My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 290 Bees and Cave Plants

Hearing his mother-in-law call that the monkey had come down the mountain, Chen Ling and his two companions put down their honey-harvesting tools and went outside the farm to watch.

After leaving the farm, we saw that at the foot of the mountain to the west of the farm, the trees were covered with wild monkeys of all sizes, about twenty of them, picking and eating fruit from the wild trees.

They ate fruit while throwing it down at Little Gold, who was barking at them.

With Xiao Jin's skill, he naturally wouldn't get hit by the monkeys.

But they wouldn't come down from the tree and taunted Xiao Jin, and Xiao Jin couldn't do anything about it.

All it could do was bark at the trees, circle around on the ground, and dodge the provocative attacks of the wild monkeys.

Upon seeing this, Chen Ling was furious and cursed, "Damn it, these wild monkeys are really bold, daring to come down the mountain from our side. I'm going back to get firecrackers and blow those sons of bitches up!"

He then turned to go back and get the firecrackers.

But at that moment, a loud bird cry rang out from the sky, and a falcon fiercely plummeted towards the wild monkeys.

"It's a hawk."

Wang Qingwen glanced at the scene and said happily, "They arrived just in time!"

This is Er Tuzi coming back.

Chen Ling does not restrict its freedom, nor does it stay at the farm all the time.

But if any wild creature comes looking for trouble, it will definitely come back and won't ignore it.

As soon as Er Tuzi arrived, some monkeys in the troop were injured, with several bloody holes being torn in their shoulders by Er Tuzi's sharp eagle claws.

If it hadn't dodged in time, that wild monkey's head would have been scratched to pieces.

"Baldy, let's just forget about it."

As Er Tuzi flew through the forest, arcing through the air before soaring back into the sky and assuming an attack stance, he was caught off guard.

Each of its attacks was clearly aimed at the monkey's head.

Chen Ling immediately stopped him.

Chen Ling knew perfectly well how powerful his hawk was, and he was afraid that in its anger it might tear the little monkey's head off with a single claw.

It wasn't that he felt sorry for these unruly wild monkeys.

It's too bloody to actually rip a monkey's head out or tear it off right after the holiday. That would be too inappropriate.

Just scare them away with firecrackers.

Chen Ling also knew that these wild monkeys were after the wild fruits on the hillside outside.

These wild fruits, nourished by a little spiritual water, must taste much better than the wild fruits from the mountains.

Since there were other children blocking their way, they decided to come down from here.

So he and his brother-in-law brought firecrackers and double-bang firecrackers, and shared some with his father-in-law as well.

They called Xiao Jin back, and the three grown men lit thick incense sticks, walked to the foot of the mountain, and threw firecrackers at the wild monkeys in the trees.

"Bang—bang—"

The powerful firecrackers were thrown like hand grenades, exploding with a loud bang amidst flashes of light.

The father-in-law even used a bamboo pole to lift up a long string of firecrackers, lit the fuse, and swung it up the tree. The firecrackers hung steadily on the treetop and went off.

The firecrackers exploded and crackled, scaring the monkeys half to death. They squeaked and jumped down from the trees, fleeing up the mountain.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Jin barked and ran over. It understood Chen Ling's meaning, and instead of harming the monkeys, it bit several of them, scaring them away. Then it leisurely ran back.

Chen Ling patted Xiao Jin's head approvingly: "These wild monkeys need to be taught fear."

Actually, there are good and bad wild monkeys.

However, most wild monkeys are unruly, and once they form groups, they become even more unrestrained, audacious, and their temperaments are unpredictable.

They threw stones at people, stood on treetops and urinated on them, and so on.

They were never meant to be docile.

Sometimes you encounter monkeys with unpredictable temperaments, and you never know what you might have done to offend them. If there are many people, it's fine, but if there are few, you'll be in trouble.

Don't let their small size fool you; these creatures can run, jump, and climb trees.

It runs incredibly fast.

A dark shadow flashed by, and before the person could react, a claw was already slashing at their face; there was no way to dodge.

An old woman from Kinmen Village was injured by monkeys when she went up the mountain to harvest walnuts.

Wild monkeys bully the weak and fear the strong. Seeing that the old woman was alone and easy to bully, they first provoked and teased her. When the old woman chased them away with a stick, they got angry and scratched the old woman's hands and face.

There were also dogs that jumped onto the old lady's neck, rode on her neck, and tried to bite and gnaw at her.

These monkeys can be incredibly aggressive and unreasonable.

There are good monkeys, of course. Some even help people find dolls and return them home, or help people harvest corn and load it onto a cart. But they are mostly lone monkeys.

A lone, isolated monkey.

No wonder the old folks often say: Wild animals in groups are a menace.

Our own farm has even more good stuff, and these monkeys have their eyes on it. If we don't do anything about it, they'll definitely get worse and come over to harass us from time to time, and then we'll never have a peaceful life.

So drive them away if you can.

After chasing away the monkeys, Chen Ling and his two companions hitched up the oxcart, gathered all their tools, and headed towards the county town.

Go to the forest farm to raid beehives and collect honey.

On the way out of the village, we encountered Wang Zhenzhen leading a group of children, carrying wooden sticks and bamboo sticks, slingshots, and schoolbags full of mud balls around their waists. They were noisy like a group of Boy Scouts, roaming through the fields, looking for monkeys.

Upon seeing this, Wang Cunye shouted to them from the oxcart, "Zhenzhen, if you can't find any monkeys in the fields, go check out our farm. Some monkeys came down the mountain just now, but we chased them away. Go take a look."

"Okay. We'll go right away."

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhenzhen waved her little hand and led the excited Boy Scouts back towards the farm.

These little kids have endless energy and never seem to get tired no matter how much they play.

They roam around with their dogs all day long, and even wild monkeys can't do anything to them. Now, when they see them, they just go around them from a distance and play guerrilla warfare with them.

So after chasing away a group of wild monkeys, I couldn't find them anymore.

……

Upon arriving at the forest farm east of the county town, Chen Ling led his father-in-law and brother-in-law to the vicinity of the stone wall beehive.

"Goodness, this bee nest really knows how to pick a spot."

Wang Cunye was amazed when he saw the stone wall. No wonder his son-in-law brought so many things; it looked like he was mining.

Making a home inside a stone wall is indeed a very difficult task.

This old, mottled stone wall must be over a meter tall. Behind it is a large expanse of land, almost the same height, covered with trees. Behind this land are two more sections of similar stone walls used to retain soil for planting trees, like terraced fields, but much larger, with wider gaps between each section, resembling a forest.

Fortunately, it was land in the forest, not a whole mountain, so we could find the right spot to dig down from the land behind the stone wall, facing the direction of the honeycomb opening.

"Yes, such a sturdy and stable honeycomb is not easy to work with."

Chen Ling looked at his father-in-law and brother-in-law, "Wild bees are very fierce this time of year. Dad, you and your brother should wear hats and tuck your cuffs and trouser legs in tightly. Don't let wild bees get into your clothes."

“Okay, we know. You go up and dig first, I’ll go find some wormwood, light a fire, and smoke it out.”

Wang Cunye said that the stone wall was too high and he couldn't climb it with his legs, so he would just stay on the side and smoke the bees to help them.

The two put on their protective clothing and hats to prevent bee stings. By this time, Chen Ling had already cleared away the thorny vines and other things and climbed up the wall.

"Come on, brother, throw the shovel and hoe up here."

Chen Ling beckoned downwards, signaling Wang Qingwen to throw him the shovel and hoe. After grabbing them, he pulled Wang Qingwen up as well.

The two men examined the gap in the stone wall, then aimed at the ground behind the wall, dug out a round pit, and officially began excavation.

This wild beehive looked like it would be difficult to deal with, but once you started digging it out, it wasn't that hard.

The two shoveled away the fallen leaves and pebbles, dug down about thirty centimeters, and unearthed the honeycomb.

"This beehive is bigger than I expected."

Wang Qingwen exclaimed happily, "One, two, three, four... Good heavens, eleven beehives! This huge expanse of golden honey looks so tempting!"

"Wow, I can smell that sweet aroma."

Beneath the soil dug out at their feet was a hole the size of a well cover.

The hollow is covered by a tangled mass of thick tree roots that straddle the stone wall.

On this side of the stone wall is the nest of the bumblebees.

Eleven rows of beehives hang from top to bottom, golden yellow, varying in size, rising and falling like waves, or like thick cakes, covered with bees.

Now that it sensed its home had been invaded, it buzzed and flew towards the two of them.

“It’s quite big, otherwise it wouldn’t be worth the trip.”

Chen Ling smiled and said to Wang Qingwen, "Brother, be careful not to let wild bees crawl into your clothes."

While the two were digging, the bees simply flew in and out normally and did not attack them, seemingly unaware that their digging posed a threat to them.

But once the beehive was discovered, the swarm immediately erupted in chaos, its buzzing becoming louder and more intense, filled with anger.

These angry wild bees are reckless and will squeeze into any opening they can find. Chen Ling isn't afraid. Even if they don't crawl into his clothes, he'll still secretly collect them into the cave. Not to mention they're coming to him willingly.

"Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on it."

While Wang Qingwen was speaking, Wang Cunye lit a fire and threw some straw into it. Thick blue smoke quickly rose up, making the bees that had been swarming around the fire run around in a panic. Many bees wanted to sting people but couldn't find their way.

Chen Ling took the opportunity to squat down and cut off a section of honeycomb to see how much honey it contained.

This beehive is quite large, like a big, golden-yellow oil cake, with bees crawling around on it in a mess, and lots of pollen on the edges.

"Oh dear, honey's dripping! Quickly, put it in the bucket!" Wang Qingwen saw the honey dripping from the beehives and quickly caught it with his hands, calling down, "Dad, quickly hand the bucket up!"

"What kind of work are you two doing? You didn't bring all the necessary supplies, and all you've been thinking about is digging up beehives," the old man scolded, handing him the bucket.

Chen Ling hung the honeycomb over the bucket and examined it carefully. "There's a lot of honey in here, but this honeycomb has been bitten by wax moths."

"Huh? A woodworm?"

Wang Qingwen was sucking on his fingers, savoring the sweet wild honey dripping onto his hand, when he heard this and came over.

"where is it?"

"It's already been bitten, but it was chased away by the bumblebees."

Chen Ling pointed to the edge of the honeycomb and said, "Look at this small groove about the thickness of a chopstick on the edge of the honeycomb. This is the mark left by the honeybees after they drove out the wax moths and bit off the honeycomb again. It looks like a scar."

This is why native honeybees are difficult to raise, besides their tendency to swarm. They also like to bite the honeycomb, which damages the honeycomb wax and breeds wax moths.

Upon hearing Chen Ling's explanation, Wang Qingwen said with concern, "Oh? So difficult to manage? Then why did you suggest raising some native bees at the farm next year? It would be better to go to the mountains and forests around here every autumn to find some honey."

"No matter how difficult it is, we have to give it a try. How many honeycombs can we find by searching all over the mountains? Who knows where those beehives are?"

After Chen Ling finished speaking, he did some calculations for Wang Qingwen. These eleven beehives were of varying sizes, with the middle being larger and the sides smaller, making them very uneven. The honey yield would only be around ten catties, and at most, no more than fifteen catties.

Such a large beehive is hard to find. Even smaller beehives, with the same number of combs, can't compare. Besides, there are seasonal factors that affect the amount of honey, so it's hard to say how much honey there will be.

When it's swarming season, bees focus solely on storing pollen, which inevitably affects the honeycomb's honey production.

“That makes sense.” Wang Qingwen thought it made sense. Wild bees are indeed difficult to manage, but his brother-in-law can make money and has a lot of free time, so let him do whatever he wants.

"We'll put them behind the farm and keep them with the snakes. It'll be very quiet there, and nothing will go there."

Chen Ling chuckled as he cut off the honeycomb and put it into a bucket. Under the stone wall, thick smoke with a strange fragrance rose continuously, making the bees dizzy and giving Chen Ling the opportunity to collect them. Taking advantage of his brother-in-law's inattention, he collected the bees one by one into the cave.

Now, he has intentionally or unintentionally collected many kinds of wild bees into the cave.

The purpose is to allow them to reproduce and collide with each other, or even become enemies, so as to produce mutations and evolution.

Perhaps in a few years, a superior native bee species will emerge.

If he were to take the time to intervene, the process would likely be faster.

Moreover, the increased number of bees in the cave also helps the growth and reproduction of plants.

In the past, the flowers, plants, and trees in the grotto only relied on the powerful vitality brought by the spiritual energy of the grotto to passively grow, bloom, and bear fruit.

But after the bees went in, pollination began.

As a result of frequent pollination, not only did the fruit taste better, but various flowers, plants and trees also underwent various delightful changes.

Since discovering this, Chen Ling has been very concerned about these things. Whenever he encounters a bee, he will collect some of them. Who knows, if he encounters some opportunity, some different mutation and evolution will occur compared to the bees that were collected before.

Based on this, he would also selectively release a swarm of bees to allow them to pollinate each other with the flowers in the cave.

I don't know if this is good for the plants in the grotto.

However, it is definitely beneficial to plants in the outside world.

"Alright, we've cut eight combs. Let's leave the remaining three smaller ones for them."

Chen Ling looked into the bucket; it was already half full and looked quite heavy.

He then said to his father-in-law and brother-in-law, "It's about ten catties of honey, enough for us to work with when we get home."

The weather is still relatively warm and there isn't too much rain, so these wild bees can still collect nectar and pollen from flowers and store them as food.

Therefore, when harvesting honey, you don't need to harvest it all; just leave two honeycombs.

Then move the soil off the honeycomb and cover it with stones. Next year, the honeycomb will gradually recover, and there will be another harvest.

(End of this chapter)