My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 751 Erhei is Ashamed
Before people have even finished their blind dates, dogs have started going on them too.

That day, Chen Ling and Wang Lixian were busy sprinkling lime water on a pile of corn cobs in the livestock pen.

After sprinkling the lime water, cover it with a plastic sheet and let it heat up to sterilize it.

At this moment, Tian Lichuan, who had bought fish fry twice, came over. This time, he didn't come to buy fish fry, but brought his dog with him.

A big white dog, plump and chubby, I heard it was used to guard his fishpond. It could swim and paddle.

He listens to his family very well, is honest and kind, but is very fierce to outsiders. He is a good guard and protector of the house.

You could say this is a rare and excellent dog.

Tian Lichuan didn't want to wrong it, so he let a male dog mate with it.

Having just learned of Chen Ling and having seen Heiwa's dogs, he chose a free time to come and find a mate.

In addition, Chen Ling's side also has a clearly marked price.

The price is definitely high, and the dog is a good dog, so there's no doubt about that.

But he also knew that Chen Ling had no intention of making money from dog breeding.

It's all about what your dog thinks. If it likes you, you're good enough; if it doesn't, you won't force it.

So it's not wrong for him to say that he was on a blind date with a dog.

Tian Lichuan was lucky; he didn't come here for nothing.

Although Heiwa still doesn't like this kind of dog, Erhei does. In fact, Erhei seems to really like this kind of plump, clean, and well-groomed city dog.

My eyes widened when I saw it.

The bone he was carrying in his mouth fell to the ground.

Forget about letting the pack of dogs frolic, it ran up to the big white dog, wagging its tail and sniffing its rear end.

Tian Lichuan was overjoyed to see that Erhei was interested in his dog.

They quickly took a lot of meat and offal from the car and fed it to the farm's dogs.

After feeding them, he went to check on the livestock pen where Chen Ling and the others had been busy: "Brothers, what are you doing here? Growing mushrooms?"

"Yes, we just built a greenhouse this year to grow some mushrooms."

Chen Ling and the others were washing their hands in the ditch, while a little white calf led a little water buffalo to play beside them.

The little water buffalo, led by its parent, doesn't recognize its master and plays with anyone. One moment it's pulling on Wang Lixian's keys, the next it's snatching Chen Dazhi's tobacco leaves.

Very mischievous.

The group quite liked the calf, not because it was mischievous, but because Chen Ling's white cow usually stayed away from others, only coming over to watch over the little water buffalo when it was playing.

The villagers still prefer the little white calf more.

While the baby buffalo is playing, you can also touch this beautiful white buffalo and get close to it.

Tian Lichuan's attention was no longer on the water buffalo or the dog, but on the mushroom substrate in the livestock pen. He frowned and said:

"Isn't it a bit late to plant mushrooms at this time? We're afraid we won't be able to sell them in time!"

"Yes, it's a bit late, but we'll sell as many batches as we can. The first year is just a lot of busywork, but I just want to give it a try."

Chen Ling smiled, seemingly unconcerned.

In general, in areas north of the Yangtze River where it snows all year round in winter, mushrooms are planted in late autumn, and no later than the eleventh month of the lunar calendar.

Otherwise, they either won't be able to sell by the end of the year, or they won't be able to sell after the new year.

It's neither good nor bad; you're working for nothing and even losing money.

It's important to know that the twelfth lunar month is the time when vegetables sell the fastest; it's the peak season for vegetable sales.

The prices of dishes that are essential for the New Year's Eve dinner will skyrocket.

Take garlic scapes, for example. In some years, their price can soar ten or even dozens of times higher than usual... yet sales remain high.

Mushrooms are sometimes like that too.

Tian Lichuan meant that if the mushrooms were planted too late, not only might they miss out on good prices, but they might also only be able to sell one batch, and this year's harvest for this greenhouse would be over.

After all, spring is here, and the weather gets warmer day by day, making it difficult to preserve mushrooms and sell them.

Difficult to preserve means high transportation costs.

Selling it in a small county town? Nobody can afford it.

Moreover, their area is near the mountains, and with the weather warming up, they're not short of mushrooms to eat.
Forget it, it simply won't sell.

"Goodness, you really have guts! No wonder you've succeeded!" Tian Lichuan exclaimed.

I thought to myself, it's good that they have money. They don't care if they lose money. They just want to try something, so they go all out.

The reason Chen Ling wasn't afraid of losing money, besides the magical cave, was also because Sun Yanhong ran a shop, so the vegetables he grew couldn't be sold or wasted.

Although Liu Jiancheng's business is almost a supermarket, the output is low, so it's not worth considering.

It has to be this restaurant that's useful.

Just come up with a couple of new menu items, and you'll have no trouble selling everything you own.

"How are the fish fry you received from me, Mr. Tian?" Chen Ling asked.

"Good, very good. If it's not good, I came here to make you pay me back." Tian Lichuan said jokingly, clearly getting excited when the topic came up.

"Brother, I don't know if you understand what it's like for us who do large-scale aquaculture..."

Let me put it this way: some fish fry, when they're small, eat like pigs. You can feed them ten or eight meals a day, and they'll finish it all. They also grow incredibly fast.

Moreover, even if you feed them some spoiled feed in the summer, there won't be any problem at all.

But once they grow up...

Tsk, even if it only grows a little bit, to the length of a little finger, it's still a fry. In fact, it's more delicate than a small fry and dies easily.

They can't eat much anymore, and we have to feed them the best feed. We can't feed them the worst feed, because if it goes bad even slightly, they'll die in droves.

But your fish fry don't have those problems.

I'm not just praising you to your face, but your fish fry are really tough. They eat like little piglets and grow much faster.

Goodness, it's winter already, and they're still eating so much, growing bigger every day.

Some didn't pay much attention, and their palms grew long, their bodies turning the color of wild fish.

Upon hearing this, Chen Ling smiled and said, "It must be because you're growing seedlings indoors. It's warm indoors, so they're still eating and growing just fine."

“No way, I’ve been in the seafood business for so many years, I’m not stupid. You’re the kind of person who likes to hide your talents and keep a low profile,” Tian Lichuan insisted.

"If your fish fry are really just average, could you give me a discount next time and sell them to me as ordinary fish fry?"

"Haha, that won't do."

"You see, let's do it this way."

"The fish fry from Fugui are indeed good, as are the chicken and duck fry."

Chen Dazhi picked up the conversation and asked Chen Ling, "I heard that the people who want your chicks also want to buy your eggs to hatch chicks. The provincial leaders mentioned it a couple of days ago, but why hasn't anyone come?"

"I already replied, and now I can't sell it."

Chen Ling shook his head: "They wrote to me a long time ago and even asked Bo Ming to inquire a few times. The salted eggs have been selling fast these past two months, so I haven't been able to keep track of their business."

In addition, the earliest batch of chickens in our family are getting old and laying fewer and fewer eggs.

Let's wait until the new chicks grow up next year before we talk about it.

Otherwise, we won't be able to supply what they need.

Salted eggs may seem unremarkable, but they represent a steady, long-term business opportunity.

Salted eggs have now become quite popular among a group of people.

I love this flavor.

Once you've eaten this, you can't eat any other salted egg.

"Yes, I've tried your salted eggs, they're really delicious. People say they're a popular gift during holidays... But I'm wondering, if people know your chicks are good, why didn't they buy them in large quantities from the beginning?"
Like me, buying fish fry in bulk, I buy more at once.
It took so long before I thought of buying it again.

Tian Lichuan couldn't understand it. Those who raise chickens should be similar to them, especially those who run large chicken farms. They shouldn't be using new breeds of chicks on a whim. They must have done their research before making a decision.

He also knew that many villagers in Chenwangzhuang used chickens from Chen Ling's family, which was a stark contrast.

I'm sure those people can see it too. Besides, the farm has all those big, fat chickens right there in front of everyone; no one could miss them.

These free-range chickens are raised so well.

With such a high egg production rate and such good growth, why don't those people who have decided to buy chicks buy more at once?
"Sigh, when it comes to this, it's still about greed, isn't it?"
They're not quite like you, the fish farmer. While it's not impossible for you to keep some breeding stock and raise them yourself, it's quite time-consuming. In your words, if you had the time and inclination, you could have already made your money back when it's time to make it."

Chen Ling shook his head: "Those chicken farmers are different. They are interested in using my good chicks as breeding stock. You've heard from the village that my chickens lay eggs frequently and produce a lot of meat."

It can be used as an egg-laying hen or a broiler chicken.

When the eggs laid by laying hens taste better than factory-farmed eggs...

Tell me, with such a high-quality breed of chicken, how could they not be tempted?

As you've seen, they were all talk and no action, ambitious but incompetent. They had good intentions but failed to achieve anything, so they came back to me for chicks, honestly wanting to buy a larger batch to focus on raising chickens and stop messing around.

"Oh dear, isn't this just like a bonus? They're just making money they can't earn themselves." Tian Lichuan frowned as soon as he heard this.

He was referring to Tian Hongli.

Tian Hongli was inspired by the ornamental fish that Chen Ling raised and wanted to breed them herself.

"Well, pretty much."

Chen Ling chuckled: "These things in my house are both tough and difficult to take care of. They're tough because they're easy to raise anywhere, whether they're chickens, fish, or dogs. But they're difficult to take care of because getting them to reproduce properly is really hard."

Often, even after giving birth, the body reverts to its original state after just one pregnancy.

At this point, Chen Baoshuan said, "The animals from our village are best suited for free-range farming. If they keep chickens and ducks in cages, they can't eat insects or smell the earthy scent of the fields, so they definitely won't be able to raise them well."

"Haha, what this brother said makes sense." Tian Lichuan praised, "If I want to raise chickens in the future, I'll come here, find a hilltop, and just like Brother Fugui, put them up on the mountain and let them eat whatever they want."

As they were chatting, they suddenly heard a 'humming' sound, and over there, Erhei and the big white dog were mating.

A group of men immediately rushed over to take a look.

"Okay, Erhei is impressive, he's paired up so quickly."

"Yeah, Erhei is pretty capable too. After seeing so many Heiwa dogs, I always thought Erhei was small and delicate, but I didn't expect him to be so fierce when paired with another dog!"

“Be fierce, male dogs must be fierce, look how strong Erhei is.”

"It's because he worries too much on a daily basis. He doesn't gain weight and is as skinny as a chick compared to Heiwa. If Heiwa were in charge, this big white dog would have been lying on the ground long ago."

A group of people were commenting on Erhei, which made Erhei very embarrassed. After finishing the match, he pulled the big white dog to hide to one side before even leaving the room.

"Oh my, you're still shy? You're never shy when you're in charge of this and that in the village."