My 1995 Small Farm.

The loud voice that came over early in the morning was Chen Yongsheng.

He was wearing a yellowed, wrinkled leather jacket and had an anxious look on his face.

"Wait, Yongsheng, what's wrong with your pig? Why did it give birth to piglets at this crucial time?"

"Didn't you say your family slaughtered a pig for the Chinese New Year?"

Zhao Yubao came out with his hands in his pockets and asked with great confusion.

There's no need to elaborate on Professor Zhao's situation.

He spends all day wandering around the village with the kids, so he knows everything that's going on in the village.

"No, Uncle Zhao, the pigs we slaughtered were castrated..."

Chen Yongsheng explained, "The one that's giving birth to piglets now is that old sow, the one that was mated with by the old wild boar from the mountain. You must remember when Fugui chased the old wild boar away with the tiger?"

"Oh, I haven't forgotten, I haven't forgotten. So it's a wild boar mating with piglets... We can't delay then."

Upon hearing that it was such a thing, Zhao Yubao immediately stopped talking and got up to go and see.

"Come on, Rui Rui, Xiao Ming, and Xiao Li Zi, Grandpa Yong Sheng's pig has given birth to wild boar babies. Let's all go and see them."

Zhao Dahai and his friends were also very excited. When they heard that a domestic pig had given birth to a wild boar, they were quite curious and wanted to go and join in the fun.

"Don't let the kids mess around. It's so cold, and they just woke up and haven't eaten yet."

Zhao Dahai's wife scolded Hongxia.

"That's right, let's hurry up and leave. Dahai, how old are you? You're not mature at all."

Lynx grumbled a complaint from ahead, then took the lead and hurriedly followed Chen Ling into the village.

Newborn piglets are very delicate.

This applies to both domestic pigs and wild boars.

No matter how resilient a wild boar's genes are, it can't be so invincible and fearless from birth. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a wild boar, it would be a monster.

So when something like this happened, Chen Ling wasn't in the mood to keep asking questions like they were.

He had already set off, mounted his little blue horse, and charged off.

……

"What's going on? Why are the villagers even going to Boss Chen for things like raising pigs?"

Jiao Huang and the others looked completely bewildered.

"Of course, Fugui is the village's veterinarian, the only veterinarian. He knows a lot and is skilled in many things."

Professor Zhong said with a smile.

"Huh? A veterinarian? Mr. Chen is a veterinarian? My God! This... This is a boss, why would he be a veterinarian!"

They all stared wide-eyed.

Indeed, their understanding of Chen Ling came entirely from news reports and newspapers.

Knowing this person is a rather strange ability, and at such a young age, he is the second boss of a rising star in the domestic braised beef noodle industry.

But I never knew that this young man was actually a veterinarian.

Such a wealthy young man is also a veterinarian who treats livestock?
This is too surreal, too schizophrenic!
“Let’s go and see. I’ve never seen a big boss treating pigs before.”

They got excited too.

They put on thick clothes and headed to the village.

I even asked before I left:

"Professor Zhong, Professor Zhao went, aren't you going?"

Professor Zhong waved his hand, said nothing more, and just stared quietly at the golden monkeys in the tree, then slowly drew on the snow with a twig.

……

When Chen Ling arrived in the village, he came to Chen Yongsheng's old courtyard, the same earthen courtyard where Chen Gannian had lived before.

His wife, Wang Xiuhua, along with Chen Gannian and several neighbors, had already gathered around.

A group of people were gathered around the pigpen, watching something unusual.

"Make way, Fugui is here! Make way so Fugui can come in and have a look."

When Chen Gannian saw Chen Ling arrive, he quickly told everyone to disperse.

"What's going on, Fourth Grandpa? Is this pig so protective of its young?"

Before Chen Ling could even dismount, he could see the situation inside the pigpen from the tall, small blue horse.

Inside the pigpen, a black sow was hiding in the shed, its mouth wide open, grunting loudly.

Behind it was a simple, rough hut made of hay.

Several striped piglets were lying on it.

From the outside, these piglets look no different from those born to wild boars.

This is what is known as the second-generation wild boar.

At this moment, they were firmly protected behind the sow, who was guarding them.

"I don't know. I guess it saw a pig being slaughtered before the New Year and got scared. It wasn't like this before when people came. It would even come up to people and beg for food."

Chen Gannian frowned and guessed.

"Oh, that's possible. Pigs can be quite intelligent sometimes."

Chen Ling nodded, dismounted, and took off his gloves as he walked toward the pigpen: "But it's so protective of its young, we have to subdue it, otherwise those piglets will definitely freeze to death."

"You can argue with that. When we encounter something like this, we can only watch helplessly. We can't get it done by asking anyone else, so we had to call you over."

Wang Xiuhua also said.

The whole family was very anxious.

Although the offspring of this wild boar are said to gain weight very slowly, eating a lot but not gaining much weight, making them unprofitable to raise.

But it was born from our own pig after all.

How could they bear to just leave it there and let it freeze to death?
"Yes, normally these piglets would have been taken inside by now. If I had known it was going to give birth, I would have herded it inside too..."

Chen Gannian shook his head and sighed.

Before the Lunar New Year, my two sons had a fight.

He was so angry that he ended up in the hospital, where he also injured his head.

So they couldn't worry about the pigs anymore.

Otherwise, given how much importance the villagers place on pregnant sows, they would have driven them into the house long ago.

This way, the baby will be warm enough to give birth and won't get cold.

As for whether pigs are dirty or not...

On the one hand, pigs would not be driven into people's houses.

On the other hand, the piglets that are born are worth a lot of money. Even if you go to the pigsty, sometimes you have no choice but to do so in order to reduce losses.

While the two grandfathers were talking.

Chen Ling had already gone straight into the pigsty by this time.

When the old sow saw Chen Ling enter, she immediately became alarmed.

The pigs had barely jumped into the pens, and before they even got close, they started screaming like pigs being slaughtered.

While yelling and howling, it shrank back into the shack behind it.

Look at that appearance, it's just like a big fat dog with its tail between its legs.

"Goodness, Fugui is really something else. The pigs were so scared when he entered the pigpen that they peed their pants."

"It wasn't like this when Yongsheng went in before; this pig even tried to charge at him..."

"That's right. Fugui killed so many wolves. Everyone said he carried a curse on him, and now it seems that's true."

"Of course it's true. Even before anything happened, the pigs were scared to death. It must be true."

It was a little after seven in the morning, just as dawn was breaking. After the snowfall, many people hadn't gotten up that early and hadn't had breakfast yet.

Many of the nearby residents, upon hearing the commotion, looked around and walked over.

Following closely behind were Zhao Dahai, Shanmao, and the crew of "Return to Glory".

Chen Ling ignored the onlookers.

Faced with the old sow who feared him like a tiger, he stepped forward without saying a word, grabbed the pig by the ear, and at the same time seized one of the pig's front hooves with one hand.

"Ow~!"

Instantly, the old sow was terrified and began to squeal wildly at the top of her lungs.

At the same time, it struggled frantically in Chen Ling's hands.

The urine that was just dripping out suddenly shot out, forming a jet of water.

It's clear that he was genuinely terrified by Chen Ling.

"Behave yourself! The person who's saving your child isn't going to kill you and eat you! What are you yelling for!"

Chen Ling grabbed the pig by the ear and slapped it on the head. Then he quickly grabbed its other front hoof and dragged the sow away by its two front hooves.

The way they were dragging them around was like they were pulling a child along.

"Fugui, be careful! There's still blood on the pig's butt. Don't get it on your clothes!"

Liang Yuemin, who had rushed over, shouted.

"It's alright, who cares about these things right now?"

Chen Ling waved his hand, looking completely unconcerned.

It's cold; the pig manure and urine in the pigsty are frozen solid, and the bloodstains from the sows' postpartum period are also dried.

So in this kind of weather, the pigsty doesn't smell so strong, and it's also unusually not so filthy.

Again.

Chen Ling was dressed in work clothes that morning, intending to go to the roof to shovel snow.

It's okay if it gets dirty.

Wang Laishun came over at this moment and shouted, "Why isn't anyone helping Fugui? Why are they all just standing by and watching?"

"There's nothing we can do, Fifth Uncle, we can't help you..."

“Just now, Yongsheng and I, four or five people, went in, but we couldn’t hold this pig down at all. This sow is very protective of her cubs. When she sees people coming in, she goes crazy. When she gets angry, she’s no less fierce than a wild boar. It’s really scary.”

"..."

That's absolutely true.

When this old sow gets angry, she's no less formidable than a wild boar. Her eyes are bloodshot, and she acts like she's gone mad.

Another thing is that when catching pigs in the village, they basically just hold the pig down so it can't move.

Then tie up their four hooves and carry them out.

After all, it's impossible for a pig that stays huddled in its pen to be easily driven out with a whip.

You can only catch pigs.

But given the current situation, it's definitely impossible to seize the opportunity.

Then we'll have to call Chen Ling over.

Chen Ling was strong; he grabbed the sow's front legs and dragged it out of the pen, where he tied it up with a rope to restrict its movement.

Only then did I have time to go and see the newborn piglets.

"Well, Fugui, is the piglet still alive?"

"Alive, but also a bit close to death..."

Chen Ling glanced at the piglets and realized that their condition was indeed very bad.

In this freezing weather, even with a newbie protection period, it's still impossible to withstand half a night of wind and snow.

The piglets are in such a bad state that they're not exactly on the verge of death, but they're certainly about to kick the bucket.

Chen Ling reached out and touched the piglets; they were all cold.

"Quickly take him inside and warm him up on the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed), see if he can recover."

There were six piglets in total, and Chen Yongsheng's family had prepared baskets in advance.

The basket was also lined with cotton padding.

After Chen Ling put them into the basket.

Chen Yongsheng rushed home without stopping and put the piglets on the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) to warm them up.

The others were also seeing this scene for the first time, so they quickly followed.

Curious, they watched as Chen Yongsheng lifted the bedding, spread dry grass on the bed, and put the piglets on it.

However, the situation was not optimistic, and after three to five minutes, the situation still did not improve.

"In general, steaming is the fastest way to handle this situation."

"Auntie, go boil some water. If that can make you sweat, then we'll be saved. If not, we'll eat meat. In this weather, we've been freezing all night, there's no other way..."

Indeed, Chen Ling didn't have any good solutions either.

The piglets are currently suffering from hypothermia.

Steaming in a pot is like taking a sauna, forcing out the cold air through sweat.

"Huh? This? Steaming it? Are you sure you're not kidding me?"

The cast and crew of "Return to Glory" looked at each other in bewilderment. Only Jiao Huang, like an old man, stood with his hands behind his back, his brows furrowed, looking on with a mixture of surprise and eagerness.

He also said to the crowd, "Don't speak, there might be a lot of knowledge in this."

Liang Yuemin and the others were also puzzled.

Lynx explained, "There are no incubators in the village, we don't have the resources, so this is the only way we can do it."

The villagers weren't surprised; everyone had used heated brick beds to hatch chicks and grow watermelon seedlings.

At this moment, Chen Ling's words made them laugh non-stop, saying, "That's right, if we can save them, we will; if we can't, we'll eat meat."

They were laughing and joking around.

The piglets were still placed on the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) to keep them warm.

In the kitchen, on a freezing cold day, Chen Yongsheng and his wife were sweating profusely with anxiety.

In a panic, and with great effort, I finally managed to boil the water.

After boiling the water.

Chen Yongsheng hurriedly tried to put the piglet on the pot.

"Hey, Uncle Yongsheng, you can't put it in the pot at this temperature, or it'll really turn into meat..."

Upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter again.

“Yongsheng is too hasty. Don’t worry, Fugui is here. Just listen to his instructions.”

"..."

These earthen stoves in the village are the hardest to control the heat on cold days.

Because human senses, or physical sensations, are not accurate in this kind of weather.

You really have to boil the water and then add cold water.

Then adjust the temperature.

It sounds complicated, but it's actually very quick.

Because the firewood in the firebox burns very brightly, it boils very quickly and takes very little time.

"Yes, a water temperature of 40 to 50 degrees Celsius is usually fine, just a little hot for us."

My hands get cold on snowy days, and sometimes even water at 40 degrees Celsius feels scalding.

Therefore, the firewood in the firebox must not go out at this time.

After adding water, it was a little hot to the touch.

Then they started placing the piglets in the steamer.

At this point, steam is used for fumigation.

However, you cannot cover the pot with a lid.

Observe the piglets' condition at all times.

"Wow, I'm a little scared. Is this really okay?"

In this situation, Zhao Dahai lost all confidence.

The main feature is that there's still a fire burning underneath, and a steamer basket on top.

This scene is truly...

"What are you afraid of? Even maggots can cure diseases, so it will definitely work. We were just joking earlier, Dahai, why don't you believe it?"

The villagers smiled broadly, but they actually had great confidence in Chen Ling.

"Oh dear, steaming it is so fast! It's making me sweat, even the piglets are sweating!"

Chen Yongsheng shouted with delight.

"Okay, that means there's hope."

Chen Ling said, "Quickly flip them over and keep an eye on the other piglets."

Upon hearing this, the couple hurriedly and anxiously went forward to check.

Soon, more piglets were forced to sweat.

"Alright, count to two hundred silently, and then give the piglet a bath."

As Chen Ling spoke, he shoveled out the remaining firewood from the firebox.

By this point, it's no longer needed.

Even though the firewood is almost burned out, it still has a strong fire. If it continues to burn, it might actually be steamed in a little while.

Furthermore.

These piglets are too small; we can't let them sweat all the time.

Otherwise, excessive dehydration is also not good.

"Holy crap, they've really recovered, some piglets are moving."

"It moved after I counted to two hundred. Fugui, you're amazing!"

Zhao Dahai's eyes widened.

These piglets were in very serious condition due to freezing and hypothermia.

They were just on the verge of death.

Surprisingly, steaming it really worked again.

"What the hell? If you ever get frozen solid, I'll steam you too."

Chen Ling rolled his eyes, and everyone burst into laughter again.

"Alright, alright, we've reached two hundred. Let's unload the steamer."

Chen Yongsheng and his wife quickly carried the steamer down.

Chen Ling then added two ladles of cold water to the pot.

At this point, the water temperature was around 42 or 43 degrees Celsius.

It's time to give the piglets a warm bath.

So the group of people worked together to start bathing the piglets in a large wooden tub.

"Holy crap, it's really working! The piglet has started squealing, and all four legs are moving."

"They're looking for milk."

Everyone was astonished.

According to their understanding, a newborn piglet that is so small and has been frozen for half a night is unlikely to survive.

But the facts were astonishing.

Yes.

Newborn lives are both fragile and tenacious.

Sometimes they are so vulnerable that they will die at the slightest threat.

But sometimes, given a glimmer of hope, they stubbornly revive.

"This Mr. Chen is truly better in person than he's been heard of; such a young man is a rare find."

"With such a large fortune, he still jumps into pigsties full of pig manure and diligently treats pigs. Tsk, this is not just an extraordinary person, but I think he has the demeanor of an ancient sage."

Jiao Huang's voice was always very literary.

The assistant director's eyes lit up: "Teacher Jiao, I understand this. 'With a single bamboo bowl of rice and a gourd of water, Hui did not change his joy. How virtuous was Hui!'"

Jiao Huang chuckled speechlessly, "Alright, alright, I know you know. You can't even recite the entire Analects, so don't show off." (End of Chapter)