Chapter 7: Pest Infestation
"Second Cousin, what's wrong?" Song Deling, the Branch Party Secretary of Xiangfu Village, was the eldest son of Song Baozhu's second grandfather.
Right now, he was squatting by the edge of the field, his brow locked in a deep, sorrowful furrow, his face full of anxiety and despair.
"Baozhu, why have you come to the fields? Go back quickly; the sun is very strong." Song Deling saw Song Baozhu, this soft and waxy little glutinous rice ball, squatting beside him just like he was, looking at him with a face full of worry.
His heart softened, and he stroked the little girl's head with his rough hand. Compared to others in Xiangfu Village, he could be considered well-traveled and knowledgeable.
He often went to the county for meetings, and even among the children in the city, he had never seen any who could match Baozhu’s cuteness.
Normally, when he encountered Song Baozhu, Song Deling would always smile and tease her for a bit, but now he was completely out of the mood.
It was currently the crop growth period, but a multitude of small insects had suddenly appeared in the fields. These small insects specialized in devouring the root systems of the crops.
The once lush and green crops had been gnawed until they were half-withered, and even the highest-yielding sweet potatoes and potatoes had not escaped.
If this continued, the crops would die, and there would be no harvest at all, it would be even more tragic than the difficult years from before.
Recalling the days of those years, Song Deling’s eyes were filled with panic and helplessness. If a solution wasn't found for these insects, what would the villagers eat for the second half of the year and the next?
How would they survive?
He had gone to the county to report the situation to the organization, only to find out that Xiangfu Village wasn't the only one in this predicament; more than half the villages in the county had fallen victim.
The leaders were so anxious that blisters were forming on their lips, and county experts had gone down to various villages for field inspections to brainstorm solutions.
Yet, there was no way to kill these insects. According to the experts, this was a new type of pest with great destructive power and an extremely strong reproductive capacity.
Even if highly potent pesticides were used to kill them, as long as a single one remained, it would multiply and spread throughout the entire field within a few days.
Furthermore, those highly potent pesticides were also damaging to the crops; by the time the insects were killed, the crops would likely be scorched to death as well.
For the time being, these insects were only within the borders of Yun County. If they weren't stopped in the next few days, they might spread to surrounding districts and counties. At this rate, it wouldn't just be Yun County suffering.
At these thoughts, Song Deling’s hands couldn't stop trembling.
Song Baozhu shook her head. "I've given myself a half-day off."
She hadn't finished chatting with all the uncles, aunties, grandpas, and grandmas yet; it would be a loss to go back now.
Song Deling had no heart left to speak with her. His bloodshot eyes stared at the ground; he hadn't been able to sleep for several days and nights.
Song Baozhu sensed that Song Deling was in a very bad mood. She reached out tentatively and stroked his head, comforting him in her milky voice: "Second Cousin, it's going to be okay."
Song Deling gave a bitter smile.
How could it be okay?!
In the fields, everyone was still bent over catching insects. Song Baozhu didn't understand the gravity and thought it looked like fun, so she followed them into the field to start catching them too.
These insects were small but moved quickly, and they were everywhere in dense clusters. Song Baozhu finally managed to catch one and was about to show it off to Grandma Li nearby, but to her surprise, Grandma Li suddenly slumped onto the ground with a look of total despair.
"It’s over. These crops can't be saved. What are we going to do? Oh, Heavens, you’re wiping us out, you’re leaving us no way to live..." Her voice was so desolate it made Song Baozhu's heart tremble.
With someone taking the lead, the other villagers who had been forcing themselves to stay strong could no longer hold it together.
Some wailed loudly over the crops, some stared blankly at the farmland with lifeless eyes, and others knelt in the dirt, muttering to themselves.
Song Baozhu felt afraid.
"Grandma Li, what’s wrong? Please don't be like this..." She tried to pull Grandma Li up with her small hands.
Grandma Li’s cloudy eyes looked at her, and she suddenly grabbed the girl and began to sob: "Child, you’re going to suffer along with us. My poor child..."
At that moment, Song Zhizhong and Song Zhibei came over from another part of the field and picked up the bewildered Song Baozhu.
Held in Song Zhizhong's arms, her arms wrapped around his neck, she asked in a low voice, "Fifth Brother, what happened to Grandma Li and the uncles and aunties? Why are they so sad?"
Song Zhizhong paused and stroked her head. "It’s nothing. Grandma Li is just too tired from working. Baozhu, let me take you back; the sun is too strong in the fields."
He was thirteen this year and had lived through those difficult years; he knew exactly how terrifying those days were.
If these crops couldn't be saved, the production team would harvest nothing, and life in the second half of the year would be even more unbearable than back then.
He looked at his sister, who looked like a little fairy, and vowed in his heart that if it truly came to that point, he would rather starve to death himself to save his food for her.
Song Baozhu obediently agreed.
As evening fell, Song Dezhu and Wang Guifang returned home with the five brothers. Because she was pregnant, Qian Xiaoe had returned earlier in the afternoon.
As they walked in, she called them to eat.
Song Baozhu had been studying in the space ever since she got home and was only now called out to dinner.
At the table, the corn porridge was even thinner than before; served in the basin, you could almost see your reflection in it.
The usual large basin of sweet potatoes and potatoes had also been cut by half.
Song Baozhu, however, still had her usual bowl of thick white rice porridge and a few bird eggs fried in soybean oil.
Everyone at the table had a heavy expression.
Wang Guifang took a sip of porridge and said to Qian Xiaoe, "From now on, except for you and Baozhu, the rest of us won't eat in the evenings."
Qian Xiaoe was startled. "Mom, count me out; it's fine if I don't eat in the evening."
"You're pregnant," Wang Guifang said, her expression grim.
Song Baozhu froze, her small mouth hanging open in surprise as she asked Wang Guifang, "Mama, why aren't you eating dinner? If you don't eat dinner and go hungry, you won't be able to sleep at night."
Wang Guifang coaxed her: "You're a child, so of course you'll get hungry. We are adults; how could an adult get hungry from skipping one meal? Be good, hurry up and drink your porridge."
But Song Baozhu didn't believe it. How could there be people who weren't hungry even if they didn't eat?
In the past, her Papa, Mama, and brothers would give all the good things to her and say they didn't like eating them.
Therefore, Song Baozhu was very skeptical of Wang Guifang's explanation.
When it was time to sleep at night, she fought back her drowsiness, pretending to sleep so she could eavesdrop on the conversation between Wang Guifang and Song Dezhu.
After listening, she finally understood that those insects in the fields would cause everyone to fail to harvest grain.
Without grain, perhaps everyone would go hungry in the second half of the year and next year.
Papa, Mama, and her brothers weren't 'not hungry', they just didn't dare to eat. They had to save the grain to survive through the second half of this year and the first half of next year.
Song Baozhu was worried to death; she had heard the villagers say that if there wasn't enough food, people could starve to death.
"System, what should I do? I don't want Papa, Mama, and my brothers to starve to death."
"Host, you can learn to produce pesticides. The production method for pesticides is within the Agronomy curriculum."
Song Baozhu was pleasantly surprised. "Really? If those insects are killed, will everyone have grain to eat?"
The System replied firmly, "Yes."
It had originally thought this was the ancient Earth's China, but after scanning those insects today, it discovered it was not. In its database, these insects had never appeared in ancient China; rather, they existed only in the Great Xia Kingdom of another parallel space-time.
After the start of the Cosmic Calendar, New Humanity connected the data collected from these two space-time points.
The reason it was in the database was that this specific insect had formed a severe pest infestation in the history of the Great Xia Kingdom, causing immeasurable losses.
This place was neither the Cosmic Year 6000 nor the ancestral home of New Humanity, ancient China. The System felt somewhat bewildered.
"System, you're so good! You're the best, I like you so much!" Receiving the System's guarantee, Song Baozhu praised it in her milky voice.
Deep within the System's space, its true form shifted uncomfortably, well, I'm okay.
It thought to itself: even if this isn't home, encountering a host like Song Baozhu who has such a discerning eye for the System, it’s passably acceptable.
The author has something to say:
The System, blushing from Song Baozhu's praise: The host is truly cute.
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