My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 526 Leopard

As we walked into the backyard of the farm to pick vegetables, several ducks flapped their wings and quacked as they swam in from outside along the irrigation ditch.

As soon as they entered and saw Chen Ling there, they all turned around on the surface of the water and swam away, squealing loudly.

"Hey, is this duck afraid of me today? Maybe it's secretly laying an egg here."

Chen Ling was taken aback when he saw this.

Once chickens and ducks avoid people, there is a high chance they will secretly lay eggs somewhere.

Just as I was wondering, two little swallows in the kitchen let out a panicked and urgent cry.

Chen Ling looked over there and saw a little leopard perched on the kitchen door lintel, its two beautiful amber eyes staring intently at the baby birds in the swallow's nest.

"Damn it, this unlucky kid, they said you came and left, but I didn't expect you to come here to steal birds."

Chen Ling slapped his hand and stomped his foot, startling the little clouded leopard. It jumped off the door lintel and transformed into a yellow blur, disappearing quickly from the vegetable garden in a few leaps.

When he saw it again, the little guy was standing on a tree on the hillside, its fur bristling, ears perked up, and it was howling softly at him in dissatisfaction.

"You've gotten so fat and you still come to steal food, you're such an ingrate leopard."

Chen Ling noticed that when this guy jumped down from the door beam, it made a heavy thud. Wang Susu often fed it when she was at home, so it was quite plump and heavy.

"Stop yelling, here's a leftover bun for you to eat."

Chen Ling went back to the kitchen, found a slightly spoiled and sticky steamed bun because of the heat, and threw it over the wall from a distance.

At first, the little clouded leopard thought Chen Ling was being aggressive towards it.

It growled even more annoyed and barked a few more times.

Seeing Chen Ling picking tomatoes and cucumbers, it stopped looking at it.

Then he looked at the steamed buns under the tree, shaking his head and looking left and right.

Then he jumped down from the tree and smelled the leftover steamed buns in the grass.

After taking a sniff, he shuddered, tilted his head in disgust, closed his eyes, and took several steps back.

It sneezed while meowing loudly in anger.

Just then, I spotted a little moorhen peeking out from the grass near the ditch at the foot of the mountain, so I quickly crouched down and crept over.

Soon, chaos erupted down the mountain.

……

afternoon.

After finishing their meal, Wang Lixian and the others went home to rest.

We'll come back and continue watering the land when the weather cools down a bit.

My brother-in-law and his wife, along with Yu Qi'an and his wife, went up the mountain to watch the people from the provincial TV station taking pictures of birds.

The farm was deserted and very quiet.

Chen Ling brought out a deck chair and rested in the bamboo grove outside, squinting with his eyes closed and covering his face with a book.

I was in a daze until after 2 p.m.

A sharp, mournful cry, like that of a mountain fox, reached my ears.

Chen Ling opened the book, stood up and saw that the little leopard was still there.

The little leopard sat on a thick tree branch, its chubby front paw hooking a branch about the thickness of a teacup towards it. It tilted its head back, opened its mouth, and bit into the branch, revealing a pair of sharp teeth. It chewed back and forth on the branch, as if it were grinding its teeth after a meal.

At this time, the little leopard showed no ferocity at all; it was cute and adorable, like a lively and playful kitten, and very endearing.

The mountain foxes just don't like it.

They felt a rival had entered their territory, and since they often fought over leftovers under the farm table, they had long harbored a grudge.

The little clouded leopard ignored their calls, its claws hooking onto the branches swaying in the mountain breeze, having a great time playing in the tree.

"Why isn't this little thing leaving yet? Is it waiting for Susu to come back?"

Chen Ling muttered a couple of things, this little leopard does seem to get more clingy as it gets older.

When it was a baby leopard, it would come every ten days or so, but now it only comes every three to five days.

He liked to stay close to Wang Susu.

After glancing at it a couple more times, Chen Ling decided to stop trying to scare it away. He just hoped it wouldn't go and harm the two nests of swallows at home.

……

I had a wonderful afternoon nap.

Feeling completely comfortable, Chen Ling took out the salted eggs he had prepared and started pickling new chicken and duck eggs.

He works quickly, and pickling salted eggs isn't a complicated task.

I marinate some whenever I have free time, and it's done very quickly.

During this time, he took the remaining egret eggs to the cave to incubate them.

Last night while we were drinking, those people from the provincial TV station wanted to try something new, so they grilled, boiled, and stir-fried some dishes, trying to cook them thoroughly.

Unfortunately, it didn't taste good at all.

In the end, they all ended up in Erhei's stomach.

So, since there were no brooding hens to incubate the remaining egret eggs, Chen Ling simply threw them all into the cave.

After finishing the task of pickling salted eggs, Chen Ling took advantage of his spare time to clean up the skeleton of the pig king.

We plan to use wire to simply assemble a small part of the frame together.

Just assemble it when the time comes.

Or it can be erected in front of the farm, so that you can see it as soon as you walk in.

Or we could find another place, set up a platform, and put it there.

However, this is not something that can be done in a short time.

As Old Zhong said last time, it's not aesthetically pleasing to have such a huge wild boar skeleton standing alone in front of the lotus pond.

It still needs to be matched and complemented.

Ideally, you should build a rockery that is neither too high nor too low, and then add some climbing plants and flowers to it.

Then, placing the massive skeleton of the wild boar king across the artificial hill would be quite nice.

Alternatively, following Chen Ling's suggestion, it could be placed on the open space outside the farm gate.

This one is simpler.

At that time, a castle or a small haystack shaped like a yurt can be built near the huge skeleton of the Pig King.

There were sheep pens, livestock sheds, chicken coops, and duck pens all around, plus this haystack...

This approach takes a primitive and rugged style, which might be more in line with the scenery of the farm.

I used pliers and wire to roughly assemble the frame.

They tapped it a few more times to make the wire less conspicuous.

Chen Ling casually placed the skeletons on the walkway beside the lotus pond. The bones of this pig king were no ordinary things; they were incredibly heavy and sturdy.

Only Chen Ling was able to move it by himself.

Even if you leave it outside, no one can steal it.

I'll leave it here for now and work on it slowly over the next few days.

"Yes, the haystacks will have to be made sooner or later, regardless of whether there is a pig king's skeleton or not."

Chen Ling had previously planned to build some structures in the orchard that looked like yurts or small castles, using wheat straw and thatch mixed with yellow mud, where he could raise some animals.

It combines aesthetic appeal with practicality.

"Let's work on the haystacks first tomorrow, that's easy."

"As for the other spoils, keep one of the Pig King's two large tusks, and for the remaining one, have someone make me a dagger..."

"The pig king's penis, kidneys, and testicles have been soaked in alcohol, and his gall bladder has been hung up."

"And... pig bladders, hmm, wash these clean and keep them for Rui Rui to play with. He can kick them like balls, or fill them with water and hang them up to raise fish. The little rascal will love them."

When Chen Ling is lazy, he is genuinely lazy.

After bringing back the spoils from the boar king's battle, he would take out those two big tusks every day to play with them, and he couldn't put them down.

The rest were soaked in alcohol in the Miao village, and when we got home we just threw them into the storage room and never looked at them again.

But when he's not lazy, he can work on these chores all day without feeling tired.

Since the little white ox hadn't returned from the city, he gave the little green horse a bath and carefully scrubbed its body clean.

He even tidied up the aquarium and tank for ornamental fish, which require changing about half of the water every day.

It's hot now, after all.

Raising fish in a water tank is quite different from raising fish in a pond. On a sunny day, the water in the water tank will heat up in half a day.

The fish couldn't stand it inside.

Chen Ling changes the water in with fresh spring water every day.

These fish are living very comfortably.

Every day after changing the water and feeding the fish, I watch the colorful, beautiful fish, big and small, vying for the food...

That feeling was an indescribable joy.

Today is no exception.

Chen Ling was in a great mood.

I cleaned the turtle tank again and changed the water.

We also put some fresh wheat straw down in the pigeon coop.

Later, they discovered that some of the turtle eggs that Wang Zhenzhen had collected upstairs had hatched from wheat field turtles. Rui Rui placed them under the grape trellis, together with the bamboo cage of the little water chickens, and came to check on them every day.

I recently took my little water chicken to the city to play, and today this little turtle hatched and is crawling all over the ground under the grape trellis.

Chen Ling kept grabbing and grabbing, and it took him quite a while to finish.

Then I put them separately in a broken basin, poured in a little water, and threw in some aquatic plants, planning to put them in the turtle pond when they grow a bit bigger.

After fiddling around with it for a while, I watched the swallows leading their chicks out of the nest to learn to fly.

Around four o'clock, Wang Jusheng's family arrived, and then they went out to open the irrigation ditch and went into the cornfield to continue irrigating the land.

It's better to do farm work in the afternoon during this season.

It's getting cooler and cooler.

It's also more interesting.

In particular, you might find birds that have fainted from the heat at midday, lying in puddles after the ground has been watered, drowning before they can even drink any water.

This type of bird is mostly sparrow and golden winged bird.

Light-vented bulbuls have been seen, but rarely.

Why is this so?

Aside from people coming to drink water, they probably come because the irrigated cornfields are cooler than other places.

On the damp soil, Wang Lixian repeatedly discovered paw prints left by small animals and wild birds.

hedgehog.

Ground rat.

Mountain fox.

pheasant.

Wild quail.

Even Old Huang'an made a discovery.

Because the claws of the old yellow quail are almost identical to those of a quail, but are two to three times larger, they are very easy to distinguish.

Beyond simply discovering these footprints.

They actually caught quite a few trinkets.

Most of the animals caught were field mice, hedgehogs, and wild birds. Since most of them were inedible to humans, they were either fed to dogs or released directly.

Afterwards, Chen Ling remarked that it was no wonder Chen Baoshuan and Uncle Sangui were able to catch the old yellow quails when they were watering the corn; it turned out that these creatures would all come out as soon as the land was watered.

As for why they didn't go to the farm orchard, which is so close to the water source, and instead went into the cornfield instead, when there was a water source right next to it?

Perhaps it was fear of dogs and civets, or perhaps it was because the cornfield was easier to find insects and food after being watered...

Or perhaps there are other reasons.

This is unknown.

In short, this doesn't affect Chen Ling and his friends' enjoyment.

It's something to alleviate the boredom and monotony of watering the fields.

……

Chen Ling didn't want to delay watering the fields too long.

However, both Wang Lixian and Wang Jusheng said that it gets cooler and cooler in the afternoon, and even cooler at night, which is much more comfortable than during the day.

Watering the fields and chatting about village gossip is quite fun.

So let's just finish watering it in one go, why leave anything unfinished, we'll have to deal with it again tomorrow.

Well, since that's what everyone says, Chen Ling stopped being coy. He glanced at the sky; the sun was about to set, so he went out to prepare food for everyone.

Since they're the ones helping me with the work, I'll make the dinner a bit more elaborate tonight. The beer isn't very strong, so I'll have some ice-cold beer and some food and drinks. It'll be quite enjoyable to work hard watering the fields all night.

And we agreed that I'd pick Rui Rui up to play with tonight, but the little rascal is thinking about catching cicadas.

So he went down the mountain to fetch the little blue horse.

……

Just then, Yu Qi'an and his companion, along with Liu Ni'er and a group of children, came down the mountain.

Liu Ni'er and her gang of mischievous monkeys are fast runners.

At that moment, they were throwing stones at a flock of magpies.

"You stinky magpie, get out of here!"

"Shoot that wicked magpie, it stole the chicks and bullied the little leopard."

"..."

It turned out that the magpies were cawing loudly and fiercely pecking at the little clouded leopard in the tree.

I don't know what the little clouded leopard was thinking; it was getting dark, and it still hadn't left.

"Well done, little leopard! Come and catch magpies every day from now on, and we'll protect you."

The little kids are still shouting.

Some toddlers wearing open-crotch pants, or those who haven't worn pants for very long, don't know who's good and who's bad, so they jump around and shout along with them.

They say the magpie is bad, and the little leopard is powerful and fierce.

Some people weren't satisfied with just throwing stones; instead, they would raise their slingshots and hurl them at the flock of magpies, then open their gap-toothed mouths and grin foolishly.

"Hey you bunch of brats, what did the magpie do to you? Why are you hitting it?"

Upon seeing this scene, Bai Huining, who was standing next to Yu Qi'an, shook off Yu Qi'an's hand and ran down to shout.

"Auntie, magpies are bad birds. They've stolen eggs from Uncle Fugui's house, eaten chicks from many families in the village, and even bullied the mountain weasel..."

Liu Nier explained to some of the slightly older children.

"But... but you can't fight like that..."

Bai Huining blushed with anxiety. In her eyes, the magpie was the matchmaker for the young couple, a romantic bird, and she couldn't bear to see it being bullied.

"Hey, look, that little clouded leopard stole some food from the baby magpie, which made the magpie angry. The magpie did this to protect its children and family, so it's only right."

"Yes, Auntie, the little leopard was raised by Aunt Susu. It's a good one, so it's only right that it eats the magpies. The magpies are bad, so it's their bad luck that they were eaten, which is why we beat them."

"..."

The little kids chattered away, their words innocent and pure.

Bai Huining couldn't argue with them.

Seeing this, Yu Qi'an pretended to step forward, cleared his throat, and stood up for his girlfriend: "Hey, you guys are not allowed to hit the magpies anymore. If you do, I'll pluck out your little sparrows."

Upon hearing this, the children all covered their groins and shouted, "You shameless bastard!"

Then they all took off and ran off in all directions with their short legs.

Clearly, he had suffered quite a bit from Yu Qi'an's finger-flicking skill.

This old fellow has never been serious. Even on his first visit to the village, he became very familiar and happy with the children. The kids weren't afraid of him just because he was from out of town; they dared to mess around with him.

"Haha, Qi'an, your surname is quite famous here..."

Wang Qingwen and his wife, who were herding chickens and ducks into the farm, burst into laughter when they saw this.

Chen Ling watched this scene with a smile, then walked over to lead the little blue horse.

"What good is wealth then?"

"Let's go to town to pick up Rui Rui, and buy some food and drinks while we're at it. We can have a few more drinks tonight."

(End of this chapter)