Chapter 205 (continued)

He soon discovered that no wild birds dared to fly over anymore.

Even if wild birds fly over and land on the orange branches, hazel grouse will quickly come and drive them away, especially the male hazel grouse, who cannot tolerate other birds at all.

Hazel grouse cannot fly long distances, but flapping their wings, they can easily fly 10 to 20 meters.

When wild birds come by, no matter where you land, they will chase and peck at you, forcing you to fly away again.

Hazel grouse are effective at scaring away wild birds.

Qing Mengzhu watched from a distance, feeling very gratified.

Now that the oranges are ripe, the hazel grouse can be sent to look after them. Later, when the persimmons, blueberries, figs, and other fruits ripen, the hazel grouse can be herded over in the same way.

Anyway, they'll keep raising hazelnuts, so they won't have to worry about not being able to find hazelnuts when they need them in the future.

After saving the oranges, Qing Mengzhu breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, Qiongwei City sent him some ryegrass, which he took to his backyard and planted.

Ryegrass is very resilient. After planting it and watering it with Spirit Spring Water, the leaves of the ryegrass turned lush and green the next day.

The Guard and Dharma Protector saw that he planted ryegrass and sometimes went to the backyard to eat it.

The red fox and the otter soon discovered this as well, and would also sneak over to graze.

Qing Mengzhu saw it but didn't care; after all, they weren't herbivores and wouldn't eat much anyway.

Ryegrass is so resilient that it doesn't matter if it gets nibbled on a few times; it will grow back quickly.

Qing Mengzhu raises hazel grouse on the mountain, geese by the pond, and now only some ducks in the backyard; the goose pen and hazel grouse pen are empty.

The place where he planted ryegrass was the chicken coop, and the goose pen next to it used to be planted with watermelons.

His watermelons are growing very well; they've already borne fruit, with round watermelons hidden under the leaves, slowly accumulating sugar.

This patch of watermelons is just for our own consumption; we're not aiming for high yields.

A while ago, when the watermelons were just starting to form small watermelons, Qing Mengzhu thinned out the fruit, removing the excess small watermelons to prevent too many watermelons from competing for nutrients and resulting in the ripe watermelons not being sweet enough.

Therefore, the watermelon vines in the pen ultimately did not produce many watermelons.

Qing Mengzhu carefully tended to the plants, planning to pick them when they were at their peak ripeness and enjoy them slowly.

Unexpectedly, when he went to the backyard to water the rye grass that day, he happened to see the Dharma Protector and his Guard jumping out of the goose pen.

The goose pen, duck pen, and hazel grouse pen were all surrounded by fences because they could fly. When Qing Mengzhu built the fences, they were quite high, each row of fences was more than a meter high, reaching up to his chest.

This height should be enough to keep out most creatures, but I didn't expect it to be completely useless against his two dogs.

The two guys leaped over it effortlessly, like hurdles.

Qing Mengzhu looked at them.

They also saw Qing Mengzhu, and when their eyes met, a guilty expression instantly appeared on their faces.

The Guard didn't even dare to look at Qing Mengzhu. They only exchanged a glance before quickly lowering their heads, never daring to look in their direction again.

If she had only a premonition before, now Qing Mengzhu could tell from their expressions that they had definitely done something bad.

The two dogs tried to escape, Qing Mengzhu called out to them, "Stop!"

The two dogs froze, their legs still in motion, heads bowed, completely still.

Qing Mengzhu: "I'll see what kind of mess you've made before I deal with you."

The Dharma Protector licked his lips, and the Guard made a soft "whimpering" sound from his nose.

Qing Mengzhu opened the door and went over to the goose pen, carefully inspecting the watermelon patch.

At first, he didn't realize what the problem was.

The watermelon patch is fine; the number of watermelons hasn't decreased, and there are no signs of the leaves or vines being chewed.

Qing Mengzhu wondered if she had wrongly accused the two dogs.

He turned his head and saw that both dogs had lowered their ears, their guilty expressions clearly visible from hundreds of meters away.

They wouldn't have this expression if they hadn't done something wrong; they must have done something wrong and he hasn't discovered it yet.

Qing Mengzhu suspected that the two dogs had hidden something in the watermelon patch, such as something from someone in the village. However, upon closer inspection, she discovered that they had not hidden anything.

They just quietly ate a few watermelons.

I don't know which dog was the most cunning, but instead of eating the watermelon from the surface, they dug a hole in the bottom and ate it directly.

The flesh of the melon was all eaten, but the rind was still intact, so it was impossible to tell from the outside. Naturally, he didn't notice anything unusual when he first checked it.

Qing Mengzhu laughed in exasperation, pointing at the two dogs. "You two are something else, you've even learned how to use a sneak attack?"

The two dogs lay on the ground, their ears sticking out, not making a sound; one of them was playing dead.

Qing Mengzhu scolded them, but couldn't do anything about it. In the end, she had no choice but to punish them by making them squat in the corner of the yard and not allow them to go out to play today.

After disciplining the dog, Qing Mengzhu picked two of the ripest watermelons from the watermelon patch.

It has to be said, a dog's nose is incredibly sensitive.

When they cut the watermelon that evening, the watermelon split open with a crack as soon as the knife touched it, and the whole yard was filled with the fresh aroma of watermelon.

Qing Mengzhu never expected watermelon to smell so good. It was a fragrance similar to cucumber, but completely different. Even before tasting it, just smelling the aroma made her feel that the watermelon would be delicious.

Looking at the cut watermelon, Qing Mengzhu exclaimed in surprise, "Is this what makes 'Fine Grade' watermelons so unique?"

Ming Chunxi: "Is this the best quality watermelon we've gotten this year?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, the watermelons we ate the last few times weren't of Fine Grade."

Qing Mengzhu spoke, she picked up a slice of watermelon, handed it to Ming Chunxi, and then took a slice for herself and took a bite.

A fully ripe watermelon is very sweet and refreshing, without any of the musty taste that comes from watermelons that have been sitting out for too long. It's light and refreshing, and not at all cloyingly sweet.

Qing Mengzhu felt that the fragrance of the melon was like the April breeze, which made him feel refreshed.

He sat down on the recliner and took another big bite. "Delicious!"

Ming Chunxi: "Watermelon soaked in well water is also well-soaked; it's refreshing but not cold."

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, it's cool and sweet. When I was cutting it, I was thinking of only cutting it in half and saving the other half for tomorrow, but it looks like we should be able to finish it."

Ming Chunxi looked at the two dogs who were still facing the wall in repentance. "Give some to Little Fox and Little Otter later."

Qing Mengzhu glanced at the two dogs out of the corner of her eye. "Okay."

The two dogs looked dejected and depressed. They had made a mistake and didn't dare to be affectionate, so they could only lie on the ground without moving, even their eyebrows looked dejected.

Qing Mengzhu and the others finished eating most of the melon, they took two pieces to feed the red fox and the otter in the back.

Red foxes and otters can also eat watermelon. Eating watermelon is good for supplementing vitamins, and there's no problem as long as you don't consume too much.

These two little guys really love watermelons, especially the red fox, who even put its paws on Qing Mengzhu's hand, eating watermelon while making "whimpering" sounds, acting very affectionately.

With the two dogs gone, it seemed even happier, almost dancing with joy.

Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi finished feeding the red fox and the otter, they went home. The two dogs only glanced at them and didn't even move from their spots.

Qing Mengzhu walked over. "Do you still dare to do it?"

Neither dog dared to make a sound. The Guard glanced at Qing Mengzhu, then placed its paw on his arm and rested its forehead against his upper arm. Although it didn't make a sound, it was using its body language to be affectionate.

Ming Chunxi didn't speak up for them, but she reached out and patted Qing Mengzhu on the back, using her actions to plead for them.

Qing Mengzhu said sternly, "This is your first offense, so I'll let you off this time. But next time, you can't eat alone, and especially you can't steal food, understand?"

The two dogs sensed his softening attitude and started whimpering.