Lin Xiaoya grabbed the faded red pillowcase on the kang and bit it hard. The musty smell of the fabric made her cough.
More than half a month passed.
Chen Changyuan's breeding farm and medicinal herb planting base have gradually improved.
Even agricultural trade orders have increased a lot.
The medicinal herb planting base on the back mountain is filled with the strong smell of mugwort.
Chen Changyuan was squatting by the brick pool, sprinkling freshly prepared herbs into the water.
A female worker wearing a white mask poked her head out of the warehouse, with a few strands of hay stuck in her ponytail.
"Boss Chen, Director Zhang just called to urge for the delivery."
She shook the account book in her hand.
"They said our Isatis Root Granules are sold out in the provincial capital, and they need to increase the quantity by 30%."
Chen Changyuan shook off the water droplets on his hands. The sunlight filtered through his fingers, casting flickering spots of light on the ground. "Tell Lao Yuantou to work overtime tonight. Oh, and have Wang Tieniu go to the back mountain. It's time to harvest the newly discovered wild Panax notoginseng."
"Brother Changyuan!"
There were hurried footsteps at the entrance of the village, and worker Li Laosan rushed in, panting heavily. "Something happened in Wang Fugui's pigpen! I heard that two dead pigs were carried out this morning, and their eyes were green!"
Chen Changyuan threw off his sterilized gloves and ran to the east end of the village. His shoes rolled over the gravel road, raising a cloud of yellow dust.
Li Laosan was chasing after him, panting: "Brother Changyuan, slow down!"
Three or five women gathered under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village. Aunt Liu, carrying a bamboo basket, was spitting loudly: "You didn't see it! The pig's trotter is swollen like a steamed bun!"
She suddenly caught sight of Chen Changyuan's figure and lowered her voice. "If you ask me, it's all thanks to Chen..."
"Aunt Liu!"
Chen Changyuan stopped abruptly, and the mugwort debris on his sleeves fell down. "Have you disinfected your pigpen with lime water in the past two days?"
Aunt Liu was taken aback by the question, and the eggs in her basket shook: "I just sprinkled some wood ash yesterday..."
"Hurry and replace it with quicklime."
Chen Changyuan said as he hurried towards Wang Fugui's house, "Don't let the livestock drink the water from the ditch these two days."
When he passed the threshing ground, he ran into Wang Fugui's farmhand carrying a bamboo basket and walking towards the valley.
A fishy smell hit me in the face, and half of a purple pig's trotter was hanging from the crack of the bamboo basket.
Chen Changyuan stretched out his hand to lift the lid of the basket. The man carrying the basket stepped back in a hurry: "Boss Chen, you can't do that!"
"Let him see!"
Wang Fugui came out from behind the dirt slope with his greasy belly bulging, his gold teeth gleaming blindingly in the sunlight. "Brother Changyuan is a well-known figure in the county now, so he can give us some guidance."
Chen Changyuan ignored the sour tone in his words, squatted down and used a branch to pry open the lid of the basket.
The foul smell exploded, and Li Laosan began to retch on the spot.
There were two dead pigs stacked in the basket, with yellow-green foam hanging from the corners of their mouths, and dark red pus and blood oozing from the festering flesh between their hooves.
"Village Chief Wang."
Chen Changyuan poked the festering blister on the pig's hoof with a branch and asked, "How many days has this symptom lasted?"
"It happened this morning!"
Wang Fugui wiped his sweat with a silk handkerchief embroidered with peonies, "It's probably because he ate moldy bean cakes..."
“Foot-and-mouth disease.”
Chen Changyuan threw away the branch and stood up, his shoe soles leaving deep indentations in the yellow mud. "It's no use burying it now. We have to report it to the epidemic prevention station immediately."
The fat on Wang Fugui's face twitched violently, and his gold teeth chattered. "Boss Chen, that's true. The livestock in our village are all healthy."
He suddenly raised his voice and shouted to the gathered villagers, "If any of your pigs have a headache or fever, feel free to come to me, Wang Fugui!"
A sneer came from the back of the crowd: "I saw your second son dumping a dead chicken into the river yesterday!"
"Bullshit!"
Wang Fugui picked up a shovel and was about to rush over, but Chen Changyuan grabbed his wrist.
At the moment when the two of them were arguing, Chen Changyuan suddenly lowered his voice and asked, "The piglets you bought from the neighboring county last month were bought on the black market, right?"
Chen Changyuan's fingers gently pressed the ulcerated part of the pig's trotter, and dark red pus dripped down the branches.
The veins on Wang Fugui's forehead were throbbing, and his silk handkerchief was wrinkled into a ball.
"The car from the epidemic prevention station has to pass three checkpoints when driving east."
Chen Changyuan shook off the stains on his fingertips and said in a voice as soft as if he was discussing what to eat for lunch, "I heard that the tire marks of the smuggled car seized by the county last month are still left at the entrance of the black market."
The crowd of onlookers suddenly became agitated, and several villagers who had been peeking out retreated with their necks shrunk.
Wang Fugui's cheek fat trembled, and suddenly his face was full of wrinkles. "Brother Changyuan, you are joking. The livestock in our village are all from legitimate sources."
He turned around and kicked the farmhand carrying the basket, "Hurry up and go dig a deep hole in the back mountain!"
The stench of decay drifted away as the bamboo basket swayed. Chen Changyuan suddenly pressed the edge of the basket and said, "Wait."
He fished out a glass bottle from his trouser pocket. The dark brown liquid shone in the sunlight. "This is a disinfectant purified from Isatis root. You have to spray it three times before burying it."
"Changyuan is truly kind-hearted."
Wang Fugui's gold teeth were clattering as he reached out to take the medicine bottle.
Chen Changyuan flipped his wrist and poured the medicine directly onto the festering wound of the dead pig, with a sizzling sound and white smoke rising.
The stench of decay fermented into a thick undercurrent under the scorching sun, and the white smoke wrapped in the stench of dead pigs went straight into people's nostrils.
Wang Fugui suddenly clutched his stomach and cried out, squeezing out a few words through his golden teeth: "This sun is so hot it's making me dizzy. Brother Changyuan, why don't you come inside and have a cup of cold tea?"
Chen Changyuan stared at the purple-black blood clots on the edge of the bamboo basket, and suddenly heard the roar of an engine coming from the mountain road.
Two green pickup trucks rushed into the threshing ground, rolling up yellow dust. The two red-painted words "epidemic prevention" on the front of the trucks were so dazzling that it hurt people's eyes.
"Comrade Wang Fugui!"
A cadre wearing gold-rimmed glasses jumped out of the passenger seat, slapping his thighs with the leather briefcase tucked under his arm. "The masses have reported a livestock epidemic in your village. What's in this basket?"
The fat on Wang Fugui's face instantly tensed up, and he wiped away his sweat with a silk handkerchief, sparks flying. "Director, you've misread this. This... this is fertilizer for the orchard in the back mountain!"
He raised his foot to kick the bamboo basket, but Chen Changyuan held his ankle with a branch.
"The director has arrived just in time."
Chen Changyuan lifted the lid of the basket. The stench of rotting meat mixed with medicine made everyone cover their noses. "There are ulcers and pus between the hooves of these two pigs. I suspect it's foot-and-mouth disease combined with swine erysipelas."
When the director squatted down, two white marks appeared on his trousers.
He took out a pen and poked the purple spot behind the pig's ear. The tip of the pen was stained with yellow-green pus. "Village Chief Wang, the smuggled piglets reported by the county last month..."
"Heaven and earth, conscience!"
Wang Fugui suddenly plopped down on the scorching bluestone slab, sweat beads forming dark dots. "This pig was a breeding pig eliminated from a farm in the next county. I picked it up because I felt sorry for it..."
"What's your name, comrade?"
Chen Changyuan used a branch to pry open the dead pig's ear, revealing dark purple bruises on the inside.
"Zhao Weiguo, County Food Administration Office."
The gold-rimmed glasses reflected a cold light in the sunlight. When Director Zhao took out his work ID, half of a quarantine form with a red stamp fell out from the compartment of his cowhide briefcase.
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