My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 273 I Choose You if You Want to Be the Party Branch Secretary
Wild animals come down the mountain to forage, but there's no set day or time.

However, based on past experience, wild boars usually come down from the mountains around 1 or 2 a.m., and they should be going back to the mountains later.

Of course.

It's impossible for it to be like this every time.

For example, this time, they arrived in the middle of the night.

"Fugui is here! I was just saying, why are your two big dogs here too?"

"Oh, Susu came too. Come on, come on up to the roof. A whole bunch of wild boars have come. These wild things don't know what's good for them. Don't let them get in your way."

"Susu, listen to your aunt. You all stay on the roof and keep watch. I'll go help chase the wild boar away and come right back."

At this point, the sounds of dogs barking, pigs squealing, and gunshots created complete chaos.

Chen Ling picked up her son and watched as Wang Susu climbed the ladder onto the roof of Wang Lihui's house before handing her the son.

At this time, the rooftops of the houses outside the village were also full of people, including the elderly, women, and children. These people were too tired to hunt wild boars, so they just stood on the rooftops watching the excitement.

Even though it was hard to see clearly in the moonlight, they still craned their necks to look around.

Chen Ling jumped down from the wall and ran towards the place where torches were flashing and people were making noise.

At this point, people's shouts can hardly be heard.

All I could hear was dogs barking.

It was absolutely chaotic and uproarious.

That's just how dogs are.

Although it resembles a wolf.

However, their fighting style is quite different from that of wolves.

When hunting, they will bark loudly as soon as they spot their prey.

This applies to both hunting dogs and ordinary mongrel dogs.

If the dog stops barking someday.

There are generally two scenarios.

It's not that the dog subdued or bit the prey.

The dog got into trouble.

Tonight, a large herd of wild boars came down the mountain; there were about twenty of them.

If you include the smaller ones, there would be over fifty.

This guy wreaks havoc in the cornfield; it's enough to make your heart ache.

Fortunately, it was discovered in time.

As Chen Ling ran over, amidst the flickering torches, he saw by the firelight that the pack of dogs had split into two groups.

One group followed Xiao Jin, and the other followed Heiwa, each surrounding a wild boar, facing off in the large pit behind the local temple.

"Woof woof woof..." The pack of dogs barked incessantly at the wild boar, making it so that all you could hear were the barks, all sounding like the same thing.

"Good heavens, you kept two old sows right away. You guys only pick the big ones, huh?"

Upon closer inspection, Chen Ling realized that the two old sows must weigh over 200 jin (approximately 100 kg).

This is considered quite a large female wild boar.

"We're here! We're so grateful for your dog tonight, otherwise, if that wild boar had come, we would have been completely helpless."

Wang Lixian wasn't there, Chen Dazhi wasn't there, and some villagers with hunting experience had also been taken away by Professor Han and his companion.

After all, you get paid just for being a guide in the mountains, and it's paid by the day, so wouldn't everyone be eager to go?
Besides, many men have gone to work elsewhere and probably won't be back until around the Mid-Autumn Festival.

This led to a situation where, even when people spotted wild boars and had guns, they would simply swarm and shoot at them indiscriminately.

If it weren't for Heiwa Xiaojin running over, leading the village dogs to swarm in, drive away and separate the wild boars, and leave two old sows stuck there...

They have no idea how to deal with it.

Has any big-toothed boars come down the mountain?

Chen Ling glanced around; the wild boar herd had long since disappeared.

"It was a tusked pig, quite big, but it ran away as soon as it heard the gunshot."

Boars, also known as tusked boars, are the fastest to run when danger arises and often abandon their mates.

Only after winter begins.

A lone boar roaming the mountains and forests, that is, a young boar entering a herd, competes with the existing boars for mating rights in the coming year, which forces the older boars to show their masculine prowess.

The two fought to the death.

This is when the tusked boars will protect their herd and are at their fiercest during the year.

Otherwise, if it doesn't protect the herd, the new, solitary pig will overpower it, and the sows will abandon it, leaving it to fend for itself in the mountains.

But right now, it's only autumn.

So these days, the big boars may look intimidating, but they actually cower very quickly. As long as you don't encounter them alone, there's absolutely nothing to worry about.

“Now that there are boars coming down the mountain, you should keep wandering around the fields and shooting around. Otherwise, while we’re dealing with these two old sows here, they might be wreaking havoc on the crops somewhere else.”

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes, it's true. There are more wild boars coming down the mountain, and some tusked boars are leading them. They'll play guerrilla warfare with us. Let's drive them away from here. After they run for a while, as soon as they see that we're not chasing them, they'll stop running and go into the cornfield for a meal."

“We’re busy here while they’re eating over there. It’s all for nothing. You should go and take a look around.”

"Goodness, if that's the case, then let's hurry up and go take a look around."

"Okay, go ahead. I'll take the dog with me later. We still need to get those wild boars back up in the mountains."

After the villagers hurriedly left with their guns, Chen Ling glanced at the large pit behind the land temple.

Inside the large pit was a sparse forest. Taking advantage of the terrain provided by these trees, Heiwa Xiaojin had already led two groups of dogs to bite the two old sows until they were covered in blood.

Under the leadership of their two alpha dogs.

The stray dogs, who had been disorganized and undisciplined, seemed to have suddenly transformed into excellent hunting dogs.

With clear division of labor, they cooperated seamlessly.

Heiwa was brave and fierce, with immense strength. He led a pack of local dogs, seemingly determined to go head-to-head with the sow. He roared and bit the sow's thick neck, tearing at it.

The thickest part of a wild boar's neck is its neck meat.

With a flick of the neck, one can throw an adult several meters away.

Moreover, a wild boar weighing over 200 pounds has thick skin and great strength. In a frenzied charge, even a large dog like Heiwa's would only be able to be crushed or sent flying.

However, no matter how hard the wild boar tried, it just couldn't shake off Heiwa.

Even as it panted heavily and howled wildly, crashing into trees as thick as bowls, it shook violently.

But he still couldn't shake off Heiwa.

Instead, Heiwa bit a bloody hole in his neck.

Blackie's white teeth were dripping with blood as he viciously tore at the food, bite after bite, completely devoid of his usual docile demeanor.

With each bite, a piece of flesh was torn off, and the bloody hole in the wild boar's neck grew larger and larger until the bone was visible.

The seven or eight stray dogs following Heiwa were also excited at the sight of blood, barking wildly and tearing at the wild boar's hind legs and ribs. They pounced on the wild boar and bit it indiscriminately.

In contrast, the little goldfish not far away appeared much more organized than the chaos on Heiwa's side.

The commotion was not significant.

But it was even bloodier than what happened on Heiwa's side.

When Chen Ling walked over, Xiao Jin had already pulled out the sow's intestines. Several local dogs were either holding onto the boar's ears or tearing at its belly, gutting it.

Following Xiao Jin's example, it became extremely ferocious, and soon its intestines and internal organs were scattered all over the ground, which was quite gruesome.

Seeing this, Chen Ling couldn't bear it and fired two shots to relieve the two wild boars of their suffering.

Then he whistled, summoning Er Tu Zi over, and led the pack of dogs in a grand procession toward another location.

With dogs and kites by his side, Chen Ling quickly arrived at his destination, a peanut field not far from the foot of the mountain.

The nearby cornfields, as well as peanut and sweet potato fields, were largely ruined.

A large boar with its tusks sticking out was running up the hillside. Despite its size, it was incredibly fast and jumped very high, leaping over a stone ledge more than half a meter high in a flash.

The mother wild boar, with her piglets, scattered in all directions like headless flies.

They would sneak into any available crevice—in the lush weeds, in the ditches, in the bushes…

"Ooh, ha..."

With the sound of gunshots, "bang, bang, bang," the men in the village shouted and chased after the wild boar relentlessly.

Generally speaking, if one pig runs, all the other pigs follow. However, with so many pigs, accidents are bound to happen.

For example, an old sow that fell into a ditch could not escape people's pursuit and was even shot twice.

Perhaps knowing it was about to be cornered, it suddenly went berserk, turned around, and charged towards the people.

Upon seeing this, the dogs barked excitedly and tried to rush forward.

But they weren't needed at this point. Everyone fired their hunting rifles, and the wild boar lay down by the ditch.

Seeing this, Chen Ling whistled again: "Go and catch all the little wild boars."

The two dogs and the bald man all set out together.

In no time at all, they captured every single one of the little creatures that had scattered and run away.

After that, Heiwa and Xiaojin felt they weren't quite done, so they led their pack of dogs on another offensive. In the end, they achieved a pretty good result, catching back a small female wild boar weighing less than 200 pounds.

"Good heavens, you've struck it rich! It's all thanks to your dog today, working hard and putting in all the effort. You can carry all of this wild boar back with you."

"That's right, those two dogs are really capable. As soon as they came over, all the dogs in our village became very obedient. They would go up when told to go up and back down when told to back down."

"You know what, that hawk is amazing, it's strong and powerful. Its legs are so thin, it doesn't look very strong, but I didn't expect it could catch a wild boar cub."

"..."

“I think Fugui is the best. He can raise dogs and train eagles. This wild boar alone should be enough for you to sell for a thousand or two thousand yuan.”

It was only when Chen Ling arrived today that they felt like they had a pillar of support.

Leaving aside the dogs, just talking about Chen Ling, if it weren't for someone reminding him, the crops at the foot of the mountain would probably have been completely ruined.

"No, no, no, I'm just here to help. Let's do it the same way as before, divide it however we need to."

Chen Ling waved his hand, he didn't care about these things. He would just take the little wild boar away later, he didn't really like eating the meat of the big wild boar.

"Forget about old rules and regulations. We didn't go up the mountain or down the river. Forget about 'everyone gets a share'. You did the most work, so you should carry it away."

Wang Lishan kicked the two large pigs at his feet, saying, "If you can't carry them, we'll help you carry them."

“Yes, yes, yes, if you hadn’t reminded us, we wouldn’t have been able to keep our peanuts,” another man chimed in.

Chen Ling glanced at him; it was Chen Baoliang.

As dawn broke, he didn't say anything more.

"Then let's carry all the pigs to the village entrance. It's almost dawn, so I'll treat everyone to a pig slaughter and soup, as an early Mid-Autumn Festival celebration."

Upon hearing this, everyone was taken aback for a moment, then they all grinned and thought to themselves that this kid was very generous.

So the group carried the dead wild boar up on their backs.

The little wild boar was tied up and helped Chen Ling carry it.

Upon arriving at the Earth God Temple, they carried out the two sows from behind the temple and offered them as a sacrifice to the Earth God.

Only then did they carry all the wild boars to the village entrance in a lively and bustling manner.

Upon reaching the village entrance, Wang Lishan announced that Fugui was treating everyone to a potluck soup, urging everyone who could come to hurry over. Instantly, the entire village, young and old, erupted in excitement.

This guy not only drove the wild boars back to the mountain, but also hunted down four large wild boars and caught a large group of small wild boars, which really surprised everyone.

Chen Ling's generosity was also unexpected by everyone.

Those who came to watch the spectacle climbed down from the rooftops and trees.

Wang Cunye, Gao Xiulan, and Wang Zhenzhen were also there, standing with Wang Susu. After learning of Chen Ling's decision, they didn't say anything, as family members all knew what kind of temper he had.

So he happily followed the crowd and helped carry three large pots from Wang Lishan's house and the cook Maodan'er's house. They found an open space next to the pond, set up the pots, and started boiling water to remove the pig's hair, gut it, and butcher it.

Many hands make light work. Some people carried water, some boiled water, some removed hair... Everyone did their job, and soon the wild boar meat was put into the pot to make soup.

As a large pig was put into the pot, Chen Ling and Wang Cunye were distributing the pork to everyone.

However, he only got one, and the villagers refused to let him get the other two big wild boars no matter what.

"That's enough, that's enough. You can keep Fugui. Even if you don't eat him, you can still sell him for money."

This kid is so generous; he really wants to divide all four pigs among them.

They were too ashamed to ask for it back.

Wang Laishun was even more flustered by Chen Ling, wondering if this kid wanted to become the village secretary.

The little kids, however, weren't so preoccupied with such things. They surrounded Chen Ling, laughing and joking, playing with the dog, and feeding the kites with meat.

Men, women, and children were all in high spirits. Wang Lishan stood in the middle of the crowd, spitting everywhere, describing the entire process of hunting the wild boar in a thrilling manner. He also praised Chen Ling's dog and eagle to the skies, as if he had witnessed the whole thing.

By the time the pork was ready, it was already past 10 a.m. The wild boar meat, stewed for more than three hours, was very tender and had a mild gamey smell thanks to Chen Ling's special seasoning.

"Slurp, it smells so good! This meat is so fragrant. I've never smelled pork that smells so good before."

"Exactly! I've been waiting all morning, and my stomach was already growling with hunger. This smell made me even hungrier. I could barely stand up straight."

"What kind of seasoning is this, Fu Gui? It's even better at removing fishy smells than the seasoning that Sister-in-law Xiu Fen makes. Did your father-in-law make it too?"

"Haha, whenever you're cooking meat, just come to my house and get some. I'll give you as much as you want."

Chen Ling chuckled and served meat to the elderly and children in the village.

"The meat is ready. Everyone helped themselves. We got up at four o'clock and didn't eat breakfast. Everyone ate and drank their fill."

Upon hearing this, the villagers immediately gathered around the three large pots with their bowls and chopsticks.

Upon seeing this, someone in the crowd shouted.

"Don't push, don't push. Fugui is treating us to soup today and is even sharing meat with us. How can we cause trouble for him?"

"Yes, yes, let's line up."

Suddenly, a long line formed in front of the three large pots.

When Wang Laishun saw this, he thought, "Good heavens! As soon as they talk about wealth and prosperity, they don't even need me, the Party Secretary, to organize it."

If Fugui wants to replace me in the future, it's just a matter of a word.

The old man became depressed.

The villagers paid no attention to him at that moment, and lined up busily to get their meat.

Each person's bowl is filled with more than half a bowl of meat, and then hot soup with oil floating on top is poured over it.

The group squatted in a row, eating the fragrant pork and drinking the hot soup, feeling extremely satisfied.

These days, people can't eat meat more than a few times a year, let alone eat it freely; that's just a pipe dream.

So everyone ate so much meat that they were stuffed.

Even the leftover soup was used by some people to soak steamed buns in.

After eating and drinking their fill, everyone sat on the ground, casually placing their bowls and chopsticks aside, and began to chat and laugh.

"Fugui is a good kid. He's capable, promising, and so kind. I think he's got the makings of a Party branch secretary."

“I also think that it’s great that Fugui doesn’t like working outside the village, so he can stay and be the village party secretary.”

"That's right. Whenever Fugui wants to be the Party Secretary, I'll vote for him."

"Me too."

"..."

Everyone chimed in with their praise, showering Chen Ling with compliments, which made Wang Cunye and Gao Xiulan beam with delight.

Wang Susu was also beaming with joy.

As for Chen Ling, he hadn't noticed this side yet.

He was holding his son, leading Wang Zhenzhen and a group of other children, fishing with pig offal at Dayantang.

After they had played enough, they came over and called Wang Susu to go home.

As a result, they ran into Wang Laishun walking towards them with a dark face.

He then asked with a smile, "Fifth Uncle, are you full?"

"Well, I'm full."

Wang Laishun, with a stern face, uttered a single sentence and hurriedly walked away with his hands behind his back.

"Hey, who's offended this old man? Why is he so hostile?"

Chen Ling scratched his head, ignoring it, and, holding his son, wanted to call his wife to go back to the farm.

As a result, the villagers pulled me to sit down, and we chatted for a while, talking about this and that. Someone even offered hot water, and everyone was given a bowl of tea.

It's rare to see the village so lively.

At noon, Han Ninggui returned to the village with Wang Lixian and others, and this is the scene they saw.

Wang Lixian and the others were completely bewildered, thinking that someone was celebrating a happy occasion while they were away.

(End of this chapter)