After being reborn, I have seven older sisters.

Chunmiao asked curiously, "What exactly is that thing that makes Teacher Li think so much?"

When Chunsheng told Chunmiao about finding the silver dollar, he didn't tell her everything about what happened at the local temple; he only told her selectively.

He didn't even mention the kind of scenes that would send chills down your spine, like the red dress and the rag doll used for curses.

"Actually, it's nothing much, just some old-fashioned stuff!"

Upon hearing this, Chunmiao frowned slightly and asked doubtfully, "Would Teacher Li have such wild thoughts about the outdated things from the old society?"

Chun Sheng smiled wryly, "Don't ask anymore, it's nothing good anyway."

Seeing that Chunsheng was really unwilling to talk about it, Chunmiao smiled and said, "Alright, if you don't want to talk about it, then forget it. Just remember to hand these silver dollars to the school tomorrow, and don't lose them."

Just then, the mother and father started arguing in the backyard. The siblings immediately shut up and listened carefully.

It turns out that the disagreement stemmed from a disagreement about using rat poison.

The father wanted to put all the rat poison he received today into every nook and cranny of the house at once.

The mother, however, wanted to release the food in stages, releasing a portion today and then releasing the rest after the mice had finished eating it.

Chunmiao chuckled, "Our mom is really good at managing money. She even saves on rat poison. There are only a few packets, and she has to divide them into two portions!"

Chunsheng sighed and said, "It's because they gave out too little. If every household received more, they wouldn't have to be as frugal as our mother..."

Suddenly, the sound of a gong came from outside the gate, interrupting their conversation.

The two of them couldn't sit still any longer, so they left the house and headed straight for the backyard.

Chunsheng immediately asked, "Mom, why is someone in the village banging a gong?"

Liu Yan'e listened carefully for a moment and said, "It must be your Uncle Qinghe who came out to remind everyone to put out rat poison."

Chunsheng asked in confusion, "Does this really need a special reminder? Why don't we just take the rat poison home and put it there ourselves?"

Song Mantuan laughed and said, "If only everyone could be like that! The villagers aren't like you students, all of you are so obedient."

Liu Yan'e added, "Besides being more proactive in collecting grain and vegetables from the brigade headquarters each time, don't even think about anything else. I bet some families haven't even received their rat poison yet, and are just waiting for your Uncle Qinghe to deliver it to their homes!"

Chunsheng shook his head with a wry smile, "My Uncle Qinghe is having a really tough time as the captain of the brigade headquarters!"

"If it were me, I wouldn't give them any! Next time we distribute grain, I'll give them less, or none at all, and see if they dare to cause trouble again!"

Song Mantun immediately shook his head. "Oh! That definitely won't work; doing that will only cause trouble!"

At this moment, Song Qinghe stood at the gate of Chunsheng's house, gently tapped the gong with his mallet, and shouted, "Has Brother Mantun sprinkled the rat poison yet?"

Song Mantun immediately ran to the doorway of the main room and replied with a smile, "It's being sprinkled, it's being sprinkled!"

Song Qinghe continued, "These days, we'll be distributing rat poison to everyone every day, so don't be stingy with the rat poison you receive; just use it all at home."

Song Mantun immediately replied, "Okay!"

Back in the backyard, Song Mantun said to his wife with a smug look on his face, "Did you hear that? I told you there would be more tomorrow, but you wouldn't believe me!"

Liu Yan'e rolled her eyes at him and said, "They didn't mention it in the meeting today. Who knows if the rumors you heard are true?"

"Since Qinghe said there will be another outbreak tomorrow, then... let's mix all this rat poison we have into the wheat bran!"

The next morning, as soon as Chunsheng stepped into the backyard, he was startled by what he saw.

Six dead rats lay scattered haphazardly by the wooden frame, under the eaves, and beside the chicken coop. Each one was larger than the last, with the largest being about the same size as the one he had killed with an iron shovel a couple of days ago.

Chunmiao rubbed her eyes. As soon as she entered the backyard gate, she stepped right on the rat that had died under the eaves.

Startled, Chunmiao screamed and darted back into the main room.

"Mom, come quick! There are so many dead rats!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yan'e and Song Mantun immediately rushed out of the house.

They were all startled when they saw the dead rats.

Liu Yan'e swallowed hard, exclaiming in shock, "Good heavens! The rat poison the village gave out is really potent! It killed all those rats in just one night!"

Just as Liu Yan'e was expressing her emotions, Song Mantun immediately turned around and went to the front yard.

As soon as he stepped out of the main room, he shouted, "Old woman, come and see! The front yard is bigger than the back yard!"

Liu Yan'e and Chunmiao immediately ran over, and when the mother and daughter saw the dead rats under the steps in the front yard, they were even more shocked.

After counting carefully, there were actually nine of them.

Chunmiao couldn't help but grin, and said with a wry smile, "My goodness, there are so many dead rats by the door! I didn't even see them when I came out of the house!"

At this moment, Chunsheng came out from the backyard, carrying a large bamboo basket that the family usually used to collect firewood in one hand and an iron shovel in the other.

Chunmiao spotted the dead rats in the basket at a glance and exclaimed in surprise, "They were really fast!"

Liu Yan'e smiled and said, "Let Auntie handle it. You go and do your thing; you still have to train at the threshing floor later!"

Chunsheng shook his head. "I'm not going today!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yan'e's face instantly turned somewhat panicked, and she reached out to touch Chunsheng's forehead, asking, "What's wrong with my child?"

Chunsheng couldn't help but laugh, "I'm fine, it's just that my brother Junwu and a few militiamen went to support Xiaojiaying yesterday, and he's not here today!"

Liu Yan'e immediately remembered that incident and said, "I heard that yesterday, several truckloads of militia were sent to Xiaojiaying!"

Chunsheng: "I've heard about it too, and I've also heard that every militiaman is armed!"

Liu Yan'e nodded thoughtfully, "If that's the case, the wolf problem in Xiaojiaying should be resolved in the next couple of days."

"That's what I think too. With so many armed militiamen sent, even if there are a lot of wolves, they can probably all be wiped out!"

After putting all the dead rats in the house into a bamboo basket, Chunsheng immediately picked up the basket and went straight to the garbage dump outside the city.

He could see from afar that there were several dogs gathered around the garbage dump, and a man was holding a wooden stick and trying to drive them away.

Chunsheng recognized the man at a glance; it was Song Chunren, the fourth son of his uncle's family.

"Brother Chunren, what are you doing over there?"

"These dogs want to eat the dead rat, I'm chasing them away!"

Chunsheng immediately stopped and hesitated.

He thought to himself, "I really can't throw these dead rats in the bamboo basket into the garbage dump. Otherwise, if they get eaten by the village dogs, their owners will definitely cause trouble for my family!"