My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 328 The Whistleblower Sheep

Even if no medicine is prepared and it is prepared on-site, the efficacy of Jin Chuang Yao (a traditional Chinese medicine for treating wound injuries) is still undeniable.

After all, it was originally a medicine used to treat wounds on the battlefield.

When they arrived at Chen Ling's house, Wang Susu had just prepared the medicine and applied it to Gou Dan'er's wound, and Gou Dan'er immediately felt the pain lessen.

This surprised Chen Baoshuan greatly.

However, he used to be a man who never said anything nice, always complaining to his wife about everyone. Now, he didn't know what to say to thank Chen Ling and his wife.

His purplish-red face flushed red as he kept pulling Chen Ling to invite him and Wang Jusheng to his home for drinks.

But Chen Ling wasn't familiar with him before and hadn't had much interaction with him, so why would she go with him?

Aside from the Chen Ling and Wang Lixian families, Wang Jusheng only had nodding acquaintances with others and never went to their homes.

Chen Baoshuan was helpless. He knew that he had offended too many people before. The fact that they allowed him into their home to treat Gou Dan'er's injuries was because of the child, not because of him.

So he forced a few yuan into Chen Ling's hand and left sheepishly.

Chen Ling didn't refuse. He handed the money to Wang Susu, let her hold his son, and then went to get the car repaired with Wang Jusheng.

“Hey Mr. Zhong, no wonder your bicycle spokes are falling off. You must have just been riding this bicycle without taking care of it. Look at this, how long has it been since you oiled the chain? Your bicycle is even worse than mine.”

When Chen Ling laid the bicycle down to inspect it, he discovered that Zhong Xiaoyun's bicycle had more than one problem.

Zhong Xiaoyun chuckled when she heard this. She and her husband were both idiots. Of course, since they were both government employees, they didn't care much about such trivial matters. If the bicycle broke, they would just push it to the repair shop.

Now that Chen Ling said that, she quickly came over and started massaging his back and shoulders with a fawning expression. "Fugui, you're such a good person. Please fix any problems with my car. I'll bring you books next time too..."

Chen Ling was still full of complaints: "Who cares about your book? You only accept students. You try to bribe me without spending a penny and make me work for you for free. You're even more ruthless than Zhou Bapi."

Qin Qiumei smiled and said, "Fu Gui is right. Which student at Lingzhong doesn't know Xiao Yun's nickname 'book-collecting maniac'? I even discussed selling secondhand books with her before. It's a risk-free business, pure profit."

Upon hearing this, Zhong Xiaoyun immediately flew into a rage, "Fine, Amei, you're siding with Chen Fugui and not with me, aren't you? You're turning your back on me."

Everyone burst into laughter upon seeing this.

The little one in Wang Susu's arms loved being around people, and he giggled along when he saw them making a ruckus.

When Zhong Xiaoyun saw the little brat laughing, she immediately turned her attention to Wang Susu, glaring at her and saying, "You stinky Rui Rui, you're making fun of me too. Unless you kiss your auntie, I won't buy you any treats next time I come."

Rui Rui is a chubby, beautiful, and adorable baby. Everyone loves him. Now, whether it's Chen Ling's friends or Wang Susu's friends, they all play with him first when they come to our house.

Even though Zhong Xiaoyun was so close to scare him, he wasn't afraid. He turned his head and hummed at Zhong Xiaoyun, wiggling his little shoulders.

Everyone was stunned. "What does this mean? What is this kid trying to do?"

Wang Susu quickly guessed what her son meant, and said with a look of both laughter and tears, "This brat saw Sister Xiaoyun massaging A-Ling's shoulders, and he thought it was interesting, so he wants you to massage them for him too."

After she finished speaking, everyone looked at the chubby boy in her arms, who was still lying on his side, turning his head to face Zhong Xiaoyun with his little shoulders and back, humming and whimpering. It really did look like that.

This adorable act made everyone laugh heartily, and after laughing, they marveled at how clever the child was.

Zhong Xiaoyun rubbed her hands together and said fiercely, "Well, you little brat Rui Rui, you know how to order your aunt around. Let's see how your aunt will pinch you."

She pinched and tickled Rui Rui's itch, making Rui Rui giggle and wriggle around in Wang Susu's arms like a little bug.

They laughed and joked around, playing with the dolls, while Chen Ling and Wang Jusheng repaired bicycles nearby.

After a while, someone suddenly spoke loudly across from them. It was Qin Dongmei and her husband talking to a man with a non-local accent.

Qin Dongmei raised her voice especially high, as if afraid that others wouldn't hear her.

Her loud voice caused Qin Qiumei, who was in Chen Ling's yard, to change her expression, and her smile quickly faded.

Wang Susu and the others also fell silent.

Everyone knows that Qin Dongmei is deliberately speaking loudly so that Qin Qiumei can hear her.

Qin Dongmei is a very shrewish woman. She had bullied Wang Susu before, and in the end, this villain acted as if she had suffered a great injustice. After Chen Ling taught her a lesson, she regarded Chen Ling's family as enemies.

Seeing that her older sister Qin Qiumei kept going to Chen Ling's house, she also lost her temper with Qin Qiumei.

Last year, Qin Qiumei brought Wang Zhenzhen back after dark, but Wang Zhenzhen saw her and pointed at Qin Qiumei's nose, yelling at her and telling her not to go to their house again.

"Ignore her, she's heartless, you've been kind to her a hundred and one hundred times better..."

Zhong Xiaoyun was furious and felt indignant on her behalf.

Qin Qiumei shook her head: "Sigh, you say I'm 110% to her, but she thinks she's 120% to me."

She went to my mother's house to complain, saying that I didn't help her with this or that, and that I had been weak and sickly since childhood, so she had taken care of me for nothing all those years, and that all her good intentions had been taken for granted. In the end, she even went to be nice to Fugui, her enemy.

The problem is that my mother is quite biased towards her, and she always criticizes me.

When something happens at home, they don't call her, they call me first. I really don't know what to say.

Qin Dongmei has a sharp tongue; she's a natural shrew. She can make her older sister cry with her words. Qin Qiumei doesn't dare to say anything even worse, which makes her feel sad every time she thinks about it.

Her mother didn't help her, the eldest sister, but only said that she was an official and very capable, so she should take care of her younger sister. "You two are sisters," she said.

It’s really hard to put into words.

Wang Susu and Zhong Xiaoyun quickly comforted her.

Wang Jusheng couldn't help but sigh as he listened: "That's just the fate of most bosses."

He understands this the most deeply. Outsiders say that he had a son late in life, which is why his mother doesn't like him.

After all, in everyone's eyes, a son is the one who carries on the family line.

Actually, he's been like this since he was very young. The second son is cunning and doesn't do any work, but he's all sweet-talking, so in the end, he's the one who does everything.

He does the chores around the house.

The second son gets to enjoy the benefits.

Seeing the two of them sighing, Wang Susu changed the subject, saying, "I heard that Chunyuan met a man from out of town. He met him when our local tyrant was traveling. He's planning to open a fried dough stick stall in our village soon."

Chen Ling nodded: "Yeah, wasn't that the one who was talking just now? His accent was so heavy, I wonder where he came from."

Wang Jusheng raised an eyebrow upon hearing this: "Regardless of where they're from, what are they doing here selling food stalls? It's just a waste of time. It's not a holiday or the busy farming season, so who's going to buy their fried dough sticks?"

That's true. Now that it's the off-season for farming, everyone's not too busy to cook. Besides, they can cook a meal for themselves, so who would be willing to spend money to buy his fried dough sticks?

Seeing that Chen Ling agreed with his statement, Wang Jusheng continued, "Chunyuan is still the same as always, he likes to associate with these shady characters. If he wants to open a pharmacy, he should just do it properly. Why bring an outsider into the village? That guy doesn't look like a good person to me."

"Huh? You've met him before, Jusheng?"

"I've seen him before. He was thin and pale, like a ghost, with a pockmarked face. I don't know what Chun Yuan was thinking. When the Turtle Prince came out before, he even let someone stay at his house for a while."

I heard this guy even went to Baoshuan, but Baoshuan, seeing he wasn't a good person, kicked him out and wouldn't let him stay at his house no matter how much money he offered. "Wow, Baoshuan has improved quite a bit in the last six months." Chen Ling was a little surprised by Chen Baoshuan's reaction.

Who would have thought that the man who used to swindle his father's money for his funeral with his wife is now slowly starting to behave like a decent human being.

Wang Jusheng said seriously, "That's not true. People say that Baoshuan is cursed by pigs. He was attacked by wild boars twice in one year, but he was lucky to survive. Sister Xiufen is good at reading things. She read his fortune twice and told him to be good in the future. If he is attacked by wild boars again, he won't be so lucky."

"That's a bit far-fetched..."

Chen Ling smiled and said, "I heard that his wife is all talk and no action. Bao Shuan was injured by a wild boar twice and was bedridden. She didn't take care of him much. He still had to rely on Uncle San Gui and Xi Zi. Bao Shuan was heartbroken. He was lying in bed and couldn't move. He had nothing to do. So he had to think about who was really good to him. Gradually, without anyone telling him, he figured it out himself."

Although Chen Baoshuan's attitude towards Xizi changed a lot due to the influence of his words, it was also related to the fact that he had been bedridden for more than half a year.

However, Chen Sangui only told Chen Ling's family and didn't tell anyone else.

"Anyway, other people know how to change, but I think Chun Yuan is still restless."

……

Wang Chunyuan is indeed not very well-behaved.

Perhaps he was once a respectable figure in the township health center, and now he's unwilling to return to the village.

Anyway, he let that outsider live in his parents' old house and used it as a place to run a fried dough stick stall in the village.

This outsider was indeed a pale-faced, thin, middle-aged man, but upon closer inspection, his demeanor didn't resemble that of a farmer, nor did he seem like someone who spent his days tending a smoky stove and selling food.

However, this person didn't just sell fried dough sticks and fried bread; he also sold tofu pudding.

On the very first day, the tofu pudding was free; villagers could simply bring their bowls to get their own.

A large group of people, carrying bowls and jars, suddenly arrived.

Chen Ling didn't go the first day, but went on the second day. He wanted to buy some tofu to eat, but when he saw that the tofu was no good, he didn't say anything, turned around and left. Then he went to Chen Sangui's house to see how the medicine cabinet was being repaired. After that, he went back home to tidy up the yard.

At noon, Wang Susu brought her child over, and the whole family ate lunch at home instead of going back to the farm.

In the afternoon, Wang Chunyuan was seen wandering around the village with the middle-aged man who fried dough sticks, carrying a basket on his back. Sometimes they would go to villagers' homes, stay for a while, and then come out with bowls and basins for eating.

At that time, the young couple were wandering around the village with their child when they saw Wang Chunyuan leading people to several houses, most of which belonged to the Wang family. They carried out a basket of bowls and basins for eating without much effort.

Chen Ling narrowed his eyes upon seeing this, and deliberately greeted Chun Yuan with a curious question, asking what Chun Yuan was doing with these people.

Wang Chunyuan said that his brother saw that the fried dough sticks were not selling well in the village, so he was planning to go to the market to sell them. However, he didn't have enough bowls at the market, so he went to the villagers' homes to exchange fried dough sticks for some bowls and basins.

The pale-faced middle-aged man gave him a faint smile but said nothing.

After they left, Wang Susu asked softly, "A-Ling, did you realize they had something on their mind?"

"Yes, something must be going on." Chen Ling nodded. This behavior was very similar to those antique collectors who came to the countryside. This group was most active in the late 1980s, and there are still quite a few of them now. They are especially suitable for remote mountain villages where people are easily fooled.

However, this was just his guess, and he didn't say much. He gave Wang Susu a reassuring look: "Don't pay attention to them, just don't let them into our house."

But Wang Susu thought that her house was right across from Wang Chunyuan's, so she couldn't really trust him. She said, "How about we take Xiao Jin to the village to watch the house? I'm afraid Xiao Bai alone here at night won't be able to keep an eye on things."

"Okay, then let's bring Xiao Jin back tonight and let it keep Xiao Bai company at home."

Wang Susu also knew that Xiao Jin had the ability to summon a pack of dogs, so she could really rest assured that Xiao Jin was guarding the house in the village.

A calf is still a bull, and while it may be fierce when it's angry, it's less agile than a dog if a bad guy breaks into the house with a gun.

As for Heiwa, he can just stay at the farm and guard the doghouse and continue taking care of the puppies. He himself sleeps at the farm at night, and he and Ertuzi are more than capable of guarding the farm together.

So on the evening of the ninth day of the eleventh lunar month, Chen Ling brought the little white calf back from the farm and also called Xiao Jin over. They stayed in the old doghouse so it wouldn't get cold.

Two days passed peacefully.

After closing his fried dough stick stall in the afternoon, Wang Chunyuan still liked to take that man from out of town around the village.

Chen Ling heard from Wang Jusheng that they also went to the hill east of the reservoir, which was the old Taoist temple, which the villagers called the small temple.

This made Chen Ling increasingly suspicious that the man might be an antique dealer.

Next, an unexpected guest arrived at the farm, confirming his suspicions.

The person who came was none other than Fang Boming, the boyfriend of Wang Lixian's third daughter.

"Brother, that guy in your village is a habitual tomb raider. He often goes to the countryside to cheat people out of valuable old items. Remember to tell Xiaojing's father that if he comes to the house to exchange things, you must not fall for his tricks."

The little lamb said anxiously.

Chen Ling poured him a glass of water and asked him to sit down in the living room: "You and Sanni'er haven't left yet? You're quite persistent."

The little lamb blushed and said, "No, given Xiaojing's temper, she won't leave until she's accomplished something, so I can only listen to her."

"Oh, then shouldn't you call me uncle?" Chen Ling glanced at him.

Actually, he's two or three years younger than this little lamb.

This kid is quite afraid of dogs. When he saw Heiwa leading a bunch of puppies around in the yard, even though the puppies were cute, Heiwa's fierce and muscular appearance made him uneasy in the living room. Hearing Chen Ling's words, he hurriedly smiled bitterly and said, "Big brother, don't joke around. I'm here to talk about serious matters. After telling you this, I have to go back early."

Seeing his reaction, Chen Ling's smile faded, and he became serious, asking, "How do you know that person was a tomb raider?"

"That's what my boss said."

Little Sheep thought for a moment and said, "My boss said this guy is pretty amazing. He's dug up several graves in our county. I heard that last year he set up a tent and opened a fried dough stick stall in a village east of the county seat. He only lasted a month before leaving."

After they left, the villagers there discovered that the area under the tent had been dug up and the soil had been newly filled in. They dug it open and found a brick tomb inside.

Only then did the villagers realize that this man sold fried dough sticks during the day and dug graves at night, and they had no idea what treasures he had unearthed.

"Oh, so you've come to our village because we also have treasures?"

Chen Ling squinted and thought for a moment. It was said that this person met Wang Chunyuan a few months ago when the old turtles in the reservoir came out. Could it be that he heard the so-called legend of the Turtle King and became convinced that there was treasure here?

Regardless of whether there are ancient tombs in the village or whether treasures can be unearthed, this person's actions are not legitimate.

His cunning in getting villagers to bring bowls to serve tofu pudding, and his subsequent door-to-door exchange of fried dough sticks for bowls and basins, reveals that he was simply using the tactics of an antique dealer looking for bargains.

"Why don't you go directly to Sanni'er's father about this? If you went to his house to talk to him, he might have a better impression of you."

The little lamb's face immediately changed, and he waved his hands repeatedly: "I dare not, Xiaojing's family doesn't like me, they said they'll break my legs if I go again."

"Brother, didn't you also say that Xiaojing's younger sister is getting married this year, and that you advised me not to go?"

"Yes, that's true. Thank you for informing us. I'll put in a good word for you."

Chen Ling patted him on the shoulder with a smile and asked, "So you have a job in the county now? Who's your boss?"

(End of this chapter)