'Jingle bell', the piercing telephone ringing pierced the silence of the early morning and woke Liu Rui from his slumber.

During this period of time, Liu Rui has gradually handed over the affairs of the wine shop to his father and a few workers to deal with, just go to the wine jar every night before sleep to inject space spring water. The renovation project of the grain station is also on the right track, and Liu Rui doesn't have to worry too much, so Liu Rui can finally sleep peacefully.

However, the ringing of the phone disturbed Liu Rui's sweet dream, and he climbed out of bed in a daze, put on a coat and walked out of the bedroom.

Liu Rui looked at the luminous watch in his hand, at four o'clock, it seemed that it must be urgent. In rural areas, most people go to bed very early, and they rest at about 9 o'clock in winter, and if there is no emergency, few people will call in the middle of the night. After all, the countryside is not a glamorous city, and four o'clock in the morning happens to be the best time for some night owl activities.

"Xiao Rui, I don't know what's going on, the pigs in the pig farm are in a mess, you come down and take a look!" As soon as Liu Ruigan picked up the earpiece, a series of sounds rushed out of the earpiece.

"Ahh As soon as he heard the words of the third uncle, Liu Rui suddenly sobered up!

Pig farms have now become an important pillar industry of Zhang and Liu, and if there is any mistake, the loss will be great. For Liu Rui, the loss of the pig farm will not shake the foundation of the Liu family, after all, they still have shares in the winery and 'Ruilan Company', and they still have the confidence to make a comeback.

But for the Zhang family, the pig farm, which has gradually expanded its scale and invested almost all of the Zhang family's savings, has become the place where all the Zhang family hopes are, and naturally no accidents can occur.

There is an old saying in the countryside: 'If you have a lot of money, you don't have hair!' ’

Don't look at the vigorous appearance of the pig farm now, once any accident happens, the Zhang family will have nothing to lose.

For farmers, the biggest enemy is all kinds of plagues and diseases, which are the most harmful to the farm.

Therefore, at the beginning of the construction of the farm, Liu Rui attached great importance to the health and epidemic prevention work of the pig farm, and almost every detail was thought of. Since the pig farm has been in operation for more than two months, there has basically been nothing wrong, which has also reassured Liu Rui, who has been worried.

However, the sudden phone call in the early morning made Liu Rui's heart rise again, and he was a lot nervous.

"Uncle, don't worry, I'll go down immediately!" Liu Rui knew that the situation was a bit serious, and hurriedly said.

"Rui, what's the matter?" The mother's inquiring voice came from the back room.

People who are a little older sleep are very light, and they will wake up at the slightest movement, not to mention the harsh phone ringing just now.

"It's okay, the third uncle asked me to go down to the pig farm to have a look, it's a little cold! Mom, you can go back to sleep. Liu Rui comforted his mother, and then began to enter the house to get dressed.

After getting dressed, Liu Rui said to his parents and pushed the motorcycle out of the hall.

As soon as he went out, the oncoming cold wind suddenly made Liu Rui shiver involuntarily, the weather was really cold enough. Because the temperature was too cold, the motorcycle was fiddling for a while before it was successfully started, which made Liu Rui a little doubtful about what the temperature was today?

There was no time to find a helmet, and the oncoming cold wind was extremely biting, which made Liu Rui's originally confused head sober up instantly.

On the twenty-first day of the lunar month, the moon in the sky has already turned into a crescent moon, emitting a dim light. Even more coincidentally, a dark cloud happened to drift by, obscuring the position of the moon and plunging Liangcun into pitch black.

Halfway through the drive, it was raining in the sky, and the cold raindrops hit the face, burrowed into the neck, and were cold.

The snow-white pillar of light pierced through the rain and fog, and suddenly illuminated the dark night sky, allowing Liu Rui to see the road ahead. Pursing his lips and staring at the constantly shaking motorcycle light pillar in front of him, Liu Rui carefully held the accelerator, stepped on the brakes, and moved in the direction of the pig farm. After all, the vision at night is not good, although Liu Rui is anxious, he still has to put safety first.

Liu Rui, who rarely goes out in the middle of the night, never thought that the temperature would be so low in the early morning, the cold wind simply froze his fingers, and his left hand was almost unconscious when he shifted gears. Especially after being wet, the wind blows again, which is simply fatal.

At this time, Liu Rui remembered Andy Lau's "Ice Rain", except that the feelings in it are not quite right, the other situations are quite in line with the current situation.

Liu Rui no longer cares about the impact of this rain on the ripening tomatoes, and his mind has been completely occupied by the pig farm. After all, the pig farm is quite important, and once the pig farm has an accident, it is not just Liu Rui's business.

When the pig farm appeared in Liu Rui's sight, Liu Rui found that all the lights in the pig farm were turned on, and one or two sharp pig cries came from time to time in his ears. If it had been normal, the pig farm at 3 a.m. would have fallen into a dark silence. Pigs on pig farms are greedy for sleep because they eat distiller's lees containing trace amounts of alcohol every day, and rarely show this kind of restlessness.

When Liu Rui came to the gate of the pig farm, he saw the third uncle's somewhat panicked face.

"Third uncle, what's the situation?" Set up the motorcycle and walked into the guard room Liu Rui hurriedly asked.

"Xiao Rui, it's good for you to come!" Seeing Liu Rui, Zhang Zhenyao's originally worried expression seemed to be relieved a lot, and said: "Maybe the weather is too cold, and the whole pig farm is in chaos!" ”

"Then have you informed your eldest uncle and fourth uncle?" Liu Rui gave the third uncle a reassuring expression and asked.

"I called you first, and then I called them, and they said to come right away!" Liu Rui's calm expression also infected Zhang Zhenyao to some extent, and his words were much more organized.

After the pig farm was built, at the insistence of Liu Rui, the wire was erected and a telephone was also installed on the pig farm to facilitate contact. No, at this time, the phone comes in handy. Otherwise, on such a rainy night, when Zhang Zhenyao walked to inform everyone, the sky would be bright.

Zhang Zhenyao was alarmed by the screaming pigs in the middle of the night, and when he got up, he found that the entire pigsty was in chaos. A little panicked, his first reaction after picking up the phone was to call Liu Rui, not his eldest brother Zhang Zhenguang.

Perhaps, this is just a knee-jerk reaction, but Zhang Zhenyao didn't realize that deep down he had begun to regard Liu Rui as the most reliable person.

Liu Rui's outstanding performance in the past few months has already made everyone no longer see him as a child, but a trustworthy object that can solve problems. When encountering problems, Zhang Zhenyao's first reaction was to ask Liu Rui for help. In the past, Zhang Zhenyao's strongest reliance was on Zhang Zhenguang, but at this time, he gradually took a back seat.

When he saw Liu Rui appear, Zhang Zhenyao suddenly felt that he had a backbone, and it seemed that Liu Rui could solve all the problems. Perhaps, Liu Rui's performance has won him a lot of trust during this period of time.

Zhang Zhenguang can only walk when he goes out at night, and Zhang Zhenzu lives in the school in the town, and even if the motorcycle is fast, it will take a little time to get to the pig farm. When the two of them hadn't arrived yet, Liu Rui could only enter the pig farm first to see what was going on.

The scratching sound from the pig house sounded in Liu Rui's ears, and there was really a heart-wrenching emotion.

Although the situation was a bit urgent, Liu Rui did not panic, and still disinfected in an orderly manner, entered the locker room to change into special boots and white coats, and entered the pig farm in full gear. The rules for entering the pig farm after disinfection were set by Liu Rui at the beginning of the construction of the pig farm, and even under any circumstances, it cannot be easily changed.

This is also an important measure for Liu Rui to strengthen the hygiene habits and epidemic prevention efforts of pig farms, otherwise according to the traditional breeding situation in Liangcun, this pig farm will not be in a long time into various difficulties.

After Liu Rui, who was neatly dressed, walked into the pigsty, he found that the piglets who were supposed to be sleeping were standing in the pigsty and walking around, not screaming. In some pens, the piglets are desperately huddled together, as if they are using each other's body temperature to defend themselves against the cold air.

"Fourth!" Liu Rui, who was carrying a flashlight, leaned into the thermometer hanging on the wall of the pigsty and was immediately startled.

As far as Liu Rui knows, the lowest temperature in Liangcun was around 10 degrees Celsius before, and it was rare for it to be less than 5 degrees. What's more, there is still a cold rain in the sky now, I'm afraid this temperature will continue to drop! The sudden cooling must have made the piglets feel extremely uncomfortable, and it is reasonable for them to be confused.

Those piglets that have been raised for a period of time are now about 100 catties and have become semi-large pigs, and their ability to resist external changes is naturally enhanced. Although they were unable to sleep peacefully due to the cold air, they were at best walking up and down in the pigsty, humming.

But those piglets that have just been bought back are still young, and their reaction to the sudden cooling is undoubtedly a little panicked. Some of them are whirling around in the pigsty, making palpitating screams, or they are huddled in the corners of the pigsty, desperately leaning against each other, as if trying to resist the invasion of cold temperatures through the mutual transmission of body temperature.

After walking around the pigsty, I saw that the piglets were not infected with the plague, and my heart was a lot more relaxed.

However, seeing the gradually increasing raindrops outside, Liu Rui's heart was still somewhat shrouded in a shadow.

Liu Rui usually doesn't like to watch TV, and he doesn't pay attention to the weather forecast, so he doesn't know how long this freezing rain will last.

If this situation is only for a while, according to the resistance of the piglets, they can get through it if they stand up. Liu Rui is worried now that this kind of weather will continue forever, if he doesn't take a little measure, freezing to death and frostbitten a piglet is enough to make Liu Rui's uncles feel distressed.

At this time, it was finally discovered that there was a fatal flaw in the design of the pig farm!

Because of the lack of experience, all the pig houses in Zhangji Pig Farm are made of bricks and wood common in the south, which are ventilated in all directions and are very transparent. This design facilitates ventilation and heat dissipation in the hot summer, so that the temperature in the pen is not too high, so as not to affect the growth and development of piglets.

However, such a design cannot protect against the cold and keep warm, and once the temperature drops, there is no way to resist it.

At this time, Liu Rui realized that the knowledge in the book is not applicable to all situations. The climate of Liangcun is a hot season that occupies most of the time, but there are still some abnormal weather. For the average person, the occasional extreme weather does not have much impact on their lives, at most it is a reduction in production activities in those days.

However, for farmers, the emergence of extreme weather means a huge crisis unexpectedly. If the extreme weather lasts for a long time, causing a large area of animals to die or become diseased, it will be a catastrophe for farmers.

"Xiao Rui, what should I do now?" Walking around behind Liu Rui, Zhang Zhenyao looked at Liu Rui's uncertain face and asked cautiously.

Zhang Zhenyao had also raised pigs before, but he had not encountered such drastic extreme weather, so he had little experience. Besides, there are hundreds of piglets in the farm today, which is very different from the few piglets that were fed at home in the past, and the experience of the past is not applicable to pig farms.

"Third uncle, what did we do in the past when we raised pigs to cool down in winter?" Liu Rui thought for a while, but didn't have too many clues, so he asked.

In previous years, when the Liu family raised pigs, Liu Rui was studying, and there was no chance to interfere, and when he was in charge, it was summer, and Liu Rui had no relevant experience.

"Before?!" Zhang Zhenyao was stunned for a moment and replied: "We all throw straw into the pigsty and give the piglets a cushion." ”

"Straw?" Liu Rui fell into deep thought.

The design and architectural mode of the pig house of the pig farm is destined to be cold in the pig house for a period of time in the future, and it will not be changed for a while. To improve the piglets' ability to withstand the cold, throwing straw into the pigsty seemed to be the only viable solution.

But where to go for so much straw?

Two months have passed since the autumn harvest, and the straw produced by threshing is now either burned or has been rained and rotted, and cannot be put in the barn at all.

"Xiao Rui, what's the situation?" At the same time that Liu Rui fell into contemplation, Zhang Zhenguang and Zhang Zhenzu also entered the pig farm.

"It's only four degrees, depending on the situation, we have to continue to decline, we have to find a way to keep warm from the cold, otherwise the loss will be a bit big!" Liu Rui looked up at the two uncles and said helplessly.

Zhang Zhenzu stood in the aisle between the pigsty, and he could still feel the howling north wind blowing in from outside the pigsty, chilling. Some small raindrops were carried in by the wind and scattered on the edge of the pigsty, making the pigsty even more clammy and cold.

Looking at the cold and shivering piglets in the pigsty, Zhang Zhenzu and Zhang Zhenguang were also a little anxious, and they used their brains to remember.

"Otherwise, we will use plastic sheeting to fence the pigsty after dawn, which will be able to shelter a little bit of the cold wind." After a while, Liu Rui made a suggestion.

"How much does it cost to fence it with colored plastic sheeting?" Listening to Liu Rui's suggestion, Zhang Zhenyao, who is used to being diligent and thrifty, was a little smacked.

There are a total of 60 pigsty in the whole pig farm with piglets living, and if all the pigsty is sealed on the perimeter, a lot of plastic sheeting will be needed. A pigsty is about four meters long, and sixty pigsty are sealed on both sides, which is about 500 meters.

"Don't care about how much money it is now, I'll buy it at dawn tomorrow!" At this time, Zhang Zhenguang's courage as the village party secretary was quickly reflected, and he immediately agreed to Liu Rui's suggestion.

"Xiao Rui, you have a lively brain, what else can you do, just say it together!" Zhang Zhenzu saw that Liu Rui's eyes were gradually clear, and he could no longer see too much desolation, and said with a move in his heart.

"We can install high-powered incandescent lamps in the pigsty just like we warm our chickens, which can increase the temperature a little bit." At this time, Liu Rui remembered the situation when his mother kept the chickens warm at home in winter, and this suggestion was also blurted out.

"That's okay, now Xiao Rui and the fourth child will immediately erect a new line, and after the plastic sheet is enclosed, you can power on and keep warm." Zhang Zhenguang nodded and agreed.

"Can we use straw as we normally would?" Zhang Zhenyao looked at Liu Rui with plastic sheeting and electric lights for heating, felt sorry for the money, and cautiously put forward his own suggestions.

"If you use straw, will you bring germs into the pigsty, if so, I'm afraid it will be even worse!" Zhang Zhenguang was also worried, and said: "Besides, in this season, where can I find dry and clean straw?" ”

Since the pig farm has been put into use, it has maintained quite strict disinfection and epidemic prevention measures, which will reduce the probability of infection of piglets at the same time, and virtually weaken the disease resistance of piglets. In this environment, once the rotten, dirty straw is brought into the pigsty to warm the piglets, it may have some undesirable effects.

"If you can find dry, clean straw, you can use it after being sprayed with potassium permanganate!" Liu Rui, who was racking his brains to think about what was said on some breeding technical information, suddenly opened his mouth and proposed.

In some technical information, it is also mentioned that once the temperature drops, straw can be used to help the piglets resist the cold air, but the choice of straw is crucial.

First of all, rotten straw should not be chosen, and those that are soft and dry should be used, which is conducive to warmth. Second, before use, it is best to spray and disinfect the straw with potassium permanganate to minimize the chance of getting the piglets sick.

"That's fine!" Zhang Zhenguang nodded and arranged: "After dawn, the third child will go to every household in the village to find it, and there should be a lot of villagers who have left straw to feed the cattle and horses." ”

found a suitable plan, Liu Rui and several uncles were no longer panicked, and everyone began to get busy to meet the test of cold air.

(To be continued)