My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 262 The Amazing Insect

It was still dark after dinner.

Adults and children walked slowly along the dirt road, the cool evening breeze carrying the fragrance of flowers.

In the ditches of the fields, frogs croaked, but as soon as people approached, they immediately fell silent.

Once people have walked a little further away, they start chattering loudly again.

The cicadas in the trees were equally unwilling to admit defeat, chirping incessantly, "zhi-liao... zhi-liao..."

If you listen carefully, or look up, you'll see that the bats hidden in the darkness have become active, chirping and circling around the village, leaving trails in their wake.

"Brother-in-law, we need to go find Xizi and the others first. They don't know we're going out tonight."

Wang Zhenzhen was leading a group of kids running around on the dirt road, playing for a while, when she suddenly remembered something and ran back to call out.

"Okay, then let's take a walk around the village first."

Chen Ling nodded. Xi Zi, Xiao Sen, and the other kids were too young for their parents to let them play at night, but with him and Wang Susu with them today, there wouldn't be any problems.

As they walked forward, Wang Susu, holding her son, looked up at the night sky and sighed, "It's almost the end of the month, and the moon isn't bright anymore. It would be so much more fun to go out and catch fish on a moonlit night."

"Yes, let's wait until next month. We'll pick a moonlit night next month to go out and play."

Chen Ling smiled, turned around and whistled, calling Heiwa and the little yellow dog over.

As for Xiao Jin, it is much more careful than Heiwa. It is better for it to stay on the farm at night to guard the house, so it can react promptly to any movement.

As you approach the village entrance, you can see villagers gathered in groups of three or five, squatting together to eat and chat.

Some had already eaten, so they set up tables to play cards or chess.

Some out-of-towners who stayed overnight in the village were also wandering around with flashlights, chatting and laughing, making it quite lively.

When they saw Chen Ling and his wife carrying their son and leading a group of children over, acquaintances greeted them, joked with them, and chatted about everyday things.

After Wang Susu gave birth, her family rarely went out together.

Last time I went out, I just went to the reservoir to see the turtles and took a short walk around the village.

I usually stay at home.

Moreover, the farm is located at the foot of the mountain, in the orchard. Apart from those who own fields there, few villagers go there. It's not as convenient as staying in the village, so fewer people make a special trip to visit his farm.

However, this makes the relationship feel much closer than if we haven't seen each other for a while.

The women, in particular, surrounded Wang Susu, asking her a few words of concern and playing with the little one in her arms, treating her like family.

After a long while, the children got tired of waiting and finally finished their chat.

"Oh, Uncle Fugui, you guys are out too?"

"Brother Chen..."

They hadn't gone far when they encountered another group of people. It was Wang Xuecheng from Wang Jukun's family, leading several reporters, men and women, wandering around the village with flashlights.

"Yes, I came out for a stroll."

Chen Ling smiled and looked at the group. "So the reporters are staying at your house."

"Yes, that's right. Recently, a lot of outsiders have come to the village. Other families don't have much room, so Uncle Wu brought us here." Wang Xuecheng's face was beaming, and he looked very happy.

This person was about the same age as Chen Ling, a robust young man who liked to laugh, but he was a generation younger than Chen Ling.

His father, Wang Jukun, was the cook for weddings and funerals in the village. When Chen Ling's family held a full moon celebration, they asked him to come and help. He and Wang Jusheng were cousins.

His family is quite large, with many brothers and several courtyards.

There was no problem with the reporters staying overnight.

With the experienced chef Wang Jukun around, even with a large group, meals are not a problem.

Wang Laishun had deliberately brought this to his family's home.

After all, reporters get paid for their meals and lodging.

"We're going to catch scorpions. You guys aren't out looking for scorpions too, are you?" Wang Xuecheng asked, looking at the toys the children were holding.

"Brother Chen, sister-in-law, if you want to catch scorpions, let's do it together, it'll be more fun."

One of the female reporters suggested.

They begged Wang Xuecheng to come out and catch scorpions. They had seen two or three little kids catching them at Chen Ling's farm that afternoon, and they had been thinking about it ever since. Now that they had finished dinner and it was still early, and they had nothing else to do, they asked Wang Xuecheng to take them out.

Of course, some people like to go out at night, while others don't like to go out at night, so there were only six or seven of them.

"We're not catching scorpions, we're out fishing for fun. The things they're carrying are fish tongs and small forks," Wang Susu replied, pleased that the girl had called her "sister-in-law."

"Huh? Catching fish?"

Hearing this, the people looked at each other and then said to Wang Xuecheng, "Why don't we go fishing too? We can't catch any scorpions anyway, so we might as well try something else."

“Okay, let’s go fishing with Uncle Fugui and the others.” Wang Xuecheng nodded happily. He didn’t care about anything. Anyway, these people had paid to stay at his house. Taking them around to play was just a small matter.

"Brother Chen, can we go fishing with you?"

"Sure, but don't shout when you see the fish. Also, please keep an eye on the little ones with your flashlights."

"Okay, we'll definitely do as you say, Brother Chen, don't worry."

Now that the temperature drops at night, scorpions are less active and harder to find than before. It's normal that they can't catch scorpions in the village.

However, the fish became easier to catch at this time.

So these people just followed along, treating it as if they were bringing along a few more little kids.

As night fell, the village was dimly lit.

There were only the sounds of frogs croaking, insects chirping, and the fragrance of flowers and grass carried on the cool night breeze.

They turned on their flashlights one by one, shining their lights on the reporters. Every now and then, moths, crickets, and other insects would fly towards them, causing the reporters to shout, jump around, and dodge wildly, followed by a burst of silly laughter.

In terms of quality of life, the countryside certainly can't compare to the city, but it has a tranquility and peace that the city can hardly offer. Moreover, compared to city life, there is fun everywhere and interesting things to do all over the place.

Being there, laughing and joking, they felt completely relaxed.

It was as if a burden had been lifted off their shoulders all at once.

The girls no longer coveted Chen Ling; instead, they surrounded Wang Susu, calling her "sister-in-law" repeatedly. At the same time, like the village women, they teased the little one in Wang Susu's arms.

However, when they're being funny, they go overboard. One of them sings a couple of lines, and the other makes a funny face; they're just like big kids.

This amused Rui Rui so much that he grinned from ear to ear, babbling and drooling happily in Wang Susu's arms.

They walked all the way to Chen Sangui's house.

Under a large tree outside the door sat an old man with a full head of white hair, wearing a long gown and smoking a pipe, telling stories to a few children.

These kids, who are usually incredibly mischievous, were sitting properly and listening intently.

"These crayfish are quite something."

"You've all played with these things before, and you all know that crayfish have a hard thorn on their necks, right?"

"Does anyone know where this thorn came from? Haha, nobody knows that, right?"

"Then I'll tell you the story of this crayfish."

"It is said that there was once an emperor named Liu Xiu. Before he became emperor, he was chased by a man named Wang Mang and was forced to run around. You must know Wang Mang. Wangba City was not called Wang Mang City before."

"It is said that Liu Xiu was chased by Wang Mang for several days and nights. His horse was exhausted and he himself was very sleepy. When he couldn't take it anymore, he hid in the grass by the roadside to sleep. He hadn't slept for several days, and when he did, he slept like a log."

"But after he had been sleeping for a while, he suddenly felt something crawling on his face. He groggily grabbed it with his hand and found it was a crayfish. Liu Xiu was furious and said, 'It's one thing for Wang Mang to kill me, but this insect is disturbing my sleep too.' He then pinched the crayfish in two."

"After squeezing the crayfish, he closed his eyes to sleep again, but before he fell asleep, he heard the clattering of horses' hooves. He immediately opened his eyes and knew that Wang Mang was catching up. He quickly hid and waited until Wang Mang left before he came out."

"Thinking back on it, if the crayfish hadn't crawled on his face and woken him up, he would definitely have been killed by Wang Mang. Seeing the crayfish cut in two on the ground, he felt both regretful and pitiful, so he picked a hard thorn from a jujube tree by the roadside and used it to connect the crayfish's head and body together."

"Liu Xiu is no ordinary person. He is a celestial being who has been reincarnated as a human. He was born to be the emperor."

"He tried to revive the crayfish, and as soon as he reattached its head to its body, the crayfish came back to life. From then on, all the crayfish had a thorn stuck under their necks. If you don't believe me, just tear open a crayfish's head and see."

After the old man finished speaking, not only were the little children listening intently with their chins in their hands, but even the reporters who had come with Chen Ling were listening with great interest, their eyes dazzled, and they had an urge to catch a crayfish on the spot and test it to see if it had thorns on its neck.

These mole crickets are actually called crickets in the local dialect. They are similar to crickets and make a "gurgling" sound. They are also common pests in summer and autumn.

The old man telling the story was, of course, Chen Sangui.

The story he told was the widely circulated tale of "Wang Mang chasing Liu Xiu." As an old carpenter, he had quite a few stories to tell.

Not only the little children in the village, but even the adults loved to hear him tell strange and wonderful stories.

On hot summer nights, a group of people gather together and sometimes talk until almost midnight.

Now, just mentioning a couple of things will be enough to appease these little kids.

"Fugui, you're here. Xizi, quickly get some stools for your Uncle Fugui and the others."

Chen Sangui had already seen Chen Ling and the others arrive, but seeing that the reporters were listening intently, he didn't greet them or say anything. Instead, he finished telling the story before inviting them to sit down.

"Uncle Sangui, we're not sitting here anymore. Zhenzhen and the others said they wanted to go out fishing, so they came over to invite Xizi to come along," Chen Ling said with a smile.

"Oh, oh, catching fish? Then you guys go ahead. Xizi, go get your fish basket, your uncle made another one for you."

Chen Sangui was quite at ease letting Xizi follow Chen Ling and the others, and quickly told Xizi to take the things and go with them.

It was the old man's use of "your uncle" that made Chen Ling subconsciously frown.

This must be referring to Baoshuan.

Will Baoshuan weave fish baskets for Xizi?
That's like the sun rising in the west.

However, he didn't say much. After Xizi got her things, he found that the little children he was looking for were listening to stories, so he took them with him and headed towards Dayantang, which was nearby.

Dayantang is located near the school. Ducks, geese and other animals like to play in it. Because of the abundant rainfall throughout the year, the pond has never dried up for decades, and there are many fish and shrimp in it.

As they walked toward Dayantang, the young reporters kept busy, urging Wang Xuecheng to help them catch two crayfish so they could pry open their heads and see if there was a hard thorn connecting them.

Wang Xuecheng was confused by the girls calling him "Brother Xuecheng," so he used a flashlight to search for them along the wall. Crayfish like to stay in dark and damp places, and at night they like to fly towards the light. If a family is willing to turn on the electric light in their yard, crayfish, crickets and the like often fly towards the light and get dizzy from bumping around the lampshade.

So Wang Xuecheng used a flashlight to search and easily caught two crayfish, one big and one small. When he tore them apart, he found that there was indeed a hard thorn in the middle.

"Wow, this bug is amazing. It's exactly like the one in the story. It really has thorns."

"...Crawling crickets, there are several stories about them, have you never heard them before?" Wang Xuecheng asked.

Several men and women shook their heads, all saying no.

"You've never heard the story of Wang Mang chasing Liu Xiu?"

"I've read about this in history books, but I've never heard of such a story. Are there many stories like this?"

"You should ask Uncle Fugui to explain this to you; he knows the answer to that best."

Chen Ling paused for a moment, then nodded. "There are many. Just in our local area alone, there are countless stories. The most famous one is Wangbacheng, and another is Huangniuyu. It is said that Liu Xiu fled to a mountain and his horse died. In the end, he was saved by a cow. After he became emperor, he named it Huangniuyu in memory of the cow that saved his life."

"Besides Huangniuyu, there is another place called Heihuling, which is said to be where Liu Xiu was saved by a black tiger. Anyway, the stories are all similar."

"Wow, so there's a lot of history behind Wang Mang's pursuit of Liu Xiu!"

"Exactly, Liu Xiu is really something else. He was saved by a cicada, a yellow ox, and a tiger. He was rescued wherever he went. It must all be made up."

"Haha, it's not entirely made up."

Chen Ling smiled and shook his head: "There's an old saying: 'When Wang Mang chased Liu Xiu, there was always a way to save him.' It's similar to what you're saying."

"However, there's a story behind this. It's said that Liu Xiu was a descendant of the Purple Star in the heavens, destined to be emperor. Wang Mang wanted to kill him, but he just couldn't."

"In the end, he became emperor, didn't he?"

"..."

"Huh? This... was there such a saying before?"

For a moment, these people felt that they had wasted their time as reporters, and that they knew less than a country bumpkin.

"Hey, these are just folk tales, just listen to them as stories."

Chen Ling waved his hand and continued talking until they arrived at Dayantang.

Under the cover of night, the pond was filled with the croaking of frogs. As soon as someone approached and shone a flashlight on it, the croaking stopped abruptly. All that could be seen was the pond water rippling in the gentle night breeze, creating tiny ripples that shimmered beautifully in the flashlight beam.

Wang Zhenzhen, who had been leading the children at the back, now stepped forward and gestured to the reporters, "Shh, don't talk anymore. There are plenty of fish here, don't scare them away."

The reporters quickly shut their mouths and began to move quietly.

But their eyes remained curiously fixed on the little children, peering into the water as they moved, trying to see where the fish were.

Unfortunately, they weren't often in this kind of environment, and their eyesight wasn't good enough. Chen Ling and Wang Xuecheng had already seen the shallow water near the shore teeming with fish heads, big and small, so many that they couldn't count them all.

That's why they say it's easier to catch fish at night.

There were so many fish swimming out of the water.

The village children have figured out the pattern: usually after dinner, around 6 p.m., from then until 9 p.m., the fish on the surface of the water all swim up in layers to look for food, and there are mostly carp and crucian carp, which are very easy to catch.

However, big fish are very alert, so you have to be careful if you want to catch them, or you'll scare them away.

So these little devils were very cautious. One by one, they took fire tongs and harpoons and quietly approached the water's edge. When they got close again, they suddenly plunged their tools into the water. The fish struggled and thrashed about, their tails wagging wildly, and were pulled out of the water.

The reporters were dazzled by the sight and were filled with admiration for the children's fish-catching skills.

"Shh, Uncle Fugui, look! There's a whiskered fish here, so long and so fat!" Piglet whispered, beckoning Chen Ling over.

Hidden in the shadows of the grass, a large catfish, about the length of a child's arm, lay quietly by the water's edge.

This fish is too big; the little kid isn't confident he can handle it.

Moreover, this fish is completely smooth, making it really difficult to catch.

He then handed the harpoon to Chen Ling, asking him to help.

Then Chen Ling was seen standing by the water, holding his breath and gripping the harpoon tightly.

The next second, with a flick of his wrist, the harpoon plunged into the water with a splash, sending up a large spray of water.

When the harpoon was pulled back, a large catfish about 30 centimeters long was firmly stuck in the water and brought to the surface.

"Wow, look! Look! Brother Chen has caught a huge fish! It's so big!"

Wang Susu glanced at them, then pursed her lips. These girls are really something...

As soon as the catfish was put into the bucket, the other children discovered the big fish one after another and asked Chen Ling for help.

Chen Ling walked slowly along the water's edge, occasionally dropping his harpoon, and almost every time he caught a fish.

In no time, the buckets and fish baskets were filled with fish of all sizes.

“Uncle Fugui, look, I caught the most fish, and they were the biggest, even bigger than your whisker fish.”

Liu Nier didn't ask Chen Ling for help; she relied entirely on herself. At this moment, she showed off to Chen Ling the several big fish she had speared.

"Okay, okay, you're the best."

Chen Ling praised him, saying that this kid was good at everything except studying, and he was better at catching fish and shrimp than adults. Wang Lixian's beatings were useless; he couldn't do anything about this kid.

"Susu, here you go, take the harpoon, let's go catch fish over there."

Chen Ling picked up his son, handed the harpoon to Wang Susu, and the two walked to the side.

Wang Susu was initially shy, after all, there were so many people around. But after she speared a few fish, she got hooked and wouldn't let Chen Ling help her anymore.

Everyone is catching fish.

The reporters watching were itching to take pictures, but unfortunately their skills were just too poor.

Even with young children teaching them, they couldn't learn the key points. Instead, because they were impatient and exerted too much force, they slipped and almost fell into the water, scaring them so much that they stayed far away from the water's edge.

However, these people still had a lot of fun.

"Let's go, let's go somewhere else. We've been fishing all around the pond, but the fish here are too scared to show their faces. Let's go fish outside the village."

Wang Zhenzhen called out, and the children who lived nearby ran home to put the fish they had caught back in their houses. Then, the group ran off to catch fish all over the outside of the village.

The reporters, having had a long day of fun, didn't follow. They waved goodbye and went back to sleep with Wang Xuecheng.

Chen Ling and Wang Susu, holding their son, continued to play with the other children until late at night.

It was already ten o'clock when they got back, which drew a scolding from Wang Cunye and Gao Xiulan.

We took the kids out and ended up playing until this late.

If I hadn't had a baby, would I not have come back?

(End of this chapter)