My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 191

The Wang Qingwen and Wang Qingzhong families also found it somewhat difficult to accept.

When I first learned that Chen Ling and his wife had earned nearly 10,000 yuan from peanuts and soybeans this year, I didn't think much of it.

This year's circumstances are exceptionally unusual.

Everyone can understand, after all, grain dealers like Wang Qingzhong have made a lot of money.

But now they're saying that two eels also sold for over ten thousand yuan...

The feeling was immediately different.

It sounds like a joke; it's hard for a normal person to believe.

Despite Wang Susu's repeated emphasis that they were two large red eels, unlike ordinary eels.

But no matter how different they are, they are still eels.

I really don’t know what to say.

Just as the family was in a daze, an old man and a young boy walked over.

The old man was surprised and delighted to see Chen Ling there, and they chatted warmly.

Wang Susu then told her family that this was the professor.

Is this what a professor looks like?

Wang Cunye and his companions looked on with curiosity and walked over without making a sound.

At this moment, Chen Ling was talking to Han Ninggui.

"Professor Han, I thought Lynx was the only one here..."

"Haha, no, we're together. We just had lunch at the dock, and then I went to the town government to get a letter of introduction."

Half a year later, Han Ninggui's hair was even more gray, but he was in good spirits, with a healthy complexion, a cheerful appearance, and extremely bright eyes.

"letter of introduction?"

“Yes, if we want to go into the mountains, we need to find a local guide. It will be much easier to find someone if we have a letter of introduction from the town. Last time, we tried to save trouble and learned our lesson.”

"Oh, so that's it..."

Chen Ling also knew that when they encountered trouble in the mountains last time, the lynx had gone to great lengths to find them.

They only took the eel with them when they came back.

"Yes, sharpening your axe won't delay your woodcutting work. There are some things you really can't be afraid of trouble for."

Han Ninggui smiled and nodded, then said, "What are you doing here? Did you come all this way to the market?"

"No, I'm accompanying my wife back to her parents' home. It's just the whole family visiting..."

Chen Ling pointed to the large family next to him and introduced them to them.

Han Ninggui greeted the two elderly people with a smile and a handshake.

He subtly praised Chen Ling a couple of times.

Wang Cunye was immediately overjoyed, his face flushed with pride.

Goodness gracious! These days, even college students are a rare sight. My son-in-law is actually so familiar with a professor.

Han Ninggui was very approachable, and the two chatted quite enthusiastically.

"Teacher, I forgot to tell you, I just found something incredible here."

After chatting for a while, Lynx suddenly remembered something and quickly called out to Han Ninggui.

"Ah? What did you find?"

"It looks like a clouded leopard; it was just placed in front of them and they were selling it..."

Lynx pointed to a few kite hunters not far away.

At this moment, they were packing their things, preparing to leave.

"Let's go over and have a look."

Upon hearing this, Han Ninggui called over the young man beside him and then walked over with the lynx.

Seeing this, Chen Ling and his family followed behind.

The hawkers seemed wary when they saw so many people coming. The two hawks perched on their hawk poles behind them also seemed afraid of Heiwa and Xiaojin. They widened their eyes, slowly flapped their wings, and cried out uneasily.

However, Han Ninggui has been engaged in fieldwork for many years and has traveled all over the country, so he is naturally very good at dealing with people.

This quickly put the hawkers at ease.

"Where did you catch that leopard? Is it far from here?"

Han Ninggui asked.

"I don't know. We didn't hunt this leopard; we bought it from a herb farmer..."

The old hawker explained.

This was an old man in his fifties, like other kite hunters, wearing a dirty overcoat, his face covered in dust, with a messy beard, and a strong smell of sweat.

As he spoke, he untied a bulging snakeskin bag and pulled out a small leopard, along with various other furs.

Clearly, these kite hunters did business along the way, buying up cheap furs and accumulating them to sell at high prices when the time was right.

But Han Ninggui's attention was no longer on the fur in his pocket; instead, he frowned and stared at the little leopard: "How did it die?"

This was clearly a dead clouded leopard, covered in wounds, indicating it had been severely injured before its death.

The lynx hadn't explained clearly, so he assumed it was a living clouded leopard and rushed over.

"It was already dead when we bought it."

The young hawker remarked from the side.

He looked to be only seventeen or eighteen years old, still very young, but his skin was dark, showing signs of having been exposed to the elements at such a young age.

"A grass leopard?!"

Just as Han Ninggui was about to ask more questions, Wang Cunye suddenly exclaimed.

Turning around to look at Chen Ling behind him, he pointed at the dead clouded leopard, utterly astonished.

"This, isn't this the grass leopard we encountered yesterday?"

Chen Ling was also surprised. He stepped forward to take a look and found that it was indeed the same one from yesterday.

The wounds on his body were clearly not inflicted by humans, but by the group of golden monkeys that had been provoked yesterday.

Looking at my two dogs, they also gave a very clear response.

"Brother, Fugui, have you really seen this clouded leopard?"

Han Ninggui asked excitedly.

The lynx and his companions looked over.

"I saw it. I ran into it yesterday morning. The grass leopard stole a baby monkey and was chased and beaten by a group of golden monkeys for a long time..."

Wang Cunye didn't understand why they were so excited; it was just a grass leopard.

He then recounted what he had seen with Chen Ling the day before.

After he finished speaking, Han Ninggui became even more excited.

"Dude, what kind of monkey did you just say it was being chased and beaten?"

"The Golden Monkey, some people also call it the Upturned-Nosed Monkey."

Wang Cunye looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Why is this professor so easily startled?

"Actually, it's a golden snub-nosed monkey."

Chen Ling then added a comment from the side.

"Huh? Fugui, you know about golden monkeys?"

Lynx Road.

"Of course I know, I didn't smoke so many Golden Monkey cigarettes for nothing."

Chen Ling smiled.

Han Ninggui didn't care about anything else.

The thought of possibly encountering clouded leopards and golden monkeys fills me with excitement.

He then said to Lynx, "Kobin, we made the right decision coming here. There's a good chance we'll get some valuable firsthand information..."

Both clouded leopards and golden snub-nosed monkeys are Class I protected animals. Moreover, due to rampant hunting in recent years, their numbers are declining rapidly, and wild specimens are even rarer, with some areas already extinct.

Although it is not as endangered as the crested ibis and giant panda, it is also approaching the point of being endangered.

Being able to get up close to these precious wild creatures and obtain firsthand information is undoubtedly very important for professionals like them.

The lynx and the young man next to it were also very excited.

The young man was even carefully taking notes while Wang Cunye recounted his encounter with the golden monkey and the leopard.

This not only helps them understand animal habits, but also supplements first-hand information through stories, adding luster to the record of endangered wild animals and plants.

"Professor Han, are you sure this thing is really a clouded leopard?"

At this moment, Chen Ling still had quite a few doubts in his mind: "This little leopard is called a grass leopard in our area. All female leopards are called that. This one is considered small, but even the largest ones don't exceed forty pounds..."

"There is another kind called the earth leopard, which is male and much larger than the grass leopard. The largest can weigh over 100 pounds."

"Male leopards are prone to attacking people, while female leopards are not."

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Han Ninggui immediately beamed and nodded repeatedly: "That's how clouded leopards are; the difference between males and females is enormous."

"However, what you said about male clouded leopards weighing over 100 kilograms is not very accurate. There may have been special individuals that grew that big, but according to current records, the largest clouded leopard is about 43 kilograms, less than 44 kilograms, which is less than 90 kilograms."

“This is the limit.”

"So it really is a clouded leopard. No wonder the old folks told those stories about earth leopards. These creatures always ambush from the trees, making them impossible to guard against..."

Chen Ling murmured.

In his preconceived notion, clouded leopards lived in trees, and he thought there was no difference between males and females.

So even though they knew about the earth leopard and the grass leopard, they didn't think of the clouded leopard.

While he was still in a daze, Han Ninggui and the other two had already started talking to the Hawk.

I want to buy this dead clouded leopard.

Having listened for so long, these kite hunters knew that this thing was no ordinary object.

They demanded an exorbitant price.

In the end, Han Ninggui had to pay some money to buy it.

They also found out which village's herb farmers they bought it from.

However, these kite hunters are not honest.

At first, they said they couldn't remember which village they collected it from.

Later they said it seemed to be in Liangkouzhai, but after a while they said it wasn't Liangkouzhai, but in Tianshuizhai, which is west of Liangkouzhai.

Han Ninggui had no choice but to give an extra fifty yuan.

They then remembered that they had bought it from a herb farmer in Tianshui Village.

It was found by a herb farmer on the mountain.

This time, the explanation was fairly clear.

Unfortunately, this information is very useful for finding traces of golden monkeys.

I can only accept that I've been scammed.

After receiving the money, the hawkers loaded up their goods and drove their caravan away.

Afterwards, Han Ninggui looked at Chen Ling and the others, especially his father-in-law's family, with strange looks.

He chuckled helplessly, "For people like us, getting ripped off is commonplace; we're used to it."

"In the first half of the year, we were doing research in the Northwest, but because we didn't have a letter of introduction, we were scammed by guides from several villages several times..."

Even with a letter of introduction, you still have to pay the money. If you encounter an unreasonable person, you'll still suffer losses. However, when you're in an unfamiliar place, these things are unavoidable if you want to carry out your work smoothly.

There are too many opportunities to trip them up; they can't be ignored.

"You guys have it pretty tough, don't you?"

Although Wang Cunye didn't know what they were doing all this for, he had lived most of his life and knew all too well what they were doing.

"Who says otherwise? By the way, brother, since you and Fugui are family, and we're all family, could you be our guide for a few days?"

At this point, Han Ninggui explained further, "We'll pay you for the guides on a daily basis. This is supported by the government, but there are also certain quotas. Rather than letting others benefit, it's better to give it to our own people."

"Is this a convenient time for you?"

"Me? I can't."

Wang Cunye waved his hand: "My legs are not good, and I can't walk far. It's fine if I accompany you to wander around the mountain for most of the day, but I can't go far."

"But I can't, but my second son can. He's a grain trader, he travels all over the place, he knows all the mountains around here, he knows every nook and cranny of the mountains very well. If he's not busy, he can go with you for a few days, but recently..."

As she spoke, she looked at Wang Qingzhong.

Wang Qingzhong thought for a moment, "I'm not busy, but how many days will it take?"

"That's hard to say. It's common for it to be two or three days less, or ten days or half a month more."

Han Ninggui noticed their predicament and said, "We can search around here first. If we really can't find it, we'll think of another way. We won't delay your business."

Since there are golden monkey populations nearby, it shouldn't be difficult to find them by following their tracks.

However, since clouded leopards appear and disappear without a trace, it's hard to say.

"Alright, I can show you the way for a few days."

Wang Qingzhong agreed.

She then added, "You all know Lingzi, so you don't need to give me money."

These straightforward words made Han Ninggui and the three of them laugh.

Lynx stepped forward and explained, "Brother, you don't need to be so polite with us. This is a project approved by the government and has funding. You're essentially contributing to the country, so how can we let you suffer a loss?"

"Huh? I'm contributing to the country by simply showing people the way?"

Wang Qingzhong laughed and grinned.

Then Lynx said to Chen Ling, "Fugui, you should go too. Your two dogs have a keen sense of smell. I've heard Dahai say that several times."

"Row."

Chen Ling readily agreed.

After everything was settled, the group chatted for a while, explained the location of Yaowang Village, and then parted ways at the dock.

The Lynx group didn't come in large numbers this time, only seven people in total. Five went into the mountains, and two stayed in town to guard their car.

The car will be parked at the town government building in a few days.

Today is market day, and there are too many people to drive in.

……

Chen Ling and his group hurried back.

Wang Qingwen and his wife had nothing to do on the weekend, so they also went back up the mountain.

The topic of eels came up again on the way.

Chen Ling could only offer a helpless explanation.

"Dad, it's really nothing. Didn't you see just now that they were willing to spend money to buy a dead leopard?"

"And there's something even more amazing. The bird that young man mentioned, there are only a handful left in the whole world. Now it's only found in our country. It's a national treasure. Foreigners can't buy it even if they offer tens of thousands of dollars. My eel is nothing compared to that."

Wang Cunye laughed after hearing this: "That's still quite remarkable. Who else can sell eels for more than ten thousand yuan? If you can, that's your skill. I don't know much else, but I do know that a professor like this is not someone that ordinary people can get along with."

"We don't understand what those people are saying."

"Only you can have a meaningful conversation with people. Who else can?"

"If you ask me, we can't find even one like that in our county."

The father-in-law became more and more proud as he spoke.

The mother-in-law and her two brothers-in-law seemed to approve of the relationship.

Chen Ling didn't know what to say.

However, seeing Wang Susu's proud and happy expression, he sighed inwardly and gave up trying to explain.

As long as my wife is happy, nothing else matters.

(End of this chapter)