Chapter 150 (continued)

After the dogs stopped barking, Shi Wen and Yan Kexing clearly hear that there was only one dog barking on the other side.

Yan Kexing glanced at the dogs in the house and said, "The aggrieved party may have come knocking on our door."

Suddenly, I felt a headache Shi Wen.

It's not a possibility, it's 100% certain that the victim has come knocking on our door.

Shi Wen, "Let's go out and take a look."

They walked outside together and saw a big yellow dog standing outside the ranch, barking loudly at them.

Shi Wen quite familiar with dogs and could tell at a glance that this was a mother dog who had probably just given birth not long ago.

Upon closer inspection, the three puppies that the Wolf King and his pack brought back must have been its offspring, as the two groups clearly shared a high degree of resemblance.

Shi Wen looked at the Wolf King and said, "You guys still have the nerve to argue with them?"

The Wolf King, enraged, barked, "Woof woof!"

The mother dog outside retorted defiantly, "Woof woof woof!"

The two dogs went back and forth, neither giving an inch.

Shi Wen initially thought the Wolf King might have stolen the mother dog's puppies, but now I feel there might be some misunderstanding.

Did the mother dog previously agree to let them take the puppies?

Otherwise, the Wolf King wouldn't have been so confident.

Even the Wolf King has his pride; though somewhat cunning and treacherous, he's not utterly despicable or shameless.

Shi Wen looking at this dog, then at that dog, and couldn't decide what to do.

Even the smartest dogs can't talk and can't explain the ins and outs of a situation.

Shi Wen said to Heiwa, "Go and fetch the puppies out."

Heiwa, Le Wa, Langwa, and Fu Wa quickly ran back and brought out the mother dog's three puppies and the puppy that Cong Zai had brought back earlier.

The mother dog's three puppies immediately started whimpering when they saw her.

The mother dog was reunited with her puppies, and she stopped barking and began trying to nurse them.

The puppies missed their mother, but Shi Wen had already fed them.

Now their bellies are round and plump, and they smell of milk all over. Even if they wanted to drink milk, they couldn't anymore.

They drank a few sips and then climbed all over their mother dog.

The mother dog tried to pick up each of her puppies one by one and get them to nurse properly, but to no avail.

The mother dog's belly started growling, which sounded rather pitiful.

Yan Kexing home and got a new plate, filled it with a large plate of dog food, and placed it in front of the mother dog.

The mother dog hesitated for a moment, glancing at Shi Wen and Yan Kexing several times, then smelling the aroma of the dog food. In the end, she couldn't resist the temptation and started eating.

The dispute was eventually resolved thanks to Yan Kexing of feeding them.

The mother dog stayed at Shi Wen's house for the time being.

It didn't want to go to the livestock shed or enter the house, Shi Wen made a nest for it under the eaves.

The mother dog was still nursing, Shi Wen that they killed a chicken to make chicken soup to nourish her.

The mother dog reciprocated by feeding the puppy that Cong Zai had brought back, Shi Wen no longer needed to borrow goat milk from the herders every day.

The house returned to peace.

This Monday, Yan Kexing came home from work and Shi Wen with Shi Wen, "I might have to go on a business trip and stay away for about a week."

Shi Wen, "I didn't see any business trip plans you had before. Is it an emergency trip? Where are you going?"

Yan Kexing: "We're going to S City. They have a pine nematode disease there, and we need to go to the site to take a look."

Shi Wen before that he was going on a business trip for a week, and I thought he was going abroad, but I didn't expect it to be S City.

Shi Wen, "Which S City? The S City in our province?"

Yan Kexing: "It's that city. They introduced a lot of white pine trees there, saying they wanted to get rich by planting pine nuts. Recently, many pine trees have died. The authorities suspect it's pine wilt disease, but it's not certain yet. We need to go over and investigate."

Shi Wen had never heard of this disease before. "Is it particularly troublesome?"

Yan Kexing: "Yes, some people say that pine wilt disease is like cancer for pine trees. Once infected, it's incurable, and the only solution is to burn the entire tree."

Shi Wen, "Is it that serious? Won't the farmers who introduced pine trees suffer huge losses?"

"Yes, this is a disease that poses a huge threat to agricultural production, so we need to go and take preventative measures," Yan Kexing. "I'm leaving tomorrow and will probably be back on Saturday, or at least next Monday."

Shi Wen, "I'm fine here, you can go ahead and do your work, just remember to keep in touch."

Yan Kexing: "Okay, if there's anything you can't handle on the ranch, hire someone. Don't try to do it all by yourself."

The two exchanged a few words, Shi Wen showed great curiosity about pine wilt disease, even looking up information about it after the meal.

Pine wilt disease is caused by a small nematode called the pine wood nematode. These nematodes have very poor mobility, but they can attach themselves to pine sawyer beetles.

Pine wood beetles can fly and have a wide range of movement. They can carry pine wood nematodes everywhere and make their home on new pine trees.

To treat this disease, the only way is to burn the dead pine trees in autumn and winter. Otherwise, when the weather warms up, the pine sawyer beetles hiding in the pine trees will emerge as adults and carry pine wood nematodes everywhere.

This disease was also introduced from abroad, and it breaks out almost every year.

Their province didn't have this disease before, but several cases have broken out in the last two years.

One reason is that some people collect dried pine wood as firewood and leave it at home for several months. After the pine sawyer beetle emerges, the pine wood nematodes it carries will infect new pine trees, causing a new round of transmission.

In addition to conducting research and investigation in the mountains, Yan Kexing and his team also needed to investigate the situation of farmers and persuade them to cooperate.

Shi Wen the information, Shi Wen suddenly remembered. "There are quite a few dead trees on our mountain, including pine trees. I wonder if they are infected with pine wood nematodes?"

Yan Kexing: "Generally not, we're not in an epidemic area. But you never know, S City isn't too far from here."