Meanwhile, the old man in the family was squatting in the corridor fiddling with a bunch of iron sheets and wires, which he called the Lu family's rat trap.
"Grandpa, what kind of rat trap did you make?" Lu Yuan walked up and squatted down beside him, looking at the pile of parts with some disbelief in the old man's craftsmanship.
"What do you know? I suffered from a rat infestation when I was young, and I only managed to get rid of the rats back then thanks to these skills!"
"Um... Grandpa, I don't mean to discourage you, but this thin wire is no match for a mouse. I think you should think of another way!"
Lu Yuan pinched the thin wire and frowned. The rats he had caught were all large and had sharp teeth. A two-finger-thick wooden board was no problem for them, and the thin wire could not hold them at all.
However, the old man, still fuming and glaring, refused to believe this superstition and wanted to show the whole family his skills.
To prevent the vegetables in the garden from being damaged by rats again, Lu's mother decided to dig up all the vegetables in the garden to leave no chance for the rats.
In the evening, a lot of dishes were prepared and the table was full. In the spirit of not wasting food, Lu's mother specially called Xiaoshan and invited the whole family to come and eat.
Xiao Shan, who hadn't been to the villa in a long time, screamed in terror when she saw a pile of dead rats in front of the door.
"Xiaoshan, aren't you supposed to be an invincible tough girl? How come you're afraid of mice?"
Lu Yuan jokingly pulled Xiao Shan along.
"Ugh! Don't even mention it! I can hear mice gnawing at the wall every night when I'm trying to sleep! It's terrifying, and they're so big! My colleague's cat was even killed by mice!"
At this point, Xiao Shan's face showed a hint of shock, clearly indicating that these rats had had a significant impact on her.
"Who says otherwise? Look at the old houses around here, every single one of them suffered from the disaster. Luckily, Lu Yuan reminded us in time, otherwise our grain would have been ruined by the rats too!"
Xiao Shan's parents were also very troubled by the rats. As early as when the rats first appeared, Lu Yuan had already reminded Xiao Shan to take precautions against them and even bought a freezer from the second-hand market to store food.
The family arrived at the restaurant in a harmonious atmosphere, and Xiaoshan's mouth watered at the sight of the table full of food.
The two families chatted during the meal.
Xiao Shan's father downed a glass of baijiu in one gulp, a satisfied expression on his face, and said, "Lu Yuan, why do I see so many sticks and stuff outside your house? Are they for catching rats?"
Ignoring Lu's wife's stern gaze, Lu's father poured more wine for Xiaoshan's father and continued, "Yes, it's about catching rats. We've organized a rat-catching team, and Xiaoyuan and I have both joined. We can at least get some food and water!"
Xiao Shan's father immediately became interested upon hearing this.
"That's great! We don't even have anyone to manage things back home, so we just stay home all day catching mice!"
So, Mr. Lu excitedly recounted the news he had heard from Lu Yuan, which made Xiao Shan's family very envious.
"Sigh! We should organize something, otherwise every household will suffer!" Xiao Shan's mother put a chicken leg on Lu Yuan's plate, which made Xiao Shan glare at her for a long time.
After dinner, Lu Yuan drove Xiao Shan and her family of three home with a lot of vegetables, grains, and a rat trap made by the old man himself.
Before going to bed that night, Lu Yuan took out his phone and checked it. The next day was Wednesday. He decided to catch up on his sleep and then go catch mice.
...
The next day, during the shift change, more than ten people excitedly showed everyone their day's spoils. They counted about twenty rats piled up like a small mountain, and each person shared their spoils in the group chat.
Immediately, a wave of envy swept through the group.
There were thirteen people on the night shift. Lu Yuan knew three of them: Song Heng from the villa area who had spoken in the group chat, Chen Ke, and a young man named Ge Shunshun who had previously helped out at Lao Guo's house.
The first place we were going to was Wang Chuanchuan's house in the bungalow area. The place wasn't big, but it was said that there were at least four or five big rats in the house. Actually, the other party also wanted to come along and catch rats, but since the rules had already been set, if you wanted to catch rats, you had to wait until your shift, otherwise you would have to catch them yourself without any pay.
The group arrived at Wang Chuanchuan's house. Upon opening the door, they saw Wang Chuanchuan's wife running around in fright, and a seven or eight-year-old child who was covered in dirt and had chapped lips. Upon seeing the group, the child immediately hid behind Wang Chuanchuan. The three of them were all skin and bones, looking particularly pitiful.
"You're here. I just caught one, and the rest should be hiding in the kitchen." Wang Chuanchuan, carrying the child, led everyone into the cramped kitchen.
The kitchen walls were covered with various yellow oil stains, but judging from how dry they were, it was clear that the kitchen hadn't been used for a long time.
Chen Ke nodded, and then the group rushed into the kitchen.
Even with an iron bar, Lu Yuan couldn't squeeze in; he could only look around the house for any opportunity.
At this moment, a shout of attack erupted from the crowd in the kitchen. Then, a group of people squeezed into the small kitchen and started smashing and trampling things. Lu Yuan, with his sharp eyes, saw a large rat dart out from between the crowd and immediately threw an iron rod at it.
With a "thud," the iron rod pierced a large rat, more than 30 centimeters long, into the ground, and blood immediately flowed out.
Several people inside immediately expressed their dissatisfaction.
"Damn it, I was the one who discovered it! I wasn't paying attention and you beat me to it!"
The speaker was a skinny young man of about twenty-five or twenty-six, wearing a t-shirt that revealed the tattoos on his arms, clearly dissatisfied that Lu Yuan had taken his prey.
"Who says I can't use my hands? Besides, this rat runs so fast, others had a chance to hit it too. Who can testify that you spotted the rat first?"
Lu Yuan was not afraid of the other party's threat at all, and immediately took a step closer to the other party.
These days, the better your temper, the more others will think you're easy to bully. If you give way a little, they'll expect you to give way three times. Lu Yuan already understands the law of the jungle. Besides, he's taken the golden fruit, so his opponent's small physique is really no match for him.
Sure enough, when the other party saw Lu Yuan approaching, he immediately said in a low voice, sounding somewhat fierce but actually weak, "Consider yourself lucky!"
Next, the rats in Wang Chuanchuan's family were eliminated. In addition to catching the rats, the team members also filled in the holes that the rats had dug with various stones and soil, which was a rule that everyone had agreed upon.
Having received their due reward, the group left Wang Chuanchuan's house and went to another house in the same bungalow area. This time, the family had obviously caught most of the rats. The big rats were not as easy to hide as the small rats, so catching them was not too difficult.
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