My 1995 Small Farm.

morning.

The sun hadn't risen very high yet.

The vast lake in the mountains is filled with waterbirds, playing and foraging. A cool mountain breeze blows, the bamboo forest rustles, and the waterbirds call out, creating a beautiful early autumn scene.

Chen Ling and his son, along with a group of children from the village, rowed a boat, carrying two small buckets of fish, and quietly approached the reeds on the southeast bank of the mountain lake.

Behind them was another boat carrying people from the provincial television station, who had finished filming and also came with them to see the baby red-crowned cranes.

"Uncle Fugui, I saw it! I saw the little crane! It's hiding under the big crane's leg!"

Liu Ni'er has sharp eyes. While the other children were still lying on the side of the boat, paddling and playing in the lake, he had already spotted a baby red-crowned crane in a crane's nest.

"Keep your voice down, or the red-crowned crane will come and peck at you. I won't be able to take care of you then."

At that moment, Chen Ling was tugging at her own brat's collar.

Otherwise, Rui Rui wouldn't behave; he would always be climbing around on the boat and looking around.

He wasn't that interested in the red-crowned cranes; he just wanted to play and paddle around the boat with the little kids.

"Hehe, I'll keep my voice down then. Uncle Fugui, did you see that? It's in that direction."

Liu Nier shrank her neck, lowered her voice, and pointed for Chen Ling to look into the reeds.

“I see, there are two baby cranes in this nest.”

Chen Ling's eyesight was far superior to those of those mischievous monkeys; he had already taken in the entire situation of the red-crowned crane's nest, which was shaped like half a bowl.

The soft, fine grass was clean, tidy, and comfortable, and the broken eggshells had been carried out of the nest by the red-crowned cranes.

Inside the nest were two newly hatched red-crowned crane chicks. They were covered in fluffy feathers and looked a bit like little ducks at first glance, with a yellowish-brown color all over.

This is the camouflage of the little creatures; they hide in the reeds and are difficult to spot.

If you don't look closely, you can't see anything inside.

Because they are too small, they cannot stand for long periods of time. The two little red-crowned cranes huddled close to their mother, looking pitiful, but their bright black eyes were actually peeking at the crowd with great interest.

Their eyes held no wariness or defensiveness, only pure curiosity and bewilderment.

"Where, where is Xiaohe?"

Hearing that there were two baby red-crowned cranes, the children playing in the water suddenly perked up, scrambling to find the cranes.

"Wow, I saw them too! The little cranes are so beautiful. I really want to take them home."

"Keep your voices down, or you'll scare the little cranes away and they'll move their nests. Then you won't be able to see any more cranes if you want to see them again."

Chen Lingchong and the other kids shushed him. "Liu Nier, bring over the small bucket for the fish. We're going to start feeding the cranes."

Red-crowned cranes eat fish and shrimp, and even though the baby red-crowned cranes have only recently hatched, they also eat these things.

"Here you go, Uncle Fugui."

Chen Ling was holding Rui Rui with one hand and it was inconvenient for him to carry the fish, so Liu Nier carried the small bucket containing the fish from the stern of the boat to him.

The bucket contained small fish he had specially caught, such as loach, catfish, and minnows.

It was raised by the irrigation canals at the foot of the mountain.

This is a delicious food for red-crowned cranes.

"Okay, don't move around for now. I'll feed the cranes twice and see how they are. Then we'll feed them together."

Although the food was delicious, Chen Ling was worried that the red-crowned crane would be agitated if too many people approached, so he carefully put Rui Rui down, slowly squatted down himself, grabbed a handful of small fish from the bucket, and scattered them towards the reeds.

Crash.

A handful of small fish fell into the water.

The red-crowned cranes that were closest to them first honked and glanced at them a few times, then strode over with their long legs and tentatively ate two small fish.

You can tell it's good stuff just by tasting it.

It immediately became excited and started squawking loudly, and several large red-crowned cranes came over to compete for it.

"Great, they're not scared, so we can feed them together now."

These red-crowned cranes have not wasted their time living with people. People are kind to them and have never harmed them, so they are not so wary or defensive towards people.

In addition, there were bribes and temptations involving food.

Their friendliness towards people skyrocketed, and they no longer resisted people approaching them.

So Chen Ling's boat and the boat belonging to the provincial TV station staff slowly entered the reeds.

Adults and children alike were all grabbing small fish to feed the red-crowned cranes.

The red-crowned cranes ate happily, not forgetting to take care of the chicks.

The three families, consisting of six red-crowned cranes, built three large nests, each with one or two baby cranes.

These baby cranes are covered in fluffy feathers and are very cute.

Its fur is orange with a reddish tinge, and at first glance it looks a bit like a little duck, but it has a long, pointed beak, long legs, and is quite large. It looks to be in good health.

When the red-crowned cranes returned from eating, they nestled together beside the male and female cranes.

When the mountain wind blows, the reeds sway and the reed flowers drift. The wind makes them look a little squinty and cute.

At this time, the mother crane will feed the chicks crushed loach, small fish, and other food, which looks very thoughtful.

"Wow, the little crane is eating!"

"Uncle Fugui, feed them some more food, the cranes aren't getting enough to eat."

Almost every child enjoys feeding small animals.

Seeing the red-crowned cranes feeding their chicks, the adorable little birds began to eat, and the cranes were more excited than anyone else.

Throw small fish and loaches over there, and the cranes will scramble to eat them.

There's really nothing more fun or exciting than this.

"Yes, this little crane here eats the fastest. It finished its food after being fed twice."

"Let's catch some more fish to feed him, Uncle Fugui."

The little ones started to cling to Chen Ling and act cute, but Rui Rui didn't care about any of that. He stared at Xiao He with his big, dark eyes, completely absorbed in the sight.

After a long while, he finally tilted his little head up and said, "Daddy, grab!"

"Don't catch this one, it'll die if you take it back. Dad will catch you a little egret when we get back..."

Chen Ling smiled and patted the back of his head. "Those egrets are all bad guys. They even dared to peck at us. We should catch them and put them in cages. What do you say?"

The brat was quite easy to fool this time. He nodded vigorously and said, "Okay."

In fact, both red-crowned cranes and egrets have a strong sense of territory during the breeding season.

Once they sense a threat, they will launch a fierce attack on any uninvited guest who trespasses into their territory.

Moreover, they came up in a large group, showing great unity.

Chen Ling and his group were attacked when they arrived, but they dodged quickly, while the people from the provincial TV station couldn't escape in time, and their heads and clothes were covered in bird droppings.

"Haha, your little one is so adorable."

The people from the provincial TV station all laughed.

"Oh, he's a troublemaker too."

Chen Ling shook his head and said to the children, "Alright, it's getting hot. Let's come back this afternoon. It's not good to keep disturbing these cranes. We'll feed them this afternoon."

The children listened to Chen Ling; when he said that, they all followed him and rowed the boat to the shore.

“Uncle Fugui, small gourds have grown on your thatched roof.”

"Hmm, they're too small. They won't grow any bigger. When they first formed, the gourds were still tender, and the mountain donkeys ruined quite a few of them. Let's plant them again next year."

Walking into the bamboo forest, you'll find that the people from the provincial TV station have recently been keeping watch over the red-crowned cranes in the thatched huts here.

Food and drinks were laid out, mainly drinks, including two vats of clean water and a kettle for boiling water.

Although it's autumn, the weather is still very hot, and the afternoon sun is unbearable.

You can't endure it without drinking water.

The thatched cottage in the bamboo forest is beautiful, surrounded by gourds, wildflowers, and wild grapes, all planted by Chen Ling.

The small courtyard, enclosed by a fence and a gate, contained a stack of firewood made of dried bamboo. "By the way, there's no firewood left down the mountain. I don't have much to do today, so I thought I'd come up the mountain to gather some."

The lake surface in the mountains is not well shaded and is quite hot, but it is quite cool in the mountains and forests.

"Uncle, we'll help you gather firewood too."

"Alright, alright, here's a machete. Let's not go down the mountain. Let's cut some bamboo first. You guys help me look after Rui Rui."

Chen Ling smiled, took out a black wood-chopping knife from the bamboo house, and went to the bamboo forest to look for dead bamboo.

Every year, bamboo stalks die for various reasons in bamboo forests; it's very common and there are many of them.

"Dad, Huanghuang."

I had just found two large, withered bamboo stalks growing close together when I heard my son shouting.

Turning my head, I saw the brat grinning excitedly, pointing at a spot.

The children whispered, "Uncle Fugui, there's a bamboo rat over there, carrying tender bamboo shoots into its burrow."

"Oh, it's a bamboo rat."

Chen Ling suddenly realized that Rui Rui was indeed clever, but she couldn't distinguish between rats, bamboo rats, and weasels.

If you teach him about mice and bamboo rats in person, he can pronounce them out in a fuzzy way.

If he were to encounter these things himself...

They all call each other "Huang Huang".

There was no way around it; I'd played with weasels since I was little, and they'd even cuddle me on the bed, so naturally I was familiar with 'yellow weasels'.

Even the badgers that Chen Ling caught and brought home, he called them "Huang Huang".

I don't think there's much difference.

"Goodness, there's another nest here. There are so many bamboo rats these days."

Just as Chen Ling turned around to chop the bamboo, a bamboo rat appeared to his side, its four little paws wrapped around a tender green bamboo stalk, munching away.

This thing has sharp teeth and a fierce mouth, even more powerful than a rat, and it's a master at gnawing on bamboo.

Soon bamboo shavings flew everywhere, and a piece of tender bamboo, more than half a foot long, was gnawed off and dragged into the hole.

“Yes, Uncle, look, there are holes here too. Why don’t we dig for bamboo rats? There are shovels over at the thatched hut.”

The little kids are impulsive and will start having funny ideas whenever they see something interesting.

"No, let's finish gathering firewood first."

Chen Ling pointed to the bamboo rat burrows on the ground covered with thick layers of dry bamboo leaves: "Digging these things is even harder than digging for ground rats in the fall. I'll show you a new way to play sometime, and I guarantee you'll catch them every time."

"Wow, really?"

"Really, your aunt is coming back soon. Before your summer vacation ends, I'll take you on a lot of fun."

"That's great, Uncle Fugui, you're such a kind person."

Then the children shouted together, "Uncle Fugui is a great man! Uncle Fugui is a great man..."

This made Chen Ling feel both ashamed and had a headache.

However, there was one thing that Chen Ling really took to heart.

That is, the number of bamboo rats on this mountain is increasing, and there is a tendency for them to become an infestation.

Bamboo rats are not as annoying as mice.

But these chubby little creatures aren't all good; at least they cause far more damage to bamboo than other small animals.

If left unchecked, this beautiful bamboo forest may be destroyed.

Needless to say, this is a new hidden danger.

"The crayfish season is almost over. I'll call Sun Yanhong over and get some bamboo rats to try. I figured out how to make bamboo rat hot pot last winter."

Chen Ling pondered to himself.

……

Click, click.

Chen Ling was chopping down the dead bamboo, while Liu Nier and the others, along with Rui Rui, were chasing bamboo rats and searching through the bamboo for bamboo elephants.

The so-called bamboo weevil is also called bamboo shoot worm.

It looks similar to the black, ant-like weevils that breed in flour.

However, the bamboo weevil is much larger than a weevil, about the size of a cicada nymph, and is red with a hard body, resembling the shell of a scarab beetle or longhorn beetle.

According to Professor Han, this thing is only found in the western section of the Qinling Mountains, south of the Yangtze River.

But no matter what, in the eyes of children, this is a delicious snack that is no less delicious than cicadas and grasshoppers.

The meat was caught, grilled, and very delicious.

They took Rui Rui and played around with bamboo sticks, using thin bamboo branches and sturdy, long grass stems to make bamboo elephants fly around, saying they would eat after they finished playing. They were all having a great time.

Rui Rui was very happy too.

With his older brothers around, he didn't need Chen Ling to take care of him at all.

Chen Ling chopped down a bunch of bamboo, bundled them up, and then, feeling that it was still a bit too little, put them back at the bamboo hut and continued gathering firewood on the western mountain.

The little ones continued to follow along.

This time, since it wasn't about cutting bamboo, Chen Ling allowed them to gather firewood. Previously, he was worried that bamboo splinters would hurt or cut their hands.

They gathered firewood on the mountain, and some villagers led tourists up the mountain to play and pick wild fruits such as early-ripening wild kiwis, wild grapes, or figs to eat.

They also catch birds and rabbits.

There are definitely more things on the mountain this year.

Not to mention common animals like hares and hedgehogs, various sika deer and grass deer appeared in large numbers.

This caused a group of out-of-towners to exclaim and chase after it.

They had a blast.

Of course.

For every fun session, there's also an unpleasant one.

For example, Wang Lihua and Wang Liguo, the two sons of Wang Ershenzi, who lived across the street from Chen Ling's family, returned to the village and, seeing how much money the villagers were making by hosting tourists from other places, they also joined in the fun.

But they were too greedy.

They charge exorbitant fees for food, lodging, and entertainment. When we got to the mountain, they even charged two children who had come to visit for picking up two small hedgehogs, and the amount they charged was quite substantial.

They angered the couple, who got into a huge argument with the two brothers, almost coming to blows.

The scene was quite embarrassing.

When Chen Ling arrived carrying firewood and leading a group of children, other out-of-towners also chimed in, criticizing the Wang Lihua brothers.

The other villagers just watched the spectacle, ignoring the two of them and not offering a single kind word in their defense.

In the end, they had no choice but to slink down the mountain.

"Heh, these two bastards are just like Chun Yuan's father, Wang Laochou, they're no good either. They'll come back to cheat and swindle, ptooey ptooey ptooey."

Some of the village women spat and cursed at their departing figures.

Chen Dazhi looked at Chen Ling and said, "Fugui, you have foresight. You told the brigade in advance what rules we need to follow. Otherwise, if everyone is like them, obsessed with money and ripping off anyone they can, who would dare to come here in the future?"

Wang Laishun had asked Chen Ling for his opinion before, and Chen Ling only said to pay attention to hygiene and not to overcharge customers, without worrying about anything else.

Wang Jusheng and Wang Lixian's family were the first to receive outsiders. At that time, it was Zhou Weijun's group who were in charge. They naturally listened to Chen Ling. Later people followed suit, which led to the several large-scale tourist events in the past six months.

Chen Ling chuckled as he put down the firewood and picked up the kettle to feed his son water: "What's all this talk about long-term vision? Nobody's a fool. If you take advantage of someone and exploit them like livestock, who would be happy about that?"

Some out-of-towners asked, "Then why is it so expensive to stay at your place? Isn't that ripping off tourists?"

"Haha, it's my place. The price is always the same back home. It hasn't changed since the farm was first built. I don't care whether people come or not. The price won't drop when there are few people and go up when there are many. There's no price fluctuation or arbitrary pricing. Do you think that counts as overcharging?"

"Uh, so it seems like it doesn't really count." (End of Chapter)