My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 170 Savage Gully

Two thousand yuan is quite a lot of money. If it weren't for the fact that the production of chicken and duck eggs at home couldn't keep up, and that it would take several days to save them up before they could be sold, the amount would be even more staggering. After doing the math, Wang Susu finally understood why Chen Ling wanted to build a bigger place.

This is actually quite good.

However, she was a little worried that since she was pregnant, she would be even less able to help as her belly grew bigger, and she didn't know if Chen Ling could manage on his own next year...

Chen Ling had no idea what his young wife was thinking.

After eating lunch, he went into the woodshed and let the sheep out.

There were two black and two white lambs. When Chen Ling pushed the door open and came in, they came over, stretched out their little heads, sniffed and rubbed against Chen Ling's hand, and their short tails swished rapidly from time to time. Their bleating was so cute, just like a puppy.

They've been born for seven or eight days now, and they're very lively.

She hasn't gained weight yet, so she looks a bit thin. Her ears are big and droopy, looking obedient and cute, like a little girl's two thick braids hanging down.

Chen Ling squatted down and touched them, then took the rope and led the flock of sheep outside.

"Baa baa, hurry up and follow."

These past few days, every afternoon, taking advantage of the warm sunshine, Chen Ling would go up the hillside to graze his sheep.

Once outside the village, there were hardly any people working in the fields anymore; it was very quiet everywhere.

With a gentle breeze and perfect sunshine, Chen Ling gathered some dry thatch, tucked it under his arm, and found a spot on the slope to lie down, basking in the sun while the adult sheep led the lambs to graze around him.

The lambs can't eat grass yet, so bringing them here will allow them to learn from their mothers and adapt. Just like humans, when they're young, they drink breast milk but also need other foods as supplements, otherwise they won't know how to eat other things after weaning.

However, since they have milk to drink now, they have no interest in eating grass and are only focused on playing happily.

They hop and skip, light and free, never still for a moment.

The weather was fine and the sun was warm. Just as Chen Ling was drifting off to sleep, he suddenly felt an itch on his nose. When he opened his eyes, he saw Wang Zhenzhen leading a group of village children, each holding a blade of grass and laughing and playing pranks on him.

Upon seeing him open his eyes, they immediately ran far away.

Seeing this, Chen Ling feigned anger and shouted, "You little brat, you're starting a trouble-making scheme against me! You won't get any dinner tonight!"

"Fine, I won't eat it then, just grumble."

Wang Zhenzhen was least afraid of this, and instead made a face at him, laughing: "No wonder people say that you are a lazybones, brother-in-law. You fall asleep while herding sheep and don't even know when someone takes one away."

"Nonsense, the dog is watching nearby, who would dare to take our sheep..."

"what?"

Halfway through his sentence, Chen Ling sat up and looked them over curiously: "What are you all doing here?"

These mischievous monkeys have brought bamboo poles, hooks, and snakeskin bags—quite a sight! Perhaps they're restless and want to go up the mountain to find beehives and collect honey.

"The hickory nuts are ripe, let's go pick them."

The children answered in unison.

Harvesting hickory nuts? Did your family even know about that?

"I know, there are lots of people in the mountains right now, there are people everywhere, so there's nothing to be afraid of."

Chen Ling thought about it and agreed.

It hadn't been long since the first frost, and it was the perfect time to go into the mountains to harvest walnuts.

These days, quite a few people are heading into the mountains, almost every day, to pick wild grapes and hawthorns, or to harvest wild jujubes, persimmons, and walnuts. The wild fruits after the frost taste sweeter and less rough and sour.

For pecans, after the first frost, the green husk covering many pecan shells becomes wrinkled and shriveled, making them easier to separate.

Pick them and take them home; you can keep them to eat or take them to the market to sell for money.

"Uncle Fugui, we harvested some hickory nuts and we'll share some with you. Could you also share some goat milk with me?"

When Piglet heard Wang Zhenzhen say that her family drank goat milk every day and how fragrant and delicious it was, he immediately became very hungry, his eyes darting around at the milk ducts of the two ewes.

When he said that, the other children joined in the clamor, saying they would trade the walnuts they had picked for goat milk.

Of all these little kids, Liu Ni'er was the naughtiest and wildest. While the others were shouting and yelling, he had already wiped his snot, crawled behind the dairy goat, and started sucking on the milk bag. Goodness, he saved the trouble of squeezing the milk.

Chen Ling quickly restrained the ewe, causing it to turn around and butt on him in its agitation. Fortunately, it had gotten used to being milked by people over the past few days, and Liu Ni'er, that mischievous little monkey, didn't get angry when she tried to drink its milk.

"You're like a dog, aren't you? You'll eat anything. Didn't your father tell you that you can't drink raw goat milk? It'll make you diarrhea." Chen Ling kicked his butt and scolded him with a laugh.

Liu Ni'er only slapped her bottom twice after being kicked, and focused on drinking milk. After drinking for a while, she knelt down to wipe her mouth and grinned at Chen Ling: "My sheep didn't breed, so they don't produce milk at all. I used to drink milk like this after my grandfather's sheep gave birth to lambs, but it's not as good as the milk from your sheep, Uncle Fugui."

Chen Ling was speechless.

So this isn't the first time this kid has done something like this; no wonder he's so aggressive.

"You're really something, kid. Doesn't raw goat milk taste weird?"

"Hehe, it's not so bad if you drink too much, it just smells a bit fishy. Ah, I'm full..."

Liu Nier patted her little belly, shook her head, and looked quite enjoying and proud.

Hearing this, the other children couldn't help but swallow hard, looking enviously at Chen Ling's sheep's milk pouches. But they didn't dare to crawl under the sheep's belly in front of Chen Ling, so they could only watch with envy.

"Brother-in-law, doesn't freshly squeezed goat milk taste better than cooked milk?"

Seeing Liu Nier's blissful expression, Wang Zhenzhen was filled with curiosity and questions.

"Well... everyone's tastes are different."

"Raw goat milk is generally not safe to drink directly, as it can easily cause diarrhea."

Knowing that the children were envious, Chen Ling said, "How about this, you don't have to go to school tomorrow. Let's see who gets up early. After you get up, come to my house to milk the cows, and I'll cook it for you to drink. If you get up late and can't get any milk, don't blame me."

"Okay, okay, I'll definitely be the first one up."

"I'll get up early too. Uncle Fugui, I harvested some hickory nuts today, and I'll go harvest more tomorrow. I'll bring you a big bag of them every day..."

Upon hearing that Chen Ling was going to give them goat milk, the little ones immediately jumped and danced with joy, extremely excited.

After making a fuss for a while, they all grabbed their things and went up the mountain to harvest walnuts, looking very enthusiastic.

As the sun gradually moved westward, the hillside was no longer as warm as it had been in the afternoon. Seeing that the lambs were tired from playing, Chen Ling led them home.

Back home, Wang Susu was outside the courtyard chatting with the village women while doing needlework. Chen Ling saw that there was nothing else to do at home, so he put the sheep in the woodshed, picked up a bamboo pole, tied a sickle to it, called the two dogs, and went up the mountain to harvest walnuts.

In late autumn, a patch of white stands out against the dark green hillside in the distance. These are cotton fields planted by villagers in their private plots, along with small soybean fields. Upon closer inspection, rabbit droppings can be seen, indicating that wild rabbits are hiding in this area.

Further away, from the tall grass, the calls of pheasants could be heard from time to time. Chen Ling bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it. Instantly, a flock of plump pheasants took flight and disappeared into the mountains in the blink of an eye.

The two dogs tried to chase after them, but he stopped them. He was just bored today and came to harvest walnuts, so he decided to let these pheasants live for the time being.

After walking for a few more minutes, we were completely inside the mountains. There were no more crops in sight. As far as the eye could see, the forests were ablaze with golden, deep red, and emerald green hues, creating a breathtakingly beautiful scene.

Knowing that the hickory trees on the outer perimeter must have been completely harvested, Chen Ling led his dog across the area and searched for over ten minutes before finally finding an untouched hickory tree. This hickory tree was tall and robust, and around it grew many saplings as tall as a person.

Looking at the egg-sized green-skinned walnuts on the branches, Chen Ling knew that most of these walnuts were still a bit difficult to peel, as the location of the walnut trees and the climate they were exposed to varied.

This hickory tree is like that; while many other hickory trees have lost all their leaves and their husks have withered and wrinkled, this one still has plenty of leaves, and its husks are fresh and green. The green husk covering the husk is also called "green dragon's coat," and the sap inside contains toxins, so you must be careful when peeling it, as it's dangerous if it splashes into your eyes. Touching it with your hands doesn't have any effect, but the sap is difficult to wash off your hands; you can only wait for it to disappear slowly.

Because of this, villagers rarely remove the green husk from walnuts by hand after picking them; instead, they mostly leave them to air dry in a well-ventilated place. Within a few days, the walnut skin will wrinkle and shrivel, and the green husk will naturally separate from the walnut.

After being frosted, the process will be accelerated, and the taste will also be better.

Chen Ling picked a walnut, found a stone nearby, used a leaf to rub off the green skin of the walnut, and then smashed it open, revealing the white and tender walnut kernel, which was still covered with a layer as thin as a cicada's wing.

Peel off the thin membrane with your hands, put it in your mouth and taste it; the crisp, fragrant and tender sensation immediately fills your tongue.

"It's cooked through, and it tastes good."

Chen Ling nodded. The mountain core looked greenish-blue, so there seemed to be no problem.

The tree was laden with hickory nuts; they had filled two cloth bags and were still not done when two dogs came running from afar, barking, followed by Wang Zhenzhen and Liu Ni'er, a group of little devils.

"Brother-in-law!"

"Uncle Fugui!"

"We're here to help you!"

As he walked over, the group of mischievous monkeys grabbed the tree trunk and scrambled up the tree, pulling out scissors to help him pick the fruit.

"Why did you all come here empty-handed? Didn't you find any walnuts?"

"We caught them and had my second uncle and the others help carry them back. We saw Heiwa and the other two, and knew you must have gone up the mountain too, so we followed them."

"That's it."

Soon, another bag was filled with walnuts.

He said to the monkeys in the tree, "Alright, that's enough. If there are any more, we won't be able to take them back."

"Come on, slow down, I'll catch you."

"The stones under this tree are too sharp to step on, so don't try to jump down."

"Okay, Uncle Fugui, we're coming down now."

Seeing Chen Ling stretching out his arms to catch them under the tree, the group of kids giggled and deliberately stood very high, pretending to be unsteady and shouting, "Oh no, oh no, I'm going to fall!" as they lunged into Chen Ling's arms.

"You naughty monkey deserves a beating. If you keep making a fuss, you won't get any milk tomorrow."

"Aren't you afraid of getting your head smashed open from the fall?"

Chen Ling sternly slapped each of their buttocks several times.

This trick works very well; they immediately became completely obedient.

"Brother-in-law, look, there's a gourd. Let's take it home and stir-fry it."

Carrying three large bags of walnuts down the mountain, Wang Zhenzhen's eyes suddenly lit up, and she pointed to a large patch of wild vines and exclaimed.

Upon closer inspection, many gourds were indeed hidden under the yellowing broad leaves.

Bottle gourd, also known as calabash or bottle gourd, belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. The one in front of us is long and narrow and can be stir-fried. There are also those with bulging bellies; when they are old, the shells harden, and the pulp inside can be hollowed out and used as a water ladle. They are quite common in rural areas.

"Go ahead and pick them, just pick the tender ones."

Chen Ling went over to take a look. He initially thought it was several gourd vines growing together, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that there was only one.

The vine roots near the ground were as thick as eggs, and the yellowish leaves on the sides were as large as palm fans and very dense. There were gourds of all sizes on the vines, some still with prickly hairs, and some whose outer shells had shed their hairs and were basically completely old. They felt very hard to the touch. I silently counted them and there were more than twenty of them.

In the eighth or ninth month of the lunar calendar, the gourds grown by farmers have already turned yellow and become old. This is because some places in the mountains have special terrain and different temperatures, so it is a bit later than outside.

Wang Zhenzhen led the children to pick a few relatively tender gourds, and each of them carried one or two as they continued walking down the mountain.

After walking a few steps, a dead branch under a big tree suddenly stood up.

It bit directly at Chen Ling's calf.

Chen Ling felt a chill run down his spine. Before his mind could even process what was happening, his body had already reacted, dodging two or three steps away in the blink of an eye. At the same time, the two dogs reacted just as quickly, leaping out and engaging the other dog in combat.

"A cloth bag! It's a cloth bag! Auntie, get out of the way..."

The little kids started shouting and quickly pulled Wang Zhenzhen and Chen Ling together to stand together.

"This cloth bag is huge!"

Chen Ling was startled when he saw the situation before him.

This large, grayish-brown snake is as thick as an adult's arm and over two meters long; it's quite rare to see a snake this size in a cloth bag.

The *Tabudai* is a common type of viper in the local mountain villages, typically 30-40 centimeters long. Its venom is highly potent; an adult bitten by it can die within hours if not treated promptly. Children in the mountains are very familiar with it.

The burlap sacks rarely attack humans unless provoked. In fact, they will retreat if there is a loud noise around them. This is the origin of the saying "beating the grass to scare the snake" often used by mountain people.

However, this one was clearly an exception, as it actually attacked on its own initiative. Moreover, its size was beyond imagination, and it was obviously very old. A bite from it would probably kill even a tiger.

Unfortunately, it encountered Chen Ling's two dogs today. Before it could even retaliate, it was caught in a vital spot. The huge snake body kept coiling and twisting, trying to wrap around the little golden dog's leg, but the little golden dog's sharp teeth quickly ripped it open, and its head was also bitten and mangled.

At this moment, Liu Nier pointed at the burlap sack and said, "Uncle Fugui, this burlap sack can grow so big, it must have come from Yeren Gully."

"My grandma and the others said that there used to be a lot of wild men with black hair living in Yeren Gully. If people or livestock went in, they would be slaughtered and thrown into a big pot to be cooked and eaten. Teams four and five would avoid that area when they went into the mountains to hunt."

Have you heard this story before?

"Of course I've heard of it."

Chen Ling smiled and glanced north, which was the direction of Yeren Gully.

It's called a ditch, but it's actually a deep valley, located just west of his thirty acres of land. You can see it from a short walk away.

Because it is so deep, with straight inner walls on all sides, people and livestock that fall in cannot get out, so it is quite frightening in the mouths of the mountain people.

The elders say that in the past, they could hear people crying and shouting inside at night, jumping around with torches lit. They said that it was wild people performing rituals to the mountain.

There are many such stories in the village, and they are quite frightening to children.

In fact, with Chen Ling's current knowledge, he can basically determine that it was a crater created by a meteorite impact, but over time, the landform has changed drastically, resulting in its later appearance.

During the earthquake a few years ago, the side closest to the village collapsed, making the terrain inside even more treacherous and less frequented. As a result, it's teeming with venomous snakes and all sorts of strange creatures, just as much as in the deep mountains.

"When you come to the mountains to play in the future, don't run that way. Be careful that the savages in the ditch don't grab your ankles, drag you into the ditch, stew you, and eat you. No one will dare to save you then."

"No, we definitely won't go."

These mischievous monkeys were terrified of this; they immediately turned pale and shook their heads like rattles.

The children were frightened, but Chen Ling himself was thinking to himself that he would go and take a look around Yeren Gully when he had time.

After all, that place is not far from their own land. When the farm is built on the land in the future, people will need to live there and raise things. It would be bad if some poisonous snakes or other venomous creatures crawled out of the Wild Man Gully and bit someone.

(End of this chapter)