My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 168 Ground Rats
Seeing that Er Maolu was in such a hurry, Chen Ling assumed it was his grandson who had caused the trouble, so he dropped the bag full of corn and ran over.

When they got closer, they realized it wasn't a little kid causing trouble, but an adult—the youngest son of Er Mao Lu's family.

This kid went up the mountain to collect honey.

Last time I went hunting in the mountains, I encountered several large beehives, which looked very tempting.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to pay attention to it at the time, and only left a mark.

After returning home, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Since I wasn't too busy today, I took my gear and went up the mountain.

Prepare mugwort and fire rope, find the beehive, light it under the tree, and smoke it away. After the bees are all driven away, use a long bamboo pole to pick the beehive down.

However, the boy thought the smoke from the fire rope was too weak and slow to ignite, so he found some dry branches, piled them under the tree, and started a fire.

Now the fire was raging, and there was plenty of smoke, making the bees dizzy and disoriented.

With just a kick to the tree trunk, the trees would fall into the fire like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

It was really exciting and enjoyable.

However, he was so focused on the beehive in the tree that he forgot to clear away the surrounding weeds and dead leaves, which accidentally ignited the fire, and the flames quickly spread.

Fortunately, the beehive was not far from the foot of the mountain, and there were many people working in the fields recently. When Chen Ling and Er Maolu arrived, there was no longer any open flame, but there was still thick smoke billowing out, which was very choking.

However, Er Maolu didn't care whether the smoke was choking or not. After seeing his son, he took out his belt and started whipping him mercilessly. The villagers' attempts to persuade him were useless. He whipped the boy until his clothes were soaked with blood.

When something like this happens, we have to be tough on them.

People in the mountains are most afraid of fire, especially during the harvest season. Whether it's summer or autumn harvest, the weather is relatively dry and the wind is strong.

If a wildfire breaks out, it doesn't matter if the land is green or yellow; a gust of wind will set everything ablaze, burning everything to the ground, leaving no time to put it out.

A few days later, Er Maolu's grandson went to Chen Ling's house with Xiao Sen and said that his father, after being beaten, acted as if nothing had happened the next day and went up the mountain to collect honey, bringing back several large beehives.

Chen Ling was stunned by what he heard and exclaimed that this guy was a real talent.

Er Maolu is stubborn enough; once he's made up his mind, no amount of persuasion will change it. I never expected his son to be even more stubborn than him.

He was secretly criticizing them.

After Ermaolv went to the township, he spread the word in the village that he had become a livestock station epidemic prevention worker. The villagers did not know the difference between an epidemic prevention worker and a veterinarian, so they all regarded him as a veterinarian. They were quite surprised when they heard about this.

People wondered why he had suddenly become a veterinarian, since he had never worked for the Chenling Township government before. So many people came to ask him about it.

Chen Ling didn't say much to them, only that if any of the poultry or livestock in the house had any problems, they could come to him for help.

The villagers all smiled and agreed.

Even so, poultry and livestock rarely get sick, as they are mostly free-range in rural areas and rarely have any problems throughout the year.

In the blink of an eye, the leap August is almost over.

The corn in the field is gradually maturing and it's harvest season.

Corn on the cob ripens quickly, and tender corn can only be eaten for about ten days each year. After that, it quickly becomes old and hard and can no longer be eaten.

Fortunately, Chen Ling's family has had no shortage of tender corn these days, and it's on the dinner table every meal.

Besides the ones exchanged from Er Mao's donkey, there were also some given to me by several families who lent me sprayers and sickles.

After finishing the tender corn, every household in the village began preparing to harvest it, a process they call "corn harvesting." Chen Ling hadn't been idle at home these past few days either, helping Wang Lixian and Wang Jusheng's families harvest corn.

Carrying a basket, changing into old clothes, putting on a straw hat and gloves, he would go into the cornfield and start picking corn with both hands, snapping and cracking away. In three to five minutes, he would fill the basket with corn, then dump it on the edge of the field and continue picking. He was faster than three people combined, and each family could finish picking corn in a day at most.

Wang Lixian has a large family; his daughters, sons-in-law, and daughters all go to the fields together. They get up at six in the morning to harvest the crops and bring them all home by noon.

In the evening, the three families would gather together, turn on the electric lights in the yard, and sit around the tall pile of corn, husking the corn. They would chat and listen to the radio as they husked it, which was a lot of fun.

After the corn was husked, it was tied to the eaves and the wooden frame in the yard.

This is also a common sight after the autumn harvest.

Every year at this time, strings and piles of golden corn cobs hang in front of every household, on the eaves, and on the trees, creating a spectacular sight as they are lined up.

After tying up the corn, strings of red peppers would hang on the walls and door frames. Some people would also put out bright yellow persimmons in the yard, or peel and dry them to make persimmon cakes.

Such a scene can add a festive atmosphere to the otherwise ordinary mountain village.

At times like these, Chen Ling's family was no exception. The Wang Lixian family gave them a lot of corn and chili peppers, which they dried, enough for their own consumption in the fall and winter. In addition to these, they also dried a lot of goji berries. When the weather was good, they would spread them out on bamboo trays in the yard. These were all wild goji berries that he had picked from the mountains when he had nothing else to do these days.

……

One autumn rain brings a chill, and several light rains after the autumn harvest have made the weather turn thoroughly cold. The north wind howls at night, and the branches of the trees in the yard whistle and groan. Chen Ling, relying on his good health, didn't pay much attention at first and still slept under a thin blanket. However, in the middle of the night, the couple couldn't stand it anymore, so they turned on the light and took out a thick quilt from the closet before they felt warm.

It's getting cold, and people are feeling lazy and unwilling to move. Apart from picking up and dropping off Wang Zhenzhen every two days, Chen Ling doesn't move much at home. Every day, after cooking and filling his stomach, he lies down in the yard and reads books and newspapers with his wife.

It wasn't until Han Chuang came to visit him on his motorcycle that he took the dog for a stroll outside the village. They went to check out the reservoir, and perhaps because of the cold weather, the creatures in the water had quieted down considerably. No one had mentioned any disturbances at night these past few days, so Han Chuang still didn't see any trace of the 'monster' this time.

However, he wasn't too disappointed, because Chen Ling told him to take two little rabbits home to raise when he left. He especially liked rabbits, and that was enough to make him happy for a long time.

Jiang Xiaoqing didn't come with them today. The two grown men were wandering around outside the village with their dog when they saw a few young men from the village carrying shovels and hoes, looking for treasure. They walked around, stopping and starting, digging here and there, and the two men were drawn to them.

I got closer and asked, and found out that these people were looking for a rat hole.

The boys greeted Chen Ling warmly, calling him "Brother Fugui" and "Uncle Fugui."

"Why are you looking for mouse holes? Are you going to catch mice to eat?"

Han Chuang squatted down, staring wide-eyed, curiously peering into the hole.

"They're not eating; they're looking for food."

"Looking for grain? How much grain can be hidden in a rat hole?"

Han Chuang couldn't help but find it amusing.

He knew the rats were stealing grain, of course, but rat holes are so small, they can only hold a few mouthfuls of grain at most. Is it worth digging them up? Isn't it a waste of effort?

It's better to catch a mouse; at least it's meat.

Seeing Han Chuang laugh, the boys didn't argue and said to him directly, "Ask Uncle Fugui, he used to dig a lot too, sometimes he could dig up a hundred or two hundred catties in half a day."

"One hundred, one hundred, one hundred and eighty jin?"

Han Chuang was startled, his eyes wide as he stared at Chen Ling: "How many rat holes have you dug?"

"We didn't dig up many. If we were lucky, three or four would be enough."

Seeing his disbelief and surprise, Chen Ling smiled and explained, "The ground rats are very good at stealing food. Don't be fooled by their small burrows; they're interconnected and quite large. They know that food is scarce in winter, so they need to stock up on food to survive the winter, and they're desperately carrying it into their burrows..."

Field mice, also known as ground rats, are more diligent than humans when crops ripen. As long as no one is in the fields, they will carry grain into their burrows day and night. After the autumn harvest, a single field mouse burrow can yield at least ten pounds of grain.

If you're lucky, you can dig out forty or fifty pounds from a large rat trap.

These large rat burrows are mostly located in fields. Digging a rat hole can sometimes collapse someone's field embankment, which can easily lead to being scolded. Therefore, people search for them at the foot of mountains and along ditches.

Han Chuang found it fascinating and followed the young men, searching for rat holes. Chen Ling, seeing this, called him over, went home to get a shovel and hoe, and started searching near his own land, figuring it wouldn't hurt to dig around there.

It's already late autumn, and the insects in the wild are almost gone. The chickens and ducks at home can only eat small fish and shrimp, and dig up grass seeds and insect eggs. When winter comes, they won't even have grass seeds to eat.

Not only chickens and ducks, but also quails and pigeons—so many mouths, big and small, need to be fed. We might as well take this opportunity to dig a few mouse holes and get some grain to take back.

After they approached, they didn't need to go within two or three hundred meters of the cemetery. The cemetery was full of creatures like raccoons and was a no-go zone for rats. Even if there were holes, they weren't rat holes; snakes and small lizards were the main inhabitants.

However, down the slope two or three hundred meters away from the cemetery, there are quite a few rat holes in the cotton fields and sorghum fields. Basically, you can find a rat hole every three to five steps.

These rats are very cunning. They know to hide far away after stealing grain, either digging holes on the ridges of fields, ditches, or mountain ridges, or in places like cotton fields where there is little grain.

Moreover, there are many open caves, hidden caves, main caves, and fake caves, making it even more exaggerated than the tunnel warfare.

Basically, the only place people can see at a glance is Myeongdong.

You can't see if there are rats inside from the open cave. To find the main rat burrow, you have to go to the hidden cave.

Generally speaking, dark caves are relatively well hidden, concealed under grass, beside tree roots, or in thorns on gully slopes.

Especially along the slopes of ditches, you can often see a pile of fresh soil at the entrance of a dark hole, which means there must be rats inside.

Chen Ling taught Han Chuang to identify several holes before burying himself in digging. Heiwa Xiaojin had no way to deal with the rats in the holes, so he could only lie next to his owner, squinting in the sun.

Chen Ling was strong; with just a few strokes of the shovel, he shoveled the weeds and soil off the top of the hole. Rats burrow in a winding, circuitous path.

Therefore, there are techniques involved in digging mouse holes; one cannot just act recklessly.

Simply putting in brute force won't work.

After digging a shovelful, check the condition of the mouse hole to make sure it's not buried in soil, otherwise you'll have wasted your effort.

However, there are also safer methods.

Gather some foxtail grass and stuff it into the hole. Once you've stuffed one grass in, keep stuffing it in until you reach the bottom of the mouse hole. It doesn't matter if the hole is buried; just follow the trail of foxtail grass to find it.

Anyway, what we need at this point isn't the rats, but the food inside the rat holes. Once we know the location, we can dig however we want, and it doesn't matter if the rats run away.

Chen Ling had dug often as a child, so he was quite skilled at it. He wielded the shovel and dug, and within minutes, he had unearthed a dark hole from which creaking sounds emanated. Heiwa suddenly stood up and stared menacingly at the hole.

As for Little Gold, it was still squinting its eyes, listlessly sunbathing, clearly uninterested in what was inside the cave.

This is all because we learned our lesson from digging up badger burrows before, and we don't want to waste our energy doing it again.

"Brother-in-law, we've come to ask you to dig up the mice..."

Hearing the squeaking of mice, Chen Ling and Han Chuang were digging separately when Wang Zhenzhen, swinging her arm, led a group of people over quickly.

It was the elderly couple Liang Hongyu, along with Qin Yueru and her daughter Xiaolizi.

"Uncle, I brought a cat to catch mice."

Once the little girl got to know him, she dared to speak up, holding up a chubby wildcat to show him.

"Great, Little Chestnut is so smart."

Chen Ling, leaning on his shovel, praised him, then spoke to the adults and introduced Han Chuang.

So the group, adults and children alike, started looking for the mouse hole.

A little while later, Wang Susu also led the cow over and let it graze beside them, watching them dig mouse holes.

At this point, Chen Ling had dug a small mouse hole, but there was no food in it, so he had dug it to the point of exhaustion. Han Chuang was no better; he dug and dug, stuffing it with foxtail grass, but he still managed to lose the hole.

Qin Rong dug a large rat hole first. With one shovelful, the rats scurried out like madmen, but they were easily caught by Heiwa after only a few steps.

One, two, three... After catching a mouse, Heiwa carried it back and lined it up in front of Chen Ling, barking and showing off to his master. Qin Yueru found it interesting, so she picked up her camera and went over to take pictures.

"Fugui, come quick! Have I dug up a rat's nest?"

Qin Rong first pointed to the spacious earthen cave inside and asked.

The burrow was larger than a bowl, with messy piles of dry grass filling the entrance. Chen Ling, with his sharp ears, could even hear tiny, delicate squeaking sounds coming from inside.

“It is indeed a rat's den. Uncle, don't move it yet. There's probably a nest of baby rats inside.”

As Chen Ling spoke, he reached into the hole and pulled out the dry grass.

Hearing him say this, everyone gathered around and stared at the haystack.

The haystack was shaped like the opening of a cloth bag. When it was opened, it was found to be filled with cotton and bird feathers, and it felt soft and warm to the touch.

Then, when the cotton was unpacked, a bunch of pink and smooth little mice appeared before everyone's eyes.

"Wow, it's a little mouse..."

Little Chestnut's eyes lit up when she saw the tiny mouse. She quickly took a civet cat out of her grandmother's bamboo basket, patted its bottom, and pointed at the little mouse in its burrow, urging, "Quick, kitty, go eat!"

However, this mountain civet had long lost its wildness. It was an adult and was being raised like a treasure by Liang Hongyu and her husband. It wouldn't eat raw meat and wouldn't move at all when it saw a small mouse. Instead, it would cower and hide at Liang Hongyu's feet.

This is because they are afraid of two dogs.

"Ren Xiaoli, what did your mother teach you? Girls should be ladylike and kind. Little mice are so cute, how can you let cats eat them? That's too cruel."

"Don't do that again, understand?"

Qin Yueru put down the camera and said with a frown.

Little Chestnut looked up at her but didn't say anything.

This little girl came to the village twice, and each time she ran around playing with the village children. She's not so spoiled anymore; she's capable of catching earthworms, grasshoppers, and anything else. Letting a cat eat a mouse is nothing to her.

It wasn't until Chen Ling handed her the nest of baby mice and helped Qin Rong dig the hole wider that the mouse burrow was exposed, and more than 20 kilograms of grain were dug out.

Little Chestnut then pointed to the mouse hole and said, "Mommy, look, the mice are thieves, they're so bad..."

It means she did nothing wrong.

Qin Yueru felt a surge of frustration and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Yes, mice are the worst. They're always stealing food and wasting it. It's only natural for cats to eat mice."

Liang Hongyu smiled and patted her granddaughter's head.

Then he pointed to the grain in the rat's storage and asked the little girl to identify it.

"Come and see, look at the grain your uncle dug up. Do you know what kind of grain this is and what we can make with it?"

However, the little girl wasn't interested in the food. After examining it for a moment, she couldn't wait to ask Chen Ling, "Uncle, how come these mice are like people? They have places to eat and places to sleep?"

"Oh my, you've discovered that. Let me tell you, these mice are very clever. They not only have places to sleep and eat, but they also have outhouses."

As he said this, Chen Ling dug down with a shovel and found a small hole about the size of a teacup near the rat's nest. Sure enough, it was full of rat droppings and had a pungent smell of urine.

When everyone saw it, they were indeed as Chen Ling had said, and they were immediately amazed, feeling that their eyes had been opened.

Actually, this place is not used by all mice; it is a special place for female mice to defecate during nursing.

Other mice would relieve themselves outside their burrows during the milder seasons.

They only venture out to new locations during the cold winter months when they rarely leave their caves.

"This rat is quite interesting. Let's find a new hole."

Han Chuang was a little disappointed after working hard for half a day without finding anything.

"No rush. This rat hole is huge, it's a big family of rats. We've only dug out the corn silo so far, only about twenty pounds. Let's look around some more, maybe there are other grain silos."

Chen Ling shook his head, bent down, and continued digging to the side.

"Huh? Really? Even the smartest mouse can't be that smart, right?"

"They...they...they even store grain in separate warehouses?"

Han Chuang stared wide-eyed and stammered, clearly not quite believing it.

This made the two little girls secretly laugh, finding the big, silly guy's words amusing.

As it turned out, Chen Ling actually found another "rat's warehouse," which contained sorghum and millet respectively.

But there won't be any more after digging.

"The weather's not right this year; the peanuts and soybeans haven't been harvested yet. Otherwise, these big rat holes usually have peanut and soybean storage areas..."

(End of this chapter)