Chapter 953 Feelings
With everyone's joint efforts, the village gradually regained its vitality. New crops were planted, and the villagers carefully nurtured these seeds of hope.
In the early morning, the sun shines on the newly tilled land, emitting a faint golden glow. The villagers bend over and carefully sow seeds into the moist soil. Each seed carries their expectations for the future. The children also follow the adults to the fields to help water and weed, with seriousness on their young faces. The breeze blows by, bringing the fragrance of the soil and the breath of new life, as if foreshadowing a good start.
However, fate always seems to give this village, which has been through so much, problems. Just when the villagers were looking forward to the new season of crops growing vigorously, another unexpected situation occurred. One day, an old man in the village went to the river to fetch water and was surprised to find that the originally clear river water had become turbid, with splashes of water appearing on the surface from time to time, as if something was stirring under the water. When he looked closer, he saw that the river was densely packed with loaches, twisting their slippery bodies, and the number of them was so large that it made people's scalps numb.
The news quickly spread throughout the village, and villagers rushed to the river to check. Looking at the river full of loaches, everyone was dumbfounded. At first, some people thought that this might be a good thing, as loaches could be sold for money, and catching some could improve their lives. But soon they discovered that things were far from that simple. A large number of loaches reproduced wildly in the river, not only destroying the original ecological balance, but also began to eat the newly planted crop seedlings by the river. Even the irrigation canals were riddled with holes, resulting in poor water flow, which seriously affected the irrigation of farmland.
After learning about this, Qi Tongwei immediately rushed to the riverside. Looking at the chaotic scene in front of him, his brows were tightly knitted into the shape of a "川" character. "Fellow villagers, don't panic, let's think of a solution together." He tried to calm everyone's emotions, but the villagers' anxiety and dissatisfaction still surged like a tide.
"What should we do? Are the crops that we just saved from locusts going to be destroyed by these loaches again?" a middle-aged woman cried anxiously.
"That's right, why are there suddenly so many loaches? Aren't they going to force us into a dead end?" An old man stamped his feet in anger.
Facing the villagers' complaints, Qi Tongwei knew that he had to remain calm at this moment. He called together the village cadres and some experienced villagers to urgently discuss countermeasures by the river. Some people suggested using fishing nets to catch loaches, but loaches are small and agile, so ordinary fishing nets are simply not effective; others suggested using pesticides, but this would not only pollute the river water, but also harm other creatures in the river and even affect the safety of irrigation water.
Just when everyone was at a loss, a young man in the village suddenly remembered that he had seen a tool for catching loaches in other places - a ground trap. This tool uses the habits of loaches to lure them into the cage, and then collect them in batches. After hearing this, Qi Tongwei's eyes lit up and he thought this method was feasible. He immediately organized the villagers to make and buy ground traps, and a loach catching operation began.
The villagers took action and placed traps at the riverside, canals and the entrances of rice fields. The next morning, when everyone went to collect the traps with great anticipation, they found that they were indeed filled with lively loaches. Everyone cheered and thought that the problem had finally been solved. But after a few days, they found that the loaches' reproduction rate far exceeded their fishing rate, and the number of loaches in the river still did not decrease.
At the same time, some conflicts of interest began to arise in the village because of the loach catching issue. In order to catch more loaches, some villagers placed traps near waters contracted by others without regard for others, which caused many quarrels and conflicts. Some people also sold the loaches they caught privately, but were unwilling to share the profits with everyone, causing the atmosphere in the village to become tense.
Qi Tongwei saw it all and was anxious. He realized that simply catching loaches could not completely solve the problem. He also needed to fundamentally restore the ecological balance and resolve the internal conflicts in the village. On the one hand, he contacted agricultural and environmental experts to ask them how to deal with the problem of loach infestation; on the other hand, he organized a village meeting and seriously emphasized the importance of unity.
"Fellow villagers, we have survived so many disasters. We cannot be torn apart because of these loaches. We are from one village. Only by uniting can we solve the problems," Qi Tongwei said earnestly.
After intense discussions at the village meeting, a consensus was finally reached. A special loach catching team was set up to arrange the fishing work in a unified manner, and the proceeds were distributed to each participating villager according to a certain proportion. At the same time, strict rules were formulated to regulate fishing behavior and avoid conflicts caused by conflicts of interest.
Experts suggested that the number of loaches should be controlled by introducing natural enemies of loaches, such as egrets and rice field eels, through biological checks and balances. Qi Tongwei and the villagers followed the experts' advice and set up some habitats suitable for egrets around the river and rice fields, and released an appropriate amount of rice field eels.
As time went by, the loach infestation was gradually brought under control. Egrets danced by the river, occasionally swooping down to pick up a loach; yellow eels shuttled through the mud, preying on small loaches. The villagers also gradually restored their former harmony. While catching loaches, they did not forget to take care of each other's interests and jointly protect the land.
In the process of solving the loach problem, the village also welcomed new development opportunities. Tourists heard about the unique "human-loach war" in the village and came to experience it. Qi Tongwei keenly seized this business opportunity and organized villagers to develop a series of rural tourism projects related to catching loaches, such as loach fishing experience and loach food festival.
In the loach fishing experience area, tourists wearing waterproof clothes and holding small nets chased loaches happily in the mud, screaming and laughing one after another. The women in the village used their cooking skills to make loaches into various delicious dishes, such as braised loaches and loach tofu, which attracted many tourists to come and taste them.
With the development of rural tourism, the village has become more and more famous, and the number of tourists has continued to increase. The business of farmhouses has become popular again, and the sales of agricultural products have also increased significantly. The faces of the villagers are filled with happy smiles again. They have not only solved the problem of loach infestation, but also found a new way to get rich.
Qi Tongwei stood in the village square, looking at the lively scene, feeling filled with emotion.