My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 184 The New Son-in-Law's Treatment

The homecoming banquet was lively and didn't end until late at night.

The next morning.

Chen Ling and Wang Susu got up very early.

When the two of them came out to wash up, they found that their father-in-law and mother-in-law were already in the yard. The two old people were like children, each holding a handful of hay and feeding the little white cow with great enthusiasm.

The two old men were having a great time, but the little white calf didn't seem to be enjoying its meal. It chewed the fodder absentmindedly, its ears flapping and its tail swishing lazily, as if it were playing with the two old men instead of the two old men feeding it.

Why are you two up so early too?

The mother-in-law was somewhat surprised to see the two of them come out.

He then scolded Wang Susu, "You silly girl, you're pregnant and you don't even get to sleep a little longer."

"It's alright, Mom. I'm used to getting up early so I have energy during the day."

Wang Susu walked over with a smile.

The father-in-law smiled and looked at Chen Ling, pointing to the little white calf and saying, "You've raised this calf very well. After Su Su scolded it yesterday, it really knows that your mother and I are family. It lets us pet it and feed it, but it still throws a little tantrum..."

“Look at it, it was so happy to see you come out that it ignored us completely.”

Chen Ling smiled and said, "This cow has been smart since we bought it. The more we raise it, the more human-like it becomes. It's very affectionate and recognizes people. At home, it only recognizes me and Susu."

I reached out and touched the little white calf's big head that it was stretching out, and scratched the sides of its horns. There are gaps in the horns, which are very easy to get itchy.

Chen Ling gently scratched it, and sure enough, it closed its eyes comfortably, its big head gently resting against Chen Ling's chest, rubbing against him affectionately.

Gao Xiulan couldn't help but laugh when she saw this: "You're raising a child like this."

Wang Susu laughed when she saw this: "Yes, that's what everyone in the village says. They say that A-Ling isn't raising dogs or cows, but several children. Who else is like him?"

"But whatever outsiders say, my dogs and cows haven't been treated badly. They're all very well-behaved. Before winter, Heiwa and Xiaojin would catch rabbits or pheasants every few days. Xiaobai is not only good at pulling carts and plowing fields, but also at guarding the house. He's more useful than most dogs..."

As their daughter recounted the story, the elderly couple clicked their tongues in admiration: "Now that you mention it, it's so true. Your mother and I were just talking about it. After you went to sleep last night, the two dogs stayed outside the door all night. They wouldn't respond when we called them, and they wouldn't eat when we fed them..."

"They're far superior to the hunting dogs in our village."

Hearing her parents say this, Wang Susu felt a little proud. She waved to the two dogs and called them over.

At this point, the two dogs were no longer guarding the door under the eaves, but had run to the front of the storeroom and lay down to watch over the bundles that had been brought over.

When Wang Susu called, it ran over, wagging its tail and rubbing against her palm, whimpering and acting cute.

The two elderly people couldn't help but feel happy upon seeing this, and they happily stepped forward to touch it.

"What a good dog! It's just that it's so big, it's a bit scary. We don't collect herbs as much these days, otherwise we would definitely keep one."

……

"Xiulan, Xiulan, are you up yet...?"

They were talking in the courtyard when someone came in. It was an old woman with mud splattered on her trousers, looking a bit unkempt, with a head of messy white hair, triangular eyes, and a dark, ruddy old face. She came in carrying a large snake.

Upon seeing the four of them standing in the courtyard, she exclaimed with delight, "Oh my, I'm so lucky! My daughter and son-in-law are both here!"

Then he looked Wang Susu up and down and said, "Your daughter is still so beautiful after two years."

"Here, your third grandfather got a fat worm. Have your mother make soup for you."

Wang Susu seemed to know the old lady well, and without any hesitation, she immediately took the snake with a smile: "Thank you, Third Grandma."

Then she introduced Chen Ling, "This is our family's third grandmother."

Chen Ling quickly called out, "Third Grandma."

He remembered the old lady. There were many snake farmers in the village, and many people would catch snakes on the mountain on weekdays, especially Wang Susu, the third grandmother, and her third grandfather, who were the most skilled at it.

"This son-in-law is good. We met them yesterday when they came over. They brought a lot of things. He's a very practical guy..."

Wang Cunye and Gao Xiulan quickly echoed his sentiments.

The group then engaged in another lively conversation.

After a while, after seeing Third Grandma off, other relatives came over one after another. Although Yaowang Village was not big, Wang Susu had quite a few relatives. In addition to her uncles and aunts, there were also her second aunt and two great-aunts. After seeing Wang Susu and her husband, they warmly talked about missing each other, chatting about family matters, and praising their son-in-law. It was truly a lively scene.

People came and went, and the whole family was very happy. Gao Xiulan's smile never faded.

At breakfast, I specially made brown sugar and egg tea for Chen Ling.

Six poached eggs were cooked in one go.

According to local custom, this is considered the highest level of treatment a new son-in-law can receive upon returning to his parents' home.

After drinking the brown sugar and egg tea cooked by his mother-in-law, Chen Ling felt warm all morning.

After dinner, Wang Qingwen and his wife came over with their child. They had gone to their own home to sleep the night before.

After arriving, they didn't say much, put the child down, and hurriedly went down the mountain. They still had classes at school and couldn't stay too long. Anyway, their sister and brother-in-law were going to stay for a few more days, so there was no need to stay and entertain them.

The sun gradually rises.

Under the golden sunlight, Gao Xiulan cut her daughter's hair under a big tree. Wang Susu's hair was too long; when it was loose, it almost reached her knees. In the past, she would braid it into two thick braids or tie it up on her head.

Long hair like that looks great.

But now that I'm pregnant, my belly will grow bigger every day, and it will be inconvenient to manage my pregnancy when I'm showing, so it's better to cut it short early.

"Tsk tsk, no wonder people praise her. My daughter is beautiful, and her hair is even better than other girls'. It's black and long. If you sold that thick braid to a hair collector, it would definitely fetch a good price."

Gao Xiulan gently combed her daughter's hair twice, smiling and praising her.

Wang Susu shook her head: "I won't sell it. After you cut it off for me, Mom, I want to keep it. If I'm going to sell it, I'll sell the real thing."

Wang Zhenzhen was playing with her dog with her little nephew outside the yard when she heard voices coming from inside. She poked her head out and asked, "Mom, sister, did you call me?"

"No, just do your thing, you're such a busybody."

Gao Xiulan glared at her, annoyed.

The mother and daughter were cutting their hair and talking.

Chen Ling helped his father-in-law sort out the medicinal herbs, packing them into bamboo trays and placing them on racks to dry.

"The sun is shining brightly these past few days, let's soak it up in the sun. Tomorrow is October 12th, let's take it to town to sell, and we can catch the market there."

Wang Cunye carefully spread the medicinal herbs out by hand so that they could be dried more easily.

What my father-in-law meant by "going to the market" was actually going to a fair.

Fenglei Town is located at the junction of three provinces, where dialects are mixed. Often, the accents will change every ten miles or so, and the various ways of addressing people are also very different.

Based on broad categories, the county can be roughly divided into two dialect areas.

For example, parents are mostly called "father" and "mother" here, but in Changle Township and east of the county seat, father is called "da" or "da".

After passing Changle Township and heading east, the word "我" (wǒ) is mostly "俺" (ǎn), while in Fenglei Town, although "俺" is also used, the spoken language still mainly uses "我" (wǒ).

"Dad, are those things in those plaques made from snakes we raised ourselves?"

Chen Ling pointed to the bamboo plaques in front of Wang Cunye and asked.

Inside these bamboo trays were snake sloughs, snake gallbladders, snake whips, dried snake coils, and other items. They looked dry and brittle, and each tray was quite full.

"Yes, mostly."

Wang Cunye nodded, grabbed a few large snakes and handed them to Chen Ling: "Look, these are made from snakes we raise ourselves. Most of them are non-venomous old black snakes and rat snakes. The snakes we raise ourselves are larger and look more symmetrical."

"Those slightly smaller ones in front of you are made from poisonous snakes that are specially caught in the mountains. They come in all sizes, including five-step snakes and white-flowered snakes."

Chen Ling looked at it carefully and could only identify a few common ones.

The "old black snake" that my father-in-law mentioned is the black-banded snake, and the "white flower snake" is the silver-ringed snake.

"Are all the animals we raise at home now non-toxic?"

"Yes, venomous snakes can crawl all over the place and easily bite people. Actually, we have snake repellent and snake attractant at home, so we don't have to worry about being bitten by venomous snakes..."

“But your mother and I are getting old, and your eldest and second eldest brothers have moved out and are living their own lives. It’s better for the two of us old folks to stay at home and not worry about anything,” Wang Cunye said with a smile.

He then led Chen Ling to the back of the house to see the snake.

Behind the house is a slope planted with many fruit trees of various kinds.

Right next to the wall, there was a row of wooden snake-keeping boxes. Because it was winter, the temperature on the mountain fluctuated greatly between morning and evening, so the snake-keeping boxes were covered with thick straw cloaks to keep them warm.

Wang Cunye walked up, lifted the thatched cloak, and opened the wooden box. Sure enough, there were several snakes coiled together, like a ball of snakes.

Wang Cunye picked out two snakes and hung them on Chen Ling's arm.

"There are only these two boxes now. The other boxes are empty. It's getting cold in winter, and there aren't many left."

Chen Ling grabbed two wriggling black-banded snakes. These snakes were easy to raise, and breeding them in batches was inexpensive. However, due to poor transportation, snake farming in villages was mainly for processing into medicinal materials, which were then sold in town on market days to supplement household income. It was far from the large-scale breeding industry chain of later generations.

"Dad, I heard you mention snake-attracting medicine. Su Su also mentioned it at home, saying that sprinkling it on the ground can lure snakes out of their holes. But she only knows how to make snake-repelling medicine, not snake-attracting medicine. Is this medicine really that powerful?"

"Yes, snake-attracting medicine is very potent."

Wang Cunye glanced at him and laughed, "Let me put it this way, the recipe for this kind of medicine used to be passed down only to men in the village, as a family skill, which shows how precious it was..."

"I'll take you for a walk up the mountain later and show you how powerful the snake-attracting drug is."

"Okay, but will this attract snakes in winter?"

Chen Ling had a question.

"Yes, it's early winter, and it's easy to find cricket nests and lure them out."

Wang Cunye replied.

They put the snake in a snake-keeping box, covered it with a straw cloak, and then returned to the yard.

The father-in-law found snake-attracting medicine, put it in a small gourd the size of a palm, then took a wood-chopping knife and a snake hook, gave Chen Ling a steel fork, and with a basket on their backs, the two prepared to set off.

"Let's go for a walk."

Gao Xiulan hadn't finished cutting Wang Susu's hair yet when she heard this, she looked up at the father-in-law and son-in-law and said, "Go on, Lingzi, your father's legs aren't good, keep an eye on him."

"I know mother."

Chen Ling quickly agreed.

A few years ago, my father-in-law fell while collecting herbs on a steep cliff and injured his legs. If my father, Chen Juncai, hadn't happened to be there, he would probably have been in grave danger once night fell.

That's how the two families became connected.

Although my father-in-law's leg has recovered in the past few years, you can still see that he has a slight limp when he walks. It looks like he is wearing a short high heel on one foot and is barefoot on the other, with one foot going up and the other down.

So now, when gathering herbs, it's good if you can find any, but it doesn't matter if you can't.

Anyway, my children are all basically married now, so I don't need to worry about them too much.

As soon as they stepped outside, Wang Zhenzhen and her nephew ran over with two dogs. Knowing they were going to catch snakes, she quickly exclaimed, "I want to go too!"

"You're not allowed to go. If you go, everyone else is going too."

Wang Cunye refused.

"It's okay, Dad, I'll hold Tongtong."

Seeing the two children's eager anticipation, Chen Ling said, "Tongtong, your uncle will carry you to play. Do you want to come?"

The little child immediately nodded: "Go."

Then he opened his arms and waited for Chen Ling to hug him.

Wang Cunye looked at him helplessly: "You, no wonder Zhenzhen is so close to you, always spoiling them."

"Haha, I'm happy."

Chen Ling picked up his little nephew and followed Wang Cunye out of the village.

As for Wang Zhenzhen, she had already skillfully led the two dogs to the front.

The mountain was covered with a variety of trees. The area was high and densely forested, so his father-in-law led Chen Ling along some familiar mountain paths. These paths were trails trodden by herb gatherers and hunters, and were hardly proper roads. They would cross streams, enter forests, walk into valleys, and then climb to the mountain peaks.

According to Wang Cunye, this path is already quite easy to take.

He even took Chen Ling to see the routes that young herb gatherers usually take.

Those narrow paths wind around steep mountain walls, barely wide enough for two people to pass through. But when walking up them, no two people dare to walk side by side, because on the other side is an unfathomable ravine, and one careless step could lead to a fatal fall.

Chen Ling put his nephew down and walked around on his own to experience what it felt like.

He discovered that this road was not only narrow, but in some places, when people passed by, the soil and rocks would loosen and fall down the mountain stream, which was quite frightening.

"Well done, Lingzi, you're quite agile."

Seeing Chen Ling walk away easily, Wang Cunye smiled.

He originally wanted Chen Ling to walk a short distance to try, but he ended up walking around before returning.

I wanted to remind him, but I didn't dare to do so immediately, for fear of startling Chen Ling and making him lose his balance on top.

Fortunately, Chen Ling was agile and crossed the gap in a few steps, looking very light, which put my mind at ease.

Chen Ling chuckled and said that he often went up the mountain himself.

By this time, Xiao Tongtong had become familiar with him. He and Wang Zhenzhen walked a distance with the dog. After playing with the dog until he was tired, he called for his uncle and asked Chen Ling to carry him.

Even after the group left the vicinity of the mountain stream, the path remained steep.

The path worn down by people on the slope has dug out one small square pit after another.

Chen Ling's father-in-law told him that these roads were called "pig trough roads".

It gets its name from the fact that they are small, square pits that resemble pig troughs.

The main problem is that this area gets a lot of rain in summer and autumn. Once it rains, these steep slopes become very slippery, making it difficult for both people and pack animals to climb.

Thus, these small pits became the best anti-slip measure for mountain people and hunters who went into the mountains to collect herbs.

“In the past, we often went up such narrow paths when we were collecting herbs, like the mountain walls and cliffs we just saw. Often, the more secluded the place, the more valuable the herbs.”

Wang Cunye spoke, and Chen Ling listened.

The topic of snake-attracting powder was also mentioned in the middle.

The father-in-law didn't hold back; besides snake-attracting powder, he also told him some of the hunters' techniques.

He even pulled out a homemade bow and arrow and applied it on the spot.

It is also a type of poison, similar to the strychnine ointment used by the old hunters in Kinmen Village.

However, they use blister beetles and aconite, both of which are poisonous. They mix them with a powder and apply it to the tip of daggers and arrows. Once the prey is poisoned, it will quickly lose its ability to resist.

"Wait, there's a snake pit ahead."

Suddenly, Wang Cunye reached out and stopped Chen Ling, preventing him from continuing forward.

"Zhenzhen, come here too, don't run around."

Chen Ling looked up but didn't see anything unusual. However, the two dogs seemed to sense something, though they didn't show any interest. They squatted down next to Chen Ling and kept looking at Wang Cunye with puzzled eyes.

"Shh, don't speak..."

Wang Cunye whispered a reminder, then took out the gourd, uncorked it, poured the snake-attracting medicine into his palm, and carefully sprinkled a pinch of pale yellow powder near the snake's nest.

He then took out a bamboo whistle, put it to his lips and blew it softly. The sound was extremely faint and barely audible, completely different from the flute-playing method Chen Ling had seen used to control venomous snakes. He didn't know the principle behind it.

Less than two minutes later, a miraculous scene unfolded: a fire chain snake, over a meter long and as thick as an arm, emerged from the grass four or five meters away and slowly crawled toward Wang Cunye.

The scene left Chen Ling somewhat stunned.

(End of this chapter)