My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 2: Farmland
Is anyone home?

Just then, a shout came from outside the door.

This broke the brief silence between the two.

Realizing someone was coming, Wang Susu quickly wiped her tears on her sleeve.

"Go wash your hands, I'll go see who's here."

Chen Lingchong said something to Wang Susu, turned on the light in the yard, and lifted the curtain to go outside.

Under the lamplight, a thin, dark-skinned old man wearing a blue and white headscarf and a light blue Zhongshan suit entered the house carrying a flashlight.

"Hey, Fugui's back pretty early today!"

Upon seeing Chen Ling emerge, the thin, dark-skinned old man grinned, revealing a set of yellow teeth, and greeted him.

Before Chen Ling could reply, he asked, "Where's Su Su? Is she home? I need to let her know about something!"

Chen Ling was stunned for a moment, then realized that in the villagers' eyes, he was a good-for-nothing and utterly useless.

So if anything happens at home, he comes to his wife for advice.

"It's Fifth Uncle. It's cold outside. Come in and sit down."

At this moment, Wang Susu came out to greet him and quickly invited the old man into the house.

The old man smiled and waved his hand: "I won't go inside. I've come here today to discuss two things. One is that the pre-New Year's levy is due, and the other is about your family exchanging farmland with Erzhu's family..."

"Of course, the main thing is this land exchange, I need to remind you again."

"Spring is just around the corner, so let's get it done as soon as possible. Otherwise, the village will have to redivide the farmland in a few days, which will be troublesome for everyone."

Chen Ling didn't feel anything after hearing what the old man said.

It was only during a lull in the flow of time that I remembered who this old man was.

The old man's name is Wang Laishun, the village head and village party secretary of Chenwangzhuang.

Because he was the fifth child in his family, the younger generation called him either Fifth Uncle or Fifth Master.

As for "Fugui," it was his nickname. Many rural children have nicknames, and Chen Ling was only changed to his original name after he started school.

While Chen Ling still had the mind to think about other things, Wang Susu's reaction was a bit much.

"Fifth Uncle, didn't you say my family would exchange with Sister-in-law Xiuying's family? How did it turn into exchanging with Erzhu's family?"

Wang Susu was aware of the retention money issue, but why did the land exchange deal change in the end?
Xiuying's land is fertile and close to the village, far superior to the reclaimed land at the foot of the mountain belonging to Erzhu's family.

The difference is enormous.

"Huh? You don't know?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Laishun's eyes widened, and he frowned as he looked at Wang Susu and then at Chen Ling.

Then he said, "But I heard from Erzhu that you know about it, and that each mu of land added two hundred yuan to your family's income."

"He also gave me a note, on which you and Fugui both put your fingerprints..."

As Wang Laishun spoke, he took a cigarette case out of his shirt pocket.

There was a stack of slips of paper inside the cigarette box.

Then the old man pulled one out and handed it to Wang Susu.

"Take a look, are these your two handprints?"

Wang Susu didn't take the note immediately upon seeing it. Instead, she glanced at Chen Ling before finally taking it.

After unfolding the document and examining it, Wang Susu's face quickly turned pale.

She looked at Chen Ling with a mixture of shock and grievance, and said, "You...you gave our family's land to Erzhu's family?"

"Do you know that the grass on Erzhu's land doesn't even grow properly? You can't grow any crops there..."

"How will we live in the future?!"

Wang Susu's voice was already trembling with tears, her eyes brimming with tears as she bit her lower lip and looked at Chen Ling.

Chen Ling was a little confused, but seeing that Wang Susu was so angry that she cried, he didn't dare to say anything more.

Rubbing his temples, Chen Ling vaguely recalled a scene.

At the beginning of the year, during the temple fair in the county town, Chen Erzhu took him to a nightclub to drink and have fun.

His memory of what happened during that time was a jumbled mess, and he couldn't recall some of it.

But after he came out drunk that night, Chen Erzhu put his arm around his shoulder and said a few words, then laughed and stuffed a note along with red ink into his pocket...

The thought of this scene made Chen Ling's mind go blank. He thought, "No way, could it be that he failed to get money from Wang Susu at the temple fair and agreed to exchange farmland with Erzhu after hearing that Erzhu would give him a subsidy of 200 yuan per mu?"
Then, under the cover of night, he secretly pressed his fingerprint onto Wang Susu's hand?

"Susu, I...I..."

Chen Ling's face burned. Even though he had lived two lives in total, he felt ashamed when he thought that he himself had done such a despicable thing.

Although Wang Susu pressed her fingerprint without knowing the truth, it was still pressed, and who would believe her if she said she didn't know?

So it's too late to back out now.

If they try to deny it and refuse to admit it, it would be easy to destroy the note with their fingerprints.

But not only did his reputation worsen, Wang Susu was too ashamed to face anyone afterward.

Having lived in the countryside for so many years, he has seen many cunning people eat IOUs, receipts, and even ballots drawn by lot in public, and none of them end up well.

Rural roads are slipperier, and people's hearts are more complicated; this is not just a saying.

Sometimes, trivial matters escalate into arguments that last half a lifetime without a word. This is even more true when it involves farmland and Chen Erzhu, that notorious loafer.

If you have many brothers or male offspring, that's fine, but if outsiders want to take advantage of you, they'd better think twice.

Unfortunately, Chen Ling was the only son in the family, and he was not well-liked by the villagers.

They won't let others bully them.

Chen Erzhu, in particular, was doing very well in the county town, and no one dared to mess with him.

Thinking of this, Chen Ling held the note, looking at the two glaring red handprints on it, and couldn't help but grit his teeth.

I hate Chen Erzhu, but I hate myself even more.

At this moment, I really am a clueless piece of trash.

Believe whatever others say.

Forget blaming his brother-in-law for being too harsh; he himself wanted to slap himself twice.

Wang Susu squatted on the ground and started crying.

Chen Ling gritted his teeth and said, "Don't cry, Su Su. Tomorrow I'll go into the city to find Er Zhu. We won't switch places with him."

“That’s right, Susu, don’t cry. I think if this doesn’t work, let Fugui talk to Erzhu again. We’re all from the same village, we can talk things over.”

Wang Laishun also sighed and offered his advice.

He was puzzled when he arrived. Wang Susu was quite shrewd; why would she agree to exchange her land for Erzhu's wasteland?

It turns out it was Chen Ling, that spendthrift, who did it, so there's nothing more to say.

Don't you feel any remorse for selling your father's land, kid?
Wang Laishun glanced at Chen Ling and thought to himself: This lazy brat needs to be disciplined, especially after his father died, he's become completely inhuman.

His brother-in-law didn't hit him hard enough.

Thinking this, he reached out and pulled the slip of paper with his fingerprint back from Chen Ling's hand.

"Since you've put your fingerprints on this, I can't very well take sides. I'll just keep this note with me for now..."

"High-voltage power lines are going to be erected in the south this year, which will take up a lot of farmland, as you all know. The township will come to measure the land next month, and each household will be redistributed their land. There are only a few days left, so you should hurry up and discuss the matter with Erzhu's family and come to a conclusion."

"I'll be going now if there's nothing else. I still have a few places to visit."

Wang Laishun threw down a few words, then turned to leave with his hands behind his back.

At this moment, Wang Susu called him back: "Fifth Uncle, wait a moment, I'll get you the retention money."

Wang Laishun walked to the gate of the courtyard. Upon hearing this, he slapped his forehead, realizing he had almost forgotten about it. However, he said that there was no rush, that it would be the same to hand it over in a few days, and that he had just come to inform him.

Chen Ling could tell that the old man was just being polite, since the levy was no small amount these days, so he didn't talk to him much and followed Wang Susu into the house.

Upon entering the room, he saw Wang Susu take a small, narrow, rectangular black wooden box out of his pillow and pull out a wad of money from it.

Judging from the amount, it's about a hundred or eighty yuan, which should be just enough to cover the deposits for the two of them.

Tsk tsk, my little wife is quite clever.

That's a great spot to hide the money—it's right under your nose!

"Eh? That's not right..."

"Why does this wooden box look so familiar?"

Suddenly, Chen Ling's gaze sharpened as his attention was drawn to the black wooden box in Wang Susu's hand.

"Isn't it?"

"Isn't this the box I bought in my dream world?!"

"...How did this thing end up here?!"

Chen Ling looked like he'd seen a ghost in broad daylight, his eyes wide with a mixture of excitement and terror, and hurriedly went over.

Wang Susu was startled and clutched the money tightly in her hand, whispering, "I didn't hide it on purpose. I'm just using it in case something happens at home."

"You need to pay the retention money now, you can't touch it..."

Upon seeing this, Chen Ling realized he was being too excited, but it would be strange if he could remain calm upon seeing this familiar object here.

Seeing that Chen Ling's expression was very different from usual, the young wife thought he was about to lose his temper again. Her eyes were red from crying as she looked at him fearfully, but she hid the box and money behind her back and said in a trembling voice, "Please, Ling, you really can't touch this money!"

Chen Ling said helplessly, "I don't want money, let me see this box..."

Seeing his wife looking so pitiful, he carefully hid the wooden box and money behind his back.

Chen Ling had no choice but to say, "Give the retention money to Fifth Uncle, but leave the box with me."

These words startled Wang Susu. She blinked, then slowly handed him the wooden box, stammering, "There's no money left in here. This is all the money we have left at home, just enough for the two of us to cover our expenses..."

As she said this, Wang Susu clenched her small fists tightly, as if afraid that Chen Ling would snatch it away.

However, Chen Ling didn't notice any of this at the moment. He picked up the wooden box and eagerly began to look through it...

Seeing that Chen Ling's mind was indeed not on the money, Wang Susu breathed a small sigh of relief and hurriedly clutched the money as she walked out.

Wang Susu had only been gone for less than a minute when Chen Ling could no longer contain his excitement.

"Exactly the same, exactly the same little box I bought in Sakurajima when the Tokyo Olympics were held in my dream world!"

"Could this be the secret of the other time and space I dreamed about? I don't know if it was a dream or a journey of consciousness, but Su Su actually hid it under my pillow..."

"Judging by its shape, could it be the Moonlight Box?"

The parallel universe concept is mainly to avoid certain sensitive events. Major events will still be written according to reality; the overall trend is irreversible, but minor events can be changed.
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(End of this chapter)