My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 223 The Farm is Completed
Aside from prenatal checkups, meeting friends, and attending temple fairs, Chen Ling was basically busy weeding, spraying pesticides, tending to watermelons, and clearing ditches and streams in the fields. He lived a simple and unhurried life, finding joy in it all.

And so, another half month passed quickly, and by the end of the third month of the lunar calendar, the farm was completed as scheduled.

Chen Ling and his men carefully inspected the bamboo building, wooden building, corridors and other parts of the house twice. There were no problems with the construction. Since that was the case, he didn't hesitate to settle the wages on the spot and then treated the construction team to a lively drink. He saw them off the next day.

Next, instead of rushing to move to the farm, he informed his friends that the farm at his home was completed and that they could come and play for a couple of days whenever they had free time. He said the farm had many rooms and the whole family could come.

This was mainly because I called friends like Zhao Dahai, Shanmao, and Liang Yuemin to inform them. They had told me beforehand to let them know when Chen Ling finished building the farm so they could come and support him. Zhao Dahai even kept urging his god-sister to come and perform.

Lynx also said that he would bring Azalea over for a few days once his farm is completed.

They were all very welcoming, so Chen Ling couldn't ignore it and notified them all. Anyway, his wife was due to give birth in a couple of months, and aside from tinkering around at the farm, he had plenty of time to entertain them.

After making the calls, Zhao Dahai and Shanmao discussed it and said they were available to come over in the days following April 9th, which conveniently fell on a Saturday and Sunday. Chen Ling called Liang Yuemin to ask, and he was also free. Liang Yuemin had returned to Beijing with his wife and children a couple of months ago to finish his business and was now in the city. Therefore, Chen Ling set the date for April 9th ​​and invited them all to come and join the festivities.

Before that, Chen Ling had cleaned up the wood and bamboo left over from the farm's construction and piled them into firewood behind the farm's kitchen, preparing them for use as fuel.

Since the house was a two-story building made of bamboo and wood, this type of building dissipates heat quickly, is well-ventilated and moisture-proof, and is cool and comfortable to live in during the summer and autumn. However, one downside is that it is very easy to catch fire, so the kitchen was built at the back of the farm. Next to the kitchen, there were two large fire pits made of stones, which Chen Ling used specifically for barbecuing.

The area behind the kitchen was used to store firewood.

After finishing this task, he brought all the poultry from his house over to make room in the house.

In addition, he also transported all the livestock troughs that had not been used in the village for many years and placed them in various places in the orchard outside the farm.

The orchard has everything: chicken coops, duck pens, pigeon lofts, sheep pens, cowsheds, etc. It's a complete complex, with buildings of all sizes surrounding the farm.

That day, the Wang Jusheng and Wang Lixian families came to help him after they found out.

Cattle and sheep are easy to manage; they can be kept at home for now. The key is poultry. Now, with the hatched chicks and ducklings, there are over a hundred of them. They easily run around, so we put them all in cages and transport them to the farm.

Poultry are easily startled. When chickens, ducks and geese are put into cages, stacked high, and carried onto oxcarts, many chickens and ducks are frightened and flap their wings wildly, trample each other, bump into the cages, fly their feathers, cluck and squawk incessantly, and also drop a lot of droppings.

One of the hens laid an egg, which slid out of the coop and landed right on Wang Jusheng's forehead.

Zhang Qiaoling noticed the broken egg on the man's head and quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe it for him. "Are you alright? Just be careful not to get it in your eyes."

"It's alright, this egg smells delicious." Wang Jusheng didn't care at all, chuckled, flicked his tongue to scoop up the runny yolk and put it in his mouth, then smacked his lips, savoring the taste.

"You're eating random things again." Zhang Qiaoling glared at him, then smiled sheepishly when she saw Liu Yuzhi and the others looking at her, and continued carrying things onto the oxcart.

"Qiaoling, why don't you and Jusheng build a shed too? Look at Fugui, he's already set up this farm. Compared to this, building a shed is nothing, it doesn't take up much space, and it's easy to manage at home," Wang Lixian said with a smile.

He made a small fortune selling vegetables recently, and the mushrooms he harvested in winter have already helped him recoup his investment. So now he's very motivated and doesn't plan to work outside anymore. He's going to stay home and figure out how to grow vegetables in greenhouses.

Currently in Lingyun, apart from Lao Yang Yu'er from Yangtougou, he's the only one running greenhouses. Erzhu's project is a mess, so let's not even mention it. Anyway, there aren't many people doing this now, so it's a time to make money.

"Brother Xian, why are you like Fugui now? Last year, Fugui thought Qiaoling's pickled vegetables were delicious, so he told me to set up a pickled vegetable processing plant. Now you're advising me to set up greenhouses. With our tempers, how can we manage all this?" Wang Jusheng licked the egg liquid off his lips and shook his head.

Neither he nor Zhang Qiaoling are suited for business. They can't negotiate prices, they lack patience when setting up a stall, and they don't know how to interact with strangers. Otherwise, they wouldn't still be distant from most of the villagers after all these years.

“This is a time to make money, you really don’t need to put in any effort,” Wang Lixian said, frowning as he tried to persuade him again.

Zhang Qiaoling knew it was well-intentioned, "Brother Xian, my husband isn't cut out for this. I'm even more clumsy; all I can do is pickle vegetables, nothing else."

She wasn't an outgoing person either. Even when Shanmao's fiancée stayed at their house, it was only because Zhao Dahai and Wang Jusheng were acquainted and she was the Party Secretary's daughter-in-law that she was allowed to entertain her.

"What's wrong? What are you saying?" At this moment, Chen Ling finished packing his things and came out with his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

“We wanted Jusheng to build a shed too, but he wouldn’t agree…” Wang Lixian gestured with his chin toward the couple.

"Hey, if you don't want to do it, then don't. Anyway, judging from her face, Sister Qiaoling has the face of someone who will make a lot of money. If she can't make this kind of money, she can make some kind of money in the future. You can't just pocket every penny you see, right?"

Chen Ling smiled and said to the two of them.

“Rich people only know how to say nice things. A poor woman like me can’t do anything but farm. How could I possibly be destined to become rich?” Zhang Qiaoling shook her head.

This is also the mindset of most mountain dwellers at this time.

Her pickled vegetables were indeed delicious, and her chili sauce was very fragrant, but she had no intention of turning it into a business. She didn't even dare to think about it. She thought it was just pickled vegetables, and at most, it was just pickled vegetables. Could pickled vegetables turn into gold nuggets?

Chen Ling was aware of this, so after mentioning it briefly last year, he never brought it up again.

"That's hard to say. When it's your turn to get rich, money will come like a gust of wind. You'll earn a whole sack of money in one go, and your fingers will hurt from counting it, and your hands will cramp up."

"Hey, you're talking about yourself, aren't you?"

"Looks like you must have made a lot of money last year."

Everyone laughed.

Chen Ling chuckled along, and then, talking about the greenhouse, they brought up the trouble that Old Yang Yu'er from Yangtougou had caused by buying horses at the Mule and Horse Market a while ago.

"Old Yang Yu'er is so unlucky. He had just built the greenhouse two years ago and made some money when this happened."

"Ha, he deserves it for his dishonest behavior of stealing someone else's horse."

The group chatted animatedly as they made their way to the farm.

With something to talk about, the work didn't feel tedious. The group got busy and quickly arranged for the chickens, ducks, geese, and quails.

Chickens and ducks aren't too much of a worry, but quails are the key. Quails can't be free-range if you have a large number, especially if you've sold all the older quails. Young quails aren't familiar with the chickens and ducks, and if released, they won't know to follow them home, often running away as soon as they're let out. And since the farm is located at the foot of a mountain, this is an area that requires extra care.

So Chen Ling built a wall around the quail-raising area with blue bricks, just like a pigsty, and added a net to enclose a section of land. Inside, he simply built quail nests, so he wouldn't have to worry about them running away.

Quails, as long as they have enough to eat and are well-nourished, can lay eggs every day except in winter.

Of course, if they are raised in a greenhouse during the winter, they can even lay eggs all year round.

But that would be too impersonal. It would be better to take advantage of the festive atmosphere of the Lunar New Year and make some fried quail.

In the morning, I cleaned up the poultry area and put the poultry in according to their categories. I let them get used to the environment first. After a while, once they are familiar with the environment, I will let the chickens, ducks and geese roam freely. At that time, I won't need to feed them every day. With the dog helping to watch over them, they can go out and find food. They can go back to their pen when it gets dark.

After finishing all that, they had a simple home-cooked meal at Chen Ling's house for lunch.

Gao Xiulan had already prepared lunch, so we could eat as soon as we got back.

During this break, the elderly couple would lead their sheep out to graze outside the village and also visit the farm to keep an eye on the poultry.

Even with their two dogs, Heiwa and Xiaojin, watching over them, they were still not entirely at ease.

This made many villagers envious of Chen Ling, saying that this child was truly blessed.

He had a good father before, and now he has a good wife and a good father-in-law. How come that good-for-nothing is so lucky?

Chen Ling didn't care what others said about him. Having two elderly people taking care of him was a good thing, and it also allowed him to keep busy with the things he wanted to do.

So the next day, all the new furniture was moved to the farm.

As they continued to tidy up, the Wang Jusheng family and their families still frequently came to help.

Sometimes they stay for a meal, and sometimes they leave after helping with the work.

The main reason is that, in the eyes of the villagers, building a farm is different from building a house at home; it's a completely different matter from moving into a new home.

In short, the villagers don't need to make a special invitation to celebrate. Since they live so close by, whenever they stroll to the foot of Beishan Mountain, they can stop by Chen Ling's farm to rest and chat for a while. This is a common occurrence.

Right now, they're just raising poultry there, and after a while, they'll raise fish. No one's moving in yet.

With Wang Susu's due date approaching, her family has no plans to move to the farm in the short term. They will move there after the baby is born around the sixth month of the lunar calendar.

The farm is spacious, making it perfect for hosting a full moon celebration.

We just happened to be there.

So during this period, after the poultry were released, Chen Ling and his father-in-law took turns guarding the farm. It wasn't far, just outside the village, so it wasn't much trouble.

Watching the poultry grow bigger day by day, and the hens lay more and more eggs each day, they could only be happy.

During this season, food is plentiful in the mountains, wild animals rarely come down, and the nights are very peaceful, so there's no need to worry about that.

Furthermore, as a medicinal herb farmer, Wang Cunye used to go to the mountains to collect herbs under the cover of night. Back then, when he discovered valuable medicinal herbs, he was afraid that others would follow him, so he would go to collect them in the middle of the night or early morning, and he wasn't afraid at all.

What's more, there's Heiwa and Xiaojin guarding this place.

After the farm was built, the happiest people were the two dogs in the family. They stayed at the farm all day long, patrolling around with the village dogs during the day. The place was big, and they could run around to their hearts' content, marking out their territories on the mountainside and in the valley.

The little yellow dog that Wang Cunye raised was playing with them all day long and was becoming more and more wild. Originally, he didn't raise it as a hunting dog, but now it often catches some small prey. This is the nature of Tiger Head Yellow in its bones. There's no way around it. This kind of dog is like this. The purer it is, the stronger its hunting instinct is.

Wang Cunye was both happy and a little worried.

Chen Ling comforted him twice before he felt at ease.

……

Time flies, and it was the ninth day of the fourth lunar month. Around 10 or 11 a.m. that day, Liang Yuemin's family, along with Shanmao and Zhao Dahai's families, arrived at Chenwangzhuang.

No one arrived empty-handed; they all brought supplements for Wang Susu.

Wang Cunye and Gao Xiulan helped receive the gifts. Looking at the beautifully packaged gifts, even though they knew their son-in-law was now quite successful and knew many capable people, they still felt a little dizzy when they saw people driving cars and bringing gifts to their door.

Standing in the courtyard, I didn't know what to say to them, so I could only do my best to entertain them.

When is Susu going to give birth?

"It should be the end of June for me. I can't help it, my body is having a mild reaction, so I can only count the days on my fingers."

"I've heard about you before; your health is truly enviable."

The women and children chatted and played around Wang Susu in the yard for a while, and then Chen Ling led them to the farm. Many of them had seen the farm's blueprints before, and now they all wanted to see what it would look like after it was built.

They walked out of the village in a lively and bustling manner.

Upon arriving at the orchard, the entrance is a tree-lined path paved with bluestone slabs. Following the winding path, we passed through the lush orchards for about five minutes before finally seeing a bamboo grove and two pavilions.

Beyond the bamboo forest, you'll see a gatehouse made of bamboo and wood. On the south side of the gatehouse is a rectangular wooden board with a few lines of small characters written on it.

"Fugui Villa was first built on the first day of the eleventh lunar month in 1995 and completed on the thirtieth day of the third lunar month in 1996..."

(End of this chapter)