Chapter 63: Raiding the Field Rat Nests—A Clean Sweep!

Huang Dalian looked shocked. “Of course I want that! I dream about it! But it’s just not possible with the little food we have!”

Ming Dai glanced outside, where only Zhou Sinian and Liu Guoqiang—who was too intimidated by Zhou Sinian to move—were present. Lowering her voice, she said, “Zhou Sinian and I found a lot of rat nests in the mountains. They’re filled with grain and nuts!”

Huang Dalian stared at her in surprise. “How did you even find them? Rats are sneaky when they dig their holes!”

Ming Dai had already thought of an explanation. She blinked her big eyes innocently and said, “I didn’t find them—Zhou Sinian did.”

Huang Dalian suddenly understood. “Oh, him? That makes sense. Before, some sneaky people tried to hide things from the madman, but whenever he went looking, he always found them. Never missed once.”

Ming Dai was speechless. What kind of people were these?

She quickly pulled the conversation back on track. “Exactly! He’s incredibly accurate, and there’s quite a lot of food inside those nests. If we can get it, it’ll help stretch our supplies, right? Everyone’s been eating thin porridge every day. How can they keep working like this?”

Huang Dalian nodded in agreement. “You’re right! You wouldn’t believe it, but every year, people from my family come here to work, and when they go back, they have to spend the whole winter recovering. Sometimes, they don’t even make it through.”

At that moment, she suddenly slapped her thigh in excitement.

“That’s it! There’s not just grain—those rats are meat, too! If we get some, we can help everyone build their strength back up!”

Ming Dai’s smile froze. “Sister Dalian… rats… are edible?!”

Huang Dalian burst into laughter at her expression. “You don’t know this, do you? Not all rats are the same! The ones you found are field rats, and they’re safe to eat—no poison on them. There’s a farmland near here, belongs to Xiakua Village. Otherwise, where do you think those rats got all that grain from? Don’t worry, when we work in the fields, we sometimes catch the fat ones and take them home to stew. They taste amazing—just like chicken!”

Ming Dai suddenly realized—oh right, there wasn’t that much food in the mountains.

Huang Dalian was a little excited. In these times, people were so starved that they wouldn’t dare to take a single grain of rice from the communal fields, yet the rats had the audacity to steal enough to feed an entire family. Where was the justice in that?

They had to catch them!

Ming Dai was still hesitant. In her mind, rats were nothing more than moving reservoirs of bacteria. The only ones she had ever encountered were white lab mice and the occasional giant black rat scurrying through the sewers.

But when she thought about the rats she had seen in the mountains, they were completely different from the sewer rats in her memory. The contrast was significant enough that she felt she could give it a try. After all, the locals’ survival experience was the most reliable.

“Alright! Sister Dalian, let’s go this afternoon. We should ask Accountant Liu to come along.”

Huang Dalian nodded enthusiastically. “I think that’s a great idea!”

With that settled, Ming Dai found herself looking forward to the rat-hunting expedition even more.

It wasn’t about the food for her—she simply enjoyed the thrill of treasure hunting.

In her past life, she had loved venturing into the mountains to gather herbs, catching fish in the rivers, and even going to the sea when she had the chance. It was never about how much she could bring back; it was about enjoying the process.

Even when she couldn’t go, she would watch videos of mountain foraging and sea expeditions just to satisfy her cravings for adventure.

Huang Dalian pressed down the fire in the stove and watched as Zhou Sinian was called away by Ming Dai to stack firewood. Then, she went outside to find Liu Guoqiang, who had just escaped another round of forced labor, and explained the plan to him.

Liu Guoqiang was still young, and he was fascinated by this kind of activity. When he heard the news, he was overjoyed. “Sister Dalian, are you serious?!”

Huang Dalian chuckled at his reaction. Young people were always so eager. “Xiao Ming said so. How could it be fake? Free up your afternoon—we’re taking you to dig out rat nests!”

Liu Guoqiang grinned from ear to ear and eagerly agreed.

Ming Dai was also busy persuading Zhou Sinian, trying to get him to cover for them and lead the team to dig out the rat nests.

Seizing the opportunity, Zhou Sinian made a request—he wanted to eat lamb again. The taste of the mutton soup from last time still lingered in his mind, and he couldn’t wait for the lambs to grow up and reproduce. He wanted to eat it now!

Ming Dai thought for a moment. There was still a large leg of lamb in her space, a reward from the village last time. She was also craving roasted lamb, so she nodded in agreement.

The bell signaling the end of work rang, and by then, Ming Dai had already prepared hot ginger tea.

As always, each person received a portion of hot ginger tea while standing in line. Then, the villagers saw a large basin of pickled radish and another filled with dry rice, their excitement growing.

Even at home, they weren’t always able to eat dry rice!

Though it was still mixed-grain rice, at least it wasn’t porridge. Usually, they could only enjoy a bowl of dry rice during the peak of the farming season.

After the meal, the four of them worked together, quickly cleaning up before rushing up the mountain.

Once they reached the spot, Ming Dai signaled with her eyes. Zhou Sinian took the lead in digging, Liu Guoqiang stood ready with a shovel, and Huang Dalian held a sack, preparing to block any escape routes.

With his strength and keen sense of direction, Zhou Sinian quickly located the burrow. A few shovels in, and he had already broken through, startling the field rats inside and sending them scurrying in all directions.

Without hesitation, Zhou Sinian swung his shovel, striking down the large field rats as they dashed out. Within moments, several of them lay lifeless on the ground. Liu Guoqiang and Huang Dalian didn’t even get a chance to help.

Huang Dalian chuckled as she held up a fat rat with its head smashed in. “Just look at it! You can tell it’s been stealing a lot of food. It’s almost as plump as a bamboo rat!”

Bamboo rat?

Ming Dai’s eyes lit up. She had never eaten field rat before, but she had eaten bamboo rat!

It was unbelievably delicious!

She had to ask about this later!

After gathering the dead field rats in one place, the four of them began taking stock of the stolen goods.

Peanuts, soybeans, wheat ears, sweet potato tubers, and various nuts—there was a mix of everything. In total, they had dug out over ten catties!

Huang Dalian gritted her teeth in anger, especially when she saw the perfectly good grain gnawed and scattered everywhere. It was heartbreaking.

“Damn beasts! Let’s see how I wipe out your whole family!”

With that, she mercilessly crushed the tiny pink baby rats in the nest.

Ming Dai found it disgusting, but she completely understood the hatred that farmers had for these grain-stealing pests.

“Alright, let’s move on to the next spot. Zhou Sinian said there are plenty of rat nests on this mountainside!”

Huang Dalian’s face lit up instantly. “Great, great! Let’s keep going!”

And so, the four of them launched into full-on rat extermination mode, combing through the entire mountainside and leaving no burrow untouched.

At first, Zhou Sinian needed Ming Dai to point out the precise locations of the rat holes. But as time went on, he was able to pinpoint them himself with remarkable accuracy, matching Ming Dai’s speed. This made her once again question what exactly he used to do in the past.

By the end of the afternoon, the four of them had dug out 44 rat nests and recovered nearly 300 catties of grain!

(Author’s note: This was personally experienced. When I was a child, my uncle took me around different villages to dig up rat nests in the fields. The amount of stored grain inside was truly astonishing, though we usually didn’t eat it ourselves—we fed it to the chickens at home.)

Aside from Zhou Sinian, the other three were completely exhausted.

But as they looked at the two full sacks of grain, they felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction.

With this much food, they finally had hope for eating real meals again!

Glancing at the sky, Ming Dai waved her hand. “Time to head down the mountain!”

Zhou Sinian, still not satisfied, felt that this field rat digging game was worth playing again.

In high spirits, he hoisted the two heavy sacks of grain onto his shoulder and started walking. The other three grabbed long strings of rat tails and jogged after him.

Not long after, the workers at the reservoir construction site saw a grinning lunatic in a red headscarf, striding confidently toward the shanty area with a massive sack slung over one shoulder.

Behind him, three others were jogging along, each carrying something in both hands.

The villagers from Liujiawan quickly recognized them—it was their own educated youth, Xiao Ming, along with Huang Dalian and Accountant Liu.

But when they saw what they were holding, they were completely stunned!

My goodness! Field rats! Big, fat field rats!

Each person was carrying at least twenty or thirty of them! That meant the three of them had… how many?!

Jackpot!

The villagers of Liujiawan exchanged glances and immediately doubled their efforts at work, hoping to finish early and rush home for dinner.

The older educated youths were just as excited, while the newer ones looked completely bewildered, having no idea what was going on.

Meanwhile, people from the other villages were in an uproar!

They recognized the man in front as the lunatic, so they naturally guessed that the ones following him were from Liujiawan.

But where on earth had the Liujiawan folks found so many field rats?!

And more importantly, how much grain had they dug up along with them?!

No way—they had to go see for themselves!