Chapter 54: The Golden Beetle

Arriving home, they stepped into the courtyard.

Scattered all over the ground were chicken feathers, stained with patches of blood.

Unfolded right before their eyes.

Something had happened to the family's chickens!

Wang Susu hurriedly took a headcount and discovered that one laying hen was missing, along with a dozen or so chicks, while the rest were huddled together in the corner of the coop, shivering.

Upon seeing the two of them approach, the chicks let out panicked, helpless chirps, clearly deeply terrified.

The two small puppies sniffed the lingering scent in the air and broke into continuous barking.

"Damn it, this is definitely the work of a weasel."

Chen Ling's face turned gloomy. "First it wreaked havoc at Qin Dongmei's place, then at Second Aunt Wang's, and now it's come to our house."

"It must have seen that neither we nor the dogs were home and took advantage of the opening to sneak in and steal our chickens."

Early this morning, the two of them had gone up the mountain without breakfast, gathering herbs and digging up bamboo shoots. They had expected a fruitful and happy trip, only to return home to this disaster.

It was truly difficult for the two of them to remain cheerful anymore.

"A-Ling, the big rooster is gone too."

Wang Susu searched inside and out, finding that even the brightly feathered, majestic, and sturdy rooster was missing.

Without a doubt, it had also fallen victim to the weasel.

For a moment, she felt both angry and heartbroken. "This chicken thief, we never did anything to them. Why do they have to come and steal our chickens?"

They had raised the big rooster and laying hens for over a year, reluctant to even eat them during the Lunar New Year, only for them to be ruined by a weasel.

Anyone in her position would find it hard to stomach.

Seeing his wife's eyes turn red with anger, Chen Ling gritted his teeth and said, "This yellow-furred beast has plagued several households around here lately, and it's bound to come back. I'm going over to Crippled Cui's grocery store right now to buy some rat poison and kill those bastards."

"Will rat poison work?" Wang Susu asked doubtfully.

Chen Ling replied with certainty, "It has to work. You go ahead and start the porridge, I'll be right back."

...

After a while, Chen Ling returned not only with rat poison, but also with a small piece of fresh meat.

The fresh meat was soaked in the mystical stream water, then cut into several pieces.

Each piece was thoroughly coated with rat poison, then either placed on the walls surrounding the chicken coop or hung from a nearby tree with a string.

By this time, the two puppies had caught the scent and trotted over, barking and circling the pieces of meat, drooling with greed.

"All right, move along now. This isn't for you to eat."

Chen Ling shooed the two puppies away, then caught the chicks, put them into a bamboo basket, and carried them inside the house.

He then covered the coop of the remaining two laying hens with wire mesh.

Only then did he sit down to eat breakfast.

"Will this work? Should we set a couple of traps instead?"

Wang Susu felt that Chen Ling's arrangement was too simple—just a few pieces of meat laced with rat poison. Given how cunning weasels were, would they really fall for it?

"Don't worry, it'll definitely work."

"As long as they dare to come back, these few pieces of meat will be enough to ensure they never leave." Chen Ling took a sip of porridge and said with full confidence.

Hearing this, Wang Susu asked, "Then are you still going to the county town today?"

Originally, Chen Ling had planned to go to the county town today to sell the herbs and order a batch of fruit tree saplings to bring back.

Who would have guessed that the household would be struck by a weasel, instantly ruining his mood.

"No, I'm not going. Until I poison those two yellow-furred beasts to death, I won't be able to get this grievance out of my chest."

Actually, he was also worried that if the meat soaked in the mystical stream water attracted something else, Wang Susu wouldn't be able to handle it at home.

After all, that mystical stream water had a tremendous attraction for both animals and plants.

Even the leftover water from cooking porridge with the stream water, when poured into the crabapple flowerbed, had made the plants grow much more luxuriantly than last year. Not only was the fragrance stronger, but the blossoms were also fatter and fuller.

They bloomed across almost half the courtyard, attracting bees and butterflies to flutter all over the place every single day.

Chen Ling even suspected that the weasel had already discovered the special nature of his courtyard.

Otherwise, why would it have only bitten Qin Dongmei's and old Mrs. Wang's chickens to death, but directly started eating them when it came to his house?

Most likely, it had sensed that his chickens tasted better.

To make his laying hens lay eggs properly and the chicks grow faster, every time Chen Ling fed them, he would chop up peanut vines and spinach from the mystical space, mixing them with cornmeal or bran.

How could ordinary chickens compare to chickens like these?

Once the weasel tasted it, it was only a normal reaction for it to gobble them up directly.

After breakfast, Chen Ling sorted out the herbs that needed drying, placed them in bamboo flat-baskets, and took out the remaining unsold herbs from last year, laying them out one by one in the courtyard to dry.

He planned to sell them all together when he went to the county town.

"Uncle Fugui, are you home..."

At that moment, a few little heads poked in through the doorway.

Chen Ling looked over and saw Little Six, along with Xizi and the little boy from Chen Yuqiang's family in the front yard.

Chen Yuqiang was Chen Guoping's youngest son. Although he was over thirty, his generation rank was lower, so he still had to call Chen Ling Uncle Fugui.

However, his child was still young—two years younger than Little Six—and didn't quite understand generation ranks yet. Originally supposed to call Chen Ling Great-Uncle, the child always followed Little Six in calling him Uncle Fugui.

Chen Ling simply let him be.

"You kids, coming to look at the calf again?"

Chen Ling smiled, stood up, and waved, saying, "Come on in."

Ever since the little buffalo calf had been led back, because of its snowy-white coat and cute, naive appearance, it had quickly become the new favorite of the little tots.

As for Blackie and Little Gold, they had grown rapidly and long since lost the plump, cute appearance of chubby little puppies, causing the toddlers to lose interest in them.

"No, we came to feed the chickens."

Little Six and the other two walked into the courtyard, each carrying a wine bottle in their hand.

Chen Ling looked closely and exclaimed, "Well now, where did you catch so many beetles?"

The wine bottles were crawling with golden and black chafers.

"Hehe, we caught them in the fields..."

Little Six lifted her bottle and held it out to Chen Ling. "Look, Uncle Fugui, if the chickens eat these, they'll lay a lot more eggs."

Chen Ling took the wine bottle and looked inside, seeing beetles crawling back and forth along the smooth glass walls, plump and round. Insects like this were rich in protein, and if laying hens ate them, they would indeed lay eggs more diligently.

"Why didn't you take them back to feed your own chickens?"

"Our chickens don't lack these; I can catch plenty every day on my way home from school."

Little Six sniffled. "Xizi's bottle is full of dark chafers, which are for her grandpa's chickens, but Little Sen and my beetles are for your chickens, Uncle Fugui."

The dark chafers were black beetles, scientifically known as Holotrichia parallela, nicknamed "Black Old Packs" because of their pitch-black bodies.

The little girl's face flushed slightly as she said, "Uncle Fugui, I'll definitely bring you some bugs next Sunday after I catch them."

Chen Ling patted the little girl's head and smiled warmly. "No need. A weasel raided our house this morning, and there aren't many chickens left anyway. Take them back and feed them to your grandpa's chickens."

"Ah? A weasel? Isn't that the Great Immortal Huang?"

The expressions of the three little tots changed; clearly, influenced by the adults, they had heard the legends related to the Great Immortal Huang.

"There's nothing to be afraid of when it comes to weasels. Actually, these creatures can be considered beneficial animals—they're experts at catching mice. It's just that they hold grudges and have a strong sense of revenge, which is why people are afraid to mess with them."

"In fact, as long as you have dogs at home, weasels generally don't dare to come knocking," Chen Ling explained to the children.

"Is that really true?"

"But I heard my grandpa say that someone in Jinmen Village beat a Great Immortal Huang to death, roasted it, and ate it, and in less than half a month, retribution caught up to him and he died right at his own doorstep."

Chen Yuqiang's son, Little Sen, said with a tight little face.