My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 106 Wild Pigeons

The children, their little heads tilted back, surrounded Wang Susu. Although their faces were all dirty and their money containers were all tattered, their eyes were bright and clear...

This scene made Wang Susu's heart burn and her nose tingle. She was both surprised and moved. However, when she saw Du Juan coming out of the house, she quickly wiped her eyes and said, "Auntie, it's alright. Please put the money away. How could I spend your money?"

The little children looked at each other, then shook their heads at Wang Susu, stubbornly refusing to retract their heads.

Helpless, Wang Susu had no choice but to squat down and patiently explain to them.

However, she didn't notice that Du Juan had already taken out a camera from inside the house and taken a picture of the scene. After taking the picture, she saw Chen Ling looking over, smiled at him slightly, raised the camera and took another picture, this time including him in the photo as well.

Seeing this, Chen Ling smiled at her and said, "Go ahead and take the pictures." Actually, what he had just witnessed, let alone Wang Susu, had touched him deeply. He thought to himself, "After all, it wasn't for nothing that I treated these mischievous kids so well." Children are always the most innocent; if you treat them well, they will naturally care about you and be willing to share their best with you.

So he walked over to Liu Nier and the others, pressed his palms against their little heads, and pulled out a radish for each of them.

"Where did all these mischievous kids get their money? They probably stole it from home."

"No, that's not true. I saved this up from selling scorpion and cicada shells last year."

Liu Ni'er immediately pouted and retorted.

"Mine too."

"Me too."

Chen Ling exaggeratedly opened his mouth wide: "Wow, you can make a fortune catching scorpions? Take me with you sometime!"

"Sure, I can take you with me, but Uncle Fugui, you have to listen to me. I know where there are lots of scorpions."

Upon hearing this, Liu Nier immediately puffed out her chest: "I caught more than fifty one night last year. If my father hadn't called me home, I could have caught a hundred."

"So many? Okay, okay, I'll follow you and listen to you."

Chen Ling smiled and nodded.

Wang Susu watched from the side and couldn't help but smile.

In fact, once summer arrives and the busy farming season is over, not only do the children catch scorpions at night, but the adults do too.

Staying at home on a hot day makes it hard to sleep, so going out to catch scorpions not only keeps you cool in the mountain breeze, but you can also sell them for money—a win-win situation. Besides, scorpions are quite valuable at this time of year. When they're expensive, they can sell for two cents each at the market, but when they're cheap, they're sold by weight, regardless of size. A pound of scorpions is about ten yuan, and an ounce of scorpions contains about twelve or thirteen, so a hundred scorpions can sell for about eight or nine yuan.

That was quite a lot in those days; it could buy at least three pounds of pork.

So if you go and look around in May or June of the lunar calendar, you'll see that the village, the surrounding area, and even the mountains are filled with flashlights and torches at night. From a distance, it looks like the Japanese devils are invading the village.

However, catching scorpions depends on the year. In some years, scorpions crawl everywhere, even in the cracks of walls in houses, and you might even get stung if you're not careful when you go to the toilet. But in other years, you can hardly see any scorpions. You have to turn upside down the piles of rocks in and around the village, or even go up the mountain to look for them, but you can't find them no matter how hard you look.

There's no need to worry about it in years like this; it will naturally increase again in a couple of years.

"Come on, let's go catch shrimp. In order to get you to take me to catch more scorpions in the future, I've decided to cook some big shrimp for you today."

Chen Ling got up, called out to the children, then slung his basket over his shoulder, picked up his net, and prepared to go to the reservoir to catch crayfish.

Upon hearing this, the children's eyes widened, and they burst into cheers, overwhelmed by the sudden surprise. Liu Ni'er, who had been craving shrimp for ages and dreaming of eating Chen Ling's shrimp, couldn't resist any longer. She took off running at full speed, excitedly swinging the wine box in her hand as she ran towards the reservoir, shouting, "Shrimp catching! Shrimp catching! Uncle Fugui is going to make us shrimp!"

"Sixth Sister, Sixth Sister, don't run so fast, put the money down first."

Seeing that the child was only focused on running out and didn't even put down the loose change in the wine box, Wang Susu swung her arm and rushed out.

After calling and shouting, they finally managed to get the child back. Then they had the other children put the money in the yard before going to the reservoir to catch a basket of crayfish.

"Huh? The cuckoo's gone?"

"I wanted to invite him to stay for dinner, but he said he had a burst of inspiration and needed to go back to paint, so I couldn't insist he stay."

"Okay then, once you've cooked the shrimp, send some over."

"Ok, I know."

……

Next, while Chen Ling was cleaning the crayfish, the children took some water from Wang Susu's laundry, added some soap, and blew bubbles in the yard while watching Chen Ling cook. However, they weren't very steady with their bubbles because Heiwa and Xiaojin had never seen them before and were very curious. Often, when the children managed to blow a big bubble, the children would bite it and pop it. Even if the bubble floated up, it was useless because the two children would chase it around the yard, jumping and biting it into their mouths. In the end, they naturally didn't get anything.

The two dogs tilted their heads in frustration, looking around but unable to figure it out. They barked anxiously and circled around Liu Ni'er and the others, making the little children giggle and blow bubbles even more enthusiastically.

But after playing for a short while, the aroma of crayfish began to waft out. At this point, the children had no interest in playing anymore and just stood around outside the kitchen, swallowing their saliva longingly. Even Heiwa and Xiaojin stopped paying attention to the strange bubbles and squeezed to the side, wagging their tails and whimpering.

"Alright, Uncle Fugui, if it doesn't come out of the pot soon, I feel like the aroma is turning into worms that are going to crawl holes in my stomach."

"Wait two more minutes, just count to one hundred silently." After waiting and waiting, the count to one hundred was finally finished, and the crayfish were ready. The little kids were already drooling, and they didn't care if it was too hot to handle. They rushed to grab the crayfish, sucking on the steam and gnawing on them. They completely forgot about the crayfish eating method that Chen Ling had instructed them on beforehand. The bright red broth and the fragrant meat made them eat with great relish, and they wished they could eat the shells and claws as well.

However, the little ones had too small an appetite. After wolfing down three or four, they couldn't eat anymore. So Chen Ling picked some lotus leaves and wrapped some up for each of them to take back.

As for the rest, Wang Susu can send it to Du Juan. The couple has been eating meat for a while now, so they'll just make a couple of bowls of noodles to finish the meal.

……

Before they knew it, it was the 20th of the fifth lunar month. Nearly ten days had passed since the burglary at Chen Ling's house. Chen Erzhu hadn't made any moves, but Sun Yanhong showed up. She came to Chenwangzhuang and settled the half-month's wages that Chen Erzhu owed the villagers. Perhaps this woman knew that Chen Erzhu's reputation in the village was bad. Without saying much, she handed the money to Wang Laishun to distribute to the villagers and left.

To everyone's surprise, that night the woman secretly came to Chen Ling's house. Knowing that the family had no red eels for sale, she offered five thousand yuan. Unfortunately, Chen Ling didn't flinch at the price and kicked her out of his house. Sun Yanhong had no choice but to grit her teeth and offer eight thousand. When that wasn't enough, she offered ten thousand, almost matching the price offered by Shanmao.

However, Chen Ling still refused, forcing Sun Yanhong to plead with him using all sorts of sweet talk, and she even almost knelt down before him, but in the end, he showed no sign of relenting. Helpless, Sun Yanhong could only slink away under the cover of night.

Chen Ling had always been puzzled by this matter, wondering why his wife was so obsessed with their eel. It wasn't until a few days later, when Wang Jusheng brought Da Tou over to play, that he heard a rumor: Sun Yanhong's brother had fallen from power, and Er Zhu had committed many bad deeds over the years; this time he'd be locked up for a long time, and they'd even heard that the sand quarry in the county had been reorganized. Only then did Chen Ling begin to understand.

"This thing, could it be a gift for an official?"

Standing around the tank of red eels, Chen Ling was puzzled. Although it sounded absurd, the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. After all, how many strange things had officials done? Otherwise, why would Sun Yanhong have gone to such lengths to come all the way here after seeing his two strange red eels, and offer such an exorbitant price of two thousand yuan on her first visit? Later, when she refused to sell them, Chen Erzhu even came to steal them twice. Going to such lengths, she certainly didn't intend to take them home to keep as pets. This wasn't the future, where they could be kept as rare species and have some ornamental value.

"But the fact that this woman came over to help that bastard Erzhu settle his wages shows that she still has some conscience."

Chen Erzhu's reputation was already bad, but after Chen Ling made things difficult for him last time, which became known to everyone in the village, it became even more infamous. It even brought up the dirty deeds his father had done back then, which were being talked about over and over again.

So much so that Qin Dongmei was too scared to leave the house for half a month. She kept the doors and windows closed every day, and even when she went out to empty the swill, she would sneak out late at night, afraid that outsiders would find out that she and Chen Erzhu had something going on. After all, she could manage to live like this behind closed doors, but if people really found out, not only would she not be able to stay in Chenwangzhuang, but she would also be too ashamed to go back to her parents' home.

It's fortunate that she didn't go out much before, and she always relied on Qin Qiumei and Wang Chunyuan's abilities and didn't take the villagers seriously. Otherwise, gossip would have spread long ago. Even if they didn't know about her affair, they would still bring up the story of Wang Chunyuan raising a child several times.

There's nothing we can do about it; the countryside lacks everything except gossipy old women.

Shaking his head, Chen Ling stopped thinking about these miscellaneous things and, taking advantage of Wang Susu's absence, put the two red eels into the cave.

These two red eels were first caught from the reservoir and grew to over 40 centimeters in less than a month, and even produced fry. But now, after being released for almost a month, they have hardly grown at all, still only about 40 centimeters long. I don't know if the water tank is too small, limiting their growth, or if this is the only size they can grow.

According to Chen Ling's own guess, it was probably because the tank was too small. The eel fry in the cave had grown to about 40 centimeters long and had produced a lot of fish eggs in the past two days. However, the nearly 100 fry in the outside only grew to a little over 10 centimeters and then stopped growing. This was largely due to the fact that there were too many fish and the tank was too small.

So Chen Ling took the two red eels he had caught at the beginning into his cave. He dug several water channels, each about twenty centimeters wide, behind the thatched hut and put the eels in them. Since the eel fry in the cave had all grown and laid eggs, he took out two more that were about the same size and replaced the two red eels. Deep down, he didn't intend to sell these two strange fish. First, he was reluctant to part with them, and second, he always felt that there was something wrong with these two fish; they seemed to be even more special than the red eels that grew from the eel fry that came later.

After all, the eel fry in the cave had produced eggs after they grew up, and a lot of foam was very obvious. He really didn't notice any signs of these two strange fish having produced eggs. He had searched the tank many times, but there was no trace of eggs. It was as if the fry had been produced overnight. Thinking about it, it was indeed very strange, so he decided to just leave them.

After dealing with the red eel problem, Chen Ling dug up two cans of earthworms and went into the cave to feed the few 'birds' in the thatched hut. Now these little guys are plump and have grown feathers. He then realized that these little guys were not ordinary birds, but pigeons. Half a month has passed since they hatched, and Chen Ling has gone from doubt to confirmation that they are ordinary wild pigeons. Since no one in Chenwangzhuang raises pigeons, he doesn't know which wild pigeon nest the weasel stole these eggs from. After seeing him pick them up, the weasel didn't throw them away and sent six more home.

This guy can drive wild pigeons crazy by stealing them.

Wild pigeons don't look much different from domestic pigeons. Unlike doves, which can lay ten broods a year (like a sow), wild pigeons only lay two or three broods a year, with a maximum of six eggs per brood before starting to incubate. During this time, they are also affected by the environment, weather, and predators, so very few baby pigeons survive.

"The house is lively enough now, so let's stay in the cave for now. Once the Red-bellied Brocade eggs hatch, they can keep you company."

Chen Ling stroked the newly grown short feathers of the little pigeons for a while until they all comfortably closed their eyes and dozed off, then he stopped. After cleaning up the pigeon droppings, he left the cave.

As soon as we emerged from the cave, we saw Little Yellow and Little Fatty, along with three little yellow weasels, wreaking havoc on the birds in the trees. Little Fatty was carrying a naked baby bird in his beak, which had just hatched from some nest.

When Little Yellow saw Chen Ling looking over, it nimbly jumped down from the branch and landed on his shoulder, chirping and sniffing his ear, only to be slapped away in disgust. The little creature knew that sniffing ears and noses would make people itchy and uncomfortable, so it always played like that with him.

"You rascal, just like you say, 'speak of the devil and he appears.' I was just saying I didn't know where you got those pigeon eggs from, and here you are, coming to our house looking for food."

Chen Ling tugged at its two little ears and said.

Although there are fewer magpies around the yard now, there are more and more other birds. There are three or four bird nests in the Chinese toon tree outside the yard, and there are more in the old locust tree outside the back yard. It has really become a base camp for birds, but it has also indirectly benefited Xiao Huang and his family.

This season is actually the happiest time for birds. The newborn grasshoppers and crickets in the fields are exceptionally tender, and there are also various green caterpillars and even scattered wheat grains in the ridges. There is no shortage of food, so many birds choose to hatch their young in late spring and early summer.

But these birds made a mistake by building their nests outside Chen Ling's yard. The five members of the Xiao Huang family visited every day, eating either bird eggs or chicks. They lived a very comfortable life, practically becoming free food. The birds, for some reason, remained foolishly guarding the yard and refused to leave, which allowed the three little yellow weasels to have meat at every meal and grow fatter and fatter.

At this moment, the three little weasels saw their father standing on Chen Ling's shoulders and tried to imitate him by jumping down, hoping to get on Chen Ling's shoulders as well. However, these clumsy little weasels were too awkward and fell to the ground one after another, landing with big splits. They didn't seem to feel any pain after falling, blinking their big, beady black eyes blankly and innocently. They called out to their parents twice, but when they saw that Little Yellow and Little Fatty didn't pay any attention to them, the little creatures squeaked and rolled around on the ground, feeling wronged.

"Uncle Fugui, Uncle Fugui, let's eat dinner early tonight, and then we'll go catch scorpions."

Outside the courtyard, Liu Ni'er, having finished school, ran like the wind with a group of other children carrying their schoolbags. As she passed by her house, she didn't forget to call out a couple of times into the yard.

"understood."

Chen Ling responded, picked up the little weasels and brushed their fur. These three little guys were quite sturdy. They ate and drank at home every day, and they ate a lot of food mixed with stream water. Otherwise, they would have been injured long ago from falling so many times.

(End of this chapter)