Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Over the next few days, Zhang Zian temporarily handed the pet shop and the aquarium over to his staff. In addition to the fact that he had to be the one to carry out the job, he still had to find time to travel between the landfill and Zhonghua Road Primary School.
He first installed water pumps and the small power generator for the stray dogs, sent them their daily food supplies, and arranged for the people at the waste collection station to take the cans and empty beverage bottles in exchange for money. The enthusiasm of the stray dogs and the labor for their food had increased greatly. In addition, they were becoming more and more skilled, and the number of cans and empty bottles that they picked up every day was increasing. Thus, the money earned also correspondingly increased as well.
There was also an unexpected positive side effect—the stray dogs had used to do nothing all day, fighting and causing unnecessary trouble. In addition, with nothing to do, they would engage in mating behaviors, creating more puppies. Now, with chicken drumsticks to work for, they’d literally become laborers overnight. Besides resting when necessary, they ravaged the landfill all day long for bottles.
In order to improve efficiency, there was no need to go back and forth to pick up only one bottle. Zhang Zian gave them a large pile of sacks. Each dog was given a sack, filled it with cans and empty bottles, and then dragged it back to the artificial woods. In any case, the sacks were light, and these were big and medium-sized dogs. They could drag them without much of a problem. As long as they were careful and looked out for passing vehicles when crossing the roads, they would be fine.
As for how to distinguish which sack belonged to which dog, this was simple as well. A dog could simply urinate on its sack. The urine smell of each dog was unique and allowed their work to be differentiated.
In the beginning, the money to buy dog food and chicken drumsticks and the money earned from selling empty bottles and cans were roughly the same. He could only break even. Adding to that the cost of buying the generator, he had a small loss. However, soon, he would likely see some profit. Little White discussed it with him, and they decided to use the surplus money to buy some chicken drumsticks for the female dogs that were feeding puppies. They had to take care of the puppies and obviously could participate in the scavenging. However, they must maintain adequate nutrition to continue feeding the puppies.
This was a very reasonable request, and Zhang Zian had no reason to object to it.
The only problem was the water source. Although there were pumps and generators, the generated power was limited. At most, it was able to run about three or four pumps at the same time. The stray dogs must queue for water, and the efficiency of doing so was very low. Sometimes when they were too thirsty, fights would break out and there was a scuffle over who had the right to drink the water.
There was no way to improve this. The idle high-power pumps that Zhang Zian had contributed from his store were all that he had. In addition, high-powered generators were expensive and heavy, and they needed to be taken care of by experts. It was also unnecessary to buy additional pumps and high-power generators. There may be a need for them now, but they would certainly be idle in the future. In addition, they were not easy to sell as secondhand goods either.
Zhang Zian had decided to take advantage of the opportunity to solve the caterpillar problem for Zhonghua Road Primary School. Along the way, the caterpillars in the artificial woods would also be cleaned up. Besides, the money for protective clothing and pesticides was given to them by the primary school. It was more than enough. He should seek to maximize their usage. As for the caterpillars in the greenspace, the situation there was complicated and not very urgent. Thus, it was not a priority at the moment.
However, he also stated in advance to the primary school teachers that this was a palliative act.
The efficacy of the pesticides could only last for about 15 days and may not be enough. When the pesticides that remained on the branches, trunks, and leaves disappeared completely, the caterpillars would come back again. This was because, while the caterpillars in the school would have been wiped out temporarily, there were still a lot of caterpillars in the trees surrounding the school. After the caterpillars became butterflies and moths, they would fly everywhere to lay eggs. A moth could produce at least 300 eggs throughout its lifetime. Even if only a third of the eggs eventually hatched, that was still a large number of offspring…
Therefore, the only solution would be to kill all of the caterpillars in the entire city. This… Without gathering enough objective and subjective arguments, it would be difficult to push the initiative forward now.
The primary school teachers were very reasonable, and they were satisfied with a 15-day buffer period, come what may. This was because the primary school students would take the final exams soon, and they would have a holiday after the exam. The teachers would have a holiday then as well. Who knew—perhaps, within 15 days, there would be a directive to kill all the caterpillars throughout the city.
There were several male teachers and school workers who taught sports in school. They volunteered to help. This made the process of killing the caterpillars extremely smooth. As smooth a process it was, it was somewhat shocking.
One afternoon, after the students left the school, they wore protective clothing and gas masks. Carrying sprayers, they then sprayed the diluted cypermethrin solution on the trees within the school compound.
Cypermethrin was a special insecticide that was highly poisonous to bees, silkworms, and caterpillars. After a white mist filled the air, the caterpillars on the tree fell down like rain droplets, hitting the ground and their protective clothing.
With every step forward, they stepped on the soft caterpillars and felt their bodies smashed under their feet. The body fluids and smashed internal organs covered their soles… People who were psychologically weak would find this difficult to bear. There was a male teacher who couldn’t stand it after a few squirts. He ran to the side, took off his gas mask, and began to vomit.
Zhang Zian and several other male teachers endured the nausea they felt, pushed through with their work, and finally cleared up the caterpillars in the school.
As for the bodily remains of the caterpillars, fortunately, he wouldn’t have to deal with them. They would have to trouble the cleaners to clean them up the next day.
Next, he did the same for the artificial forest. One afternoon, he closed the store early and brought Wang Qian and Li Kun to the forest to spray the area.
Wang Qian and Li Kun were very courageous. In addition, they couldn’t see caterpillars after dark. They did not feel like vomiting throughout the work but nevertheless complained a lot. It was rare for them to get off work early, but instead of enjoying their time off, they had to come to a forest to work hard. They also had to wear protective clothing, which made them sweat a lot. They felt very uncomfortable and sweated profusely. How was this even comparable to playing mobile games in the comfort of their homes, which had air conditioners?
Their complaints were easy to solve. Zhang Zian promised to give them some grilled meat and ice-cold beer. Summer was the best time to eat barbecue and drink beer.
Wang Qian and Li Kun also called Lu Yiyun and Jiang Feifei to enjoy the feast with them. This led Zhang Zian to spend a considerable amount of money…
The next morning, the surface of the ditch had been filled with caterpillar bodies, almost blocking the entire ditch. The pump could not function until noon, when the remaining bits were finally washed away.
The stray dogs, who were working harder by the day, were finally free to drink water whenever they wanted. This was very important in the summer, when the weather was getting hotter.
After patrolling both the primary school and the artificial forest, Zhang Zian found that the pest-control effect was good. Having run around two places for several days, he was starting to feel very tired. He was glad that he could finally take a breather.
However, his breather lasted perhaps less than a single day.
While he was eating dinner at night, the familiar and sweet voice of the announcer came from the television. While Old Time Tea found it to be pleasant, what she said made Zhang Zian lose his appetite.
“Because of the weak cold air coming from the south, it is expected that, starting tomorrow morning, the city will experience large amounts of rain. This will stretch across the entire city from the north to the south. We remind the public to be vigilant and prepare for the heavy rain…”
It was going to rain whether they liked it or not. No one could prevent it from happening.
