My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 357 I Don't Believe I Can't Move You

"What's the rush? You just got back from the city, can't you just rest at home?"

In the afternoon, Gao Xiulan sat in the warm sun sewing shoe soles. Watching Wang Susu holding the baby and tidying Chen Ling's clothes, she complained a little.

"Nothing much, it's just that the weather is getting warmer, and I wanted to go up the mountain to check on the fish fry I released last autumn."

Chen Ling chuckled. He had released fish fry into the mountain lake, but not last autumn; it was in winter.

Those were fish fry cultivated in spiritual water; it wouldn't be a problem if some of them survived.

Gao Xiulan frowned: "Releasing fish fry in the fall? Is that really feasible? They might not survive the winter."

He thought they were the fighting fish that Chen Ling had caught at the Medicine King Temple.

"It's alright, it doesn't cost any money anyway. Mom, your eyesight isn't very good, so don't bother sewing shoe soles. Didn't we just buy some shoes?"

After Chen Ling finished speaking, Wang Susu also said, "Mother, A-Ling bought a lot of shoes for you and Father, but you don't wear them. They've all gone bad from being left out."

Gao Xiulan smiled and said, "The shoes you bought, your dad only wears them when he comes home. He just shows them off to outsiders and then puts them away because he thinks they're too expensive. Besides, shoes bought outside are not as comfortable as the ones we make ourselves."

Just then, Wang Cunye walked over from behind the farm, his face full of excitement, and said, "Great news! Great news!"

It left everyone completely bewildered.

"What's wrong, Dad? What good news? Did our dog get together?"

Seeing how happy he was, Chen Ling thought that Xiao Jin had fallen in love and had arranged for Heiwa to be his match.

"What? You're only thinking about the dog."

Wang Cunye glared at his son-in-law, picked up his eldest grandson, and said happily, "Our family has a little swallow this year, and it's building its nest in the kitchen."

"Come on, Rui Rui, Grandpa will take you to see Little Swallow."

Swallows have moved into the house, which is a good omen in the countryside, symbolizing that the family is kind and blessed.

On their side, swallows are allowed to build nests and breed under the eaves and indoors.

Elders often teach children to cherish swallows and not to harm them, disturb their nests, or eat them.

There are also sayings such as "swallows don't live in the homes of wicked people" and "beating a swallow will blind you."

Wang Susu and Gao Xiulan were overjoyed to hear that Little Swallow had moved in.

The family hurried to the kitchen, and sure enough, they saw two swallows flying in and out of the kitchen. Two other swallows, seeing people coming, circled around and dared not land. After flying over, they circled once and then flew away.

"Wow, it really is a swallow! We haven't had any swallows living in our new house since it was built."

Wang Susu watched with delight, feeling an indescribable joy in her heart.

He and Gao Xiulan quickly tidied up the clutter at the kitchen entrance so as not to obstruct Xiao Yanzi's entry and exit.

Wang Cunye, holding Rui Rui, pointed behind the door and said, "See that half-finished nest above the door? Just wait, the little swallows are the most diligent. They'll finish building the nest and move in in a couple of days."

Chen Ling looked up at the swallows and whistled a few times, then imitated their calls. He then looked at his father-in-law and said, "Dad, let's not stand here anymore. Didn't you see that the swallows are too afraid to fly in? They have mud in their beaks, so they dare not go in or land. It's so tiring."

"Is that right?"

They looked up in confusion and saw that there were indeed two swallows, one hovering nearby, too afraid to land.

"Oh dear, it really is. Let's get out of here quickly, we can't let Little Swallow get tired."

Gao Xiulan quickly pulled Wang Susu out of the kitchen, and then the family left the kitchen and watched from a distance as the swallows flew in and out busily built their nests.

"Dad, what were you busy with in the back just now? Were you fiddling with the snake again?"

After lunch, the old man didn't come out. Chen Ling thought he was taking a nap, but he turned out to be in the backyard.

"No, those worms are useless. These past few days, cats have been coming to our house. Mountain cats and other cats from the village will sneak into our house if we're not careful. I'm afraid of losing money, so I'm thinking of getting some medicine to drive them away."

As Wang Cunye spoke, he chuckled and said, "Luckily, Little Swallow moved into our house, which proves that our family's good fortune wasn't ruined by those cats."

An old saying goes: Cats bring poverty, dogs bring wealth, and rabbits bring misfortune.

It is said that if a cat comes to the house, it will bring financial loss; if a dog comes, it will bring good fortune; and if a rabbit comes, it will dig holes randomly, like digging a grave, which is considered a bad omen and means someone in the family will die.

This isn't an accidental intrusion; it's the kind of intruder that comes and can't be driven away.

For example, one year a dog came to Chen Dazhi's house. It would go to his strawberry field all day long and help him guard the strawberries. No matter how hard he tried to get rid of it, it wouldn't leave. So Chen Dazhi had no choice but to take it home and raise it. It is said that he made money that year.

This is naturally a folk superstition.

But many elderly people believe it and are very superstitious about it.

Wang Cunye, in particular, saw a stark contrast between living in his own village and living at his son-in-law's house, believing that his son-in-law's house was a treasure land and that he should naturally protect this auspicious place.

"Oh, I see. Don't we have a dog? Why does the cat keep coming into the house?"

He took the three dogs away, but there's still a bunch of puppies guarding the house. They usually patrol the orchard, so no wild animals should get close. How dare those cats?

"That's right, our dog is so fierce. It chases and bites them as soon as they come in, and it always manages to sneak into the house whenever it gets a chance. The roof, the trees, the walls—the dog can't get up there."

Wang Cunye sighed: "Otherwise, I wouldn't have thought about it so much."

Chen Ling nodded, thinking to himself, "No wonder Xiao Yanzi was so happy to come."

It turns out he was just being paranoid because of those cats.

The reason cats keep coming into my house is simply because there are things in my house that attract them.

It's either a fish or a bird from nearby.

Cats are inherently cunning.

They are also very patient.

Once they become attached to the environment of the farm, they will eventually come back no matter how hard you try to drive them away.

Then she stopped looking and teased her son for a bit before slowly heading up the mountain.

The lake is remote, with few mountain paths around it and no villages or shops in sight, making it difficult to transport fish for sale. However, the lake is deep and wide, so raising fish there will be no problem.

Keeping ornamental fish is a waste of time; keeping edible fish like fine-scaled salmon is much better, and this place is also easier to guard.

If it were a reservoir, let alone improving the water quality, just preventing jealous people from poisoning it would require a lot of effort.

Moreover, he has spent money to lease out the entire area around the mountain, and it would be a real waste not to make use of it.

Right now, I'm just keeping ornamental fish; it's not worth making a big fuss about it.

Ornamental fish can be raised in just two or three ponds in an open space in the orchard.

Transportation is also convenient.

After taking a stroll around the mountain lake, Chen Ling observed that the fish released last winter were growing quite well; at least these naturally grown ornamental fish could fetch a good price.

This proves that the fish fry cultivated with spiritual water have had some genetic improvements. Once they grow up in the external environment, they don't need spiritual water to raise them anymore, which is fine.

"Hmm, in a couple of days, let Little Sheep take away the ornamental fish from the lotus pond, and then dig a fishpond to raise the next batch."

Chen Ling considered it for a while. He was never in a hurry to make money and do business. Today was only the first day back from the city.

It took a day and a night to get there by motorcycle, exploring as we went.

On the way back, Chen Ling didn't ride his bicycle the whole way; instead, he took his dog and traveled most of the way back by boat.

I disembarked at Tenghe Township, southeast of the county seat, and then switched to a motorcycle to return home.

The waterway was quite fast; I arrived home last night.

So Chen Ling decided to rest at home for two days and spend time with his wife and children.

To put it bluntly, it's mainly about spending time with my wife.

I got pregnant the year before last, gave birth to my son last year, and before he was even a year old, I got pregnant with my second child.

Although this second child was something both of them had been hoping for.

However, with his wife pregnant and raising the baby consecutively, Chen Ling was also worried that she might develop psychological problems.

When she was pregnant with Rui Rui, Wang Susu became much more talkative and sensitive.

So for the next two days, apart from digging fish ponds in the morning and evening, Chen Ling spent most of his time taking care of the child, helping Wang Susu at the village pharmacy, and taking the mother and child horseback riding and dog walking in the evening.

After playing for two consecutive days, it wasn't until the third day that they had caught all the ornamental fish in the lotus pond and irrigation ditch, and then had the little sheep carry them away in one trip.

It was Saturday, and Wang Zhenzhen was at home, running around wildly with the village children and dogs.
Seeing a large truck heading towards the farm, they stopped it at the village entrance and climbed onto it like monkeys.

Upon arriving at the farm, he took off his shoes, rolled up his trousers, and jumped into the water to help Chen Ling catch fish.

These mischievous kids may be naughty, but they're all experts at catching fish.

It saved them a lot of trouble. Before noon, they had scooped out all the ornamental fish in the lotus pond and irrigation ditch, leaving only loaches and eels that had emerged from their burrows as the weather warmed up.

The fish fry in the lotus pond were also released last winter.

It was added when we were catching fish in the twelfth lunar month to make pickled fish, and there weren't many big fish left in the tank.

However, Chen Ling felt that the water sources around the farm contained spiritual water components, so he released another batch in the mountain lake for observation and comparison.

Fortunately, the final result did not disappoint him.

Fish fry bred in Lingshui can grow to a good quality even in ordinary water, without significant changes.

The fish in the ordinary water don't grow as big as the ornamental fish in the farm's lotus pond and surrounding ditches.

After deducting the transportation cost for the lamb and the losses incurred along the way, Chen Ling made a net profit of five thousand yuan from this fish haul.

The villagers who learned of this were all shocked.

Those fancy fish are just toys; they're only for looking at and can't be eaten. How can they sell for so much money?

Fu Gui is a guy who makes money no matter what he does.

Everything is fun, and everything can make a lot of money; it's enough to make anyone envious.

In addition to selling salted eggs and wine, Chen Ling's family gained another source of income, which naturally made the whole family very happy. Chen Ling immediately rewarded Wang Zhenzhen with a small bicycle, which made the little girl jump and shout with excitement.

The day we bought it, we rode the new bicycle and the kids to stack wheat straw outside the village.

Enraged, Gao Xiulan pinned her to the bed and beat her, scolding her for being a tomboy who only knew how to cause trouble.

Isn't that just causing trouble?

The so-called "straw stacking" involves riding a bicycle at extremely high speed and crashing headfirst into a straw stack.

The straw stacks are soft and won't hurt anyone.

But it would damage the vehicle, especially a brand new bicycle.

How could Gao Xiulan not be angry when she found out?
The next day, they took away the new bicycle and wouldn't let Wang Zhenzhen ride it anymore. The little girl pouted and was unhappy for a long time.

She had originally planned to ride her bicycle to school to show off to her teachers and classmates, but now that's no longer an option.

……

If Chen Ling was willing to buy a new bicycle for his sister-in-law, he certainly wouldn't hesitate to buy one for his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

He also wanted to buy his father-in-law a small motorcycle.

The two elders refused to accept it no matter what they said.

Although they didn't end up buying it, the villagers witnessed Chen Ling's wealth and power, which greatly impressed them.

After all, how much income can one earn from farming all year round? Chen Ling could sell a truckload of fish for five thousand yuan.

The key issue is that they didn't know how to make any kind of wine before, and people didn't want their salted eggs either.

But selling fish is easy, isn't it?

Chenwangzhuang is a place with plenty of water and fish. You can catch two pounds of fish in just a few muddy ditches and puddles. Not to mention it's right next to a reservoir. Wherever there's water, there will be plenty of fish.

Even those fancy ornamental fish, as long as there's water, why worry about not being able to keep them?
It doesn't take much effort; it's just something you do on the side while farming.

So for a period of time afterward, every household followed Chen Ling's example and dug ponds in their own farmland to raise fish.

The families who already had ponds on the north side of the dam hurriedly cleared them out, then carried buckets and fished in the rivers and ditches. They would scoop up any pretty fish they saw and put them in the ponds. Some of the people who were on good terms with Chen Ling couldn't resist going to his house to ask for fish fry.

Chen Ling accepted all offers without hesitation.

It's not that he's foolishly generous.

Rather, it's that his model is not worth promoting.

The villagers wanted to raise ornamental fish and sell them at a good price, so they could only use his fish fry.

It's not enough to just take the fish fry from him and breed them.

Even if it works within two generations, the fish will gradually become ordinary in appearance after multiple breeding cycles and won't fetch much money.

At that time, it's okay if it happens once or twice, but if it happens too often, the villagers won't feel comfortable taking Chen Ling's fish fry for free.

Naturally, people will spend money to buy it.

Chen Ling wasn't after the money from the fish fry; he had other plans in mind.

In the business of raising ornamental fish, only by expanding the scale of breeding can one gain a certain advantage.

He wouldn't mind getting the villagers involved in fish farming.

With a larger scale and more money, more trucks can be used to transport fish, and they can also be transported to more distant cities.

This way, everyone benefits, and everyone can make money, saving us from having to hide our secrets and attracting envy and jealousy.

Unexpectedly, his generosity in giving away fish fry earned him a good reputation. After only a few times, the people who came later felt embarrassed to take advantage of him and brought their own money to buy the fish.

Since they were all neighbors, Chen Ling didn't charge them extra money.

But there were so many villagers who wanted fish fry that most families in the village came to ask for them. In the end, we made more than a thousand yuan just from the fish fry.

Including the money I've made from selling salted eggs these past few days, I must have earned quite a bit of eight thousand yuan without even leaving the house.

This made Sun Yanhong very jealous when she learned the news. At the same time, she was greatly stimulated by Chen Ling's behavior of hooking up with Xiao Mianyang and felt very indignant.

This is a long-term, big business.

When there was a profitable business opportunity, she didn't even look for her freight station, but instead went to cooperate with her former employees who had gone out to run errands.

This guy has such a deep-seated prejudice against her.

Helpless, Sun Yanhong sincerely humbled herself for the first time and came to Chen Ling to ask for cooperation.

She came not only for the fish, but also for the wine from the farm.

“I’m telling you, Fugui, why not make money off what’s sitting there? Why wait a whole six months? Why not sell it now? It’s still wine, whether it’s aged a long time or a short time. As long as the taste doesn’t change, who will know once it’s sold?”

"We'll still make money then. I can help you sell them. Compared to your current small-scale operations, it won't be much more profitable."

Sun Yanhong squatted next to Chen Ling's rattan chair, pleading desperately.

The implication was clear: Chen Ling was to sell some inferior liquor and pass it off as high-quality.

As long as the taste remains the same, no one else can tell the difference.

At that time, even ordinary wine can be sold for exorbitant prices.

They're making a killing!

Chen Ling chuckled upon hearing this, "Is the wine from my farm so popular? I haven't been selling wine for very long, just last year I sold some wines from officials."

"That's right. If officials like it, then it must be a good thing. Many people beg to buy it but can't get it. Nobody knows where this wine comes from."

"Those who know about it are asking around and asking me to buy it."

Sun Yanhong became more and more excited as she spoke, her voice urgent: "Now is the perfect opportunity! Once this opportunity is gone, it will be gone forever."

She was obviously exaggerating.

Chen Ling simply shook his head upon hearing this, "Forget it, these are all crooked ideas of yours, they won't last long."

He has countless ways to make money.

It depends on whether you're willing to do it or not.

To forge something for a little money is not only unethical, but also shows a complete lack of ambition.

And it takes so much effort.

It would be so much better to spend this time with your wife and kids, going out and having fun.

"Then tell me, what other business opportunities do you have? You can partner with that coward Fang Boming, why can't you partner with me? I can make you a fortune just by buying your wine every year."

Sun Yanhong was sincere this time, but Chen Ling didn't believe her. No matter how much she pleaded, she remained unmoved.

Finally, having no other choice, he simply said, "If you need any business in the future, just come to me. Even if I lose money, I won't say a word."

This woman was really determined. She saw a certain quality in Chen Ling. You could call it being indifferent to desires or lacking ambition, but this was the kind of person who always had a lot of good things in his hands.

One after another, various money-making opportunities arose, leaving people overwhelmed.

So she was willing to lose money to cooperate with Chen Ling, just to change his impression of her. This time she showed 200% sincerity, and she was sure she could move him.

(End of this chapter)