My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 131 Changes
Besides clothes, bedding also needs to be washed and re-washed. The sheets and curtains were bought before the house was built, but things like the bamboo grates in the kitchen need to be new.

We also need to weave two more sets of fences and straw mats, which are for the poultry, dogs, and cows at home. The current ones are too worn out and can only be used as a temporary solution.

A new home should have a fresh look; we can't just make do with what we have.

When you add it all up, there are quite a few odd jobs and miscellaneous tasks.

But Wang Susu enjoyed it.

Unlike Chen Ling, she was always on the go.

I always have to keep my home tidy, otherwise I won't feel at ease.

At first, Chen Ling also advised her to take a break, but after several attempts, Wang Susu just smiled and agreed.

The next day, the work continued as usual.

Over time, Chen Ling got used to it and simply stopped saying anything more.

However, some tasks didn't need to be finished immediately, so Chen Ling would deliberately pull her to his side, read the newspaper to her, or read a few pages of a novel to her, so that she could listen to a story and relax.

Wang Susu knew his thoughts, but she always let him have his way. Her husband doted on her and treated her well; she only felt happy and blessed, so how could she refuse?

Over time, the couple's relationship deepened and they became more in sync.

On August 12th, after seeing Wang Qingwen off early in the morning, Wang Susu prepared to go to the fields with Chen Ling to weed. The peanuts and soybeans in the fields had been planted for a month, each covering a little over two mu (approximately 0.16 acres), which wasn't a lot, but they had been busy since harvesting the vegetables and hadn't paid much attention to them.

It's time to weed and water the plants.

"Zhenzhen, your brother-in-law and I are going to work in the fields. Do you want to come?"

"I'm not going, sister. I want to go play with Xizi and Liuni."

With Wang Qingwen gone, Wang Zhenzhen was no longer restrained. She happily changed into new clothes and sandals, and like a little colt, skipped and hopped out to play with the village children.

"You're not allowed to play by the water, understand?"

"I know, don't worry, brother-in-law."

This girl arrived in the village and within two days she had become friends with the village children. She spent all her time playing and causing trouble with Liu Nier and the others. A couple of days ago, she climbed a tree and got stung on the leg by a ticklish lizard. With Wang Qingwen around, she didn't dare to make a sound, afraid of being scolded. When she secretly told Wang Susu about it at home, her calf was swollen quite a bit. In the end, she applied some medicine and the pain subsided. She then took Heiwa and Xiaojin to chase pheasants and rabbits, which made the children all like to play with her. They would come to call her every day before they had even finished eating.

She has now become the leader of the little girls in Chenwangzhuang.

Chen Ling was amazed several times, thinking that with this girl's crazy spirit, it was no wonder she could save more than fifty yuan just by catching scorpions.

Wang Susu just felt that her younger sister was always playing around here, and she didn't know how to explain it to her parents.

But she couldn't bring herself to scold her younger sister.

"It's okay, let her play. In a couple of years she'll be a grown-up, and she won't have the chance to play like this anymore."

Chen Ling smiled at his wife and said, "Zhenzhen is very smart, so you don't have to worry about her studies all the time. Tomorrow I'll go to the county town to ask around at the schools. If there are no problems, I'll send her to school after the Mid-Autumn Festival. She'll only have one more month to play. With this girl's intelligence, her studies will definitely not be a problem."

"Know it."

Wang Susu wrinkled her little nose at him and handed him a straw hat.

She just felt that her younger sister had been playing for too long. After a two-month holiday, there was a flood, and school hadn't started yet. She was always running around playing and had probably forgotten everything she had learned before. If she was left unchecked, her sister would really have to repeat a grade.

Then he glanced at the two dogs that had already slipped outside the door and called out, "You two, don't rush off to run around like crazy. Help herd the rabbit into its burrow first."

Now the three litters of baby rabbits are all over a month old, and they can't stay in the nest; they always want to run out.

When the young couple is at home, it's fine to let them out for a while. With Heiwa and Xiaojin helping to watch over them, they won't run away.

But it's not possible to go out. There's no main gate now, only a fence. The gaps in the fence are large, so even if the drain is blocked, they can still escape through the gaps.

Just before leaving the house, I herded them all back to their nests and blocked them out with a fence.

However, there were just too many rabbits, nearly forty in total, big and small. It was too much trouble for her and Chen Ling to catch them. They would block one side and run to the other. With the help of the two dogs, it was much easier.

Wang Susu led the two dogs into their den, went back inside to fetch a full jug of cooled boiled water, and Chen Ling went to lead the cow and carry a hoe. After Wang Susu came out with the jug and locked the door, the two of them headed towards the fields.

Recently, every household in the village has built a new house. Except for a few old houses that no one takes care of, the rest have been built into brick and tile houses. Looking around, all you can see are blue bricks and black tiles, courtyards and steps, arranged in a neat and beautiful way.

Compared to before, Chenwangzhuang has also taken on a new look.

Outside the village, there were many people working in the fields. The corn had grown to waist height, and it was time to irrigate it again.

This year, the old river bend has been widened again, and the nearby gullies are full of water, making irrigation more convenient.

On the slopes, cotton and sorghum are planted. At this time of year, some families are bending over in the fields to pluck and top the cotton plants. This is the same principle as plucking the tops of watermelon vines. If cotton plants are not topped, they will have fewer side branches and will grow upwards instead of producing cotton bolls properly. This will greatly reduce the yield of cotton and affect the harvest.

The young couple walked along the country road and could definitely feel that things were very different from before.

You'll often hear someone greet you after just a few steps, and even from a distance, people will call out to you. You can exchange a few jokes with them, and you'll find yourself surrounded by warm smiles.

Fortunately, Chen Ling has adapted now and is no longer impatient. When they encounter someone talking, they will stop and chat for a while. They walk and stop along the way, and when they reach their own fields, the young couple will chat about the situation of this family and that family in the village.

While talking, he worked quickly and before he knew it, he had cleared the weeds from more than half an acre of land.

It was already noon by then, and this was the speed Chen Ling was getting as skilled at farm work as he progressed. After all, it wasn't physically demanding work, and brute force wouldn't work, so it was quite time-consuming.

However, the two of them were young and strong, and worked much faster than the average person. Moreover, they were nourished by the water and food from the cave every day. While an ordinary person could do the work of three-tenths of an acre in half a day, they could weed and clear away nearly an acre of weeds in half a day.

Looking up at the sun, they estimated it was past noon. The two of them had planned to divert water from the ditch at the foot of the mountain to irrigate the peanuts and soybeans, but it seemed they would have to wait until the afternoon.

If it were just the young couple, it wouldn't be a problem for them to finish watering the plants and then go back to eat. The key issue is that the sister-in-law is there, and they can't let her go hungry.

After putting down their hoes, the two sat on the edge of the field to rest for a while. As they were drinking water, they suddenly heard Xiao Bai mooing at the foot of the mountain. Wang Susu hurriedly got up and went over. What she saw immediately startled her.

"Ah Ling, look! There's a head here that looks like something."

Chen Ling walked up and took a look. It was called a head, but it was actually half of an animal skull. It wasn't very big, and you could still see the teeth inside. It was dirty and lay quietly by the ditch. Although it was dried out and didn't smell bad, many flies were still swarming around it, reluctant to leave.

"Could it be leftovers from the wolves?" "I reckon so, there have been more and more wolves in the mountains lately."

Chen Ling looked around and then reassured his wife, "Don't worry, it's nothing serious. There are plenty of dogs in our village, and they'll bark if there's any noise. It's impossible for a wolf to sneak into the village quietly."

"No, that's not it. I'm worried that if we build a farm here and raise some animals, the wolves might come down from the mountain and cause trouble."

Wang Susu said with a worried expression.

After all, with nearly two baskets of chicken and duck eggs every month, and a litter of quails and rabbits every month, the space at home was definitely not enough. Since Chen Ling said he wanted to build a larger one in the field, she agreed.

With more and more wolves appearing on the mountain, people are starting to feel uneasy about what to raise.

Even if wolves can't get in, constant harassment is still not good, as it can easily frighten poultry and livestock.

Poultry are prone to stopping laying eggs when startled, and sometimes they may even fall ill. Diseases in poultry are highly contagious and can cause large numbers of deaths if not carefully managed, resulting in significant indirect losses.

Even if livestock are slightly better off, they're not much better off. Pigs and sheep, which are naturally timid, are easily frightened by wolves and can become ill. It's common for them to go without food or water for days. In short, having many wolves in the mountains is a troublesome matter.

Wang Susu's concerns are not unfounded.

“It’s nothing. We talked about this a few days ago when we celebrated the completion of our house. Uncle Wu also said that things can’t go on like this. He plans to help us apply for a few more hunting rifles before our team goes hunting in the mountains. Let’s not worry about anything else, let’s first give the wolves in the surrounding mountains a good beating until they are scared and dare not come down the mountain again.”

Chen Ling smiled and comforted his wife.

With so many men from the village suddenly going into the mountains, leaving behind the elderly, children, wives, and kids, how could they feel at ease? Dealing with the wolves was something they had planned for a long time.

Otherwise, villagers wouldn't dare to go into the mountains alone now. They'd be terrified if they wanted to collect some herbs or hunt some wild animals to make money. How could that be allowed?
It's better to drive the wolves away as soon as possible.

Hearing Chen Ling say this, Wang Susu breathed a sigh of relief and felt much more at ease.

Seeing this, Chen Ling smiled, took his wife's hand, and called to the little white ox to walk home.

"Let's go home and cook. It's past midnight, Zhenzhen must be starving."

"Ah."

……

Weeding and watering, I was busy all day.

As the sun was about to set in the evening, the young couple took shovels and filled and blocked the irrigation ditches that drew water from the ditch to irrigate the fields with soil.

After weeding and watering the fields today, the thin peanut and bean seedlings all stood up straight.

The vegetable garden was also watered, of course.

Besides the chives that have sprouted again, a few pumpkin plants have also appeared out of nowhere in the field. Perhaps this is partly due to the watering Chen Ling did earlier. Wang Susu steamed two pumpkins that evening; they were fragrant, soft, and sweet, and very delicious.

The pumpkin porridge I cooked was also very fragrant and sweet.

As for other vegetables, such as green beans and loofah, Chen Ling stopped watering them. Even if they grew back, they were already old, and the vines were starting to wither and turn yellow. Wang Susu picked them to keep as seeds, and kept the loofah pulp to wash pots and pans.

The next day, Chen Ling was going to the county town to help Wang Zhenzhen with her schooling.

Some families who knew about the trip in advance came to Chen Ling early in the morning, hoping he could inquire whether their children could go as well. They didn't want their children running around all day, and besides, they were going into the mountains in a few days, leaving only the elderly and wives at home. The children were willing to do anything for fun, and if something happened while they weren't watching them, it would be too late to regret it.

It's better to send them to school where teachers will take care of them and it will be less of a hassle.

Chen Ling agreed to all of these requests and built a house for him, which helped him get closer to most of the villagers. Such interactions were not a bad thing.

After seeing the visitors off one by one, Wang Susu went to the fields to graze the cattle and cut grass for the rabbits. In the afternoon, she would do chores around the house. Otherwise, it would be too hot in the afternoon, and there would be few people working in the fields. If wolves came down from the mountain, and her fields were far from other people's fields, she would be in a real predicament.

Chen Ling wasn't in a hurry to go to the county town because Wang Lixian's fifth daughter had been admitted to university. The admission notice had just been delivered a couple of days ago. However, due to the special circumstances this year, the start of the semester was delayed by a month and would not begin until after the Mid-Autumn Festival. But getting into university was still a great joy.

Especially when a college student comes out of a mountain village, it's a big deal, and it's definitely something to celebrate.

Wang Lixian had already notified everyone who needed to be notified about the banquet. Today was the day to go to the county town to collect the bonus. Wu Nier's score was high enough, and the school hadn't missed reporting her, so she was eligible to receive the money. However, he wasn't good at dealing with government officials and was afraid of saying the wrong thing, so he wanted Chen Ling to accompany him.

Chen Ling had nothing to say, so he stayed home and waited for him to go to the village committee to get the letter. He fed the rabbits at home, then went to the lotus pond to add two spoonfuls of stream water and fed the fish in the pond some bread crumbs.

The pond not only contained the fish Han Chuang had brought, but also all the red eel fry from their old fish tank. At first, Wang Susu was reluctant to put them in, since they were valuable and she was worried they would burrow and disappear. However, Chen Ling said they wouldn't grow big in the fish tank; after three months, they were still only a hand's length long. Since no one was willing to pay for them, it was better to put them in the pond.

Later, they put two fish in first, and after seven or eight days they grew quite a bit. Only then did Wang Susu agree. Now, when Chen Ling came over to add water and feed them, they swam to the surface of the water along with the other fish, creating a vibrant red expanse. Each of them was about thirty centimeters long, which was quite a sight.

After admiring the fish for a while, Chen Ling released the pigeons from the cave. They hadn't been cared for for some time and were getting restless inside. As soon as they were released, they flew around the whole courtyard and finally landed on the roof. They walked back and forth along the eaves, cooing incessantly, but refused to come down. So Chen Ling simply left them alone.

Besides the pigeons, the eggs of the red-bellied pheasants have also hatched into chicks, but not for long. In just over a month, they haven't grown much and aren't as bright and beautiful as adult red-bellied pheasants.

Chen Ling didn't plan to release the red-bellied pheasant; releasing it would be too conspicuous and troublesome, so it was better to keep it for his own enjoyment.

"Fugui, the letter is ready, get ready to leave!"

"coming."

Wang Lixian opened the letter and called him over, and the two of them went to the county town together.

The matter was completed smoothly in a short time. When he returned, Wang Lixian was so happy that he bought some good cigarettes and wine, as well as more than ten catties of pork, planning to invite people over that night to celebrate for his daughter.

"Fugui, if you're free this afternoon, come over early. Let's slaughter a sheep together."

"Row."

Ever since Wang Lixian's ram was castrated, it has grown incredibly fast. Just then, Wu Ni'er got into a good university, and he was overjoyed. He had originally planned to save it until the end of the year to sell it, but now he's slaughtering it to celebrate.

On August 13th, Chen Ling took his wife and sister-in-law to Wang Lixian's house for a meal. It was just the group of close friends there, with no outsiders, and the lively atmosphere lasted until late at night.

As a result, on August 14th, two more families had babies and were holding full-month celebrations. Both were young people, and after resuming contact with Chen Ling, they came to invite him over.

So Chen Ling had nothing else to do these past two days but take his wife and sister-in-law to eat at each other's homes, having a great time until the Mid-Autumn Festival.

(End of this chapter)