My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 330 First Taste of Power: Ornamental Fish Shine
However, he was too lazy to waste words with the two of them and simply said, "The millstone is unusable, it's broken."

Upon hearing this, Wang Chunyuan said sheepishly, "Oh, it's broken. Oh well, never mind."

If it were someone else, he might have followed up with questions like, "How did it break? Where did it break? And how can you fix it?"

Moreover, that millstone used to belong to the village's production team, so anyone could use it.

But after hearing what Chen Ling said, he dared not say anything more.

He was still a little afraid of this kid.

Especially after hearing his wife talk about how Chen Ling almost choked her and pushed her into a latrine, he realized that Chen Ling wasn't exactly known for his good temper before they got married, and now he knows some wealthy and powerful people.

He was a little intimidated by this kid.

To put it bluntly, he's just a bully who picks on the weak and fears the strong.

Fortunately, he had self-awareness.

Unlike his wife, Qin Dongmei, who, after learning that this guy from out of town came from a big city and knew some ways to make big money, unconsciously started to get cocky, as if their family could also make money quickly.

He's different; he's trying to win this guy over so he can learn how to make money.

For example, they could use the pretext of using a millstone to come to Chen Ling's house to inquire about the situation and see if there were any valuable items there.

At the same time, they would naturally check if the millstone was a valuable antique or something similar.

Sure enough, in the short time it took for Wang Chunyuan and Chen Ling to talk,

The out-of-towner behind him had his eyes darting around, having unintentionally looked around every part of Chen Ling's yard.

Finally, my gaze fell on the bed in the sunlight.

"Young man, your bed is quite beautiful. Did the village carpenter make it for you?"

The consumptive-looking middle-aged man walked to the bed, tapped his fingers lightly twice, and said, "It's getting cold. I've been thinking about getting a bed made. I heard there's a good carpenter in your village..."

Chen Ling ignored him as he muttered to himself and said to Wang Chunyuan, "Chunyuan, where are you from? You don't look like a farmer from our countryside. Why do you find everything so interesting?"

They'd come over to borrow a millstone, and if they saw a bed, they'd want to touch it. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were refugees fleeing famine…

These words stung Wang Chunyuan. He knew Chen Ling was unhappy, so he quickly apologized, "Well, I just saw your door was open and came over for a visit. Since you moved to the farm, you haven't come back often. We're still neighbors across the street, but I hardly ever see you."

Chen Ling wasn't buying it. Just a moment ago he was asking to borrow the millstone, but now he'd changed his tune. He waved his hand impatiently, "If you want to visit, come by yourself. Don't bring strangers. My child is too young; strangers are not welcome."

Seeing Chen Ling's ruthlessness, Wang Chunyuan became quite nervous, apologized to him a couple more times, and offered him cigarettes.

Upon hearing this, the out-of-towner slowly withdrew his hand from the bedside, told Chen Ling that he hadn't meant to disturb them, and then hurriedly left with Wang Chunyuan.

Chen Ling glanced at the two men's retreating figures and muttered under his breath, "Damn it, that thief has a good eye; he spotted my bed right away..."

This bed was made by Chen Sangui, but the wood used was not ordinary; it came from Dongtian wood, which has a very intricate and beautiful natural grain.

For someone who's in the antique business, seeing this kind of thing is like a country boy seeing a beautiful woman from a big city for the first time.

The allure and attraction are truly irresistible.

"But you think you can get something out of me? You're dreaming."

……

It is said that it is not the theft itself that is scary, but the fact that the thief has his eye on it.

Chen Ling's bad attitude towards them won't make them give up.

After all, this is a profitable business, so how can we give it up so easily?
Wang Chunyuan's home.

Wang Chunyuan and his wife sat with the out-of-towner.

Qin Dongmei, who already had slanted eyebrows and triangular eyes, with a sharp and shrewish look, was even more furious, her face turning blue. She complained to Wang Chunyuan, "How can you be so spineless? That damned man dared to embarrass you, and you just put up with it? It's only because I'm not a man that I'm not a man. If I were a real man, I would have slapped him across the face long ago if he dared to talk to me like that."

"You'll slap him? How can you slap him? He lifts a 300-pound ram like it's nothing, and you dare to slap him?"

Seeing that she was furious, Wang Chunyuan was even angrier than her and cursed, "A brainless woman who only knows how to throw tantrums."

"You heartless bastard, who are you calling brainless?"

"Knowing you can't fight them head-on, yet you still try to fight them head-on, what else is that but being brainless?"

Wang Chunyuan shouted with a dark expression, then glanced at the outsider and said with a forced smile, "Brother Hongqi, does my neighbor across the street have some kind of treasure? They've been acting really tough these past two years. I heard they can sell a jar of medicinal wine for several thousand yuan."

"Hmm... not quite a treasure, but it is indeed a valuable item."

Li Hongqi glanced at the couple and said slowly.

Upon hearing this, Wang Chunyuan and his wife immediately stopped arguing, perked up, and excitedly moved closer, whispering among themselves.

After muttering to himself for a while, Li Hongqi said something else.

Wang Chunyuan and his wife were all smiles, no longer looking as grim as before.

Li Hongqi, however, remained calm, as if he had seen this kind of thing many times before.

Wang Chunyuan was excited for a while, but then he suddenly remembered something, and his face turned grim again. He said dejectedly, "Brother Hongqi, I suddenly remembered something. This bed of his is not easy to get..."

"Why is it difficult? Didn't you say this kid basically doesn't live in the village?"

Li Hongqi frowned. He had also inquired about Chen Ling's situation and knew that his family lived on the farm. After Wang Cunye and his companion returned to Fenglei Town, the farm was empty.

Find the right opportunity, go to his house and get a bed; that's a piece of cake.

Even if we suspect them afterward, what can we do?
These days, there's no shortage of thieves who ransack drawers and cabinets.

How can you be so sure they stole it?

With so much money of yours, don't you attract unwanted attention?

"Sigh, Brother Hongqi, you still don't know enough about this kid."

"They do live on a farm outside the village and don't come back often. But even though they're not here, their dogs and cows are. Their animals are quite formidable. The dogs can hunt pigs and wolves, and the big white cow can guard the house."

Dogs and cows are both incredibly fierce; I'm afraid we might get in but not get out.

Wang Chunyuan became increasingly worried as he spoke, and said, "How about we look at other companies first? We can put this one on hold for now?"

His words made Qin Dongmei back down, as she knew how formidable Chen Ling's dog was.

Wang Chunyuan learned a lot from hearsay from the villagers.

She's different; she saw it with her own eyes.

Back then, Erzhu was defeated by a dog.

The pack of stray dogs in the village followed Chen Ling's two big dogs, one yellow and one black, and bit anyone they saw. They weren't afraid of guns and acted like madmen, biting fiercely.

Even now, recalling that scene still sends chills down her spine.

"What? A dog? What's there to be afraid of in a dog?"

Seeing their fearful expressions, Li Hongqi frowned and said, "Don't worry, I have medicine that can cure these crazy beasts and livestock. I guarantee they won't be able to make a sound when I call them. No matter how fierce they are, it won't work."

"No, no, those two motherless, dirty dogs are so slippery..."

Qin Dongmei shook her head directly: "I once put rat poison in meat buns at my doorstep, and those two dirty dogs wouldn't even look at them." Wang Chunyuan also said: "His cow is the same; it won't let strangers touch it. If you don't believe me, I'll take you to see it outside the village tomorrow. That kid also has a kite, and he trains kites differently than most people."

Others train eagles and kites with a fear of frightening them, but that kid was different. He used guns and bows and arrows to shoot at them, making the kites dodge..."

Li Hongqi found it increasingly bizarre. "Seriously? This sounds like a story. Who trains eagles like this? Aren't they afraid of getting shot?"

"Of course it's real! I've seen plenty of them in the village. If it's not too difficult, I can get you the bed set up in the next couple of nights. It's just a broken bed, made of wood. How would these country bumpkins know what's good or bad?"

Despite Wang Chunyuan's serious expression, Li Hongqi remained skeptical.

...Until the next day, under Wang Chunyuan's guidance, he waited outside the village from early morning until ten o'clock in the morning before he could see Chen Ling drawing his bow and shooting an arrow into the sky from the green wheat field outside the farm's orchard.

A yellow-clawed falcon in the sky, though not flying very high, skillfully drew dazzling trajectories, dodging the arrows one by one.

After shooting a few arrows, Chen Ling whistled, and the yellow-clawed falcon suddenly flapped its wings forcefully, rapidly rising into the air. Then, like a fighter jet practicing in the air, it rolled and performed various maneuvers in the air.

It turned out that after Chen Ling finished whistling, he picked up his hunting rifle and fired at the eagles in the sky.

But the eagle dodged them all, leaving them unharmed.

Li Hongqi stared in disbelief. "Could a human really train an eagle like that?"

"His two dogs are even more formidable. Let's not talk about the distant past, but just look at the recent past. His big black dog even fought a leopard on Nanshan Mountain."

Wang Chunyuan shook his head, feeling a chill run down his spine at the thought of that imposing, large black dog.

That guy looks honest and kind, not as fierce as the big yellow dog, but he's actually quite wicked.

Last year, when he visited Chen Ling's house, his bicycle was urinated on by that big black dog. For several days in a row, he was chased by the dog whenever he went out.

Such a powerful dog, other dogs should have been scared away by the smell of urine.

I don't know what trick that bad dog used to piss, but he was chased by dogs everywhere he went as soon as he went out on his bike, even in other villages and the county town.

No problem at all if I don't ride a bike.

He was terrified for a long time after he realized that the big black dog was the culprit.

I think this dog is a bit eerie.

After hearing what he said, Li Hongqi no longer held a disbelieving attitude as before, but cautiously said that he would buy some raw meat and come over to try the drug.

The scene of Chen Ling training the eagles just now left him feeling a little heavy-hearted.

I think this person might actually have some strange abilities.

If he can train an eagle like that, his dog must be incredibly well-trained.

The villagers' boast about hunting wolves, pigs, and leopards might actually be true...

After all, he was in the business of tomb raiding and had witnessed the skills of many extraordinary people. For example, some people could tell if there was a tomb just by smelling some soil, and they could determine the era by looking at the soil quality. He had to admit that they were amazing.

Now he also regards Chen Ling as one of those extraordinary folk figures.

However, after buying meat and poisoning it, they put it on the hillside farmland near the farm that night. The next morning, when they set up their fried dough stick stall, the village's stray dogs came to block the door and cause trouble.

A pack of dogs barked at him, making a mess of his fried dough stick stall and even overturning the oil pan.

Enraged, Li Hongqi tried to drive them away with sticks and stones, but to no avail.

In the end, not only did he accidentally get bitten on the leg by a dog, but he also got a lot of scolding from several sharp-tongued old women in the village.

Even the villagers who were unaware of the truth and still thought he was just a simple fried dough stick seller came to watch the spectacle.

Everyone thinks it's normal for outsiders to be bitten by dogs in a village, right?
They even dared to hit the village dog; being scolded is too lenient a punishment.

Who told you to wander around all day for no reason?

This left Li Hongqi speechless and feeling very frustrated.

He felt that after going to Chen Ling's house, he was unlucky in everything. He couldn't do anything else but touch Chen Ling's bed. He was chased by dogs as soon as he went out. It seemed that the village dogs were determined to fight him and were watching him day and night.

Enraged, he tried everything: poisoning, trapping, bombing, shooting—but nothing worked.

The dogs were like guerrillas, advancing when he retreated, harassing him when he was tired, which annoyed him greatly.

Indeed, this also restricted his nighttime activities.

Lately, I can't even leave the house, let alone wander around the village.

Wang Chunyuan was also frowning and sighing all day long: "I shouldn't have provoked him, his dog is too demonic."

The big black dog was so wicked; it didn't even show its face before the village dogs took care of them.

Li Hongqi also felt a little regretful, thinking that he shouldn't have drugged his dog to test it.

If humans can train eagles like that, dogs are easier to train than eagles, so they must be even smarter.

They might even smell their own scent on the meat that was drugged.

Sigh, I was careless after all.

Wang Chunyuan then worried for a while.

After that, he would bring food and drinks to Li Hongqi every day, and when he was bored, he would ask Li Hongqi to tell him stories about the outside world, such as which place had treasures and which dynasty had valuable treasures.

This is a very subtle attempt to elicit information from Li Hongqi.

……

Chen Ling was unaware of these things, and he had no idea that so many things had happened right under his nose recently.

He had no idea that a not-so-troublesome situation would be easily resolved by his own dog.

After realizing that his bed was being targeted, he retreated to his grotto.

It doesn't matter for the tables, chairs, and benches in the house that are made of the same wood; they are not noticeable after being painted.

With Xiao Jin around at night, he wasn't too worried.

So during this period, his life was leisurely and fulfilling.

I spend my days training eagles, and when it's warm, I take my baby and puppies out for a stroll.

Moreover, the ornamental fish fry are also outstanding.

He has already selected several promising young fish.

According to the knowledge about ornamental fish in the books I bought, these little fish are quite good in terms of both color and shape.

It's almost December, and it'll get cold, so it needs to be kept in a heated room.

It seems that building a heated kang (traditional Chinese bed) at home is quite necessary.

----

P.S.: Updates have been unstable for the past two days because I had to take leave and go back to my hometown for some business.

I didn't go home for National Day, thinking I wouldn't have to, but there was just too much to do, including farming. My parents can't do heavy work, so I needed to go back to help with the harvest and planting. After I got home, my nephews and brothers from my extended family got married one after another. If I hadn't come back, I could have just given a red envelope and that would have been fine, but now that I'm back, I have to go to all the weddings. Sigh.

(End of this chapter)