Yan Qingqing exchanged a few more pleasantries with Wei Laosan. Wei Laosan hadn't been to the farm for quite some time, so he thought he'd go back and take a look first.
After seeing Wei Laosan off, Yan Qingqing told Yuan Huiniang to put away the mountain produce, saying it would be delicious whether used in hot pot or made into sauce.
But when Yan Qingqing and the others had gone to bed that night, Wei Laosan came knocking on the door again. Yuan Huiniang helped Yan Qingqing get dressed and said, "I think Uncle Wei looks quite anxious. I wonder what happened."
Yan Qingqing's heart skipped a beat. Wei Laosan had just returned from the organic orchard, and the only thing that could make him so anxious was the chickens and ducks.
Although they used two or three thousand chickens and ducks in their shop before the Lunar New Year, they still have a large number of chickens and ducks left, and some of the hens and ducks will be able to lay eggs in the spring.
Thinking of this, Yan Qingqing also became a little anxious.
She quickly got dressed and went to the front hall. Li Xiangping and the others had also gotten up and arrived even earlier than Yan Qingqing.
Upon seeing Yan Qingqing, Wei Laosan seemed to have found his pillar of support, but when he opened his mouth, he didn't know how to begin.
Seeing him speak like this, Yan Qingqing said, "Brother Wei, please say whatever you want to say!"
Without further hesitation, Wei Laosan said, "My benefactor, something seems off with the chickens and ducks at our farm."
Yan Qingqing's heart skipped a beat after hearing this. Was there really something wrong with those chickens and ducks?
Li Xiangjian, who was standing nearby, said, "Uncle Wei, I was helping out over there today and didn't notice anything wrong."
Wei Laosan replied, "My little benefactor, I often take care of those chickens and ducks and know their condition best."
During the day, I noticed that the chickens and ducks seemed a bit listless, but I didn't pay much attention to it, thinking that it was probably because it was getting late and they should be resting.
But when I was on patrol just now, I found a large group of chickens and ducks that were very restless and weren't sleeping at all; they looked like they were in great distress.
Yan Qingqing believed that what Wei Laosan said was true, which meant that there must be something wrong with these chickens and ducks.
Yan Qingqing said, "Thank you, Brother Wei. No one else would have been as thoughtful as you."
In your opinion, why are these chickens and ducks behaving this way?
Wei Laosan thought for a moment and replied, "Poisoning! But the amount isn't too large, not enough to kill these chickens and ducks immediately!"
When Wei Laosan finished speaking, everyone except Yan Qingqing gasped. There were more than 10,000 chickens and ducks in total. If they all died, what would they sell in their shop? That would be a huge loss.
Yan Qingqing had other thoughts on more than just these, but now was not the time to study that matter. The most urgent thing was to see if these chickens and ducks could be saved.
Yan Qingqing immediately said, "Hui Niang, stay and take care of Xiao Qi. The rest of you come with me to the breeding farm. Eldest brother, go and call your third uncle and the others, and ask them to come and help at the breeding farm."
Third brother, go to Dr. Zhang's place in the next village and buy all the licorice root he has. When you get back, go directly to the farm and boil it into licorice juice in a big pot.
After making the arrangements, Yan Qingqing asked Li Xiang'an to bring all the oil lamps in the house, and then the family headed towards the back mountain.
Although the winter nights were particularly cold, Yan Qingqing and the others didn't feel it; they just wanted to get to the farm as soon as possible.
As soon as Yan Qingqing and the others entered the orchard, Tie Tou walked over to them. Seeing so many people, he quickly asked, "Uncle Wei, why are Aunt and the others here so late?"
"But what's so urgent? It's so cold, Auntie, you should go back to sleep."
Yan Qingqing glanced at him but didn't say anything, and walked straight into the chicken and duck shed inside.
Seeing that Yan Qingqing had left, the others didn't offer any further explanation to Tie Tou.
Li Xiang'an stopped and looked at him, saying, "Uncle Wei said these chickens and ducks are acting strangely, and he suspects they've been poisoned."
My mother is very anxious. You know, all the shops in our city rely on these chickens and ducks to make money.
If we lose these chickens and ducks, we'll lose our source of ingredients for braised chicken and roast duck, and the shop will have to close down.
After saying that, Li Xiang'an shook his head and sighed. Seeing this, Tie Tou exclaimed and asked with a worried look, "Is it that serious?"
Li Xiang'an nodded, and Tie Tou said anxiously, "Then what do we do now?"
Seeing that his expression seemed genuine, Li Xiang'an shook his head and said, "I don't know either. Let's go and see if Mother and Uncle Wei have any ideas."
Yan Qingqing arrived at the chicken coop. Some of the chickens and ducks were sleeping with their eyes closed, but some were stretching their necks and kicking their legs as if they were in pain.
It's only because there are so many people that it's a bit scary to see so many chickens and ducks stretching their legs and staring at each other late at night.
Yan Qingqing immediately ordered, "Move these problematic chickens and ducks out separately and put them together. See if they can still be saved."
Yan Qingqing didn't really know much about raising chickens and ducks. She vaguely remembered seeing somewhere that if chickens or ducks were poisoned, you could boil licorice root into a soup and force-feed them the poison.
Following Yan Qingqing's instructions, Wei Laosan took the lead in catching the problematic chickens and putting them in a separate place.
Seeing this, the others quickly joined in the work, and even Yan Qingqing herself got involved.
Half an hour later, all the problematic chickens and ducks were removed; there were about three or four thousand of them.
Despite the dark and cold night, they were all exhausted and covered in sweat.
Just then, Li Xiangjian drove in in an oxcart, which was loaded with a snakeskin bag of licorice.
Li Xiangjian said, "Mother, I bought all the licorice from Doctor Zhang's place. See if that's enough."
Yan Qingqing didn't know if it was enough, but that was about all she had.
So he instructed Li Xinniang and the others to quickly help brew the medicine. Fortunately, the pot and water were readily available, so it didn't take much effort.
During this time, Yan Qingqing carefully observed the condition of the chickens and ducks. Although they looked frightening, there was not much change in the past hour, so Yan Qingqing knew that the chickens and ducks would not die anytime soon.
Li Xiangjian and his men worked quickly and soon finished boiling the licorice. Yan Qingqing then instructed them to pry open the beaks of the chickens and ducks and pour the licorice into them one by one.
After all that trouble, it was almost dawn before they finally finished feeding all the problematic chickens and ducks.
Seeing that everyone was exhausted and covered in dirt, Yan Qingqing told them to sit down and rest for a while.
She and Wei Laosan looked at the chickens and ducks again. Although the effect was not significant, it seemed to be a little better than before.
Yan Qingqing was a little worried. If these chickens and ducks were dead, it would be a clean break, but they were in this half-dead state, and she didn't know how many days they had been like this.
Moreover, these chickens and ducks were just a little listless during the day, but they weren't much different from normal chickens and ducks, which was what Yan Qingqing found most strange.
Yan Qingqing thought of the possibility she had considered yesterday. She immediately said, "Second brother, write a notice and post it in front of our shop to tell everyone that we are postponing our opening."
Also, go to Renshantang and ask Doctor Zheng for help.
Upon hearing this, Li Xiangping immediately nodded in agreement. He went home, changed his clothes, and took the notice written by Li Xiangkang to the city.
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