"Ah! Village chief, we are almost out of food. We can't even afford to raise ducks!"
"Yeah! I can't even afford to raise one or two ducks, let alone ten."
"Also, even if I wanted to raise ducks, I don't have the money to buy ducklings."
"My family, too."
…
"Quiet!"
The village chief saw that everyone was listening to the instructions about raising ducks and couldn't help but make loud noises and discussions, even drowning out his own voice.
Seeing that the villagers were raising ducks, they became more and more nervous and angry.
Then he struck the gong hard.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Boom..."
The villagers who were standing closer to the village chief saw that the village chief's face was very gloomy and suddenly dared not say a word.
Soon some villagers noticed that the atmosphere in the threshing ground was not right, and they all followed suit and kept their mouths shut.
Seeing that everyone had quieted down and no one was talking, the village chief raised his voice and said, "Have you finished talking? Have you had enough? If you haven't said enough, please stand up front. I will let you talk to your heart's content. Don't stop until it's dark."
"We were originally talking about something happy, but what happened now? What happened to you raising ducks?"
"I have no food, no money, and you won't listen to me. You just keep complaining. How can you solve the problem?"
The villagers standing in the threshing ground saw the village chief getting angry and didn't dare to say a word.
The village chief vented his anger for a while before he calmed down and spoke to everyone in a low voice.
"Needless to say, I believe that anyone over a century old would have guessed something when they saw the locusts in the fields."
"If this trend continues, a locust plague will erupt in just a month. Not only will the crops in the fields, but even the thatch on the roofs could be completely eaten by the locusts."
"Don't take my words to heart. Anyone who has experienced the locust plague a few decades ago probably wouldn't think I'm exaggerating."
"Originally, the village elders and I were discussing in the ancestral hall what we should do to stop the locust plague."
"I learned from Yue that she was going to buy locusts. She was selling them for one yuan a pound. If you wanted to sell them to her, she had to guarantee that she could raise ten ducklings at home. Otherwise, she wouldn't buy the locusts she caught."
Even after the village chief's outburst, some villagers still got anxious when they heard he wouldn't collect locusts unless they raised ducks. They cautiously asked, "We can raise ducks, but we don't have the money to buy ducklings or anything to feed them."
After saying that, he looked up at the village chief carefully, afraid that the village chief would kick him.
However, the village chief not only did not reprimand the person who asked the question, but instead nodded and praised him: "You have asked a good question."
"Yue said it doesn't matter if you don't have money to buy ducklings. As long as you catch a pound of locusts, you can get ten ducks from her."
"I'm worried about having little ducklings and having nothing to feed them. It's simple. I just spread the grass on the ground and let the ducks catch locusts and eat them. They can also eat the eggs."
"A month later, after the autumn harvest, there will be no more locusts in the fields. I really don't want to raise ducks anymore, so I can sell them to Yue Yatou and she'll buy them at the market price."
"Also, if you want to keep the ducks for laying eggs, you can dry the locusts you catch, store them, and use them as food for the ducks."
After the village chief finished speaking, he waited for everyone to ask questions.
But everyone was still immersed in the shock brought to the village and had not reacted to the words of the village chief.
After a long while, someone finally asked, "Village Chief, are you telling the truth?"
The village chief saw that the person he was talking to was a young lady from the village. Her family had many children, seven daughters and one son, and was a well-known poor family in the village.
Li is the eldest daughter in the family, thirteen years old. Her parents are honest people. In order to have a son, they gave birth to seven daughters before they had their precious baby, Goudan.
Although Li's parents also favored boys over girls and longed to have a son to take care of them in their old age, the old couple did not abuse their daughter. Instead, they tried their best to make their child's life better.
But their family only had seven acres of land, and after paying taxes every day, there was not much food left, not enough to eat.
They would look for wild animals on the outskirts of the mountain and dig up wild vegetables to make up for the shortage. If they were lucky enough to come across mushrooms, they would dry them and store them, then sell them in town for money to buy food.
The village chief knew the conditions of Li's family well, and seeing the girl's expectant look, he couldn't help but feel a little sad. He wiped his eyes and said to Li with certainty, "It's true. Hurry and take your sister to the fields to catch them!"
"Thank you, village chief, thank you, village chief, thank you!"
Ruli heard the answer she wanted, bent down and bowed to the village chief, then turned around and ran home with her three sisters.
Someone was also paying attention to the situation on the village chief's side. They saw Li running back home and asking her sister to help catch locusts.
Without hesitation, he called his family and prepared to go back to Tang to find tools.
However, some people also questioned it, but the number of people who disapproved was small, and even if they spoke in a louder voice, it was drowned out by the excited voices of the villagers who were happy.
After all, most villagers are willing to believe that the village chief is not lying, and some even regard this matter as a life-saving straw and want to hold on to it tightly.
If someone dared to disrupt everyone's money-making at this time, being scolded would be the least of his problems. In serious cases, it would definitely arouse the anger of the villagers. It is unknown what would happen next.
After everyone deliberately ignored the doubts, some people reacted quickly and caught more than a dozen locusts. Others reacted slowly, and when most of the people on the threshing ground had left, Ermao was still scratching his head and asking, "Why are they all gone?"
The village chief saw Ermao still hanging around and felt so disappointed that he wanted to walk up to him and give him a few kicks.
Perhaps it was the village chief's look that was too "sad" that finally made Ermao react. He ran to the fields, shouting, "Catching locusts...! One penny... a pound!"
The shouting was melodious and rhythmic.
The village chief's expression, which had been tense, softened considerably, and he said with a smile, "This kid is just naughty."
Seeing that everyone was actively catching locusts in the fields, the village chief put his hands behind his back, hummed a little tune, and prepared to walk around the fields to see if he could catch some.
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