My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 21 Neighborhood
I left home at six in the morning, worked hard in the fields for a while, and worked up a good sweat. I got home just after nine o'clock.

At this moment, Wang Susu was tidying up several large bamboo trays in the yard, which contained some dried sweet potatoes and some common herbs.

Since the weather is nice today, I'll take it out and air it out.

Indeed.

In February, the temperature changes every day.

Except for the early morning and evening when the temperature is a bit cool, the weather in the mountains is generally quite nice.

Just like today's weather, the spring breeze is getting warmer, and there are no clouds in the sky; it already has a bit of the feel of early spring.

In a few days, when the grass and trees sprout anew, a gentle spring breeze will blow, carrying the fragrance of flowers and grass. A whiff of this fragrance will be so refreshing that it will soothe your soul.

You can also place a deck chair in the warm sunshine, lie down on it, and bask in the sun – that's truly blissful.

"We've run out of flour at home."

"I was planning to steam cornbread, but a rat got into the cornmeal jar and made a mess of it by pooping and peeing, so it's inedible."

"Let's cook sweet potato porridge for breakfast."

Wang Susu looked up and smiled at Chen Ling, saying as she tidied up the bamboo tray.

"It's all right."

"When I go to the county town, I'll buy a few bags of flour from the flour mill."

Chen Ling responded and said.

He walked up to Wang Susu, picked up two pieces of dried sweet potato, and started chewing them.

It's hard and a bit difficult to chew.

However, once chewed, it has a slightly sweet taste.

It not only tastes sweet, but also has a slightly earthy smell, probably because it's been sitting for a while.

Chen Ling smacked his lips; it had been quite a few years since he had eaten this stuff.

He often drank sweet potato porridge when he was a child. His family was poor back then, and this stuff kept him full.

This is made by slicing sweet potatoes and white potatoes into pieces and then drying them.

In the past, food was scarce in rural areas, and people had to do manual labor.

While cooking the porridge, I added some dried sweet potatoes.

You feel full after drinking porridge, but it's not really filling; you'll feel full after a couple of urinations, and it doesn't keep you full for long.

So they used this to trick themselves into feeling full.

"I'll go check if the pot has boiled yet."

Chen Ling popped another piece of dried sweet potato into his mouth, then turned and walked into the house.

This morning he went to the fields, where Wang Susu cooked breakfast on the tin stove.

The porridge was made using water from the well in the courtyard.

So Chen Ling decided to add some more Dongtianxi water to the porridge.

After several experiments over the past few days, he has reached a conclusion.

The stream in the grotto has different effects on people and plants...

People can drink it continuously, but the maximum amount they can drink each day is one and a half bowls; any more than that will have no effect.

Based on the standard rural bowl, this bowl and a half is roughly equivalent to two liters.

Within two liters, it is effective for the human body.

Most people would not drink more than two liters of porridge per meal.

But in order to ensure that Wang Susu could also enjoy the benefits, Chen Ling made almost every meal with water from the Dongtian Stream and vegetables from Dongtian.

In just a few days, Wang Susu became radiant, her skin was fair and rosy, and she exuded amazing charm with every smile and frown.

Sometimes, even a casual glance would make Chen Ling's heart race.

"what?"

"Heiwa, Xiaojin, where did you two little rascals run off to?"

Chen Ling licked two bowls of stream water into the porridge, intending to use this time to feed Heiwa and Xiaojin some goat milk.

After searching the house and the doghouse, they couldn't find the two little creatures anywhere.

"Susu, have you seen our little dog...?"

Chen Ling went into the courtyard and asked.

Wang Susu was also taken aback when she heard this, "Isn't it in the doghouse?"

"No ah!"

Chen Ling frowned.

"Where did you run off to, suckling and suckling..."

I called out to them all over the yard, but there was still no response.

"I didn't see it when I woke up. I thought it was sleeping in the doghouse."

Wang Susu also found it quite strange.

Then, after thinking for a moment, she suddenly said, "Could it be that it ran out with you when you went out?"

"possible."

Chen Ling thought back for a moment and realized that although he hadn't noticed the two little ones following him out, they weren't in the house or the yard either.

It's quite possible that she could run off after him, but she's too young to keep up with him and could easily get lost.

He said, "I'll go out and look for it."

Unexpectedly, the very next second after he said that, just as he was about to walk out, he heard a puppy howling outside, followed by a woman's scolding and cursing.

"It's our puppy!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Susu rushed out anxiously.

Chen Ling hurriedly followed.

As soon as they stepped out of the courtyard, they saw a woman in a burgundy turtleneck sweater across the street kicking Heiwa and Xiaojin out of the gate one after another.

It used considerable force, kicking the two puppies two meters away each time, causing Heiwa and Xiaojin to roll on the ground and howl in pain.

"Dongmei, stop right there, this is my dog."

Seeing this, Wang Susu became very anxious and quickly spoke up to stop her.

To everyone's surprise, the woman opposite seemed not to hear her and kicked the two puppies out the door with a hard kick.

The two puppies immediately let out an extremely pitiful howl.

"Qin Dongmei! What are you doing!"

Wang Susu's face flushed red with anger. "I told you this is my dog, didn't you hear me?"

"What's wrong with your dog? Even if it's your dog, it can't run into someone else's yard and chase their chickens, can it?"

Qin Dongmei raised an eyebrow, crossed her arms, and sneered.

"Two dirty puppies, sneaking into someone else's chicken coop first thing in the morning. You're lucky you didn't beat them to death."

Qin Dongmei had slanted eyebrows and narrow eyes, not even three-tenths as pretty as her sister Qin Qiumei. At this moment, she had a cold smile on her face, making her look very sharp and mean.

"Whose chickens would be afraid of such tiny puppies?"

Wang Susu was so angry that her body trembled. "You knew perfectly well that it was our dog. You did it on purpose."

"I did it on purpose, so what?"

Qin Dongmei put her hands on her hips, snorted and sneered, "You better keep an eye on these two filthy puppies and don't let them sneak into my house again, or I'll kick them into the latrine and drown them."

"You...you're being unreasonable..."

Wang Susu was no match for this shrew; her pretty face flushed red, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Drowned from kicking a cesspool?"

"You can try it now. I want to see whether the dog or you will get into the latrine first."

At this moment, Chen Ling said in a cold and gloomy tone.

His face turned cold the moment Qin Dongmei kicked Heiwa and Xiaojin out of the courtyard gate one after another.

Now that Qin Dongmei had almost made Wang Susu cry with just a few words, Chen Ling's expression became even more frightening.

"Ha, all you do is talk big. If you've got the guts, try kicking me into a latrine. You're only doing this because Chun Yuan isn't here. Otherwise, you coward, how dare you spout nonsense in front of me..."

Qin Dongmei smiled dismissively.

She never took Chen Ling seriously.

He's just a good-for-nothing who loafs around and does nothing. Who in the whole Chenwangzhuang village would respect him?
If she had any sense of masculinity, she wouldn't dare speak to Wang Susu like that in front of Chen Ling.

But to her surprise, as soon as she finished speaking, everything went black before her eyes, and she felt a sharp pain in her neck.

Chen Ling grabbed his neck with one hand and lifted him up.

"Even the smelliest fart isn't as stinky as your filthy mouth. I'll send you to the latrine to chew on maggots right now."

Chen Ling said coldly, and like picking up an old hen, threw the shrew onto the edge of the latrine outside her yard.

“Ah, Ah Ling…”

This scene terrified Wang Susu, as if she had returned to the time when Chen Ling used to throw tantrums at her at home. She was so frightened that her face turned pale and her eyes were filled with panic that she didn't dare to move at all.

"Chen Fugui, I'm going to kill you... Ugh... Ugh..."

Qin Dongmei screamed and tried to get up, but Chen Ling grabbed her hair and pushed her back into the latrine.

She tried to struggle, but Chen Ling was tall and strong, and his strength was increasing day by day. One of his big hands was like an iron clamp, pressing down on her head until it hurt, but she was powerless to break free.

As the tip of my nose touched the black fecal matter, the pungent stench filled my nostrils, instantly causing my nose and eyes to flow uncontrollably.

"Ah Ling, Ah Ling, we're just neighbors across the hall, let it go..."

Wang Susu realized what was happening and quickly stepped forward to grab Chen Ling, gently shaking his arm and pleading softly.

“Susu, this shrew is a cowardly bully who preys on the weak. If we don’t teach her a lesson, she’ll take advantage of us.”

"You saw how arrogant she was just now. She's just taking advantage of your soft nature. We have to feed her properly today. We can't let this go so easily."

Chen Ling said with a straight face.

After he finished speaking, seeing that Wang Susu did not speak, he turned his head and saw that his wife was staring at him, with deep fear and dread in her eyes. She was obviously thinking of bad memories from the past.

Chen Ling's heart softened immediately, and he sighed softly before reluctantly letting go of Qin Dongmei.

He then let the shrew roll to the side, lying on the ground coughing and vomiting, looking like she was about to throw up her stomach, and didn't touch her again.

"Chen Fugui, you just wait. If this doesn't go away today, you'll have plenty of good things to do when my Chunyuan comes back."

Qin Dongmei gagged for a while, and after she calmed down a bit, she didn't care about the snot and tears all over her face. She gritted her teeth and said some harsh words with a venomous look in her eyes.

Chen Ling glanced at her, snorted coldly, and couldn't be bothered to pay any more attention to this woman.

He pulled Wang Susu, who was already holding two puppies in her arms, and turned around to walk towards his own home.

However, just before entering the house, Chen Ling threw out another sentence:

"You can insult me, but I won't stoop to your level, you shrew."

“But if you ever dare to talk nonsense to my wife again, in front of Wang Chunyuan, I’ll throw you into a latrine and make you eat shit.”

(End of this chapter)