My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 119 The Great Family

The weather is terribly hot, so Chen Ling's family has been having lunch quite late these past few days.

In fact, under normal circumstances, if they are not doing physical labor, many farmers are not willing to cook at noon. Firstly, the kitchen is too hot, and secondly, it is more comfortable to eat cold food.

Even if someone cooks, they usually just boil some noodles, rinse them in cold water, mix in some chopped green onions and minced garlic, and drizzle some soy sauce on top—that's enough for a meal.

In other words, Chen Ling and his wife were unwilling to compromise, and they still prepared their lunches properly every day, even in the sweltering heat.

When he got home, Wang Susu was picking green beans in the shady spot next to the grape trellis. The green beans grown at home are grown without pesticides, making them green and environmentally friendly. However, they have many insect holes, so the green beans need to be soaked in cold water for about half an hour until the green caterpillars can't breathe and crawl out of the holes before picking them, which takes a lot of time.

"Susu, let's not work hard at noon today. I caught a badger. Let's go to Brother Xian's house for lunch."

Chen Ling called out as soon as he entered the room.

He doesn't know how to handle this; you should ask Wang Lixian to do the butchering and skinning.

It's hot and I don't feel like cooking, so I can go out and get a free meal.

"Huh? A badger?"

Wang Susu looked up and noticed that Heiwa was carrying something that looked like a piglet in his mouth. She got up, wiped her hands on her apron, and came over: "Is this a badger? Where did you catch it?"

"It's right there in the bushes by our field. This thing is really destructive; it dug out a huge hole."

Chen Ling shook his head and smiled: "Luckily we found out early, otherwise we would have suffered a lot after we planted peanuts and soybeans."

"Is badger meat edible?"

“It’s edible, not only edible, but I heard it’s really delicious. Brother Xian caught one before, he has experience, so it’s sure to be fine to let him handle it. We’ll also go to Brother Guoping on the way to get some seasoning to remove the fishy smell, then everything will be fine.”

"Otherwise, it's so hot, it'll rot in half a day and attract flies, and then we won't be able to eat it even if we want to."

"Okay, I'll tidy up the house first, then we'll go."

Heiwa listened to the story but didn't hear it mentioned. He put down the badger and barked at Wang Susu. He even ran up to her and jumped around her, showing off that he had caught the badger.

Seeing this, Xiao Jin couldn't stand its smugness, so it chased after Heiwa and started biting him. In no time, the two dogs started running wildly around the yard, scaring the quail that was incubating eggs and the rabbit that had just given birth, making them bark in fright. These two were the tyrants of the house, and they couldn't afford to mess with them.

"Alright, alright, it's so hot, you two stop fooling around. Drink some water to cool off, then come along for a free meal."

Chen Ling shouted a warning, then walked to the hand pump and filled a large basin with cold water for the two dogs to quench their thirst and cool them down.

As a result, Heiwa, that silly fellow, wouldn't drink water properly either. After taking a few sips, he put his big head in the basin and refused to come out, constantly bubbling and spitting out bubbles, making it impossible for Xiaojin to drink water. Xiaojin kept barking at him.

Until Chen Ling scolded him with a dark face: "Heiwa, if you don't behave, not only will you not get any meat today, but you won't even get any bones left."

It then glanced at Chen Ling guiltily, shook its wet head lightly, pretended to be obedient and continued drinking water, and then occasionally stole a glance at Chen Ling. Whenever he wasn't paying attention, it would blow two bubbles with its nose, having a great time.

Little Jin was too lazy to pay attention to it or complain, so it went to drink water in the lotus pond next to it, instead of staying with Blackie.

Wang Susu sprinkled some cold water near the rabbit burrow and fed the rabbits some grass. After returning from the county town, the rabbits dug a hole in the southeast corner of the yard. The mother rabbit gave birth to three litters of baby rabbits a few nights ago. Now, there are about thirty rabbits in the house.

Moreover, rabbits reproduce quickly, usually producing a litter in less than two months. Chen Ling's rabbits reproduce even faster, and it's estimated that they will produce a litter every month. It's foreseeable that selling eggs, duck eggs, rabbits, and quails every month will become a considerable source of income for the family.

"This guy is really on the rise as a large-scale farmer."

As Chen Ling watched Wang Susu put up the fence next to the rabbit hutch, the same feeling rose in his heart once again.

"Why don't we leave Heiwa at home to guard the house?"

Wang Susu washed her hands and said, "Little Huang and the others might come to our house at any time. Those three little things are always causing trouble. They used to run into the rabbit burrow and make a ruckus all the time. It would be bad if they were bitten to death."

Never underestimate animals during their nursing period. Whether it's a pet rabbit or a wild rabbit, they are extremely protective of their young. During this sensitive time, once provoked, they will fight to the death. In particular, female rabbits are irritable and easily angered after giving birth. They are also timid and easily frightened by the slightest noise. They will whimper if strangers approach. Not only female rabbits, but male rabbits are also prone to going berserk and biting people.

I heard that Chen Ling's family had baby rabbits before, and the little kids even came to see them. But they were quite frightened by the angry rabbits, so the young couple had to fence off the rabbit hutch to prevent them from being further agitated, since quite a few families still come to their house to fetch water during this time.

"It's alright, Little Yellow and Little Fatty know what's good for them. They won't dare come when we're not home."

Chen Ling glanced at Heiwa's suddenly pitiful little face and said with a smile.

These days, every household in the village is building houses and no one is leaving them unattended. Without him and Wang Susu at home, the weasels don't dare to show their faces at all.

"That's true."

Wang Susu nodded, then turned around to get the key, locked the door, and went to Wang Lixian's house with Chen Ling and the two dogs.

They arrived just in time; Wang Lixian's entire family was there.

Not only Wang Lixian's mother, but also Erni'er and her son-in-law, as well as Si'er and Wu'er, were there. The group was picking vegetables and talking under the shade of the trees in the open space outside the door, clearly not having started cooking yet.

"Auntie, how's your stay at Sister Lihui's house?"

When Chen Ling saw Aunt Wang there, he pulled Wang Susu over to greet her.

Aunt Wang and Aunt Wang were sisters-in-law, but they had a falling out over dividing their property and hadn't spoken to each other for most of their lives. They didn't even exchange information about funerals or weddings, so you could say they were no longer related.

They were closer to Wang Lihui and Wang Limin's side, who didn't share the same grandfather. Chen Ling and the others called Wang Lihui's parents "Third Uncle" and "Third Aunt," but Wang Lixian and the others called them "Second Uncle" and "Second Aunt." This meant they bypassed Wang's Second Aunt, who should have been the second oldest in the Wang family, and didn't acknowledge her side.

"Fu Gui Su Su, you've arrived."

Aunt Wang was a short old woman with half-white and half-black hair. She had no teeth when she smiled and spoke with a slight lisp.

Hearing the noise, he looked up and saw the young couple. He quickly stood up from the stone outside the door, leaning on his cane.

"Li Hui's son just got a baby girl, and she's so fussy. I can't eat or sleep well there. It's not as comfortable as home."

"In the end, there's no place like home. Then the flood came, and I couldn't stay any longer, so I just packed my bags and left, hahaha..."

Aunt Wang laughed as she spoke, then took Wang Susu's arm and led her into the courtyard.

"Come inside quickly, come inside quickly."

"It's been a while since I've seen you two, young couple. I've heard Lixian and Liuni talking about you a lot. We'll have lunch at home today."

Chen Ling laughed when she heard this: "We came here just to freeload a meal."

He pointed to the two dogs behind him and said, "I just caught a badger today, but I don't know how to deal with it, so I asked Brother Xian to help me kill it."

When Aunt Wang looked back, she was startled to see that it was Heiwa carrying the badger. She exclaimed in surprise, "I've heard that you have two big dogs, but I didn't expect them to be this big! This badger must weigh twenty or thirty pounds, and this dog carries it as if it's no effort at all."

"Does the dog not bite?"

Chen Ling hurriedly waved his hand: "I won't bite, I won't bite. I wouldn't dare take someone who bites out."

Aunt Wang nodded, then called out "Lixian, Yuzhi" a few times to summon the people out.

As they were talking, Erni'er, along with her son-in-law, Si'er, and Wu'er, had already gathered around. After greeting Fugui as Uncle and Susu as Aunt, they stood by and stared curiously at the badger.

Seeing this, Aunt Wang smiled and said, "Badgers are a rare sight these days. Last time, your Dada caught one, and our whole family ate until we were stuffed. The meat of this thing is like dog meat, and it's very filling."

Wang Lixian also came out. Hearing this, he nodded silently: "The badger is quite meaty. The meat is firm and mushy. It makes you feel bloated after eating it. Last time I ate half a bowl and it kept me full for two days before I felt hungry again."

"What? Two days? Nada, you haven't eaten for two days straight?"

Erni's son-in-law asked in disbelief, finding it too exaggerated.

Wang Lixian shook his head: "We were working back then, how could we not eat? We drank vegetable porridge every meal. We just couldn't eat steamed buns or noodles." "It just so happens that your Uncle Fugui brought some today. You can try it today and you'll know what's going on."

These words made Erni's son-in-law chuckle. He had drunk with Chen Ling twice and was quite mature for his age. He said to Uncle Fugui, "Hurry up and tell Heiwa to put the badger down. I want to help Wang Lixian kill it."

Before he could finish speaking, Erni grabbed his ear: "Didn't you see that even Uncle Fugui didn't dare to kill himself? Why are you joining in? You're just showing off."

Everyone laughed when they saw this.

Chen Ling then told Heiwa to put the badger down, picked it up, and followed Wang Lixian into the yard: "This is a male, and it smells very strong. I went to Brother Guoping's house to get some medicine, and we'll kill it to remove the smell first."

"That's great, I'll go sharpen the knife."

Wang Lixian nodded and went into the kitchen to find a knife.

Then the two squatted under the jujube tree in the yard and began to pluck the fur and skin. At this point, Wang Lixian's experience became apparent. He removed the anus and other organs before scalding the fur. The badger's strong smell comes from these parts. After scalding with hot water, it will be rinsed and marinated with clean water later. If it is not cut off in advance, the hot and cold water will lock the smell in the meat and prevent it from dissipating.

However, badgers do produce a lot of meat.

After peeling off the skin, there is first a thin layer of muscle, followed by a thick layer of fat. This fat can be extracted to render oil. Underneath the fat are delicate, rosy muscles and bones, with little bone and plenty of meat, which is very pleasing to the eye.

After the abdomen was cut open, Chen Ling smelled an even stronger stench of mutton. The internal organs and intestines were naturally discarded, but Wang Lixian kept the heart meat, saying that it was also a medicinal ingredient.

Chen Ling didn't understand any of this, but he watched with great interest and kept it in mind so that he could handle the badger on his own next time he caught one.

……

After processing the badger and marinating it in seasoning water, the group went outside to cool off in the open space.

"Fugui, have a bowl of cold noodles first. Lixian has said it several times, and he knows you have a big appetite."

Upon seeing Liu Yuzhi carrying out a porcelain bowl of noodles, Aunt Wang said...

"It's alright, ma'am, I'm not hungry yet."

Chen Ling smiled and said, "Auntie, just have half a bowl to eat. We'll be eating meat later."

"Haha, I've almost lost all my teeth, why would I eat meat?"

The little old lady was small in stature, but her laughter was hearty: "Besides, it's so hot today, and my stomach can't take it when I'm old."

Chen Ling agreed, and immediately stopped trying to persuade her. Then, looking around, he suddenly noticed that Liu Nier, that mischievous monkey, hadn't shown up. He wondered where Liu Nier was and asked her.

"He ran out this morning, who knows where he went and went crazy, he didn't even come home after eating."

Wu Nier served Wang Da Niang noodles, handed her two peeled garlic cloves, and then turned to Chen Ling and said, "Uncle Fu Gui, don't worry about him. He'll regret it if he doesn't get to eat meat."

"Haha, this girl Liu Ni'er won't be able to sleep tonight because she can't get any meat."

Chen Ling was also amused.

Wang Lixian's daughters at home are all quite sensible, thanks to the good upbringing they received from Wang Lixian and Liu Yuzhi. No matter what outsiders say about Chen Ling, they always address him as "Uncle Fugui," just as they always have.

Chen Ling is of the same generation as Wang Lixian, so the younger generation doesn't covet her.

“When did Wu Ni’er come back? I saw your father and mother calling the city a while ago. I didn’t notice you were home.”

"I haven't been back for more than a few days. Before that, I stayed at my aunt's house in the city for a while and helped take care of the baby."

"Oh? Sister Lijuan has grandchildren too?"

"That's right, they're twins, a boy and a girl."

Then Wang Susu asked Wu Nier how she did on her exams this year and whether she was confident about getting into a good university.

"Of course I'm confident. I've been studying day and night to bring honor to my parents and to take them to live in the city so they can have a better life."

"Let Sanni'er, that ingrate, see what I'm capable of."

Wu Ni'er was quite lively, chattering away.

But when he got emotional, he clenched his fists tightly, and his eyes filled with tears.

Seeing this, Wang Susu quickly pulled her over and comforted her.

This girl has short hair that reaches her ears, tied in a small bun at the back of her head. It's not hard to guess that she cut it short before because she was afraid it would affect her studies, but now that she's finished her exams, she's going to grow it long.

Wang Lixian's five daughters were all good-looking, with regular and pretty features. The villagers said that except for Sanni'er, they all looked like Wang Da Niang. Sanni'er was the best-looking, as she resembled Liu Yuzhi.

Today, Chen Ling took a few glances and found that although these girls had different temperaments, they all looked about six or seven points similar to Granny Wang's features.

"That bastard Sanni'er, if she's so capable, she can never come back. If she dares to come back, I'll break her legs."

Wu Ni'er was still holding her anger in and couldn't let it go.

Sanni'er was stubborn from a young age. As she grew up, she loved to dress up, didn't study properly, and liked to go out and have fun with the boys in the county. She became more and more materialistic and looked down on her parents, especially her mute mother, Liu Yuzhi. In the end, she ran away and never came back.

"Stop it. Your Uncle Fugui has finally brought your aunt here. He should be happy about it. Why are you saying all this?"

Wang Lixian couldn't stand it anymore and glared at them.

Aunt Wang also said, "San Ni'er may be ignorant, but are you ignorant too?"

"When your Aunt Su came over today, she didn't say anything happy, but only talked about the bad things."

Seeing that his daughter-in-law wasn't there, he lowered his voice and said, "Your mother cries whenever she thinks about Sanni'er. Don't mention it anymore. If you make your mother cry and ruin her health, I won't let you off the hook."

Wu Ni'er responded in a muffled voice, then smiled apologetically at Chen Ling and his wife with tears in her eyes, ran home and washed some peaches for them to eat.

Chen Ling and his companion didn't stand on ceremony; they thanked them and accepted the package.

She could only sigh inwardly, thinking that Xian Ge's family had probably already lost faith in San Ni'er.

She hadn't been home for several years and hadn't sent a single letter. According to Wang Susu, Liu Yuzhi initially cried incessantly when she saw Sanni'er's clothes and bedding. Later, she cried so much that she hurt herself and neglected the farm work at home, so she forced herself to stop thinking about it.

As an outsider, he couldn't really say anything about this. With so many children in the countryside, it's inevitable that all sorts of troublesome things will happen; it's nothing new.

The group chatted as they waited for the badger to be pickled.

Soon after, the sound of a baby talking could be heard.

Chen Ling laughed and said that it must be Liu Ni'er who came back. The child came back just in time. The badger was almost pickled, and he rushed back.

But after waiting and waiting, Liu Nier did not appear.

When he could no longer hear voices, Wang Lixian knew something was wrong, so he frowned, stood up, and searched around with Chen Ling.

After walking a few steps outside, sure enough, a small head quickly shrank back behind a big tree.

"What are you hiding for? Come out."

Wang Lixian's face darkened immediately.

That mischievous boy hasn't dared to go home for ages; he must have gotten into trouble again.

(End of this chapter)