The Mysterious Encounters of Butcher Dongtou

Every evening in Dongtou, he goes to Yandian River to buy pig meat on his motorcycle, with half a pig strapped to the back of his bike. He typically goes every other day.

He said, "It was one evening in December 2006, just two days before the Winter Solstice, and he intended to bring more pork home. Half a pig, weighing 170 jin (a Chinese measurement unit). After he purchased the meat and was riding his motorcycle back home, the motorcycle suddenly stalled, and he had trouble restarting it. What happened next was even stranger. It was already past 2 a.m., and there was no one else on the road. Dongtou thought he should get going once the motorcycle started, but after he got on the bike, he realized something was wrong.

Dongtou shifted the motorcycle into third gear, but it was moving extremely slowly, almost as if someone was holding it back. He immediately realized something was amiss, but he was not one to be easily frightened. After all, a butcher cannot be a coward. He stopped the bike, grabbed two large meat cleavers from the back, spat out a couple of curses, pointed towards the tail of the motorcycle, and shouted, "You [expletive], get lost!" Afterward, he spat out a couple more curses and got back on the bike.

This time, the motorcycle started smoothly, and he was able to continue his journey. They say butchers and their knives carry an air of menace, and I believe that if it were an ordinary person, they might not have survived that night.

The second story is not about Dongtou but about his master. He was a butcher, so naturally, he had a butcher master. This is a story he heard from his master...

When Dongtou's master was in his forties, he went to help someone slaughter a pig for the Lunar New Year. Whether it was because he hadn't eaten breakfast or for some other reason, I'm not sure, but the key to slaughtering a pig is to make one clean, precise cut to let the blood flow. When Dongtou's master made the first cut, the pig suddenly started thrashing about. It was clear that he hadn't made a clean cut, and there was hardly any blood. The family was upset, but they couldn't blame Dongtou's master; after all, it wasn't his fault. They had no choice but to make a second cut.

Whether it was fate or something else, a few years later, that family faced a great tragedy. Their son died, their wife passed away, and the man himself fell seriously ill. Only their two-year-old grandson was left unharmed, perhaps a sign of divine protection.

As for the old butcher, he didn't suffer any major calamities. However, a few years after that incident, his rheumatism became severe, and he couldn't work as hard anymore. He had to find an apprentice, someone to take over his work, which eventually led to Dongtou becoming the head butcher."