My village can't be like this

Chapter 462 Feeding

The family was sitting together happily inside the house, but it was still raining heavily outside.

Even in the house, you can clearly hear the howling demon wind outside that never stops.

It was already past five o'clock, and two or three hours had passed since the thunderstorm in the afternoon.

But it was still pouring rain outside, as if there was a big hole in the sky.

However, compared with when it first started to rain, God was still less brutal and cruel.

Because the terrifying rolling thunder and crackling lightning in the sky have slowly disappeared.

At this moment, I can only occasionally hear a small thunder in the distance from time to time, no longer exploding in everyone's ears one after another like at the beginning.

Today's thunder is indeed a rare sight in many years. Not only the swaddled babies cried loudly when they heard it, but even the adults were a little scared when they heard it. Without them, everyone would feel more peaceful.

In addition to the lack of lightning and thunder, the sky has also become much brighter, returning to the appearance of daytime. It is no longer as dark and dark as night like it was in the afternoon.

Wang Fang looked at the clock hanging on the wall. Although it was still a little early, she put on her apron and entered the kitchen to start cooking.

After all, idleness is idleness. I heard just now that I will definitely not be able to deliver it today. It is better to cook the meal first while it is dawn.

Although God is very shameless and still acting like a monster, life must go on.

Zhang Jianguo and Zhang Anye were not idle either. They found their raincoats and put them on, and walked through the heavy rain curtain into the large pen where their livestock was kept.

Maybe they felt that the outside environment was not peaceful, so the animals in the enclosure felt a little more peaceful than usual.

Regardless of sheep, deer or other scattered livestock, they were all crowded together now.

It probably rained too much outside, causing the temperature to drop too quickly, so they were using this method to keep each other warm.

Even the big dogs, which usually don't like to be crowded together, are all nesting together now.

Of course, Erhu was an exception. He did not join the dog group. Instead, he stayed with the big black dog in the kennel, surrounding a few puppies in the middle.

When Zhang An and Zhang Jianguo entered the circle, they all stood up consciously when they were lying on the ground just now.

Because they know that when the owner comes, it means they are about to start eating.

Although Zhang Jianguo usually feeds them, today they are especially eager to be fed by their master.

After all, in the past, the enclosure gate of Zhang An's house was always open during the day, and they could stay in the orchard in the back mountain all day long, with endless green grass to eat.

But today was different. They had been driven back since the afternoon and had been locked up. It was almost evening now, and the few fodder in their stomachs had been almost digested.

Sure enough, Zhang An and Zhang Jianguo did not disappoint them. After checking around, they began to bring them grass.

These grasses were all cut by Zhang An from the nest in the past two days. They were piled up like a hill at the entrance of the circle, and they were all crisp grass.

At that time, Zhang Jianguo thought Zhang An was wasting grass. If he cut so much grass and put it away, the family's livestock would definitely not be able to eat it all, and it would turn yellow and old in a day or two at most.

But now he feels that the fodder prepared at home seems to be a little short.

Although the pile is as big as a hill, I can't help but have too many animals at home.

The other livestock are pretty good, not too many in number, but the number of sheep and deer is not large at all, and the rabbits at home also need to eat grass.

Calculating this, the pile of fodder Zhang An saved would only be enough for them to eat for a day or two at most.

"I don't know when it will rain, so you all eat carefully and don't waste it, otherwise you will be the ones who are hungry."

When they reached the deer pen and the sheep pen, Zhang An pulled Da Hua and the first sheep by their ears and gave them harsh instructions.

Because he knew that these two guys were completely wasted. They usually gave them some fodder and liked to eat it and throw it away. Half of them were trampled into dung grass.

"They are all animals and not humans. How can they understand what you say?"

Zhang Jianguo couldn't help but laugh when he saw his son's actions.

"They must understand. If they don't understand, they deserve to be hungry at night."

Zhang An turned around and smiled at his father. What Zhang Jianguo didn't know was that Dahua and Touyang had already been brought into space by Zhang An and domesticated.

They can still understand a little bit of such simple instructions, otherwise they wouldn't be able to act like a sheep or a deer.

"Let's keep them close to eat first, and then we'll cut them when the rain stops. If the rain stops, we'll feed them corn."

The livestock raised in rural areas are fed with corn in winter or summer when pig grass cannot be cut.

Although Zhang An's family doesn't cultivate much land now, they still have several thousand kilograms of corn lying around.

If it were in the past, most of the corn would have to be sold in exchange for money.

But now that all the corn has been sold, it is still less than the price of selling fish once at home.

Coupled with the large number of livestock at home, Zhang Jianguo and Wang Fang have no plans to sell corn rice in the past two years.

After feeding the animals in the big pen, the father and son went to the chicken pen and rabbit pen next to them.

After checking, the rabbits were in good condition and none of them had been frightened to death by the thunder.

But the chickens and ducks nearby suffered heavy losses. At a glance, there were many lying motionless on the ground. Both chickens and ducks were frightened to death by the thunder.

Zhang An roughly counted about thirty chickens and a dozen ducks dead, which was more than his family had eaten in half a year.

"Hey, let's clean it up first, we can't keep leaving it in the circle."

Looking at the chicken and duck carcasses on the ground, Zhang Jianguo sighed, walked in and started cleaning up.

Although these chickens were frightened or shocked to death during thunder, which is different from contracting chicken plague, they cannot be kept in the pen forever, otherwise other living chickens and ducks will also die of depression.

While Zhang Jianguo was cleaning up, he felt it was a pity that a big chicken or duck in their house could be sold for tens of dollars at least.

There were so many deaths this time, and it cost at least several thousand dollars, enough to buy a big buffalo. It was strange that he didn't feel heartbroken.

But in fact, in Zhang An's heart, this loss is still within the acceptable range.

Because when there was a thunder in the sky in the afternoon, when he came back from school, Wang Fang told him that twenty or thirty chickens and ducks were killed by the thunder.

Then the thunder exploded for several hours, and only forty or fifty animals were killed, which was considered a pretty good result.

In the end, the two men worked together to pick up all the dead chickens and ducks and put them outside the circle, but they had no intention of throwing them away. Because none of these chickens or ducks died of illness, and there is nothing wrong with the meat. They are all edible.

Zhang Jianguo also waited to clean up later, boiled several pots of water and disposed of them all.

Although I can’t sell them and my family can’t eat them all, it’s still good to give a few to each relative.

After adding water to the trough, Zhang An began to clean the circle.

Usually these guys don't even notice when they are outside, but today they were only locked up for a short time, and there was feces everywhere in the pen.

Nowadays, there are so many livestock and poultry in the house that it is not practical to clean and wash them as before. However, it is still possible to clean up some feces on the ground.

After cleaning the circle, Zhang An checked the roof of the circle with a flashlight.

After all, the roofs of both circles are covered with tiles. Today's heavy rain was so scary that Zhang An was a little worried that there was something wrong with the roof.

Fortunately, the quality of the green tiles is very good. After checking around, no leaks were found.

After finishing the meal, Wang Fang boiled water and Zhang Jianguo began to scald the chicken and pluck the feathers.

Zhang An was talking about Hui Qiu and Huatou's family. It was raining so heavily outside, and they would definitely not be able to go out to hunt.

So he grabbed a plucked chicken from the basin, chopped it into pieces and fed them to them.

Arriving at the door of Hui Qiu, Zhang An found two owls squatting inside. It seemed that Hui Qiu had kidnapped his little girlfriend.

She must have seen Zhang An, so Hui Qiu's little wife suddenly started shouting "coo coo coo", probably to drive Zhang An away, a two-legged stranger.

But Gray Ball raised his big head and shouted at it. The little guy who was a little nervous just now slowly calmed down, but his body was still shaking a little, and he clung to Gray Ball next to him.

Zhang An couldn't help but laugh when he saw Hui Qiu training his wife.

"Okay Hui Qiu, call your little wife to get ready for dinner."

Zhang An picked up the chicken nuggets from the basin with chopsticks and placed them on the baffle at the door of the Gray Ball Wooden House.

Although it was raining heavily, Hui Qiu's wooden house was specially built by Zhang An, and it was just under the eaves, so not to mention the wooden house and the bird's nest, even the baffle was not wet by the rain at all.

Gray Ball was not polite to Zhang An, he jumped on the fender and started tearing the chicken.

It's just that his little wife couldn't let go, and she still stayed in her nest without daring to come out.

Zhang An knew that this little guy was afraid of him, so he had no intention of watching them eat, and went up to the third floor with the remaining chicken.

Huatou and his family were not squatting in the nest as obediently as Gray Ball. When Zhang An arrived upstairs, they had already flown into the compartment through the window.

At this moment, he was standing on the shelf in the room. When he saw Zhang An coming, he immediately flew over from the shelf and surrounded Zhang An. Don't be too enthusiastic.

"Okay, okay, stop making trouble, squat down on the ground and get ready to eat."

Except for Huatou, the other guys have never been aggressive in their attacks. They have scratched several pieces of clothing before, but now Zhang An doesn't dare to let them pounce on him.

After hearing Zhang An's words, Huatou immediately took the lead and flew to the ground, staring at Zhang An honestly with his head raised.

"I won't catch you any fish today. Good luck. Let's have chicken tonight."

These dishonest guys usually lust after the chickens at home, but they have been restrained because Zhang An didn't allow it.

But even though they don't dare to do anything, they still like to fly down occasionally to scare the chickens, often scaring the chickens below.

While they were eating, Zhang An opened the window and reached out to bring in the eagle's nest under the eaves.

Although there is shelter from the eaves, the eagle's nest will definitely not get rained, but the rain is so heavy and the wind is blowing, it must be very cold outside, otherwise they would not fly into the house.

So Zhang An moved the eagle's nest into the house so that they could have a good rest inside at night.

Through the window, Zhang An clearly saw that the water in the river had surged up at some point, and now it had submerged the river bank.

The stone path where Zhang An often walked has also disappeared, and the paddy field next to it has suddenly become a vast ocean.

Upstream of the bridge, although the paddy fields on both sides of the river are higher and have not been flooded yet, the river water has also swelled a lot.

The current river is no longer as gentle as it used to be. As the yellow mud water rushes down from the upper reaches of the mountain, it suddenly transforms into a huge dragon, writhing wildly along the river, and is accompanied by bursts of roaring.

If the rain in the sky continues to be so heavy, the paddy fields on both sides of the upstream river bank will be submerged by the river water in a few hours, and the same will be true for Zhang An's strawberry field.

But what can be done? The rain will not stop for a while, at least it will not get lighter tonight.

After Huatou's family finished eating the chicken, Zhang An left some space for them with spring water, and then went downstairs with the basin.

When he arrived at the gate, Zhang An heard a sound of chirping. He looked up and saw that it was the nests of barn swallows at home. They were all standing neatly on the hanging rope at the door.

But it was not them that made the cry, but the little swallows in the swallow's nest.

Hearing the cry of the young swallows, the adult swallows walked around anxiously on the hanging rope, sometimes flying up and sometimes staying.

It seems that the little ones in the swallow's nest were so hungry that they screamed like this.

But the rain outside was so heavy that it was impossible for the adult swallows to go out to look for food.

Although they have gone out and brought back food today, they are still living in poverty, and there are more than one or two little swallows in the swallow's nest. The swallow's parents can solve it in half a day if they go out.

Zhang An looked at the anxious figures of the big swallows scurrying back and forth, so he turned back home and brought out a bowl of rice.

"Come and eat. Since you have chosen to stay at my house, I can't let you go hungry."

These nests of swallows are already old acquaintances of the family. Even if they fly south for the winter in autumn, they will continue to fly back next year.

Zhang An marked them and found that they had always been the ones flying back in the past few years.

Several big swallows were not afraid of Zhang An. After he placed the big bowl of grains on the ground, they all flew to the ground and started pecking at the grains.

However, they did not just eat for themselves. After pecking a few grains, they flew back to the nest and fed the hungry little swallows in the nest first.

This is the great and selfless love of parents. Although they are also hungry, they give food to their children without hesitation when they have it.

(End of this chapter)