Crossing the farm gate, the whole family reunites in the disaster year

After Feng left, there was silence in the room for a moment, and then people started talking again.

"Chengliang's wife, what were you about to say?"

Lin took out a small cloth bag from her bosom.

Everyone held their breath, their eyes glued to the cloth bag, and Old Mrs. Cui couldn't help swallowing.

The news of the first two times only reached her ears after circulating around the village.

I didn’t expect that I could witness the new things that Lin had discovered with my own eyes.

Lin opened the cloth bag slowly.

The thought of holding the dead bird in my arms made me feel awkward, so I found a piece of cloth to wrap it up before leaving the house.

After opening the cloth bag and looking up, he found disappointment on everyone's face.

"Chengliang's wife, we know this bird." The village head said it as tactfully as possible so as not to offend her. "It really tastes good when roasted."

The village head's wife took over the conversation: "Yes, yes, Youxi caught dozens of them the day before yesterday. I braised them all. You can take some back for the children later."

Old Mrs. Cui opened her mouth but said nothing.

Lin shook her head and slowly placed the bird on the table.

"Uncle Village Chief, I'm not saying to eat it. What I want to say is that this bird cannot be eaten."

A few people understood, but some didn't.

Shiro is very familiar with birds, and he has the best slingshot among the five brothers and sisters. This time of year is the happiest time for them to eat.

"Aunt, these birds eat crops. Every year at this time, a flock of them will fly over. Only if they eat them can the crops be saved."

The village head's wife nodded. After all, Lin grew up in the county town, so she didn't know much about these birds and insects.

If we don't eat them, they will eat the crops. After eating the crops, they will flap their wings and fly away, and they will be left with nothing.

Every child in the village must learn to hunt and catch birds from a young age.

"Chengliang, tell me, why can't we eat this bird?"

The village head looked at the bird on the table. He believed that Cheng Liang's wife was not the kind of person who would talk nonsense.

Lin had already thought of what to say on the way here and smiled faintly at everyone.

"Although I grew up in the county and don't know much about farming, my maternal grandparents were born and raised in farming."

Old Mrs. Cui didn't say anything. She had a vague impression of this matter. Lin's mother was not from Qingyang County. She remembered that she lived very far away from here. It would take three months to go back to her mother's home.

"When I was little, my mother would tell me about some new and interesting things, most of which were not seen in the county. One of them was a kind of bird. From a distance, its back looked gray, but when it turned around, you could see its belly was bright yellow. They flew in flocks overhead, and it was so dazzling that it hurt my eyes."

You can't blame everything on the book, because if you look into it carefully later, it will be exposed, so Lin made up a story.

"...these birds always come in large flocks, but no one in the village would catch them to eat because they are little helpers in the fields."

A few people didn't believe that birds could help with farming, so they pricked up their ears and listened patiently.

"This bird has a peculiar personality. It loves to eat grass seeds, insect eggs, larvae, and bugs. Once it finishes eating one patch of grass, it moves on to the next. Once it's completely devoured, it flies away. Isn't this free labor?"

The village head's wife marveled: "This bird is quite intelligent."

The village head grasped the key, frowned and picked up the bird flower on the table.

"You mean this is the bird you were talking about?"

"Yes."

Old Mrs. Cui seemed to be thinking about something, but soon shook her head in denial.

"This has been passed down from generation to generation. If it really didn't eat crops, it wouldn't be hated to the point of being hunted down and killed." She felt that Lin must have recognized the wrong bird.

When it comes to crops, there is no room for error. It is better to kill the crops by mistake than to let them go.

The village head also felt that it was inappropriate.

"I believe what you say, but crops are the lifeblood of our farmers. If there's even a little mistake, someone could die."

"Uncle Village Chief." Lin's expression became serious. "I don't know much about farming, but I've heard that after a drought comes a locust plague. Birds can eat everything up, but if locusts come, can we eat everything up too?"

When locusts were mentioned, everyone, including Goro, felt a tremor in their hearts. It was the fear that came from the bottom of their hearts.

There is a locust plague every three or four years. Every time it comes, it covers the sky and blocks out the sun, leaving no crops wherever it goes.

Life was very difficult for the next two years. After we had finally recovered, the locusts came back again.

This goes on and on, life is worse than death.

"But..." The village head didn't come out.

They couldn't bear either of these two things. They could crush a few birds or insects to death, grind them into pieces, and stomp them hard into the ground.

But when they appeared in overwhelming numbers, they seemed so small, as if they were the ones being crushed into the soil.

The village head looked at Lin seriously and asked, "Do you have a way to solve this problem?"

"Have."

Lin pointed to the bird flower that was in her hand and had been worn beyond recognition.

"Don't hunt them. Let them eat all the eggs buried in the ground. The remaining locusts won't form a large swarm, and human effort will suffice to wipe them out."

The room was so quiet that only the sound of breathing could be heard.

When the locusts come.

Every farmer wanted to kill them all in the blink of an eye.

I dreamed of the locust corpses falling to the ground, forming a thick layer, and then I stepped on them hard and burned them all with fire.

Can Lin's casual words really solve the nightmare that has troubled them for years?

"Are you really sure that they will eat insect eggs?" asked the village head with difficulty.

Lin smiled, easing the depressing atmosphere in the room.

"Uncle Village Chief, this isn't a difficult question. If you cut open the bird's stomach, you'll know exactly what it ate."

The village head's eyes lit up, why hadn't he thought of that!

Otherwise, Cheng Liang’s wife is capable and smarter than them.

"Old woman, where are the birds that Youxi shot? Bring them all here."

"It was braised last night."

Li Zheng glared at her: "Why are you so greedy?"

The headman's wife curled her lips and said, "If it hadn't been dealt with overnight, it would have become smelly by now."

The Cui family members were still there, too lazy to refute him. They only knew how to discipline people and didn't understand simple common sense.

Shiro stepped forward and said, "I'll go fight."

"Okay, okay, hurry up and bring back a few more."

Shuangxi poked his head out: "What are you fighting for?"

Si Xi was also very skilled in slingshot skills, so the village head sent him along as well.

"You and Silang go and catch some sparrows." Then he added, "Don't hit the belly. We need the belly."

Youxi raised his eyebrows. If it was about shooting birds, then he would have something to say.

"Sir, where do you want to hit me? How about hitting my eyes? Just tell me." But then he felt it wasn't exciting enough. "How about we make a bet? Let's bet ten shots. If I hit them eight or more times, I win. How about that?"

The village head looked around, took off his shoes, and threw them at Youxi.

"You're talking so much when I ask you to do something. Go quickly."

Youxi dodged to the side, smiled, and hugged Shilang.

"Come on, let's go bird hunting. Want to make a bet? I'll let you shoot..."

"You little bastard! If you mention that word again, I'll skin you alive!" the village head shouted.

Youxi shut up and ran away with Shilang.