My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 521 This year we'll see Qing

Chen Ling smiled upon hearing this, "You underestimate the fighting power of the mountain cats. Even house cats sometimes slack off when catching mice, and they get scared. But it's different for mountain cats when catching mice. They only get fiercer and fiercer as they catch more mice. The more mice there are, the more fiercely they catch them."

Come, come and take a look.

As he spoke, Chen Ling picked up Rui Rui and walked to the window of the east room.

At this moment, groups of rats of all sizes were squeaking and jumping around the house, either along the walls or on the windowsills and large vats. The little civets, who had been a bit flustered just moments before, were now calm and collected. They didn't deliberately chase after the rats; instead, they would pounce on the nearest one and kill it.

Before long, a bunch of rats in the corner were dead.

The little raccoons became more and more skilled and composed, while their eyes and movements grew increasingly fierce. Sometimes they would attack alone, and sometimes several of them would block a single mouse.

Inside the house, they chased the rats from east to west and then from west to east; the rats could only run away, they had no courage to fight back.

This is just over three months old, a little raccoon.

The kitten that grew up with the dogs on the farm is even more amazing.

It's not a civet cat that's a cross between a wildcat and a domestic cat.

It's the most authentic wild raccoon cub.

Now that it's grown bigger, it's really good at catching mice; even if a mouse jumps onto the windowsill, it can't escape its pursuit.

Yu Qi'an and Bai Huining gasped in surprise as they watched.

"Wow, this mountain cat is really something! Fugui, you know you can train cats, right?"

"What cat training? You haven't seen real wild mountain cats running in the wild. They are much more powerful than this... Compared to this, it's just that the wild ones can't gather this many."

Chen Ling remembered one summer evening when he was a child. It was just getting dark, and his family was having dinner in the yard when a wildcat came to their house. It squatted in the shadows on the wall and didn't move.

There were no electric lights back then, so we couldn't see anything. The only thing we could see was our dog, which kept barking and tethering to its leash.

Chen Ling's grandmother went outside several times, thinking there might be someone outside, but she didn't see anything.

Back then, the family dog ​​was used to being kept on a leash, which made it prone to biting people, so it was generally not allowed to roam freely.

It wasn't until after dinner, when Grandma Chen Ling took the leftover food bucket to the duck shed outside the yard to feed the chickens, ducks, and geese, that she discovered that many of the chickens, ducks, and geese in the shed had been killed by the civets.

The goose's head was bitten off, and the civet was enjoying its meal.

When Grandma Chen saw this, she was furious and grabbed a stick from outside the duck shed to hit the ducks.

Seeing this, the thieving cat slyly shrank its neck and dodged away, then picked up the headless goose and leaped onto the wall.

"No way, that's a goose... To put it bluntly, a wildcat is just a stray cat. Stealing chickens and ducks is one thing, but how could it possibly outrun a goose? And even carrying a goose and jumping over the wall? I don't really believe it."

Yu Qi'an exclaimed with a face full of suspicion, as if to say, "Even though I'm from the city, don't try to fool me."

Bai Huining also opened her eyes and looked at Chen Ling. She simply enjoyed listening to the story and found it interesting.

"There's nothing I can do if you don't believe me. Cui the Cripple, who runs the small shop in our village, used to raise a lot of ducks. In order to keep an eye on the ducks, he also raised five or six geese... These ducks and geese go swimming in the reservoir or pond every day. When they pass through the village, they act like tyrants. If the geese don't like someone, they'll rush up and pinch them. The little kids will stay far away when they see them, and the dogs will stay far away too, not daring to mess with them."

As a result, all of these geese were killed by the civets on the same night.

Not a single one was left for the cripple, Cui.

Cui the Cripple said that the pair of mountain weasels were having kittens and were starving, which was their fiercest time.

"Good heavens, you've killed five or six geese! How did you find out?"

"It's simple. Once these small wild animals know that there is ready-made prey here, and they've tasted the sweetness once, they'll come back again. Some are so bold that they even come back the next day, and some come several times in one night."

That's how it was in our family back then. The next day, as soon as we heard the dog barking, we would immediately light a torch and shine it over, and sure enough, the mountain fox was squatting on the wall.

After we chased it away, it came back in the middle of the night. My family was furious. My father used the entrails of chickens and ducks that had died the day before as bait, then poisoned the thieving cat.

"Wow, Uncle is amazing!"

Chen Ling said these are all examples, and that in the past, more than ten or twenty geese in the village were killed by wild leopards.

Not an exaggeration at all.

Ultimately, there is a big difference between wild raccoons and domestic cats, because domestic cats are not the same species as wild raccoons, just like domestic rabbits and wild rabbits.

Both domestic rabbits and domestic cats actually originated from foreign breeds.

The mountain cat is native to the area; they should actually be called leopard cats, belonging to a large category of leopard cats. You can tell what it is just by hearing the word "leopard" in its name.

As they were talking, Rui Rui started to wriggle in Chen Ling's arms, twisting her little body and whimpering as she peered into the house.

It turns out the brat was having a great time watching it when the fighting inside stopped.

"Alright, alright, come down and take a look."

Chen Ling put him down, opened the door to the east room, and found the floor littered with dead rats. All the rats from those nests had been wiped out, leaving only the little foxes leisurely enjoying their meal.

Seeing this, Rui Rui looked up at Chen Ling and smiled, "Give it to Hei Hei, give it to Jin Jin."

"Okay, if the kitten can't finish it, give it to the two of them."

Chen Ling straightened his clothes; the brat hadn't forgotten about Heiwa and Xiaojin.

"Tsk tsk, this guy, he took down two or three hundred rats at once, that's really satisfying... These little rats, they look like they've just left their nests, and they've already been lured out by the rat poison..."

When we go back, give me some too. I'll sprinkle some on the ground when I get home and see if there are any mice. If there are, I'll kill them all.

This rat poison is a rat killer; it can wipe them all out!

After watching the process of luring the rat, Yu Qi'an found it extremely satisfying and felt a strong urge to try it himself.

I want to take it back and wipe out all the rats that are hidden in my house.

This mentality is like someone who watches a video about removing mites feeling that their face is also covered in mites and wanting to squeeze them out.

They have to have their fill before they're satisfied.

“I’m telling you, Fugui, you could make a fortune selling rat poison in the future.”

"However, since Uncle Cunye has snake-attracting medicine, why didn't he make this rat-attracting medicine? I think they're about the same."

The old man got so excited that he kept talking non-stop, one sentence after another.

Chen Ling was speechless.

What do you mean by "you think it's about the same"?

That's far away.

Do you really think this is just a difference in name?

He had experimented with this hundreds or even thousands of times in the cave before he finally figured it out.

In other words, the effects can be quickly tested within the cave.

If it were outside, without that kind of environment, many people would probably have to figure it out for most of their lives.

While chatting, they cleaned up the rats scattered all over the east room, put them in a snakeskin bag, and took them home to feed the dog.

As for Er Tuzi, he doesn't like to eat this stuff.

At this time, it was still flying around with its flock of pigeons.

After dealing with the mice in the east room, we moved on to the mice in the west room.

The little raccoons are a bit tired.

Chen Ling then set up an "electric cat," with thin wire nailed around the outside of the mouse hole, forming a long, tight circle.

Chen Ling also sprinkled water around the power lines, making them wet.

Then they scattered rat poison, turned on the electricity, and the rats that rushed out were all electrocuted and nearly killed.

Every single one of them was electrocuted, either convulsing, stiffening, or suddenly standing upright.

On the wire, the mice were packed tightly together like strings of candied hawthorns.

There were also people near the barbed wire, sprawled out on their backs from the electric shocks Chen Ling had thrown into the water, kicking their legs incessantly.

This was even more satisfying than a cat catching a mouse.

Yu Qi'an clapped and praised it, and Bai Huining also stopped finding the rats disgusting and instead found it refreshing and enjoyable.

After Chen Ling turned off the power and the rats were cleaned up and bagged, the group went upstairs to lure the rats away.

"Well, look, with so many rats, the cat hasn't come yet, but the snake has." As soon as Chen Ling went up to the second floor, he saw a dead snake lying on its back next to a rat hole outside the room, its belly bulging. At this moment, a bunch of ants had already gathered around it.

"Oh dear, my stomach is so bloated, it's quite frightening."

"Yes, it doesn't look good when it's dead. It was bitten to death by rats."

Chen Ling grunted in agreement and kicked it into the yard.

It's likely that Gao Xiulan felt unsafe after hoeing the grass, so she came up here, because many of the rat holes in the grass are inhabited by snakes and rats living together.

It's like a hungry snake going into a mouse hole to find food.

They often live in the fake holes of rats, eating when they are hungry and sleeping when they are full.

"Now you know why my father-in-law and his family have snake bait but not rat bait, right? They raise snakes, so their house doesn't get rats."

Snakes are one of the few creatures that can crawl into mouse holes to catch mice.

"Oh, is that so? Now that you mention it, I suddenly understand."

"So, besides keeping cats, keeping snakes can also keep rats away."

"That must be it. Come on, let's quickly raid these rat nests. We still need to check the circuit later."

"..."

Thanks to the rat poison, Chen Ling and his pack of civets wiped out all the rat holes in the yard in just half a morning.

The dead rats filled more than half of a snakeskin bag.

Chen Ling took them all back and fed them to the dogs.

As for why I don't feed the cat?

One reason is that they have small stomachs and can't eat too much.

Secondly, in Chen Ling's home, cats are not as smart as dogs.

It's okay to feed dogs dead rats; they can tell good from bad.

If you feed cats dead mice too often, they will start eating dead mice whenever they see them outside.

Poisonous rats that are likely to die from ingesting the poison.

So I'll just stop feeding them.

……

I spent two days tidying up in the county town, getting everything sorted out, and even replaced the doors and window screens.

Because many window screens were also chewed up by rats, leaving holes everywhere.

Of course, the main thing is to tidy up the bedroom where you live and the kitchen where you eat.

I feel more at ease living and eating here.

The rest can be dealt with gradually.

After that, they brought Wang Susu over.

Gao Xiulan can stay here with him for now, and Chen Ling will ride his little blue horse with Rui Rui back and forth every day.

My brother-in-law and his wife are looking after the family.

They've made a lot of money picking mushrooms recently, so they're not in a hurry to go back even though school is about to start.

It's a win-win situation: I can help Chen Ling with some chores and earn money at the same time.

The tuition fees for children's schooling have been increasing year by year for the past two years.

If they can save money, they are willing to save more.

However, the group of people who were picking mushrooms recently discovered something alarming: the number of wild animals in the mountains this year was frighteningly high.

There are fewer wild boars now.

However, deer, muntjacs, and wild sheep all live in large herds.

There are even more wild monkeys than in previous years.

This is certainly beneficial for hunting in autumn and winter.

But it's not so good for crops in the fields.

In particular, the local autumn crops are mainly corn, which gives off a sweet smell when it is almost ripe.

Humans can't smell it, but wild animals in the mountains can smell it from ten miles away. If we don't take precautions in advance, the wild monkeys this year could cause a lot of trouble.

Let's not even talk about other wild animals.

After Wang Laishun was told about this, he immediately called a meeting of the villagers. They moved benches and chairs to the open space between the primary school and Dayantang to discuss the "greening" of the autumn harvest.

The term "watching over the greenery" is also called "protecting the greenery".

It means protecting the crops that are forming but not yet ripe, to prevent them from being stolen by people or harmed by wild animals.

Because of the trouble his family went through, everyone in the village is laughing at Wang Laishun, and there are no people left to sit down and chat properly.

He was just worried about not having a chance to sit down with someone to ease the awkward atmosphere.

This is a good opportunity to 'discuss' the matter of viewing the green hills.

Find Chen Ling, find Wang Lixian, and call on the eldest son Wang Jusheng as well. Speak kindly and consult with everyone.

He even deliberately made a few jokes in a funny tone.

The villagers all knew what the old man was thinking, so they just hummed and hawed in response, saying one thing and doing another.

Regardless of what Wang Laishun does, the matter of "watching the green" is definitely going to be settled this year.

So once the meeting ended, besides discussing "watching the green" and inquiring about what Wang Jusheng and his group had been tinkering with to make money, everyone was talking to Chen Ling.

"Fugui, you're amazing! Thank goodness I listened to you and sold the pigs early. Now, just a few days later, the price of pigs has started to plummet. If we had sold them later, we would have definitely lost money."

Wang Lishan chuckled, his nose turning red with excitement.

He is a major pig farmer in the village. Due to the floods, the purchase price of pigs changed every day, and he really made a profit a few days ago.

"It's about what you said about not raising pigs in the second half of the year. I don't think it's a big deal. I raise pigs every year anyway. Maybe I should just raise some piglets instead."

"Go ahead and raise it. Don't blame me if you lose money."

Wang Lishan and Wang Lixian are brothers, so Chen Ling didn't mince words and spoke his mind.

After all, fluctuations in pork prices are normal. People in the countryside raise pigs for a year or two at a time, and they don't really feel the impact of it after a long time.

I wonder how pessimistic the situation will be next year. Even at ten yuan for three jin of pork, it won't sell. It would be strange if raising pigs could make money.

Wang Lishan just chuckled when he heard that.

Chen Baoshuan listened to Chen Ling's advice. When Chen Ling told them not to raise more fish, he really gave up the idea. He just asked in a low voice, "Fugui, should I keep raising these fish? I saw Boss Sun started buying pigs. Does that mean the fish aren't good for us anymore?"

With Sun Yanhong's crayfish restaurant closing down, the village's aquatic products have also been affected.

Although the villagers don't raise many in their own ponds, the high price makes it a considerable income.

It's much easier to make money than raising pigs.

Chen Ling was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then smiled and said, "Go ahead and take care of it. Don't worry about it. This business closure isn't because business is bad, it's because of the disaster. Things will be back to normal in the future."

"Hehe, that's fine then. Actually, I was just asking you casually. It's okay if we can't raise them anymore. The main thing is that we wanted to have a drink with you. We didn't dare to go when Susu was home."

"Yes, yes, Wenchao brought a lot of beer from the Huangni Town Brewery. Let it chill in your water tower, and it'll be very refreshing to drink tonight."

"Yeah, Baoshuan and Uncle Sangui picked up two old yellow quails while watering the fields. We'll stew them tonight, and they'll go perfectly with an ice-cold beer."

"Old Yellow Quail?"

Chen Ling initially just smiled and responded, but as soon as he heard "Old Yellow Quail," he immediately perked up. Thinking about the taste of the Old Yellow Quail he had last time, he almost drooled.

"Okay, come to my house tonight. Where's Xiao Chao? I'll put the beer up in the fridge first."

(End of this chapter)