My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 634 Garlic: The Taste of Mom

Chapter 634 Garlic: The Taste of Mom
"Ah Ling, is the little leopard back?"

“It wasn’t a baby leopard. Someone in the village killed a leopard near the graveyard. It was injured and I treated it.”

"Oh? You brought it back? Are you going to keep it at home?"

Wang Susu had the same reaction, but unlike Gao Xiulan, Gao Xiulan was worried about hurting her children, while Wang Susu thought that if she wanted to raise a leopard, why not raise her own leopard cub?

The little clouded leopard was very familiar with her and behaved very well in front of her. Even when it tried to pry something out of her hand, it would carefully retract its paws.

If she hadn't been afraid of her parents nagging, she would have kept the little clouded leopard long ago.

"I wouldn't dare keep it at home. My mother was just worried that I would keep it at home, and she gave me a lecture."

Chen Ling looked up and smiled helplessly: "I said we should release it back into the mountains once its injuries are healed, or let the zoo take it away. This little leopard is too weak. If we send it back into the mountains, it will only be bullied, and its chances of survival are slim."

He wasn't just saying that randomly.

Even wild animals hold grudges.

This little leopard has made enemies with jackals, and may have even been chased by other wild animals.

Even if you recover from your injuries, it will be very difficult to survive in the mountains.

Unless it learns the survival skills of an adult leopard in a short period of time.

Slippery, difficult to deal with, able to lie in wait, know how to escape, and even climb trees to break through.

In short, given the leopard cub's filthy appearance, if food hadn't been so plentiful in the mountains recently, those ferocious wild beasts wouldn't have bothered chasing it to the end.

Even if he runs to a populated area, he will have a hard time escaping.

And even if they escape, they might encounter the old wolves that have been driven out somewhere.

"Oh? Then let's send it to the zoo."

When Wang Susu heard that the baby muntjac would not survive if sent back to the mountains, she became unwilling. Then she asked, "How is the little muntjac? I haven't even seen the baby muntjac since it was born."

"Haha, that little thing is growing incredibly fast. It can already be jumping around the fence in the livestock pen."

Chen Ling smiled broadly as he spoke of this, saying that raising such a grass-eating creature was just like raising a lamb, much easier than raising a leopard or anything like that.

And it's fun too.

"Oh my, it can jump around everywhere now? Then bring it over here for me to see."

Wang Susu's eyes were practically sparkling.

She was thinking, if even a small muntjac is so big, then its offspring must be incredibly tiny.

"Why bother with that? If you don't behave when I hold you, you'll disturb Kang Kang and Le Le, and then you'll get scolded by your parents... You'll be out of confinement in a couple of days, don't worry, you'll be able to get down and see by yourself soon."

Chen Ling comforted his wife, then said to Heiwa, who was playing with the children in the backyard, "Heiwa, go outside and call Zhenzhen and the others back."

Upon hearing this, Heiwa ran out without saying a word and quickly disappeared from sight.

"Why are you calling Zhenzhen? I heard from Aunt Hongyu this morning that they took Sister Yueru to dig mouse holes."

"Yes, that's right, they went to dig mouse holes."

Chen Ling hummed in agreement: "I've treated the leopard's external injuries, but it still needs to be gutted. I just checked, and we're out of deworming medication..."

"Oh, so you're asking Zhenzhen to go to the village to get the medicine."

"Well, besides getting the medicine, we also need you to go to Uncle Wu's house and call those two Japanese devils after you get the medicine. It's inconvenient for me to go, so it's better to have Zhenzhen go and call them."

Chen Ling thought that, no matter what, the two Japanese soldiers were the first to discover that Wei Jun was up to no good, and they took action as soon as they saw it.

Chen Ling didn't care what their little schemes were.

Judging from their performance this time, I have to do my part too.

"You should just give them something to express your gratitude. Don't stay home for dinner. Your father can't stand the Japanese devils."

After understanding Chen Ling's meaning, Wang Susu had nothing to say.

She knew about Wei Jun's affair. She wasn't the naive young wife she used to be. Although she felt sorry for her old classmate marrying someone like Wei Jun, they had looked down on her before, so why should she bother with their affairs?

"I know, I know, they definitely can't stay at our house for dinner."

Chen Ling readily agreed.

No one in the village was willing to bring the Japanese soldiers home, even though many families had provided them with a few meals when they worked on farms for others.

But in the village, people eat outside the courtyard, just squatting down anywhere by the door or wall, and grabbing a bite as soon as it's mealtime.

There's no way we'd invite people from home. Even if we did, we'd eat in the courtyard; there wouldn't be any inside the house.

"Brother-in-law, why did you call me back? We just dug several mouse holes, and we were doing a great job."

At this moment, Wang Zhenzhen followed Heiwa, skipping and hopping back.

"I'm giving you a task... I brought back the leopard we hunted in the village. It was sick, so go find Brother Guoping and get some deworming medicine, and also go to Uncle Wu's house..."

Chen Ling gave her a brief explanation.

The little girl wasn't particularly curious about the leopard; she stared at it for a couple of moments, then lost interest.

Then he took the money from Chen Ling and ran back to the village.

"Heiwa, come with me. I'm going to see the Japanese devils. You have to protect me, understand?"

Helpless, Heiwa glanced at Chen Ling, then turned and jogged after Wang Zhenzhen.

Chen Ling smiled and saw that Rui Rui and the others were having fun playing with the puppies in the backyard, so he went over and made some salt water using a broken clay pot meant for puppies.

They carried the salt water to the leopard and fed it some.

This guy has lost a lot of blood and is under a lot of stress. Give him some salt water first, and then feed him solid food later.

Otherwise, if we feed it meat mixed with medicine directly, it probably won't be able to withstand it given its weak condition.

Wang Zhenzhen was incredibly fast.

I brought the deworming medicine back in no time.

Li Zhongyi and Chishima Miyoko, on the other hand, were a bit hesitant and arrived very slowly.

They knew that given Chen Ling's temperament, or rather, in the rural cultural environment, if they had put in the effort, the host family would inevitably show some appreciation.

But Chen Ling really did have his sister-in-law come and call them.

They were still a little excited and flattered.

Arriving late is not a sign of being reluctant.

The main problem is that I had too many little thoughts and considered a lot of unnecessary things, but in the end, I found that they were all useless, so I just let it go.

When they arrived at the farm, Chen Ling didn't provide a meal.

They gave us some venison and a few fresh fish.

They knew about venison. Although they hadn't eaten it much, the villagers had been eating a lot of it this year, basically every day.

In their eyes, nothing is precious.

But fish are different.

I heard that the fish at Chen Ling's farm are really expensive. I bet just these few fish are worth as much as a deer.

So when Chen Ling didn't let them stay for dinner, they didn't complain at all.

After returning home, he enthusiastically started cooking on Wang Laishun's stove.

Li Zhongyi prepared a Northeastern-style iron pot stewed fish, while Qiandao Meidaizi kept it simple. She thought the fish from Chen Ling's house was so good that she made some sashimi and dipped it in Wang Laishun's chili sauce. It was so delicious that it amazed them.

Although they usually eat raw fish and other seafood, where can they get seafood now?
Far from home, I was craving this fish so badly, and luckily, Chen Ling's family had such good fish.

Even in remote and impoverished areas, they can be sold at such high prices.

If I don't try it, I'll really be doing myself a disservice.

It tasted good.

Fortunately, I ate it.

That's how I got to taste such delicious food.

But as he was eating, Li Zhongyi suddenly stopped and fell into deep thought... "Miyoko, you said this fish is so delicious. If we could feed it to those giant turtles, wouldn't they become closer to us?"

Chishima Miyoko's eyes widened in shock, as if she didn't recognize Li Zhongyi anymore: "Si Guoyi! Ono-kun, you are a genius!"

Li Zhongyi rarely received praise, so he smiled shyly and then asked again with a reserved expression, "You also think it can be done this way?"

"Yes, absolutely."

Chishima Miyoko clenched her fists excitedly, and even blurted out her Northeastern accent.

"Feeding these fish with such good fish will definitely double the effect, absolutely!"

……

The next morning, after sending Wang Zhenzhen to school, Chen Ling had someone from the family planning office erase the writing on the small courtyard in the south of the city.

The words on it are too eye-catching; it would be better to print family planning slogans instead.

The main benefit is that it saves me from doing the work myself.

On my way back, I visited Qin Qiumei's and Zhong Xiaoyun's families, partly to deliver some leftover venison and partly to discuss the events of the past two days.

Secondly, we need to bring Qin Qiumei's two yellow oxen to the village.

Qin Rongxian and Liang Hongyu have returned recently, but Niu hasn't had time to take care of them.

Liang Hongyu was only concerned with helping Chen Ling's family take care of their children in the village, and then she followed Gao Xiulan to pickle salted eggs and deal with farm miscellaneous items.

Qin Rongxian had previously gone back to his hometown of Qinwan to burn paper money. According to local custom, there is a custom of burning paper money in the ninth and tenth months of the lunar calendar, and another one in the first month of the lunar calendar during the Spring Festival.

However, Qin Rong went back for two days and encountered the death of an older brother from his clan. Now that things had come together, he couldn't leave either.

Let Chen Ling lead it back to the village and let it graze with his three yellow oxen.

As a result, they ended up spending half a day in the county town.

Nothing much.

But when acquaintances meet, they inevitably end up talking a lot.

The Chen family has been interacting frequently with the Qin and Zhong families over the past two or three years.

The families and elders of both families knew what kind of people he and Wang Susu were. Wang Zhenzhen often went to their homes for meals when she was studying in the county town, so they were very familiar with each other.

They didn't really care about the gossip around them. Instead, they were a little worried about him and Wang Susu, afraid that they would attract some hooligans and have an uneasy life.

"Oh? Brother Li, what brings you to the city again? Are you planning to settle down here?"

As Chen Ling rode his little blue horse and led two yellow oxen slowly toward the village, he saw Li Zhongyi and Chishima Miyoko, two Japanese soldiers, buying beef at a roadside deli.

He noticed that these two Japanese soldiers had been frequently heading to the city lately. They were the first to discover the matter in his family's south courtyard. They came again today, so he assumed that the village wouldn't accept them, and they wanted to move to the county town.

"Ah, haha, yes, yes, we're just looking around and came here to buy some food."

Li Zhongyi had a strong mentality. He was startled when Chen Ling called him, but quickly recovered and said, "Brother Chen, did you buy two more cows?"

I must say, the beef here is really delicious. If your farm raised more cattle, it would definitely be a lucrative business.

Do you also think it has potential?

Upon hearing this, Chen Ling became genuinely interested: "So, how do you think our beef compares to your Wagyu beef?"

"Ah, these... these two shouldn't be the same type..."

Li Zhongyi was instantly in a dilemma. He was genuinely in a dilemma. He had a small flaw, influenced by some Japanese, which was that he was very particular about food.

If you like a certain food, it's hard for you to lie.

He didn't want to belittle their Wagyu beef, but he also didn't want to lie and belittle the local yellow beef, since it was truly delicious.

Seeing her companion's predicament, Chishima Miyoko quickly said in broken Mandarin, "Mr. Chen, thank you for your fish. It tastes much better than the fish in our country. We use it to make sashimi, and it can even rival many kinds of sea fish."

"Uh, sashimi? I think it's better not to eat freshwater fish raw."

Chen Ling kindly offered a reminder, but immediately realized he had been too talkative. They liked to court death, so why should he care whether they lived or died?

"Also, won't the fish meat fall apart?"

"It doesn't fall apart; the meat is very firm. It's delicious for sashimi, especially delicious," Li Zhongyi quickly chimed in.

And he became more and more excited as he spoke: "Brother Chen, we'd like to go back and buy some fish to eat, um... would you be willing to sell some to us?"

"Huh? You want to buy fish from me?"

Chen Ling was taken aback by their words for a moment before laughing and saying, "If you want to eat fish, I'll go and catch a few more for you."

After all, they had been pen pals for a while, and besides, he had helped his family this time, so Chen Ling had no right to accept money.

"No, no, that's not what we meant. We need more fish."

Li Zhongyi quickly explained, "We like to eat fish, but how can we eat your fish for free every day? Let's buy some. We know your fish is a bit more expensive, but if you still have some, please try to save some for us."

"Alright, if that's the case, then come and buy fish if you want. I have plenty of fish, so you don't need to be so polite."

Chen Ling found these superficial and insincere formalities in their daily life, with all the "please" and "invite" greetings, which made her feel uncomfortable.

"Huh? Didn't you say your fish were going to be shipped to restaurants in the city?"

"Yeah, so what? How much fish can the two of you eat?"

Chen Ling chuckled. "Alright, I have to go back now. This cow is moving too slowly; I'm afraid I won't make it back in time for lunch."

"Alright, see you later, Brother Chen..."

Li Zhongyi's words caught in his throat; he wanted to say something but couldn't.

After Chen Ling left, he and Chishima Miyoko exchanged a glance, neither of them knowing what to say.

"Anyway, since his fish is so effective, we should just buy it from him."

"Ah."

Chen Ling was shocked that afternoon.

These two must really love fish to order so much.

Could it be that you're planning to open a fish stall with a unique, down-to-earth style?

Li Zhongyi and his companion didn't care what Chen Ling thought. They were incredibly excited and waited patiently until nightfall before carrying two buckets of fish to Dumb Lake.

Under the cover of night, they began what they thought was an exciting feeding operation.

As they approached, the lake churned, and one after another terrifying, enormous beasts appeared on the wide expanse of water. A sweep of the flashlight revealed pairs of scarlet eyes that gleamed like copper bells with an eerie light.

But Li Zhongyi and his companion were not afraid at all; instead, they muttered a slogan in Japanese.

The giant turtles gradually approached the shore.

"They're here, they're here! Quickly, feed them!"

The two excitedly grabbed fish from the bucket and started throwing them into the water.

Those big turtles look clumsy and slow, but they are actually incredibly fast. They catch fish steadily as they are thrown out.

But after catching it.

The turtles, including Garlic Head, were all stunned.

"This smell..."

They tasted the familiar flavor again and were all excited.

They ate the fish in no time.

They weren't sure this morning, but now they are.

Garlic: "Huh?"