My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 341 Year-End
The sky finally cleared up.

A world covered in silver and white, the sun rises.

At dawn, the golden-red sunlight shone brightly, illuminating the snow-covered world in a wondrous and magnificent way.

After several days of heavy snow, it was so cold that breakfast at Chen Ling's family farm was no longer served so early.

Chen Baoshuan arrived early this morning, standing at the kitchen doorway, hands tucked into his pockets, leaning against the doorframe as he spoke.

In the kitchen, Chen Ling was only wearing a thick sweater and a cotton vest that Wang Susu had made for him. A little child was sitting on his lap. Compared to him, the little child was dressed very warmly, looking like a chubby little bear. He was round and plump, with a fair and rosy face and big, dark eyes that blinked and giggled as he stared at a bunch of puppies under the table.

Its little hands and legs are also restless, kicking and stomping around, never still for a moment.

"This child is so cute, he should be learning to walk after the New Year."

Chen Baoshuan stood at the door, trying to make conversation. Ever since he had tipped off Chen Ling a few times, he felt that he had gotten closer to Chen Ling, and he would take every opportunity to walk towards the farm.

Of course, he was also afraid of bothering Chen Ling, so most of the time he would bring Xizi to the farm to play with the dog and watch TV.

He came over this morning. Chen Sangui had made a wooden vehicle based on the blueprints drawn by Chen Ling, and he volunteered to deliver it.

"Yes, using this baby walker helps them learn to walk faster."

Chen Ling simply echoed this.

The reason Chen Baoshuan has been able to tip people off recently is twofold: firstly, he has nothing better to do and spends his days wandering around the village, and he probably knows that his old ways of doing things are no longer acceptable. Lately, he's been frequenting crowds and has overheard quite a bit of news.

Secondly, his wife, Xiangcao, was close to Guangyun's wife, who stayed at home. After returning home, she couldn't control her mouth and liked to gossip. His wife was also envious of Chen Ling's family's good life. Whenever they made explosives, she would tell Chen Baoshuan that the rich family's good days were numbered.

No matter how good a dog is at guarding the house, if you throw a homemade bomb and then set it on fire, it won't even have time to run away.

Little did she know that right after she said those words, Chen Baoshuan heard them and ran to the farm that very night to report them.

Therefore, Chen Ling also appreciated his kindness.

I just asked him to sit down and eat, and he was so happy.

However, the family of three was eating, and they were even feeding their child. He wasn't so oblivious as to say that he had already eaten, and then stood outside and chatted briefly with Chen Ling.

"Fugui, you're so clever! You even came up with a toy car for a little toddler learning to walk..."

"Hey, it's just something I made to save time."

Seeing Chen Ling's nonchalant expression, Chen Baoshuan chuckled at the door.

He now genuinely admires Chen Ling.

He didn't know before, but recently he deliberately got close to Chen Ling and learned some things that really shocked him.

Especially the incident of Guangyun's homemade explosives causing an accident at home. He had just come to tell me that something happened that very night, and it was caused by Guangyun's own dog. It really made him feel that this was something he couldn't think too deeply about.

I feel like Chen Ling is someone you really can't mess with; it's like he's blessed by God.

If you provoke him, you'll get into trouble.

Standing in front of the kitchen door for a while, waiting for Wang Susu to finish eating and bring the baby over, Chen Ling brought out the leftovers to feed the puppy. Chen Baoshuan quickly came over and whispered something, about how the last accident didn't kill the Guangyun family, and how Guangyun fell while shoveling snow this time, which was his bad luck, and so on.

The wrestling incident had nothing to do with Chen Ling.

But people like to put together unexpected events and make a big deal out of them.

Seeing that Chen Ling's reaction wasn't strong, Chen Baoshuan knew it was because the New Year was approaching. He didn't want to hear anything unpleasant during this festive season. Besides, "the twelfth lunar month is busy, the first lunar month is slow." People are busy preparing for the New Year in the twelfth lunar month, so he tactfully said goodbye and left.

……

Staying at home is indeed not a good time for Guangyun; it's not just bad luck.

The main problem is that the explosives incident backfired, making them look bad and a laughing stock, and they also have to be wary of Chen Ling's retaliation.

What if someone sneaks into their house at night, throws in some explosives, or sets it on fire? Their whole family would be wiped out.

When people are filled with fear and anxiety, they become nervous and prone to accidents. They are also easily distracted and may even slip and fall while walking.

But this small matter made the Lao Guang family feel increasingly "hindered" by Chen Ling's family.

Once the weather cleared up, he had his cousin's family pull a cart and take them to the city.

He came to the hospital partly to avoid disaster and to escape Chen Ling's revenge.

Although the twelfth lunar month was busy, a group of onlookers who loved watching the drama unfold were very interested and kept bringing up the matter over and over again every day.

This is too mysterious. The wealthy family is blessed with good fortune, and all the bad luck has been sent to the Guangyun family.

It seems the old Chen family patriarch is still wielding his power; if this outsider tries to cause trouble in Chenwangzhuang, he'll be sent straight away.

Many people who were close to Chen Ling felt relieved.

It was as if they had won a battle.

Every evening, he would come to the farm and talk animatedly and passionately, while also watching TV at Chen Ling's house.

……

As the days go by, the festive atmosphere of the New Year grows stronger every day.

This year there have been few sunny days and low temperatures, so the snow melted very slowly. The mountain roads, after being trampled on several times, became slippery and extremely difficult to traverse.

Seeing this, Chen Ling drove his oxcart alone into the city to buy some New Year's goods and return home.

The saying goes, "Tight in the twelfth lunar month, slow in the first lunar month, and neither tight nor slow in the eleventh lunar month," and it's absolutely true.

I didn't feel anything last year, but having a baby this year is definitely different. The closer it gets to the end of the year, the busier I feel.

The more you prepare, the more you'll need to prepare.

In the twelfth lunar month, we first prepare smoked meat, make sausages, pickle fish and chicken, and also make roasted nuts and seeds, roasted melon seeds, roasted peanuts, popcorn, etc. Then there are fried foods, fried walnut cakes, fried fish, fried tofu, and rice cakes, as well as pastries for offerings.

Finally, steamed buns are made, and minced meat is used to make dumplings.

Although the people in the mountains are poor, as long as the conditions are good this year, they will go to great lengths to prepare everything for the New Year, no matter how troublesome or tiring it may be.

If you have a good New Year, the whole year will be good.

On the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Wang Lixian's family brought some roasted chestnuts and some dried chestnuts for Chen Ling to use in cooking.

During her winter vacation, Wu Ni'er stayed at home. After Si Ni'er got married, she and her sister Da Ni'er liked to come and visit Wang Susu.

When they arrived today, they played with Rui Rui around the stroller.

That brat Rui Rui likes to hug young and pretty girls.

But it doesn't work for younger girls like Wang Zhenzhen. He likes to make a fuss, but he's afraid of others making a fuss for him, so he resists it. He hides when he sees Wang Zhenzhen and Xiao Lizi, burying his head in his mother's arms and refusing to come out.

But he really liked looking for Da Ni'er, Wu Ni'er, and even Qin Qiumei.

At this moment, the TV was on in the room. Da Ni'er was holding the baby, and Wu Ni'er was counting on her fingers as she said, "Chestnuts are so delicious! Uncle Fugui made a lot of delicious food last year, and I still remember it all: chestnut stewed chicken, chestnut braised pork ribs, chestnut braised mutton... and Aunt Su Su made chestnut cake and chestnut steamed buns. I can't find such delicious food at school or in big cities."

She was telling the truth, which made everyone a little hungry.

Wang Lixian crossed his legs, cracked sunflower seeds, and laughed, "They say there's no shortage of meat in the twelfth lunar month, and they even slaughtered a pig for the New Year. But after Wu Ni'er said that, I'm still drooling a little."

"Fifth Sister, don't you like cooking? Why don't you learn a few tricks from Uncle Fugui? We can all try them out when we get back!" Liu Nier exclaimed.

Wu Ni glared at the child, then reached out and grabbed his ear, saying, "You've already ordered around your older sister, now you want to order me around, huh?"

Liu Ni'er quickly begged for forgiveness with a grin.

Seeing the siblings playfully bickering, Chen Ling and his wife laughed and said, "Come to our house to eat whatever you want."

The three siblings were all embarrassed.

Chen Ling and Wang Susu treated these children very well, and they were all sensible, so naturally they didn't want to come over for meals all the time.

At this moment, Wang Lixian slapped his thigh: "Oh no, I forgot to bring you the pork. You didn't slaughter a pig this year, so we didn't get to eat any stew or make any cured meat. This won't do..."

He was about to go back to get it when Chen Ling quickly stopped him.

But Wang Lixian was stopped. After a while, Wang Jusheng and his family of four arrived, bringing the pork after all.

He didn't say anything else when he arrived, but just smiled and said, "Fugui, here's some meat for you. Make sure you get plenty of sausages and cured meat. Your cooking is delicious, so you'll have to share some with our family later."

Since Wang Jusheng and his wife had said so, what could Chen Ling say? He had to accept it.

"Yes, make more; these things can be stored for a while."

"Oh my, you know what, just thinking about all the sausages and cured meat that Fugui gave me last year, steamed sausages, stir-fried cured meat with garlic sprouts, makes me crave them again."

Wang Susu also smiled and said, "A-Ling just finished marinating the fish and making preserved fish these past few days. She hasn't had time to prepare anything else yet."

Fish pickled in the twelfth lunar month is called "cured fish".

This year, our fish farming has been really good. We harvested a lot of fish, and they were all big. We've pickled and dried them into dried fish, which should be enough to last us for more than half a year next year.

In the twelfth lunar month, the temperature is low, so the fish can be dried in the sun every day without spoiling.

After drying, store it away in a dry place; it can be preserved for a long time.

There's one problem: it always attracts stray cats and birds that want to steal its food.

Wildcats, magpies, crows—they all come every day. Even though Er Tuzi chases them away every day, and kills so many birds that he hangs several strings of them on the tree, they still like to come and steal food.

Wang Lixian raised his eyebrows: "Hey, this cured fish is not bad. Our village doesn't make much cured fish, each family only makes about 20 catties at most. Jinmen Village and Taoshugou make more. Erni'er brought some back before, and it tastes just as good as pork."

"Yes, yes, yes, the pickled fish from Second Sister's place is delicious too. Dad, Mom, let's make some pickled fish this year too."

Wu Nier made a suggestion, and Liu Nier smiled broadly and agreed.

Wang Jusheng and his family were also tempted.

Before leaving, Chen Ling gave both families their seasoning for pickled fish and taught them how to make it taste better.

The next day, Chen Ling took Heiwa to the mountains and fed the wolf pack more than 300 jin of meat. He left about 300 jin, as meat doesn't spoil easily in winter and this amount of meat would be enough for them to eat until the New Year.

The cubs in the wolf den have grown up and are now completely weaned and eating meat.

This little guy, who grew up in a wolf den, has already shown his wolfish nature at a young age, even though his father is the big black dog Heiwa.

It doesn't look like a sibling to the chubby little dog at home at all; it looks more like a little wolf cub.

However, they were very friendly to Heiwa and Chen Ling, coming over to play and frolic around them, just like wolves, they didn't like to wag their tails.

After feeding them, Chen Ling dug up a basket of winter bamboo shoots to take back.

Although it's called winter bamboo shoots, they are actually fresh bamboo shoots from the cave.

But just like winter bamboo shoots, Chen Ling transformed the water vapor in the cave into a winter environment to cultivate special plants and animals.

In the mountains here, there are relatively few winter bamboo shoots, mainly because the winters are too cold. Winter bamboo shoots only grow for a very short period in the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, and the harvest is often small.

Chen Ling brought back so many winter bamboo shoots, which made Wang Susu extremely happy.

Because this stuff is easier to dig up in Fenglei Town, where there are more waterways around Lutou Mountain and the climate is more humid than here. Before Wang Susu got married, she could eat winter bamboo shoots every winter.

"These winter bamboo shoots are a real treat! They taste even better than fresh bamboo shoots. Ah Ling, you managed to bring back so many! We're in for a treat this Chinese New Year..."

The young wife smiled as she held the baby in one arm and brushed the snow off Chen Ling's clothes with the other.

"That's right. For lunch, we have stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork slices, and for dinner, we have fish and bamboo shoot soup. We'll have a few good meals like that." Chen Ling took off his thick hat and put it on his wife's head, which drew a scolding from her.

Then they put the doll into the stroller and started tidying up.

Peel off the bamboo shoots, and you'll find them small and firm, with a slightly yellowish hue and a delicate, refreshing aroma that's very pleasant.

Fresh winter bamboo shoots, whether stir-fried on their own or mixed with various meats, are a rare delicacy.

The young couple ate it twice in a row and never got tired of it.

The next morning, I diced the bamboo shoots, added them to the minced meat, wrapped them in buns, and steamed them. The result was incredibly delicious and fragrant, like tasting the flavor of spring in winter, making me want to swallow my tongue.

(End of this chapter)