Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

After Xiaoxing finished dinner, he was about to go to the venue with Chen to play, when he suddenly saw the skinny old man guarding the cave entrance, Lao Zhu, running into the cave while shouting, "Cave Master, it's bad! Rats, so many rats."

Qiu's sleeping place was in a cave, which was like a bedroom - ten feet high, two feet wide and ten feet deep. Qiu and Hong'er lived in it.

After dinner, Qiu felt a little tired, so he placed the pangolin in his own bed and lay down on the bed to rest early.

Suddenly he heard someone shouting, so he quickly got up and looked carefully. It was the thin old man guarding the cave entrance. So he asked him, "Thin, what happened? Why are you so flustered?"

"Report to the cave master, a lot of rats have come from somewhere outside the cave and are stealing our food! Go and see what to do!" Lao Zhu replied hurriedly.

"A lot of rats?" Qiu was startled for a moment, then said nonchalantly, "I thought it was some kind of monster, but it turns out to be just rats. Just ask a few people to chase them away, why make such a fuss?"

"Cave Master, there are too many rats. I have never seen so many rats. We can't kill them all or drive them away. Fatty Lao Zhang and I have no other choice but to come and report to you." Lao Zhu was afraid that he would not believe him, so he gestured excitedly.

"How could such a strange thing happen? I'll go and take a look." Qiu was very surprised, and immediately ran to the cave entrance with Lao Zhu.

When they arrived at the cave entrance, they saw countless rats rushing in from outside and heading straight for the corner where the grain was stored. These rats were like crazy hungry people, some of them were eating desperately, and some were running away with the grain in their mouths.

The food was collected by the women, including wheat, beans, millet, and sorghum, as well as peanuts, melon seeds, etc. The food was sorted and stored in a corner not far from the cave entrance.

Another fat man, Lao Zhang, who was guarding the cave entrance, kept hitting the rats with a stick, shouting, "Damn rats, how dare you come to steal food? I'll beat you to death, I'll beat you to death!"

But because there were so many rats, they could not be stopped at all.

Qiu was very surprised and quickly called all the warriors together: "Dong, Xia, Zhi, all warriors, listen up: the rats are coming to steal the food! If the food is gone, we will all starve! Everyone, take your weapons and help kill the rats."

The party was cancelled because of the unexpected incident. Xia took Chen, Xiaoxing and other hunters to get their weapons and headed straight for the cave entrance. Zhihe, Dong, Xi and many other hunters who had just lain down to rest also got up in a hurry upon hearing the order, and rushed to the cave entrance with their weapons to join the rat extermination war.

Because it was dark, the rats were dark in color, small in size, and moved very fast, so it was not easy to hit them. Qiu hurriedly called out to everyone, "Add more torches, add more torches."

Soon, someone lit many torches, making the cave entrance as bright as day.

The crowd kept beating the rats, and soon hundreds of them died. But there were still rats coming in from outside the cave. After a few hours of chaos, the rats disappeared just as suddenly as they appeared.

The cave entrance was littered with dead rats, at least a thousand of them. The food was also completely destroyed, probably several hundred kilograms.

"It's really strange! Why did this group of rats suddenly come to steal food?" Qiu asked in disbelief as he looked at the messy battlefield.

"Cave Master, I don't think there's anything strange about it. It may be because of the famine outside and the rats can't find food, so they risk their lives to steal our food." Dong said disapprovingly.

"Dong, with my fifty years of hunting experience, I have never seen such a strange thing. Unless these rats are crazy." Zhi said maturely.

"My fellow warriors, as the old saying goes: When something is abnormal, there must be something wrong. I don't think this incident of rats stealing food is that simple." Qiu stroked his white beard and shook his head.

"Cave Master, these are just rats looking for food. I think Dong Yan is right. There is nothing suspicious about it." Warrior Lao Ling said.

"Yes, Cave Master, this is nothing to be surprised about." Warrior Lao Ping echoed.

"Well - Ling, Ping, I hope it's as you said. However, if these thieves rob once, they will definitely come back a second time. If it's a third time, it will be a big trouble." Qiu couldn't help but worry.

"Cave Master, if the rats dare to come again, we will kill them again. That way, we won't have to go out hunting and we will still have meat to eat." The tree root thought it was a good idea.

"Brother Shugen, little mice are not only troublesome to clean up, but they also have little meat and taste bad. I don't like eating them." Leaf shook his head.

"Leaf, you know shit. This is food that's delivered to your door. You might as well eat it. Why do you despise it?" The tree root glared at the leaf.

"Tree Root, if these rats come a few more times, we will be out of food. Even if you like to eat it, won't you get tired of eating meat every day?" Qiu said.

"What the cave master said makes sense. We should eat mainly vegetables and supplement with meat, and eat them in combination." Dong interrupted.

"Well, if you say it's not possible, then it's not possible." The tree root scratched his head and shut his mouth tactfully.

"My fellow warriors, as the old saying goes: prevention is better than cure. In order to prevent the rats from coming again, everyone should use their brains and think of a plan to deal with it." Qiu looked around at everyone and said.

"Cave Master, in order to prevent the rat thieves from coming again and to protect the people and food in the cave from being violated, I think the only way is to build a door in this Tianju Cave and close it at night so that they can't get in." Ping pointed at the cave entrance.

"Ping, building a cave gate is indeed a foolproof plan." Qiu nodded in agreement.

"Cave Master, although this plan is brilliant, the entrance of this Tianju Cave is thirty feet wide. It's not easy to build a door there." Ling said, looking at the empty and dark entrance of the cave.

"Yes, with my hunting experience of more than fifty years, building such a gate is simply a fantasy." Zhi quickly waved his hand to express his denial.

"Cave Master, I think there is no other solution except building a gate. Alas." Ping sighed.

Just when everyone was frowning, a voice suddenly said, "Cave Master, I can build this cave gate."

Qiu was overjoyed and looked in the direction of the voice. It was from Xiaoxing, who had just recovered from his illness. So he asked him, "Xiaoxing, building the cave gate is no small matter. Are you sure?"

Before Xiaoxing could answer, Ping scolded: "Xiaoxing, we are discussing important matters, why are you butting in?"

"Uncle Ping, I'm serious." Xiaoxing replied, meeting Ping's disdainful gaze.

"Xiaoxing, we adults can't even build such a gate, and you, a little kid, dare to say you can. I think you really don't know your place." Dong pointed at Xiaoxing's nose and scolded.

"Brother Dong, age is not a barrier to ambition. As long as you give me people and materials, I can definitely build this cave gate." Xiaoxing said, patting his chest.

"Xiaoxing, I think you have a broken head? Just you? That's ridiculous." Dong said sarcastically.

"Xiaoxing, you are overestimating your own abilities and talking nonsense." Xi mocked him.

People in the south, north and middle also started laughing.

"Xiaoxing, when will you learn how to build walls and doors? Don't promise it without thinking!" he asked in disbelief.

"Xing, are you kidding?" Chen next to him couldn't stand it anymore, so he pulled Xiaoxing and signaled him to take back what he had said.

"Brother Xia, Chen, I'm not kidding, I can really build this cave door." Xiaoxing didn't deny it, but nodded vigorously. You haven't eaten pork, but you haven't seen pigs run, right? Although Xiaoxing had never built a wall or made a door in his previous life, he had seen and studied it, so he dared to agree.

Dong wanted to laugh at Xiaoxing again, but Qiu raised his hand to stop him and said, "Dong, the old saying goes: Man proposes, God disposes. No matter what you do, how can you judge success or failure without trying it? It's like crossing a river. If you don't jump in to test the depth of the water, how can you know if you can cross it?"

Dong was speechless and could only nod in agreement.

Qiu patted Xiaoxing on the shoulder and nodded, saying, "Xiaoxing, I agree with your suggestion to build the cave gate. Tomorrow, you will lead 300 people to start working. Whether it is completed or not, I will not blame you."

"Yes, sir. I will make sure to complete the task!" Xiaoxing agreed loudly.

After everyone had made their decision, they cleaned up the dead rat and went to rest.