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

Hearing Wu Jiajun say this, Feng Jianguo became interested and asked:

"Old Wu, what did Brother Wenfeng write on the paper?"

Wu Jiajun did not answer, but handed over the note.

Feng Jianguo unfolded the note and saw that it read:

"Brother Wu, it's been a while. Is something urgent to attend to? I asked Manager Li, but he seemed hesitant to speak, which worries me. Please contact me as soon as you see this note. Chen Wenfeng, today."

Feng Jianguo laughed heartily and said:

"Brother Wenfeng's observation skills are truly remarkable. Manager Li, have you seen this note?"

Manager Li said:

"I didn't open it to look at what Mr. Chen gave it to Mr. Wu."

"Take a look," Feng Jianguo said, handing it to Manager Li.

After reading it, Manager Li was surprised that Chen Wenfeng had mentioned him on the note. He wondered if Chen had actually noticed. Was his acting really that bad?

After Chen Wenfeng returned to Chenjiazhuang, he also learned about Feng Jianguo's matter because he read the report in the newspaper signed "Huanhuaxi".

It turns out that not only Chenjiazhuang experienced turmoil that night, but Feng Jianguo experienced an even bigger one.

No wonder Feng Jianguo acted strangely that day while drinking; he seemed reluctant to part with Wu Jiajun.

Considering Feng Jianguo's thin frame, rigid personality, and pedantic manner, it's astonishing and admirable that he could do something so manly.

"Brother Feng, Old Sun is back."

Zhou Zhiming ran to Jiming Mountain, followed by Old Sun.

Old Sun, looking travel-worn, greeted Chen Wenfeng and went to check on the chickens in the coop. It turned out that Old Sun had also heard about the recent chicken plague and was worried about the chickens on the mountain, so he had rushed back ahead of time.

"Master Sun, what do you think of this situation?" Chen Wenfeng knew that Old Sun was experienced and thought he might have some solutions.

Old Sun examined the chicken's condition carefully and said:

"I just heard Zhiming say that you went to the chicken farm in the county town?"

"I've seen it. It's even worse over there. Disinfection and medication didn't help. They only stopped the chickens from dying after they increased ventilation. I tried it when I got back, but it didn't work."

Old Sun thought for a moment and said:

"The ventilation on our mountain has always been good, so increasing the ventilation won't have much effect. And from what I understand, the chickens on the mountain are showing mild symptoms; although they're laying fewer eggs, at least none of them have died."

"Master Sun, do you have any ideas?"

"Yes, but I can't guarantee it; we can only try."

"What method?"

"One word: hungry."

Chen Wenfeng felt like he had misheard. What kind of solution was "hunger"?

Old Sun explained:

"I encountered a similar situation once before at Damin Chicken Farm. It was also in the summer. A batch of chickens not only stopped laying eggs but also died one after another. We tried many methods, but none of them worked. The boss didn't want to treat them anymore and was preparing to get rid of those listless chickens."

"Later, due to some delays, I didn't take care of the chickens for two or three days because I was preparing to get rid of them, so I didn't feed them during those days. As a result, I found that the chickens had actually recovered their energy after being starved for a few days. Then we slowly fed them little by little, starting with small amounts and gradually increasing the amount. After they slowly returned to normal, the chickens not only became completely healthy, but their egg production also returned to what it was before they got sick."

After listening to Old Sun's explanation, Chen Wenfeng was overjoyed and immediately asked Old Sun to give it a try.

Old Sun led Chen Wenfeng to check the recent chicken droppings situation and carefully made a plan.

The first step is to put the lethargic and non-laying chickens into a separate coop.

The second step is fasting. This fast lasts for three days.

The third step was to check the condition of the chickens that had been fasted. Sure enough, after three days of fasting, many of the chickens had recovered their spirits.

The fourth step is to put the chickens that have recovered back into a coop and slowly feed them.

Chen Wenfeng originally wanted to gradually increase the amount of feed, just like Damin's chicken farm, but Old Sun stopped him. Old Sun's suggestion was to give them less feed for a few days first, observe them more, and then gradually increase the amount of feed later.

After more than ten days, the amount of feed for these chickens gradually returned to normal, and not only did the chickens improve their condition, they also started laying eggs again.

Two weeks later, egg production returned to normal.

While Chen Wenfeng and Lao Sun were carefully tending to the laying hens, Han Laosi started to get restless again.

He was always thinking of ripping off Chen Wenfeng to make up for the losses he had incurred from buying eggs.

After thinking it over, he came up with a plan: since the eggs on Jiming Mountain were not guaranteed, he would make Chen Wenfeng suffer a loss as well.

With lightning speed, Han Laosi collected all the eggs from each village, acquiring 1000 eggs in one go.

Originally, each village had more eggs than this, but firstly, after Jimingshan started producing eggs, Chen Wenfeng rarely went to the farmers to buy them, so everyone got used to selling them at the supply and marketing cooperative instead of storing them separately; secondly, Chen Wenfeng had just bought some eggs recently, so each village didn't have many eggs left.

Han Laosi put the more than 1000 eggs at home. Li Dahua, not knowing what Han Laosi was going to do, asked:

"Honey, why did you suddenly bring so many eggs?"

"This is for Chen Shouyi's son."

"Should we prepare eggs for him?"

"You don't know, but chicken farms everywhere are suffering from fowl plague, while the chickens in individual households are not affected. The chickens on Jiming Mountain are not laying eggs, so if Chen Wenfeng wants to sell eggs, he can only go to individual households to collect them."

Li Dahua was completely bewildered. Why was it so convoluted? She asked:

"What does his collecting eggs have to do with our collecting eggs?"

"Idiot, can't you understand? I've taken all the eggs away. He has no eggs left to take. He can't just ignore his old customers, can he? He'll have no choice but to come begging to us, and then we can sell the eggs to him at a higher price."

Li Dahua understood this time, but for some reason, she began to doubt what Han Laosi had said.

We still haven't dealt with the pile of salt at home, and now we've gotten a bunch of eggs.

This pile of eggs is much more dangerous than that pile of salt, because salt can be stored and won't spoil, but eggs can't. If something goes wrong, wouldn't we be stuck with this mess again?

"Brother Feng, there's been a problem."

Niu Er and Niu Da returned to Jiming Mountain and reported to Chen Wenfeng on their egg-collecting trip.

"What's the problem?"

"We went to several nearby villages, but none of them had any eggs left. Not a single extra one."

"Oh? Is that so? That's interesting."

"Brother Feng, there's something even fresher! Guess who took the eggs?"

"Who?"

"Han Laosi!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Wenfeng immediately understood what Han Laosi meant. With the chicken plague causing such a commotion, and Han Laosi starting to collect eggs from various villages again, Han Laosi wanted to take the opportunity to reciprocate. Unfortunately, the laying hens on Jiming Mountain had already resumed laying eggs, so Han Laosi's plan was going to fail again!

"Brother Feng, what do we do?"

"What to do? Fine, we'll just have to squeeze another penny out of Han Laosi this time and give you guys a bonus!"