My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 520 Fighting the Rat
"Take it as a casual remark, for it is as if the rain is fine as silk on the bean trellis and melon vines..."

"Oh my, Fourth Master, you can even recite poetry? That's amazing."

On the morning of the twelfth day of the seventh lunar month, Yu Qi'an, with a surprised thumbs-up, chatted with Chen Gannian in the orchard with Bai Huining.

Chen Gannian hasn't been too confused for the past six months, and he often likes to come to the farm to herd sheep.

I feel more comfortable here than anywhere else.

When it's hot, I can sit there for an entire afternoon.

Yu Qi'an and the others had all heard about the old man's legendary experience of being carried away by wolves. They had become familiar with him several times before and would chat with him whenever they met. They really enjoyed listening to the old man tell his stories.

"Haha, I took a few cultural classes before, so I can recite a couple of lines..."

As Chen Gannian spoke, he pointed to the cliff and said, "Look at those big birds, they're really cunning. They not only take away the magpies' territory, but they also dismantle the magpies' nests and take them back to build their own."

"Yes, yes, those big birds are really nasty."

Bai Huining complained unhappily that on Qixi Festival, she and Yu Qi'an saw magpies forming a bridge, so they naturally preferred magpies to egrets and the like.

As she spoke, the girl held a jar in her hand, catching grasshoppers and crickets in the grass and putting them into the jar to feed the magpies.

These past few days, she's been catching them whenever she has free time, and then feeding them to the magpies when she's full.

In her eyes, the magpie was the matchmaker between her and Yu Qi'an.

An animal matchmaker—how unique and romantic!

Moreover, the spectacular sight of the Magpie Bridge appeared on Qixi Festival, giving magpies a special meaning in their hearts.

After Yu Qi'an returned with Chen Ling, the two of them caught it together.

Then feed the magpies.

Feeding magpies is also simple.

Magpies are much smarter than most birds.

If a magpie builds a nest in a tree, the person who caught grasshoppers would tie the bottle tightly with a rope and hang it up there.

The bottle opening must also be opened.

At this point, the grasshoppers and crickets inside the bottle will crawl and jump out.

Upon seeing this, magpies cannot resist flying over to snatch the food.

It's a joyful and uplifting experience to watch a flock of magpies scrambling for food around cans in a tree, even flying up into the sky to fight over them.

Feeding magpies like this looks very casual.

It's actually the simplest, most effective, and most fun method.

Because this bird thief is clever.

Humans cannot get close to it.

If you throw it food, it will think you're throwing something at it and fly away from a great distance.

But hanging the bottle on a tree is a different story.

Because during the day, these creatures often fly back and forth between the fruit trees, flapping their wings twice from one tree to another, or they don't fly at all, but spread their wings and leap lightly from a high place, drawing a graceful arc to the branches and leaves of another tree.

Sometimes it walks around in the bushes and grass.

They're all looking for insects to eat.

So if you hang a canned food jar on a tree, the grasshoppers and crickets jumping around will attract the magpies.

"The little magpies have really suffered because they were bullied by those rogue birds. We should catch more insects for them to eat today."

Bai Huining felt very sorry for the magpies' plight. She saw magpie nests scattered all over the ground, covered with yellow dry mud and black, fine, withered branches... The better, sturdier branches had been snatched up by the egrets to build their nests.

Upon hearing this, Yu Qi'an nodded emphatically, clearly indignant: "Yes, catch more for them to eat. I'll go to the county town later to buy some bones and scraps of meat for Heiwa and the others. If any egrets fly down, have Heiwa help chase them away."

Hearing the young couple's conversation, Chen Gannian couldn't help but laugh out loud. He thought to himself, "These young people from the city are really interesting. Hmm, they'll do some fancy things that country folk wouldn't understand."

The two men, not knowing what the old man was laughing about, chuckled along and then squatted down in the grass by the ditch, catching grasshoppers everywhere.

Then came the sound of a baby crying loudly from the farm.

Looking up, they saw Chen Ling leading Rui Rui, who was crying her heart out, followed by Wang Susu, who was heavily pregnant and looked helpless, and Heiwa Xiaojin, who also looked helpless, as they walked out of the farm.

"What's wrong, Rui Rui? Look how hard you're crying. Tell your uncle and aunt who bullied you?"

Upon seeing this, Yu Qi'an and the other person quickly got up and went over: "Look, how many grasshoppers are in this bottle? Let's take them back and feed them to your little chicks, okay?"

The little guy grabbed Chen Ling's clothes with one hand, crying and calling for his father, his little face covered in tears.

"Oh dear, what's wrong with the child? You two need to comfort her quickly, otherwise she'll lose her voice from crying like that."

Chen Gannian also came over.

Wang Susu said helplessly to everyone, "A-Ling has been away for several days at a time lately. Today he is going to the city to tidy up the yard. He is afraid that A-Ling will leave again and not come back. No matter how much we try to persuade him, he will not listen and insists on going with us."

Upon hearing this, Bai Huining quickly reached out to wipe the little boy's tears: "Oh, Rui Rui is such a good baby. So he misses his dad and can't bear to part with him."

That brat did it last time. Chen Ling hadn't been back for a few days, and when he saw Chen Ling, he was so happy and missed him so much that he jumped and danced, climbed all over him, and rolled around on his legs. He was so happy he didn't know what to do.

As a result, Chen Ling left after two days, taking Heiwa and Xiaojin with him.

Suddenly, he had no one to play with.

To such a tiny baby, a day feels like an eternity.

Chen Ling was gone for two or three days, but he didn't miss his father terribly.

Therefore, this time they became more vigilant and followed Chen Ling wherever he went.

Yu Qi'an also said to Chen Ling, "Why don't you take him? Hui Ning and I don't have anything to do, so can't we help you take care of the kid?"

"Well, I didn't say I wouldn't bring it. He just cried harder and harder."

Chen Ling shrugged helplessly.

Wang Susu glanced at him with her pretty eyes: "Isn't it because you fooled him that day, saying you'd take him with you, but then you just drove off in the tractor? Rui Rui is smart, he doesn't trust you anymore."

That day, Chen Ling led a group to hunt the Pig King, and also brought Heiwa and Xiaojin along. When Ruirui saw this, he wanted to go too.

Chen Ling coaxed him to go back to the village with Gao Xiulan to get things, and then quickly left.

Thinking of this, Chen Ling ignored himself and picked up the little guy, saying, "Don't cry, don't cry. Daddy really won't leave. Daddy will take you for a ride on a horse first, and then we'll go release the pigeons."

You haven't even played with the pigeon whistle that Uncle Yu gave you yet.

"Hey, don't call me 'Grandpa,' I'm not married yet. Calling me old makes me sound like I'm an old man. Rui Rui, don't listen to your dad, call me 'Uncle.'"

Yu Qi'an raised an eyebrow and hurriedly shouted.

Bai Huining laughed beside him, thinking he was being irresponsible.

However, it does feel awkward for them to call each other "grandpa" when they're not even married yet.

Then the two of them also went outside to release pigeons.

The morning is cool, which is also a good time to release pigeons for a spin.

First, blow the eagle whistle to call back Baldy and Little Pigeon.

Chen Ling then pushed out the motorcycle for the two of them to ride, while he and his son rode horses.

At the same time, when the horses were released, all the cattle and sheep were also released, and Chen Gannian was asked to take care of them first.

Then they caught the kittens and civets, put them in bamboo baskets, and took them with them, riding a horse and a motorcycle to the village.

Upon arriving at the village courtyard, the first thing to do is to attach pigeon whistles to the pigeons.

Just as they finished loading, Er Tu Zi flew over with two little pigeons.

Then the flock of pigeons took to the sky, their whistles began to whine, and yellow-clawed falcons followed and escorted them.

After the man and his horse slowly rode out of the village, the flock of pigeons and eagles all flew down... As the horse galloped and the motorcycle accelerated, the flock of pigeons scattered, flying up and down around the horse and motorcycle, sometimes in front and sometimes behind, while above them, the magnificent and agile yellow-clawed eagles soared freely in the morning breeze.

Along the way, we encountered flocks of dark swallows heading out to forage at dawn. Eagles would suddenly take flight, transforming into a black shadow, like a black lightning bolt, darting past the swallows.

Several swallows then swirled and fell from the sky.

Then, as if showing off its skills, the eagle caught them one by one in its claws and accurately tossed them into the holes in the bamboo basket lid behind Chen Ling, where the little foxes fought over and shared them.

This attracted pedestrians on the road outside the county town to stop and watch, uttering loud exclamations of amazement.

Yu Qi'an was also thrilled. He twisted the throttle of his motorcycle, grinned widely, and yelled that Er Tuzi was a divine eagle.

The little baby in Chen Ling's arms also clenched his little fists and cried out.

As soon as the little rascal went out and started playing, everything was fine. He stopped crying, and all we heard was his excited squealing and shouting.

He even had Er Tuzi catch a swallow for him.

Er Tuzi is highly skilled; like a hunting dog, he can capture his prey intact without killing it.

However, the wild swallows were just as temperamental as the house swallows. When Rui Rui caught one in her hand, it started gasping for breath in no time...

After such a long journey from Dumb Lake to the forest farm, by the time they finally arrived at the small courtyard in the county town, the swallow had already died.

The brat lifted the lid of the bamboo basket and fed the little fox to it.

……

"Good heavens, why are there so many mouse holes in this house?"

"It's a pity that Little Clouded Leopard isn't here, otherwise if we had brought him along, none of them would have wanted to run away."

Upon opening the door and entering the courtyard, Yu Qi'an exclaimed in surprise, while Bai Huining dared not tread lightly.

Gao Xiulan had cleared the weeds in the yard, and there weren't many rat holes to be seen, but there were many rat holes inside the house.

The east room, which is right next to the pool, has rat holes everywhere—at the base of the wall, in the corner, and at the doorway.

In the room teeming with rats, Gao Xiulan simply left the door wide open.

There's nothing else to it, the smell is just too strong.

"Come on, you're not bringing it here to catch mice. That little thing likes to eat birds, not house mice."

Chen Ling shook his head.

Then he took all the little civets out of the bamboo basket and placed them in front of the mouse hole. Rui Rui even ran to a mouse hole, stomped his little feet, and guided the kitten.

"That's true, but if the rats don't come out, bringing so many cats won't help. We can't just pour water into the rat holes in the house."

Yu Qi'an looked closely and saw that these little mountain foxes were used to catching birds and mice in the orchard. As soon as they saw a mouse hole and smelled the scent of a mouse, they would run to the mouse hole and squat down without anyone's command.

But.

Rats hide in their holes during the day and only come out at night.

This is not a good time to catch mice in broad daylight.

If a mouse hides in its hole and won't come out, even the most powerful cat can't do anything about it.

"It's okay, I have a solution."

Chen Ling took a small bag out of his pocket.

"This is rat bait; once you sprinkle it, it will lure the rats out of their holes."

Upon hearing the name, Yu Qi'an and his companion immediately thought of snake-attracting drugs!

"Brother Ling, isn't this similar to snake-attracting medicine?"

Bai Huining's eyes lit up; it was something Yu Qi'an had told her about.

Although Yu Qi'an had never actually witnessed it himself, only heard about it from Shanmao and Zhao Dahai, this kind of amazing thing was enough to leave a deep impression on them.

"Uh, yes, not too much."

Chen Ling smiled and gave a simple reply.

Actually, this has little to do with snake-attracting drugs.

It was a snake-attracting drug that Chen Ling devised himself, based on his father-in-law's prescription for attracting snakes.

The one he brought was mainly for attracting wild boars.

Wild boars are omnivorous animals, so the same veterinary drugs used to lure wild boars can also be used to lure rats.

"Wow, really? I never thought we'd actually see it with our own eyes."

Bai Huining said excitedly.

Yu Qi'an quickly added, "Fu Gui, you'd better start luring the rats now; these little mountain foxes are getting impatient."

During the day, with people guarding the area, these little mountain foxes are not very patient. We need to lure the rats out as soon as possible so they can catch them.

As they talked, the two pulled Rui Rui aside to make room for Chen Lingteng.

Chen Ling chuckled: "Take the brat outside, or the rats will start scurrying all over people."

"Huh? Is it really that exaggerated?"

Despite saying this, Yu Qi'an and the other person still led Rui Rui outside.

Two adults and one child craned their necks to watch how Chen Ling would do it.

Chen Ling opened the medicine packet, took out a small pinch, and sprinkled some at the entrance of each rat hole.

After the rat holes in this room were cleaned up.

It only took about a minute.

But the little raccoon was a bit impatient just now.

At this moment, they all perked up their ears and stared intently at the entrance to the mouse hole.

This was because they noticed the unusual activity inside the rat hole.

"Hey, didn't they say there's a formula for snake-luring poison? This rat-luring poison is even more potent than snake-luring poison? It reacted so quickly?"

No sooner had Yu Qi'an finished speaking than two small wildcats crouching in the northeast corner of the house suddenly pounced forward.

Amidst the squeaking sounds, the two little civets each grabbed a large rat.

This is not finished.

Almost at the same time, noises also came from several other mouse holes.

One after another, black rat heads popped out and crawled out.

Gradually, the room was filled with the squeaking of mice.

Just as Chen Ling said, swarms of rats, like a tide, rushed out, scrambling and leaping.

There are probably two or three hundred rats, big and small.

This left the little mountain foxes somewhat flustered.

If people don't come out, they'll definitely get jumped on by rats.

When Bai Huining saw the rats causing a ruckus, she felt a chill run down her spine, cried out, and closed her eyes.

At that moment, Chen Ling swiftly jumped and slammed the door shut, trapping all the rats inside the room.

Looking from outside, you could see rats hopping around inside, some leaping high onto the windowsill and banging against the glass.

"Good heavens, there are so many rats in just one room. This rat poison is going to cause a huge upheaval."

Yu Qi'an stared in disbelief, then said to Chen Ling with some concern, "Fu Gui, are those little raccoons okay? There are so many rats, what if they don't catch any rats and end up being bitten to death by them instead?"

(End of this chapter)