My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 188 Choosing a Dog
The following day, the twelfth day of the tenth lunar month, was market day in Fenglei Town.

After having breakfast at daybreak, the whole family went down the mountain.

Wang Qingzhong's packhorse injured its hoof after working for several days in a row. It looked fine yesterday, but after one night, it started limping.

So today, the little white ox was still carrying the loads, and Wang Zhenzhen led it down the mountain.

Chen Ling was still carrying Wang Susu on his back.

The whole family chatted and laughed. After leaving the village and walking onto the plank road, Wang Zhenzhen suddenly pointed to the horse team ahead and shouted, "Dad, look! They have hawks!"

"what?"

Wang Cunye stood on tiptoe and looked around. Sure enough, he saw an old man and a young man at the very back of the packhorse caravan, carrying two long poles on their shoulders. On each of those poles stood a hawk, looking at them with an arrogant expression.

Upon seeing this, Wang Cunye immediately glared at his youngest daughter: "Don't shout! Those are kites; they might kidnap you in a minute."

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhenzhen turned pale with fright and obediently led the cow without daring to utter a sound.

"Dad, what's this 'hawk'? Is it someone you'd be afraid to mess with?"

Chen Ling became very curious and asked in a low voice.

Since his father was a postman in two townships here, there weren't many things he hadn't heard of growing up, but this kite was something he had never heard of before.

"Sigh, it's not that they're not easy to deal with, it's just that this group includes all sorts of people..."

Wang Cunye sighed and began to speak softly.

This kite rider is also called a kite hawker.

He was actually a wanderer who traveled all over the country.

They eat at many homes, travel thousands of miles, and make the world their home; they include all kinds of people.

In the past, when kite hunters came to the village, the children were the happiest.

Because a kite rider is equivalent to a circus performer.

The kites they trained had all sorts of abilities; at a single command, the kites on the kite poles would fly out and perform all sorts of amazing feats.

Children are often so engrossed in watching that they can be easily lured away.

Because these kidnappers frequently engaged in trafficking women and children, their reputation naturally soured over time, and the rumors became increasingly outlandish, with claims that these kidnappers dared to kill people.

As a result, nowadays, people avoid any village or hamlet you visit, keeping their doors and windows closed. They won't even acknowledge you if you come to ask for water, and sometimes you might even be driven out of the village.

Fenglei Town is located at the junction of three provinces, and hawkers often pass through here.

They also do business, small trades.

The purpose of training kites is twofold: firstly, to attract people, much like a loudspeaker waving a signal, drawing people closer so that business can be conducted.

Secondly, it served as a warning, or when business was slow, they would fly kites into the mountains to hunt birds and small animals, which was a simple way to make a living.

"Zhenzhen, can you recognize that it's a kite?"

Seeing that his younger sister was too afraid to speak, Wang Qingzhong asked with a smile.

Actually, many of the stories about the kite hunters are exaggerated and just meant to scare people, especially little kids. But there's no way around it; things are pretty chaotic outside these days, and adults still have to give the warnings they need to.

Otherwise, if something really goes wrong, there'll be nowhere to go to regret it.

"Sure, there's a hawk living outside my sister's yard. I heard it was shot and fell into the yard in the middle of the night. My brother-in-law rescued it, but it's ungrateful. It won't even eat when we offer it food. When we're outside, it stays far away, but as soon as we're not there, it's always making a ruckus outside the yard. It fights with magpies every two days, and it even stole their nests..."

When Wang Zhenzhen was a child, she often heard adults talk about how fierce and barbaric the hawkers were, and she was indeed very afraid of them.

Hearing her second brother's question, her expression improved, and she slowly became lively again.

The two little nephews also gradually became engrossed in listening.

"Wow, that hawk is really something."

Wang Qingzhong laughed and turned to Chen Ling, saying, "Why don't you woo it? Once trained, it can scare away birds and guard the house when you plant something in the field."

"No way."

Chen Ling shook his head: "That kite was almost shot to death. It's very afraid of people. It's terrified of even little kids with slingshots. It's impossible to lure it down."

He tried flirting with other women when he was bored at home, but the results were not ideal.

The hawk had become a frightened bird.

Even if you help it develop intelligence and give it a certain level of wisdom, it will still take some time for it to change.

Once bitten, twice shy.

People are like that, and kites are even more so; the damage a shotgun inflicts on a kite can stay with it for a lifetime.

It's quite remarkable that it treated Chen Ling, its savior, differently and settled down near his home.

Father-in-law Wang Cunye agreed, saying, "Eagles and hawks are always flying in the sky; they know how high the sky is and how big the earth is. They don't easily submit to people. It's not easy to train them. It's better to raise a couple more dogs; it'll save you a lot of trouble..."

He came down the mountain this time not only to sell medicinal herbs at the market, but also to ask Chen Ling to help him pick out one or two puppies to take up the mountain and raise.

Their youngest daughter will be studying in the county town and won't be able to come back often. Their two grandsons will soon be starting preschool and primary school. The elderly couple thought it would be quite boring to stay at home, so they started thinking about this.

In addition, witnessing the spirituality of Heiwa and Xiaojin these past two days has made them quite envious, which is another reason.

They walked down the mountain chatting and laughing all the way.

After descending the Camel Cliff Plank Road and walking along a mountain path, passing through the village at the entrance of Dacangyu Valley, and crossing the Xihegou River, the ancestral hall in Fenglei Town came into view.

It's only a little past eight o'clock now, and the stalls in town have already been set up. As for the herbal medicine shops, there are even long queues.

Many of the villagers in the villages below Fenglei Town are medicinal herb farmers. Even if they grow grain and tea, the economic benefits of the mountain land are so-so. In some years, the grain produced is not even enough to feed the whole family.

Besides farming, they gathered herbs and hunted to barely make ends meet.

“Susu, Xinping, and I will stand in line here. You can go do whatever you want.”

Gao Xiulan helped remove the medicinal herbs from the little white ox, and then said to the group with a smile.

Although the son-in-law is quite good now, it is still his first time returning home after the wedding, so we still have to treat him well and not let him wait in line with them.

"Okay, Mother, Sister-in-law, let's go for a walk first."

Chen Ling smiled and nodded.

Then he continued to ask his wife if she had any discomfort after coming down the mountain. Wang Susu was pregnant and had just eaten. It was early winter morning and cold in the mountains. Even if he carried her down the mountain, she would inevitably inhale the cold air. Chen Ling was worried that she would have an adverse reaction.

After Wang Susu indicated that she had no adverse reactions, he left with his father-in-law and brother-in-law.

"Hey, you really know how to take care of people."

Gao Xiulan muttered to herself, thinking to herself that she hadn't even asked about her daughter yet, but her son-in-law was asking more detailed questions than she, as the mother, had.

Then he said to his youngest daughter and two grandsons, "Don't run around, behave yourselves, or you won't be able to buy me anything you want later..."

The three little ones who were hopping and running around nearby suddenly became as well-behaved as three little rabbits.

...Chen Ling and the others walked ahead of them. The caravan of packhorses with hawkers headed straight for the dock. They went to the town middle school to look for Wang Qingwen first, but the couple had just finished breakfast and were going to a meeting.

Today is Saturday, but some leaders are coming over, so the main teachers can't leave easily.

So they had no choice but to leave the town's middle school and continue walking towards the mule and horse market east of Fenglei Town.

The market in Fenglei Town is also shaped like a "well". In terms of scale, it is smaller than that of Changle Township, but the flow of people is no less, and even more and denser. The stalls are close to the old Ming and Qing buildings, supported by various door panels, and display all kinds of things. They are crowded on both sides of the main street. There are also many people from neighboring provinces who have traveled over mountains and valleys to attend the market.

Chen Ling even saw several groups of people dressed in Miao costumes, who came from Miao villages in a neighboring province. However, theirs was the "Northern Miao" north of the Yangtze River, a branch that migrated there during the war, and now it had become a small mountainous county in the neighboring province.

"It's common for people to travel between provinces like this during the off-season for farming. Many people here travel back and forth like this, going to markets and doing some business, selling medicinal herbs and grains. Often, they can make a big profit by crossing two mountains to sell their produce in neighboring provinces..."

Seeing his brother-in-law staring at the Miao people, Wang Qingzhong said, "Your second sister-in-law and I often went to the Miao villages with other people a while ago. The prices were good then, and we earned a lot. Each round trip took us six or seven days. We didn't sleep much on the road and didn't feel tired because we could make money. We were full of energy."

"But it's not possible now, everyone knows the price, so it's impossible to do it."

My brother-in-law was talking about how this is how you make money from the regional price difference in grain. You can make a lot of money when you don't have timely access to information from the other party, but the longer it goes on, the harder it becomes.

"Second brother, from what you're saying, are grain prices high over there?"

Chen Ling asked doubtfully.

"It's not high, it's low. They suffered less from the disaster, so their prices are much cheaper than ours. They buy grain from there and sell it to us."

Wang Qingzhong shook his head and explained, "The roads here are the most difficult to travel, transportation is bad, and people are poor while food is expensive..."

"It's alright now, the price has dropped a lot, but we grain dealers don't make much profit anymore."

"Grain prices will be even lower next year, especially peanuts and soybeans. They were only two or three yuan this year, but more people will definitely plant them next year, and the prices will be unbelievable."

At this point, he smiled at Chen Ling and said, "But it's just for oil extraction. You can grow enough for your own family if you want."

Clearly, he was afraid that Chen Ling would think he had made a lot of money selling peanuts and soybeans this year and would expand planting next year, so he reminded him not to waste his efforts for nothing.

Chen Ling responded but didn't say anything more.

Wang Cunye listened to his son and son-in-law talking behind him, but didn't interrupt. He just enthusiastically led Heiwa and Xiaojin around the market.

After the two of them finished speaking, he said to Chen Ling, "This dog is really good, it's so smart. If you see any Tiger Head Yellow dogs later, Lingzi, you should help me pick one out. And teach me how to train it in the next couple of days."

Chen Ling agreed, and the three of them soon arrived at Mule and Horse Market.

The mule and horse market in Fenglei Town is just an open space at the foot of the mountain. At the beginning, there are vendors selling poultry and dogs. Further in, there are vendors selling packhorses, donkeys, mules, pigs, and sheep. As for cattle, they are rarely seen here.

Listening to the cacophony of voices and the calls of various poultry and livestock, the three found a dog seller nearby. The dog was in a large bamboo cage with five or six puppies inside, some pure black, some pure yellow, and some with a gilded iron coat.

"Hey buddy, is this Tiger Head Yellow? It doesn't look like it."

Wang Cunye asked the old man selling dogs.

"It's a tiger-headed yellow cat, but you don't think so. It's still small, just full-term, it'll grow bigger..."

The old man looked up and smiled, then looked down and poked at the puppies inside the bamboo cage. He stuffed a dirty, thick cloth into the cage, as it was cold down the mountain in the early morning and he was afraid the dogs would get cold.

What do you think of this dog?

Wang Cunye turned around and asked Chen Ling.

Chen Ling squatted down to take a closer look. These puppies, just a month old, were chubby and very adorable. As for whether they were purebred Tiger Head Yellow puppies, he couldn't tell.

However, there are many ways to pick a good dog. He squatted down and made a "tsk tsk tsk" sound. Two puppies immediately looked over. Chen Ling hooked his hand and called twice more. In the end, only one ran up to him, jumping around. The other just looked at him and gently wagged its tail without moving.

"Young man, those two big dogs you've brought are quite handsome. Do you like playing with dogs too?"

The old man selling dogs looked at the two dogs that had come closer to Chen Ling and were watching the puppies with him, and laughed.

"Yes, I like dogs, so I came to take a look."

Chen Ling gave a perfunctory reply. Indeed, some people who like dogs will come to the market every time, even if they don't buy any.

There are many such people. Some have raised good dogs and take them to the market to show them off, refusing to sell even if others ask for a higher price, simply to satisfy their vanity. Others are worried about missing out on good dogs and travel around to different markets to find the best hunting dog breed in their minds.

Then Chen Ling stood up, pointed to the lively little dog, and indicated to his father-in-law that this dog was good and had a likable personality.

So Wang Cunye squatted down and tried calling the puppy twice. Sure enough, the puppy had a good temperament, wagging its tail and licking his palm.

He was delighted and was about to ask the price.

At this moment, a middle-aged man walked over. He was thin and carried a bamboo basket. He glanced at the puppies in front of Wang Cunye, then looked away, squatted down in front of the bamboo basket, and picked up each puppy to examine it.

Then he picked out the little yellow puppy that Chen Ling had called earlier but hadn't come over. He put down the bamboo basket on his back, took out a blue cotton coat from the basket, and let the little yellow puppy smell it. Seeing that the little yellow puppy didn't have any special reaction, he put the little yellow puppy back and got up to leave.

He remained silent throughout the entire process.

This unusual method of choosing a dog greatly intrigued Chen Ling.

"He's from Liangkou Village. He likes playing with dogs and comes every time there's a market day, specifically to pick out snake dogs..."

When Wang Cunye saw this man, he immediately laughed: "Come on, let's follow him and see how he chooses things."

The father-in-law wasn't good at choosing dogs, but he had been collecting herbs for many years and was familiar with all kinds of medicinal materials. He could also prepare snake-attracting medicine, which could be sprinkled to lure snakes out. Some people didn't know how to do that, and in order to catch snakes and sell them for money, they would find a way to train a hunting dog specifically to find snakes. Such dogs were called snake dogs.

Chen Ling was also very interested, so the three of them followed behind the man to see how he chose the dog.

The man clearly knew Wang Cunye, but not very well, so he simply nodded to him and let them follow.

"Hey buddy, don't you want a male dog?"

Seeing that he specifically chose female dogs, Chen Ling offered him a cigarette and asked.

The man gently shook his head. "No."

He glanced at Chen Ling, then at the two dogs beside Chen Ling, paused for a moment, then took the cigarette offered to him and explained, "Male dogs aren't as calm as female dogs, and they're not as good at catching snakes either."

Then he squatted down in front of another dog seller, picked out a puppy, and carefully examined its whiskers, nose, paws, toes, and tail.

Chen Ling discovered that he didn't care about coat color, and didn't care whether it was a tiger-headed yellow dog or an ordinary mongrel; he just picked according to his own methods.

Wang Cunye, on the other hand, kept picking out tiger-headed yellow puppies, and the dog seller was the same. The three puppies here really had the look of tiger-headed yellow puppies. Two were yellow and one was black. They all had wide heads and big ears, very square heads, and wide, thick mouths. They were fluffy and chubby, like three little bear cubs.

"A purebred tiger-headed yellow dog, look, even the female dog is wearing it, it's definitely not a fake."

Seeing that there were many of them, four people immediately surrounded them, and the dog seller enthusiastically introduced the product.

As he spoke, he took out the three puppies and led the yellow tiger-headed female dog lying beside him to stand up. The three puppies immediately ran to the female dog and began to whine and act cute.

Chen Ling noticed that the female dog was very thin, with heavy milk, and very sparse, messy fur on her back. She looked extremely frail and old.

But unlike other dogs, when it saw Heiwa and Xiaojin, it did not show any fawning or fear; its eyes only showed calmness and composure.

After observing this, Chen Ling felt that the three puppies shouldn't be too bad.

At this moment, the men from Liangkou Village also picked out a small female dog. After catching her, they let the puppy smell his cotton coat, but the puppy's reaction still did not satisfy them.

"If you want to choose, this one is just as good."

"That's what the man said."

Chen Ling stepped forward, examined all three carefully, and shook his head at his father-in-law.

"Not Tiger Head Yellow?"

"They are tiger-headed yellow dogs, but these three puppies have become attached to their owner, and they could easily hurt people if they grow up."

Chen Ling explained.

He just tried it, and everything else was fine, except for one thing: he absolutely refused to open his mouth, so he couldn't even see the color of his tongue.

They pried the three puppies' eyes out until they rolled them back, but they still wouldn't open their mouths.

You can certainly pry it open, but it's easy to hurt the dog.

Such dogs are stubborn and headstrong, with an overly hard and obstinate temperament, making them excellent hunting dog breeds in Hutouhuangli.

It only recognizes one master for its entire life.

Unfortunately, it's not suitable for the father-in-law to raise.

What he needs is someone to keep him company and relieve his boredom, someone who is both mischievous and can also guard the house.

Simply put, he wants to find a dog with a personality similar to Heiwa's, which he really likes.

Hearing Chen Ling's explanation, the father-in-law also felt it was a pity, while Wang Qingzhong squatted on the other side and started haggling with the horseshoe seller.

His packhorse injured its leg and needs new horseshoes.

The presence of horseshoes for sale means that further ahead, livestock will be sold, and dog sales will be rare.

After buying the horseshoes, we followed the men from Liangkou Village to the last two dog stalls.

It wasn't a waste of time; the man actually found a snake-dog fry he liked.

It's a small white mixed-breed dog, about two months old.

As soon as he handed over the sleeve of his cotton coat, the little white dog reacted extremely strongly, wagging its tail and barking wildly.

"This one is not bad; it's a good prospect."

He squatted on the ground, looked up and smiled at Chen Ling.

He had heard what Chen Ling said earlier, and looking at Heiwa and Xiaojin beside him, they regarded him as one of their own, as they all played with hunting dogs, and there was a natural sense of closeness between them.

As he spoke, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out something; it turned out to be a snake.

It got cold, so he tucked it into his cotton coat.

After the snake was released, the little white dog barked even louder, its front paws resting on the bamboo basket as it howled.

After he paid for it, Chen Ling congratulated him.

"This puppy is not bad, but it's not the best."

He seemed to have some regrets, as he showed the puppy to Chen Ling and the other two.

"The gaps on both sides of my nose are still a bit large, and when I breathe in and out, the snail-like flesh inside my nose isn't sealed properly..."

"For a snake-dog like this, when looking for sex, you can only get hot sex, cold sex won't work."

He was mainly explaining to Chen Ling that he believed Chen Ling understood dogs.

Chen Ling knew a lot about hunting dogs, but he knew absolutely nothing about snake dogs.

However, he could understand the slang the man used.

Finding the scent of prey and capturing it means following the trail of its scent without losing contact. Losing contact means losing the scent altogether. Only when the trail is lost and the prey is successfully captured can it be called capturing the scent, which means getting it and taking it.

"Cold scent" is the same as "cold trail," meaning that the scent or trail of prey has cooled down and become less noticeable over a long period of time.

"Hot trail" means that the prey has just left its tracks, and the scent and traces are still warm and fresh.

That's why the man was a little dissatisfied.

Because getting hot is easy, but getting cold is extremely difficult. Those who can get cold are the best hunting dogs, one in a thousand, and are hard to come by.

After buying the dog, the man said a few words to Chen Ling and the others, and then went to the front to choose a packhorse.

Chen Ling, along with his father-in-law and brother-in-law, continued to select dogs.

"Hey? This little blue dog is quite cute!"

On the way back, Wang Cunye spotted a little blue dog, two months old, with bluish-yellow fur, erect ears, and a thick tail; it was quite beautiful.

The blue dogs here are wolf puppies born from the crossbreeding of local dogs and wolves, and they are mostly blue-yellow or gray-yellow in color.

When these dogs are raised to adulthood, they can look about 70-80% like wolves. Although they are not as fierce as Tiger Head Yellow, they are still good at guarding the house.

But after careful observation, Chen Ling shook his head again.

"Or not?"

The father-in-law was taken aback.

Goodness, even Chen Ling himself felt a little embarrassed by those words.

"Dad, look, isn't this dog's whiskers different from other dogs? Usually, a dog's whiskers point backward, but its whiskers point forward. Look at the other dogs next to it, they're all normal, only this one is different..."

Chen Ling pulled his father-in-law aside and pointed it out to him.

"Oh? It really is. What happened? Is this kind of dog bad?"

"Yes, you shouldn't keep a dog like that."

Chen Ling nodded, then pointed to the puppy's eyes and said, "Dad, look again. The puppy's eyes are still red, so we can't keep it."

"There are also rules for choosing a dog. There's a saying that a dog with a forward-pointing whiskers and a fierce bite, and bloodshot eyes, will bite. This little blue dog has both of those traits. If you buy it, it will definitely bite you, and it will bite you to death."

"Huh? No!"

Wang Cunye was immediately startled.

Not only him, but even the dog seller was terrified.

The dog seller was just an ordinary mountain villager who didn't know much about dogs. He quickly picked up the little blue dog and examined it closely. When he looked up again to ask more questions, Chen Ling and the others had already left.

"Lingzi, you should choose, I won't choose."

Wang Cunye was actually overwhelmed by the choices.

"It's alright, Dad. Just find someone you like, as long as they don't bite. Their temperament can be cultivated over time."

Chen Ling comforted her.

Then I wandered around aimlessly for a while.

Before we knew it, we had reached the exit and arrived at the first old man selling dogs. The lively little yellow dog had already climbed out of the bamboo basket and was tearing at the rope hanging from the basket.

The old man, annoyed by its antics, slapped it, picked it up, and threw it into the bamboo basket. But a little while later, the little guy climbed out again.

Wang Cunye watched from the side and thought it looked good no matter how he looked at it. He slapped his forehead and said, "That's it."

On the way back, she kept saying that after wandering around for most of the day, she still liked the first one she picked. She wished she had bought this one from the beginning.

(End of this chapter)