I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 382: Chapter 344: Driving Away Wild Boars and Getting Pork Large Intestines

He went on to check the other fruit trees.

Arriving at the fig tree, he found that more figs were ready to be picked.

Li You picked all the ripe fruit and placed them in his Storage Pavilion.

Aside from the loquat and mulberry trees, all the other fruit trees had been planted more recently.

Li You looked around and saw that they were all growing very well. Some of them should even bear fruit this year.

The rest would be able to bear fruit next year.

By then, he would achieve fruit freedom.

It was something to look forward to!

After leaving the Hundred Fruit Garden, Li You went to the vegetable garden.

More tomatoes, cucumbers, and bitter melons were ready for harvest.

He picked them all and put them in the Storage Pavilion.

The loofahs would also be ready to harvest soon. In a few more days, he’d be able to eat some.

As for the other vegetables—lettuce, peas, eggplants, edamame, okra, cauliflower, and so on—they were all growing extremely well, a delightful sight to see.

It was just that they wouldn’t be ready to eat anytime soon.

But that was fine; he just had to wait patiently for them to flower and bear fruit.

Afterward, Li You returned to the front of his shop.

He leaned back in his rocking chair to rest for a bit.

It was market day in town, and the nearby road was abuzz with the lively sounds of daily life as motorcycles, electric scooters, and three-wheelers passed by from time to time.

Soon, Li You spotted a familiar figure: Lin Guodong from Taoshan Village.

Lin Guodong was riding his motorcycle from the direction of the town, likely on his way back from the market.

When he reached the parking area, he turned in.

After parking his motorcycle, he walked over and said, ”Xiaoyou, weren’t you looking to transplant some wild fruit trees? Yesterday, I found a Japanese raisin tree in our village. It’s over three meters tall and looks like a good candidate for transplanting. Do you want to go dig it up?”

”A Japanese raisin tree?”

Li You’s eyes lit up. ’Of course I want it!’

The fruit of the Japanese raisin tree is called a Japanese raisin.

Of course, that statement isn’t entirely accurate. The Japanese raisin isn’t the tree’s true fruit, but rather the fleshy, swollen fruit stalk.

This stalk is plump and twisted, looking a bit like a chicken’s claw or the Buddhist ’wan’ symbol, which is shaped like a swastika.

Therefore, it’s also known as ’chicken claw fruit,’ ’longevity fruit,’ or ’wan character fruit.’

This is the edible part. It’s quite sweet and has a pleasant texture.

The tree’s actual fruit grows at the end of the stalk. It’s a small, nearly spherical drupe.

It’s inedible and inconspicuous.

It’s a very common and well-known wild fruit. Its true scientific name is *Hovenia dulcis*.

However, the name ’*Hovenia dulcis*’ isn’t widely known. Many people wouldn’t recognize it if you said it.

Its nicknames, like ’Japanese raisin,’ ’chicken claw fruit,’ ’longevity fruit,’ and ’wan character fruit,’ are much more famous.

The Japanese raisin tree is a very tall deciduous tree, commonly exceeding 10 meters in height and capable of reaching up to 25 meters.

Transplanting a fully grown adult tree would undoubtedly be extremely difficult.

But now, Lin Guodong was saying he’d found one that was just over three meters tall, which was perfect for transplanting.

’I have to go dig it up.’

’Right now.’

However, Lin Guodong said, ”Xiaoyou, you’re busy, you don’t have to go. I can just dig it up for you. I just stopped by to ask if you wanted it. If you do, I’ll bring it over this afternoon.”

Li You quickly expressed his thanks. ’But how could I trouble him like that?’

Li You said, ”Uncle Guodong, I’m not busy right now. I’ll go with you, and I can bring it back myself. Otherwise, it would be too much trouble for you.”

Lin Guodong nodded. ”Alright, then. Let’s go.”

”Okay!”

Li You got on his motorcycle. Lin Guodong returned to the parking area and got on his as well.

The two of them rode straight to Taoshan Village without any delays.

After entering the village, Lin Guodong said, ”Let’s go to my place first and grab some tools.”

Li You nodded. ”Sorry to trouble you, Uncle Guodong.”

The two of them headed toward Lin Guodong’s house.

They hadn’t gone far when a ”CLANG, CLANG, CLANG” sound echoed from nearby.

The sound was chaotic and rather jarring.

’Could that sound be...?’

A possibility occurred to Li You, and he said to Lin Guodong, ”Uncle Guodong, could that be wild boars in someone’s field?”

Wild boars are medium-to-large mammals. They can grow to be over two meters long and weigh more than 440 pounds.

The largest wild boars can even reach a weight of 1,100 pounds.

That was an absolute beast.

Even a tiger would have to give such a behemoth a wide berth.

Of course, boars of that size are extremely rare. Generally, they don’t exceed 440 pounds.

But even so, wild boars are quite dangerous.

The ancient saying, ”First the boar, second the bear, third the tiger,” doesn’t necessarily mean boars are more powerful than bears or tigers, but it at least illustrates just how dangerous they are.

Wild boars are omnivores that will eat anything, making them highly adaptable. Coupled with the fact that they are a protected species in the country, their population has been on the rise.

They’ve even become something of a nuisance in some areas.

That was the case here in Wenxian Town.

When food is scarce, wild boars are known to raid and destroy crops in the fields.

Their destructive capability is immense. If not driven off, they can completely ruin an entire field of crops.

Therefore, as soon as villagers discover boars in their fields, they immediately try to drive them away.

The most common and effective method is to make loud noises.

Boars are very sensitive to sound and easily frightened by it, making noise a highly effective deterrent.

So, upon hearing the CLANGING from a distance, Li You’s first thought was that wild boars had gotten into someone’s field and they were trying to scare them off.

Lin Guodong nodded and said, ”Probably. Come on, let’s go check it out. See if they need help.”

”Okay.”

The motorcycles couldn’t go in the direction of the sound, so the two of them parked on the roadside and jogged toward the noise.

After rounding a large bend, they saw it: a cornfield near the forest, infested with wild boars.

The corn in the field was almost fully grown. In another ten days or so, it would have been ready to be eaten as sweet corn.

It would be a terrible shame if the boars ruined it all.

”It’s Zhang Zongfu’s field,” Lin Guodong said.

Li You nodded. He could already see Zhang Zongfu, holding an aluminum pot lid in each hand and banging them together, creating a ”CLANG, CLANG, CLANG” sound.

Zhang Zongfu was the one who had asked Li You for help selling a wild Reishi mushroom.

In the end, Li You had bought the Reishi himself and taken it home for his parents to make tea with.

They still hadn’t used it all up.

Besides Zhang Zongfu, another villager named Zhou Yuanji was helping. He was holding a bamboo pole that was split at one end.

He was making noise by striking the split end against the ground.

It was making quite a racket.

They couldn’t see any boars at the moment, but judging by the rustling cornstalks in many different spots, there were quite a few of them in the field—at least seven or eight.

Driving the boars out of the cornfield wasn’t difficult.

However, what Zhang Zongfu and Zhou Yuanji needed to do was not just get the boars out of the cornfield, but drive them all the way back into the forest.

That was the hard part, especially with as many as seven or eight of them.

Because when startled, wild boars don’t obediently run back toward the forest; they scatter in all directions.

They might bolt from one field into another. The more you chase them, the farther they might get from the forest.

So, this cornfield might not have even been where it started. The boars could have fled into this field while the two men were already chasing them.

That’s why it was going to be extremely difficult for just the two of them, Zhang Zongfu and Zhou Yuanji, to herd the boars back into the forest.

Luckily, Li You and Lin Guodong had arrived to help.

However, even with two more people, it wouldn’t be easy.

But at least it would be much easier than before.

Li You and Lin Guodong didn’t hesitate. They began looking around for anything they could use to make noise.

When Zhang Zongfu and Zhou Yuanji saw Li You and Lin Guodong, they were pleasantly surprised.

Finally, someone had come to help.

They had been at a stalemate with the boars for some time, completely unable to drive them back to the forest.

’But what is Boss Li doing here?’

’Oh well. No time to worry about that now. We’ll figure it out after we get these boars back into the forest.’

After finding a bamboo pole, Li You went to help.

When villagers find wild boars, they only ever drive them away; they don’t kill them for meat.

For one, wild boars are a nationally protected species. Hunting them is illegal.

For another, wild boar meat doesn’t taste good.

Many people assume wild boar would be delicious, but that’s not the case.

The meat has a strong gamy, foul, and sometimes even rancid smell. Plus, the texture is tough and stringy, like chewing wax. It’s really not what you’d call tasty.

So, the villagers had no interest in eating wild boar.

Naturally, Li You wasn’t interested either.

Holding the bamboo pole, Li You stood at the edge of the cornfield, smacking the pole hard against the ground while also shouting.

Soon, he saw a wild boar flash past in front of him.

It was black, about a meter long, and probably weighed around 165 pounds.

It wasn’t a large one, but it was a fully grown adult.

Just then, the system’s voice appeared in his mind.

”Random task generated based on host’s current environment.

Task Name: Crop-Destroying Wild Boars.

Task Requirement: Help the villagers drive the wild boars back into the forest.

Task Reward: 1,100 pounds of pork intestines (Quality: Superior).”

The voice was a pleasant surprise for Li You. He hadn’t expected to trigger a random task.

A reward of 1,100 pounds of superior-quality pork intestines—what an incredible surprise!

With these 1,100 pounds of superior-quality pork intestines, he could officially launch the dish Nine-Turned Pork Intestines.

He had been mulling over the problem of sourcing pork intestines for the past few days, wondering if he should spend more time scouring the markets.

The main issue was that he needed at least medium-quality pork intestines.

And while he might get lucky and find some medium-quality ones at the market, the quantity would certainly be small.

So, that was the problem.

He never thought a solution would just suddenly appear like this.

Now he wouldn’t have to go hunting for pork intestines at the market anymore. All he had to do was drive these boars back into the forest.

’This is simple!’

Of course, successfully herding all these boars back into the forest was still not going to be easy.

But Li You was full of confidence. ’Whether these guys want to go back today or not, they’re going back.’

Just then, Lin Guodong also found a bamboo pole and joined the fray.

The four of them formed a semicircle, leaving the opening facing the forest.

They made noise while slowly tightening the circle.

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