A small plot of land in a mountain village

Zhang Niu flagged down a taxi, jumped in, and headed towards the mall.

The remaining fat man and his companions slowly made their way back. On the way, the two chatted from time to time. If it weren't for Zhang Niu coming here to sell cherries, they wouldn't usually see each other.

At noon, the traffic was heavy and people were coming and going, making it very lively. Many restaurants along the road were doing booming business.

This morning, my younger sister begged Zhang Niu to help her buy a bicycle so she could save herself some effort next time she came to Happy Little Abode. She just finished eating and rushed off to buy a bicycle.

The mall was still quite empty at lunchtime, with few people around, and many of the sales staff were eating fast food.

I spotted a bicycle shop with a decent storefront and went inside.

The boss, who was having lunch, quickly put down his fast food and came over to greet Zhang Niu.

After giving a brief explanation, he led Zhang Niu to a pink mountain bike and explained that this mountain bike was best suited for Zhang Niu's type of mountain road and was also suitable for little girls to ride.

After some haggling, the two spent over 700 yuan to buy a pink foldable mountain bike. The younger sister will probably be very happy when she gets home.

Back at the Great Forest Wholesale Market, I naturally rode my newly bought mountain bike. It was quite stable, but it didn't have the same feeling of revving the engine as when I rode a motorcycle. It was just too slow, perhaps because I've gotten used to riding motorcycles.

"Is this the mountain bike you bought?" The bearded man asked in surprise as they arrived at the wholesale market, looking at the brand-new mountain bike.

"If you want to buy this car, just tell me. I have plenty of these in my warehouse, and they're all brand new." He took these people to the warehouse, and that was indeed true.

The fat man chuckled, "You're pretty good, kid. That thing you touched was practically brand new."

Hearing what the fat man said, Zhang Niu realized that these were probably all unlicensed taxis, commonly known as "thief taxis." If he wasn't mistaken, they were all stolen on the road by Big Beard's men, and then thrown away in the warehouse after being used.

Stealing bicycles is quite common in the countryside; they're convenient for getting to town, and there's no worry about the owner coming looking for them. Since Big Beard had them, Zhang Niu didn't hesitate to choose three relatively small, nearly new bicycles and put them into the truck.

When the bearded man saw that Zhang Niu only had three bicycles, he insisted that it was too few, saying that these bicycles wouldn't fetch much money. He added that so many bicycles were stolen in the city every day that the police didn't even have time to investigate, so what was there to be afraid of? As he spoke, he stuffed three more bicycles into the car.

Looking at the six bicycles in the truck, how to use them is still a question.

They got into the bearded man's black sedan and headed towards the suburbs.

Along the way, the bearded man talked a lot about rats. I never imagined that these people used to be street thugs or gangsters, or that term would be more appropriate.

After serving three years in prison, he started this rabbit farm with a joint venture and made a lot of money. But this time, the rabbit farm is hit by this disease, leaving everyone helpless.

The mountain road leading to the rabbit farm was entirely paved with black asphalt—or, to put it more politely, an asphalt road. It was very smooth all the way; it seems these wealthy people even built roads right there in the countryside.

I saw many farms with signs along the way; I didn't realize this whole area was full of farms. I'd just passed a rabbit farm, and then a snake farm appeared behind me. No wonder the road kept going on and on.

After passing through a pine forest, I came out to see a GG sign on both sides of the road that read "Welcome to the Rat Farm".

Zhang Niu burst out laughing; this GG language was really damn interesting.

We drove through the woods and into a courtyard. Two large wolfhounds were chained up in front of the gate, baring their teeth and baring wildly.

"Still so fierce, I'll smash you to death." The more the bearded man said this, the more ferocious the wolfhound became.

"This is a retired wolfhound that my friend bought from the police station. How about that? Pretty fierce, right? It eats several pounds of meat a day and sometimes needs to be fed live prey to maintain its wild nature."

Zhang Niu felt it was best to get as far away as possible; if the chains broke, there would be nowhere to escape.

Before me were two rows of rooms built of red bricks, with a long corridor in the middle. The rooms on either side must be the rabbit houses.

"Hey rat, what are you doing in there, having sex or something?" the fat man shouted directly into the house.

"Damn it, you fatso, watch your mouth!" Just as the fat man finished shouting, the iron door of a room around the corner creaked open, and a short man with a mustache, resembling a rat, came out.

"Isn't this just to call you out?" The fat man didn't listen to what was said earlier at all and continued to laugh and joke.

The mouse took off its hat and dusted itself off. "Why did you come here? Be careful, or I'll spread my virus to you."

"Can't I come if there's nothing wrong? You're really something. I'm not afraid of this virus at all, I'm in great shape." He swayed his body triumphantly.

"Mouse, is the rabbit any better?" the bearded man asked with a smile.

"It's still the same. I have to force-feed him every meal. He can't move without running. He's practically a living god." He said with a wry smile.

"I brought some people with me, this young man is planning to buy some rabbits to take home," the fat man said with a smile, pointing at Zhang Niu.

The mouse then noticed Zhang Niu, initially mistaking him for Big Beard's new lackey. His wry smile quickly turned into a genuine smile. "I don't know what kind of rabbit you want to buy," he said bluntly.

"Um... could you take me inside to have a look?" Zhang Niu was at a loss as to what to buy.

"OK. It's alright, come in and have a look!" He led Zhang Niu to a doorway.

Upon entering, I discovered that the entire row of rooms stretched along a single path, at least a hundred meters long. A cement path ran through the middle, flanked by small wooden fences. Inside, the rabbits lay quietly in the haystacks.

"Look, these rabbits are lying in the haystack and hardly moving. But someone just bought a lot of them today, so now they're just some newborn baby rabbits left," he said to Zhang Niu.

"Excuse me for asking, were these rabbits kept in this room when they were healthy?"

The mouse chuckled: "No, did you see that small opening in the wooden fence? It's open everywhere during the day, and there's a small hill behind this room."

Zhang Niu had assumed they were all locked in this dark room.

"You mean all that's left are baby rabbits?" I asked quickly.

The mouse didn't know why Zhang Niu was asking this, but still said, "Well, only the little rabbits are left. They're weak, so naturally no one will want them."

So they were all little rabbits. Isn't that better for me? "I wonder how many little rabbits are left?"

"There aren't many baby rabbits this time, only about five hundred. Are you planning to buy them all? I can give them to you at a low price." Actually, taking care of baby rabbits takes a lot of effort every day, so selling them early will save the staff some trouble.

Five hundred isn't a lot. After thinking it over, I decided, "I'll take them all, but at this price..."

"A flat price of five thousand isn't expensive. If you're lucky, you might get cured, which would be tens of thousands of dollars."

Five thousand is really expensive. I thought I would spend a little over a thousand, but it seems that's far from the truth. Five hundred rabbits are equivalent to the price of ten baskets of cherries.

Five thousand it is. Anyway, I can buy it myself and get cured in a few days. What's there to be afraid of?

"Then help me load it into the car," he said, pretending to think for a moment before speaking.

The fat man didn't expect Zhang Niu to want the whole thing at once; he's got some nerve.

"Okay, you stay here and take a look first. I'll go out and find some helpers." He excitedly ran out.

Besides the happy rat, there's also the partner with the big beard. Sell off this batch of rabbits, then do a thorough cleaning of this place and continue raising them. Losing money for a year is normal, but maybe next year they'll be lucky and make a fortune.

The smell inside was so strong that everyone felt uncomfortable and quickly went outside.

"The smell in this room is really unbearable. I don't know how these rats can stand it." The fat man kept muttering to himself. It felt a bit like being in his own duck shed, but the smell wasn't as strong as here.

The mouse, who had been outside for a while, called back its companions who were still outside. They brought a plastic basket filled with cherries and put all the little rabbits into the basket. The basket was full of small holes, so they wouldn't suffocate.

Zhang Niu took out the money from his bag and handed it over to settle the score. Whether or not the rats could be cured was no longer his concern; if he was lucky, that would be a matter of Zhang Niu's character.

Actually, raising ornamental rabbits is more difficult when they are newborn rabbits; they are even harder to take care of than their parents.

There were about twenty plastic crates in the truck; they were practically given away for free.

After exchanging greetings, Fatty and Zhang Niu hurried back together. Fatty wanted to see if the little rabbit could be cured, since he didn't have anything else to do lately.

"Hey kid, do you have some kind of folk remedy? This cost five thousand silver dollars!" The fat man still asked Zhang Niu if he had any ideas.

Zhang Niu also mimicked the fat man's line, "The Buddha said, it cannot be spoken, it cannot be spoken."

Upon hearing this, the fat man wanted nothing more than to punch Zhang Niu a few times, accusing him of plagiarizing his words and being utterly ignorant of his own mortality.

The driver took a shortcut back to Happy Little House. Although the shortcut was good, the road conditions were not ideal. Considering the little rabbit in the car, the driver slowed down considerably.

"Big brother is back—"

The baby playing by the roadside shouted excitedly when he saw the car.

Li Guang and his companions, sitting in the pavilion, also heard the beeping sound coming from down the mountain. They had thought Zhang Niu wouldn't be back until evening; it was quite early, judging from their watches—only about four o'clock.

The little sister was very excited. She thought that when her brother came back, she would finally have the bicycle she had always dreamed of, and she imagined that it would be the kind she liked.

The truck slowly reversed in. The babies and the others ran to a distance.

Zhang Niu had just jumped out of the car when his younger sister ran over and grabbed his clothes, asking, "Brother, have you bought my car yet?"

He scratched his head. "No rush, I'm in the car, it'll be here soon."

Upon hearing this, the baby next to him immediately shouted, "Big brother, I want a car too! I want a car too!" It seems that he learns quickly.

Luckily, the cars the bearded man got from the warehouse were all relatively small. That should do. I led the baby to the door. A few little girls followed behind.

The car door opened with a "whoosh," and the driver climbed into the cargo compartment, handing out the bicycles one by one.

"Wow, so many cars!"

There were seven bicycles in a row, all of them lightweight. Zhang Niu strongly suspected that four of them were stolen from the school. These guys really steal from everywhere.

The little girl pointed to the pink bicycle: "Is that my bike?" She was extremely satisfied with the mountain bike in front of her.

Zhang Niu nodded. "Yes, are you satisfied? This is the one your brother helped you choose after a long time."

"Niu Niu likes it very much, thank you brother." Before she could finish speaking, she ran forward, ready to try out the mountain bike.

"Big brother, where's the baby?" She blinked, her eyes welling up with tears; it seemed like it was about to rain if she didn't ask.

She scooped up the baby in her arms. "There are a few more here. Which one does the baby like?" (To be continued. For more chapters and to support the author, please log in and read the official version!)