My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 322 Population Matching and Hybridization
It must be said that television sets are very attractive.

That night, they watched until nearly midnight, and only when the TV programs stopped did the family reluctantly leave.

During this time, even Chen Ling gradually became extremely engrossed in watching along with his family.

Don't be fooled by the fact that some parts of the TV dramas from this period were fake and the special effects were rough; they were still much better than those produced later.

Journey to the West, in particular, is a classic among classics.

No matter which episode or scene it is, you can still watch it without any loss of continuity or feeling any abruptness.

That night.

My father-in-law and the others have gone back to their village.

After Wang Susu and her son fell asleep, Chen Ling entered the cave to organize all the gains from his trip to Tiannan City.

Before tidying up, he went to check on the leopard with the broken tail.

This guy has been eating and drinking well in the cave lately. Chen Ling even built it a mountain that's neither too high nor too low, leaving a spacious cave for it to nest in. It can be said that it's living a very comfortable life.

Moreover, in order to prevent it from losing its wildness, Chen Ling gradually stopped feeding it.

A stream was brought in not far from Leopard Mountain, and some fish were released into it.

In the forest where it lives, there are also some birds and small animals.

If it gets hungry, just let it hunt for itself.

Although leopards have a large appetite, that's what Chen Ling fears least.

Whether it's fish or any other kind of meat, you can have whatever you want. Living right here in the mountains, there's absolutely no need to worry about this issue.

"It feels like a wildlife sanctuary."

Chen Ling glanced at the tailless leopard that was watching him warily and fearfully at the cave entrance, and a strange feeling rose in his heart.

"I have to say, dividing the vacant area into protected plots doesn't feel so bad."

"The only problem is that the interior of the cave is still a bit too small. If we put too many large beasts in there, they won't have enough room to move around."

After some thought, Chen Ling realized that the cave was only a little over 100 acres in size, so he had to abandon the idea for the time being.

Then he walked up to the cave, controlled the leopard to keep it from moving, and gave it a good pat.

I experienced the thrill of petting a big cat.

Only then, amidst the terrified and angry gaze of the tailless leopard, did it slip away.

……

In front of the thatched house, flowers are red, willows are green, and bamboo groves are lush, creating a beautiful scene that remains spring-like all year round.

Chen Ling was the first to arrive at a large water vat, which contained several sturgeon fry.

When Chen Ling first bought them, they were half-dead and looked like they were about to die, but they have long since recovered.

He slapped the water tank twice with a "bang," and the fish were so frightened that they swam wildly, stirring the water tank and splashing water everywhere.

"This thing is dangerous; it has to be kept in a large river."

Chen Ling has now confirmed that the giant fish in the reservoir is a huge Chinese sturgeon. However, compared to the sturgeon fry he bought, the fish in the reservoir is much more ferocious in appearance. Its body is very hard, and its dorsal fin is angular, like the spine of a dinosaur, with serrated depressions and protrusions.

On the night he discovered the strange fish in the reservoir, he touched its body surface, which was as hard as if it were covered with scales made of hard bones.

This feeling is correct.

Because the Chinese sturgeon is a bony fish, the larger it grows, the rougher and harder its body surface becomes.

Moreover, during their casual conversation, Chen Ling asked several ornamental fish shop owners questions about the Chinese sturgeon.

He also bought some books about fish and looked them up.

It was later learned that this type of fish existed as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, and it was found not only in the Yangtze River, but also in other major rivers such as the Yellow River, the Pearl River, and even some major rivers in Northeast and Southwest China.

However, their numbers decreased sharply in modern times, and they became extinct in various water systems one after another.

"Alright, let's rest in the cave for now. When the place gets bigger, we'll build a big river for you."

The fishpond and turtle pond behind the thatched hut have been merged into a large lake by Chen Ling.

Ornamental fish such as goldfish and koi should not be placed inside.

Because it will be eaten.

Sturgeon fry should not be put in there either.

Chen Ling was too lazy to find a new place to raise fish, so he put them into the lotus pond under the stone arch bridge.

Sturgeon are on the left side of the bridge, and ornamental fish are on the right side.

Other small trinkets, such as baby salamanders, were thrown into the small irrigation ditches in front of and behind the thatched hut.

Anyway, now that his control over the cave has gradually increased, he hasn't needed to draw water from the lotus pond for a long time. With a thought, he can fill a large vat with water.

"Hmm, this won't work either; we need to refine it further."

Standing by the lotus pond, Chen Ling inhaled the fragrance of the lotus flowers and suddenly realized that simply throwing them in and waiting for them to reproduce and mutate on their own seemed a bit passive.

"Koi are ornamental fish bred from carp. So I'll put a few carp into the koi group. The carp in Dongtian have been raised for a long time, so they must be of excellent quality. If they are bred together with koi, the probability of producing good fry will be higher."

"The same principle applies to goldfish, which are ornamental fish bred from mutated crucian carp. So I would put a few crucian carp into the goldfish. This combination might be more reasonable and produce better fish faster."

His idea is 100% feasible.

Occasionally, ordinary-colored carp and crucian carp will appear among the goldfish and koi schools; this is a phenomenon known as atavism.

High-yield hybrid crucian carp and high-backed crucian carp are also bred through this kind of crossbreeding method.

Without hesitation, Chen Ling waved his hand, summoning some carp and crucian carp from the distant lake and tossing them into the lotus pond.

"Let's keep goldfish and koi together for now. When a mutation occurs, we can divide them into separate areas for focused breeding."

After finishing with the fish, Chen Ling called over the parrots to take a look. Seeing that they were lively and energetic, already looking for a place to nest, Chen Ling stopped paying attention to them.

I was thinking of keeping it in the cave for a while before taking it out at a suitable time.

This parrot isn't expected to do anything; it's simply for Wang Susu and her child to keep as a pet.

……

It's only been a few days since I got home from the city, and it's already the first day of the tenth lunar month.

This day is the anniversary of the death of Chen Ling's father, Chen Juncai.

Chen Ling's precious son turned four months old on this day.

The little thing is very happy all day long.

It was late autumn, and there was still some fog that morning. Chen Ling and his wife dressed their son in a cotton coat early and took a basket to the mountain to burn paper money.

Now the Chen family is living a better and better life, and that brat Rui Rui is growing up day by day.

Chen Juncai would be satisfied if he knew this in the afterlife.

After burning the paper money and descending the mountain, one could see that a few families had already begun planting wheat in the open fields. Planting wheat required choosing the right time and preparing the land.

Farming isn't just about sowing seeds and waiting for them to sprout.

The land is dry, or people are too lazy to plow it, so the ground is hard.

Often, the seedlings emerge in small numbers.

Furthermore, the roots are not deep, and the wheat seedlings may freeze to death in the cold mornings and evenings on the mountain.

So everyone will be busy for a few more days.

"Fugui, you're up early! When are you going to buy the tractor? You've been watching TV for a while now. When are you going to get a tractor too?"

When they arrived at Er Mao Lu's field, Er Mao Lu and his wife, along with their three sons, were sitting at the edge of the field discussing something, holding farm tools. They greeted Chen Ling with smiles.

"I'm not in a hurry to buy it. I just got back from the city. I need to stay home with the kids and rest for a few days."

Chen Ling stopped, holding her son, while Wang Susu, carrying a basket, started talking to Er Maolu's wife.

"Grandpa, I caught so many big grasshoppers. Why don't you take them back and roast them for Rui Rui?"

A little boy came running from a distance. He was Er Maolu's grandson, holding a string of grasshoppers, and jumping around in front of Chen Ling to please him.

“Rui Rui has just started teething and can’t eat this. You can have it.”

Chen Ling smiled and patted his head. These little devils were very clever. Knowing that his family had a TV, they all tried their best to please him so that he could come to his house to watch TV. They would try to win his favor by giving him gifts.

Some even stole chicken and duck eggs from their homes and delivered them to him, leaving him both amused and exasperated.

It's like they won't be allowed to see it if they don't send something.

He knew that their parents had told them not to go to Chenling Farm to watch TV so often, because the electricity bill was so expensive, which made the kids feel embarrassed.

I just bought a TV a couple of days ago, and these kids run to Chen Ling's house as soon as they get out of school. They don't go home for meals, and their parents have to drag them home by the ears and necks when it's time to eat.

Otherwise, they wouldn't want to leave if there were exciting TV shows to watch.

"Uncle Fugui, will you be going hiking in the mountains again soon? There are lots of wild animals in the mountains lately, it's a good time to catch them. We took a lot of pictures of squirrels and leopards, and Uncle Lixian almost caught a fox."

Er Mao Lu's youngest son also came over and asked.

"Let's talk about it later. We have to get the wheat planted first, and then we'll get through this busy period."

After Chen Ling wiped out three groups of wild boars, he stopped rushing into the mountains.

He mainly wanted to take it slow and wait for the female leopard to reappear.

Otherwise, constantly taking the dog around in the mountains might frighten the leopards, making them afraid to come near again.

When Ermaolv heard them talking about running wild boars in the mountains, he chimed in, "Didn't you catch quite a few wild boars? The money from selling those wild boars alone could buy a tractor, right?"

"That's not enough. Six pigs aren't enough to buy a tractor. A tractor costs at least five or six thousand yuan these days, and we'll have to add some more money."

"What are you saying, kid? Even if you add money, how much can you add? Who can compare to you, beating six pigs in one go? You make money so fast, it makes other people very envious."

Chenwangzhuang has hunted quite a few wild boars this year, and they know what price wild boars fetch at the slaughterhouse. Without Chen Ling having to announce it, someone with nothing better to do will naturally do the math for him.

"With you in the lead, everyone is discussing that once winter comes and it snows this year, we'll go into the mountains to set traps and hunt pigs. There have been so many pigs these past two years."

"Okay, count me in then."

The wild boar infestation in the past two years is not actually due to Chen Ling leaking the spiritual water from the cave.

Is there any reason for this? Yes, there is, but it only accounts for a small part.

The main reason is that over ten years ago, the number of local hunters gradually decreased, fewer people went into the mountains to hunt, and the frequent mining in Wangbacheng in recent years scared away large wild animals such as jackals and leopards.

For various reasons, the number of natural predators of wild boars has decreased.

So naturally, the current overabundance has occurred.

Wild boars usually roam freely in the mountains and are not particularly noticeable.

We occasionally encountered a herd of wild boars, but we didn't think much of it, as if there weren't many wild boars around.

But in reality, when they frequently appear near villages and in front of people...

The number of wild boars in the mountains has long exceeded expectations.

It's just that this thing isn't worth cultivating. There's not much of a market for second-generation wild boars or anything like that right now. Otherwise, Chen Ling would definitely have tried to get one.

……

“Rui Rui is a bit older now, and his parents will be going home soon. It would be better if you could go to the mountains less often.”

On the way home, Wang Susu clung tightly to him, linked her arm with his, and whispered something.

The two elders have been taking care of them here for more than half a year, so how can they let them stay at their daughter and son-in-law's house forever?

Anyone who didn't know better would think that Wang Qingwen and his brother didn't care about their elderly parents and had sent them to their daughter's house.

It wouldn't be good if word got out.

Chen Ling had no objection to this. Although it was better for his father-in-law's family to live here, some things in life are not so simple.

"Okay, if you say you're not going, then I won't go. I'll stay home with you and Rui Rui."

Wang Susu meant that she didn't want him to go deep into the mountains, where he would be gone for several days at a time, which made her feel uneasy.

Chen Ling understood.

It's fine if you don't go to the mountains; you can just stay home, brew wine, raise fish, and make birdcages or something.

I'll go to the mule and horse market again in a while and buy a few head of livestock.

While talking to Wang Susu, I suddenly felt my son in my arms perk up and blink his little eyes, looking in one direction.

Chen Ling looked over and saw two red-crowned cranes slowly walking towards him from the village.

"Hey, big guy, out here with your wife again, trying to freeload off us?"

Chen Ling walked over with a smile, grabbed the big guy's wings, and led him home: "Come on, come on, it's been a long time. Come to my house for dinner today."

Seeing him like this, Wang Susu also grabbed the wing of another red-crowned crane, "Don't you always chase them away? Why do you want to bring them home again? They'll keep trying to steal fish if they go home."

"It's getting cold, and I reckon they'll be flying away soon. I just bought a camera, so I need to take it back home quickly to take some pictures. Otherwise, once they fly away, I don't know if they'll come back next year."

Wang Susu thought about what Chen Ling said and realized it made sense.

Just then, little Rui Rui saw his parents playing and petting the red-crowned cranes, and he stretched out his little hands, humming as if he wanted to touch the two big birds.

Wang Susu picked him up, took his little hand and touched the feathers of the two red-crowned cranes, as well as their red bald heads. She chuckled and said, "Rui Rui, tell them to remember to come back next year. I'll let you eat some fish if you have to."

The little guy had no idea what his mother was talking about. Hearing the calls of the red-crowned cranes and seeing them constantly moving away, he became even more excited, laughing and shouting. He grabbed his little hands and tried to pull them out. No one knew where the baby who was still nursing got the strength, but he managed to pluck two feathers from the big red-crowned crane. The crane was so frightened that it took long strides, spread its wings, and ran away wildly while screeching.

However, these two big birds were also greedy, eyeing the fish at the farm. Even though the little guy tugged at their feathers and hurt them, they weren't scared away and didn't run far enough to be afraid to go over.

Chen Ling used the fish to entice them, and they obediently came over and patiently accompanied the family for a photo.

(End of this chapter)