My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 259 The Strange Chicken

Chen Ling never imagined that she would have a day when too much income would affect her mood.

He just wanted to live a comfortable life, with enough money to get by. Life is too short to do everything solely for money.

He built this farm for leisure and also with the idea of ​​leaving some inheritance for his children in the future.

Unexpectedly, they managed to make some noise in this remote mountain valley in those days when communication was not well-developed.

However, with the Sun and Moon Cave Heaven by his side, he didn't care much about money.

Instead, they worry that having more money will change the nature of their lives.

Even interactions with family and friends have lost their authenticity.

Fortunately, Wang Susu remained an easily satisfied woman throughout her life, and her mindset didn't change much regardless of how much money she earned.

Now that I'm making a bit more money, I just feel that building the farm didn't result in a loss, and raising children will be much easier in the future.

That's it.

This was what comforted Chen Ling the most.

In fact, his worries in this regard were unnecessary.

Let's talk about buying a bar.

Given people's current spending power and purchasing power, it's possible to do something like this once in a long period of time.

If you think you can have a large number of people buying wine like this every month.

That's just Chen Ling overthinking things; there aren't that many rich people.

Besides, this isn't even a big city.

Who would bother to venture into these mountains for no reason?
He was also a little worried because of the recent series of coincidences that their small mountain village was becoming commercialized too early.

Life will lose its original flavor.

Why do you say that?
The initial cause was the old turtles in the reservoir.

Because of the widespread fame surrounding this once-in-a-millennium giant turtle, it has attracted a great deal of attention, and Chenwangzhuang has recently been packed with people, which has given some shrewd individuals a business opportunity.

Many people came to set up stalls and sell things near the village.

Starting with offerings such as incense, candles, paper money, and red cloth, food and toys gradually appeared, and it was gradually taking the form of a market.

It's not a big deal, and in some ways it's not even a bad thing.

But there are advantages and disadvantages as well.

With so many people, things get out of control, especially after the excitement, leaving a mess and litter everywhere. It's comparable to tourist attractions in later generations, which is really upsetting.

Although the hygiene situation improved a lot thanks to the mystical sayings of the Turtle King, Chen Ling was still inevitably affected to some extent.

The villagers might not care much, but he experienced these things in his later years, so his perspective was naturally different, and he considered things more carefully.

His father-in-law noticed something was off. After asking him a few questions and listening to his brief explanation, he said he was overthinking things and even laughed at him, saying that being too quick-witted wasn't a good thing, since others wouldn't think that far ahead.

The key question is, who knows if that turtle prince will still be here next year? That's all uncertain. Just like before, he might only appear once in a short time, and who knows when he'll show his face again.

If the Turtle King doesn't come out, why would so many people travel all this way to come here? They'd be just wasting their time.

Upon hearing this, Chen Ling immediately felt relieved. That made sense; the garlic was under his control. If he kept it out of sight, people wouldn't see it, and naturally, there wouldn't be so many problems.

The reason so many people are here now is because Garlic Head keeps showing up, and he doesn't know if it's due to the influence of some unknown creature in the water. He doesn't understand it either.

So I decided to take some time to go and see them, to say hello to the garlic, and to tell them to be more careful in the future and not to show themselves in front of people so easily.

That might be better.

……

In the afternoon, Wang Laishun came over and said that reporters from the provincial and municipal TV stations would be coming in a couple of days, and he wanted Chen Ling to accompany them and just say a few words while they were filming.

Don't bother him when he's not on camera.

Otherwise, when reporters come, these peasants won't know what to say. They'll be so nervous they'll stutter and just laugh awkwardly the whole time, which would be too embarrassing for the village.

Chen Ling thought about it and agreed.

Anyway, it's just a matter of appearing on camera; he doesn't need to worry about anything else. It's a minor issue.

Wang Laishun was relieved when he heard that the man had agreed, so he sat at the farm for a while and chatted for a bit.

The recent incident involving the turtle has caused quite a stir and spread widely. Not only have people from several surrounding counties come to watch the spectacle and offer incense, but even the city and provincial capital have been alarmed.

After all, the personnel responsible for flood control are not just for show; they cannot fail to report such matters to their superiors.

This is also why Li Min and the others returned in a hurry.

That's why the provincial and municipal TV stations made a special trip over here.

However, to his surprise, before the reporters arrived, Liang Yuemin and his family came over first, also specifically to see Lao Bie and to ask him to herd cattle.

During this time, through Liang Yuemin, they also received news from the Zhao Dahai and Shanmao families that they would come to see Lao Bie in a few days, and even Professor Han would come along.

This guy, he never comes when he's not coming, but once one of them says he's coming, everyone else comes too.

But then again, this is normal, after all, the story of the old turtle is still quite astonishing to ordinary people.

Even Professor Han had to make a personal trip after hearing about it, let alone others.

……

"How long will you stay back this time?"

While herding sheep and cattle on the hillside, Chen Ling found a spot to sit down with Liang Yuemin.

"It's hard to say exactly how many days we'll stay. Anyway, we're not busy right now, so we'll wait until Dahai and the others come over so we can all get together."

Liang Yuemin smiled.

He really enjoys coming to Chen Ling's place and hanging out with his friends; it's very relaxing.

There were no vested interests involved; everyone was simply having fun without any worries. It felt like everyone's mind and body were completely relaxed. Going up mountains and down rivers, they quickly became immersed in the fun and found enjoyment in it.

It felt like an addiction after just one time, and I often thought about it.

Moreover, Chenling has a beautiful landscape and a great location; in short, it has an indescribable charm that other places don't have.

Even just letting him stay overnight would bring peace of mind.

So as soon as he got back, he immediately ran over to play with Chen Ling, even if Lao Bie wasn't there, he would definitely come over.

"Okay, the kids at home are about to start school, so let's take this opportunity to come over and have some fun."

Chen Ling didn't mind friends and family coming at all, and was happy to receive them.

Besides, the next time we get together will probably be after the New Year when Lynx and Azalea get married.

Everyone has their own things to do in the second half of this year, so it's good to have some fun in advance.

As for Liang Yuemin, even though he says nothing's wrong, he's actually thinking about leaving his family and starting his own business outside.

After all, it's still more liberating to own something.

However, these things were too troublesome for him to talk about.

"Yes, Xiaoming should be starting first grade this year. Let them have some fun before school starts."

As soon as the chubby boy got out of the car, he followed Wang Zhenzhen around and ran around having fun. Since the village children had started school today, they had also run over there early in the morning.

On the first day of school at the village primary school, besides the teacher checking homework, it was naturally time for labor.

After all, a summer vacation had passed, and the campus was almost overgrown with weeds. On the first day of school, having students hoe the weeds was a good way to help them get back into the swing of things, and it was just like playing a game.

Then the chubby boy followed Wang Zhenzhen to the school to join in the fun. Liu Yinhuan was worried about the two of them, so she followed them too.

Only Liang Hongyu and Qin Rongxian stayed at the bottom of the slope to grow vegetables with Wang Cunye, while Chen Ling and Liang Yuemin herded cattle on the slope.

"Your turtle king here is really big. He must be hundreds or even thousands of years old. He can still travel around with other old turtles. He's practically a spirit."

Despite having traveled abroad, Liang Yuemin still exclaimed in amazement when talking about turtles, saying he had never seen one so big.

When I went to see it in the morning, I was so shocked that I froze on the spot.

Afterwards, he repeatedly said that the trip was worthwhile and that it truly broadened his horizons.

"Yes, Old Ma knows the way well. Anything that lives a long time will develop a spirit."

As Chen Ling spoke, he was also thinking that Garlic Head had been appearing rather frequently lately. Attracting people to watch was secondary; he was worried that some unknown creature in the water might be causing the trouble. He decided to go over and check it out at night in the next couple of days.

Now everyone is terrified by what the turtle king said, and no one dares to go into the water, let alone people. The duty tents for flood control have also been moved from the dam and arranged by Wang Laishun to stay in the village.

Everything has given way to the turtle prince.

If he goes there at night, no one will notice.

"Uncle, uncle, look what this is..." As the two were talking, the chubby boy suddenly ran over excitedly. When he got to them, he held out a bag of instant noodles in front of them. Inside were two light yellow chicks chirping and struggling to squeeze out.

"Hey, little chick, where did you catch this? You didn't catch it from someone else's, did you?"

When Chen Ling saw that they were two chicks, he was stunned for a moment and asked.

"No, the dog caught it in the grass when we were weeding at school. My aunt told me to bring it back." The chubby boy tilted his head back, wiping the sweat from his brow and chuckling, then handed it to Chen Ling, "Uncle, here you go, you can take care of it for me."

Seeing his son's frustrated expression, Liang Yuemin thought, "Damn it, doesn't this son even see his own father anymore after playing?" He asked, "Where's your mother? Isn't she watching over you?"

The chubby boy turned around and looked behind him, complaining, "Mom is too slow. She's afraid of the village dogs and hasn't come over yet."

"I'm going back now. There are still many chicks. I'm going to catch them all and have my uncle raise them for me. The chickens my uncle raises are the best."

After saying that, he stuffed the two chicks, still attached to the instant noodle bag, into Chen Ling's hand, then turned around and made "woof woof woof" noises, imagining himself as a big tiger, and hopped away.

"Let's go take a look."

Liang Yuemin was worried about his son, so he wanted to go and check on him.

Chen Ling then greeted his father-in-law and asked him to help look after the cattle and sheep. The two then headed towards the village.

Compared to the outside of the village, the village is actually quite lively at this time of year.

Some people come to see the turtles because they are acquaintances, some come to visit relatives, and some come specifically to see the turtles and pay to stay overnight at the villagers' homes.

This is quite different from the usual tranquility.

Therefore, to some extent, Chen Ling's concerns were not unfounded.

However, a short period of excitement is not necessarily a bad thing.

At least everyone has been quite happy lately. The villagers are all standing tall, feeling that they have benefited from the turtle king's good fortune. They are proud and speak louder, with a touch of pride in their voices.

The two walked along the path leading to the threshing ground and encountered Liu Yinhuan halfway there. She wasn't frightened by the dog, but rather by a large goose blocking her way near the pond, making her too scared to come any closer.

The chubby boy saw this and loudly mocked his mother for being stupid. However, his voice was so loud that he was chased by several geese and ran back to the school screaming in fright. It was Chen Ling who chased the geese away before leading Liang Yuemin and his wife into the school.

The primary school in Chenwangzhuang still doesn't have a gate. When you walk in, you see a road paved with blue bricks, about two meters wide, with big trees on both sides and several bicycles parked there.

You could say that this road is the central line, with two rows of classrooms on either side.

The classroom was surrounded by weeds, and the children were busy weeding among them, laughing and joking as they worked. The air was filled with a lively atmosphere and the scent of fresh grass.

Every now and then, a teacher would push a cart, piled high with straw, outside the school. When they saw Chen Ling, they would stop and say a few words with a smile, clearly recognizing him.

Chen Ling and his two companions followed behind the chubby boy and spotted Wang Zhenzhen at a glance. The little girl was still acting like a leader of the kids, leading the little yellow dog and a group of children in chasing and intercepting a bunch of chicks. As she jumped around, her little braids behind her head swung back and forth, leaving behind a string of cheerful laughter.

Upon seeing Chen Ling approach, the little yellow dog's desire to show off increased significantly. Perhaps because Heiwa and Xiaojin often tried to curry favor with Chen Ling, the little yellow dog also felt that this was the real boss. It picked up a chick and ran over happily, placing the chick in front of Chen Ling. It squinted its eyes, turned its ears back, and wagged its tail like a windmill.

"Huh? These are baby pheasants? How come there are both native chicken chicks and baby pheasants?"

When Chen Ling saw the chick in front of him, its slender legs were different from those of ordinary chicks. Although it was dirty, he recognized at a glance that it must be a wild pheasant.

"Brother-in-law, come quick, there's a pheasant nest here."

At this moment, the children caught all the chicks, and Wang Zhenzhen stood in a corner and waved to him.

This is a large patch of white, withered wild roses growing at the base of the wall. They are growing extremely lushly, and hidden among them is a pheasant's nest with two wild eggs inside.

"Huh? What's going on? These eggshells aren't just from wild chicken eggs."

Chen Ling squatted down and took a closer look. He found that there were also free-range chicken eggshells. The free-range chicken eggs were obviously a size larger than wild chicken eggs, and the shells were also whiter. The difference was quite significant.

He then picked up a few feathers from the chicken coop, his face showing even greater astonishment: "These are the feathers of the village's free-range chickens!"

"Could it be that the village chickens have taken over the pheasant's nest?"

"They stole the pheasant's nest and even helped hatch the eggs? What a coincidence!"

Otherwise, how come all those chicks are about the same size? He's raised both free-range and wild chickens at home since they were chicks, so naturally he wouldn't mistake one for the other.

Moreover, there's a story behind the hen brooding.

Believe it or not, in late summer, experienced farmers in the countryside won't let hens brood.

One reason is that the high temperatures in summer can cause hens to die from heat while brooding.

Secondly, chicks hatched in autumn are generally healthier and stronger than those hatched in spring. Since eggs are hatched in late summer, the chicks are raised in autumn, a season with more rainy days and a higher incidence of poultry diseases. Autumn chicks are harder to raise, have fewer insects, and are only half-grown by winter, making them unprofitable for both laying eggs and selling at the market.

Generally, if a hen shows signs of brooding, it should be stopped immediately.

The method to prevent hens from brooding is also very simple. Just put the brooding hen in a cage, put it in a shady place and starve it for two days, and then cover its eyes with a black cloth. This is very effective.

As for the principle behind it, nobody can really explain it, but it just works.

But then again, these free-range chickens are wild. Usually, when chicken farmers return home at night and fly up to the trees to sleep, they count the chickens twice with a flashlight. As long as none are missing, there's nothing to worry about.

It's common for free-range chickens to lay eggs everywhere and secretly brood outside.

There's no way to completely stop it.

Even experienced chicken farmers can't completely prevent it.

Hens often sneak into the grass and straw stacks to brood.

Before you know it, they'll be laying their eggs and building nests in hidden places, starting their brooding and incubation process.

After disappearing for several days, when they reappear, they are usually leading a brood of chicks home.

Even so, it's astonishing that the hen took over the pheasant's nest and even helped hatch the pheasant's eggs.

It's too much of a coincidence.

Upon hearing Chen Ling's words, not only Liang Yuemin and Liu Yinhuan, but also the teachers who had gathered around were all amazed, saying they had never seen anything like it before.

The little kids opened their mouths wide and started discussing it all at once.

“Fugui, I’ve heard that hens like to incubate eggs for ducks and geese, right? Incubating wild eggs is normal, isn’t it?” Liu Yinhuan asked. After all, she came from Changle Township and had lived in the countryside, so she knew a thing or two.

"It's different, sister-in-law. That's done by humans. Ducks don't incubate their eggs, so people put them under the brooding hen's belly to let them incubate..."

Chen Ling explained for a moment, then laughed: "But broody hens are indeed unreasonable. If you put a ping-pong ball in its nest, it will treat it as its own egg and diligently guard and incubate it."

"What happened in this pheasant nest is probably just a coincidence."

Everyone chimed in with their own comments, finding the whole thing amusing.

After looking around the pheasant's nest and searching the surrounding area, they found nothing special except for a long worm.

It was almost noon by then.

It was time for school to let out.

Several adults led a group of children, each carrying a chick, out of the school. They even inquired around the neighborhood, asking whose chickens liked to wander into the school grounds, saying that their mothers had hatched chicks. They also told anyone whose mother hen had stopped laying eggs to come out and claim them.

After a hen starts brooding, it can take about half a month or a month for her to stop laying eggs. Experienced people can tell that.

At worst, you'll know if your own hen is laying fewer eggs.

Chen Ling thought that if he shouted, everyone would check their own chicken coops or immediately realize that something was wrong.

Unexpectedly, their calls went largely unanswered. People were too embarrassed to take the chicks once they saw they were Chen Ling; they were just a few chicks, and he hadn't charged them for vaccinating his chickens and ducks before.

Now they're even actively trying to bring the chicks back, but who would want them? The village is so lively and crowded right now, nobody has that kind of shamelessness.

"That's strange, why is it that even when it's offered to us, nobody wants it?" Chen Ling couldn't help but scratch his head.

"It can't be an egg hatched by a pheasant, can it?"

In the past, if someone threw an egg, it wouldn't be unusual for them to stand on the roof and curse or shout through the loudspeaker. But today, no one is making a sound.

“If no one wants it, take it back and raise it for now. This chick is too small; it won’t live long running around outside,” Liang Yuemin said.

Chen Ling frowned and had no choice but to take all the chicks back with the children.

This guy was planning to hatch chicks next spring, but suddenly he has so many more.

(End of this chapter)