Rebirth in the 50s: The Couple with the Hidden Space novel Chapter 453

Chapter 453: Chapter 342: National Mobilization

"Jiao Jiao, I’ll be away for a few days. Be careful."

"Go ahead, I’ll handle everything." Zhou Jiao, holding her son, saw Zhang Guoqing off and walked around the yard, noticing there weren’t any rats at home.

Early in the morning, the broadcast began promoting the dangers of flies, mosquitoes, rats, and sparrows, fortunately also mentioning some hygiene and epidemic prevention methods.

She had memorized this science knowledge by now. Thinking it over, she decided to check on the neighbors, just in case of any mishaps.

"Jiao Jiao, every household has a task. Are you okay handling it alone?" Aunt Wang next door stood at the gate, looking at her worriedly.

"No problem, look, Aunt Wang and the others are coming over. I’ll see what they have to say first."

The street committee’s Aunt Wang and others were notifying households for inspections at this moment.

A few days ago, after newspapers reported activities being launched everywhere, every street and grassroots unit in the county town began taking action earnestly.

For the past two days, posters promoting the campaign could be seen everywhere on the streets, and the bulletin boards came up with various ideas, filled with all kinds of content.

At the county town’s temporary command center, Zhang Guoqing had been immersed in busy work for three consecutive days — the entire unit was on duty around the clock without breaks. He was too occupied to attend to matters at home, following Zhao Dashan and Zuo Lin to register and coordinate personnel.

The health committee staff started promoting safety and hygiene across different areas from dawn, urging people to maintain cleanliness and bathe frequently, not just to eliminate flies, mosquitoes, rats, and sparrows, but also to eradicate lice and fleas.

Over the days, the whole city, young and old, were eager and ready, responding in droves. Every household was busy eradicating lice and fleas or checking for rat holes.

After cleaning their interiors, people climbed trees and rooftops while children waved flags below. The elders cooperated by beating gongs, iron pans, iron buckets, and lunch boxes—anything that made noise—and shouted loudly.

The poor sparrows had never seen such a spectacle, flying haphazardly with no place to land, eventually falling exhausted, eliciting waves of cheers and shouts from the crowd.

In the open fields and wastelands of the suburbs, haystacks were piled, and people resorted to various methods to catch sparrows as they descended, such as starting wildfires, shouting, and beating drums. The dense forests were engulfed in smoke, and every weakened sparrow and crow was bagged, with sparrow eggs on the trees emptied clean.

Every evening, the street committee began organizing a uniform mosquito fumigation. At the command, every household closed their doors to exterminate mosquitoes and guarded rat holes.

Through the smoke, scurrying rats on the streets were killed wherever they were seen. Groups of schoolchildren out on holiday eagerly searched for rats and pests around house corners, street sides, and public toilets. For a time, dead rats and flies became treasures, and cries of surprise and joy echoed from all corners.

After three days, the results of this vigorous campaign came out, and the tasks were handed over to the health committee. Once the temporary command center was dissolved, Zhang Guoqing hurried home.

Any task for his wife was manageable—except for the rats—he reckoned there was no way to complete the task at home, unsure of how things had been at home these past days.

As night fell, many students, still in groups, chased the few surviving sparrows in the trees along the road, terrifying the poor sparrows so much that they soon fell to the ground.

This sight delighted the children, causing them to leap with joy. Compared to the other three pests, people preferred to deal with sparrows—as they could be braised, stewed, or barbecued; small as they were, they were still meat dishes.

Once he reached the yard, Zhang Guoqing immediately called out for Zhou Jiao, inspecting the house worriedly, but everything seemed as usual. He felt slightly relieved and headed towards the lit kitchen.

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