My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 206 Second Pregnancy Checkup
In the following days, the construction of the farm slowed down considerably. Wooden and bamboo houses are not like brick and tile houses, which can be built in a straightforward and efficient manner. Many parts still require careful and meticulous work.

Chen Ling couldn't help with this either; his work these past few days consisted of leading Wang Lixian and his son Qin Rongxian to dig up and plant trees.

Because the orchard needs to make room for the farm, and several shaded paths need to be built in the orchard, many fruit trees have to be uprooted.

But that's nothing.

When Chen Ling planted the saplings, he left a relatively large gap between the fruit trees.

After digging it up, just find an open space to transplant it.

Trees transplanted in late autumn and early winter have a high survival rate, not to mention that Chen Ling's grotto-heaven spiritual water is not just for show.

There's definitely no need to worry about the fruit trees dying.

In the past few days, as they have more and more work to do, Qin Rongxian and Liang Yuemin have gradually become more and more adept at their work.

The father and son helped Chen Ling dig up the trees, and they also gave him suggestions, saying that after the farm's basic framework was built, he should have time to plant two bamboo groves inside and outside the farm and build a small pavilion.

In summer, there's no need for fans or electric fans to cool off. You can simply hide in the bamboo forest and enjoy the cool breeze. You can play chess in the pavilion and have a few glasses of chilled juice. It's an absolute treat.

Upon hearing this, Chen Ling couldn't help but clap his hands in praise, as this suggestion was exactly what he wanted.

Because he also needs to draw two streams from the two mountains to surround the farm, and then pour them into the lotus pond for use as fresh water, planting two bamboo groves to complement each other would be the perfect solution.

He told the two of them about his idea.

The father and son became more and more excited as they listened, as if they were already there.

Liang Yuemin waved his arms and recited with great enthusiasm: "...This place has towering mountains and lofty peaks, dense forests and tall bamboos, as well as clear streams and rushing rapids, which can be used as a winding stream for floating wine cups and sitting in order...This idea is really good, and it can be said to make the most of such a beautiful place."

Goodness, he's memorized the "Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion".

Wang Lixian, standing nearby, covered his cheek, feeling a sudden ache in his teeth.

Why does he keep reciting poetry all the time?!
Is this how people in Beijing dress in such a fashionable way?

After spending many days together, he and Liang Yuemin had become quite familiar with each other. Liang Yuemin was an approachable man who didn't have the arrogance of a rich person. However, he would often say a few sarcastic things that farmers wouldn't understand.

It gives me goosebumps.

Chen Ling was already used to her older brother's pretentious, artsy attitude, so she didn't feel uncomfortable at all.

Instead, he chuckled and chimed in, saying, "Wang Xizhi said that although there is no grand display of string and wind instruments, a cup of wine and a poem are enough to express one's feelings... They may not have many string and wind instruments, but our village has plenty. We'll borrow a few for Brother Yuemin, and you can play the flute and the pipa here. You'll definitely have a good time."

These words struck a chord with Liang Yuemin, who immediately clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Great! Great!"

The two men, carrying shovels and wearing rubber boots, their trouser legs covered in mud, were talking animatedly.

Wang Lixian's eyebrows twitched as he listened.

Thinking to myself, "Oh no, oh no, Fugui has also learned bad habits from the people of the capital. He's started burning cotton shops too."

Liang Yuemin had no idea what Wang Lixian was thinking about them.

On the contrary, the more I thought about it, the more excited I became, and the more motivated I became.

In the following days, they drove over early every morning and dug up a large area of ​​trees in the area that was originally designated outside the farm, leaving it to plant bamboo groves there after the farm is built.

For the sake of the bamboo forest, he came every day to dig up the trees.

In the past six months, the fruit tree seedlings have taken root and grown steadily. Moreover, because Chen Ling sprayed them with diluted spiritual water, the roots are very deep.

It takes a lot of effort to cut down a tree.

But Liang Yuemin didn't stop for a moment, using a shovel to dig the soil, and only stopped to rest after digging the tree up by the roots in one go.

This kind of drive made Chen Ling sigh a few times.

I remember when Liang Yuemin first came to our house, he was a gentle and refined man who struggled to carry even a sack of rice and needed our help. Now, however, he is a capable man.

Hearing his praise, Liang Yuemin chuckled, bent his arms a couple of times, and showed off his slightly hard biceps to Chen Ling and Qin Rongxian, saying that he could definitely push the millstone at Chen Ling's house now.

Everyone laughed at him for boasting, saying that such a large millstone would require two strong men in the village to push it.

They continued digging at the tree while chatting and laughing.

Digging up trees is no easy task. No matter how energetic you are, digging up ten or so trees in a row, plus transplanting and watering them, can leave you exhausted.

They arrived around 7 a.m. and worked for nearly two hours. Liang Yuemin and his son were so exhausted that they were panting and didn't want to move anymore.

He didn't even want to eat the breakfast that Wang Susu brought him, and sat on a tree stump outside the thatched shed, wiping his sweat and panting heavily.

Wang Lixian was fine. Even though his back wasn't very good, the resilience and stamina of a farmer were unmatched. He just stayed with the two of them to rest and planned to catch his breath before having breakfast.

By then, the construction team had already arrived and started working.

After greeting them, Chen Ling noticed that Liang Yuemin and the other two weren't really in the mood to eat yet, so he decided not to eat either. He went to the stove, opened the door, added firewood, and prepared to cook the dog food first.

Cooking for a dog is simple; just make a pot of corn porridge as usual.

The firewood was burning brightly, and Chen Ling finished preparing the dog food in about ten minutes.

He took the pot off the stove to cool it down, and then, seeing that the wood in the iron stove was still burning, he went to the thatched shed and took out a few sweet potatoes, opened the stove door and put them in.

There are two kinds of sweet potatoes here. One is white sweet potato, which has white flesh and is very large, with one weighing more than a pound. However, the flesh has a lot of fibers, which makes it tough and dry, and it is not very sweet. It is also easy to choke on. Nowadays, most of them are mainly used to make sweet potato flour.

Another type is the foreign sweet potato, which has red flesh and tastes fragrant, sweet, and very soft. It is easier to swallow than the white sweet potato, so in most cases, they mainly eat this type of foreign sweet potato.

After a while, when the corn porridge in the pot had cooled down a bit, Chen Ling went to feed the dog.

After feeding the dog, the sweet potatoes in the stove were also roasted. They were all taken out, the ash on top was knocked off, and then Liang Yuemin and the other two were called over to eat.

The three of them had been waiting for the sweet potatoes to be roasted. They jumped up and, without even washing their hands, each grabbed one and started munching on it. The golden, hot roasted sweet potatoes looked so delicious that they made your mouth water, and they tasted even sweeter. They were quickly devoured by the four of them.

After eating the roasted sweet potatoes, their stomachs felt warm and cozy. Having worked hard all morning, they were finally able to recover and took the opportunity to eat breakfast as well.

"Goodness, Fugui, what did you guys eat for breakfast? It looks so delicious."

As the group wolfed down their breakfast, several village women carrying babies walked over, laughing and teasing them.

"What can we eat? Millet porridge and pickled vegetables, that's all."

Chen Ling wiped his mouth, stood up, and cleared away the dishes.

"Seriously? People work for you, and this is what you feed them?"

"If we don't eat this, what will we eat? We can't have a lot of meat and fish first thing in the morning, it's too greasy."

"Oh my, only you, Fugui, in Chenwangzhuang dare to say such a thing. As for the others, who cares about which meal it is, they just want a bite to eat..."

The women chatted for a few minutes, but before they could finish talking, the children pulled them aside to watch the cars and the workers sawing timber.

Before long, the older children in the village, like Liu Nier and her friends, all came running over.

Since Chen Ling's farm started construction, these village children have come every day without fail. They spend most of the day watching the machines. They get excited whenever the machines start up, especially when the foundation was being laid. The rammers, mixers, and other machines were all on the job. They didn't want to leave even when it was time to eat, and their parents had to come and drag them home by the ears.

"Uncle Fugui, someone over there wants you to come over."

Chen Ling delivered the food box and bowls home, and just as he led the cattle and sheep over, Liu Nier ran up to him and said something.

Chen Ling quickly followed and asked, "What's wrong, Lao Gao? Is there a problem?"

Old Gao was the foreman this time. When he saw him coming over, he pointed to the wooden building, which had already been roughly built, and asked, "Are you still planning to pave the open space outside the building and the floor of the corridor?" "Yes, we definitely have to pave the floor of the corridor. Why?"

"It's nothing, I just wanted to ask you what you'd use to pave the ground, cement, gravel, or blue bricks? Cement is readily available, but other materials aren't enough, since your wall is a bit long."

"Okay, I understand. Shall we lay the floor now?"

"No, it's almost the end of the month, and we'll stop work here in December. I was thinking if you're using cement to pave the floor, that's easy. But if you're using something else, we should prepare in advance so that we can finish it all at once when we start work again next year."

Old Gao knew that this client's thinking was different from that of ordinary people. Who would be messing around with these things in a remote mountain village these days? But the client knew only capable people who were willing to pay, so he could only ask beforehand and discuss things in advance.

Otherwise, if they are not satisfied, they will have to redo it.

They're not afraid of not getting paid; they're afraid of things not working properly here or there, making rework too much trouble.

"Would it be okay to pave with stones? Like those cobblestones?"

Chen Ling thought for a moment and then asked.

"Pebbles? You mean those riverbed stones? Okay."

Old Gao nodded, thinking to himself that his ideas were indeed different from others.

Nowadays, riverbed stones are arguably the least valuable type of stone.

He truly hadn't expected Chen Ling to want to use this.

Then Chen Ling said, "Let's use cobblestones for the corridor floor, and bluestone slabs for other places, such as the paths in the woods and outside the building."

“That works too. We have enough bluestone slabs, but we’ll need to haul in several truckloads of riverbed stones.”

Old Gao pondered for a moment, then went on to say a bit more.

Once the agreement was reached, Chen Ling prepared to go and haul away the pebbles.

You don't need to buy this from a quarry; there's plenty of it on river floodplains everywhere. If one place isn't enough, just find a few more.

When Liang Yuemin and his son heard about it, they also came to help.

So in the morning, Chen Ling drove the tractor, taking the two of them around looking for stones.

By noon, not only had two trucks been filled with pebbles, but also some oddly shaped large stones. Chen Ling planned to place these stones throughout the farm and the woods after the farm was built, to add some interest.

The day after the stones were removed, all the fruit trees were transplanted.

It was already the end of the eleventh lunar month, and the weather was getting colder. The day when the farm would close for the holidays was drawing closer, as was the day when Wang Lixian's fourth daughter would get engaged.

After finishing his chores that day, Chen Ling drove his tractor and went to Wang Bacheng with Wang Lixian, bringing back a truckload of roof tiles.

This is what Wang Lixian wants to buy. He plans to remove the old tiles from the roof of his house and replace them all with new ones before his daughter's engagement, so that it will look nicer when his in-laws come over.

Actually, replacing roof tiles is a very common thing in rural areas. People who live in brick and tile houses will check the roof tiles at the end of each year.

Check which tile is broken and needs to be replaced with a new one.

This process of checking for omissions and filling gaps is commonly known as "picking tiles".

This year, most families in Chenwangzhuang did not need to pick up tiles, because their houses were newly rebuilt after the flood.

Only Wang Lixian's house was not greatly affected by the flood this year. The house was not rebuilt, and the roof tiles were not replaced either.

With only a month or so left until the Lunar New Year, and my daughter getting engaged, it's time to replace the roof tiles.

Replacing the tiles wasn't a big deal, especially since Wang Lixian was such a skilled craftsman.

So for the next two days, Chen Ling let Qin Rongxian and his son take over the work of supervising the construction, while he went to help Wang Lixian replace the tiles. The two of them worked together for less than two days, and the roof was completely covered with new tiles.

These days, influenced by the engineering team and Wang Lixian, he is becoming more and more adept at all kinds of work.

Chen Ling felt that if he were to become a bricklayer now, he could become a skilled one, and with further practice, he might be able to earn a decent living.

……

Days passed by, and November was over in no time.

The eleventh month of the lunar calendar seems to pass by the fastest each year. Before people are fully prepared, it's already the twelfth month, and the end of the year is fast approaching.

In the first month, the construction of the farm did not progress very fast, only a small part was completed, but the focus was on quality rather than speed, and Chen Ling was still very satisfied with it.

After the twelfth lunar month, there wasn't much to do. After the city's construction team left, Chen Ling first sent Wang Zhenzhen, who was on winter vacation, home. Then, Liang Hongyu and her husband were going back to Beijing, so he and Wang Susu went out for a meal. During that time, they naturally didn't miss the engagement of Wang Lixian's fourth daughter.

In short, it's all about eating, drinking, and having fun; nothing else.

However, the weather is getting colder and colder.

A month ago, we could still see the sun, but now even the sun is gone. It's gloomy all day long, with a cold wind howling. The birds outside don't chirp much anymore, and the chickens, ducks, pigeons, and rabbits all stay huddled in their nests, unwilling to come out.

Chen Ling has been feeling lazy and unwilling to move these past few days. He spends his days holding a teapot, sitting by the stove, and reading books and newspapers with his wife.

As time went by, Wang Susu's belly slowly swelled up, like dough rising.

However, she was quite thin, so it wasn't very noticeable when she wore a cotton coat.

Moreover, Wang Susu did not experience any of the symptoms that other pregnant women experience; apart from her belly getting bigger, there were no other significant changes.

She didn't have any of those problems like stretch marks, an intolerance to odors, or morning sickness.

She could eat and sleep well every day, and her body was always fair and clean, as if all the tonics Chen Ling prepared for her, such as goat milk and pig's trotters, had grown on her chest and the baby in her belly.

Chen Ling was quite satisfied with this.

Wang Susu felt uneasy, ashamed that her chest was too full.

Chen Ling could only comfort him, saying that his son was clever and knew the principle that supplies must be prepared before troops can move, so he had prepared the military rations in advance.

You can recover after giving birth.

The young wife was only half-believing.

On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, the temperature was even colder than the previous few days. Chen Ling wrapped his wife in a wolfskin coat and put a wolfskin hat on her, dressing her up like a female bandit, and took her to the county hospital for a routine check-up.

After completing the examination, they found that there were quite a lot of patients coming to the hospital in December, so they rested for a while in the small courtyard in the south of the city before picking up the test results in the afternoon.

After receiving the test results and seeing the doctor, the doctor glanced at the report and said to Wang Susu, "Girl, you're in such good health. I've been in obstetrics and gynecology for many years and I've never seen anyone like you. You have almost no pregnancy symptoms, and the baby in your belly isn't making any noise. Look at the pregnant women in front of you, they were all vomiting so badly they were practically throwing up their throats..."

"But you're fine, you don't have any reaction at all, you can eat, drink and sleep, that's strange."

The doctor was an elderly woman who spoke with a smile.

It's normal to not have any symptoms during pregnancy, but Wang Susu had absolutely no symptoms. Apart from her big belly, she seemed to have no problems at all, and even her temper didn't change much.

It's almost no different from before she was pregnant; such a situation is extremely rare.

The young couple, Chen and Ling, exchanged a glance and laughed. Who doesn't like to hear nice things?

After saying a few words, the doctor said to Chen Ling, "Although your wife is in good health, she still needs to avoid certain foods. Remember to keep these things in mind and don't be careless. Come back for a check-up after the New Year when you have time."

Chen Ling helped Wang Susu to her feet and nodded in agreement. He added that he would have been careful about this even if the doctor hadn't told him to.

(End of this chapter)