Chapter Eleven: The Enemy of Bamboo Forest

  Song Wen's first thing was to take out the little dog and little hedgehog from the fan and see if they were okay.

  Unexpectedly, the little dog drank water from the pool last night and not only was fine but also opened its eyes. Seeing him, it suddenly wagged its tail happily and barked "guagua". It even leaned against him, rubbing against him foolishly. The little hedgehog was also fine, completely gone was the limp and lifeless look of yesterday. Not only did its spirit lift greatly, but it also ate all the apples and peanuts that were put in the cage yesterday. Seeing the little dog barking "guagua" over there, it also started calling out to Song Wen with a "jiujiu".

  Song Wen was baffled, how could he get a stomachache from drinking it, while the two little guys were fine after drinking it? Was the water in the pool only for animals to drink, or did his immune system really suck that much compared to those two? He refused to believe it, thinking to himself, and took out a cup of spring water that had just flowed out from under the strange rock. Just as he was about to drink it, he suddenly felt a bit apprehensive in his heart, but then thought that if he got diarrhea, at most he could just take some medicine to recover, and who knows, maybe he'd even grow two centimeters taller and become 1.8 meters tall? Thinking this, he tilted his head back and downed the cup of water in one gulp.

  After a while, Song Wen felt that his stomach was fine, and he didn't have the urge to rush to the toilet like last time. Was it because his immunity had increased, or did this thing stop working after drinking it once? He felt strange in his heart, couldn't figure out what was going on, thought about it for half a day but still couldn't come up with an answer, so he simply stopped thinking about it.

  Two little guys kept calling beside me, probably they were hungry.

  Song Wen then went to heat up the milk he bought last night for the puppy to drink. This little guy, who hadn't even grown his baby teeth yet, couldn't eat anything and could only be fed milk. After taking care of the puppy, he took out an apple and some peanuts and put them in the hedgehog's cage for it to eat. Then, he put the two little ones back into the fan, where it was warm and cozy, more suitable for the two little ones to stay, and also to prevent his younger nephew from taking them out to play.

  Now he feels like he's almost a father of two little guys.

  After settling down the two little ones, he headed towards the new house after getting up and having breakfast.

  After a few days, the decoration smell in the new house dissipated. He asked people to deliver the furniture they had ordered and simply arranged the room before moving in.

  According to custom, when moving into a new house, you should invite relatives and friends to celebrate for four days. However, his elder brother had already celebrated after the house was built, so he couldn't bear to ask people to give red envelopes again. He just casually set off some firecrackers and drank with family and friends to celebrate.

  After the new house was ready to move in, Song Yuanshui felt much more at ease. When digging bamboo shoots, he would stay on this side and no longer live in that old, leaky house with wind and rain seeping in, eating leftover cold dishes for one meal and skipping another.

  Today is another day of digging bamboo shoots in the mountains. Seeing his father working so hard, Song Wen took the initiative to pick up a hoe and go up the mountain together with him.

  The morning mist has not yet dissipated, and dew drops still cling to the bamboo leaves. The wind whispers softly, and the sky is a vast expanse of clarity.

  In the bamboo forest, the shadows of the bamboos blocked out the light, and it was somewhat dim. Therefore, Song Wenhe and Song Yunshui both wore miner's lamps on their foreheads to light the way.

  Lowering their heads, some bamboo shoots had already emerged from the ground, some had just broken through the soil, and some were still underground, but there was already a patch of moist water marks on top. The two walked and dug, Song Wen carrying a snake skin bag, and after digging, they loaded the shoots into it. Song Yuan Shui looked at the children digging bamboo shoots beside him, with a sense of comfort that there would be successors.

  Song Wen was digging bamboo shoots with great effort, and as he dug, a black shadow suddenly jumped out from the side, startling him. He shone his headlamp over and found it was just a bamboo rat.

  Bamboo rat, also known as bamboo distiller, mangy weasel, bamboo weasel, and bamboo root mouse, inhabits bamboo forests, pine forests, and mountainous sunny slope grasslands, specializing in underground life, fond of eating the underground stems and shoots of bamboo, and also consuming other plants, can be said to be the natural enemy of bamboo forests.

  "Dad, there's a bamboo rat."

  Song Wen looked over and called out to Song Yuanshui who was digging bamboo shoots beside him.

  "It's nothing, don't make a fuss." Song Yuanshui said nonchalantly.

  "Why don't you catch them? These things are eating bamboo shoots and destroying the bamboo forest."

  "How come I didn't catch any? I even bought over a dozen mouse traps specifically to catch the bamboo rats, but these things are too cunning. Last time was the last straw, and now there's no way to catch them, so it has to be like this." Song Yuanshui said with a helpless expression.

  "Didn't put rat poison?"

  "Can that stuff be placed casually? There are many wild animals on this mountain, pheasants, sparrows, wild boars, rabbits and hares. If rat poison is put out, it will kill a lot of things. It can't be placed randomly." Song Yuanshui scolded Song Wen with a stern face, fearing that one day the child would really put out rat poison.

  Song Wen thought for a moment, nodded and said that it was indeed the case. Putting down rat poison would not only fail to kill the bamboo rats, but also end up poisoning the wild animals in the mountains, which would be terrible. It would truly be "I didn't kill Bo Ren, yet Bo Ren died because of me."

  It can't go on like this, letting these bamboo rats continue to wreak havoc, and it's unknown how many bamboo shoots will be lost in a year, something must be done.

  With Song Wen's help, the speed of digging bamboo shoots has increased significantly.

  Before, Song Yuanshui could only dig a small piece of bamboo shoots by himself. Now, in just a short while, he has already dug up to the second piece, and even dug out many more bamboo shoots than before. A snake skin bag was already full, and he had changed it three times. The bags filled with bamboo shoots were placed on the path in the forest, waiting for him to come back and pick them up later, so as not to get tired. Besides, there's no need to worry about anyone taking them in these mountains.

  The sky gradually brightened, and the sunlight penetrated through the dense foliage, shooting into the forest, like sparks jumping out of the darkness, so dazzling.

  Song Wen picked up the hoe and gently turned over the soil surface, so as not to hurt the bamboo shoots underneath with too much force.

  Suddenly, he saw a hole beside him and thought it was a bamboo rat hole, so he bent down to see if there were any bamboo rats inside.

  Just then, a huge black snake suddenly rushed out of the cave, its bloody mouth wide open, and bit towards him.

  He took one look and was shocked pale, hastily dodging aside.

  The snake didn't continue to pounce, but stood upright, lying at the entrance of the hole, hissing and spitting, warning him not to come over. It seemed that at least half of its body was still in the hole.

  Song Wende took a closer look and found that it was a non-venomous black wind snake (also known as a black-tailed snake), thinking to himself, "What a great stroke of luck!"

  Seeing the dark and menacing appearance of the snake, Song Wen quickly picked up a hoe and pressed its head down heavily. Then, he grabbed it with his hand and pulled it out of the hole. Upon pulling it out, he saw that it was almost two meters long and incredibly fat, just right for taking back to cook for dinner. Glancing around, he found that his father was still digging bamboo shoots nearby, unaware of the commotion on this side. Hurriedly, Song Wen wrapped the snake into a bundle and threw it into his fan, planning to deal with it at noon and make a delicious braised snake dish, or maybe catch a small hen to stew together to nourish his body.

  "Awen, what's wrong." Song Yuanshui asked as he saw Song Wen standing still on the other side.

  "There was a snake, but I chased it away."

  "Be careful, there are many snakes here, especially the green bamboo viper and the pit viper. However, after this month, when it gets cold, those snakes will probably hide in their holes and we won't see them again."

  Song Wen didn't quite believe it. In Nanzhou, the weather was hot and cold spells only lasted two or three days at most. Sometimes in December, he had even seen snakes coming out to move around.

  Two people walked and dug, dug and walked, by the time the sun was high, they had almost finished digging the second bamboo forest. At this speed, in the future, they won't have to work so hard every day to dig shoots, just a few days of digging once will be enough.

  After digging up the second bamboo shoot, the two of them hurried back.

  Suddenly, Song Wen saw a bamboo forest near the mountain edge that seemed to have been turned over by something. The ground was covered with fallen bamboo shoots and branches, all in disarray, and he couldn't help but walk over.

  As I walked over to take a look, the bamboo shoots of all sizes in the bamboo forest were all dug up and scattered on the ground. Some had been eaten, while others had only been bitten into once or twice before being discarded nearby.

  Song Yuanshui walked over, picked up the bamboo shoots on the ground with a heartache, and planned to take them back to cook for himself.

  "Dad, who did this?" Song Wen angrily asked.

  He was furious when he saw his own bamboo forest being messed up.

  "It's a wild boar!" Song Yuanshui said helplessly.

  "Wild boar?" Song Wen heard this and furrowed his brow.

  "Hmm, now the environment has improved, and there are more wild animals in the mountains. Since there's nothing to eat inside, they come out to harm the crops. We're still okay, but a neighboring village had an entire field of sweet potatoes dug up by wild boars. The sweet potatoes were only this big and were ruined, it's really a pity." Song Yuanshui said, comparing with his thumb.

  "Doesn't anyone catch it?"

  "How to catch, those wild boars are so ferocious and run fast. If you chase them, they dare to fight with you to the death. The sweet potatoes from the neighboring village were trampled by a wild boar while chasing after it, and he was bedridden for over a month."

  Song Wen frowned upon hearing this, these wild boars have become bandits. Looking at the bamboo forest that had been ravaged by the wild boars, he secretly made up his mind to deal with them properly.

  After tidying up, the two of them refilled the earth that had been dug up and then carried the bamboo shoots back home.