My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 335 The Wolf's Temptation, Deer Tracks

The snowfall the night before last wasn't heavy, but it had a significant impact.

The main reason is that the temperature in the mountains dropped too drastically all of a sudden, causing birds and small animals to come out to forage for food.

Taking advantage of this excellent hunting opportunity, Heiwa got busy again.

After obtaining Chen Ling's permission, they stayed in the mountains for three days to stock up on food for the mother wolves.

Before this, when there was nothing to do at home, Heiwa would occasionally go into the mountains to help the mother wolf hunt.

Chen Ling bluntly stated that the allure of the mother wolf was too great, causing Heiwa to think about running into the mountains every day.

This was obviously said in jest.

In fact, he himself felt that what Heiwa was doing was too troublesome and too tiring.

Therefore, during the three days that Heiwa stayed in the mountains, he drove his tractor to various markets, county towns, and slaughterhouses, picking up meat that people didn't want anymore.

After all, once the twelfth lunar month arrives, there's a lot of cooked meat available for sale, including chicken, duck, goose, pork, beef, mutton, rabbit, and all sorts of offal, bones, and other meats, which can be picked up very cheaply.

Chicken intestines and duck intestines, in particular, are now completely unwanted.

They never had the kind of duck products that Zhou Hei Ya (a famous braised duck brand) used to make; people even thought these were cheap, shoddy meats.

Chen Ling hauls a little bit every day, and he can almost fill the tractor's trailer.

After that, it was put back into the cave and left to be fed to the wolves in the mountains.

However, Chen Ling only went there once recently under the pretext of finding Heiwa to bring him back.

It did give the wolf pack a good meal.

The mother wolf was quite thin after nursing, almost skin and bones. Her milk ducts were flat and drooping, like two rows of dark buttons.

This is no way.

All the female wolves in the wolf pack became pregnant.

Wolf cubs need to drink milk, and the mother wolf has extremely high nutritional requirements, otherwise her milk supply will be insufficient.

Therefore, each female wolf has a very high food requirement.

The male wolves in the pack simply cannot satisfy them.

Although Heiwa often came into the mountains to help, it was to no avail in the long run.

Winter is too hard to endure.

This applies to both herbivorous wild animals and carnivorous predators.

This wolf pack didn't need to raise their cubs during the winter.

Heiwa was too powerful; he got all the main force of the wolf pack pregnant.

Then there's no way.

Heiwa had to do the things himself and bear the consequences himself.

Chen Ling, as the parent, was there to clean up the mess.

They fed the wolves a good meal.

The wolf cubs in the den have now been weaned and are eating some scraps of meat.

One meal consumed nearly 300 pounds of meat.

A significant amount of the remaining meat was also placed in the wolf den.

In this way, I won't have to worry about them for at least the next two weeks.

……

The fourth day of the twelfth lunar month.

The day after Chen Ling went into the mountains to feed the wolves.

As the first snow melted, he discovered footprints of two or three different kinds of prey around his farm.

There were deer tracks, pheasant tracks, and other random markings such as those of civets.

But they haven't had time to investigate thoroughly or set up the corresponding traps.

An unexpected guest arrived at the farm.

This person was none other than Liu Jiancheng, the original owner of the small courtyard in the south of the city where Chen Ling lived.

Liu Jiancheng's purpose in coming was quite simple.

When he brought his child to the farm last time, he learned that Chen Ling was a capable young man with extensive connections, so he wanted to build a good relationship and bought all the farm's eggs and duck eggs.

He said it was for a friend in the city.

Of course, he bought so much that he couldn't eat it all himself; it was definitely meant to be given away.

However, he felt that free-range eggs were not presentable enough, so he wasn't giving them to any high-ranking officials.

They were just some subordinates and ordinary friends.

But to my surprise, after it was sent out, the recipient praised it highly.

Even the leader who accidentally ate these chicken and duck eggs, upon learning that he was the one who sent them, scolded him lightly for not sending them to him, making him feel quite wronged.

As soon as I got back to my hometown, I went straight to the farm.

“Brother Fugui, your duck eggs are the best for making salted duck eggs. Each one is sandy and oily, bright red, and so fragrant. As for chicken eggs, they are best made into steamed eggs. Take a spoonful and put it in your mouth, oh my, it’s so delicious, I really don’t know how to describe it.”

Chen Ling led him to collect eggs.

The short man followed behind him and talked for a while. Despite his thick lips, he spoke very fast and gestured with his hands. He became more and more excited as he spoke.

"Brother, don't blame me for being nosy, but I feel it's a bit of a waste for you to be raising livestock in the village."

Honestly, I'm telling you the truth. You know our hometown better than I do. It's too isolated and backward. You're really wasting your talents here.

"If you moved this farm out of the city, even to the suburbs, I think the business would definitely be bigger than it is now."

Chen Ling just smiled when he heard this. He had heard it so many times that he was sick of it.

Unfortunately, he wasn't that kind of person.

Moreover, having lived two lifetimes, I've long since figured things out.

People like him still have a childlike heart deep down, dislike constraints, and prefer a carefree life.

Wang Xuecheng, the youngest son of Wang Jukun, had mentioned this to Chen Ling a while ago.

When they were little, they played together and went to the mountains to catch birds.

Because it was getting dark after they went up the mountain, Wang Xuecheng was afraid of being beaten when he went home, so he kept shouting to go back, which resulted in Chen Ling not catching any birds in the end.

Xiao Chenling was furious. He shoved Wang Xuecheng twice and ran down the mountain.

Chen Ling had long forgotten about this matter.

After hearing Wang Xuecheng talk about it, although he still couldn't remember, he immediately knew that Wang Xuecheng was not lying.

Because that's the kind of thing he's capable of doing.

He can get so angry over a bird or a pretty little fish.

When he was in high school, he would still be obsessed with catching fish and stealing birds during his holidays. He had already explored every flower, bird, insect, and fish around Chenwangzhuang.

They still enjoy it immensely.

That's just his personality.

Even Wang Susu said that his eyes lit up when he talked about these things, which shows that he really likes them.

Seeing that Chen Ling was just smiling and not saying anything, Liu Jiancheng was a little unsure of his temper, but still said according to his own idea: "If it really doesn't work out, and you don't want to go out, you can pickle these chicken and duck eggs into salted eggs. That should be fine, right?"

I saved about half of these raw eggs for my parents last time, but a lot of them broke on the way to the city. It's much easier to carry them as salted eggs, and salted eggs are delicious too.

"what?"

Chen Ling paused for a moment, looked up at him, and smiled: "That works. If you pickle them into salted eggs, it'll save me the trouble of taking them to the county town to sell."

Liu Jiancheng was speechless for a moment, thinking to himself, "You're only thinking about saving trouble, didn't you understand the business opportunity in what I said?"

Then he clearly told Chen Ling that many people in the city liked to eat his family's salted duck eggs.

The salted eggs are a bit inferior, but they're not bad either. At least their salted eggs taste better than others, that's for sure.

To everyone's surprise, Chen Ling didn't seem to care much and waved his hand, saying, "Hey, that's easy. You can take these eggs as gifts first. Let me know in advance when you want salted eggs. You can write to me or have someone pass on a message. Isn't your daughter in the same class as my sister-in-law?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Jiancheng no longer cared about Chen Ling's attitude and immediately smiled broadly, saying, "Alright then, I'll take more when I leave after the New Year. Can you prepare some now?"

He also knew that chickens and ducks didn't lay many eggs in winter.

Chen Ling simply said it was no problem, that they could prepare it, and that he could pick it up after the New Year.

He's happy to do business from home without having to go out.

These people give gifts before the New Year and again after the New Year.

After Liu Jiancheng left, Sun Yanhong came to inquire that afternoon, wanting to see if there was any wine that had been brewed.

The wine she had given away before was very well received, and now that the end of the year is approaching, she wants to give it away as a New Year's gift again.

“You’ve come at the right time.” Chen Ling got up and led her toward the barn at the back of the farm.

Because by this time, all the autumn wild fruit wines, such as grape wine, kiwi wine, and persimmon wine, are ready to be brewed.

Although the price is significantly lower than that of so-called medicinal wine, this can still be considered a source of income at the end of the year.

It's an income you can earn without leaving home.

As Chen Ling walked back, all the chubby little dogs in the doghouse behind him popped out and jumped around him, clinging to his trouser legs.

These little guys are getting fatter and fatter, more than half again as fat as the wolf cubs in the den. No wonder Chen Ling calls them little fat dogs all the time.

"Good heavens, Fugui, your dog has puppies?"

When Sun Yanhong saw these little guys, she immediately stopped and looked them over. The more she looked, the more she liked them. "They don't look that small anymore. They must be about two months old. Do you want to sell me two?"

She had long known how formidable Chen Ling's two dogs were, so now that she saw a puppy, there was no reason for her to let it go.

She understood that Chen Ling didn't have a good impression of her, so she directly stated that she wanted to spend money to buy it.

"I'm not selling it. You can't keep this dog."

Chen Ling didn't explain further to her, and gently kicked away the clumps of chubby little dogs that were surrounding his feet.

Seeing that she still wanted to ask, he said, "What we have now is just a few kinds of wild fruit wine that have been brewed. Come and choose. The first batch of medicinal wine will not be available until after Qingming Festival next year."

"Oh, you're selling this medicinal wine in batches? Why not release it all at once?" Sun Yanhong asked, puzzled. "If it's drinkable and can make money, why be so rigid?"

"That won't do. Herbal medicinal wines are different from others."

Chen Ling shook his head, explaining that there is a significant difference between using plant-based and animal-based medicinal herbs to make medicinal wine.

For example, musk, which could originally be sold as gold.

He also learned to make musk wine from his father-in-law. This musk wine will only be effective around this time next winter; it won't work if the time is too short.

"Okay, then I'll pick out some fruit wine first."

Sun Yanhong was a little disappointed. She gathered her permed, bird's nest-like curly hair and began to follow Chen Ling in opening the vat and tasting the fruit wine one after another.

In her opinion, these fruit wines are best given as gifts in the summer.

In winter, medicinal wine is more warming.

Moreover, drinking it and then taking a nap can nourish the body, leaving you feeling refreshed when you wake up, thus achieving the desired gift effect.

Unfortunately, it's not available now.

However, the wine Chen Ling served didn't disappoint her too much.

For example, the seemingly ordinary corn liquor and the Drunken Plum liquor that Chen Ling mentioned surprised her.

"These two kinds of wine are good, I'll have more."

Sun Yanhong pointed to the two large wine vats and glanced around: "I'll just take two jars of each of the other fruit wines."

"Row."

Chen Ling nodded and said, "But I must remind you, corn liquor is of ordinary price, but Drunken Plum liquor is expensive. It's made from a new variety of fruit tree that two professors discovered this autumn, the Qinling Drunken Plum. That stuff is very rare."

"It's alright, I'm not afraid of your high prices. I'm here to buy your wine, I'm prepared to be ripped off by you, kid."

Sun Yanhong grinned at him, completely unconcerned.

Since that's the case, Chen Ling didn't have much to say; as long as he could make money, that was fine.

"Looks like you made quite a bit of money buying pigs this year, Sister Hong!"

"Hmph, he's made a lot of money, but even if he has, he still has to come and give you money, right?"

Sun Yanhong's business was so busy that she didn't stop until the end of the year, buying pigs everywhere. But as the boss, she only had to worry about things when things were busy; otherwise, she didn't have to do any work.

Even so, he's still not as dashing as Chen Ling.

Selling a few bottles of wine can easily bring in another ten thousand yuan.

With the Chinese New Year approaching, Sun Yanhong, a long-time customer, had given him quite a bit of money. Chen Ling was unusually friendly, and when he saw her off, he even said, "Would you like some quail? I'm having quail for the New Year, so I'll give you a few if you want."

"Of course I want it, it's rare for you to be so generous."

Chen Ling caught a few for her and put them in the car. "My quails are delicious when fried. Just kill them and fry them in oil."

Sun Yanhong snorted and laughed: "I know, given your attitude this time, here's a piece of advice..."

Then he poked his head out of the car and muttered something under his breath.

A moment later, Chen Ling watched her leave and said to Wang Susu, who was carrying the child, "That woman is really capable. It's just that she spoke too late; I already knew about this."

"What did I tell you? It wasn't about that tomb raider, was it?"

"Yeah, that thing, it's actually a gang around here."

Chen Ling took her son into her arms and said, "Let's go home and count our money."

Wang Susu glanced at him and smiled gently. She had finished settling her accounts for the year long ago, but she didn't expect that she would be doing business again so close to the end of the year.

Selling eggs and alcohol brought in another ten thousand yuan.

(End of this chapter)