My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 152 Sugar Bubbles

The peculiar smell initially resembled that of rotten apples, but it was mixed with an indescribable, strange fragrance that was actually quite pleasant. However, the more one inhaled, the stranger the smell became, with a slightly pungent odor that made one want to sneeze after a while. Chen Ling rubbed his nose, his curiosity piqued. He looked left and right, searching carefully, but still couldn't pinpoint the source of the smell.

"What is this weird thing? I can't find it anywhere."

Chen Ling frowned and muttered to himself.

He glanced at the sun; it was still early. However, he still needed to make a trip back to the small valley he had come from. He didn't know what this thing was, but since he hadn't found it, he decided to give up. There were always plenty of strange things in the deep mountains.

With that thought in mind, he prepared to leave.

Unexpectedly, when Heiwa saw him doing this, he also started sniffing around, then tilted his head, barked at him, and ran off into the wild bamboo forest.

"Did we find it? Dogs really do have a keen sense of smell."

Chen Ling glanced in the direction he was looking; it was quite close, so he followed.

As soon as they left, the squirrel stopped pretending to be dead, jumped up from the ground, and darted up a tree. It hid among the branches and leaves, secretly watching the departing man and dog. When it saw that they seemed to be really gone, it poked its little head out and looked around curiously.

...Chen Ling followed behind Heiwa, and as they got closer, the smell became stronger and stronger.

This is another stream nearby, with a small and slow flow, and the terrain is much lower than other places. Looking up and around, all you can see are green mountains, dense forests and vegetation, and wisps of mist drifting among the mountains in the morning.

Heiwa leaped over the weeds and bushes, sniffing intently in the woods. Chen Ling followed and took a look. It turned out to be a small wild fruit grove, with a thick layer of ripe fruit on the ground. The fruit was about the size of a baby's fist, pear-yellow in color, and very round in shape, but most of them were already rotten.

As Heiwa walked along, he trampled on a lot of things, which immediately intensified the smell and made his eyes water.

So that's the smell of rotten wild fruit...

Chen Ling was a little disappointed.

He took another deep breath and sniffed carefully. It smelled both fragrant and foul, with a strange and strong odor that made him sneeze several times in a row.

Unable to contain his anger, he quickly withdrew, realizing he had brought this trouble upon himself.

"Heiwa, it's time to go."

Chen Ling called out and prepared to leave with the dog, as the smell was just too strong.

Heiwa was quite oblivious; despite being choked and sneezing repeatedly, he excitedly ran around inside, sniffing the ground with his big head down, picking out intact fruits, and crunching them down in a few bites, juice splashing everywhere.

Even though he was choking and his nose and eyes were running, he refused to go outside.

He shook his big head and then continued to search for good fruit to eat.

Chen Ling called its name, and it only looked up once, then ran to him with a fruit in its mouth, placed it at his feet, and then turned and ran back to continue rummaging around.

This left Chen Ling completely bewildered: "Is this fruit really that delicious?"

Bending down to pick up the fruit at his feet, Chen Ling's eyes lit up when he smelled it. The intact fruit was indeed very fragrant. He wondered what kind of wild fruit it was, as the aroma was too strong.

However, since Heiwa had brought it, he pinched his nose and went back into the woods, where he picked two ripe fruits from a tree.

These wild fruit trees look quite old, with cicada shells crawling all over their trunks and branches. Their roots, beneath the fallen leaves, are thick and gnarled, breaking through the ground. However, the trunks are neither thick nor tall, resembling low, vigorous old peach trees.

Chen Ling picked two fruits, wiped them, took a bite, and found that the flesh was yellow with a hint of red, had no sour taste, and was soft, sweet, and fragrant.

After chewing it for a while, he found it to be very sweet, like sugar or honey, juicy and delicious, which really brought him a pleasant surprise.

"What kind of wild fruit is this? I've never seen it before."

After eating a fruit, Chen Ling noticed that the pit was quite large. He examined it closely and then looked at the wild fruit tree covered with bright orange-yellow fruits, but couldn't figure it out.

However, since the taste was good, the pits were thrown into the cave, and once all the fruits were harvested, they were planted in a unified area.

"It's time to go, Heiwa. Enough with the talk, or you'll get a beating."

Chen Ling gave a shout and started walking forward.

Hearing that he was about to get a beating, Heiwa hurriedly ran over.

However, as soon as it ran out of the wild fruit grove, it stumbled, then barked twice in a mournful manner before collapsing into the bushes.

Chen Ling turned around and was shocked.

"Heiwa?!"

Heiwa's appearance terrified him. Could this fruit be poisonous?
But as soon as he approached, Heiwa suddenly stood up, shook his big head violently, his fur trembling, then tilted his head and glanced at him, his eyes hazy, his legs wobbling as if he couldn't stand very steadily.

He struggled on, but after only two steps, he staggered and collapsed to the ground.

Upon seeing this, Chen Ling became even more anxious and hurriedly pulled it into the cave.

I thought to myself, "This is way too toxic."

Even Heiwa, who had been raised in the cave to be as big as a calf, was poisoned.

I won't dare to eat random things in the mountains anymore.

The scene before my eyes suddenly changed.

A man and a dog appeared beside the stream in the cave. Chen Ling bent down, scooped up a handful of water, and sprinkled it into Heiwa's mouth. The dog had its eyes closed and its tongue sticking out. Upon tasting the refreshing and sweet stream water, it smacked its lips, slightly opened its eyes, glanced at Chen Ling, licked his hand, then yawned widely before closing its eyes again.

"You silly goose, all you do is eat random things. You'd better learn your lesson this time."

Seeing that Heiwa didn't seem to be in any trouble, Chen Ling cursed him irritably.

But soon, he suddenly frowned and sniffed hard.

"The smell of alcohol is so strong..."

Chen Ling fanned himself in front of his nose, then his expression suddenly changed, and he couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"Could it be... that this idiot isn't poisoned, but just drunk?"

This is incredible; who gets drunk from eating wild fruit?

Chen Ling bent down and sniffed Heiwa's head; sure enough, the smell of alcohol was very strong.

How strange!
Does eating too much of that fruit cause you to get drunk, just like drinking too much alcohol?
But I've never heard of such a strange fruit growing in the mountains.

Chen Ling kicked Heiwa twice, and saw it roll over, its tongue lolling out as it continued to snore. He felt a wave of helplessness.

He immediately stopped paying attention to it and left the cave in the blink of an eye.

Enduring the pungent smell, Chen Ling entered the wild fruit forest again. He looked around and found nothing special except for these wild fruits.

As for that so-called monkey wine, it might be made up, or it might actually exist, but it certainly doesn't exist in this place.

So Chen Ling picked a whole bunch of fruit from the tree, ready to try it himself and see what it was like. The first time he ate it, it tasted good, but after eating too much, it became cloying and even made his teeth ache.

That's not the point. The point is that after eating several fruits in a row, Chen Ling really felt that slightly tipsy feeling after drinking alcohol.

After eating two more, I burped and a strong smell of alcohol really rose up from my stomach.

I took a careful sniff.

This made him beam with joy.

"What a magical fruit! Eating too much of it can actually make you drunk. I wonder what it will become if we put it in the cave to cultivate it."

"Will I get drunk after just one bite?"

"If this were brewed into wine, its aftereffects would be incredibly potent."

Then, on a second thought, he realized he still needed to go to the small valley to collect that kind of stuff. He immediately clapped his hands: "What a coincidence! Now I have both alcohol and cigarettes."

He was initially attracted to the valley by the orchids that were everywhere, but later, after being reminded by Chen Dazhi, he learned that many wild tobacco plants also grew there.

He himself doesn't like smoking.

Carrying cigarettes is a social habit.

But if tobacco leaves are properly cultivated and transformed into something beneficial to health, that would be a good thing.

Besides orchids and wild tobacco leaves, Chen Ling also marked akebia quinata, kiwifruit, plums, hickory nuts, and wild sunflowers.

These are all good things.

Whether they sell for money or not doesn't matter, the important thing is that they all taste delicious.

Chen Ling traveled alone, collecting all these things into his cave.

We'll make arrangements for planting tonight.

Otherwise, if they grow into a messy, chaotic pile, it's quite a nuisance.

When he finished doing all that and headed towards his destination, Heiwa had sobered up considerably. However, after Chen Ling released it from the cave, it still walked unsteadily, its tongue lolling out, like a drunkard, running around and acting crazy everywhere.

The birds and small animals in the forest were startled and scattered in all directions.

As they approached their destination, Chen Ling decided to ignore it and let it cause trouble.

When they returned, Chen Ze was already cooking on a simple stove made of stones. Chen Ling glanced at it and saw that he had boiled a pot of wild yams.

It's alright, a simple breakfast is not bad.

After chatting for a while, everyone noticed Heiwa's unusual behavior and asked what was wrong. They went outside for a walk and found that the big dog, who was perfectly fine, was acting like he had an epileptic seizure.

Helpless, Chen Ling recounted the story of that strange wild fruit.

Everyone was dumbfounded after hearing this, saying they had never seen such a thing before.

Only Chen Dazhi's expression changed, and he said, "You mean sugar bubble tea? There's very little of that in this mountain."

"What is that? A sugar bubble?"

The name left everyone completely bewildered.

“If you call wild fruit that can make you drunk by eating too much of it, I certainly won’t say anything. How can this be called sugar bubble? Uncle Dazhi, you must have made a mistake.”

"That's right, Uncle Dazhi, don't pretend you know what you're talking about. You've never eaten it but you're saying you have."

"Hey, you bunch of brats, who hasn't eaten this? Why can't it be called 'sugar bubble'? Go back and ask your mother. It's incredibly sweet when you eat it, the whole fruit is like a bubble of sugar, and after you eat it, it turns into a belly full of wine, and when you mix them together, it's just like sugar bubble wine."

“During the famine, we ate everything. We searched for all the edible things in the mountains. Many people in our village have eaten this stuff, and the older folks all know about it.”

"But once this thing is ripe, you'll get drunk if you eat too much of it. When it's not ripe, it's like wild hawthorn, sour it makes your teeth ache. You can eat as much as you want without getting drunk, as long as your teeth can handle it."

Chen Dazhi replied indignantly.

When the crowd heard him say this, most of them believed him.

Turning their heads to look at the "sugar bubbles" with curiosity, they all said, "Fugui, you didn't pick many either, otherwise we would definitely have to try them."

"I forgot about that. There are definitely more in the mountains. We'll definitely run into some. If not, we can pick some on our way back. I left a mark."

Chen Ling said that he was in a hurry to go to other places and didn't have time to pick any more.

After eating so much, feeling tipsy and smelling the alcohol, I left the room and ignored it.

"Just leave a mark. These things were rare before, and I haven't seen them for many years now."

Chen Dazhi rolled a cigarette and tucked it behind his ear: "Even if we go deeper into the mountains, we might not be able to run into it."

"Back then, we went into the mountains to find food and encountered this place. We were starving, so we ate a huge meal, which felt like we had drunk two jin of sorghum liquor. We almost didn't make it out and were eaten by wolves. Later, I heard from the old folks that this thing was called 'sugar bubble,' and it was very rare in the mountains. Wild animals dared not eat it, because if they got drunk, they would just wait to die. Even so, without wild animals to harm it, the tree didn't grow well and remained a small tree for decades."

When he said that, Chen Ling felt that it made sense.

After chatting and having breakfast, we set off again.

The weather wasn't very good today; the sun only came out for a short while before the sky turned gloomy.

The weather turned bad, and their luck seemed to be affected as well.

In the morning, they only caught some small game such as pheasants and wild ducks. Wang Lixian did find some traces of prey, but he came up empty-handed and didn't catch a single thing.

Let Xiao Jin smell the scent, but this time Xiao Jin can't smell it either.

With no other option, the group slaughtered the wild ducks and began preparing lunch.

Wild ducks are cheaper than pheasants.

Everyone was focused on eating the cheapest foods.

Like Chen Dazhi, he was afraid that if he couldn't catch any more prey, he wouldn't even be able to bear eating the wild ducks.

Then he went off to lead the dog to catch mountain rats again.

After a while, when the mountain rat was not caught, they heard urgent barking from the dogs.

Chen Ling had good eyesight. He glanced over there and saw Chen Dazhi standing face to face with several other men. They weren't villagers who had come into the mountains; they were unfamiliar hunters.

They quickly called Wang Lixian and others over.

"Woof woof woof!" Upon seeing so many people appear together, the dogs opposite suddenly went wild, barking incoherently and becoming extremely aggressive.

Upon closer inspection, there were five people, led by an elderly man. Behind him, several men carrying hunting rifles stood on rocks by the water. They were accompanied by about ten mongrels, standing together in the current and barking at them. However, these dogs seemed to have been specially trained, baring their teeth and looking ferocious.

Chen Ling's dogs were not to be trifled with either; they rushed up and blocked the water's edge, barking wildly.

Not to mention Heiwa and Xiaojin, these village dogs have all fought against wolves, so why would they back down?
The dogs on both sides barked more and more fiercely. Since their side had Chen Ling's two dogs as their backbone, they didn't panic much. As long as the two dogs didn't move, they didn't move either. Finally, the dogs on the other side couldn't hold back any longer and rushed up aggressively to bite.

Without Heiwa and his companion's help, the other dog couldn't withstand more than a few bites before it was bitten and whimpering incessantly. It tucked its tail between its legs and ran to the hunter on the other side, whimpering softly and looking at them fearfully.

At this moment, the old man gently scolded the pack of dogs, saying, "Dazhi, Lixian, these dogs in your village are quite fierce. Aren't there hardly any hunters left in your village? Why are you keeping so many hunting dogs?"

"They're not hunting dogs. Only my own dogs have been trained; the others are just family pets for guarding the house..."

Wang Lixian walked up to them, and while speaking, he glanced behind them without making a sound. He said with some surprise, "Uncle Guangli, you have quite a lot of prey. Five of you have caught more than ten of us."

When Chen Ling and the other young people saw that these people knew Chen Dazhi and Wang Lixian, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, looking at the other's prey, he couldn't help but be surprised. Putting everything else aside, they had actually caught a big wild boar.

They exchanged a glance and followed behind Wang Lixian, listening intently to their conversation.

Only then did I realize that these hunters were from Kinmen Village.

Kinmen Village is small, but it has many hunters. In the past, they would hunt in the mountains on the other side of the Jinshui River, but this time they came to their side.

There have been wolves in the mountains near Kinmen Village recently.

Not only are there wolves, but leopards also frequently appear in the mountains, each one more ferocious than the last.

Nothing serious happened in Kinmen Village, but because there are few people there, they are hesitant to go into the mountains.

(End of this chapter)