My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 432 Thatched House

This mushroom is considered strange because it has a dark green cap and a snow-white stem. A delicate, white, net-like skirt grows from the bottom edge of the cap and hangs down to the ground. Among the withered bamboo leaves, it looks like a little girl in a white dress, spotless and exceptionally eye-catching.

Upon seeing this cluster of mushrooms, Chen Ling was overjoyed: "Hahaha, oh my, I've never picked such fresh bamboo fungus before. I'm in for a treat today!"

Bamboo fungus is known as one of the eight delicacies of herbs; anything listed as a mountain delicacy is undoubtedly delicious.

Even for these mountain dwellers who rely on the mountains for their livelihood, it is sometimes difficult to find them.

Chen Ling had eaten it only a few times, but even when it was just boiled into soup, it was incredibly delicious and unforgettable to this day.

Ultimately, it's because this thing isn't like regular mushrooms, which are readily available in the wild and can be found in large patches.

Bamboo fungus mostly grows deep in bamboo forests.

On the other hand, what's rather strange is that many locals don't even know this thing is edible.

Just like dog milk honey, adults and children suckle its honey, unaware that it is a medicinal herb called Rehmannia glutinosa...

"Good stuff! We happen to have some wild donkey meat at home. Mountain delicacies paired with wild game, tsk tsk tsk..."

Chen Ling wiped his drool and began to squat down to pick the bamboo fungus.

There were more than ten bamboo fungus plants in this clump. Chen Ling didn't pick the ones that were too small, and in the end, he picked eleven of them.

Chen Ling felt it was too little, so he took two plants to the cave.

They planted bamboo in the bamboo grove in front of the thatched hut.

Accelerating ripening, cultivating new plants, spreading...

We picked more than thirty plants in total, enough to make several different dishes.

Bamboo fungus with donkey meat, bamboo fungus stewed chicken, etc...

There's no need to worry about it not preserving; just dry the bamboo fungus.

After returning home from the mountain, Chen Ling selected a few plants, washed them, took a piece of mountain donkey meat from the small water tower, cut it into large chunks, and put it in a pot to make soup.

Freshly picked bamboo fungus should be cooked and eaten as soon as you get home to make the most of its deliciousness.

Then split the dry bamboo that they had carried back and put it into the stove to start a fire.

Soon after the water boiled, a unique and refreshing aroma wafted out of the kitchen.

Even Wang Susu, who was asleep, could smell it. She rubbed her eyes, yawned, and walked into the kitchen.

"Ah Ling, what are you making this morning? It smells so good."

"Are you awake?"

Chen Ling was cooking noodles in a wok on a small stove when he heard this. He turned around and smiled slightly: "Do you recognize these mushrooms?"

He pointed to the bamboo sieve on the table next to him.

Wang Susu looked inside and, upon seeing the mushrooms in the bamboo sieve, her rosy lips pursed in surprise: "I've seen these before. Can you eat them? There are so many in the bamboo groves on the mountain. When I was little, I thought they were some kind of dog urine moss. They looked so strange that I kicked them all to pieces."

"Pfft, it was kicked to pieces?"

Chen Ling was speechless. "This is a treasure. People always talk about delicacies from land and sea, but this is a real delicacy. You'll know once you try it."

Wang Susu walked to the pot, sniffed it with her little nose, tilted her head and looked at him, "Hehe, I don't need to taste it, I know it's delicious just by smelling it."

As she spoke, she stood on tiptoe and tapped his head: "Don't think I don't know. He got up early this morning and ran up the mountain without even taking the dog."

If it weren't for her protruding belly, she would still look like a little girl in that posture and appearance.

Chen Ling felt comforted and smiled. "Couldn't sleep, huh? Got up and wandered around for a bit. I saw you were sleeping soundly, so I didn't dare wake you. It's better to leave the dog at home to guard the house."

"Hmph, it's all your fault. You insisted on making a fuss last night... It's only been five months, it's not reliable yet, and you wouldn't listen. Otherwise, I would have gotten up much earlier."

Wang Susu was both angry and embarrassed, but thankfully they were an old married couple now, so she wasn't so embarrassed that she couldn't speak.

However, her innate shyness and reserved nature still made her face flush. She turned around and said she was going to carry Rui Rui down to eat, and then left in a hurry, afraid that Chen Ling would say something crazy again. She couldn't bear to hear anything too explicit.

Just hearing it makes my heart melt and my body go weak.

Chen Ling glanced at his wife's increasingly plump and slender back, chuckled, scooped out the cooked noodles, and divided them into bowls.

He and Wang Susu had two large bowls, while Rui Rui had only half a bowl.

Add chopped green onions, pickled vegetables, and green beans, then pour two spoonfuls of bamboo fungus soup over the noodles.

The soup was crystal clear and filled the room with a delicate fragrance.

Add a few more pieces of plump, reddish-brown, brightly colored mountain donkey meat, without a trace of fat, to the bowl.

That tasted absolutely amazing.

Wild delicacies paired with mountain specialties, even when eaten with ordinary noodles, are so delicious that you almost swallow your tongue.

Rui Rui had so much fun yesterday that she slept even more soundly than Wang Susu this morning. She usually wakes up at seven o'clock, but she's still fast asleep today.

However, after being carried to the kitchen by Wang Susu, he became incredibly energetic upon smelling the aroma. He didn't need a spoon or chopsticks, nor did he need his parents to feed him. He grabbed the meat and noodles with his own hands and ate them. After finishing, he held the bowl and asked Chen Ling to serve him soup. He had an appetite even bigger than a puppy.

Chen Ling and his companion finished the noodles and simply drank the soup, which had a unique flavor, even better than before.

The family of three enjoyed the meal.

Half a pot was left for the two elders and Wang Zhenzhen.

Wang Zhenzhen doesn't have to go to school today because it's the weekend.

Just wait for them to come and eat.

……

After the meal, Chen Ling planned to find two sheep to slaughter that day.

It's hung in the small water tower so my brother-in-law and his family can eat it when they come over.

At this moment, Wang Cunye and Wang Zhenzhen took Rui Rui outside to play.

Wang Susu and Gao Xiulan, mother and daughter, set up a winnowing basket in the yard and rummaged through scraps of cloth.

These scraps of cloth are used to glue shoe soles and make shoe uppers.

Although it's appropriate to wear sandals or slippers in the summer, when it comes to working in the fields, you still have to wear your usual slippers.

After the wheat harvest, it's time to plant corn; there's a lot of busy time then.

Wang Susu was sewing the soles of the shoes.

Gao Xiulan picked out a light and thin piece of white fabric to make two sets of short shirts for Wang Cunye and his son-in-law Chen Ling.

In rural areas, most girls and women can do some needlework.

Gao Xiulan and Wang Susu were especially skilled in this area.

That's right. Wang Susu is now unable to move around easily, so all she can do is make shoes or tailor some small clothes for her son.

These proper clothes still need Gao Xiulan to handle them.

The mother and daughter were making clothes and shoes around the table in the small courtyard in front of the bamboo house.

Chen Ling was not far away, guarding the irrigation ditch, slaughtering and skinning sheep.

A group of large dogs and a small tabby cat were sitting around it.

With so many prey to practice on, his skills have become increasingly proficient, and he can kill a sheep in just seven or eight minutes.

They easily slaughtered the two fat, large goats.

Chen Ling used an iron hook to hang it in the small water tower, locked the iron door of the small water tower, and fed the dog some inedible offal left over from slaughtering sheep.

They even went to the vicinity of two mountain fox dens outside and threw away some fresh offal.

Standing at a distance, wait for a brightly colored tarantula to emerge from the grass and carry its entrails back to its burrow.

Chen Ling then left, satisfied.

Since the goal is to breed a cross between a domestic cat and a wildcat, it definitely needs to be well-trained. Otherwise, it will be impossible to catch and won't be affectionate; what kind of pet cat would that be?

There are only six or seven days left until the Dragon Boat Festival.

After killing the sheep, Chen Ling went into the cave to look for some kind of leaves that would make the rice dumplings taste better.

The bamboo leaves for zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) in the past two years were provided by Liang Hongyu; they were the commonly used bamboo leaves, also known as eyebrow bamboo leaves.

However, in the mountains, you use whatever you have. Usually, you just pick some reed leaves by the water, which is quite convenient.

Chen Ling searched the cave twice and tried again and again, but found that he still needed reed leaves.

It just requires reeds that grow naturally in the cave.

He set up a pot in the cave and simply wrapped two zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). It was a very rough experiment, and they were indeed more fragrant than ordinary ones.

This suits his taste perfectly.

Having just emerged from the grotto, a thought struck me again: the lotus leaf chicken my family used to make was incredibly delicious.

I'm planning to try wrapping zongzi in lotus leaves again to see if they taste good.

Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to do it yet.

Liu Nier and a group of little kids ran over to call him, saying that they were going to have dinner at Wang Jusheng's house today, and that Zhao Dahai's two families had chosen a place to build houses, and that he should hurry over.

Chen Ling had no choice but to give up.

Release the little blue horse and ride away.

When they arrived, they found that Wang Jusheng's house was very lively. In addition to Zhao Dahai's two families, Wang Lixian's family was there, Chen Dazhi's family was there, and Wang Cunye was also playing with Rui Rui there.

The courtyard was filled with the sounds of adults talking and children giggling, while cars belonging to Zhao Dahai and his family were parked outside the wall.

This is such a big show, it's like we're holding a banquet for an important event.

As soon as Chen Ling entered the house, everyone greeted him and said that the location for building the house had been chosen.

It's located near the primary school, right next to the Dayantang Pond.

However, it still needs a lot of modifications.

According to Zhao Yubao, the plan is to connect the two small ditches in the east and north of the village and widen them into a river that flows around the village.

Those two ditches are the village's drainage ditches, similar to the city's sewers. Some parts are exposed, while others are covered with bluestone slabs, and you can hear the rushing water inside.

When it rains heavily and the reservoir needs to release water, this ditch is used for drainage.

The temporary drainage ditches dug by each household would also flow into the large pond through these two ditches.

Of course, the reservoir's drainage system involves more than just these two small ditches.

But there are only these two roads leading into the village.

Now Zhao Yubao says he wants to fund the construction of a wide, bright river, and also build houses, plant bamboo groves, and cultivate vegetable gardens and flower gardens on the farmland north of the Dayantang.

Since he couldn't go to the mountains, he transformed the village into the idyllic place he wanted.

Fortunately, although the old man had many demands, the villagers didn't dislike him; in fact, they were all looking forward to it.

Because this great writer is willing to spend money.

As for the transformation to his desired shape, even if it requires a lot of work, so what's the problem?
No one in the mountains is afraid of hard labor.

Where else can you find such a good opportunity to earn money and work right here in the village?

Wang Laishun was happy that they were generating revenue for the village, so everyone was pleased.

Overjoyed, the two old men, Zhao Yubao and Zhao Dahai, sent Zhao Dahai to the county to make a large purchase so they could treat everyone to a meal.

The two elderly ladies even wanted to cook for Chen Ling so he could taste their cooking.

Chen Ling and his family of three had eaten at their restaurant in the city, and the food was indeed quite good.

But the two old ladies insisted that cooking on a traditional farmhouse stove would make the food taste even better, and they would definitely let him try it.

Then she got busy in Wang Jusheng's kitchen.

The women helped out, while Chen Ling and his men chatted under the trees in the yard.

And you know what? When the old lady cooked the food, it tasted just as good as the food prepared by the cooks at weddings and funerals in the village.

Stewed pork trotters with white radish, half of them are taken out and then cooked in a sweet and sour sauce.

Before serving the other half, sprinkle some chopped green onions and cilantro on top; it smells amazing.

This shows that the method is more refined than in the village. In the village, everyone just cooks everything in one pot and still enjoys it. It's so much more troublesome to cook two different dishes in one pot.

The lynx's mother, Aunt Zhong, had even more creative ways of cooking. She marinated pork belly in soy sauce and honey, then deep-fried it to make char siu.

They said they studied various recipes and only made the ones they were good at.

They also said that since the weather is hot now and they buy a lot of meat, making it into char siu would allow it to be stored for a couple more days.

However, this really underestimates their appetite.

Then there was stir-fried duck, fried eel, salt-fried mutton, and some stir-fried greens and cold dishes.

There are so many different kinds, it's all very comprehensive.

Before dinner, I asked Chen Ling to call Wang Susu over, but Chen Ling didn't go, saying that his wife was not comfortable moving around anymore.

This is also because the two Lynx families live not far away and disturb their family every day at the farm, so they didn't say much.

Everyone enjoyed the meal immensely.

After the meal, there was nothing else to do, so we went to the outside of Chen Ling's farm to drink tea, cool off, play chess, and chat.

Zhao Yubao suggested that they try raising some chickens and ducks in Erzhu's unused courtyard first.

He also wanted to sell two brooding hens in the village to try his hand at hatching chicks and ducklings.

Wang Jusheng then told him, "Uncle Zhao, you can raise some chicks, but forget about ducklings. Ducks eat a lot, poop a lot, and smell bad; they're very difficult to clean."

He originally meant to say that ducks have a large appetite, and raising too many would result in them eating a lot but laying fewer eggs, which is not cost-effective.

But Zhao Yubao was clearly not short of money, so he changed his tune as soon as he was about to speak.

"Huh? I think Fugui is doing quite well here. He's let out to find his own food, he even poops outside, and he can fertilize the flowers and trees."

"They chatter away every day. Letting such a large group out like this creates a unique kind of fun."

Zhao Yubao said with a smile.

Wang Jusheng shook his head: "We can't compare to Fugui. He has a big place here, and his dogs are in charge. We can't do that. If we keep too many dogs, we won't be able to keep the yard."

Chicks and ducklings look cute and fun, but things change when they grow up; they poop all over the yard.

Moreover, chicken and duck droppings are not dry droppings; they are wet and sticky, forming clumps that are very difficult to clean.

The smell was quite strong, and after a while, the yard became very smelly.

Chen Ling's home is surrounded by mountains and water, and the flowers, plants and trees are growing vigorously, forming a virtuous cycle, so there is no smell at all.

"Alright then, let's raise only two for now, dredge the riverbed first, and build the houses before we talk about anything else."

Zhao Yubao said somewhat unwillingly.

Chen Ling took a sip of tea and suggested with a smile, "Uncle Zhao, why don't you put aside building the tiled houses and dredging the river for now? Why not build two thatched huts near the pond and live there? There's a grassy slope there, and lots of trees that will keep you cool. Build two huts under the trees, put up a fence around them, and create a small yard to grow some vegetables. It's that simple."

"Oh, yes."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yubao and Old Zhong exchanged a glance, one slapping his forehead and the other his thigh: "Oh no, oh no, we're getting senile. How could we not have thought of such a simple problem? Fugui's idea is the best. Let's go find Brother Shun and have him find someone to build us a couple of thatched huts to live in."

The two old men's eyes lit up, and they rubbed their hands together excitedly as they strode out of the orchard, full of eagerness.

It was as if living in a thatched hut was such a wonderful thing.

(End of this chapter)