His shop at the entrance of the residential complex is called "Auspicious Tea House." Young people love to have afternoon tea there, or find a quiet place to work. Elderly folks drink tea, play chess, and chat idly—they can also go to his place. There are private tea rooms, so everyone can enjoy themselves without disturbing each other.

When Henry Clark took out the tea canister, Jack Grant immediately forgot all about the mouse troubles.

"Some kind of... unknown farmhouse tea?" Henry Clark didn’t recognize the tea, and Uncle Ya hadn’t said what kind it was.

In the morning, Henry Clark had tried a small amount of the tea with his breakfast. It had a strange, refreshing sweetness and was especially invigorating. Other than that, he didn’t notice much. He wasn’t a tea enthusiast.

Jack Grant took it with both hands and examined it, much more seriously than when he took that bottle of purified water.

The tea canister was divided into several layers. Only the top layer held tea leaves; the lower layers contained unknown substances—some powder, some granules. Jack Grant guessed they were probably for "removing heat" from the freshly made tea leaves.

"Could it be some secret traditional tea-making method?" Jack Grant said.

"I have no idea. The whole process takes about two hours," Henry Clark replied.

"Done in just two hours?" Jack Grant thought to himself: That sounds a bit rough.

But Jack Grant liked all sorts of novel tea-making methods, and after smelling it just now, he felt that this wasn’t low-quality tea.

"The person who made the tea said to let it sit for two days before brewing," Henry Clark said.

"Got it, I understand. I’ll set aside William Reed’s share for him," Jack Grant said, carefully putting it away.

"By the way, I’ve arranged with William Reed to go fishing this weekend. Are you coming? A few from our residential fishing group, including Mr. Turner, mentioned it when they came to my shop for tea yesterday. There’s an ecological reserve not far from Yongcheng—you know the place. There’s a farmhouse restaurant outside the reserve. Mr. Turner said it’s great to spend the weekend there. I’m planning to take my parents for a couple of days; things have been too stressful lately. William Reed said he wants to do some photography, so we made plans together. Are you coming? My parents will go pick vegetables, which I’m not interested in, so the three of us can go fishing!"

Henry Clark recalled his previous fishing experiences: "Fishing? The kind where you cast a hundred times and don’t catch a single fish?"

"Hey, this time it won’t be like that! Mr. Turner said the fishing there is amazing!" Jack Grant opened a video to show Henry Clark.

In the video, the residential fishing group had indeed made a great haul, and the atmosphere was lively.

Considering his own situation, Henry Clark said, "If I’m free this weekend, count me in. Do we need to bring our own fishing rods?"

"Bring one if you have it, if not, just rent one there. We’re just going for fun this time, unlike Mr. Turner and the others who go often, so renting is fine. They have all the fishing gear for rent, and bait is sold there too."

"Alright."

After Jack Grant left, Henry Clark checked several air conditioner vents at home but didn’t see any signs of mice. Looking at the owners’ group chat, the queue for in-home pest control appointments was already booked until next week.

Henry Clark searched online and found that all the pest control companies were extremely busy and required appointments—who knows when it would be his turn.

He decided to give up on calling pest control for now.

After a while, Henry Clark searched on his phone: "natural enemies of mice"

The search results showed:

[Cats, snakes, eagles, weasels, humans, etc.]

Henry Clark then searched: "natural enemies of snakes"

The search results showed:

[Eagles, honey badgers, mongooses, humans, etc.]

Henry Clark stroked his chin: "Humans really are at the top of the food chain!"

Suddenly, he felt a sense of reassurance.

I’m a human, not a snake—the top of the food chain! What am I afraid of!!

Putting those thoughts aside, Henry Clark planned to drive to the supermarket to stock up on supplies. Since the old butler said he’d be experiencing some changes soon, it was better to go out less these next couple of days. If the changes were too drastic, he wouldn’t join Jack Grant and the others for the weekend farmhouse trip.

He put on his mask and took the elevator straight to the underground parking lot.

He hadn’t been home the past two days, so the car hadn’t been used.

Unlocking the car and getting ready to get in, Henry Clark suddenly paused.

He closed the car door, opened the trunk, and took out a reinforced long-handled grabber. He’d bought this two years ago and had only used it less than five times; it had always been kept in the trunk.

After thinking for a moment, he also took a pair of gloves from the glove box and put them on.

He walked to the front right wheel of the car, stepped back two paces, then suddenly stomped his foot and quickly reached out with the grabber!

"Squeak!"

Chapter 10: Expert

Excluding the tail, the big rat was half again as long as an adult’s palm, and at this moment was firmly clamped in the jaws of the long-handled grabber.

The reinforced grabber was anti-slip, anti-escape, and had a strong grip. Even though the big rat struggled desperately after being caught, it couldn’t break free and could only squeak loudly.

Henry Clark was in no hurry to drive off now. He carried the rat with the grabber and headed toward the property management office.

The property management was responsible for handling any rats caught by residents, dead or alive, to prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses and avoid greater harm.

Not far from Henry Clark’s parking spot, in a car parked there, the person in the driver’s seat stared wide-eyed, jaw almost dropping to the floor. Silently, he mouthed: "Whoa!"

He pulled out his phone and sent a voice message: "Honey, let me tell you, there’s a badass in our complex! Just now, I saw him walking around his car with a long-handled grabber, then suddenly stomp his foot and strike! Whoosh! He caught a rat in one go!!"