The door was wide open, and everything happening in the yard could be seen clearly.

Silang went up the mountain early in the morning and picked a full basket of gum.

The gum is sticky, so the wood chips and fallen leaves on it must be cleaned up. Shilang sat in the yard, cleaning it patiently with scissors.

The village head looked worried.

"...After two months of drought, the earing was already late, and the yield is not as good as in previous years. If the locusts come back again, the whole village will be starving in winter. No, I have to go to the Ba La Temple to pray for a smooth autumn harvest."

The Ba La Temple enshrines eight gods, all of whom are related to agriculture. A temple fair is held every year on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month to pray for the gods to bless the crops.

Among them is the god of agriculture who is in charge of locusts. For the villagers, the Ba La Temple is the most practical.

Lin remained silent. Locusts were rarely seen in later generations. People of Zhaozhao's generation only knew about locusts from a few sentences in books. He had seen them in the village when he was a child, but only a few occasionally, which was far from the locust plague that covered the sky.

The solution used in later generations was to spray pesticides, and Lin racked his brains to think of a way to kill locusts that could be implemented here.

The headman looked outside, full of worry. He hoped it would rain for a few days in a row. If it rained, the locusts would not be able to cause any trouble.

But the sun was hanging brightly in the sky, so bright that it was blinding, and there was not a single cloud around.

Footsteps were heard at the gate.

"Brother Cui, Cheng Liang is back."

As soon as the two came back from the fields, they saw the village head sitting in the east room with a sad face. Everyone could see that he was in a bad mood.

Old man Cui put his farm tools against the wall and said, "What's wrong, brother? What's there to worry about these days?"

The crops in the fields are growing stronger and stronger, and I feel happy just looking at them. As long as there is water and food, there is nothing to worry about.

The head of the village sighed three times.

"The locusts are coming, how can we not worry?"

"what!"

Old Man Cui's expression changed, and he forced an unpleasant smile. "In previous years, locusts only became a disaster during extreme droughts. Now there are springs in the mountains, and if we water the fields, locusts shouldn't become a disaster. No way, no way."

The more moist the land, the harder it is for locusts to come out. Only when the land is dry as mud will locusts jump out in groups.

The scene was quiet for a while.

"I haven't even seen any locusts. Maybe there are only a few of them. The kids in the village can catch them and they will be gone." Old Man Cui said in a dry voice.

But everyone knew that although the arable land was irrigated, there was more wasteland in the village. Even if Xiahe Village soaked every inch of soil, it could not stop the locusts flying from other villages.

Cui Chengliang secretly looked at Lin. She was busy in front of the stove silently, as if she didn't hear the movement at the door.

Yesterday I would talk to him with a smile, but today I didn't even look at him.

His sight skillfully climbed to the back of his head, and his eyes suddenly felt stinging.

The brass hairpin was replaced by a silver one.

Lin felt the burning gaze. Although they didn't meet each other's eyes, the bitterness and loneliness mixed in it were like a huge net that wrapped her tightly, and even her breathing stagnated.

He misunderstood.

But apart from this hairpin, Cui Chengliang didn't say anything else, and didn't even know how to refuse.

Lin was embarrassed and cursed Cui Jingwen again in her heart.

"...Our village still needs to be prepared. If all else fails, we can only bring the autumn harvest forward a few days. The more we can save, the better."

The few days before wheat is harvested is the filling period, and its value becomes more and more precious day by day. The earlier it is harvested, the more empty ears of wheat will be.

But rather than having no harvest and just feeding the locusts with food, we would rather harvest in advance, at least we can get some food back.

"But, alas, this is the only way." Old Man Cui prepared for the worst.

Cui Chengliang retracted his gaze and asked, "How were locust plagues dealt with before?"

The last locust plague was four years ago. The weather was good in the previous two years, and the sporadic locusts did not form a major threat. They were fried, roasted, and eaten.

The village head knew Cui Chengliang had no memory of his past, so he patiently explained, "At night, a fire was lit and pits were dug around it. The locusts were attracted to the fire and fell into the pits when they were burned."

The village head recalled that scene and felt so happy. The locusts fell into the pit like snowflakes.

However, this method is only suitable for use at night, and its effect is weak in the face of a large number of locusts.

Cui Chengliang recalled the locust control methods he had read about before, including biological control, which used natural enemies to effectively suppress locust growth, just like...

Lin previously proposed that the bird of prey eats locust eggs.

Cui Chengliang glanced at the figure busy at the stove and said, "The birds haven't been harming the crops lately. Instead, they often land in the fields, looking for something to eat. They must be eating locust eggs."

The village head nodded and said, "I did misunderstand the bird flower before. In previous years, the fields were crawling with locusts when the wheat was in ear, but now they are only appearing after the wheat has bloomed. It seems that the bird flower is indeed very useful."

If it weren’t for Lin, the wheat would have been eaten by locusts before it could even begin to fill with grain.

Lin's face was calm, without any sign of pride. On the contrary, Cui Chengliang looked proud, with his eyebrows raised high.

"Since the bird flower is useful, it means there's always a way out. Chickens and ducks eat insects, so maybe locusts can eat them too. The bird flower will clean up the insect eggs buried in the ground, and the chickens and ducks will eat up the remaining locusts that have escaped from the ground."

"Chickens and ducks grow fat best by eating insects. By the time the locusts are gone, the chickens and ducks will have grown up and can be sold at a good price."

Cui Chengliang led the way from the sparrow flowers to the chickens and ducks. After he finished speaking, he secretly glanced at Lin, and a sense of mutual understanding and identification arose spontaneously.

They fought side by side.

Although Lin still didn't look over.

The village chief opened his mouth wide and even forgot to breathe.

"This...can chickens and ducks really eat locusts?"

If it is really as Cheng Liang said, this is indeed a good idea. You can make some money by selling chickens and ducks, but what if people don’t eat them?

At this time, Xiaoliu came back covered in sweat, followed by three chirping chicks.

"Mom, what kind of bugs are these? They've eaten several of the rice."

This bug was yellow and much uglier than a grasshopper. It was jumping around in the ground. Xiaoliu was afraid that the ugly bug was poisonous, so he didn't dare let the chickens eat it. He caught one and brought it back for his mother to see.

"It's locusts!" The village head recognized them at a glance.

Xiaoliu was young and had only seen locusts flying in the sky. The first time he saw a locust that had just broken out of the ground and had not yet grown wings, he was so scared that his hand shook and the locust fell to the ground.

The chick flapped its wings and swallowed the locust on the ground in one gulp, chirping twice with satisfaction.

The village head was delighted and said, "Great, great! Now we don't have to worry about the locusts coming."

This matter must be announced in a meeting. The more chickens and ducks the village raises, the better.

Although Lin deliberately avoided Cui Chengliang, she heard every word of the conversation in the courtyard, especially the chicken and duck management method proposed by Cui Chengliang. She had a vague impression that there were locust-clearing teams in later generations, and the biological locust control method was excellent.

Although her relationship with Cui Chengliang was awkward, she had to admit that the method he proposed was very effective, like clearing away the clouds and seeing the blue sky.

Que'erhua was the one who brought the knowledge from her previous life, but he relied on his own thinking, which was very amazing.

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