How are there so many rats?
Little Xi Tian wondered.
She crouched down and looked at her family's bowl rack.
She found the bottom gnawed beyond recognition by rats.
Wouldn't their household grain be ruined?
Thinking of this, Little Xi Tian stumbled out and shouted, "Rats, rats..."
Gu Shi, having just finished punishing Liu Cui Rong, was about to continue pickling sauerkraut.
She saw her daughter running over with her short legs.
Her rosy little face was full of anxiety.
"Look at Little Sweet Treasure running, as if chased by rats!" Zhao Gui Hua joked with a smile.
Wasn't she being chased by rats? Little Xi Tian cried inwardly.
Gu Shi hugged her daughter and wiped her sweat with her clothes, "Having nightmares again?"
Her daughter had nightmares every few days.
When it was severe, she would cry herself awake, shedding tears of grievance.
So Gu Shi always slept holding her.
Little Xi Tian called out in a milky voice, "Grain, rats..."
"What is Little Sweet Treasure saying?" Zhao Gui Hua asked curiously.
Gu Shi understood her daughter best and her expression immediately changed, "Is my daughter afraid our grain will be ruined by rats?"
Little Xi Tian let out a long sigh of relief.
Her mother was the most understanding.
"Mmm, mmm!~"
Gu Shi hurriedly carried her to their rice jar.
As soon as she lifted the lid, she heard a 'squeak' and two gray rats darted out.
Gu Shi's face paled, and she looked at the rice jar, seeing that half of the japonica rice had been eaten to the bottom.
"How did these rats get in?" Gu Shi frowned.
She then looked at the other grain jars; corn, sorghum, and fine flour had all decreased significantly.
Many rat droppings were still faintly visible in the grain.
Little Xi Tian blinked her big eyes at her mother, "Rat poison!~"
Go buy rat poison, the house is suffering from a rat infestation.
Gu Shi nodded and carried Little Xi Tian back to the main courtyard.
Just then, Yun Da Man returned with a cartload of carrots and was squatting by the well drinking water.
"Da Man, you quickly go to the county town and buy more rat poison!" Gu Shi instructed.
Yun Da Man put down the dipper and said with a smile, "There's no natural disaster or rat plague, why buy rat poison?"
Previously, when the old Yun family was in Feiyan Village, they experienced a rat plague.
The gray rats that covered the mountains and fields gnawed the crops clean.
With nothing to eat in the fields, they began to plague the villagers.
The family's chickens, ducks, geese, and even cats and dogs were bitten.
A single rat posed no threat, but once they swarmed in dense masses, the situation became uncontrollable.
Gu Shi stomped her feet anxiously, "Oh, hurry up and go, our rice jar is almost eaten by rats."
"Ah?" Yun Da Man's mouth widened in shock, "Okay, I'll go buy it now!"
He thought to himself, why did he see so many rats when he went to collect vegetables in the fields today.
Now that the wheat harvest was approaching, there must not be any unexpected problems.
Yun Da Man unloaded the cart and galloped towards the county town.
There was only one shop selling rat poison in Heyang County.
When Yun Da Man arrived, he found a large crowd of people, densely packed, outside the shop.
"Uncle, which village are you from?" Yun Da Man inquired.
The bald old man sighed, "I'm from Xinwang Village. The fields are suffering from a rat plague, and the crops and grain have been ruined. Sigh..."
Xinwang Village was adjacent to Dashui Village.
If there was a rat plague there, their Dashui Village would also suffer.
"Oh no, the government will come to collect grain next month, what can be done!"
"Your family still has some stored grain, but my family doesn't even have rice bran."
"Rice bran? My wife and children are now drinking cold water. If this continues, my whole family will have to flee the famine."
"Alas, these damned rats, why do they come out to cause trouble during the grain harvest!"
"..."
Yun Da Man felt a chill in his heart.
His family had over thirty mu of land, and even buying a cartload of rat poison wouldn't be enough.
If the rat army swept through, the wheat and corn in the fields would be eaten clean.
Their family's hard work and labor for the entire year would also be in vain.
"Shopkeeper, give me ten bags of rat poison!" Yun Da Man desperately pushed forward.
But when he reached the counter, the rat poison was sold out.
Only a few bags of manure and seeds were piled on the ground.
"Oh, there's no more, no more, you can all go back!"
The shopkeeper and the assistants impatiently shooed people away.
Yun Da Man gritted his teeth in hatred.
He didn't manage to buy a single bag of rat poison.
Passing by a pancake stall, he bought two pancakes and led his jujube-red horse to Jinxiang Academy to deliver them to his son.
"Dad, why are you here!"
Yun Jin He was wearing a pure white academy uniform, exuding an air of scholarly refinement.
Yun Da Man chuckled dryly, "I was passing by and bought you two pancakes."
Yun Jin He was delighted, took a big bite of the pancake, and asked while eating, "Dad, is everything okay at home!"
"When we harvest the corn, I'll ask Dean Wei for leave and come back to help you!"
"You brat!" Yun Da Man patted his head, "It's best for you to focus on your studies. Don't disgrace your grandparents!"
Yun Jin He grinned foolishly, "Dad, has my little aunt grown taller? Does she miss me?"
Yun Da Man's mouth twitched.
It's only been a few days, how could she have grown taller?
Besides, your little aunt is much busier than you.
"Dad is leaving. I'll come see you again when I have time."
Yun Da Man waved his hand and drove the carriage away.
Looking at his father's receding back, Yun Jin He felt a mix of emotions.
He carefully put away the remaining pancake and went back to study.
Old Yun's family.
"The rat poison is all sold out?" Old Yun exclaimed in surprise.
This rat plague was fierce, and many villages had started harvesting grain early.
Yun Da Man nodded, "Why don't we harvest the grain early too? I think the wheat has grown quite a bit."
"No!"
Old Yun glared at him and said in a deep voice, "The wheat isn't ripe yet, what's the use of cutting it? Isn't that just wasting it?"
Undeveloped wheat, if harvested prematurely, could only be fed to mules and horses.
Humans couldn't eat it.
Little Xi Tian sat cross-legged in a round chair, her big eyes darting around.
There were few mountain eagles in Dashui Village, and no households raised cats.
As a result, rats became rampant.
In fact, this was only a superficial reason; the root cause was human-induced.
Dashui Village was relatively better off, with most households being clean.
But the neighboring villages were not like that.
Dead sheep, rotten horses, decaying garbage, the streets were full of it.
The summer sun was scorching, making it easy for bacteria and viruses to breed.
Rats thrived in such environments.
"Old man, why don't you go talk to the village chief and see if there's any solution," Gu Shi said.
Old Yun took two puffs from his tobacco pouch, pondered for a moment, "Alright, I'll go check on the village chief's house."
Unexpectedly, as Old Yun stood up, the village chief, along with Fu Da Qiang and others, walked in.
Zhao Gui Hua quickly served tea and water and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
"Village chief, you've heard about it, right? Xinwang Village is suffering from a rat plague," Old Yun sighed.
The village chief slurped his tea, his face full of worry, "The wheat will be ripe in a few more days, I don't know if we can hold out until then."
"Unless someone knows how to make rat poison."
The village chief put down his teacup, his cloudy eyes sweeping towards Little Xi Tian...