My 1995 Small Farm.

Chen Ling naturally wanted to fulfill his martial arts dream.

But being born in a peaceful society, having a wife and children, and a happy family.

He just practiced casually, not seeking any kind of carefree adventure.

When I have nothing to do, I enjoy practicing martial arts and having a good time in the mountains.

Anyway, his family is quite happy to see him practicing boxing and martial arts.

I felt that he was the same as before, happily practicing boxing every day, and in a very good mood.

Aside from hydroponic vegetables, this is one of the few things that has made him so engaged and happy.

He's like a big kid.

Chen Ling was indeed like that.

Practicing boxing and martial arts brings him genuine joy.

He even offered to lead the villagers into the mountains to hunt.

Of course, this is done in parallel with picking wild fruits.

In the past two years, the local climate has improved, and the continuous warm winters have made people feel safe and confident to go into the mountains.

The wild fruits also lasted longer.

As for Chen Ling, the only things left to worry about, besides the hydroponic vegetables, are the Mayan tiger cubs.

Both of these things require patience.

He will be traveling to Beijing soon to attend a friend's wedding.

Of course, we can't just wait around.

Let's go for a trip to the mountains.

While hunting and gathering herbs, they could also bring tigers to escort the village's teams that were picking wild fruits.

And so, we went into the mountains for three or four days in a row.

Li Lianjie witnessed more and more of Chen Ling's terrifying physique and talent.

That guy's martial arts skills have improved beyond just a few leaps and bounds.

That's already weird enough.

Li Lianjie has seen the relevant video.

I know that when Chen Ling was filming the scene of Wu Song fighting the tiger, he was able to hunt down a large boar in just a few seconds by himself.

Moreover, he is agile and has extremely strong physical abilities. When faced with a wild boar's sudden attack, he can leap onto the boar's back and stab it into its body.

That's something not everyone can do.

He could tell from Chen Ling back then that Chen Ling had never practiced martial arts.

But seeing Chen Ling make such rapid progress step by step with my own eyes this time is still hard to believe.

At this age, having a child, she's still so amazing.

and.

These past few days have been spent in the mountains.

After encountering his prey, Chen Ling's behavior surprised him greatly.

He can already swing continuously while clinging to a tree trunk, just like Tarzan.

Facing wild boars and other wild animals in the mountains, their movements were clean and swift...

It's even better than his performance in movies.

Furthermore, they can apply their martial arts skills to swords and spears.

The knife naturally refers to a hunting knife, a machete, or the like.

The gun was, of course, still his red-tasseled spear.

That guy, every knife and spear he wields is incredibly powerful.

When I encountered wild boars and deer in the mountains, I took them on all by myself; I was incredibly fierce.

They simply lack basic martial arts knowledge.

Learning swordsmanship is like practicing with a knife; you just go in and start slashing, and you can't change that.

It seems he's too lazy to make any changes, leaving Li Lianjie speechless.

……

Regardless of what Li Lianjie thought, Chen Ling only cared about his own happiness.

On this day, after stretching his muscles and fighting with a wild boar in the mountains, he made another surprising discovery.

It was good news brought by Er Tuzi.

Er Tuzi and his eaglets discovered a nest of rock bees on the western cliff.

They built their nests in the cracks of rocks, several dozen feet above the ground.

The honey is a bright yellow color, and when it solidifies, it looks incredibly tempting.

Chen Ling couldn't reach it, but Er Tu Zi could. It led its two eagle followers in taking turns attacking and managed to take down the beehive.

Bring the beehive back, collect the honey along with it, and pick out the bee pupae and larvae; they can be used as a dish when you get home.

Besides honey, Er Tuzi also brought back a few handfuls of dried herbs, the kind that grow in the cracks of rocks.

It looked unremarkable, but Wang Cunye got excited as soon as he saw it: "Good heavens, it's Dendrobium again! Er Tu Zi is really amazing!"

Chen Ling laughed too: "You two bald guys, you've done a great job today, you deserve extra food and double the portion."

So when Chen Ling got home, he gutted the wild boar he had hunted that day.

The wild boar was a decent size, a young one in its early twenties.

Today, I'll be extravagant and leave everything for the eagles to eat.

Let them eat for as many days as they want, let them keep eating.

"Wow—"

Er Tu Zi let out a cheerful cry and flew down from the sky. He folded his wings and landed steadily on the courtyard wall.

Two eagles followed behind, landing on the fruit trees on the left and right.

Nine eaglets arrived shortly afterward, forming a large flock. Some landed on the roof, some on the wall, and some even landed on the wild boar.

The most aggressive of them all landed directly on the wild boar's head, its claws gripping the boar's ears, and it pecked at the boar's eyes twice.

The eaglets panicked and swarmed forward, grabbing and snatching at each other, feathers bristling, wings flapping, creating a chaotic scene.

They stood on the back of the wild boar and feasted.

Er Tuzi stood on the wall watching, then suddenly cried out, and the eaglets immediately became quiet.

They each folded their wings, squatted in their respective spots, and ate slowly, no longer daring to vie for good spots.

Soon, the group of gluttons started eating heartily, and nearly half of the wild boar was gone.

Chen Ling wiped his hands and looked at the flock of eagles, their bellies round and full, quite satisfied.

"Alright, go fly around a couple of times after you've eaten, don't squat here and poop."

The eaglets flapped their wings, took flight in a flurry, circled twice in the air above the yard, and headed towards the rocky cliff.

Er Tuzi didn't leave; he rubbed his head against his trouser leg, begging for a pat and a scratch.

Even eagles get itchy.

They can scratch themselves with their claws.

But Chen Ling, the owner, scratched him more comfortably.

"Good heavens, even the eagle is comfortably squinting its eyes." Li Lianjie saw this and quickly came over to join in the fun.

He followed Chen Ling to serve Er Tuzi.

The bald man was extremely satisfied and immediately dozed off in the crook of Chen Ling's legs.

Just then, a series of groaning sounds came from the direction of the back mountain.

Chen Ling looked up and saw the mother bear slowly walking down the slope, with swaying and turning behind her.

The mother bear's wounds have almost healed; most of the scabs on her belly have fallen off, revealing pink new flesh.

My left front leg is no longer lame, and I walk very steadily.

The bear looked noticeably fatter than it had been two weeks ago, and its fur was shinier, a deep black, making it resemble a giant black dog.

"Oh, you've finally decided to come down today?"

Chen Ling greeted him with a smile.

The mother bear walked up to him, stood up, put her two front paws on his shoulders, and rubbed her head against his face.

Huanghuang and Zhuanzhuan ran over, each grabbing one of his legs and whimpering softly.

Erhei led his pack of dogs over from the orchard, seven or eight dogs forming a circle, wagging their tails and watching the spectacle.

Two little clouded leopards followed, walking with cat-like steps to Chen Ling's feet, looking up and calling out.

"Alright, alright, stop rubbing against us. It turns out you all smelled the meat and came here begging for food."

Chen Ling pried open the mother bear's paws, turned around and walked to the wild boar meat. With a swing of his cleaver, he cut off a large piece of rib meat, weighing about ten pounds.

The mother bear smelled the blood, her eyes lit up, and she came closer to snatch it.

"and many more."

Chen Ling held the meat up high, and the mother bear stood up to reach it, but couldn't, and kept whimpering in frustration.

"sit down."

The mother bear understood, plopped down on the ground, supported herself with her two front paws, and stared at him expectantly.

Huanghuang and Zhuanzhuan tried to sit down, but they couldn't sit still. Huanghuang swayed to the side, rolled over, got up, and continued to sit. "Okay, here you go."

Chen Ling threw the meat to the mother bear, who caught it in her mouth and slowly ate it.

He cut a few more small pieces and threw them to the dogs.

Erhei didn't grab anything; he just squatted down and watched the puppies eat.

Blackie Xiaojin ran to the gate of the yard with meat in his mouth, then lay down and slowly chewed.

The two clouded leopard cubs were very playful. They didn't rush to eat the meat they had in their mouths, but instead started chasing each other and playing.

This person is clearly spoiled and doesn't take food seriously.

After the mother bear finished eating the piece of meat, she was still not satisfied and came closer to nudge Chen Ling's hand with her nose.

"That's all. This is enough for today. Eating too much will give you diarrhea."

The mother bear ignored her and continued to nudge.

Huanghuang and Zhuanzhuan also ran over and nudged his legs. The three bears circled around him like three large fur balls.

"Okay, okay, I'll cut you one more piece, the last one."

Chen Ling cut off a small piece and gave it to the three bears.

The mother bear carried the meat to the side, and Huanghuang and Zhuanzhuan fought over a piece, each taking one end of the meat, like a tug-of-war.

Chen Ling cleaned up the remaining wild boar meat and carried it back to the cellar.

Regardless of whether the meat is clean or not, it's all for feeding the family members.

When I came out, I saw Rui Rui running from the south of the village, followed by Xiao Ming, Liu Ni'er, Wang Zhenzhen, and a few other boys from the village.

"Dad! Daddy!"

Rui Rui was covered in sweat from running, and her little face was flushed.

"What's wrong, you brat? What happened?"

"No! Birds! Birds are digging holes underground!"

Rui Rui ran up to us, panting, and said, "We were playing on the south slope and saw a flock of birds, about the size of a teacup, that crawled into the ground! There were so many holes in the ground, and they were really deep inside, with several birds living there!"

"Are birds digging burrows underground?"

Chen Ling was stunned.

"Really! Uncle! We saw it with our own eyes!"

Xiao Ming chimed in, "They crawl out of the hole, fly around once, and then crawl back in. It's so much fun!"

Liu Nier added, "Uncle Fugui, that bird is so beautiful. It has green, yellow, and blue fur, like it was painted on."

"Go, have a look."

Chen Ling became interested and followed a group of children south of the village.

Li Lianjie received a phone call at that moment, smiled and waved at him, and then didn't follow.

Seeing that he was about to leave, the mother bear followed him with the meat in her mouth, followed by Huanghuang and Zhuanzhuan, and the pack of dogs also followed, forming a large and impressive group.

"You guys stay home and don't follow us," Chen Ling said, turning back to urge them on.

The mother bear ignored her and continued to follow.

Erhei followed with his pack of dogs.

Chen Ling had no choice but to let them go.

In the southwest of the village, not far from the old river bend, there is a small earthen slope.

This was created from the soil dug up during road construction last year.

The soil layer is thick, facing south and sunny, and some weeds and jujube trees have grown there, making it quite beautiful when landscaped.

Before we even got close, we could see a flock of birds flying on the earthen slope.

It's not very big, about the size of a sparrow.

Its body was covered in colorful patterns, and it was very pretty.

They don't fly very high, but they are fast. They circle twice in the air and then plunge into the hole in the earthen slope.

"Dad, look! That's it!"

Rui Rui pointed to the earthen slope.

As Chen Ling approached, he saw that the sunny side of the earthen slope was riddled with holes.

The openings vary in size, but are generally about the size of a teacup.

Some holes are round, some are flat, they're not much different from mouse holes.

He crouched down and peered into a round hole.

The cave was pitch black, but you could hear rustling sounds coming from inside.

He probed with a straw stick; it was very deep, and half of the straw stick went in but it still hadn't reached the bottom.

"This hole is quite deep."

Just then, a small head peeked out from a hole.

It has a green head, a blue back, and a tuft of bright yellow feathers on its throat, like a yellow scarf.

It tilted its head to look at Chen Ling, then at the group of dogs and a bear squatting beside it, paused for a second, and then scurried back inside.

"Bee-tiger!"

Chen Ling was stunned for a moment, then immediately knew what kind of bird it was.

"What? A honeycomb?" Rui Rui didn't understand.

"Bee-eater, a tiger of bees, a bird that eats bees."

Chen Ling stood up and looked at the birds flying around on the earthen slope, becoming more and more certain.

It's a bee-eater.

He had seen pictures of this thing in the city's university library, so he could recognize it.

"Dad, why are they digging holes underground?" Rui Rui asked.

"That's how bee-eaters are. They dig burrows in the earthen cliffs to make their nests. The burrows are more than a meter deep, and the innermost part expands into a nest chamber where they lay eggs and incubate their chicks."

Chen Ling explained, his eyes fixed on the bee-tigers.

There were quite a few bee-eaters, at least thirty or forty of them.

Some went in and out of the cave entrance, some flew in the air to hunt for food, and some landed on the jujube trees on the earthen slope to rest.

He saw a bee-eater fly back with a bee in its bee, land at the entrance of the cave, and feed the bee to the little head sticking out of the cave.

"Holy crap, you have baby birds? It's almost December and you're still raising baby birds? Aren't you afraid they'll freeze to death?"

Chen Ling was even more surprised.

This doesn't make sense.

Bee-eaters typically breed in May or June, with chicks hatching in July or August and their wings fully developed by September or October.

It's almost December now, and it's freezing cold, yet they're still feeding the birds?
"Uncle, is this bird stupid? It doesn't know to leave when it's cold?" Xiao Ming asked, squatting down beside him.

"It's not that I'm stupid, it's just that it's warm here."

Liu Nier chimed in, "My father said that this year is another warm winter, even warmer than usual. Many things in the mountains are not normal. Wild fruits are still there, and the geese haven't all left."

Chen Ling was stunned, unsure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

In the last two years, summers have become cooler and winters have become warmer.

Professor Han said on the phone that this was just a change in the local microclimate and wouldn't have much of an impact.

And it will probably change very quickly in the next two years.

"It changed so quickly? Is that really the case?"

Chen Ling can't guarantee it now either.

It's been warm this year, and it's almost the end of the eleventh lunar month, almost December.

At this time of day, you can still wear a single layer of clothing at midday.

There are still water birds in the reservoir, wild fruits on the mountain, and even bees are still active.

Bee-eaters feed on bees, butterflies, and dragonflies. It makes sense that they wouldn't leave if there was food and would stay to continue reproducing.

"Uncle Fugui, can we catch this bird?" asked Wang Wenchao's second son.

Why would we catch it?

"It's beautiful, I'll keep it as a pet."

“They won’t survive.” Chen Ling shook his head. “Bee-eaters eat live insects, dozens a day. Where are you going to catch them in the dead of winter? There aren’t enough insects in our greenhouse for them either.”

"Too……"

The two boys scratched their heads and gave up the idea.

Rui Rui squatted in front of a hole and poked it in with a straw stick. After poking for a while, he suddenly cried out, "Ouch!"

"What's wrong?" Chen Ling leaned closer.

"Dad, something bit me!"

Rui Rui withdrew her hand; a blackish-red ant, quite large, was hanging from her fingertip.

Chen Ling took one look and laughed.

Those are leaf weaver ants from the cave. I don't know how they got here, but they made their home in the bee-eater's cave.

But then he frowned again, wondering if these ants would disrupt the ecosystem. (End of Chapter)