NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30: Pest Infestation
Chapter 30: Pest Infestation
Moreover, Li Shan truly liked this little fellow Li Wen Ze. It would be natural for the two families to become closer and look after him more often.
Hearing Li Shan’s sincere words, Li Jing felt a slight stirring in his heart. He was almost thirty when he and his wife had Wen Ze, their only child. His wife passed away shortly after, and he never remarried. This child was his only son. If something were to happen in the future, he had no brothers to help. Besides, the village chief’s family was known for their kindness, and their family relationships were harmonious…
These thoughts flashed quickly through his mind, and Li Jing promptly smiled and said, “It would be Wen Ze’s good fortune to have you as his adoptive father. Wen Ze, quickly kneel down and kowtow to your godfather!”
Li Wen Ze had been confused all this time. He never expected the conversation between his father and Uncle Shan to turn out like this. Things were developing so fast that his brain was about to short-circuit.
But instinctively, he followed his father’s words, knelt down, and kowtowed three times.
After kowtowing, his good brother Li Jiang handed him a tea bowl. Li Wen Ze finally came to his senses and passed the tea bowl to the smiling Li Shan.
“Godfather!”
“Good!” Li Shan finished the tea and acknowledged with a sound.
From today onwards, the Li family had another son.
Tonight’s dinner was filled with smiles and joy for everyone.
The most obvious was Li Jiang. His good brother had become his sworn younger brother, giving him more reasons to take care of him.
To be honest, he had noticed before that Li Wen Ze’s daily life was quite perfunctory. With just father and son at home, he initially thought about helping more often, but after careful consideration, he realized his thinking was a bit simplistic.
How to put it… The father and son didn’t really lack basic necessities, but their daily meals were the most neglected. Yet, meals were where he could help the least. He couldn’t cook himself, and the cooking at home was done by his sister-in-law and his wife. He couldn’t always trouble them with his good brother’s affairs, could he?
Now that Li Wen Ze had become his sworn brother, all these problems were solved!
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On this day, the family rarely had a day off. Wu Jingwan went to figure out what food to make, while Liu Qiniang went to check on her spirit chicken chicks. The chicks had just hatched a few days ago and were changing daily. They needed frequent feeding and water changes, and checks for rats that might snatch the chicks. It wasn’t very busy, but required many checks throughout the day.
Li He continued practicing talisman drawing techniques, while Li Jiang practiced equipment refining skills.
Li Xi had also been practicing the hand seals for the fireball technique since waking up in the morning.
Li Shan and Wang Xiuniang went to check on the spirit fields. The spirit rice fields were mostly taken care of, so the main focus was on the spirit wheat fields.
The spirit wheat fields often grew weeds and attracted pests, so they needed daily inspection.
Not long after the couple left to check the fields, they were seen running back, out of breath.
It’s worth noting that they were both at the ninth level of Qi Condensation, with excellent physical condition. They must have been in a great hurry to run back like this, as they wouldn’t normally show such urgency.
It was clear that something major must have happened in the spirit wheat fields.
“Everyone, put down whatever you’re doing. Our spirit wheat has been infested with insects!” Li Shan said in one breath, not even pausing to catch his breath.
The Li family members quickly put down their tasks and went to get the tools needed for the fields, rushing out with Li Shan and Wang Xiuniang.
Liu Qiniang stayed behind to look after the three young ones.
For Father to be this urgent, it must not be a small matter. This pest infestation in the spirit wheat field was likely no simple issue.
Sure enough, when everyone hurriedly arrived at the spirit wheat field, they couldn’t help but show shock in their eyes. Li Xi, seeing such a scene for the first time, couldn’t help but exclaim.
“How did our spirit wheat field get so many insects?”
“Yeah…” Everyone was so shocked by the scene that they could barely speak, only managing to squeeze out two words from their throats.
In the fifty mu of spirit wheat fields, red and green were interspersed. The green was the spirit wheat seedlings, and the red, naturally, was the dense mass of insects.
These small insects ranged from the size of a fingernail to as big as a thumb. Each had a shiny red shell and was clinging to the spirit wheat seedlings. The seedlings were bent and swaying under the weight of the red insects. There were no visible bite marks, but the seedlings all looked very wilted and lifeless.
As everyone stood in shock, they noticed a group of people approaching from afar. They were villagers from Peach Blossom Village.
Seeing the Li family in the spirit fields, they quickened their pace and came straight towards them.
“Village Chief! My spirit wheat field is infested with insects!”
“Village Chief, mine too!”
Everyone started speaking at once, making Li Shan, who was already distressed, feel even more dizzy.
“Everyone, please stop for a moment. I already know about what you’re saying. Look, my spirit wheat field is also infested. I can’t think of a solution right now, but I will immediately go to the town and report to the agricultural office manager. They have more experience and should have a solution!” Li Shan quickly reassured everyone, disregarding his own distress over his fields.
Hearing Li Shan’s words, the villagers thanked him and urged him to set off. Li Shan hurriedly gave instructions to his wife, then caught two of the red insects, wrapped them in several layers of cloth, and put them in a pouch handed to him by Wu Jingwan. He then left with the villagers.
The other Li family members stayed in the spirit field to study these suddenly appeared insects themselves.
Looking at the dense mass of red insects in the spirit field, everyone couldn’t help but feel their scalps tingle and swallow hard.
To be honest, the spirit wheat fields would occasionally have insects, and everyone could chat and laugh while dealing with them. But this time, there were so many insects, densely packed and clinging there, their red color making people’s hearts flutter uncomfortably. Moreover, there were no such insects in the wheat field yesterday. How eerie that they appeared out of nowhere overnight?
Fortunately, little Song’er and the other young children hadn’t come, or they might have been frightened ill.
Li Xi squatted down in front of a spirit wheat seedling to observe closely.
Seeing the youngest Li Xi have the courage to squat down and look, the others silently cursed themselves for having less courage than a child, then each found a spirit wheat seedling to observe carefully.
Li Xi discovered that these insects were really just clinging there without moving at all. There were no wounds on the spirit wheat seedlings, but the insects’ fierce mouthparts were opening and closing from time to time, as if eating something.
And she wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she felt that these spirit wheat seedlings looked even more wilted than when they first arrived.
What kind of insects were these?
Li Xi voiced her doubts, but the others said they hadn’t noticed anything.
They could only see that the spirit wheat seedlings looked very wilted and that the red insects’ mouthparts were indeed moving, but they didn’t notice any changes in the seedlings.
However, Li Xi was firm in her observation.
It was definitely not a mistake on her part. These insects might indeed be harming the spirit wheat seedlings, but the damage was invisible, something the others couldn’t detect immediately.