Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 226 Catching mice
When Chen Fan returned to the educated youth settlement, he found that all four girls were there today, and the courtyard was unusually lively.

Huang Ying held a wooden stick in her hand, looking around with a serious expression, as if she was looking for some kind of assassin.

Yang Ju was even more ruthless, holding fire tongs in one hand and a wood-chopping knife in the other, her expression exactly the same as Huang Ying's.

Jiang Lili was carrying a bucket and pouring water into a hole in the ground. On the other side, Liu Dan was holding a pile of half-dry weeds, lighting them, and smoking them into another hole.

As a result, not much smoke went in; instead, he ended up covered in soot and coughing repeatedly.

Chen Fan dismounted, placed the basket containing the rabbits on the ground, patted the mare's back, and let her return to the stable on her own.

Then, looking at them with a puzzled expression, he asked, "What are you doing?"

Huang Ying rushed over immediately, "Teacher Chen, there are mice in the house!"

Yang Ju waved the fire tongs and wood-chopping knife, gesturing as she said, "It's so big! Luckily, I went to the room to scoop rice and saw it, otherwise the rice would have been stolen by the rat."

Huang Ying said resentfully, "They must be the ones that escaped from the last rat-catching operation."

Jiang Lili knew Chen Fan best and knew he didn't understand many things, so she whispered an explanation from the side, "In the winter months, not long before you came here, the brigade organized a large-scale rat-catching operation throughout the entire production team. They set rat traps, poured water into rat holes, smoked them out, and used rat poison, eliminating more than two thousand rats."

Such rat-catching operations are carried out every two or three years. I've only been here for three years and I've already witnessed two. Each operation eliminates four or five thousand rats on some occasions, and one or two thousand on others. If the rats weren't caught, they would eat the crops, and over time, it could even lead to a rat infestation.

Liu Dan held up a smoking bundle of straw and nodded vigorously, “Rats are the worst of the four pests, the most hateful.”

Chen Fan immediately understood.

People in later generations may be unfamiliar with the term "rat plague," as well as many other things from that era that are rarely seen even twenty years later, let alone in the new century.

However, rat infestations are quite common nowadays. And anything described as a "disaster" is no small matter.

Thousands upon thousands of rats roam in packs, unafraid of cats, dogs, or even people. A moment's carelessness could devastate the crops of the entire brigade, or even the entire commune.

In particular, the bacteria and viruses carried by rats can cause infection with plague if bitten or scratched by them, so no carelessness is allowed.

For example, smallpox, poliomyelitis, filariasis, schistosomiasis, Keshan disease, Kashin-Beck disease, leprosy, malaria, plague, cholera, etc., these names almost only exist in textbooks in the eyes of young people, and they have no personal experience with them.

However, in this era, many diseases and viruses are as common as the common cold.

Especially the elderly, many of whom have survived the battle against these diseases and viruses. After decades of struggle, these diseases were finally sealed in books, and a "health defense war" was won.

As early as 52, a major campaign to promote cleanliness and hygiene and eliminate germs began. Pests were eradicated, underground pipes and sewage channels were dredged, large amounts of garbage mountains and ditches were cleaned up, and people across the country were urged to drink hot water and not raw water.

The famous story "Longxu Ditch" tells the tale of cleaning up and rectifying a stinking ditch in Beijing in the early days of the People's Republic of China.

The concept of "four pests" had not yet been proposed during that campaign, but the main targets for elimination were mosquitoes, flies, lice, and rodents, which highly overlapped with the concept of the four pests. The later "four pests" were also proposed based on this campaign.

The reason sparrows were included in the earliest list of the Four Pests was because a certain "scientist" proposed that a single sparrow could eat as much grain as half an adult's daily food ration in a month, and that a hundred million sparrows could eat an enormous amount of grain... Such alarmist claims led to their inclusion as one of the Four Pests.

Later, it was proven that sparrows eating grain did not have much impact on the total amount of grain in the country, so they were quickly replaced with bedbugs and cockroaches.

From that time onward, the campaign to eliminate the four pests never stopped.

As the most dangerous of the four pests and a carrier of plague, rats have long been a key target for combating pests.

The Jiangnan region, with its crisscrossing waterways and abundant resources, has long been a breeding ground for rats.

Every two or three years, Lujiawan would carry out a rat extermination campaign, which was just the norm for various production teams in the Jiangnan region during that era.

This major movement, which lasted from the 50s to the early 90s, successfully contained many pathogens and effectively protected the life, health and safety of the entire society.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Chen Fan looked at the four people and asked, "Did you find the mouse?"

Huang Ying immediately pointed to two holes in the corner of the courtyard wall, "We found two rat holes. We're using water to flood them and fire to kill them. Once they come out, we can kill them."

As she spoke, she swung the wooden stick twice, as if she wanted to kill the rat on the spot.

Chen Fan went over to take a look. Both holes were about the size of a fist and did indeed look like mouse holes.

The bucket was only half full of water, and the other side was filled with smoke. Normally, if the rats were still inside, they would have run out by now, right?
Chen Fan pondered for two seconds, then looked up at the sky. Sure enough, the silly bird had returned and was waving at the sky.

The hawk chirped twice, then swooped down towards him, gently flapping its wings as it landed, settling steadily on his arm. Chen Fan chirped, "Go check if there are any rats in the yard and around here."

The falcon immediately flapped its wings and flew onto the roof, turning its head to survey the surroundings.

Catching birds and mice is the Eurasian Hobby's forte, but catching a large wild rabbit is a bit more difficult for it. After all, it's just a small bird of prey, not a large bird like a golden eagle or a vulture, so its strength is naturally inferior. But if the boss gives the order, it will try its best to catch one; if it can't catch a big one, it will catch a smaller one.

Today, since the boss is catching mice, it naturally gets excited and works hard.

After searching around on the rooftop without finding it, the hawk flew up into the sky to look for it again.

Seeing Chen Fan looking at the falcon, Huang Ying asked curiously, "Teacher, what is it doing?"

Without turning his head, Chen Fan said, "Looking for the rat? You've tried flooding and smoke attacks, but the rat hasn't come out. It must be long gone from the hole."

The four girls thought his words made sense, so they dejectedly put down their "weapons" and looked at the falcon together, hoping it would find the mouse.

Unfortunately, although the hobby's eyesight is excellent, it couldn't detect a mouse scurrying into its hole. After circling twice, it chirped to Chen Fan, "Nothing."

Chen Fan beckoned it down and then said, "I'm warning you again, if you find it, you're not allowed to eat it, don't even touch it, or you'll never come near me again."

The falcon tilted its head and looked at him. "I don't eat mice."

It's now addicted to catching rabbits, bringing one back every day. When it gets hungry, it asks Chen Fan or Jiang Lili for food. It hasn't eaten a bird in a long time, let alone a mouse.

Chen Fan didn't care much about it, but Jiang Lili would prepare different kinds of food for it. Sometimes it was pork or pork liver, and sometimes it was fish or fish offal, to give it a change of pace. These meats were all brought back by Chen Fan when he was "taking a class" at the veterinary station a few days ago, and Jiang Lili would make some minced meat to give as a gift.

Once, Jiang Lili wanted to feed it cooked meat, but after hearing Chen Fan say that it was not good for wild birds to eat cooked meat, she regretfully gave up the idea.

So in this courtyard, apart from Chen Fan, only Jiang Lili could touch it slightly. No matter how much Huang Ying and the others tried to please it, it wouldn't eat the meat they gave it.

After becoming picky about food, it naturally no longer considers smelly rats or anything like that.

Chen Fan added, "You're not allowed to eat even the rats that fly in the sky."

Only after the falcon obediently nodded did they let it leave.

Chen Fan clapped his hands and pointed to the basket, "Huang Ying, take the little rabbit to the back."

The livestock shed at the back has two "rooms" separated by a passageway. The west side houses two piglets, while the east side, which was originally a woodpile, was later occupied by two sheep and two horses.

Before preparing to raise rabbits, Chen Fan, along with Jiang Lili and the others, moved all the firewood to the wooden partition above the livestock shed. What couldn't be piled up was taken out and placed under the courtyard wall. The empty space in the pigsty was then divided in two by building a half-wall with adobe bricks. The larger half was reserved for the horses and sheep, and the smaller half was reserved for the rabbits.

However, this is only a temporary measure. Rabbits can burrow, and the rammed earth here probably won't be a problem for them.

These past two days, Chen Fan has been planning to build another outdoor single-row rabbit hutch next to the livestock shed. The book "Common Rural Animal Husbandry" that he bought last time contains methods for building rabbit hutches. With his level 3 bricklaying and level 3 carpentry skills, building a small rabbit hutch is definitely not a problem.

In addition, he found a traditional method for tanning fur in "Knowledge of Rural Sideline Production". He used the rabbit skins caught by the Eurasian Hobby to experiment with tanning them into soft skins, which he kept to make leather clothing later.

If rabbit farming goes smoothly, a rabbit deep processing industry can be established, from rabbit seedling breeding to leather and rabbit meat production.

I just don't know if Secretary Yang and his team have that much courage.

Huang Ying carried the basket to the backyard. Yang Ju was still unwilling to give up, so she used some soil to block up all the visible holes in the yard.

Actually, it's not very useful. No matter what lives in the cave, if people know how to dig a cave, what effect can blocking it with soil have?
Chen Fan chuckled and said, "There's some quicklime left over from the kiln. Pick a few pieces, mix them with water, and pour some lime water in. No matter what's inside, it's definitely a dead end."

Limestone is one of the most widely distributed stones in the world, found in almost every place. In China, it is most abundant in North China and Northeast China. There is also a small limestone mine in Nanhu Commune, where it is very cheap, only two yuan a truckload, and you can haul as much as you want.

Since lime would be indispensable for building houses in the future, Chen Fan bought 10 yuan worth of lime and brought it back. He then burned it into quicklime in an earthen kiln. Afterwards, he only needed to rinse it with water to get slaked lime and lime water, which was very convenient.

Upon hearing Chen Fan's words, Yang Ju's eyes lit up. She grabbed a bamboo basket and rushed out the door, running towards the back.

Chen Fan clicked his tongue and said softly, "Why don't we take advantage of this renovation of the earthen stove and toilet to open up the back door as well?"

Jiang Lili glanced at Liu Dan, who was cooking in the kitchen, and walked over to whisper, "Xiao Fan, you should think about how to protect your cured meat, fish, rice, and paddy. There's no such thing as being able to guard against thieves for a thousand days. If that big rat comes back, we'll be in big trouble."

(End of this chapter)