My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 358 Another Player Arrives

Chen Ling truly did not believe Sun Yanhong.

He does have profitable businesses, but this woman is very cunning. Even her enthusiasm and friendliness always seem fake and hypocritical.

Even if she was sincere this time, Chen Ling already had a stereotype of her.

My initial impression of her was too strong, so I don't want to do business with her anymore.

Helping to sell alcohol is out of the question.

"We still need to check on Little Sheep first. If he's capable, we can give him the other seafood as well."

After Sun Yanhong left, Chen Ling paced around the three newly opened ponds in the orchard with his hands behind his back, thinking to himself, "If Little Sheep can't do it, I'll find someone else to do it."

Chen Ling thought that now that he had started raising ornamental fish, he could gradually start raising other aquatic products as well.

Almost everyone knows that he raises ornamental fish.

As for raising fine-scaled salmon and red-lipped barbs, Han Ninggui, Feng Yi, and others suggested that he do it last year.

The lynx was mentioned as early as last spring when the farm was newly built.

He said he has the space and can raise fish well, it's just like playing around for him anyway, so he was advised to expand the scale of his fish farming, which is better than farming.

Chen Ling took this advice to heart.

Given that Wang Susu was only two or three months away from giving birth, Chen Ling didn't do anything reckless.

This year is different; my wife is pregnant with our second child.

Thinking that he had at least two children, and if there were more, it would be hard to say, Chen Ling suddenly became motivated.

If he wants to give his wife and children a better life in the future, he should get moving.

Otherwise, the longer it goes on, the faster the money will depreciate. Given Wang Susu's frugal nature, she definitely won't be willing to spend the money to buy a car for a trip.

We still need to save money as soon as possible.

"It's 1997 now, and starting this year, prices are going to skyrocket."

Looking at the new batch of ornamental fish fry released into the pond, Chen Ling secretly thought that in addition to ornamental fish, he should also find an opportunity to send out some other aquatic products this year.

What impressed him most was that after he was demobilized in 1997, he went to the market to buy fish to cook. The fish was very expensive, and the price was drastically different from what it had been a few years earlier. He couldn't bear to buy it, so he found a place to catch two fish to satisfy his craving.

"This year, we'll try raising a few batches in a few irrigation ditches first, and sell them alongside ornamental fish."

The ornamental fish that Little Sheep is sending to the city now are ordinary fish, which are the lower end of the three grades Chen Ling has categorized.

High-end ornamental fish are expensive, so there are few buyers, and raising them takes time and cannot be done overnight.

Chen Ling's ordinary ornamental fish are priced between 20 and 30 yuan each.

Its appearance is enough to fool ordinary people, making those who don't know anything about ornamental fish think it's beautiful and amazing.

Given the considerable demand for ornamental fish in this price range, sending them to several cities would be sufficient to meet the demand.

One or two deliveries a month is enough.

The rest of the business consisted of selling salted eggs and alcohol.

There's no need to overthink the wine; it can't be sold in large quantities right now, nor is it necessary to sell it in large quantities.

As for the salted egg business, Liu Jiancheng's father-in-law and mother-in-law set up a stall to sell it.

They also recognized the business opportunities in it.

His father-in-law and mother-in-law were supposed to retire this year.

As a result, I unintentionally gave some salted eggs as New Year's gifts before the Lunar New Year. After the New Year, people kept asking about them, so I tried to start this business.

At first, I sold to acquaintances from home, and I was very careful in doing so.

But after selling out their goods quickly and seeing so much money, they became bolder.

Liu Jiancheng managed to take over all of Chen Ling's salted eggs.

Fearing that others would steal his business, Liu Jiancheng proactively signed a supply and sales agreement with Chen Ling.

Now, Chen Ling has also delegated the task of delivering salted eggs to Little Sheep.

Liu Jiancheng found the back-and-forth trips troublesome, and besides, he didn't care about the shipping costs.

This made the little lamb extremely grateful to Chen Ling.

When I brought my ornamental fish to ship some time ago, I also brought Sanni'er with me.

Sanni'er was quite embarrassed when she saw Chen Ling. She stammered "Uncle Fugui" and then didn't know what to say next.

After all, her reputation in the past two years has been even worse than Chen Ling's before.

And since she's a young woman, the villagers say she's promiscuous and dissolute, living with a man before marriage, which is really offensive.

In addition, she was arrogant and used to think that marrying a son-in-law from a big city was like finding a rich man, so she looked down on the villagers.

Now that her wealthy husband is useless and doesn't dare to go home, she's too ashamed to go home either, so she has no choice but to beg Chen Ling to help Little Sheep with her business.

It left her with mixed feelings.

Fortunately, Chen Ling didn't take her to heart. She was Wang Lixian's daughter after all. No matter how ungrateful she was, she wasn't his daughter, so he wouldn't embarrass San Ni'er.

Wang Susu has always been kind and gentle. She was already very happy to see that Sannier was willing to come to her house. She felt that it wouldn't be long before Sannier returned to her own home. She was very happy for her sister-in-law, Yuzhi.

This flattered Sannier.

……

In the bright sunshine of March, villagers began planting sweet potato vines in small plots of farmland on the slopes and along the ditches.

Chen Ling led the horse, along with a pack of dogs and cows, to the old river bend to brush their coats, and occasionally took out a slingshot to shoot at the birds in the sky.

A gentle breeze carries the fragrance of spring flowers and grasses. The sun at this time of year is not harsh at all, and its warmth on people is very comfortable. Looking around, flowers and grasses have filled the fields and roadsides. The previous scene of withered grass is gone. Some ground birds that are not good at flying and lizards run and jump among the green grass. Everywhere is a scene full of vitality.

As the weather warms up, the dogs will be shedding their winter coats, and these past few days, the farm has been filled with shed dog hair flying everywhere.

Chen Ling had no choice but to bring them out and remove their fur while brushing the cattle and horses.

This hair removal is mainly for the two black babies.

The puppies are still small. Although they are as big as adult dogs, they are only five months old. Their puppy fur has not been completely replaced yet, and their fur is soft, unlike the coarse fur of adult dogs. They will not shed large clumps of fur like the two black dogs.

"Moo~"

Upon arriving at the old river bend and seeing the water, the little white calf couldn't wait to bellow happily and jump into the water.

The little blue horse, eager to compete for attention, splashed around in the water, not wanting to be left behind.

Unfortunately, the water in the old river bend is still relatively shallow, and the silt at the bottom of the river is too thick. The little blue horse is not as stable as the little white ox. After all, the little white ox is a water buffalo, which likes to play in the water and is already used to various water currents.

The little blue horse was in trouble. After its hooves sank into the mud, it quickly became terrified, its eyes wide open, and it neighed for help from Chen Ling.

Seeing this, the little white calf popped its head out of the river with glee, flapping its ears and beaming with delight. It was clearly gloating.

Chen Ling ignored the two dogs and just used a brush to remove their fur.

The little blue horse quickly overcame its fear and laboriously waded out of the river on all fours. However, it soon forgot the pain as soon as it was healed.

It snorted and stomped its four hooves along the riverbank, frolicking in the water and occasionally doing a 360-degree spin.

Mud splattered all over Chen Ling.

When Chen Ling got angry, he slapped it twice, and it lay down on the ground, baring its big white teeth, pretending to be dead.

"Wang Wang~"

Chen Ling groomed Heiwa's two winter furs. The puppies running around the old river bend started barking, with Erhei barking the loudest, as if it had discovered something extraordinary.

When Chen Ling went over to take a look, he was immediately disappointed. It turned out that several water snakes were coiled on the rocks by the river, confronting his dog. They were flicking their tongues and hissing warningly, looking ready to attack at any moment.

At this time of year, the weather is warm, making it a good season for snakes to come out of their burrows to bask in the warmth. Water snakes that have finished hibernating will crawl out of their burrows to enjoy the spring sunshine. Moreover, there are quite a few snakes in each burrow. When the village boy is digging for rat holes, he often digs out large plates of long snakes.

Chen Ling chased the puppies away, caught the snake, and threw it into the cave.

Inside the cave, there were relatively few snakes. Chen Ling hadn't released many snakes inside, only two or three species in total.

They are all non-venomous snakes.

If you encounter something poisonous, add some more poisonous stuff.

It can be used to make medicinal liquor.

After catching the snake, I continued to groom Heiwa and his companion. A gentle breeze blew, and the brush picked up clumps of thick, dense fur from the two dogs, which were then blown away by the wind.

The two dogs squinted their eyes, their tongues lolling out, looking very comfortable.

The puppies, the white calf, and the blue horse were very envious, and they surrounded Chen Ling, barking and wanting him to groom them.

Chen Ling calmly went through them one by one.

After all that work, it was still early when we got back.

Chen Ling then leisurely led them home. Recently, there had been a lot of sweet potato vines being cut down, and he planned to go out and collect some sweet potato vines to feed the livestock.

At home, Wang Susu didn't go to the pharmacy today. She and Gao Xiulan took out their own quilts to air them out.

After drying, I'll put it in the closet. Now that it's getting warmer every day, the thick cotton quilts I used in winter are no longer needed.

"Brother Fugui, I'm back again."

Chen Ling was settling the livestock in the shed when Zhou Weijun excitedly led two people into the orchard.

This guy, who looks like Iron Man but is actually a bit of a hipster, started calling Chen Ling by his nickname within two days of his last visit, saying it made it sound more intimate.

"It's Lao Zhou. Are these people from your film crew?"

Chen Ling saw that he had brought people with him and asked.

"They're not from my film crew, they're two friends from Beijing. They heard your place is fun, so they came to check it out."

Zhou Weijun smiled and introduced the two people behind him to Chen Ling: "This is my junior from the directing department, named Yu Qi'an. This is a writer from a publishing house, named Ma Wei. They both like to have fun."

The man named Yu Qi'an was a rather plump and tall young man in his thirties. He had a gentle demeanor and was dressed in a shirt, leather shoes, and trousers, with a pager hanging from his waist.

The guy named Ma Wei was about the same age as Zhou Weijun, nearly forty years old, with a crew cut and squinty eyes.

The two were quite tall, around 1.8 meters.

After warmly shaking hands and getting acquainted with Chen Ling, while others were still chatting, Yu Qi'an immediately set his sights on the three animals in Chen Ling's livestock shed.

After looking for a while, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper: "Brother, those two white ones aren't horses, are they?"

Chen Ling turned to look at him. "No, the smaller one is a donkey, and the larger one is a mule."

"Wow~ there are white donkeys and white mules here?"

Yu Qi'an was very surprised, and Ma Wei also quickly went over to take a look, and was immediately amazed.

They had seen white horses, but they had never encountered a white donkey or a white mule before.

Seeing this, Zhou Weijun mocked mercilessly, "Look at you two, so unsophisticated! Even wealthy families have white water buffaloes? Have you ever seen one?"

After mocking the two, he excitedly said to Chen Ling, "Hey, speaking of which, we actually found something really strange at the reservoir when we came here. Most people have never seen anything like it."

"What strange thing? A giant softshell turtle? A giant softshell turtle?"

"No, that's not true. Giant turtles are legendary creatures, and they're not easy to see. Let me show you, they're really spectacular."

"Really? Come on, let me see what it is."

Chen Ling leaned over, glanced at it, and then curled his lip, saying, "Old Zhou, you still say those two are ignorant? You're not much better, are you? It's just a mud swallow, what's so special about it?"

Those photos were very simple; they were just pictures of swallows nesting and flying around the reservoir dam.

"Are these swallows? I've never seen such birds before. Wow, you haven't seen them! There are tens of thousands of them all over the east side of the village, a dark mass. It's spectacular."

Zhou Weijun glared at Chen Ling and gestured.

Yu Qi'an and Ma Wei nodded repeatedly, saying that the birds' droppings in the sky had almost completely covered the roof of their car.

He also said to Chen Ling, "You've seen it so many times that it might not seem special, but for us, seeing tens of thousands of swallows living in flocks, flying back and forth on the water and in the sky, is a truly awe-inspiring sight."

Chen Ling chuckled: "That's true. But there are more swallows this year than in previous years. Saying there are tens of thousands is an understatement. It's at least double, maybe twenty thousand."

As the spiritual water continues to flow to the outside world, and nourished by the spiritual energy, the environment continues to improve. Not only are there more native swallows, but there are also more baby swallows than in previous years.

For example, last summer when it rained, there were thousands of swallows flying in the sky.

"Fugui, what is this 'earth swallow' you're talking about? Is it a swallow?"

"Yes, it's also a type of swallow, the sand martin. Its scientific name should be the sand martin. It's a swallow that likes to dig burrows on earthen cliffs near the river to live in. Spring is the time when they dig burrows and move to new homes. After lunch, I'll take you to see it. The sand martin's nests are just as spectacular as the flock of swallows."

Chen Ling said with a smile.

Every spring when these swallows fly back, they use their beaks to carve small holes in the earthen cliffs or mountain cliffs not far from the river.

These small holes are about the size of a teacup.

When Chen Ling was a child, he and others had also dug up baby swallows, so he was very familiar with the bird's burrows.

The hole is about the size of a teacup, and only 20 or 30 centimeters deep. It's just the right size for a little baby's arm to fit in, but not enough for an adult.

The cave is lined with dry grass and feathers for laying and incubating eggs.

When Chen Ling was a child, his favorite thing to do was to raid the nests of wild swallows. There was no other reason than that the nests of wild swallows were often in rows and rows, one nest next to another. After raiding one, he would raid the next one and have a full harvest. It felt very satisfying.

"In that case, let's go catch some birds!" Yu Qi'an's eyes lit up at these words.

This situation caught Chen Ling off guard.

Seeing this, Zhou Weijun smiled and explained, "I wasn't lying to you, was I? My brother here is also a playful person. He's loved raising birds and catching crickets since he was a child. He just loves these things. Not to mention, birds and crickets are something our family raises every year. He gets excited just talking about it."

Chen Ling was surprised to hear this: "Goodness, it turns out he's not just being polite to me, he's a real player."

“Of course it’s not just politeness. If you love this kind of thing, you can’t just make up the numbers.” Yu Qi’an laughed heartily.

Chen Ling nodded in agreement, went back and gave each of them a slingshot, and then went to the reservoir to hunt birds.

(End of this chapter)