My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 215 Spring Seedling Cultivation and Crops Planting
The sound of firecrackers didn't stop all night on New Year's Eve, and the lively atmosphere lasted until four or five in the morning before gradually subsiding.

It was already the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Before dawn, the village children ran to Chen Ling's house to wish him a Happy New Year.

Dressed in new clothes and cotton-padded jackets, they giggled and called out "Uncle" and "Auntie," reaching out to the young couple for lucky money.

Wang Susu had already prepared some change; the amount wasn't large, just enough to bring good luck, and each doll would get a share.

Of course, peanuts, melon seeds, and candies were also placed in a prominent place on the table. Whoever came to visit for the New Year would be given a handful, and their pockets would be stuffed full.

Most of the candy in the house was milk candy bought by Chen Ling, along with sweet crispy candy and fruit candy. Even when adults like Chen Yuqiang came over, they would reach into the plate with a grin and grab some.

However, these things were put out for people to eat, and the young couple didn't care whether anyone took a handful more or a handful less; they would even refill their bowls after they finished.

After most of the people who came to offer New Year's greetings had arrived, Chen Ling, along with Yu Qiang, Chen Ze, and a group of others, went from house to house to offer New Year's greetings to the village elders. Wang Susu also went around visiting relatives and friends with the other women to offer New Year's greetings.

Men walk together, while women and children walk together. This is an unspoken rule, and relatives and friends are expected to visit each other's homes to exchange greetings.

And so, the festivities continued from the first day of the Lunar New Year to the fifth.

After the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, people from all around start visiting each other's relatives.

As for Chen Ling's family, his wife doesn't need to go back to her parents' home for the Spring Festival this year, and they don't have many relatives to visit, so they'll just stay at home.

Until the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, when the county town held a temple fair, Liang Yuemin and his family of three came to my house to play for a day. After lunch, they even went to stroll around the temple fair.

On the 25th day of the first lunar month, Han Chuang and his wife also rode their motorcycle over.

After that, the festive atmosphere of the New Year gradually faded, and the joy and excitement of the New Year slowly subsided.

The Spring Festival of 1995 passed just like that, and a new year began.

……

After the first month of the lunar calendar ended and February began, the weather gradually warmed up. Chen Ling's farm was rebuilt, and the village primary school also reopened.

Liu Nier, Xizi, Zhuwa, and the other children returned to the village from the county town to attend school.

After all, compared to the county town, tuition fees are cheaper in the village, and parents don't need to pick them up or drop them off at school.

As for Wang Zhenzhen, she stayed comfortably at home for more than a month during the Spring Festival. It wasn't until the fourth day of the second lunar month that Wang Qingwen and his wife brought her over.

The little girl got first place last semester. Knowing that she lived far from home and would be resting at home for a while during the Chinese New Year, the teacher specially gave her a thick stack of test papers to do during the winter vacation. The school didn't have these test papers; the teacher found the questions and printed them for her at her own expense, afraid that she would fall behind in her studies.

It must be said that teachers at this time are still very responsible towards their students. If they are like this towards ordinary students, they will naturally put even more effort into helping good students who know how to improve.

The little girl didn't disappoint her teacher. When she came back, she had finished the test paper completely with very few mistakes. When Chen Ling picked her up, the teacher kept praising her, saying that she was very smart and that with such academic performance, she could start learning English ahead of time.

English is something you have to learn in junior high school, and even in the city, you don't start learning it until fifth grade.

When Wang Susu found out, she was overjoyed and spent all her free time at home supervising her younger sister's studies.

At first, Wang Zhenzhen was a little proud and studied diligently for a few days. But after that, she started to get bored and couldn't concentrate on anything. She kept muttering that the weather was getting warmer, the fish and shrimp were coming out of the water, and the birds were about to lay their eggs. She really wanted to go out and play.

"Catching fish and birds is something only wild boys do. You stay home and study hard. Next Sunday, I'll take you to the market in Huangni Town. You can buy whatever you want."

Seeing her slumped over the table with a worried look on her face, Chen Ling comforted her.

"Really? Then can I buy a fountain pen, ballpoint pen, and pencil case?"

Wang Zhenzhen was immediately jolted awake and perked up.

She had heard her brother-in-law talk about Huangni Town a long time ago; he said there were many factories there, many wealthy people, and lots of good food and fun things to do.

It's not much worse than the market days in the county town.

"You want a pencil case again? Didn't I just buy you a new pencil case last year? It was even a three-tiered one. Why are you buying another one this year?" Chen Ling remembered that he had seen her pencil case when he picked her up from school a couple of days ago. She took good care of it, and it looked brand new.

"It's for Teacher Zhang. Teacher Zhang's child is learning to draw."

"..."

"Okay, I'll buy it for you."

Chen Ling agreed immediately upon hearing this. The little girl was grateful; she remembered how kind the teachers in Fenglei Town were to her, and she also remembered how kind the teachers in the county town were to her.

Just like what Wang Cunye said, this girl may seem like a wild horse running around all day, but she has her own ideas and can tell who is genuinely good to her and who is not. She is a sensible girl.

"Hehe, I also want to go to Teacher Zhang's house for the temple fair."

Oh, so that's where you were waiting.

"Okay, you can go too. As long as you study hard at home, I'll take you there."

……

"Ah Ling, I've picked out the melon seeds, do you think they're okay?"

While Chen Ling was coaxing his sister-in-law, Wang Susu picked out the watermelon seeds, choosing the large, plump ones, intending to plant some watermelons on the hillsides and ditches surrounding the orchard.

If the fruit grows well and produces many melons, we'll take some to the county town to sell. If the harvest is poor, it doesn't matter; we'll just keep them for our own consumption.

"Okay, that's good. I'll go put it in Brother Xian's mushroom shed to sprout..."

After glancing at the seeds in the small iron basin and turning them over a couple of times with his hands, Chen Ling nodded and carried the basin outside.

"You and Zhenzhen stay home. I'm going to take a walk outside the village later. I'll be back for lunch later."

"understood."

……

When growing melons on the mountain, the temperature is low in the morning and evening, so germination and seedling cultivation are necessary.

First, let the watermelon seeds germinate in a warm place. Then, plant the germinated seeds in any kind of old pig trough or livestock trough filled with soil. Any method will do, as long as the watermelon seedlings can grow well.

Once the melon seedlings have grown tall enough that the temperature in the field is no longer too high to kill them, they can be transplanted to the selected melon field.

After transplanting, wait for the seedlings to adapt to the soil in the melon field. If there is plenty of rain in the spring, you can relax and don't need to worry about it. If there is little rain, you need to irrigate frequently and in a timely manner, because watermelons will soon start to grow vines after transplanting. During the vine-growing period, they need sufficient water, and they won't grow big without irrigation.

"Alright, Fugui, just leave it here and don't worry about it. I'll come and call you over in a few days when the seedlings have grown well."

Wang Lixian helped him place the seeds in the warm earthen greenhouse, then waved his hand, telling him he didn't need to come over and worry about it anymore.

He had tinkered with this thing last year, so he was quite familiar with it. Besides, his land was ten acres, which was far too small for Chen Ling's land. It was a piece of cake for him.

He made quite a bit of money growing mushrooms this year, and he's become increasingly attentive to this earthen greenhouse, coming over almost every day to help Chen Ling take care of it.

"Okay, then please take good care of me, Brother Xian. I still need to go check on the fields again." Chen Ling smiled, said a few words to Wang Lixian, and then walked towards his own farm.

Wang Lixian's mushrooms in his greenhouse had long been sold out. After consulting with Chen Ling, he decided to try planting some vegetables this year. He only has two-tenths of an acre, so he just planted whatever he usually grows in his own vegetable garden, like cucumbers, tomatoes, chives, garlic sprouts, and whatever else he usually eats.

He won't be growing watermelons this year either.

One problem is that we're too busy to keep up with the demand. Another issue is that watermelon cultivation has a unique characteristic: you can't grow watermelons in the same field for two consecutive years because the soil's fertility won't allow it.

"Is Fugui coming over for a visit?"

"Yes, come over and take a look. Are you in such a hurry to bring the manure to the field? Uncle Laiyun." "Haha, you're not in a hurry, but the crops are. The solar term is early this year, so we're rushing to bring the manure. Just you wait, there will be even more people bringing manure in a couple of days."

Chen Ling glanced around and saw that there were indeed quite a few people in the distance also dumping manure into the fields.

Most of them were families in the village who raised pigs and livestock. They would take the manure they had accumulated throughout the winter and haul it to the wheat fields to fertilize the crops.

Otherwise, once the winter wheat stalks are harvested, we won't be able to freely enter the wheat fields and trample on them.

As for Wang Laiyun's statement about the early solar term.

This is because last year had a leap August, which made it a total of thirteen months, causing the normal solar terms to shift forward by a month.

For example, the Awakening of Insects (Jingzhe) usually falls in the second month of the lunar calendar, but this year it falls in the first month.

Therefore, this year's second month of the lunar calendar is much warmer than usual.

"Is your estate almost finished?"

"It'll be ready soon, in about another month."

"That's pretty fast. When it's finished, let us have a look around."

"That's hard to say, they can come and see anytime."

After chatting idly with the villagers, Chen Ling arrived at the farm at the foot of the mountain.

The farm is now halfway complete, and it should be basically finished by the end of March.

It's perfectly fine to move in before this summer.

So Wang Susu has been busy lately preparing to hatch chicks and ducklings. The farm is so big, she wants to hatch more this year and raise them all here.

As for chicken and duck eggs, Chen Ling bought them from the market in the county town. Eggs laid by his own chickens and ducks were more expensive than ordinary chicken eggs.

Wang Susu couldn't bear to use her own chicken and duck eggs to hatch seedlings.

"Old Gao, did you slack off today? You look the same as yesterday."

The workers next to the wooden and bamboo houses were busy hammering and banging. Chen Ling walked up to them, looked at the wood, the bamboo, and the bluestone slabs on the ground, as well as the pieces of wood and bamboo that had been sawn off. Suddenly, he frowned and said with dissatisfaction.

The foreman was immediately startled: "Oh dear, you're trying to scam us again. These stairs and the roof are too difficult to repair, it's not like there's no change. If you hadn't insisted on building these bamboo and wooden houses, we could have finished them by the end of the month."

"Haha, I was just kidding. Take your time, quality is the most important thing."

Chen Ling grinned and continued walking around, looking at everything.

Wang Lixian has been too busy to supervise him lately, and he spends most of his time here by himself every day.

Although Zhao Dahai introduced them and he was acquainted with these people, he still had to be careful about certain things.

After walking around, Chen Ling called the two dogs and took them for a stroll at the foot of the mountains to the west and north.

Since the beginning of the second month of the lunar calendar, the farm has resumed construction, and Heiwa and Xiaojin have returned to their old ways, guarding the farm without fail, rain or shine, and barking wildly if strangers touch anything.

Even the construction team found this interesting and marveled at it several times.

The villagers were already used to it; these two dared to fight wolves, so it was normal for them to be a bit smarter than other dogs.

"Growing melons here is still a bit lacking."

After wandering around, Chen Ling shook his head inwardly. It was better to plant melons in a place with plenty of sunlight, but it didn't really matter, since he would need to use spiritual water to clean them anyway.

Then we went to observe the more than ten acres of mountain land at the foot of the western hillside. This area used to be the site of old graves, but it was a mass grave in the western half. It is said that there were people piled on top of each other and bones stacked on top of bones. In addition, the place was uneven and full of potholes, and various miscellaneous trees grew there, making it quite eerie. Basically, no one came here.

However, since it was close to his own farm, Chen Ling paid to lease the entire mass grave and old cemetery together. Fortunately, the construction team was there and had cut down the trees and done a rough tidying up a few days ago.

Wheat is planted in the western half of the mass grave, while rapeseed is planted in the eastern half of the old cemetery.

Wang Susu initially felt there was no need to lease this entire area; the current thirty acres were enough to keep things going.

But Chen Ling said that he doesn't spend much money now, and his farm can't be surrounded by a mass grave and cemetery. Although the graves have been moved and it doesn't matter now, it's still upsetting to see them lying around in such a mess.

It would be better to lease it out and turn it into a place for our own grain and vegetable growing.

Wang Susu thought about it and agreed, so she let him do as he pleased.

As for why watermelons aren't grown in these places, it's because watermelons require too much effort and there aren't enough people to manage them all. So they just let them grow naturally at the foot of the mountain and along the ditches, and only need to be tended to when there's nothing else to do.

My family doesn't plan to get rich by growing watermelons.

"We'll start plowing the fields tomorrow to prepare for planting wheat."

Chen Ling rubbed his hands together, a surge of energy rising within him.

I thought to myself: It's definitely better to have a bigger place, so I can do whatever I want.

That's right. Including the orchard, he now owns more than 50 acres of land.

Although old graves and mass burial grounds are not good places, with poor fertility and difficult to manage, the important thing is that having a place makes it convenient and unrestricted to do whatever you want in the future.

As noon approached and the construction team had lunch, Chen Ling shouldered his shovel and hurried home, thinking that he would plant grain in the first half of the year and sunflowers in the second half.

When the time comes, the hillsides and foothills will be covered in a golden expanse, which will surely be spectacular and beautiful.

After the autumn harvest, they can also be sent to be pressed for oil.

He was happily making plans when suddenly screams came from afar. A donkey was galloping wildly from the wheat field to the southwest, pulling a cart. The children playing in the wheat field and the villagers applying fertilizer were terrified and shouted in panic, scrambling to the side to get out of the way.

The donkey was startled.

As the donkey cart rushed towards them, though not directly towards them but towards the hillside, the farmland on the hillside was home to elderly villagers and children who often came to oversee the farm's construction. They didn't know if they could get out of the way in time.

Seeing this, Chen Ling gritted his teeth and, as the donkey cart came hurtling towards him, swung his shovel and stabbed it under the wheel...

The galloping donkey cart suddenly overturned sideways from the shovel side, as if one of its wheels had run over a large rock. With a crash and a bang, the startled donkey was also knocked to the ground, panting and braying.

"Fugui, Fugui, are you alright?" Villagers from the surrounding farmland rushed over.

"Uncle Fugui, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, but that donkey is probably in trouble." Chen Ling pointed to the donkey lying on the edge of the road, braying incessantly.

"Sigh, it's all those naughty monkeys' fault. I'll go find their parents later..." Wang Laiyun stamped his foot in frustration. This was Wang Laishun's older brother, and today they were using Wang Laishun's donkey. Unexpectedly, they had startled the donkey.

After he explained the whole story, everyone realized that a group of children had seen them taking out manure to fertilize the wheat field, so they ran over and set off firecrackers to blow up the manure.

As they played, they got bored and started blasting the donkey's fresh dung. After that, they still weren't satisfied. Then, one of the kids came up with a mischievous idea: seeing that the donkey was a big male, they used firecrackers to blast its penis and testicles. They had heard that blasting such a place would cause the donkey to poop, pee, and fart all at once, and they thought it was quite fun.

So one by one they stuck firecrackers on sticks and set off the donkey's penis and testicles. They laughed and made a ruckus, having a great time, but they also successfully startled the donkey.

If the donkey hadn't been pulling the cart and making it easier to subdue, it would have been difficult to handle whoever it hit today.

In short, after causing such a mess, those brats are not going to have an easy time.

(End of this chapter)