My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 30 Getting along
The tender green grass was lush and green, and it was taller than the grass that had just sprouted by the roadside when we arrived.

Looking around, a large patch of grass grew densely on the soft, damp earth soaked by the rain.

For Wang Jusheng, who had witnessed the extent of the land's desolation, it was extremely shocking.

"Yes, in the past, even if grass grew here, it was very late. It would only grow on the thin layer of soil washed down by heavy rains in the summer. How come grass sprouts have appeared in the spring this year?"

Wang Susu was also very surprised. She bent down and pulled up two plants, and found that they were growing quite sturdily, which made her even more surprised.

Chen Ling, who was tidying up the plow and harrow, replied, "It must be because the soil has been there for a while and its fertility has started to recover."

It's just that grass can grow there; it doesn't mean it will suddenly become fertile land. He wasn't worried at all.

He then said to Wang Susu, "Have you forgotten the two piles of soil I brought back for you last time? Actually, this land isn't as bad as we thought. With a little effort, it can still be cultivated!"

"They can grow it! They can grow it incredibly well, Fugui!"

Wang Jusheng seemed even more excited than Chen Ling and his wife. He picked two blades of grass, chewed them, then dug up two handfuls of soil from the ground, kneaded them in his hands, and walked up to Chen Ling.

"Squeeze this soil in your hand, and you'll see it's so much better than before. If all thirty acres were like this, you'd make a profit!"

"Hey, what's with all this talk about making money? It's just a waste of time!"

Chen Ling shook his head, untied the cart, and prepared to put a plow on the donkey.

Seeing this, Wang Jusheng hurriedly reached out to help. Neither of them were good at farm work, and the donkey was not very obedient either. It took a lot of effort to load the plow onto the donkey.

“Fugui, tell me the truth, when you agreed to exchange this land with Erzhu, did you never intend to farm it?”

"You actually want to do something else, don't you?"

While loading the plow, Wang Jusheng quietly asked Chen Ling a question.

"You're overthinking it, Jusheng. What else can we do in this remote mountain valley?"

"Should we build a brick kiln? Or set up a lime factory?"

Chen Ling smiled, fed the donkey a handful of peanuts, and then prepared to start plowing the field.

"These methods definitely won't work! Erzhu's father has already tried them, and what happened? When people here build houses and buy building materials, they still prefer to go to Wangbacheng, just like always?"

"But I think you could start a poultry farm! I've seen some chicken and duck farms in the village that are thriving and making a lot of money!"

As Wang Jusheng spoke, he kept his eyes fixed on Chen Ling, observing his reaction.

Regardless of what others in the village say, based on his two interactions with Chen Ling, he doesn't think Chen Ling is a brainless person.

Exchanging farmland with Chen Erzhu probably stemmed from his own ulterior motives and hidden agendas.

"Farming? I can't put that kind of effort into it."

"Then we'll have to fence this area off and build a factory, which will be a complete waste of time."

The two chatted as they drove the donkey to plow the field.

"Wasting time? How is it a waste of time?"

Wang Jusheng was completely confused and asked in bewilderment.

Chen Ling smiled but didn't answer. He couldn't very well say that there were still more than three months until the floods.

Although there were few casualties in this area during the 95 floods, the losses were devastating.

Even if you have an idea, there's no need to do it now; you can wait until after the flood.

He was also waiting for the flood to pass so that his wasteland would "turn" into fertile fields.

So Chen Ling changed the subject and asked, "Have you been staying home and resting these past few days because of the rain?"

"Yes, unless there is an emergency or I'm on duty, I generally don't go to the countryside on rainy days."

Wang Jusheng nodded, then, seeing that he was quite far from Wang Susu, he lowered his voice furtively and said:
"Fugui, have you heard? The man across the street from you is quite the womanizer in the village! He's even keeping a mistress!"

Good grief, I shouldn't have brought up your hometown with me.

Chen Ling was speechless, wondering how he could have missed that this guy with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a square face actually had a gossipy nature.

It seems he's still too idle at work. Just as he was secretly grumbling to himself, he heard Wang Jusheng continue, "It's only because the crime of hooliganism hasn't been as serious in the last two years, otherwise, a letter of complaint would have made things difficult for that bastard, letting him mess around with women."

"What's wrong, Jusheng? Are you jealous?"

Hearing the slightly sour tone in his voice, Chen Ling chuckled and teased him.

"Pah! You rich fool, what nonsense are you spouting? I'm a decent person, how could I possibly be envious of such a thing?"

Wang Jusheng glared at him and scolded.

Then, seeing that Wang Susu hadn't noticed them, he chuckled again: "But I must say, that young woman is quite pretty, she's really attractive..."

"When you go to the countryside, I'll show you."

Chen Ling suppressed a laugh, nodded, and said "okay."

At the same time, I found Wang Jusheng to be quite interesting; in some ways, he was very similar to some of his friends from later generations.

Gradually, a sense of kinship arose in my heart, and we chatted more and more enthusiastically.

They chatted idly about this and that while driving the donkey to plow the field.

By the time the sun was about to set, they had actually plowed more than two acres of land.

"Hey, we've plowed pretty fast today!"

Wang Jusheng squatted on the edge of the ground, picked up his bowl, drank some water, and said.

In just over four hours, they plowed more than two acres of land.

Basically, it takes about an hour to plow half an acre, which is quite fast, using a donkey-drawn plow.

"It's not slow, but the main problem is that most of these thirty acres are flat and level. Otherwise, it would take three or four hours to plow each acre."

Chen Ling nodded and said.

At this moment, he and Wang Susu each picked up a rake, preparing to roughly rake the plowed land.

Behind the two were two tiny puppies, one black and one yellow. They were only half a month old, but they had been drinking goat milk mixed with water from the Dongtian Stream, and their little bodies were growing rapidly. They were very energetic and had been running around non-stop for most of the day.

"Woof! Woof..."

Heiwa and Xiaojin were chubby and plump, like two little whirlwinds. They ran along, barking and waving their little tails, challenging the donkey.

The donkey had just finished pulling the plow and was resting on the edge of the field, completely ignoring the two little guys.

Wang Jusheng found them interesting and reached out to touch them, but Heiwa and Xiaojin cleverly dodged away.

Wang Jusheng tried several more times but couldn't touch it at all, so he had no choice but to give up. He said, "That makes sense. Back then, Erzhu's father cleared this land and originally wanted to plant fruit trees. The land wasn't this flat back then. Later, he set up a lime factory, so it had to be leveled."

Half an hour later, Chen Ling and his wife roughly raked the ground.

They rode a donkey cart, and Wang Jusheng rode a bicycle. The three of them returned to the village in the afterglow of the setting sun.

"Brother Jusheng, come to my house and bring some peanuts for your wife."

After entering the village, Chen Ling turned around and informed the people behind him.

"okay!"

Wang Jusheng readily agreed.

He and Chen Ling worked together for half a day, chatting about all sorts of things, and became quite familiar with each other. Naturally, he didn't stand on ceremony with Chen Ling anymore.

When they arrived at Chen Ling's house, there were two people outside the gate, one big and one small.

The older one sat on the stone doorstep outside, smoking a pipe, while the younger one squatted on the ground, playing with marbles.

"Brother Xian, Liu Ni'er, what brings you here?"

Chen Ling recognized the father and son in front of him at a glance, and hurriedly stopped the donkey cart and jumped off.

(End of this chapter)