Chapter 372 Rat Meat and Mouse Traps

After dinner,

The neighbors in the courtyard began to sort out their harvests.
Then the family would take their day's harvest to the supply and marketing cooperative to exchange for small commodities. When they came back, each household would bring back some mousetraps.
Then, while setting mousetraps in front of and behind the house, he laughed and talked about the various experiences he had in the supply and marketing cooperative.

"My goodness, I just saw several large buckets of flies and mosquitoes at the supply and marketing cooperative.

I'm afraid it weighs more than 100 kilograms.

We neighbors are really active. We have killed so many flies and mosquitoes. I thought they were just rats and sparrows like us. "

“I saw it, too.

Seeing the dense flies and mosquitoes in the bucket, I felt my scalp tingling and got goose bumps.

I don't know who killed him.
Can we learn it? Maybe we can get a lot of things in return."

"Haha, let's ask around. He's from our alley anyway, so he'll definitely be able to find out. Then we can go and ask for advice together."

I heard they were looking for someone to teach them how to get rid of flies and mosquitoes.

Yan Bugui, who was also setting a mousetrap in front of his house, said with a smile,

"Come on, come on, there's nothing to learn about mosquitoes and flies. If you want to learn something, learn how to catch mice and kill sparrows. That's more valuable.
You went too late to see it.

When I went there, I saw a truck from the street office coming to transport some goods. I took a look and saw that it was full of dead rats. I almost vomited when I saw it. "

"Old Yan, are there really that many? We would have to get so many rat tails and exchange them for so many things."

"Of course, I can't lie to you.
If you don’t believe me, go ask Lao Wu and the others next door; they just saw it, too.”

When the neighbors heard Yan Bugui say there were eyewitnesses, they all believed he was telling the truth and were about to say something.
At this time, someone asked,

"Hey, Old Yan, you just said that there was a truckload of dead rats. That's a lot of meat. What do you think the higher-ups are going to do with it?"

When most of the neighbors heard this question, they were used to it, but Yan Bugui felt a little disgusted.
"I said you can do it.

Even if we are short of meat, we don’t have to resort to eating dead rats. They are full of diseases and can kill people.”

Seeing Yan Bugui's disgusted expression, the neighbors all laughed nonchalantly.

"Old Yan, not everyone is like you, who grew up in the city, had a family business, and didn't have to live a hard life.

Before liberation, we had nothing to eat in the countryside, so we ate everything.
These rats may look disgusting to you, but to us they are meat, a rare and delicious thing.

Even though life is better now and we have enough food to eat, we still have to eat when it’s time to eat.”

"Old Yan, your family's life may not be as good as Zhuzi, Old Yi, Old Liu's, but it is still among the best in the Siheyuan.

They simply cannot understand the thoughts of those of us who are lucky enough to move from the countryside to the city to work as workers.

Between eating to death and starving to death, I will definitely be the one who dies of fullness.

We ate a lot of rats back then.”

Just as they were discussing the mouse, He Yuzhu took his son's hand and came to the front yard.

"Zhu Zi, you are a leader.

Tell us how the higher-ups will deal with the dead rats they collect." "Yes, yes, yes, Zhuzi, tell us, will the higher-ups sell the rat meat?"

When he heard them asking about rat meat, He Yuzhu felt nauseous and confused at the same time. He had no idea why they were asking about this.
After a while, he calmed down and asked,

"Uncle Wang, Uncle Ma, what are you talking about? Selling rat meat?"

Hearing He Yuzhu's question, the neighbors smiled and talked about what had just happened. After that, they looked at He Yuzhu straight, waiting for his answer.

After understanding the cause and effect, He Yuzhu also started to talk about it.

"What's there to say?

If sparrows and the like are barely edible, then mice covered in bacteria are totally out of the question.

Even if someone from above suggested using rat meat to make up for the current meat shortage, the comrades in the health department would push it back.
It is even more impossible for the senior leaders above to agree.

After all, eating rat meat can be fatal if you are not careful.

So after the street office collected these little things, they would dig a hole and bury them, and it was impossible for ordinary people to buy rat meat at the supply and marketing cooperatives.

Of course, if you see this thing on the black market, you can report it to the police station or the street office.

I think the newly established joint defense team will definitely be very interested.”

When the neighbors heard He Yuzhu say that for the sake of the people's health, the authorities would not sell rat meat in the supply and marketing cooperatives, they felt a little regretful.

But when they heard him mention the black market, the neighbors were a little excited and thought about going to the black market tonight to take a look.
As for whether eating rat meat would kill people, it was not something they considered at all.

It’s not like I haven’t eaten it before.

Seeing the neighbors' puzzled expressions after he finished speaking, He Yuzhu didn't pay much attention to them. He was currently looking at the mousetraps all over the yard with a puzzled look.
"Uncle Yan, it's no problem for you to catch mice, but are there too many mousetraps?

Haven't we cleared out all the rats in our courtyard?"

Just after I asked the question, I heard Yan Bugui say,

"Zhu Zi, what you said is wrong. There is no way to completely eliminate rats. If it were that easy, they would have been extinct long ago.
Besides, it has already been replaced, so it is useless at home, so why not put it in the yard?"

"Of course we don't want to change the pillars. We also want to change the matches and candles.

But the supply and marketing cooperative insisted on replacing so many mousetraps for us. If we don’t use them, it will go to waste. What if we catch a mouse?”

After hearing what they said, He Yuzhu looked down at his son and gave them some advice.

"I told you that you can't do this.
There are so many mousetraps in the yard. What if they hurt the children?
Second, what's the point of putting these mousetraps in the yard? It would be more appropriate to put them in the public toilet.
There are so many rats in the cesspool!"

When the neighbors heard He Yuzhu mention the manure pit, they remembered the squeaking sounds of mice in the manure pit when they got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet. Their eyes suddenly lit up and they thought his suggestion was a good one.
Then he prepared to put away the mousetrap and move to the public toilet outside.

Once one person took action, the others followed suit and began to move the mousetraps.
But the mousetrap has a characteristic of being sensitive.
It's easy to install and set up, but it's not so easy when it comes time to take it away.

Just now, a neighbor was accidentally caught by a mousetrap when he was dismantling it. Fortunately, it was only used to catch mice, so the force was not very strong.
If this happened to someone hunting pigs or bears in the mountains, his bones would definitely be broken.

Seeing the neighbors grimacing in pain, He Yuzhu took the opportunity to point at them and educate his son.

(End of this chapter)