Chapter 68: It’s hard to persuade the damn ghost with kind words!
After dinner, the four of them went again with sacks and shovels and searched the remaining half of the hillside. This time they only found 12 rat holes, but unexpectedly discovered two hibernating snakes. Mingdai took a look and found that they were not poisonous, so Zhou Sinian shoveled off their heads and brought them back.
When they came back, it was still early, so Mingdai asked Mrs. Huang to stay at home and sort out the grains they had dug out. She took Zhou Sinian, Liu Guoqiang and the other two to the river to deal with the field mice while no one was around.
There were one hundred and eighty voles of all sizes, plus two skinny snakes. It was quite a spectacular sight.
This time Zhou Sinian did not give up. He took the bayonet and started peeling the skin. After peeling a few skins, he became very fast.
Liu Guoqiang was still responsible for chopping off the limbs, head and tail, while Mingdai was responsible for cleaning them.
Just when they were about to finish, Mingdai saw people from Shangwan Village.
They were holding more than a dozen dead voles in their hands, but they had been beaten to a pulp, and many of them were flattened.
Mingdai narrowed her eyes. She remembered that they were heading in the direction of Xiawudi mentioned by Mrs. Huang, which was the location of the fields in Xiawu Village.
I hope they are smart enough to fill up the holes they have dug. After all, deep holes are needed to dig out voles.
The holes they dug on the mountain were all backfilled.
They chose to squat down not far away to clean it. Mingdai saw that they just washed the vole and skinned it, but did not chop off its tail, head or limbs.
After thinking for a while, she reminded him: "Voles have bacteria on them. When eating them, it is best to chop off the head, limbs and tail, empty the internal organs, drain the blood, and cook them for at least an hour."
After saying this, she turned around and left with the two of them, regardless of the people in Shangwan Village staring at her in confusion.
After they left, the people in Xiawan Village began to discuss the matter.
"Do you want to remove the head? There's not much meat on the meat itself, and there will be even less if you remove the head."
"How much firewood does it take to cook for an hour?!"
The leading man frowned, "It's okay. Didn't they eat yesterday? They are all fine today and look even more energetic. It should be okay. We just need to wash them clean. How can there be any bacteria? We are really worried that we will dig up all the field mice."
Others followed suit, thinking that the people in Liujiawan had no good intentions and were definitely afraid that they would dig up all the voles!
One of them was so clever that he picked up all the vole heads and tails that Mingdai and the others had thrown by the river, intending to stew them in a pot!
Ming Dai: It’s really hard to persuade that damn ghost with kind words!
Back in the shed, Mingdai took Zhou Sinian to cut some fresh pine branches, set up a smoking rack at the door of the shed, and put the cleaned voles neatly in place.
Light the pine branches and start smoking the meat with the strong smoke, which will not only keep the meat longer but also make it more flavorful.
Let the pine branches burn by themselves, Liu Guoqiang went to deal with the accounting work in his hands, and Mingdai took Huang Saozi and Zhou Sinian to start picking the food they had harvested in the past two days.
Seeing that there were so many soybeans, Mingdai planned to grow some bean sprouts to improve the diet.
In the evening, Mingdai steamed some dried rice and fried some radish slices. Although everyone regretted not having meat to eat today, they felt relieved when they saw the dried rat on the smoked grill.
Inside a shed in Sheung Wan Village, in a large pot, field mouse meat was tumbling in the boiling water. The densely packed mouse heads inside gave people goosebumps.
Pan Xiazi frowned and smelled the fishy smell: "Why does it smell wrong?"
The cook stirred the food with a spatula and said, "I don't know. I just cooked it the way I would stew chicken. I heard from people in Liujiawan that field mice taste like chicken."
Pan Xiazi nodded and asked the same question. It was indeed the case.
Forget it, no matter how it tastes or smells, it’s meat, it can’t be bad, right?
In fact, it can be really unpalatable!
When Pan Xiazi took a whole piece of vole meat and bit it, he felt a fishy stench hitting his throat and he couldn't help but vomit physiologically.
"Why is it so unpalatable!"
He held the vole meat and looked at the few people in disbelief.
The people next to him also had expressions that looked like they had eaten shit.
These were all his specially selected confidants. After all, the number of field mice caught was small and it was impossible for everyone to eat them, so he only called people who were close to him in the family. The others held their bowls outside and ate their pebbled rice while scolding him.
Pan Xiazi, unwilling to believe it, tore off another piece, but it still smelled fishy. Resisting his nausea, he raised his neck and swallowed it.
It’s really not delicious!
Thinking about how the five of them had spent a whole day digging in the fields of Xiakua Village against the wind to catch a dozen field mice, and the dish they made turned out to be so unpalatable!
He was so angry that he almost died!
"What are you looking at! Eat!"
He was in a bad mood and yelled at the people around him, then he angrily tore a vole apart and ate it.
The others were so disgusted by the food that they quietly threw it into the fire. Only the other four who had gone with them to catch voles were reluctant to throw away the fruits of their hard work for a day, so they gritted their teeth and ate one of the voles.
But no one had the courage to pick up the second one, including Pan Xia Zi.
They sat in silence for a while, and Pan Xiazi waved his hand helplessly: "Pour it out."
They immediately got up, took the pot, went out and quietly dug a hole and buried it.
At night, everyone in Sheung Wan Village did not sleep well.
Pan Xiazi and a few others were thinking: Why is it that it’s the same meat, but ours tastes so bad?
Other Shangwan villagers: "You idiot, I told you to open the stove, but I'll kill you! You're nothing compared to the people of Liujiawan."
Woohoo, we want to eat vole meat too!
Perhaps their curse had come true. In the middle of the night, the shanty town of Sheung Wan Village became chaotic. Torches were lit one by one and wailing could be heard from time to time.
Finally, the nearby militia was alarmed and the situation was calmed down.
Early the next morning, Mingdai found out that five people in Shangwan Village had been vomiting and having diarrhea the day before, and eventually became dehydrated. They were in critical condition and were rushed to the county hospital for emergency treatment overnight by the militia. Now it is unknown whether they are alive or dead!
Mingdai knew that they must not have listened to her.
There's nothing we can do. It's all our own fault. We can't blame anyone else.
It was a week later when they came back.
The five men were noticeably thinner and listless, and didn't look like they were capable of working.
Sure enough, Pan Xiazi asked others to take turns to cover for the sick person. Not only did the people in Shangwan Village disagree, but even the leaders of the construction team disagreed. Liu Guoqiang directly refused to calculate the working hours for the five of them.
Pan Xiazi was so angry, but there was nothing he could do. He could only rest for two days and go back to work when he was able to work.
Before they could get enough rest, people from Xiakua Village came looking for them.
Their fields were filled with large, densely packed pits that looked like they were dug by field mice.
In fact, instead of being angry at you for digging out the voles, they will thank you because you are helping to eliminate the four pests.
But, you only care about digging and not burying, that’s so immoral!
They first found Liujiawan and came up with a tough attitude, holding shovels and wanting to drag people to fill the pit. Finally, they saw Zhou Sinian and instantly became silent. He asked them obediently if they wanted to dig out voles again, saying that they had another piece of land to the east.
Ming Dai was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and directly said that they did not dig it in the ground, and informed the location of the shed area in Xiawan Village.
Soon, these people thanked politely and headed towards the shed in Xiawan Village with shovels in hand.
So, the five people who had not had a good rest were dragged to fill the holes in the fields. When they came back, they caught a cold and were completely unable to work. Except for Pan Xiazi who led the team, everyone else was driven away and did not get a penny.