My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 321 Going Home to Watch TV

Now that Zhao Dahai's parents have returned, Chen Ling naturally wants to visit the two elderly people.

Although they hadn't met yet, Zhao Dahai never came to her house empty-handed. Now that she was in the city, she couldn't just hide and not visit him.

Actually, when he called Zhao Dahai yesterday, he had the idea of ​​visiting the two elderly people as well, but unfortunately they weren't there yesterday.

Now that he's back, he's even inviting me over for dinner.

Chen Ling naturally had no reason not to go.

When it came to buying gifts, Zhao Dahai absolutely refused, saying that he only needed to cook two simple dishes for him when he got home.

But once they got home, Chen Ling was a guest, so there was no need for Chen Ling to do anything.

In the end, I simply made a soup, and that was it.

Zhao Dahai's parents had often heard Zhao Dahai and Shanmao mention him, so they were quite curious.

Upon meeting him this time, I could tell that this young man was indeed a bit different.

The two elderly people found themselves getting along very well at the dinner table, and they both thought to themselves, "She really can get along with her son; they're just compatible."

Actually, it's not that we're on the same wavelength. When ordinary strangers come to their house, they either fawn over them or ask for favors.

Chen Ling, being without desires or wants, simply chatted about food and interesting stories from all over the world, purely focusing on things that would bring joy and relaxation, so naturally, both host and guest had a pleasant time.

Finally, the two old people were stunned by the stories about the water monster in the reservoir outside the village and the miasma valley in the mountains.

They had seen photos of the giant softshell turtle in the reservoir; Zhao Dahai had brought it back, and they had also seen it in the newspaper.

I just didn't expect that the water monster mentioned in the movie was real.

Speaking of this, Zhao Dahai was even more excited than Chen Ling. He gestured excitedly with both hands, telling the stories he had heard from the villagers of Chenwangzhuang, such as a water monster with a mouth full of fangs that could swallow a calf whole with its gaping maw.

His mother turned pale upon hearing this.

"I've heard a lot about demons and monsters before, but none of them seem as real as this. Are there really such terrifying things in this world?"

"Don't listen to his nonsense."

Zhao Dahai's father, Zhao Yubao, was a fairly famous writer. He was chubby, had some feminine features, wore glasses, and when he smiled, he looked like a kind old lady.

At this moment, however, he kept his mouth shut and glared at Zhao Dahai: "What you said is completely unreliable. What Fugui said makes more sense. It should be the big fish that swam across the flood last year."

Zhao Dahai just chuckled, not taking his father's words to heart. "Dad, Fugui has also written a book. After he finishes it, you can contact your friends and get it published."

"Huh? You're still writing?" Zhao Yubao looked at Chen Ling with surprise.

Chen Ling quickly shook his head: "What I did doesn't count as writing. It was just a record of our hunting experiences in the mountains, like a hunter's diary."

"Oh, that counts too. As long as you have thoughts to express and can put them into writing, that's writing."

Zhao Yubao smiled and nodded encouragingly to Chen Ling, "Write well, and I'll publish it for you when you're done."

"Didn't they say hunting would be banned from now on? Will Fugui be breaking the law by going into the mountains to hunt?"

Zhao Dahai's mother said with some concern.

Zhao Dahai's mother was just an ordinary old lady. She was neither a writer nor a professor, and she didn't have many titles. She had only worked as a primary school Chinese teacher and was now retired.

She used to be just a housewife, and she was very timid.

According to Zhao Dahai, his mother was afraid of ghosts and monsters, and when he was a child, he would often use them to scare his mother.

The old lady was so frightened by his description of the water monster that she turned pale and hasn't recovered yet.

Zhao Yubao gave his wife a reassuring look: "It's nothing, it's just hunting, what law is it against? They say they won't let women go astray, but they're still everywhere."

Upon hearing this, the old lady glared at him, her face turning red with anger: "What nonsense are you talking about..."

Leaving aside Chen Ling, the guest, his daughter-in-law and granddaughter are here too. He blurts out whatever comes to mind, which makes him seem disrespectful to his elders.

Zhao Yubao didn't care; many writers are like that.

Chen Ling wasn't offended and said, "Don't worry, Auntie. Uncle Han and the others got me a hunter's license. I'm a forest ranger now, so hunting isn't illegal for me. Besides, I don't hunt those precious wild animals."

"Oh, I see. Old Han is so thoughtful; he's taken care of insurance for you."

The old lady was clearly relieved to hear him say that.

Zhao Yubao also said that Han Ninggui was quite honest in his work, otherwise a large-scale gun ban would have been implemented after National Day this year.

This is naturally because they think Chen Ling is reliable. If it were someone else with ulterior motives, they would know better and wouldn't care.

By this time, Chen Ling had figured out the temperament and personality of the elderly couple, and then continued to focus on talking about lighthearted topics.

He wasn't a very talkative person, but he knew a lot of interesting things. The meal was a great success for both the host and guests. When it was time to leave, the elderly couple even pulled him aside and said that if he wasn't in a hurry to go back, he should have dinner with them before leaving.

Chen Ling could only say that he would come to visit often when he had nothing else to do, and then let him leave.

That afternoon, I continued buying TVs, clothes for my family, and some food, toys, and accessories, buying them bag after bag and bringing them home.

I've bought almost everything.

However, the next day, he didn't go home immediately. Instead, he went with Zhao Dahai to visit Shanmao's parents. They went to sit down for a while when they arrived, which was fine.

Lynx's parents live a bit far away, in a small county town nearby.

The county town is quite far from the lynx's dog farm. When the lynx is not home, his parents will help him feed the dogs and so on, which makes it easier to manage them.

That day, we visited the shrew's dog farm and also saw his father's tiger skin; it was another lively day.

Chen Ling stayed in the city for almost half a month before embarking on his journey home.

However, on the night before he went home, while Chen Ling was wandering around the night market, something happened that was both unexpected and yet perfectly logical to him.

He was quite surprised that, even though it was almost the new millennium, the city was still quite chaotic.

Especially at night, all sorts of demons and monsters roam around.

Who knows when he might encounter someone who displeases him and then retaliate?

They can even start a major battle over the slightest disagreement.

He's even more arrogant than Liu Huaqiang.

Chen Ling encountered someone who was seeking revenge.

The one who retaliated against him was none other than the young man who tried to steal his things and ended up being stung by a scorpion.

This young man not only got stung by a scorpion, but he was also laughed at by his companions when he got back, which made him angrier and angrier.

Actually, this happened many days ago.

They were drinking at a night market stall when they accidentally saw Chen Ling. Suddenly remembering what had happened at the flower market, they grabbed their weapons and cornered Chen Ling in a dark alley, preparing to take revenge.

Chen Ling's method for dealing with these kinds of people was simple. He was too lazy to lift a finger, so he simply took two beehives from the cave and threw them among these people, stinging them until they were in excruciating pain and questioning their existence.

Wild bees are highly venomous, especially since they are a mutated species from the cave. The intense bombardment from two large swarms left these people covered in welts and wounds, and they suffered from fever and nausea for a long time afterward before recovering.

Once bitten, twice shy.

From then on, this group of people never dared to do bad things on the streets again.

They were afraid of encountering another strange person like Chen Ling, who seemed to be carrying scorpions and beehives in his pocket.

...Chen Ling hadn't anticipated that indirectly torturing someone would lead to their eventual reformation.

He is highly skilled and daring. He has been in the city for almost half a month and has encountered several similar incidents, but they haven't frightened him at all.

After Zhao Dahai and Shanmao's families saw him off at the train station and said their goodbyes, he put away everything except the television into his burrow and fell fast asleep in his seat.

The train station doesn't go all the way to Lingyun; you can only travel half the distance by train.

You have to get off the train in the middle and then transfer to a long-distance bus to reach Kuliu County.

Once you arrive in Kuliu County, you can take a tractor or a small farm tricycle back to Lingyun.

As for Chen Ling himself, he didn't find it troublesome. He was always at a leisurely pace wherever he went. With Dongtian there, he could live a very comfortable life even in the wilderness.

However, in order to make it easier to take his wife and children out in the future, he decided to start saving money to buy a car next year. The roads are difficult to travel on, so he has already ruled out a sedan and needs to replace it with a big, powerful vehicle.

……

When Chen Ling returned to the village, it was almost dark. There weren't many people at the village entrance, except for a group of children laughing and playing with rats in front of Chen Jiang's house.

Seeing a stranger driving a three-wheeled vehicle approaching, they curiously looked in this direction.

Until he saw Chen Ling in the back of the truck.

"It's Uncle Fugui. Uncle Fugui has returned from the city."

Someone shouted, and the bunch of kids swarmed over.

"Did Uncle Fugui buy the television?"

"I bought it. I bought a big color TV."

Chen Ling laughed and jumped out of the truck, lowered the side panel of the truck bed, took out the TV and other items, and then paid the driver.

They'll charge extra if they deliver it to the entrance of Chenwangzhuang Village.

But if I can get back before dark, I don't care about these things.

"Wow, we can watch TV! We can watch TV now!"

A group of children jumped and clapped their hands, cheering happily.

Many of them attended school in the county town last year and know that schools in the county town have televisions. During holidays, or sometimes before holidays, students are arranged to watch television and movies.

However, the village has hardly ever been on television.

Previously, there was no signal; later, people couldn't afford to buy one; the most recent instance was last year when Wang Laishun brought back a TV to watch the news from Chenwangzhuang.

After it was shown, it was taken back. People don't usually see it. Now that Chen Ling has bought a TV, it's different from those.

This means they'll be able to see it whenever they visit each other in the future, so they're very happy.

The children's shouts drew the attention of many villagers, who came out to see what was happening.

"Fugui bought a TV? Can it be watched now?"

"Not now, it's not installed yet. We'll have to install the antenna and stuff when we get back."

"That's quite complicated."

As they talked, everyone came forward to help him carry his things and to show him the television he had bought.

"Wow, this TV is huge! It must have cost a lot of money."

"It doesn't cost much, it just looks big."

Chen Ling bought a large color TV, a 43-inch black-cased one. This behemoth was much bigger than the TVs the villagers were used to, and they all gathered around in amazement.

People said that even factory owners don't have such a big TV, which shows that Fugui is really capable.

There's no way around it; people become like this after experiencing hardship and poverty. For a long time, they valued size above all else.

They think that bigger is better, and having more things means being blessed.

Chen Ling's purchase of such a large color TV certainly made everyone extremely envious.

But despite their envy, they didn't linger after helping Chen Ling carry his things back to the farm. It was getting dark, and everyone was about to eat, so no one would bother them too much.

It was just a joke, saying that I'd come over again tomorrow when the TV is working again.

Actually, we could watch TV that very evening after it was installed.

Since they had already bought it, Chen Ling naturally wanted to get his family watching TV as soon as possible.

It gets dark early this time of year; it starts to get dark on the mountain around 5 p.m.

Dinner was ready by around 7 p.m.

Chen Ling's family was sitting around in the house, watching Chen Ling change the channel with the remote control.

"Stop changing channels. Just focus on one thing. You can't get enough of this one."

"Dad, it's not that I keep changing the channel, those were just TV commercials, not actual dramas or movies, they're not interesting."

It's meaningless?
He just didn't find it interesting.

When the TV was first brought home, not only the elderly couple, but even the Wang Susu sisters found the commercials quite entertaining.

They hadn't even had a chance to see it clearly when Chen Ling switched it over, leaving them unable to watch even a single clip. This left them incredibly anxious and wanting to know what was actually happening in the advertisement.

"Don't rush, I'll find you a channel that's showing Journey to the West. It's good; it's about Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong."

"Journey to the West, brother-in-law, I've seen that. Our teacher showed us an episode. Can you find it?"

"Yes, we'll find it right away."

"..."

"You are watching CCTV-1."

Before they could find a TV station broadcasting Journey to the West, just as they switched to CCTV-1, a deep, middle-aged man's voice rang out, followed by a countdown of beeps.

This was followed by a burst of rousing and dynamic music familiar to people all over the country.

"Oh, it's already seven o'clock."

"Dad, Mom, Susu, it's seven o'clock. The news broadcast has started. Let's watch the news broadcast first."

As he finished speaking, the host began: "Good evening, viewers. Welcome to today's news program. The main content of today's program includes..."

"Brother-in-law, sit back down, you're blocking my view, I can't see anything."

"Both of you stop talking and sit down to listen to what they have to say."

As the host began to speak, the whole family stared intently at the television screen.

Wang Susu quickly pulled Chen Ling over.

Seeing this, Chen Ling smiled and found it quite amusing that everyone was so serious and focused. So he got up and quietly took out the camera he had bought and took a picture.

Then he took his son from Wang Susu's arms, and the three of them sat together and started watching TV.

So the night before we bought the TV, the whole family skipped dinner and just sat around the TV watching the news.

(End of this chapter)