My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 538 Save Hina
The firewood Chen Ling gathered last year was enough to last the whole year.

I never expected so many people to come to my house and stay overnight this year, which has unknowingly consumed a lot of firewood.

The tall stack of firewood behind the kitchen is now reduced to just a few pieces.

So after carrying all the bamboo, wood and firewood back, Chen Ling handed Rui Rui over to Su Ligai to look after, and then went up the mountain to gather more firewood.

Although Chen Ling was known for his laziness, he often went up the mountain to collect firewood with his father or friends when he was a child.

Cutting pig feed and chopping firewood were things that children often did back then.

I didn't feel it was hard or tiring; I did it while having fun.

There is no shortage of firewood to start a fire all year round.

For example, reeds, wheat straw, corn stalks, bean stalks, etc. can all be used to start a fire.

However, it is not heat-resistant.

What we lack is firewood.

Chopping firewood is hard work, it's something men do.

The children mostly gathered firewood.

However, when I was a child, I didn't think it was tiring work. I just thought the adults were very impressive, wielding axes, chopping wood, and pulling saws, so I wanted to join in.

I can no longer feel that kind of fun.

"Fourth Grandfather, you're out gathering firewood too?"

When they arrived at Xishan, Chen Gannian and Wang Laishun were also gathering firewood there.

Chen Gannian grinned, revealing his missing front tooth, and said with a smile, "I'm just herding sheep and there's nothing much to do, so I just pick up some as I go. I come out to herd sheep every day, and picking up some every few days is enough for me, unlike you guys."

Wang Laishun also said, "Fugui has already gathered firewood twice, isn't that enough?"

"Yes, it's not enough. We need to build another woodpile so we don't have to keep coming out to work."

Chen Ling smiled and nodded.

Wang Laishun has been spending a lot of time with Chen Gannian lately, and apart from the village accountant, no one really pays any attention to him anymore.

He spent his days following Chen Gannian, herding sheep and tending the vegetable garden.

Except for mealtimes, he generally doesn't like going home, and when he does, he's prone to arguing with Liang Guizhen.

"That's right. Fugui, I don't know if you remember, but when you were little, around five or six, seven or eight years old, several nearby counties were willing to let our girls marry into our area."

They just know that our county has plenty of firewood and water.

"Chai Fang Shui Bian, uh, I think I heard this saying when I was a child, but I never understood what it meant."

"Hey, what's so hard to understand? It's convenient for firewood and water. It's a place by the mountains and water, so it's easy to go into the mountains to cut firewood. It's also convenient to irrigate the land because it's close to the river. We don't have to worry about drought and a bad harvest."

Back then, when a girl got married, they would check if the groom's family lived in a place with good firewood and water. They believed that life could be good in such a place. Look at your aunt, she married into a place that wasn't suitable.

"Is that what they say?"

Chen Ling was indeed hearing this for the first time. No wonder people say that having an elder in the family is like having a treasure; older people really do know a lot.

Since Chen Gannian cleared his head, he has accumulated a whole basket of stories from the old days, making him a veritable living storyteller.

Chen Ling loved listening to his stories with Chen Sangui.

"Yeah, you should head south today. There are lots of paper mulberry and chinaberry trees there. Cut them down if you can; they're all good for firewood."

“Yes, you should go south. There were a lot of trees blown down by the wind and rain earlier, and the longhorn beetles and other insects inside were hollowed out.”

Wang Laishun followed up immediately.

"Okay, I'll go take a look."

Near the southern part of the western mountains, close to the mountain stream, along a rugged, winding path, there were indeed some fallen trees covered with wood ear mushrooms and thick moss.

There are also paper mulberry trees in the surrounding area that are growing poorly.

Paper mulberry and poplar trees grow quickly, but they are not suitable for timber and are ultimately used as firewood.

Of course, the paper mulberry tree is known as the banyan tree of the north because it can grow everywhere. It can even grow in the cracks of roofs, not to mention in the mountains, where it is very abundant.

They grew quickly, and Chen Ling, wielding an axe, chopped them down in no time, felling several sturdy paper mulberry trees.

According to the rules of the mountains.

When chopping firewood, you should choose a place where the vegetation is relatively lush and dense, and then learn to pick out the dry branches, the fallen and scorched miscellaneous trees, or the large trees that have been sawed down and have completely dried out.

That way, I can carry more firewood home.

Chen Ling didn't care about any of that. He simply chopped the firewood into small pieces and stacked them high, forming a pile of firewood that was about 1.5 to 1.6 meters tall. He then carried it home on his back.

The fallen trees had their branches cut off, and the trunks were carried back directly.

He moves with incredible speed, making only two or three trips back and forth.

The sight of this man left the tourists who were visiting the farm completely astonished. They all said that it was no wonder he was the king of wild boars; his strength was extraordinary.

He looks so refined, yet he can carry so much firewood and even lift a large tree.

It’s true that people cannot be judged by their appearance.

"Brother Fugui, are you done with your work?"

Chen Ling was stacking firewood behind the kitchen when Lao Guo from the provincial TV station hurried over.

"Almost done, what's wrong?"

"Hey, didn't you advise against disturbing the red-crowned cranes? We can just take a few more pictures of the baby cranes and we'll be done..."

Unexpectedly, two members of the team just discovered through binoculars that two red-crowned crane nests were experiencing dystocia (difficult egg laying). The eggs had holes and cracks on their surfaces, but almost two hours had passed and no chicks had emerged.

Old Guo was so anxious that he stomped his feet.

They've spent a lot of time with the red-crowned cranes and have developed a bond with them.

"Huh? Difficult birth? Birds don't have difficult births, they just have trouble hatching, right?"

Chen Ling wiped his sweat: "Sigh, I thought it was all over. I even asked Professor Han, who specializes in tracking endangered wild animals and plants, before. He said that these red-crowned cranes were probably laying their second brood at the end of the breeding season after losing one brood of eggs in the flood."

This second batch seems to have been rushed.

This can easily lead to chicks being unable to hatch and suffocating to death, or result in weak chicks that are prone to illness and have difficulty surviving after hatching.

As expected, his prediction came true; it actually happened.

"Brother, since you've consulted an expert, do you know what to do?"

Old Guo was very anxious because he saw that after the red-crowned crane turned the eggs over a few times, it focused on feeding the hatched chicks and seemed to be giving up on the unhatched eggs.

"What can we do? We can only help them hatch, otherwise they'll suffocate inside the egg."

Chen Ling found a bamboo basket: "Let's go up the mountain and bring the eggs back. We'll help them hatch. By the way, how many eggs haven't hatched yet?"

"Two eggs."

Old Guo followed behind him hurriedly: "Three pairs of red-crowned cranes, each brood laid two eggs, but now two broods have only hatched one chick, and one chick remains unhatched."

"Oh, then I know."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ling knew that it must be the two pairs of cranes besides the two large thieving birds.

Those two big thieving birds have been eating and drinking at my house for free since last year. They are in better physical condition than other birds, and their bodies are stronger, so their eggs will be better too.

During the morning feeding, some of the children noticed that two of the baby cranes ate particularly quickly.

They even kept telling Chen Ling to feed them more fish.

The two walked outside while talking; there were many people outside the farm now.

They were either circling around the pig king or taking their children to catch frogs and tadpoles by the irrigation ditch.

And new tourists are arriving.

He greeted Chen Ling warmly, saying that he had bought zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) and other local specialties here before.

They wanted to ask Chen Ling if they could show them the puppy.

With a pack of dogs watching, and the mother dog being very protective of her cubs, they dared not approach. Chen Ling waved his hand and hurried forward, saying, "I have something to do up the mountain now, I'll talk to you when I get back."

The sun was shining brightly, and the temperature was getting higher and higher.

Even with tall reeds providing cover, the unhatched chicks will become increasingly endangered if the situation is delayed.

Moreover, if the bird eggs remain unbroken for a long time, the red-crowned cranes will eventually pull the eggs out and discard them.

This matter cannot be delayed any longer.

The two were in a hurry to get up the mountain, and even when Rui Rui, who was drawing a kitten next to Han Shaobo and Old Man Zhong, called out to his father, Chen Ling didn't have time to say more.

She told him to behave himself and that she would be back soon, and then went up the mountain.

Lake in the mountains.

The atmosphere among the group from the provincial radio station was somewhat tense.

The red-crowned cranes in the reeds, however, strolled around in the shallow water with their chicks, seemingly unconcerned.

I don't know if she was really carefree, or if she realized the two eggs were beyond saving and, after being heartbroken, decided to give up.

Chen Ling and his two groups continued rowing small boats, feeding the fish with small buckets to lower the red-crowned cranes' guard, while quietly parting the tall, sparse reeds and slowly navigating the boats into the thicket.

Among the reeds, three huge, half-bowl-shaped bird nests are not far apart, suspended in the shallow water, surrounded by reeds swaying in the wind, and a patch of lotus flowers in full bloom.

The view is quite wide.

So when they came in, they saw the two remaining eggs in the two bird nests.

One in a nest.

The bird eggs are oval-shaped, about the size of a goose egg, and have a dull yellow color with grayish-white undertones, similar to the color of the reeds, which is probably a form of camouflage.

There were obvious cracks and small holes on it, but the baby crane still didn't hatch.

"What should we do? Just go and get it from the nest?"

"Well, I'll do it."

Chen Ling jumped off the boat, grabbed the side of the boat, and was about to approach the red-crowned crane's nest.

These large birds angrily spread their wings, screeching, and pecked at it with their long, sharp beaks...

Two large birds pecked at his outstretched hand.

The remaining creatures flapped their wings and attacked his head and face.

The offensive was extremely swift.

"Hey, watch out."

Seeing this, the others hurriedly reminded him and tried to use the bamboo pole to help Chen Ling.

Chen Ling simply covered his face with one hand and waved the other in front of him to drive them away. As they retreated, he quickly reached out and grabbed the two eggs, placing them on the boat.

"Push it outwards, back out... You guys help the little crane hatch first..."

Chen Ling waved his hands, constantly blocking the attacks of the large birds, and shouted.

"what?"

"What should we do? We don't want to kill the baby red-crowned crane."

Everyone panicked, holding the two eggs with trembling hands, unsure how to help them hatch.

Seeing this, Chen Ling grabbed a long bamboo pole from a nearby boat and waved it at the red-crowned cranes a few times to scare them away.

Then he climbed onto the boat himself.

"Let's go, let's talk on the shore. I was thinking of letting you hatch and then putting the baby cranes back in their nests."

Ignoring his soaking wet body, Chen Ling wiped his face a couple of times and looked back. The large birds were still angrily flapping their wings, splashing through the water, and chasing after him with their long legs as if they were performing a light-footed water-skimming technique.

They even abandoned the little cranes in the reeds.

Of course, it's not like we'll completely ignore it.

They only considered this reed patch their territory. They were kind to people before, but now that people have been messing around in their nests, they have angered them.

"Honestly, these cranes are so strange. They can't hatch their own chicks, and they won't let us help them?"

"Hmm... well... maybe we haven't completely given up yet. Besides, they can't understand human language, so they might think we're going to hurt them."

"Oh no, this is all over. We finally managed to build up our relationship, but now we probably won't be able to get close to each other anymore."

"..."

Everyone sighed and lamented.

Seeing that the red-crowned cranes had given up the chase after the boat left the reed marshland, Chen Ling picked up a bird egg to observe the situation.

I smelled it first, and it didn't smell bad inside yet.

I put it to my ear again and could still hear a faint sound.

This proves that there is still hope.

The boat then reached the shore.

Chen Ling gently pried open an eggshell through a crack and said to the person next to him, "Bring some dried bamboo leaves from the bamboo grove..."

Then the eggshell slowly cracked open, revealing the little yellowish-brown, furry creature inside, still slightly damp.

He looked like he was on his last breath.

"Oh dear, Brother Chen, it's gotten to this point, is there any hope?"

"do not know."

Chen Ling shook his head and gently broke open the other egg as well.

The little crane inside is in the same situation.

Weak and on the verge of death.

The two little creatures were placed on the dry, soft bamboo leaves, and they both lay limp and motionless.

“In our village, we also have chicks and ducklings that hatch like this, but some of them can be saved. Let’s take them back and try. We need to give them water first.”

As Chen Ling spoke, he had someone fetch a worn-out basket from the bamboo hut. After laying out dry bamboo leaves, he gently placed the two faintly breathing baby cranes on it, then carried the basket down the mountain.

By this time today, the provincial TV station's filming work has actually ended.

We can end the story once we photograph the baby cranes that hatched yesterday.

But the village has been quite lively lately, hasn't it?

The old turtle has reappeared.

They decided to do what they did last time when filming the Wild Boar King: have the finished filmed footage sent back, while someone else would stay here to continue waiting for the old turtle.

I want to personally film what it's like for the Turtle Prince to go on his tour.

Fortunately, they decided to stay for a while and that's when they discovered the two unhatched eggs.

Otherwise, if the two baby cranes had arrived any later, they would have definitely suffocated inside their eggs.

"Brother Chen, what kind of water do you want to give him? Plain water? I'll go get it."

"No need for fresh water, just use the water in my fish tank, I can do it myself."

Chen Ling put down the basket, took a syringe, removed the needle, and drew a full syringe from the aquarium where ornamental fish were kept.

Then, using a finger, she carefully pried open the baby red-crowned crane's beak and slowly fed it water drop by drop.

"What are they doing? Did they pick up two ducklings from the mountain?"

Han Shaobo led Rui Rui and several younger children, including Da Tou, over. There were people looking out from outside, but they didn't dare to come in because there were dogs watching from the outside.

“These aren’t ducklings…they’re baby red-crowned cranes. They’ve been stuck in their shells for two days, unable to hatch on their own. Fugui helped them break out of their shells, and now he’s giving them water. I don’t know if they can survive.”

Guo, an official from the provincial TV station, explained.

(End of this chapter)