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The mountain at the back was bustling with activity, a white pony accompanied by the laughter of several children attracted all the children playing elsewhere, including some adults. In the middle, a group of children led by the two boys from the village head’s family were riding horses.
When Li Feng was first renovating the back mountain, he also considered the issue of raising horses, so he left a relatively flat path for horse racing. Although the place is not too big, it is better than being confined in the backyard of their home.
Even though Li Chengzu and Li Chengzong were more informed about the county, they still liked the little horse named Tayun very much and ran happily on the mountain path while leading the little horse.
Li Chengzong leaned on his brother’s shoulder and said with a smile, “What a pity! I still want to ride Jingfeng, that horse is really majestic. But Jingfeng only listens to Brother Afeng.”
Li Chengzu looked at his lazy brother unhappily and poked his forehead with his finger: “Don’t you think about the origin of that horse? How could it be easily ridden by others? Tsk tsk, I didn’t expect that Brother Feng is not a simple soldier. Even my father and the others don’t know how powerful Jingfeng is, that horse is worth more than the entire mountain behind this.”
Before, the two brothers had heard their father complain about big brother Li Feng squandering money, but after seeing Jing Feng, the two brothers secretly laughed at their father for not knowing the value of things. However, now their father often praises Ming Amo at home, and of course they also think Ming Amo is amazing.
”That’s right, but since we can’t ride Jingfeng, it would be nice to wait for Tayun to grow up and ride him.” Li Chengzong was also open-minded. After a while, he jumped up and ran after the pony.
Li Chengzu, who was behind him, shook his head, he caught up with Tang Chunrong who was watching little A-Lin in front and talked to him. He glanced at a child from the Zhao family not far away, Zhao Dong, who used to be a big fat boy but now a little smaller. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t like this kid who always liked to bully other children when he was in the village.
Tang Chunming had left a piece of land that had not been cleared. After everything was done, Tang Chunming asked Li Feng to call the man who had been helping him to do one thing, which was to prepare winter feed for dozens of sheep. In fact, with the space, he didn’t have to worry about the sheep at home having no feed to eat, but with more sheep, more people would pay attention to them. How could others not be doubtful, if he kept taking out the green fodder?
There is a way to solve the problem, that is silage, which is actually sealing and fermenting green fodder for use in winter. Moreover, silage is also nutritious for livestock and is no worse than the fodder of the season. If others can learn and use it to expand the scale of livestock breeding, it would be a good thing.
He doesn’t mind spreading it after the analysis is successful, which will also make his breeding method less conspicuous and attract less attention.
”Ming Ge’er, is this really going to work?” Li Feng memorized the steps Ming Ge’er told him one by one. Long before, Ming Ge’er had him open up a few pieces of land at the foot of the mountain to grow bean crops, the crops were just blooming and forming pods at this time, and Ming Ge’er wanted to use them all as feed.
”I don’t know if it will work, but if it does, then our sheep won’t have to worry about food in winter. We have to give it a try, right?” Tang Chunming has seen others do this, but he has not tried it himself, so he doesn’t know if it will succeed.
But as long as the method is right, he believes he can test it out, because the silage method is not difficult and can be considered simple and easy to operate, but it is a bit hard work and the silage has to be harvested and stored on the same day.
”Yeah.” Li Feng saw further than Tang Chunming. Tang Chunming only saw the prospects of livestock breeding, but Li Feng saw the war with the northern barbarians in the north. Whenever the Daqing Dynasty fought with the northern barbarians, it always suffered a great loss in cavalry.
The root cause was that the Daqing Dynasty did not have good horses or there were not many good horses, and it was difficult to tame them. He didn’t know whether solving the feed problem would have any impact on the domestication of horses.
Old He was also very interested in this matter, and handed little Asen to Wang Ying, who came to help after finishing his work at home. He followed out with his hands behind his back, greeting the villagers from time to time. Now everyone knows that he is a doctor with the same medical skills as Huang Lang, and the villagers respect such a person very much.
Moreover, Li Feng had said early on that this was his benefactor, and most people knew how to repay a favor, so they were all kind to such a doctor.
Everyone helped to quickly harvest the peanut field, gathering the peanut seedlings and also harvesting bean seedlings and the grass that sheep like to eat together, and choosing a place to store them next to the sheep pen. When Li Feng and Tang Chunming arrived, Uncle Da and his team had already dug a square deep pit as agreed.
The village head was also watching with his hands behind his back, when he saw them coming, he waved and asked them to come over: “Now that the pit is dug, what are we going to do next?”
”Where is the oilcloth? Spread the oilcloth and make sure it is airtight.” In modern times, airtight films are used, so oilcloth is the only option here. However, the seam of the oilcloth is also a problem, so Tang Chunming is not very confident that the experiments can be successful.
“And all the green fodder will be chopped up with a scalp.” The first experiment used oilcloth and the area was not large. If it is feasible, a special silage kiln can be built tomorrow.
The soil in the pit was trampled and flattened, hearing what Tang Chunming said, Uncle Da and Uncle Liu’s son immediately jumped down to spread the oilcloth. Li Feng followed them down and helped, others started chopping green fodder nearby.
Li Feng knew that the oilcloth that Ming Ge had instructed had to be laid out properly to prevent air from blowing through it, so he was not afraid of wasting some oilcloth, and therefore laid two layers firmly before stopping. The fresh, moist grains that had been chopped over there were thrown into the pit under Tang Chunming’s instructions.
The people in the pit stepped on the soil with their feet, while Tang Chunming checked the humidity in the pit from above. If it was too dry, he would have people sprinkle some water in.
Layer by layer, several people who had been stepping on the pit gradually came up, until finally all the green fodder was chopped and stepped on firmly. Tang Chunming asked someone to come up and turn over the oilcloth to wrap it, making sure that all the fodder was wrapped tightly. Then they covered it with soil to seal it completely. After a month, they could open it to see if the method worked.
Several people who had stepped into the pit were sweating, it seemed that they only needed to repeat a few simple actions, but it took a lot of energy. The people who were chopping the feed were even more tired. They worked non-stop, and their hands were sore when they stopped, someone nearby prepared some water and brought it to them to drink. Old He and the village head also sat nearby and chatted.
In the past, what did livestock eat in winter? It was the hay that had been dried earlier, but no one had thought of other ways. Often in winter, families with many livestock would sell some of them to reduce the number and the burden of winter feeding.
The village head even brought out his dry tobacco, took a puff of it and laughed, “We are all following Ming Ge’er’s lead and making a fool of ourselves, Doctor He don’t laugh at us.”
”No, it would be a good thing if it succeeds, the village head must be looking forward to it.” Old He stroked his beard and smiled.
The head of the village laughed out loud, of course, he hoped to succeed.
Tang Chunming took a sip of water and said to everyone, “Everyone who came to help today will be paid an extra fifty cents per person. It will be recorded in the account first and settled together at the end of the month.” The people who helped grinned when they heard this.
Now they knew that Ming Ge’er was a generous person, and they did not politely refuse. This was Ming Ge’er’s kindness, and they only needed to do their best when working to repay Ming Ge’er and Feng Xiaozi.
After the autumn harvest, the village was filled with joy. Even when people from the government came to the village to collect taxes, they could not stop the joy in their hearts. This was a rare year of bumper harvest, and the bumper harvest from Tang Chunming’s side made them even happier.
Just thinking that by using Tang Chunming’s seeds next year, they could increase the output of their land by half to double, and the family could add a lot of income.
All the grains of Tang Chunming’s family were stored in the warehouse, including the grains harvested from Li Feng’s fields, which were also directly transported to his home. Except for a few jealous people, other families in the village took it for granted.
Didn’t they see that Feng Xiaozi himself didn’t even open the fire? If the grains were not transported, would they be transported to someone else’s house?
As for the taxes, Tang Chunming simply used silver instead and kept the grain to himself. The grain he and Li Feng grew was much better than the grain outside, and paying taxes would not reduce the tax because of its quality, so he simply paid the tax silver for both his and Li Feng’s families and was done with it.
Tang Chunming had not yet figured out what to do with the grain that had been stored in the warehouse, but someone had already arrived.
Tang Chunming was speechless as he looked at Teng Yu, who was standing in his yard with a smile, and the shopkeeper Qi who came with him. He had nothing to say about the requests made by these two people, as they were specifically targeting their things.
”Tang Fulang, you won’t chase us out, will you? We came here with great sincerity.” Teng Yu smiled and bowed to Tang Chunming.
Li Feng came over and put his hand on Tang Chunming’s shoulder and pushed him inside, saying to the two of them, “Come in and discuss anything.”
”Okay, thank you, Brother Li Feng.” Teng Yu said readily.
Wang Ying was not at home today, Tang Chunming was taking care of the child by himself. He had just left the child behind when he entered the house and heard his cry, A Lin was playing with him.
Without the adults, the two brothers were having fun, A Lin gave away his first cloth tiger toy. He was reluctant to give it to others, but it was different for his younger brother. He was the older brother and should take care of and protect his younger brother.
He would think of his younger brother when it came to delicious and fun things. However, his mother said that his younger brother could not eat many things, so A Lin felt that his younger brother was pitiful and was more generous to him.
”Uncle Teng, Uncle Qi,” Alin called them sensibly.
”Good child.” Shopkeeper Qi said with a smile. Teng Yu knew how to win people’s hearts, so he gave out the snacks that the children liked.
Dr. He was not here today, he went into the mountains with Doctor Hu to collect herbs. Li Feng wanted to accompany them, but the two of them refused, saying that they would not go too deep into the mountains and would just walk around outside. However, even so, Li Feng still asked two men to accompany them.
After taking a sip of the tea poured by Li Feng, Teng Yu immediately said to Tang Chunming: “Tang Fulang, Brother Li Feng, I won’t waste any more words. I just want to know how much grain you can give me. Of course, I also know that Tang Fulang’s family doesn’t have much grain this year, so you have to save enough for consumption. The rest should be fine, you should be able to plant more next year.”
Tang Chunming rolled his eyes at him in annoyance: “You know that my family doesn’t have much grain, how can I still save seeds for next year.” Manager Qi and Xiao Shunzi often went to Pingshan Village.
After such a long time, they knew everything that had happened in their family. He only harvested more than 1,000 kilograms of wheat from his few acres of land. Li Feng had even less, although he still had some in his space, he would never take it out except for his own family.
Teng Yu laughed dryly twice but still bargained shamelessly, “Then give less, I’m using this for my consumption. This amount will not be enough in the restaurant.” Shopkeeper Qi’s face twitched.
He was still thinking about the restaurant and didn’t notice that Tang Fulang’s face had changed and he was about to fire him.
”You are really thoughtful.” Tang Chunming said gritting his teeth.
Li Feng came in again and brought some boiled peanuts cooked by Tang Chunming to entertain the guests. Before cooking, he would crack the shells of the peanuts, add salt and other seasonings to make the peanuts easy to absorb the flavor, and taste salty and delicious.
When Dr. He was free, he would call Doctor Hu to have a drink with him, and of course, he would also instruct Tang Chunming to stir-fry two more side dishes.
”This peanut is not bad.” Teng Yu’s eyes lit up after he peeled one and ate it.
”There are even fewer peanuts, only enough for our family to eat.” Tang Fulang immediately stated. He also took some to the oil mill to press oil. Eating animal oil frequently is not good for the body, especially since there is an elderly person at home, so Tang Chunming was even more concerned.
”Okay, I just want a few hundred kilograms of wheat and rice each, how about that?” Teng Yu also knew that he couldn’t ask for too much. The output of those few acres of land was only so high because of the high per-acre yield. Otherwise, ordinary people would have to rely on the money.
After some bargaining, they each gave 300 kilograms, although Teng Yu was not satisfied, he knew it was not good to ask for more. Tang Chunming had to keep enough seeds for his family’s consumption and he might give some to his relatives. It was estimated that the crops would run out before next year’s harvest.
Tang Chunming didn’t hold back and took advantage of him. The two of them took away 600 kilograms of grain and left 30 taels of silver. Seeing that half of the grain was missing from the granary, Tang Chunming felt that he was still too soft-hearted.
Li Feng went to the back mountain, Tang Chunming also wanted to go, but A Lin could take the little bastard out but he was too young to be taken out. He had to take care of the child at home and listen to A Lin and the little bastard talking.
The school has started, and Da Mao and Er Mao have gone to class. Suddenly, there are two less kids at home. Not only him, but even A Lin feels much lonelier, he whimsically points to the big characters he has written and begins to teach his younger brother how to read.
Zhang Xiu saw this scene when he came over, and couldn’t help laughing and said, “ALin is so good, he will definitely teach his brother when he grows up.”
”Well, my brother is going to take the examination for a scholar and a title of imperial examination in the future.” A Lin took it seriously and said it seriously to Zhang Xiu and his brother.
”Then Alin, you must study hard, after you have learned well, the little bastard will be left to you, to teach.” Tang Chunming patted Alin’s head and said.
”It’s younger brother, not little bastard.” Alin corrected.
Zhang Xiu chuckled and pointed at Tang Chunming and laughed: “I told you, not to call little Asen like this. Now even A-Lin is against you, if little Asen could speak, he would definitely protest.”
Little Asen didn’t know what the adults were talking about, but when he saw the adults surrounding him, he was very happy and shouted “ah ah” with saliva flowing out of his mouth.
Alin carefully took a handkerchief to wipe his saliva, the nanny said that he was also like this when he was very young, so he should not discriminate against his younger brother.
”Okay, I surrender. From now on I won’t call you little bastard anymore. Just call you Asen, okay?” Tang Chunming rolled his eyes helplessly, thinking that if he secretly called him that, no one would protest.
But soon the little bastard fell asleep, children of this age spend most of their time sleeping. After Asen fell asleep, Alin consciously went to practice calligraphy. Zhang Xiu was talking to Tang Chunming in the room.
”Everyone was busy before and no one told you, the Zhao family is really ridiculous this time. Only they can create so much trouble just by harvesting the land.”
Tang Chunming blinked his eyes, he hadn’t paid attention to the Zhao family’s affairs for a long time. He was too busy with having children, the autumn harvest and considering the arrangements for the back mountain he had no time to pay attention.
Suddenly he remembered Zhao Laosan’s engagement: “By the way, how is Zhao Laosan’s marriage going? Has the engagement with the Shen’s been cancelled? Has the engagement with the county’s chief clerk been settled?” Teng Yu and Manager Qi came over a few days ago and didn’t mention this matter.
He even forgot about it and didn’t ask them about the follow-up progress. You know, they were involved in this.
Zhang Xiu knew about Tang Chunming’s situation, he had just had some free time these past two days and told him about it. He just treated it as a joke and said, “Master Shen’s family finally agreed to withdraw, but the marriage of the county’s chief clerk’s family also fell through. I heard that the chief clerk was very angry when he found out about Zhao Laosan’s engagement and then withdrew. Before the Zhao family could come to explain anything, the news came out that his young man had been engaged to another family. He didn’t even admit to having mentioned this to Zhao Laosan before.”
Tang Chunming was not surprised by this result. Wasn’t Teng Yu’s intervention originally for this purpose? However, “Didn’t Zhao Laosan go to the county school? Since he couldn’t marry the chief clerk, I’m afraid he wouldn’t have a good time in the county school.”
The county school was an official school run by the county government. Only students who passed the examination to become a scholar could enroll there.
Zhang Xiu curled his lips and said, “Who cares if he has a good life or not? But I heard that there is some trouble in the Third Uncle of the Zhao family. It seems that the younger generation is dissatisfied with the Third Uncle’s behavior. Therefore, there is no one to help harvest the land in the Zhao family. Didn’t it rain a few days ago? Hehe, I think Granma Zhao’s must be heartbroken.”
Tang Chunming also looked up at the sky in silence, the crops in the field were caught in the rain before they were harvested. If they were not dried in time, wouldn’t the crops be waiting to mold or sprout? Tang Chunming could guess how busy the Zhao family was when he thought about it.
If he were to say, this was just taking advantage of other people all day long, expecting other people to help him harvest the fields without asking for wages. This was like a habit, others in the Zhao family could tolerate it once or twice, but who would tolerate them for a long time.
Tang Chunming was no longer interested in knowing about his family’s affairs, and Li Feng also told him about his plans for the two children.
Originally, he didn’t care about whether the two children’s surnames were included in the family tree, because he didn’t know much about this aspect of society, and his mind was still deeply rooted in the modern society.
He didn’t think about which side his son would follow in the future, but if he was determined to develop in this direction, he couldn’t stand in his way, so he was annoyed with the Zhao family’s actions, and he didn’t disagree with Li Feng’s decision.
It was also after Li Feng said that he secretly mentioned the possible purpose behind the Zhao family’s silence, that they were planning to block the two children from entering the family tree.
After learning about such sinister intentions, his impression of the third uncle of the Zhao family dropped again and again. In this matter, apart from the third uncle who gave the order, no one else mattered. He didn’t expect that at such an old age, he still had such a strong desire for control and would bother with a newborn baby.
If he was really plotted against by someone like the third uncle of the Zhao family, Tang Chunming would have thought of killing him. Everyone has a reverse scale, and Tang Chunming is no exception. Although he kept calling him a little bastard, he was very protective of him in his heart.
In his opinion, he was just an innocent child who had just come into this world. Like Alin, Tang Chunming never extended his feelings towards the Zhao family and Zhao Dahu to the innocent child. It is the elders who should guide and teach the child how he grows up.
If he grows up in the wrong way, it is his own business and he, as an elder, should teach him a lesson. But being plotted against like this is disgusting, they even wanted to use the child’s future to force him to bow his head, he is a narrow-minded old fool.
Knowing their sinister intentions, Tang Chunming was even more unwilling to have his two children involved with the Zhao family. He was just waiting to get married to Li Feng, and then immediately have his two children recorded in the Li family’s genealogy, so that he could give the old fool of the Zhao family a slap in the face. The more you try to scheme against me, the less I want you to get it.
This also accelerated his original plan to slowly get rich, he just wanted to live a more and more prosperous life to make people jealous. He just wanted other families to become rich and then abandon the Zhao family and let them fend for themselves, it would be better if they fell apart after the fuss, who said he didn’t hold grudges?
He deliberately wanted to make Uncle Liu’s family live better and better, to form a sharp contrast with the Zhao family and to disgust the old thief Zhao to death.
So let’s put the Zhao family aside for now and make the subsequent plans step by step.
He has not moved the sorghum harvested from the fields, and he has also planted some sorghum in the space. His plan for the second half of this year is to brew wine, and the second is to open a whole lamb restaurant.
The wine industry in this world has not yet developed to the level of distilled liquor, and he wants to take advantage of this loophole. Even in his previous life, he remembered that distilled liquor only became prosperous during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Shaodaozi and Erguotou were all distilled liquors.
In winemaking, the final distillation is the key, and there is another key point, which is the quality of the koji, which is related to the fermentation of grain in the winemaking process. He just happened to have mastered the method of making koji.
Thinking of the wine yeast recipes in his mind, Tang Chunming thought of his previous life, which were things left by his mother. He still remembered that his family made wine when he was a child, but after his mother passed away, his family never saw it again, which made many elderly people in the village regretful.
Tang Chunming also saw those wine-making tools in his own warehouse, but he thought like the villagers that only his mother knew these skills, and because his mother was gone, these skills were also lost. His father had been busy taking care of the contracted orchard, so Tang Chunming never thought about it.
It was not until his father handed those things to him before he died that Tang Chunming guessed what his father was thinking. He was afraid that he would be sad if he saw those things if he didn’t touch them. Although his mother died early, his father remembered them all his life.
Before he died, besides thinking about his grandson who was nowhere to be found, he kept talking about the process of making wine with his mother. This also brought back some memories of his mother which Tang Chunming had thrown into some corner long ago.
Dad had told him that it was an heirloom from his mother’s family, and that it must be passed down to his grandchildren and passed down from generation to generation. His grandparents only had one daughter, his mother, and it was his father who buried her in mourning.
They had a big fight with their relatives over this, so that Tang Chunming had eaten the least at his grandparents’ and uncle’s houses, even though he had eaten at many other families in the village since he was a child. But Dad said that he should take responsibility when his mother married him, and protect his own people, if he couldn’t do this, was he still a man?
The spirit of protecting one’s shortcomings is what Tang Chunming learned from his father, and perhaps also the character of preferring to break rather than bend. Even though things are slippery at times, he will never compromise or give in on the things he insists on.
At night, Li Feng went back to sleep, and Old He also went to sleep next door. Tang Chunming took care of A Lin and the little bastard alone. The little bastard was the most troublesome. He had to feed him and change his poop and pee at night. At first, he couldn’t adapt and was very angry, but every time his stepmother came, he would take the little bastard with him so that he could sleep well.
Although he was furious, he had no choice. After all, the little bastard was his own son. If he didn’t come to take care of him, who else could he ask to do so? Fortunately, there was a workaround. Li Feng would often climb over the wall at night, the first time the little bastard cried at night, Li Feng’s sudden appearance startled Tang Chunming.
Later, he got used to seeing him again, even Dr. He, who was occasionally startled and got up, would look at the moon in silence. Fortunately, the old man was not incapable of adapting. He knew that it was indeed hard for a ger to take care of two children alone.
Later, he never came to see him at night again, unless Tang Chunming knocked on the door to call him, for example, because he was worried that the little bastard was crying non-stop because he was not sick.
Tang Chunming carried the little bastard and slipped into the space. Ah Lin had fallen asleep and usually would not wake up at night unless he was woken up by the little bastard. He was worried about leaving the little bastard alone outside, so he had to bring him in with him, wrapped him in a small quilt and put him in the wooden house. The temperature here was suitable, so there was no need to worry about him getting cold.
Tang Chunming walked into the storage room by himself, after his father passed away and he got this space, he gradually collected the raw materials for making wine yeast through the Internet. Many of them were Chinese medicinal materials.
After searching for seeds, he planted them in the space, therefore, although he has come here now, there are still the remaining wine yeast and seeds in the space. Outside, he also tried to make wine by himself twice. The wine he brewed was tasted by the old man who drank the wine brewed by his mother. The final evaluation was that although it was a little short of the heat, the wine had a unique and clear feeling. In fact, he also knew that the latter evaluation was due to the space.
Tang Chunming was not a person who liked to dwell on the past, so when he looked at the koji and the seeds, he just sighed and took the seeds outside to plant them. The remaining koji in the space could only be brewed once more, so he needed to plant some more raw materials to continue the production.
Farming in the space couldn’t be easier, he just needed to find a piece of empty land, sow the seeds, and water it with some spring water from the space. After patting the dirt off his hands and looking at the current space, Tang Chunming showed a satisfied smile. His space had expanded again, and this was all thanks to his frequent busyness in the space.
Now there are fewer vegetables and grains planted in the space, but the area of fruit trees has expanded. Rows of fruit trees grown from seeds are prepared to be planted in the back mountain in the future, he also keeps cutting branches from the original old fruit trees and stores them in the storage room to be used for grafting next year. Otherwise, the number may not be enough by then, so he has to prepare in advance.
After harvesting what needed to be harvested in the fields and replanting what needed to be replanted, Tang Chunming washed his hands, picked up the little bastard, and prepared to leave the space and go back to sleep, now he has less and less time alone.
It is not easy to find time to enter the space, and to do it secretly at night, which is really not in line with his personality. Well, he should tell Li Feng earlier, so that there will be someone to help him do things in the space in the future.
While holding the little bastard who was sleeping soundly and knew nothing about the outside world, Tang Chunming pointed at his open mouth with his finger and said unhappily: “You are so heartless, why do I have to think about you no matter what I do. You little bastard, when you grow up, remember to be filial to your two fathers, okay?” Because he thought of his previous life, he consciously gave himself the identity of another father.
He left the space as usual, there was no light in the room, it was dark, and the moonlight coming through the wooden window was very faint. Because he had just come out of a bright space, his eyes could not adjust for a while. He only saw a dark figure sitting by the kang. Tang Chunming was so scared that he almost screamed and threw the child in his arms out.
”Ming’er, it’s me, Afeng, where have you been!” The anxious and familiar voice made Tang Chunming’s scream stuck in his throat. He patted his chest with one hand and held the child with the other hand without throwing him away. He was feeling lucky in his heart and didn’t realize that his sudden appearance out of nowhere also scared others.
The author has something to say: Regarding silage and such, I have never raised livestock. I searched these things on the Internet, so there are bound to be many inaccuracies. Please forgive me, there must be many reasons why large-scale animal husbandry was not developed in ancient times. I don’t know if there is any reason related to feed. I’m just guessing, haha.
I couldn’t help but enable the cheat code again, this was planned from the beginning, if you want to criticize me, please be gentle, haha…
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caught finally!!! 😅🤣
thank you for the update.. what a cliffhanger.. ❤️🐾
Busted!!!