the ointment, it healed in one or two days — no stitches needed.
She handed the treated pig to a nearby person, and it was done.
Captain Huang was completely convinced. Zhang Dawei’s words had been right. He confidently walked inside the pigsty to check the already castrated pigs.
Ning Xiyue continued, handing a freshly castrated pig out while receiving a new one in her hands. Eight pigs were finished in about ten minutes.
Her eyes didn’t blink the entire time — fast, precise, and ruthless. The pigs hadn’t even realized what had happened.
The young men passing and receiving pigs, and those distracted by Ning Xiyue’s beauty, were stripped of all frivolous thoughts, leaving only fear. They watched Ning Xiyue wash her hands and knife with reverence, not daring to act on any impulse.
Seeing her knife reminded them of the pigs she had just castrated.
She castrated pigs as easily as cutting sweet potatoes, completely without the frailty one might expect of a girl. If she got angry, even a dozen more wouldn’t be enough to challenge her.
Ning Xiyue didn’t realize she had unwittingly eliminated a wave of potential admirers, crushing them thoroughly.
She silently rolled her eyes at the people gossiping about her cruelty and marriage prospects, stood up, and shook her knife at those whispering behind her.
“My knife is sharp, right? The pigs don’t suffer at all. I bet it would work just as well on other things. Oh, and my stitching skills are pretty good too. Anything unwanted, I can castrate and stitch myself.”
As she casually said this, she twirled a piece of thread in her hand, letting her gaze rest on the whispering men and women, a faint smile on her lips — a blatant threat.
The murmuring crowd instantly went silent. No one dared speak. The men covered themselves in fear; the women covered their mouths, eyes wide, staring at Ning Xiyue.
Hmph, knew how to be afraid — all cowardly gossipers who bully the weak and fear the strong.
Ning Xiyue snorted coldly, disinfected her tools, and put them back in her medicine box.
