My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 390 The Strange Events in the Evil Mountain

Speaking of finding wild duck eggs, although there are quite a few water birds around the farm, there are actually no wild ducks that have settled and nested nearby.

These creatures prefer places with wide bodies of water, such as old river bends and reservoirs, which are their preferred locations for nesting and gathering.

Although the water quality and environment at the farm are good, and they often come here, it's only for playing and taking a short break.

Perhaps it's because it's too close to where people live; they've never had the intention of settling down here.

However, the pheasants have been spending more and more time among their own flocks lately.

Chen Ling was worried about scaring them away, so he just observed them from a distance and didn't get too close.

So to this day, we still don't know whether they have laid eggs nearby.

But seeing that his own chicks, ducklings, and goslings had hatched one after another and were already running around everywhere, while the wild pheasants were still not moving and not following the little ones, it was clear that his expectations were mostly in vain.

However, that afternoon, just after he finished playing with his son and was about to go to the old river bend to look for wild duck eggs, he was walking on the bluestone path in the orchard when he suddenly heard a long, drawn-out pheasant call coming from the direction of the hillside.

He immediately stopped and looked in the direction of the sound.

This is incredible.

There was a pheasant with a peculiar and beautiful appearance, which was in the middle of the flock of pheasants. It was circling around a large yellow hen, shaking its comb and tail, and clucking to attract a mate.

The reason why this pheasant is said to have a peculiar appearance is because its tail feathers are extremely long, even about a meter long, and its body feathers are also more vibrant than those of a pheasant.

"Goodness, even Reeves's pheasants have been attracted. Is my chicken attractant really that attractive?"

Chen Ling's mouth gaped open slightly; he hadn't expected this to happen.

But then I thought, this probably wasn't attracted by chicken bait.

This long-tailed pheasant is clearly after my own hen.

Pheasants are abundant in the Qinling Mountains.

There are many kinds of pheasants and wild chickens here, and they often run down the mountain.

Therefore, people are used to it and don't find it strange.

It's still somewhat surprising that a long-tailed pheasant would run into its own flock and court the old hen.

"Damn it, does this pheasant want to mate with my hen? It can't lay eggs anyway, what a waste of effort."

Chen Ling was both amused and exasperated. Then he thought, "Whether or not they can lay eggs, and whether or not the long-tailed pheasant was attracted by a chicken bait, I should at least find some wild duck eggs as soon as possible, hatch some ducklings to use as duck bait for me. This will definitely not be a bad thing in the future."

With that thought in mind, Chen Ling led his horse, called Xiao Jin, and together they headed to Laohewan.

Finding prey still depends on Xiao Jin, and Heiwa is just as good, but it likes to act as Rui Rui's lackey all day long, so Chen Ling is too lazy to call it out.

When Xiao Jin takes the field, he naturally doesn't leave empty-handed.

Chen Ling found seven or eight wild duck eggs on the riverbank that afternoon, taking three or four eggs from each nest, which was quite a lot.

After taking them back, as usual, we would find a brooding hen to incubate the eggs.

This is something we don't need to worry about.

So he took the dog up the mountain to check on the two earthen dragons at the mountain lake, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't find them anywhere.

There was no indication that they were digging holes and building nests on the shore.

They took Xiao Jin on the boat again to search, but still couldn't find any trace, so they had to give up in the end.

His original intention was to throw it into the cave when no one was around, but he didn't expect that the rain yesterday would prevent him from coming over, and now he can't find it.

We can only wait and see how things go in the future. Given the environment here, there shouldn't be any problems.

……

Two days passed quietly, and the fervor in Chenwangzhuang had indeed subsided considerably.

With the busy farming season gradually approaching, there are hardly any people coming to the reservoir anymore.

With business impossible, the villagers didn't dwell on their disappointment.

Because now, besides their busy farming season, they also need to sell their ornamental fish. Having collected deposits in advance, they are more confident and motivated than anyone else. This is Little Sheep's second trip.

Because farmers have varying amounts of fish, they usually just put together a truckload, but they still work enthusiastically.

Chen Ling hasn't had time to get involved in this matter these past two days; he's been helping Zhao Dahai carry telephone poles up the mountain.

With his help, things naturally became much easier, and what used to be a major headache became much simpler.

After working for two days straight, carrying utility poles to various hilltops in the surrounding area, Chen Ling, despite not feeling tired due to his physical condition, still put in a lot of physical exertion.

When I got back that evening, I thought about making some nice dishes to treat myself.

Without saying a word, Zhao Dahai drove to the county town and bought a whole bunch of things, telling him to go all out.

When Chen Ling looked at the ingredients, he saw a mix of meats, eggs, and various vegetables. He thought, "Why not have a barbecue? We can pair it with some fruit wine later. It would be wonderful to enjoy the grilled meat with that."

"Goodness, just hearing you say that makes my mouth water. I'll go and get you some bamboo skewers right away."

Zhao Dahai placed an iron grate on the fire pit near the kitchen, then exaggeratedly wiped his mouth, slurped twice, and couldn't wait to go and whittle bamboo skewers for Chen Ling.

Chen Ling looked up and smiled, then continued cutting meat and peeling fish.

During this season, there aren't many vegetables available here, only a few kinds, but meat and eggs are plentiful.

Fortunately, people at that time did not care too much about vegetables; they were very happy and satisfied as long as they had enough meat to eat.

Zhao Dahai is a meat lover, and he knows that Chen Ling's barbecue tastes good, but it's not filling, and there are a lot of people eating it.

So I bought a lot of pork and mutton.

The rest was left to Chen Ling's instructions, using chicken legs, chicken wings, and freshly caught live fish.

In the evening, everyone feasted to their hearts' content. Many had only ever eaten lamb skewers and had never tasted such flavorful barbecue before. They all felt that this meal was a true feast for the senses.

After enjoying the food and drinks, when it was time to leave, Zhao Dahai went to discuss with Chen Ling, saying that they had almost moved all the utility poles that needed to be moved up the mountain, and the remaining work was just stringing up the wires, which needed to be done slowly and couldn't be rushed.

So they should start preparing to go to the city for the lynx wedding.

Given his and Chen Ling's relationship with the Lynx, arriving two or three days early was a must.

It's good to go early so you can help out and take care of some miscellaneous tasks.

This applies to both cities and rural areas. Chen Ling had been calculating the time well in advance, otherwise he wouldn't have asked the little sheep about the road conditions.

That evening, the two agreed to set off the day after tomorrow.

The lynx got married seven days later.

If they go ahead, Chen Ling can take his wife and children to see their new home in the city and have some fun. Zhao Dahai can also go home beforehand and rest for a couple of days.

Then you can go help the lynx; that way you'll have plenty of time.

But to his surprise, before Chen Ling had even finished packing his things the next day, Chen Baoshuan came over to tip him off.

It is said that something terrible happened in the mountains. The young men from the village who went into the mountains to act as guides encountered trouble. No one knows whether they angered the local earth god or attracted the attention of an old monster in the mountains.

They're in big trouble.

Er Mao Lu's youngest son broke his leg.

The group of outsiders who went into the mountain were all injured. This morning, just as dawn broke, they were carried down from the western mountain.

"An old monster? What kind of old monster could there be? It must have been wandering around in the mountains and got hurt by some wild creature."

Chen Ling glanced at him and scoffed.

He remembered the wolf howls from a few days ago; they were quite a commotion.

"Hey, it wasn't some wild thing that hurt him. Liu Guangli from Jinmen Village didn't say a word and didn't want to say anything more."

He won't answer anyone's questions; something strange must have happened.

Chen Baoshuan waved his hands repeatedly, his face serious.

(End of this chapter)