My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 272 The Beast Grows Stronger
Most of the local foxes are red foxes, or spotted foxes with red, white and yellow colors.

This thing is actually not far from people. In the past, it could be seen everywhere, in the reeds by the river, in cemeteries, at the foot of mountains or on the earthen slopes of fields, and in tree holes.

It has only become increasingly rare in recent years.

They are actually not that harmful.

Honestly, with so much food in the mountains, the harm these animals cause to poultry is not as great as that caused by civets and weasels.

But its fur was valuable and could be sold for money, so people hunted it in large numbers, which is why its numbers have become increasingly scarce.

Fortunately, foxes are cunning and clever enough that they are often difficult to catch, even when traps and snares are set.

Often, the meat on the clamp is snatched away, but the clamp still hasn't fallen.

If it weren't for encountering this fox.

Chen Ling wouldn't have noticed that the foxes that used to hide deep in the mountains seem to have increased in number this year.

When he went up the mountain again to pick green persimmons and look for beehives.

We encountered several more foxes on the mountain.

Besides foxes, badgers, red muntjacs, and common muntjacs also frequently appear in the nearby mountains.

After nightfall, taking advantage of the wild animals coming out to hunt, he made a point of going for a walk in the mountains.

Wild animals such as leopards and jackals have started appearing in the vicinity, and even there are more owls than before.

Suddenly, the surrounding mountains became teeming with wild animals and birds.

The variety is also ridiculously large.

It happened suddenly.

However, Chen Ling does not believe that this change occurred suddenly.

"It seems that it is still due to the spiritual water of the cave. As the spiritual water flows into the irrigation canal, the environment around the farm has changed after several rains since spring, and it has also attracted a large number of wild animals."

Chen Ling thought to himself.

Since moving here in the fourth month of the lunar calendar, for the past six months, he has been frequently pouring several buckets of sacred water into the irrigation ditch every few days.

Not only are all kinds of wild animals rampant, but even vegetation is overflowing. Even jackals, which had once hidden in the deep mountains and forests and disappeared from human sight for many years, have begun to spread to the outskirts of the mountains and forests.

The population is also constantly growing.

Although Chen Ling still intended to keep a low profile, his rational mind told him that this was not a bad thing.

He had ways to drive away jackals and wolves.

The problem is that wild boars are becoming quite rampant, and when they have offspring, they can be quite unpredictable.

"It seems that I will have to go into the mountains to hunt some boars in a while, and also drive away wild animals like jackals."

There were quite a few wild boars last year, and they frequently came down from the mountains, but people kept a close watch on them, and they didn't damage the crops.

But it's still much worse than this year.

This year alone, Chen Ling has encountered at least three large herds of wild boars, the largest of which, as the leader, weighed over 500 or 600 pounds, which was extremely frightening.

If it were to come down the mountain, it could ruin seven or eight acres of land in one night.

And hardly anyone can control them.

So in the past few days, besides working with his father-in-law on making fruit wine at his own farm, Chen Ling also notified Wang Laishun that wild boars were rampant on the mountain, and asked the village to arrange for them to be watched over early this year.

Anyway, corn on the cob can only be eaten for about ten days before it starts to get old. It can be harvested in no more than two weeks. The job of watching over the corn is just a matter of taking turns guarding it for a few days.

He also frequently went into the mountains to set traps in areas where wild boars were known to roam.

While collecting eggs each day, I would also casually run the traps and watch Little Gold and its fox friends frolicking by the river. It was quite a pleasant experience.

……

"Uncle, I want to catch a bird. Can you catch me a myna?" Little Chestnut held Chen Ling's hand and walked along the irrigation ditch in the orchard. Her big eyes were full of longing as she watched the birds flying around in the woods.

"Hmm? Why do you want to catch a myna? They're all black and not very pretty. How about I catch you a couple of golden-winged birds?" Golden-winged birds are commonly found at the foot of mountains and on slopes. They like to build their nests on things like dandelions, and you can catch a whole nest of them at night.

Moreover, this bird has black and yellow feathers, which are very beautiful, and it is also easy to raise.

You don't need to catch any bugs for it; just feed it some millet or sorghum.

"I don't want that, I want a myna bird. Hmm, with a myna bird, I can... I can teach it to talk and have it keep me company." The little girl asked in her childish voice, her eyes fixed on a group of myna birds in the distance, wanting Chen Ling to catch one for her.

Mynas, except when mating and incubating eggs, usually travel in flocks, much like magpies, with twenty or thirty birds landing at a time.

"Okay, okay, I'll catch you a myna bird. Let's not go looking for the little fox now."

The little girl had come back early with her mother, Qin Yueru, to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with her family. Today, she came specifically to visit Wang Susu and the child. However, the little girl was still young and quickly got bored after playing with the dolls for a while. She actually wanted to find Wang Zhenzhen, but unfortunately, Wang Zhenzhen was at school and not at home.

Seeing this, Gao Xiulan comforted her, saying that a fox had recently taken up residence in the reeds by the river. The little girl immediately perked up and insisted that Chen Ling take her out to find the fox.

But how can you find it in broad daylight?

Anyway, Chen Ling often saw Xiao Jin playing with the fox, and he also saw them carrying the fox cubs around and playing, but he had never seen the fox den.

"Okay, I promise you, Uncle, we'll go see the little fox when it comes out." The little girl nodded with a giggle.

Seeing the little girl smiling happily, Chen Ling patted her head, then found a nylon rope and a place to set up the trap.

This thing is easy to make. All you need is a long, thin nylon rope, a thin bamboo pole, and a forked branch.

It looks simple, but the results are absolutely amazing.

Set up a trap in a place where mynahs often appear, scatter some food and catch a couple of insects. You don't need to do any camouflage; just leave it out in the open and you can catch the birds.

As he was fiddling with the little chestnut, a flock of spotted doves landed on the ground nearby, walking back and forth, no more than a meter away from them.

It's as if it's saying to the two of them: Come and catch me! Come and catch me! I'm super easy to catch.

Indeed, from childhood to adulthood, the bird that Chen Ling caught most often was the spotted dove.

These birds are incredibly stupid; they'll fall right into any trap they see that offers food, and they almost always catch it.

However, Chen Ling has now had Xiao Lizi chase these silly birds away.

There's nothing else to it, they've gotten caught in the trap, which is preventing him from catching the mynah birds.

"Fugui, what are you doing?"

At this moment, Qin Yueru followed Wang Susu out and saw the two of them, one big and one small, fiddling around, so she came over and asked.

"Let's put two mynah birds on Little Chestnut to play with." Chen Ling squatted down and fixed the traps in place.

"Catching a myna bird? Is such a simple thing even possible?"

Seeing the rough ground cover, Qin Yueru couldn't help but wonder, were those birds so stupid that they would walk over and put it on themselves?

"Hehe, just you wait and see. Once I set up two more traps, you'll see the results immediately."

Chen Ling rubbed his hands together, selected a few more locations, and laid out the land.

Otherwise, there are too many birds in the forest, and it won't be easy to catch a myna bird accurately.

Furthermore, while setting up traps sounds simple, there are actually quite a few techniques involved.

For example, bamboo poles shouldn't be left too long, otherwise they'll lose their elasticity.

So much so that even if birds are lured in, it's difficult for them to trigger the mechanism.

Another method is to observe where the myna bird likes to roam and then set traps in those areas.

After setting up the trap, Chen Ling led them to retreat to the bamboo grove in front of the farm and observe from the rocks.

Especially Little Chestnut, this girl stared intently at the spot where the traps were set, squatting on the ground with her small, pink fists clenched tightly, her eyes full of anticipation.

"Xiao Li, weren't you going to see the foxes? Why did you suddenly want to catch mynahs? Do you even know which one is a mynah?" Wang Susu asked, amused by the little girl's expression.

"Yes, I know. There are many old men in my hometown who keep myna birds. They can mimic human speech, which is really fun."

The little girl spoke while her eyes remained fixed on that spot, unblinking.

Mynahs are quite intelligent birds.

While they may not be as alert as magpies or crows, they are far more vigilant than the cuckoos.

If someone guards the area, they will absolutely not come near.

"Fugui, look, look! A myna bird is flying down!" Qin Yueru was even more excited than Xiao Lizi when she saw a myna bird flying over to eat.

"Calm down, calm down, this is a proper place." Chen Ling quickly waved his hand, telling her to squat down, and she would see the bird as soon as she stood up.

Afterwards, several mynas flew to the vicinity of the tundra to eat. After waiting for more than ten minutes, a jumble of chirping and flapping wings could be heard.

A group of mynah birds were startled and took flight.

"We've got it! Let's go catch the bird."

Chen Ling waved his hand, and even little Rui Rui's eyes widened in surprise.

Little Chestnut cheered and ran over quickly.

Qin Yueru followed her daughter to take a look, and saw that of the three traps Chen Ling had set, only one was empty. Two myna birds were trapped tightly and were flapping their wings incessantly.

"Wow, I actually caught a myna bird! This myna bird is so silly."

Little Chestnut didn't care whether the myna bird was stupid or not. She grabbed Chen Ling's arm and jumped around anxiously in front of him. "Uncle, uncle, please untie them quickly."

"Okay, okay, I'll untie it for you now. Don't touch it, or they'll peck you."

Chen Ling walked over, took the two myna birds off, and held them in his hand. The birds were black and about the size of a human fist; they weren't actually very pretty.

Despite not being the most attractive animal, they are known for their gentle temperament, ease of taming, and easy care.

Back at the farm, Chen Ling put two myna birds in a bamboo cage for Xiao Lizi and placed them under the eaves for her to play with.

Now the little girl had something to do. She ran around in the orchard catching crickets and grasshoppers to feed the myna birds. She would often stand close to the cage and whisper to the two myna birds, having a great time.

……

Although there is still quite some time before the Mid-Autumn Festival on the fifteenth of August, people have already started coming to the village to sell mooncakes.

These people, like peddlers, would come to the village carrying loads during the busy farming season.

They sell things like fried dough sticks and sugar cakes.

Some people are too busy to cook, so they just eat what they have in the fields.

Before and after the busy farming season, the summer harvest is often preceded by the Dragon Boat Festival, and the autumn harvest is often preceded by the Mid-Autumn Festival. When these people encounter festivals, they will sell some zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) and mooncakes.

Last year, due to the floods, only vendors came to sell zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) for the Dragon Boat Festival, but not mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival. They probably couldn't manage it.

The Chen family doesn't need to buy mooncakes this year; Qin Yueru brought some when she came, and Professor Han also brought some when he brought his friends.

There's definitely more than enough room to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Han Ninggui arrived at the farm on the afternoon Qin Yueru came, accompanied by a middle-aged man who was slightly younger than him. Although the man wore glasses, had a beard, and possessed a refined demeanor, his dark skin revealed that he was not the type to work in isolation and must have worked outdoors or in the field frequently.

The two stayed at the farm for one night.

The next morning, since Chen Ling was unable to go into the mountains with them, he went to the village to find Wang Lixian and Chen Dazhi, as well as some young men, such as the Chen Guoxing and Chen Guowang families, and sent them into the mountains together.

As for Chen Ling himself, he wasn't idle either, because when he sent Professor Han and the others into the mountains in the morning, he discovered that his trap had yielded a harvest: a half-grown wild boar weighing a little over 100 pounds.

He was too lazy to eat it, so after carrying it home, he drove a tractor from the brigade and took the wild boar to the slaughterhouse.

After selling the donkey, he bought some donkey meat and a big donkey head to take home.

Mid-Autumn Festival is almost here, so let's treat our family to something nice first.

As the saying goes: Dragon meat in the sky, donkey meat on the ground.

Donkey meat has no strange taste and a delicate texture, making it suitable for all ages and very delicious. Besides the meat and offal, many other parts of the donkey are also edible.

For example, donkey tongue strips and donkey lips are quite delicious.

The texture of these two places is somewhat similar to that of pig's trotters, but the taste is far superior.

They pair exceptionally well with drinks.

Back home, I sliced ​​up the donkey meat and had a few drinks with my father-in-law—it was quite a pleasant experience.

However, after a hearty meal and drinks, a minor incident still occurred that night.

It turned out to be a herd of wild boars coming down from the mountain.

It was nearly four o'clock in the morning, and the moonlight was very bright. Chen Ling heard a noise coming from afar, so he opened the window and looked out. Inside the farm, Heiwa Xiaojin was barking wildly, and outside, torches and flashlights were flashing in the fields.

"Wild boars are coming down the mountain! Wild boars are coming down the mountain!"

Under the cool moonlight, someone shouted loudly, while gunshots rang out continuously, and the village dogs barked incessantly.

The family's two dogs were barking incessantly at the farm, staring intently into the distance across the orchards and fields, looking restless and eager.

"What's wrong? The dog keeps barking." Wang Susu rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed.

"There's a wild boar swarm; judging from the noise, quite a few have come this time..."

Chen Ling turned around and said, then put on her clothes and walked out: "I'm going out to take a look. You and Rui Rui can sleep a little longer."

"Yes, Rui Rui is awake too. Let's go with you to see her."

It was four in the morning, and dawn was approaching.

People in the mountains have always gone to bed early, usually around eight o'clock at night, and by then they are not very sleepy.

So the young couple dressed their son in thick clothes and got up to go outside.

Seeing that the two dogs kept barking, Chen Ling told them to go ahead.

They are, after all, excellent alpha dogs.

With them around, the village's pack of stray dogs can play a greater role in fighting against wild boars.

He lagged slightly behind, went to the hunting equipment room to get his hunting rifle and knife, and then led his wife and son toward the flickering torches in the distance.

(End of this chapter)