Chapter 50: Renown Reaches Hutou Gou

Dongzhu, Dongzhu, you're not resting properly at home, running over here during your confinement—what are you doing? Aren't you afraid of catching a chill?

A surprised voice rang out, waking Wang Ping'an from his deep sleep; he instinctively looked up and saw that he didn't know when he had lain in his mother's bamboo basket, walking home on the road, when he happened to meet a couple.

Sister Zhou, I'm just bored stiff at home—I'm about to rust!

Liu Dongzhu gave a hehe laugh and said proudly, "Thinking of doing some work in the fields to loosen up my muscles, but my parents won't let me—I can only watch from the sidelines!"

You, you, you just can't stay idle!

Sister Zhou laughed and scolded, then seemed to think of something, her face full of envy, she said: "But your parents are great—they'd rather break off ties with your husband than let you work, unlike me, with two old folks at home who only know to force me to work every day, not even letting me rest during my confinement……"

Alright, why bother talking about these past things!

Sister Zhou's husband said angrily.

"You worthless man, your parents bully me and you don't help; now I'm speaking up, and you try to control me—how did I ever marry such a worthless man!"

Sister Zhou snorted in dissatisfaction, seeing her husband's embarrassed face, she didn't want to dwell on the topic and changed her tone:

"Dongzhu, do you know? In our Hutou Gou there's appeared a formidable figure—every day the granary is piled with heaps of mouse carcasses!"

"What's the big deal?"

Liu Dongzhu didn't think much of it, saying, "These days, who doesn't keep a cat or two at home? Finding mouse corpses in the granary is quite normal, isn't it?"

"It's not just one or two mouse corpses, but a whole nest—at least a dozen or more, maybe they've been wiped out completely!"

Sister Zhou snorted, her face full of excitement—who let the current prosperous era, with favorable weather, mean households aren't short of grain, every family keeps cats to guard the granary, yet grain-stealing mice are quite crafty.

At most a cat can catch one or two mice; wanting to kill them all is nearly impossible.

"Impossible, right?"

Liu Dongzhu startled, recalling that her family had once kept cats, knowing the situation—even with cats guarding, at best they only improve the mouse situation in the granary; it's hard to eradicate them completely, she exclaimed in shock:

"Are mice that easy to kill?"

Not to mention relying on cats; even using poison can't fully eradicate the mice in the granary.

"I didn't expect to be noticed so quickly!"

Compared to his mother's doubts, Wang Ping'an quickly believed Sister Zhou—no, for him it was Aunt Zhou's words, since the mouse corpses in the granary were his doing……

To be precise, it was his pet—Hei Mao Bu Tou that did it.

Just that.

I didn't expect to be noticed so quickly by the people of Hutou Gou!

But it's not too surprising, given that the grain in the granary is the most important thing for every household—more important than life—so checking the granary every two or three days is quite ordinary.

Finding mouse corpses in the granary is no difficulty.

Who let him only care about gaining Merit, driving Hei Mao Bu Tou to hunt mice; as for how to dispose of the mouse corpses, he doesn't bother, leaving it all to Hei Mao Bu Tou to deal with, and eight or nine times out of ten it becomes its food.

It's inevitable that some parts Hei Mao Bu Tou won't eat, leaving remnants that people find—quite normal.

"Dongzhu, don't say it's you—even I, when I first heard this, couldn't believe it; after all, if mice were that easy to deal with, my family wouldn't be thinking year after year about how to deal with them—only when I found mouse corpses in our own granary could I hardly disbelieve it!" Sister Zhou sighed, her face full of joy; although her family also keeps cats, the grain in their granary is always stolen by mice each year.

Even if they steal only a little each day, over time it adds up to no small amount.

To be frank……

It's enough to feed a person for three to five months!

As for these mice, she hates them to the point of itching teeth; now, seeing a pile of mouse corpses in the granary, she watches them, a whole family intact.

How could she not be happy?

"Is this true?"

Liu Dongzhu still found it hard to believe, but seeing Sister Zhou not joking, and even her husband nodding to indicate he could vouch for this, she couldn't help but ask curiously:

"I don't know whether the mice in our own granary have also been eradicated!"

Before.

Back when they still kept cats at home, although there were still mice troubling the granary, at least they weren't too brazen; but after her family's cat died of old age, the mice in the granary ran rampant, until they bought several packets of mouse poison, after which the brazen mice in the granary were no longer so.

Yet one can still see traces of grain stolen by mice in her family's granary!

"Dongzhu, rest assured—your family's granary might be the first place in the village where the mice have been eradicated!"

Sister Zhou gave a hehe laugh, seeming to think of something, her face full of envy, she said: "Do you know who carried out the eradication of mice in our village's granary?"

This novel you have arrived at.

"How would I know? I was just about to ask you, Sister Zhou!"

Liu Dongzhu blurted out, her words not yet finished, when a flash of inspiration flickered in her mind and vanished; she pondered and said:

"Sister Zhou, you wouldn't be saying that the eradication of mice in our village's granary wasn't done by our family's spirit cat, would you?"

"Besides, it's exactly your family's granary!"

Sister Zhou sighed with admiration: "You don't know—since someone discovered a heap of mouse corpses in their home's granary, they noticed your family's spirit cat often appearing in others' granaries; recalling your family's spirit cat's great deeds, the mice in the granary must have been done by your family's spirit cat!"

"Your family's spirit cat truly lives up to the title Divine Cat Hero—it's just amazing!"

"Ding! Feeling Sister Zhou's heartfelt gratitude, your pet Black Cat Catch Head gains Physique+1!"

A mechanical, cold voice echoed in his mind; Wang Ping'an's young face showed pure surprise, but after a moment he realized that in this era, grain's importance to the people, spirit cats hunting mice and protecting grain would naturally earn the people's heartfelt thanks.

Liu Dongzhu exclaimed in surprise: "Divine Cat Hero?"

"This, originally it was the nickname Xiaocao used for your family's spirit cat; later it spread among those kids, and now everyone knows what your family's spirit cat does in the granary!"

Sister Zhou sighed: "Nowadays everyone calls your family's spirit cat the Divine Cat Hero!"

"Divine Cat Hero!"

Liu Dongzhu gave a hehe laugh, her face full of pride—not only for her family's spirit cat but also for her family Ping'an, she exclaimed excitedly: "With the Divine Cat Hero around, our family's Ping'an will be all the safer!"

"Ding! You feel your mother Liu Dongzhu's deep affection; talent: maternal love takes effect—congratulations, you gain the reward: Physique+1!"

(End of chapter)