Back to 1984: I built a chicken farm on a barren mountain.

When Chen Wenfeng and Lao Sun were having breakfast, Niu Da arrived. According to the schedule, Niu Er should have come, but Niu Er was a skilled driver and needed to transport corn, so his brother took his place.

Niu Da hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so Chen Wenfeng called him to eat. During the meal, they inevitably started talking about catching weasels again. Niu Da's eyes widened as he listened. He pulled out his slingshot and said:

"Why didn't I make it? If I had been there, I would have shot a hole in that thing with my slingshot!"

Chen Wenfeng smiled and said:

"I didn't expect it to be just two weasels yesterday. Why don't you keep an eye on things again today? Maybe something else will try to cause trouble!"

"That's great!"

After finishing breakfast, Chen Wenfeng went home. Originally, Chen Wenfeng planned to go and return on the same day, but because of the weasel incident, he was delayed until midnight. When he got home, the yard had already been cleaned up, and all the harvested corn had been husked and placed on the windowsill, in the corner, and in the large basket. Corn drying is not as urgent as wheat drying; it can be threshed whenever it is completely dry.

When Chen Shouyi and Wang Guizhi saw their son return home, they quickly offered him breakfast. Chen Wenfeng said:

"You guys eat. I ate on the mountain. I was planning to come back yesterday afternoon, but there were weasels on the mountain that killed the chickens. I caught one with Master Sun last night, and this morning I put a wire around another one."

After saying that, he killed the chicken with the weasel's bite and threw it into a basin.

Chen Xiaofang found it amusing to hear about the weasel eating the chicken, and seeing her older brother bring back the chicken that the weasel had killed, she asked:

"Brother, how many chickens did this weasel kill?"

"It killed two of them, and then stole one."

Are weasels really that powerful?

"That's right. I heard from Master Sun that at Damin's chicken farm, a weasel killed seven or eight chickens in one go. These things don't eat one and bite one at a time, but kill them all at once and slowly transport them out."

Chen Xiaofang was a little lost in thought when she said:

"What a pity, why didn't it kill more this time?"

"..."

Chen Wenfeng thought he had misheard, but in that instant he understood what his sister meant. She wanted to kill more weasels so she could eat more chickens. This glutton is asking for a beating!

As the saying goes, no one knows a daughter better than her mother. Before Chen Wenfeng could speak, Wang Guizhi slapped Xiaofang hard and said:

"You little rascal, are you that greedy? You're even asking a weasel for help just to get chicken!"

Chen Xiaofang shut up after being criticized by Wang Guizhi. She felt a little wronged. What had she done wrong? She had only made the mistake that all foodies might make: she just liked to eat chicken.

Chen Shouyi and Chen Wenshui finally realized what was happening and chuckled with their heads down.

Seeing that his mother had spoken, Chen Wenfeng said:

"Master Sun skinned those two weasels and they're hanging up. He said he'll make a scarf from them. By the way, those weasels' farts really stink!"

"It's not just the farts that smell bad, this stuff is really cunning."

After hearing Chen Wenfeng's account of the two weasels, Chen Shouyi also started talking, saying:

"These two weasels are most likely together. One is scouting ahead, while the other is keeping watch. They'll run away if there's danger. If you don't set a trap, the second one will probably escape. I bet the second one is a bit bigger!"

Upon hearing his father's words, Chen Wenfeng quickly replied:

"Indeed, the second weasel is longer and fatter."

"Are those two weasels big?"

"It's quite big."

"It can be used to make scarves, gloves, or earmuffs."

Chen Shouyi suggested.

The meal revolved around weasels, and Chen Wenfeng naturally brought up the story of Old Sun putting a skinned weasel into the chimney.

Chen Shouyi said:

"I've never heard of eating this stuff curing diseases."

Wang Guizhi rolled her eyes at Chen Shouyi and said:

"You've forgotten. There used to be one in our chimney. Dad put it there when he was alive, saying that drying it would cure diseases. Anyway, I didn't dare to eat it. Later, someone from another village came to buy it. When I took the dried weasel out, it was so dry and black, it was almost charcoal."

"I asked that person what illness it could cure, and he said it could cure stomachaches and coughs. I also specifically asked how to eat it, and he said to crush it and mix it with water to drink."

"I asked a really stupid question, 'Then the patient definitely can't know, right?' This stuff is disgusting to eat. The guy looked at me for a long time before finally admitting that he ate it himself..."

Chen Wenfeng pictured a skinned weasel, bloody, dried, crushed, and then rinsed with water—the smell...

Thinking of this, Chen Wenfeng felt as if he could smell the weasel's stinky fart again. It was so delicious that he couldn't bring himself to eat it.

I don't know what kind of folk remedy this is, but maybe it works. After all, there's a shortage of medicine these days, so these folk remedies at least have a placebo effect.

Although Chen Wenshui did not express any opinion, he found it quite novel.

Chen Xiaofang finished her meal quickly, pushed away her bowl and chopsticks, and ran out.

Watching Chen Xiaofang run out, Wang Guizhi explained:

"This girl, these past two days all she can think about is that nest of hedgehogs. Now those hedgehogs aren't eating much, they just play in their cage for a while and then curl up and go to sleep."

Chen Wenfeng said:

"These wild creatures can't survive at home, so let's just release them."

"That depends on Xiaofang's consent. Go talk to her."

Chen Wenfeng went out of the house and, sure enough, saw his younger sister Xiaofang squatting next to the chicken coop, staring blankly at the hedgehog.

Chen Wenfeng said:

Xiaofang, do you still remember the bird you used to keep?

Last summer, Chen Xiaofang found an injured little bird. When she brought it home, its feathers hadn't fully grown. She caught insects for the bird every day. By the time school was about to start, the bird had grown its wings. Xiaofang raised it for a few more days, but the bird kept thinking about flying away.

Finally, Xiaofang made up her mind and released the little bird.

A few days later, when Xiaofang came home from school, she saw the little bird chirping in the yard. Xiaofang reached out her hand, and the bird flew onto her hand and kept pecking at it, its beak full of dirt.

Not knowing what was going on, she asked her mother, Wang Guizhi. She noticed that the little bird had become thin and its feathers were not neat after not seeing it for a few days. She remembered that it had been raised by Xiaofang since it was a cub. Although it was wild and untamed and always wanted to fly back to nature, it did not know how to forage for food. So she asked Xiaofang to catch some more insects for the little bird.

The little bird devoured the insects, and Xiaofang continued to care for it. However, the little bird gradually became listless and died a few days later.

Xiaofang cried a lot because of this and was depressed for a long time.

When she heard her older brother mention this, her eyes lit up for a moment, but quickly dimmed again.

Chen Wenfeng knew what his sister was thinking and said:

"Xiaofang, you released that little bird back then so it could have a better life, but that bird couldn't find food on its own. This nest of hedgehogs is different; they've adapted to the wild, and we can't keep them alive. If you don't want them to die, you have to release them..."