My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 368 The Reason It's Not Spiritual Water

The village is really bustling these days, lively and joyful every day.

In particular, today the county brought over a huge stone tortoise to suppress the river, carrying a tall stone tablet on its back, which looks exactly like the image of Bixi, the son of the dragon.

A stone platform was built on bluestone at a corner of the reservoir, right next to the water's edge.

A crane was used to slowly lower the stone tortoise statue onto the stone platform so that people could worship and make offerings.

This is equivalent to official certification.

Whether they were villagers in Chenwangzhuang or outsiders, everyone suddenly showed even greater enthusiasm. The fame of Chenwangzhuang and the Turtle King spread further and further, and the village became increasingly popular.

The income of everyone who set up a stall also increased significantly.

Chenwangzhuang has really made a name for itself this time. Last year, the county allocated money for fireworks, and this year they even sent such a large stone statue. The reason for all this is because there is a turtle king in Chenwangzhuang Reservoir, which makes the surrounding villages and several counties quite envious.

As the village party secretary, Wang Laishun straightened his back immediately, dressed neatly and meticulously every day, and even shaved off his stubble. Every day, he would patrol the reservoir with a group of people from the brigade until it got dark and the crowd on the dam gradually dispersed before he would go back.

At other times, I would simply find a place to eat, take a bite from my bowl, and that would be it.

That's what you call being extremely loyal and dedicated to one's duty.

Why are Wang Laishun and his group working so hard?
Besides wanting to show off and get noticed in front of others, this is also a way to...

It also stemmed from a conversation he had with Chen Ling a few days ago when they went to discuss something.

For Chen Ling, his family is part of Chenwangzhuang. Living here, they naturally have to think about the village when something happens.

Therefore, it explains the advantages and disadvantages of having too many tourists.

Wang Laishun clearly took it to heart.

These days, I'm patrolling the reservoir to maintain order and check sanitation, so as to prevent the area around the reservoir from becoming messy.

Now everyone has a deep belief in the Turtle King.

Chen Ling invoked the name of the Turtle King, which made Wang Laishun very cautious. He thought Chen Ling was right; they couldn't let the village get into chaos, otherwise they would displease the Turtle King and he would never come again to protect them, leaving them with nowhere to turn.

Geda Terrace, located in the East Forest Farm of the city, serves as a cautionary tale.

The temple at Geda Terrace was very efficacious back then. Whenever someone had a wedding or funeral, they could borrow pots, pans, tables, chairs, and benches from there.

Unfortunately, the people in the vicinity were greedy and borrowed money without returning it, which angered the deities in the temple, and the temple lost its efficacy.

It sounds mystical, but older people still believe in this.

The vendors who set up stalls at the reservoir also fall for this tactic.

So, although the area around the reservoir was teeming with tourists, it was orderly and harmonious, attracting many visitors from other places who came to admire it.

……

"What does Fifth Uncle want with you again?" Wang Susu asked as she was pickling salted eggs and saw Chen Ling walking back from outside.

"The reasons for talking about building boats are twofold: first, the county requires new boats for the Dragon Boat Festival this year; second, Lao Zhou's film crew also needs boats to film on the mountain lake."

Chen Ling sat down, rolled up his sleeves, and helped his wife pickle salted eggs. "The boats that Lao Zhou and the others use are simple and easy to set up. The main thing is the dragon boat. Our village has made a name for itself this year, so we have to do a good job with the dragon boat race."

"Oh, I see."

Wang Susu understands that the village is now reaping the benefits and is very enthusiastic about this year's temple fair.

"That's right, but the dragon boat race will have to wait another two months. Old Zhou's boat is right here. The scenes they're filming are quite large. Let's go up the mountain to take a look then."

Chen Ling said with a smile.

Zhou Weijun's production team is going to film a period drama.

I think the scenery at the mountain lake is beautiful and has a very artistic atmosphere.

After mentioning it to Chen Ling, they paid some venue fees and then hurriedly prepared for filming.

Historical dramas were quite popular in this year.

Ancient costume martial arts dramas, ancient costume fantasy dramas, all kinds of genres are emerging one after another, and even things like magic and witchcraft can be attributed to ancient costume dramas.

That's incredibly outrageous.

The good thing is that at this time, most film crews were still quite careful in choosing locations.

“Great! I’m thinking of going into the mountains to collect some herbs soon.”

Wang Susu was actually quite curious about filming TV dramas before, but after going to see a live performance with a few young wives from the village a few days ago, her fantasies were shattered. She felt that it was much more boring than performing opera, and that it would be better to film it and show it on TV.

"Fugui, Fugui, come out quickly, something good has happened."

The young couple were pickling salted eggs and talking when a familiar voice called out from outside the farm.

It's Chen Baoshuan again.

What good things could Baoshuan possibly have to do?

Didn't they deliver the beehives a few days ago?

Chen Ling went outside with a puzzled look and found that he was not alone; Wang Lixian, Wang Lishan, and Chen Baoliang were also there.

"Good heavens, why are you all here instead of setting up stalls at the reservoir? Is there something good happening in the village?"

"Haha, this isn't just a good thing for the village, it's a good thing for us."

Chen Baoshuan laughed and raised his eyebrows at Wang Lishan with a smug look: "Old Pig, you tell Fugui that we're using your feed anyway."

"Feed? What feed?" Chen Ling was even more confused, wondering what was going on.

"Fish feed, of course."

Wang Lishan responded, grabbed Chen Ling's arm, and pulled him into the small pavilion in the bamboo grove. The five of them sat down in the pavilion. "My family raises a lot of pigs, so we have to grind a lot of feed, right? This year, I got some fish fry from your house. I wanted to save trouble, so I fed the fish with pig feed. Bao Shuan, Bao Liang, and Li Xian saw that I was feeding the fish with pig feed, so they got some from my house too. It's only been half a month, and guess what..."

"The fish are growing faster?"

"Hey, you're right, Fugui, you're so clever, you guessed right."

Wang Lishan slapped his thigh, and the other three chuckled along.

“What’s so hard to guess? I even feed the fish leftovers. The fish in those three ponds grow faster than yours. But what’s the use of growing fast? No.”

Chen Ling crossed his legs, pouted, and looked speechless.

He thought it was something good, but it turned out to be this: "Old Pig, Brother Xian, ornamental fish aren't judged by how big they are, how fast they grow, or how much meat they have. It's different from raising pigs. Ornamental fish are judged by their appearance; only beautiful ones can fetch a high price."

“Look at what you’re saying, Fugui. Of course we know that. Didn’t you tell us when we were catching fish fry? And Boss Tian also said that these fish are just for city people to raise as pets, not for eating. We also know that these fish can only be sold if they look pretty…”

"That's right, we're not that stupid. It must be that the fish here grows faster and is prettier than the others, that's why it came to you."

The brothers Chen Baoshuan and Chen Baoliang spoke up, and then tried to pull Chen Ling to see the fish.

"Is that so? Then what did you use to grind this feed, Old Pig?" Chen Ling asked Wang Lishan.

"It's nothing much, just peanut branches, sweet potato vines, dried thatch, wheat bran, corn stalks and stuff that are dried in winter, mixed with some other grains, and ground into pig feed."

"So you're saying there's not much profit in it?" "Yeah, there's definitely not much profit. The feed we give our own pigs can't compare to the feed from the feed mill. We can't afford to feed them soybean meal or soybean cake."

Raising pigs at home, grinding their own feed, and using ingredients found in farmland, fields, and mountains outside their village makes it very economical.

The downside is that it has less oil and fat, and the pigs grow slowly.

At most, they would mix a little bit of flour made from bad beans and corn into the hay and straw, but they couldn't bear to use the good stuff.

Chen Ling also knew exactly what was being fed to the pigs and livestock in the village.

I thought to myself, "If they can grow so fast and well without any oil or fat, then the problem with these fish fry from the same batch must not be water."

Afterwards, they followed Wang Lishan and the other three around and made some comparisons.

The fish that the four families fed with pig feed did indeed grow faster, and their appearance did not deteriorate.

Chen Ling could also tell that this wasn't a water problem.

Although their fish grow faster than those of other villagers, they cannot match the growth rate of the fish on their own farm.

After all, the water source of each villager is definitely not as good as their own.

That must be a problem with the feed.

In other words, something in the feed is at work.

"This is indeed a great thing. The fish are growing faster. We don't need to send fish out twice a month, even three times every two months would be better than now. Old Pig, you've done a great service to the village this time."

Chen Ling's words of praise made Wang Lishan almost lose his mind with joy.

"So, does that mean we can feed the fish pig feed too?"

"Yes, this feed is made up of grass and grains, so what problems could there be? Don't worry about feeding it to your child."

Chen Ling nodded, and later took some feed from Wang Lishan's house to go find Wang Jusheng.

The five of them had just visited Wang Jusheng's house; Chen Ling was using the fish Wang Jusheng was raising for experiments.

As for Wang Lishan feeding the fish with pig feed, there's no need to hide it. He's already made it public. There's no point in hiding it from him. Everyone knows he raises pigs, and the fishpond isn't far from the pigsty. Since the fish are growing well, people will naturally think of pig feed.

Moreover, the pig feed didn't have any special formula like that from a feed factory. Everyone in the village knew how to make their own feed, so they figured it out in no time.

That's certainly true.

The feed was tested and the results were immediately apparent.

The fish at Wang Jusheng's house changed dramatically after only four or five days of feeding.

The fish that were picked out had grown to about the length of a fingernail, which is not slow for ornamental fish.

As soon as the news spread, the villagers all rushed to the scene, lining up to grind feed for the fish.

Tian Hongli also delivered the deposit for the fish purchase.

Everyone is incredibly enthusiastic.

Who wouldn't want to sell their fish and get paid as soon as possible?

"This feed is not very effective on chickens, ducks, and livestock, but it works well on fish."

"I thought it was because my spiritual water had diluted and spread, causing the vegetation around the village to change. It turns out it wasn't the spiritual water. I knew it; even if spiritual water leaks out, it wouldn't have such a strong effect."

That morning, after letting the horses graze, Chen Ling was busy in the vegetable garden with his dog when he suddenly saw several sturdy saplings sprouting from under the cow dung of two white calves at the foot of the mountain. It was as if a lightning bolt had flashed through his mind, instantly waking him up.

"It turned out to be the droppings from my poultry and livestock, and..."

Chen Ling's gaze once again fell upon the wild bees and butterflies fluttering and dancing among the flowers and grass on the hillside.

“I originally thought that the cave heaven had little interaction with the outside world, so I even released several bees from the cave heaven to allow the flowers and plants outside the cave heaven to pollinate each other. I never expected that after I obtained the cave heaven three years ago, these bees and butterflies had unintentionally spread the pollen of the plants and trees that were nurtured by the spiritual water.”

"Undigested seeds in the manure of various poultry and livestock, as well as seeds stolen by magpies and other birds, have long since spread these things."

This kind of thing actually happens all the time and is not rare at all; it's just that Chen Ling never paid attention to it, which is why it caught his attention.

“It’s normal that it didn’t attract my attention. Besides, in such a vast world, even in and around the village, the changes are really not significant, you could say they are very minor. The current feed is only having a minor effect on the fish.”

"..."

"No wonder the vegetation in the cave became more lush after I brought in bees and various birds, and the growth rate of all kinds of flowers, grasses and fruits also increased."

"It seems we need to further improve the variety of species within the cave."

"In addition, I also need to get the bees up and running at the farm as soon as possible. Uncle Sangui and his son have brought the beehives. They are so beautifully made. I can't let their kindness go to waste."

Quietly pondering, Chen Ling strolled through the vegetable garden. With the puppies guarding it for the past two weeks, the birds dared not disturb it, and all kinds of vegetables were growing vigorously.

Even at night, small creatures like rabbits and hedgehogs often sneak over.

As Chen Ling strolled around the vegetable garden, he saw several rabbit droppings and hedgehog footprints.

Having dealt with these small animals frequently, Chen Ling naturally recognized them instantly.

The puppies had already gone off to search for their tracks everywhere, following the traces of their droppings and footprints.

A moment later, Erhei ran back first, carrying a large hedgehog in his mouth. He ran to the edge of the vegetable garden and lay down on the ground to gnaw on it.

Chen Ling was also quite helpless about this silly dog.

Of all the delicious foods available, he has a particular fondness for hedgehogs.

Three months ago, when they were a little bigger, Chen Ling took them out for a small hunt.

Often at night, I would bring out a hedgehog from somewhere and gnaw on it until my mouth was full of blood. Back then, the grass wasn't green yet, and the blood was very conspicuous on the withered yellow grass leaves.

Now you won't get pricked and have your mouth full of blood, but what good does it do to a dog bite a hedgehog?

Just as he was about to say a few words to Erhei, Wang Laishun waved and called to him from the orchard path in the distance, followed by young actors from the film crew.

These two didn't stay at Chen Ling's house, but they thought the food there was delicious and ate a lot of Gao Xiulan's cooking, so they knew that they were a young couple.

He went over and asked what was wrong.

"Is the boat finished, Fifth Uncle?"

"No, Fugui, is that big millstone in the village still at your house?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"This young couple saw that people in our village have been grinding feed every day recently, and they thought it was fun, so they wanted to grind some grain for themselves to eat."

Recently, everyone in the village goes to Chen Yingqiang's house to grind feed. He uses a machine to grind it, which is fast and doesn't cost much.

The young couple found it very enjoyable to watch the machine grinding things, but they felt that using a machine lacked a rustic feel. Since they were in the countryside, they wanted to push the stone mill and grind some grain by hand.

Chen Ling gave the two of them a strange look and said, "The stone mill in my house is huge. It's not something an ordinary person can push. You need to harness livestock to move it."

“If you want to grind the millstone yourselves, you can find a smaller millstone, or you can borrow an animal.”

(End of this chapter)