Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

"It doesn't seem like it would happen if he were locked up alone."

The two looked at each other again.

"Is it true or not?"

"will not."

The young man answered in the affirmative.

The older man hesitated, then nodded, "Now that you ask, I'm indeed much calmer."

Yu Qiutang nodded, stood up, walked to the outside of the deer pen, grabbed the fence and looked inside.

There is no difference between the deer shed and the sheep pen, and the hygiene level is almost the same. It's just that because the deer are locked inside and no grass or other feed is put in, and they don't defecate much, it doesn't look too dirty.

"Can I go in and take a look?"

"Yes, of course."

The elder man asked the young man to open the door of the pen. The moment it was opened, the doe on the ground suddenly jumped up and rushed inside. The young man subconsciously tried to block it, but was blocked by Yu Qiutang.

Watching the mother deer run into the deer house, rub ears with the fawn, and lean on each other affectionately.

"I'll go in and take a look."

Yu Qiutang went in and asked the young man to close the guardrail door. He looked around and didn't see anything strange.

So he stood in the circle and began to think.

In fact, many things are hard to think about carefully.

The deer was fine, it's impossible for it to suddenly go crazy.

According to them, the deer didn't go crazy in the pen next door, but it went crazy in this deer house. What does that mean? Either she doesn't like the deer, or she doesn't like this deer house.

Strangely enough, the smell of this deer house is not bad at all.

Case in point, the fawn had a bad stomach and couldn't fully control its excretion, so the smell in this should be very strong.

So is the truth.

Traces of deer feces that had been cleaned up could be clearly seen on the ground.

But the taste...

Suddenly, Yu Qiutang smelled a very subtle smell, not very obvious, mixed in with the complex scent. If it weren't for Yu Qiutang's sensitive sense of smell, it would be difficult for ordinary people to smell it.

"...I don't know yet, what are your names?"

"Oh, my name is Yang Lin, and I'm a second-level technician at the Animal Husbandry Station. This is my apprentice, Yang Xiaolin, you can just call him Xiaolin."

Yu Qiutang glanced at them meaningfully.

The two immediately understood the meaning of his eyes, and Yang Lin smiled and said, "We have nothing to do with each other, it's just a coincidence."

Yu Qiutang smiled.

Yang Lin should not have said anything. The only similarity between the two of them was their names; they really had nothing in common in appearance.

Yang Lin looks to be in his thirties, but he looks older.

Yang Xiaolin is about the same age as me, only one or two years older than me at most.

"Technician Yang, I want to know if you have done any mosquito or insect repellent work in this deer house recently?"

Yang Lin thought about it and shook his head, "It seems not, right, Xiao Lin?"

Yang Xiaolin also quickly shook his head, "No, no, why do we need to repel insects and mosquitoes at this time? Insects and mosquitoes only come out when the weather is hot."

Yang Lin also nodded.

Yu Qiutang thought that you guys don't understand. Deer are different from sheep, especially sika deer. They need to deworm regularly where they live, otherwise they will easily get sick.

They are accustomed to the natural environment and can eat many things that are equivalent to medicinal herbs. Once they are kept in captivity, their diet becomes much simpler and more monotonous, avoiding many harms caused by food, but also cutting off many herbal supplements that can provide medicinal value.

But that wasn't what he was concerned about.

All he had to do now was to find out the reason why the doe went crazy and leave a good impression on the two people, so as to pave the way for cooperation.

As for whether they raise the deer well or not, that is their problem.

It has nothing to do with me.

To put it bluntly, even if you can't raise them well later, you can just take over and it is not impossible to engage in sika deer breeding.

Of course, this is all very far away.

It is not involved yet.

The road still needs to be taken step by step.

"...If there is no deworming, then..."

He began to search everywhere, and the fawns were frightened by him and followed the mother deer to hide everywhere.

Fortunately, the doe had just been massaged by him and now she was more fond of him, otherwise she would have continued to charge and he would have to deal with her.

The female deer's fighting power is very weak, so there is no danger, just a little troublesome.

"What are you looking for, young man?"

Yang Lin looked at him with a puzzled look on his face.

"Technician Yang, come here."

Yu Qiutang waved his hand, called Yang Lin to his side, pointed to a corner and asked: "Do you smell a certain smell?"

"smell?"

Yang Lin stretched out his nose, sniffed hard, and shook his head, "It seems that there is no smell?"

But when he saw Yu Qiutang's look, he felt a little unconfident, so he called Yang Xiaolin in: "Come, Xiaolin, come and smell it too."

Yang Xiaolin also followed in, his posture was similar to Yang Lin, but he didn't smell anything either.

Yu Qiutang was helpless.

I had no choice but to try and ask, "Then let me ask you, has this place ever come into contact with lemons, rosemary, or thyme before?"

The two looked at each other and shook their heads.

“No, although this deer house was renovated last year, we didn’t touch these things during the renovation.

"Yes, no, I just came here last year. I was there when the deer house was being renovated. I was on site supervising the work, and there really wasn't any of these things."

"That's weird."

Yu Qiutang shook his head. If there wasn’t anything like that, then where did this taste come from?

In fact, he found that the deer house had a scent similar to fennel, lemon, or thyme.

But because the smell is quite mild, it is really hard to pinpoint what it is.

These similar scents are quite similar. If they are strong, they can be clearly distinguished. However, if they are only faint, it will be much more difficult to distinguish.

He really couldn't judge for a moment.

"Young man, what are you looking for? You are so mysterious. This is just an ordinary deer shed, not a strange place. If you want to know something, just ask us."

"Yeah, you've got us all stupefied. Can you do it?"

After their initial curiosity, Yang Lin and Yang Xiaolin gradually began to question Yu Qiutang's abilities.

I feel that Yu Qiutang is being a bit mysterious.

Yu Qiutang glanced at them, thought for a moment and said, "I'd like to ask again, has this location been used for other purposes before it was used to raise deer?"

"Yes, it was a pigsty before." "Pigsty, what about before that?"

"Before..." Yang Lin raised his head and thought for a while, "It should have been more than ten years ago. At that time, it seemed that this place was not a livestock station. It seemed to be a medicinal material warehouse?"

Yang Lin looked at Yang Xiaolin, who shook his head. "Don't look at me. More than a decade ago, I was still wearing open-crotch pants. I don't know what's going on here."

When Yu Qiutang heard the word "medicine warehouse", his eyes immediately lit up.

"That's right."

"Ah, what's the matter? It's related to this," Yang Lin looked at Yu Qiutang in confusion, "You mean, the taste was retained in the past, but it's been so many years, how can the effect be retained?

Besides, if there really is a smell, why don’t the pigs and fawns have any smell, but the doe reacts to it?”

Yu Qiutang shook his head. "Now I understand. If I'm not mistaken, this location should contain nothing but basil."

"Basil?"

Yang Lin shook his head. "Is basil also a medicine?"

"of course."

Yu Qiutang smiled, feeling confident.

"You should know that deer don't like the smell of fennel, lemon, thyme, mint, etc., right?"

Yang Lin nodded. "I only know that they don't like the smell of mint. Before, a cat brought catnip to the deer, and they got very excited. So, why do you care so much?"

"Yes, that's a lot of them, not just mint, but of all the smells, they're actually most disgusted by the smell of basil.

The number of deer here is not large, and there has not been a deer disaster, so there is no need to drive the deer away. However, in many places where there are large deer populations, during the breeding season, the deer may come down the mountains to steal crops.

People have no choice but to plant a circle of basil around the crops, and the deer will not dare to come when they smell it.

Even in the fall, people would dry basil, grind it into powder, and light a fire to release thick smoke to drive away deer when the crops were ripe.

Yang Lin and Yang Xiaolin both looked at Yu Qiutang curiously.

They are also exploring deer breeding and have acquired some experience, which is definitely much better than the average person.

But when you meet a professional like Yu Qiutang, that little knowledge is not enough.

I was taught a lesson by Yu Qiutang on the spot.

But then Yang Xiaolin asked another question, "Since you said it was a problem with the basil, why can't we smell it, but the deer can?
Even if there is, the smell must be very faint. Are you sure the deer can smell it?
We have kept deer in this pen before and they didn’t go crazy, how come they suddenly smelled it?”

Yu Qiutang smiled and said, “The smell of basil here is indeed not strong. Under normal circumstances, even a deer’s sense of smell is not good. But this doe just gave birth to a fawn. At this stage, the doe’s sense of smell is much stronger than usual.

So, I guess..."

As Yu Qiutang spoke, he half-crouched and began to carefully search for something under the wall of the deer pen. Suddenly, he squatted down and said, "This is it."

"what?!"

Yang Lin and Yang Xiaolin both came over.

"Take a look, what is this?"

"what?"

Because they were facing the light and the three people were blocking the optical fiber outside, Yang Lin and Yang Xiaolin did not have Yu Qiutang's eyesight and could not see clearly for a while.

Yu Qiutang moved half of his body away and pointed at the wall in front of him with his foot.

The two of them almost crawled on the ground, only then did they discover that, perhaps due to renovation or other problems, there was a small crack at the base of the wall, and ants were sporadically crawling out of it.

"Smell it and see if it smells like basil."

Yang Lin couldn't smell it at first, so he had to kneel on the ground, try to get close to the gap, and sniff hard.

Suddenly, he really smelled a faint fragrance.

"Yes, yes, it's real!"

“Let me smell it, too.”

Yang Xiaolin also came over and soon smelled the scent, and was very surprised.

Then, the three of them stood up, and Yang Lin pointed at the gap and said, "It's just this little thing, and the smell it releases can drive the deer crazy. Why do I feel it's unreliable?"

Yang Xiaolin didn't speak casually this time.

He is younger than Yang Lin and is more receptive to new things. Yu Qiutang had said before that there was a smell, but they didn't smell it. Now there is indeed a smell, which shows that Yu Qiutang is indeed quite capable.

Yu Qiutang shook his head.

In fact, I kind of look down on Yang Lin.

After all, you are a technician at the animal husbandry station. Although deer are not as good as cows, dogs or pigs, Qingquan Town is backed by mountains and deer are not rare animals. Your understanding of deer is too superficial.

It's like this, and he's still just a second-level technician.

I feel like I'm not as professional as you.

No, to be precise, you are a step behind me.

Can this kind of ability really serve as a guide for ordinary people?
"Technician Yang, look at the location of this crack in the wall, what can you think of?"

"What can you see?"

Yang Lin stared at the crack, unable to figure out what it was, and turned to ask Yang Xiaolin, "Did you see anything?"

"Did not see it."

Yang Xiaolin thought, you can't see it, and you ask me. If I can see it, then guess why you are a second-level technician and I am nothing?
Yu Qiutang didn't plan to continue asking this question.

He was certain that these two people did not know much about deer, at least much less than he did.

He pointed at the gate and said, "Look, this gate faces west, right?

Now it's winter, and it's impossible to completely avoid the wind, so the northwest wind will blow in.

The doe had just given birth, so she was very afraid of the wind. So out of instinct, she would choose to lie down in a place sheltered from the wind.

But this position is the only one that blocks the wind because there is a pillar in front. So deer must like to lie here, right?

Maybe it couldn't smell the odor because it was standing far away, but now it was lying next to the gap, which was a different story.

Deer are naturally sensitive to the smell of basil, and combined with its superb sense of smell, the perfect combination of factors would make it very uncomfortable!

Once it smells it once, the memory of this smell will be strengthened in its memory, as if it is a conditioned reflex, unilaterally promoting sensitivity to this smell..."

Yu Qiutang felt that this was about enough.

It has the effect of intimidating these two people and also lays the foundation for subsequent negotiations and cooperation. After earning enough bargaining chips, it is time to end it.

"...The solution to this problem is very simple. Either you move the deer to a new deer shed, or soak some lime in water and fill the gap with it. The smell and ants inside will disappear.

Then, fill the gap with cement, and the problem is basically solved.”

After Yu Qiutang finished speaking, he dusted off his hands and turned to leave the deer shed.

Yang Lin and Yang Xiaolin looked at the crack and followed out.

The two were completely convinced by Yu Qiutang at this time, not to mention Yang Xiaolin. Even Yang Lin was very polite, "Young man, you are really amazing. You found the reason for something we couldn't figure out in a few seconds."

Yu Qiutang smiled and said, "Every profession has its own specialty, right? I just happen to know something about wild animals, so I'm just showing off my skills. In fact, even if I don't find it, you can find it quickly, right?"

"Well... that's right, that's right."

Seeing that Yu Qiutang gave him a way out, Yang Lin did not hesitate and walked down with a smile, trying to save some face.

"By the way, you said earlier that you wanted to consult about hatching chicks?"

Yang Lin then remembered this. (End of this chapter)