My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 36 Chicken Disaster
After working in the fields for most of the day, Chen Ling and Wang Jusheng were starving. After Zhang Qiaoling brought the child out, the three of them sat down to eat.

Chen Ling prepared five dishes, only one of which was meat; the rest were vegetarian, so it wasn't a lavish meal.

However, because his cooking was so delicious, Wang Jusheng and his wife enjoyed their meal very much.

Even though Zhang Qiaoling was influenced by the villagers and still had some reservations about Chen Ling, she couldn't help but praise him repeatedly.

Even when Chen Ling left, he took the initiative to give him two jars of pickled vegetables.

"Although your sister-in-law Qiaoling's cooking is not as good as yours, her pickled vegetables are absolutely amazing. No one in the surrounding area can compare to her."

“Look at the big vats in my yard. Several of them are full of pickled vegetables, and there are also several large vats of chili sauce and fermented bean paste.”

"Come and get it whenever you want to eat it."

Wang Jusheng said with a smile.

"Sister-in-law, you're amazing! No wonder there were so many big vats in the yard!"

Chen Ling held up two black jars, lowered his head to smell them, and his eyes lit up immediately.

It tastes really good.

He had thought these large vats were empty, but he was surprised to find them filled with pickled vegetables and sauces.

"Don't listen to your brother Jusheng's nonsense. Every household pickles a couple of jars of vegetables all year round. He brags about it to everyone he meets, without feeling ashamed."

Zhang Qiaoling laughed, feeling a little embarrassed by what Wang Jusheng said.

He thought to himself, "Who praises their own company like that in front of others?"

It's just a little bit of pickled vegetables. No matter how much you praise it, it's still just pickled vegetables and it's not worth much money.

"Hey, I didn't brag to everyone I met; these are all things that other people have tasted."

"Just like my colleagues at the police station, whenever I bring pickled vegetables from home, they always rush to ask me for some."

"Last time I was afraid there wouldn't be enough to eat, so I put in a whole jar. But these bastards ate it all in two meals. Later I found out that even the old man at the gate took half a bowl. Damn it."

Wang Jusheng slapped his thigh and glared at him.

"Haha, after hearing what you said, Jusheng, I can't wait to eat it. I'll go back and tell Susu that I'll have to ask her to come and learn from your sister-in-law another day."

Chen Ling said with a smile.

Zhang Qiaoling smiled and said, "Okay, whenever Su Su wants to pickle vegetables, I'll teach her step by step."

And so, chatting and laughing, they saw Chen Ling to the door.

"Alright, the child is still at home. Jusheng and Qiaoling, you don't need to see him off anymore. Go back now."

Chen Ling waved goodbye to the two men and then went home alone.

When she got home, Wang Susu had already eaten and was boiling a large wooden tub of water, making the whole room steamy.

Seeing him return, she closed the door, and the two of them took a hot bath together before comfortably going to bed on the kang (heated brick bed).

……

The next day, spring rain continued to fall.

Although it wasn't raining heavily, it drizzled all morning and showed no signs of stopping.

Seeing this, Chen Ling was no longer in a hurry to get up and make breakfast. He hugged Wang Susu's soft body, changed his sleeping position, and planned to sleep soundly for half a morning, just like before.

As a result, less than half an hour later, I was woken up by the noise outside.

"Ah Ling, Ah Ling, get up quickly, something seems to have happened outside."

Wang Susu broke free from Chen Ling's embrace and gently pushed him away.

"What are you doing so early in the morning?"

Chen Ling rubbed his eyes, not wanting to pay attention, but his wife was worried about the noise outside, so he had no choice but to crawl out of bed naked to find some clothes.

After getting dressed, Chen Ling grabbed an umbrella and went outside.

A large crowd had gathered in the alley, and Qin Dongmei, that woman, had a stern face and kept cursing.

Qin Qiumei tried to persuade her sister in a low voice, but it was obviously no use; her sister simply wouldn't listen.

Pointing at an old woman with white hair and wearing a blue coarse cloth jacket, he cursed, "You old hag, if you don't compensate me for my chicken today, none of your chickens and ducks will live either. I'll poison you to death."

The old lady was both angry and anxious: "Dongmei, don't be unreasonable! What does your chicken's death have to do with me? This is completely baseless, why are you trying to pin this on me..."

Qin Dongmei sneered, "Heh, you think I'm just trying to pin this on you? You old hag, you have quite the nerve! The whole neighborhood is watching, ask around, who doesn't know you often lure other people's chickens to your yard to lay eggs!" "Take me for example, I've caught you doing this more than two or three times. I didn't bother you because you're old, I was being lenient with you. But you, just because my chickens damaged a few seedlings in your yard yesterday, you poisoned them to death."

The old lady became even more anxious: "They're not vegetable seedlings, they're watermelon seedlings. I'm planning to plant them in the fields after the land is redistributed."

"As a result, your chickens ruined all my melon seedlings, making it impossible for me to grow melons this year. I haven't even settled the score with you yet, and you're already accusing me of being the villain."

"Pah! You dare to hold me accountable? Do you even have the nerve to hold me accountable? If it weren't for you, you old geezer, always luring my chickens to your place to lay eggs, would your melon seedlings have been ruined?"

"It's your own fault that you can't grow melons! You brought it on yourself! Why did you poison my chickens?"

"Anyway, you have to compensate me for my chickens no matter what. If you don't have chickens, you have to pay me money. Ten yuan per chicken, not a penny less."

Qin Dongmei spat out a mouthful of saliva.

The old woman was speechless, trembling with anger: "You, you, you..."

As Chen Ling listened to the two arguing, he glanced at Qin Dongmei's house and saw a yard full of dead chickens lying on the ground, drenched in the drizzle, their feathers wet and covered in mud, looking filthy.

"Fifth Grandfather is here! Aunt Dongmei, Second Grandma Wang, please stop arguing!"

At that moment, Chen Ling's former neighbor, the village doctor Chen Guoping's son, called out.

Then everyone saw Wang Laishun walking over from the south, holding a tattered green umbrella.

"What's all the noise about! It's raining and you're still arguing outside. Don't you care that the villagers are laughing at you? Why can't you talk things out instead of arguing? The village committee is just a few steps away. All you do when you have a problem is curse. You never think of going to the village committee."

Wang Laishun walked up to him and began to berate him.

Although it has now been changed to a village committee, older people still prefer to call it a brigade.

Qin Dongmei rolled her eyes after hearing this. "Going to the village committee has to be useful, right? If they can't solve any problems, who would go?"

Indeed, sometimes Wang Laishun was afraid of trouble and preferred to smooth things over.

After all, even an upright official finds it difficult to settle family disputes; often, the matter remains unresolved, and one ends up with a lot of trouble.

Furthermore, there are countless absurd things happening in the village, and Wang Laishun will intervene if he can, and stay far away if he can't.

Therefore, many villagers were dissatisfied, and many secretly said that he was cunning and ruthless, and that he was a worthless person.

Wang Laishun had heard it all before, so he didn't care that Qin Dongmei was being sarcastic in front of him. Instead, he smiled and said, "Look at what you're saying, Dongmei. I'm here to solve the problem, so tell me what happened. Why are you arguing here without even having breakfast this morning?"

“Lai Shun, don’t ask her. She’s just unreasonable. She banged on my door first thing this morning, insisting that I poisoned her chickens. No matter how I tried to reason with her, I couldn’t get through to her. She’s driving me crazy.”

"You have to be the judge for me today."

Grandma Wang Er grabbed Wang Laishun's arm and said in a trembling voice.

She was an elderly woman, and she couldn't win an argument with Qin Dongmei. She was so angry that she almost cried.

"Don't worry, sister-in-law, let's go check on Dongmei's chickens first..."

Wang Laishun offered words of comfort.

Upon hearing this, Qin Dongmei snorted, "What's there to see? Can you bring a dead chicken back to life?"

"Secretary, you're not trying to side with this old man, are you...?"

Wang Laishun ignored her and turned to Qin Qiumei, saying, "Director Qin, let's take a look at the chickens at home first."

"Alright, I'm sorry to trouble Village Chief Wang!"

Qin Qiumei was embarrassed and tugged at her sister, telling her to say less.

Although she had a more prestigious social status than her sister, she was actually cared for by her sister since childhood because of her poor health.

When the two got along, Qin Dongmei was more like the older sister, while she was more like the younger sister.

This results in her younger sister always being more assertive in front of her.

……

A group of people entered Qin Dongmei's house and squatted down to examine the dead chickens one by one.

Soon, someone exclaimed, "This chicken wasn't poisoned; something bit its neck and killed it!"

Chen Ling stood at the back of the crowd and glanced at the chickens. He saw that each chicken had a bloody hole in its neck, though it wasn't very noticeable.

If it weren't for the rain getting in, which caused the chicken's feathers to stick together, you really wouldn't be able to tell.

(End of this chapter)