My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 257 The Unidentified Creature That Barks
Early in the morning, Wang Zhenzhen ran out again with half a bucket of wheat bran to spread it in the vegetable patch. Seeing the crickets and crayfish lying dead with swollen bellies in the dewy patch, she felt an indescribable joy.

Because it hasn't rained for the past few days.

The reservoir has become lively again, with people from all over flocking to see the old turtles.

Even people from Fenglei Town made a special trip to see it.

As long as the weather is good, it's like going to a big market every day.

With the influx of strangers, the village children were naturally strictly forbidden by their parents from running around.

They were terrified that someone might try to kidnap their child, and they would have nowhere to look for them.

Wang Zhenzhen was also warned that she was not allowed to take the children to run around and play anymore, especially not to go to the reservoir.

If they don't want them to go, they don't want them to go. They have plenty of other things to do.

The weather has cleared up, and there are more scorpions in the orchard now; it's time to come and catch them.

Seeing that there were so many birds at the farm, Liu Nier and the others took out slingshots to shoot them. They even dug traps and set snares nearby to catch rabbits and birds, playing a very fancy game.

They're not allowed to go to the reservoir anymore, so the farm has become their paradise.

"Auntie, we're here."

Sure enough, they came over again early this morning.

Today, they even carried their little schoolbags and ran around bouncing. When they saw Chen Ling and the other person, they called out "Uncle" and "Auntie" loudly, and then ran upstairs to find Wang Zhenzhen.

School starts in the village two days earlier than in the county town.

The younger children will start school tomorrow.

But I haven't done my summer homework yet.

I came here today to ask Wang Zhenzhen to help me with my homework.

After all, Wang Zhenzhen is older and a good student, so she can help them with anything they don't know.

As for Wang Zhenzhen, she already knew they were coming; it's likely that the whole group had planned it beforehand.

After staying upstairs for a short while, he waved and led the large group of people excitedly to the back of the farm. Then he moved a few wooden stakes down from the woodpile and had them sit down, putting their books on the stools to use as desks.

That guy made it look like a classroom.

She herself, with her hands behind her back, pretended to be a teacher.

With a stern face, she paced back and forth, hands behind her back, inspecting the area: "Anyone who has a question, raise your hand. If you don't have a question, focus on your homework. No talking allowed. Got it?"

The little children responded in unison with remarkable cooperation, "We understand."

Then they all lay down and sat on the stools to do their homework seriously.

Wang Zhenzhen nodded in satisfaction, picked up a bamboo pole from the side, and used it as a pointer, looking at this and that, continuing to swing it around.

This affected little act made Chen Ling and his wife, who had sneaked over to peek, unable to hold back their laughter and almost burst out laughing.

Wang Susu couldn't hold back any longer and turned around, laughing so hard she was convulsing: "That crazy girl, she's the one who causes the most trouble in the family."

"Hey, don't laugh, she really does seem like she's got the skills." Chen Ling hugged his son and said approvingly, "Judging from this, she might really become a teacher in the future."

"Her? Forget it. She's good at climbing trees to steal birds' nests and wading into the water to catch fish. What kind of teacher is she? How can she possibly educate children well?"

Wang Susu smiled and shook her head.

The young couple were chatting and laughing when Wang Cunye and Gao Xiulan arrived.

Chen Ling handed his son to Wang Susu, exchanged a few words with the two elders, then went to the hunting equipment room to get his gear, slung his bamboo basket over his shoulder, called Er Tuzi and Xiao Jin, and headed up the mountain.

Today we're going up the mountain to choose a spot to plant ginseng, collect some medicinal herbs, and if we're lucky, maybe even find some beehives.

Cultivating ginseng is not considered a primary concern.

Because ginseng has a long harvest time, is troublesome to grow, and consumes a lot of soil fertility, he does not plan to engage in large-scale cultivation.

He didn't know this before.

After all, every profession has its own secrets, and he is not omniscient or omnipotent.

Later, after consulting with several pen pals in the newspaper, I realized that ginseng cultivation was not as simple as I had imagined.

Perhaps it's simple for him, just a piece of cake.

But to only harvest once a year is simply against common sense.

Forcing things can easily lead to problems.

Moreover, this stuff can't be used as fertilizer on a large scale.

One usable fertilizer is soybean cake, which is what's left over after pressing oil. This stuff can be used in fruit tree planting and medicinal herb planting; it's a good fertilizer.

Secondly, there is the excrement of wild animals in the mountains, which can be divided into omnivorous and herbivorous animals.

For example, wild boars are omnivorous, so this kind of manure cannot be used; it will burn the ginseng to death.

Only herbivores such as deer, muntjacs, and roe deer can eat them.

However, among the grass-eating plants, sheep must be removed. Sheep will eat any kind of grass, and their droppings are very fertile and can kill the ginseng.

Besides fertilizer, ginseng also has strict requirements for soil, preferring old forests rich in humus.

To plant on a large scale, one must find a place to clear land, cut down trees and burn forests, and then thoroughly turn the soil twice before planting can begin.

This would not only cause significant damage to the forests, but would also be extremely troublesome and laborious.

Given the local terrain, clearing land was no easy task, and Chen Ling was too lazy to bother.

He simply followed his own method, finding suitable places to plant the seeds on the contracted western and northern hills, and that was it.

If you go up the mountain to water it every now and then, this ginseng is no different from wild ginseng, and its value will naturally be higher.

There are quite a few things to be aware of with this method.

Ginseng is difficult to care for. It likes light but also dislikes light, and it likes water but also dislikes water. If you want it to grow well, simply sprinkling it with spiritual water is useless. A suitable growing environment is also very important.

You need to choose a good location to grow ginseng.

Chen Ling, with his dog and eagle on a leash, traversed the mountains and forests, searching everywhere.

Chickens often come to the top of Beishan Mountain, so planting ginseng nearby is not feasible; we need to go higher up.

As he walked along the road, he could still see some eggs lying in the grass under the trees, but he was too lazy to pick them up now.

They wouldn't touch wild eggs even if they saw them.

These wild eggs are mostly laid by the few wild chickens raised at home.

These pheasants lay eggs much earlier than wild pheasants of the same age. However, in the first few days after they start laying eggs, the eggs are very small, even smaller than quail eggs. Gradually, they grow to the size of normal wild chicken eggs.

Now they are almost larger than normal wild eggs.

They roam the mountains with the family's free-range chickens. Although they have regained their wild nature and can fly very high, they are reluctant to leave the farm because of the good food and drink. When it gets dark, they will still return to their roost in time, driven by the two dogs.

"Wang Wang~"

As they walked up the mountain, a strange barking sound came from afar, making Xiao Jin alert and prick up his ears, staring intently in the direction it was coming from.

Er Tuzi also suddenly soared into the sky and disappeared into the forest.

Is this happening?
Chen Ling stopped and looked around, but found no unusual traces left by any wild animals.

This is the outskirts of the mountains and forests. Because the chickens we raise often roam the mountains, Heiwa and Xiaojin also come to patrol. Now there are not many small wild animals.

"Woof woof~" The sound continued to ring out from afar. Chen Ling had occasionally heard this strange barking at night these past few days. It sounded like a hoarse dog barking, similar to that of a jackal.

But my dog ​​didn't react strongly, so there shouldn't be any danger.

Sure enough, Xiao Jin quickly lowered his guard, which proved that nothing was wrong.

He continued walking forward.

"Fluttering."

When they reached an open area, Er Tu Zi circled down from the sky, chirped softly on his shoulder, and gently flapped its wings to indicate that it had not detected any danger.

However, after walking a few steps, Xiao Jin suddenly ran out and stopped near the rocks in front of him, asking him to come and take a look.

"Huh? This is wolf droppings?"

Wolf droppings are easily identifiable outside of Yemen.

It looks like dog poop, but the color is quite different. Dog poop is mostly black, brown, or tan, while wolf poop is grayish-white.

This is because wolves have such a powerful digestive system that they can absorb all the nutrients from their food, bones and all, after eating it.

The grayish-yellow excrement will quickly turn into a dry white color in just a few days.

Chen Ling had Xiao Jin walk over, and in a short while, Xiao Jin found five or six patches of wolf droppings. Judging from the time, they weren't very fresh.

After the rain a few days ago, the footprints left nearby were rather blurry, and it was impossible to tell when they had been there.

Chen Ling looked up at the location; it wasn't far from Wolf-Claw Rock.

"Let's go up to Wolf-Claw Rock first. There used to be a lot of wolves on this animal trail."

He and Wang Cunye passed through this area when they came to the mountains to collect herbs last time, but Xiao Jin didn't react last time, so these wolves probably came during this period.

Chen Ling had to be cautious and decided it was best to take a look around Wolf-Dick Rock.

Wolf-Claw Rock is the highest peak among the nearby mountains. Although it cannot compare with the deep mountains and is not steep, based on past experience, wolves prefer to use the animal trails here.

In the past, when wolves were active in the village, they would carry livestock and children and run straight here.

Otherwise, this place wouldn't be named after the wolf-carried rock.

"There's another wolf dropping here, and together with the ones before, there are about seven or eight in total. It's not a large wolf pack."

Chen Ling walked to the top of Wolf Claw Rock. The mountain wind blew there, making the wolf droppings even drier. They crumbled into dust with a single step.

"Whether it's a large wolf pack or a small wolf pack, it's best if they don't come. If they do, you'll suffer," he muttered to himself.

With the help of Dongtian, he had already improved upon the prescriptions given by his father-in-law and the old hunter from Kinmen Village.

When the time comes, light a fire, and the smoke alone will be enough to poison the wolves into submission.

Thinking about it this way, I found a suitable place for him to grow ginseng.

In the middle section of Langdiao Rock, in a depression in the mountain peak, there is a place that resembles a stone platform. Although it is not large, only about two feet square, some vines have already grown on it, and the soil conditions are relatively good.

It faces southeast, so it receives sunlight every day. The terrain is low-lying, and the sunlight usually ends before noon, which perfectly matches the characteristics of ginseng that both likes and dislikes light.

Chen Ling placed three ginseng seeds inside, sprinkled them with spiritual water, and soon three tender ginseng seedlings sprouted, lush and green, each with three or four leaves, swaying in the wind.

Ginseng typically flowers after three years and bears fruit after five to six years.

The growth process was relatively slow. After Chen Ling planted it, he left a mark and then left it alone.

For the remaining, more treacherous and difficult terrain, he would wrap the seeds in spiritual water and mud, and have Er Tu Zi fly over to carry them to suitable locations.

"This is like burying a treasure! I can leave a map for my descendants so they can come and dig for ginseng whenever they're short of money."

Chen Ling found it rather amusing, but then realized that the place where he planted ginseng was quite dangerous.

We continued down the Wolf-Dick Rock.

Along the way, whenever they found a good spot, they would bury the seeds and encourage them to sprout easily.

Once the seeds were nearly all planted, he gave a few of the ginseng seeds he had cultivated in the cave to Er Tuzi, letting them fly to distant mountains and be scattered as they pleased.

This job is long-term, suitable for someone like Er Tuzi.

Otherwise, the Qinling Mountains are so vast, they can't possibly be without even wild ginseng.

Ginseng has demanding growth conditions and a slow growth process. Without its help, it would be difficult for it to reappear in the future.

They released Er Tuzi.

Chen Ling slowly walked into a deep ravine. The surrounding area was overgrown with bamboo and trees and had a lot of mosquitoes. He took out a few pepper plants from the cave, crushed them, and sprinkled the leaves on himself and Xiao Jin.

In an instant, all the mosquitoes kept their distance.

"Wow, this mosquito repellent effect is simply unbeatable."

Chen Ling clapped his hands in satisfaction, took out a hoe, and began preparing to dig for medicinal herbs.

When they came last time, the father-in-law and son-in-law left a mark here, where asparagus grows deep inside.

It's a good time to come and dig them up while they're being planted; otherwise, it would be a waste.

"Woof woof~" Little Gold was shaking its fur uncomfortably when suddenly a strange barking sound came from ahead, accompanied by the rustling sound of dogs stepping on leaves.

This time, Chen Ling heard it perfectly clearly.

He quickly slowed down, then looked at Xiao Jin and saw that it looked indifferent, so he knew there was no safety threat. So the two of them tiptoed over.

However, after taking only four or five steps, Chen Ling had just gently parted a clump of bamboo when he unexpectedly made eye contact with a strange creature.

It turned out to be a huge red muntjac, tilting its head and staring intently at him.

It's like staring at a thief who has brazenly broken into your home.

The "red" in "red muntjac" naturally means red.

True to its name, its fur is a beautiful red, like the fiery clouds at dusk, making it unforgettable at first glance.

It was several sizes larger than a muntjac, almost the size of a large dog.

"Wang, wang..."

After being stared at by Chen Ling for a few seconds, it suddenly scrambled to its feet in a panic and ran up a steep animal trail on the south side in a flash. Its agile and nimble movements made the steep and dangerous terrain seem like flat ground to it.

At the same time, Chen Ling was dumbfounded.

Pigs run to the pond, deer run to the ridge, and leopards run on the mountain rocks.

It seems that both muntjacs and this so-called red muntjac share many similar habits.

But as it ran, Chen Ling realized that there was a heavily pregnant female deer hiding behind it, clearly close to giving birth and unable to escape. Seeing the man and dog approaching, it immediately began to bark in panic.

"Damn it, what a scumbag who abandoned his wife and children." Chen Ling stopped and cursed under his breath when he saw the female deer struggling to sit up and trying to run away in fear.

Then, he quietly left with Little Gold, without disturbing it any further.

However, since we were already here, we definitely had to collect the asparagus, so we changed direction and continued on.

Xiao Jin is different from Heiwa, perhaps due to the difference in gender. Although it is ruthless and vicious, it is more sensitive and understands the bigger picture, and is clear about Chen Ling's thoughts.

Knowing when to act and when not to act.

Ever since it heard people talking about not harming mother animals with cubs, it has lost its desire to attack such prey.

"But there are quite a few red muntjacs in the mountains. Last time, the leopard ate one, and now we've encountered two."

As Chen Ling walked, he muttered to himself. He had heard such cries many times in the past few days, but had never seen the real creature. He had thought it was some kind of small wild animal, like a jackal.

Seeing these two things now, he suddenly realized that they were red muntjacs.

The red muntjac is also known as the barking deer.

As its name suggests, it is a deer that makes a sound like a dog barking.

This red muntjac is different from ordinary muntjacs.

They can mate and reproduce year-round, but most of them reproduce in early autumn, which is when he happened to be there this time.

"cracking--"

Just as Chen Ling finished picking asparagus, a loud bird call came from the sky. Looking up, he saw a black dot growing larger and larger as it approached, before finally spreading its wings and slowly landing.

It's Baldy Er back.

Strangely, it was carrying something in its mouth.

After landing on Chen Ling's shoulder, it quickly caught Chen Ling's attention.

"Good heavens, it's actually a red lingzhi mushroom! This is a real treasure. You're amazing, Er Tuzi, you've really learned how to gather herbs."

Chen Ling turned his head away, glanced at it, and immediately widened his eyes in surprise.

As he spoke, he took the vermilion Ganoderma lucidum in his hand. When he compared it to his hand, the cap was a whole size bigger than his hand. It was truly remarkable.

"Ah, ah..."

When Er Tuzi heard him praise him, he tilted his head, rubbed his hooked mouth against his cheek, and then puffed out his chest with a smug look in his eyes.

"awesome."

"Come on, show me where you picked this Ganoderma lucidum. I'll reward you properly when we get back."

Chen Ling smiled and fed Er Tu Zi a drop of spiritual water, stroked its feathers, shook his shoulder, and released it again.

This guy really gave him a surprise.

I never specifically taught Er Tu Zi, and I don't know how it came to know that Ganoderma lucidum was a good thing, but it just brought it back directly.

Regardless, finding wild Ganoderma lucidum is definitely a great thing, and knowing where the nest is would be an even bigger reward.

When Ganoderma lucidum reaches maturity, it releases spores, which then grow into new Ganoderma lucidum. Once you find a Ganoderma lucidum burrow and protect it, you can harvest Ganoderma lucidum year after year.

(End of this chapter)