My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 445 The Turtle in the Melon Field
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Over the past two days, Chen Ling has been driving his tractor to transport his family's wheat to the grain station to sell.

Meanwhile, news spread that his family's wheat yield was much higher than others' in the past two days.

Many families are waiting to exchange their wheat seeds for his when they plant wheat in the fall.

This was naturally exactly what Chen Ling wanted.

Then I started preparing to take my wife and kids to the provincial capital for a two-day trip.

……

evening.

A gentle mountain breeze swept away the daytime heat, making the weather much cooler.

In the dim sky, countless birds flew back into the forest one after another, their low chirping and flapping wings filling the air.

"Daddy, look!"

Rui Rui, with her short legs, led two excessively large dogs and ran over quickly. She held her two little hands tightly together, revealing a small gap through which a greenish-blue fluorescent light flickered.

"You caught fireflies?"

Chen Ling put down the fishing net in his hand, peeked through his hands, and laughed, "Good, you caught so many. You're really good. You're worthy of being my son."

The little guy can now understand some compliments. When he hears them, he smiles and shows his little white teeth, a mix of pride and shyness.

"Come on, I'll put it in a bottle and hang it by your bedside. It'll keep you lit up at night, okay?"

Chen Ling patted his little head.

Upon hearing this, Rui Rui's eyes immediately lit up, and she nodded vigorously: "Yes, I want to."

"You two, father and son, are really..."

Wang Susu was pickling salted eggs nearby. She pursed her lips and scolded, "Rui Rui, those bugs smell really bad. Your hands will smell bad too, and you won't be able to eat. Let them go quickly."

The little one immediately frowned, ran to her, and called out, "Mommy, bottle paper!"

It means that if you put it in a bottle, it won't smell.

Wang Susu naturally understood what this brat meant.

I don't know how someone so small can have such a fast mind.

"Okay, okay, put it in the bottle. Remember, you're not allowed to let it out to play with. If you dare to put it on the bed, I'll beat you up!"

Wang Susu put on a fierce look and spoke sternly.

It's no wonder she acted this way.

This brat Rui Rui is really playing too wildly. He catches snails, grasshoppers, old carrying poles, and even snails and small fish in the water, and hides them in his clothes pockets.

I even brought it to my crib to play with at night.

Take Old Carrying Pole, for example. He's dead and withered, but he still plays with it and tucks it under his pillow.

Wang Susu hadn't noticed this before, but ever since she found out, she now checks his pockets every night before bed.

Thinking of this, Wang Susu got angry and glared at Chen Ling with wide eyes. It was all because of his father's good teaching. He had been playing like this since he was a child. Who knows what he would become when he grew up?

She saw her son tilting his little head up, pouting, and looking at her with innocent eyes.

Wang Susu's heart softened, and she patted his little head: "Go ahead, let your dad put it in the bottle for you. We have canning jars at home, tighten them up, and it won't escape."

The little guy immediately cheered up, turned around and ran to Chen Ling, grabbed his trouser leg and headed upstairs.

"Look how anxious you are. The jar your mother mentioned is too big. I'll find you a small glass jar."

Chen Ling grabbed the little guy, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and then went upstairs to find a small bottle, slightly smaller than an ink bottle, in the room. He removed the cap and covered the bottle opening with a rubber band and paper.

Then it was hung on the corner of his little bed.

Turn off the lights.

The fireflies in the small bottle emitted a faint glow, which was quite beautiful.

When Rui Rui saw it, he happily lay down by the bed, his eyes wide open, and he had to put his face close to it to see.

"Hehe, Daddy~"

"Yes, Dad saw it, it's very beautiful."

Upon hearing this, he jumped up, ran outside, and called downstairs, "Mommy~, Mommy~"

I want Wang Susu to come up and watch too.

After a while, Wang Zhenzhen and Wang Siyi returned, and he went to call them over to come and see.

Wang Zhenzhen had no curiosity about fireflies; she was already tired of playing with them.

Wang Siyi, however, upon seeing this, thought of catching a few and putting them in a bottle to play with.

"Come down quickly, it's time to eat. Ah Ling, take Rui Rui to wash his hands. He's been taking the dog around catching bugs all day, he smells terrible."

Hearing Wang Susu's shout, Wang Zhenzhen whispered furtively, "Hehe, my sister is talking just like our mother now."

Chen Ling chuckled: "You'd better not let your sister hear you say that, or she won't let you come with her to the zoo."

Wang Zhenzhen immediately shut her mouth, kept her eyes straight ahead, and pretended that she hadn't said anything.

She'll be spending the weekend tomorrow and the day after.

Chen Ling and Wang Susu discussed it and decided that since the little girl hadn't been out to play much, they should take her out for a trip.

Wang Zhenzhen knew that letting her go along had made her so happy that she hadn't been able to concentrate on her classes for the past two days.

He would tell everyone he met that he was going to the zoo to see the big tigers, and he would brag about it non-stop.

Everyone in the village and the school knew about it.

The little kids were incredibly envious.

She made some promises to someone, and somehow ended up receiving a huge pile of snacks.

This left Gao Xiulan feeling helpless.

The younger and older daughters don't look like sisters at all.

Her personality is just like Chen Ling's younger sister.

Chen Ling felt quite wronged, as he wasn't this mischievous when he was a child.

"Sister Siyi, are you really not coming to play with us?"

"I'm not going. I need to go home. I came out after the Lunar New Year and haven't gone back yet."

Looking at Chen Ling and his family's life, Wang Siyi also felt a little homesick.

Although she hadn't had enough fun here, she had work to do in the second half of the year and had to leave.

……

One month after the wheat harvest.

It's lively at night.

People were enjoying the cool air, some were building thatched huts in the threshing ground to watch over the wheat, and others were tending to the melons in the melon fields.

Some children also ran around with torches and flashlights to the water's edge to set fish traps and raid bird nests.

Today, after dinner, Chen Ling's family also leisurely went out.

The family of three, along with Wang Zhenzhen and Wang Siyi, carrying two small-mesh fishing nets, walked towards the reservoir.

The moonlight is beautiful tonight.

The fields, where only stubble remained after the wheat harvest, were clearly illuminated by the moonlight, and fireflies danced everywhere.

Wang Zhenzhen, that naughty girl, doesn't walk properly; she deliberately goes into the wheat field and makes the stubble crunch loudly under her feet.

Seeing this, Rui Rui rode Heiwa inside to join the fun. He was chasing fireflies, but he startled the wild birds and animals that came out to hunt at night, causing them to fly and jump around in all directions.

A cool night breeze was blowing.

After finishing their work at Zhao Yubao's place and having their meal, many young men gathered in the threshing ground to chat.

Seeing Chen Ling's family approaching, she greeted them with a big laugh. "Zhenzhen, aren't you going to see the big tiger tomorrow? Why don't you go back and get some sleep? Be careful you don't oversleep and your brother-in-law won't wait for you."

"Hmph, I'm not afraid. I won't sleep tonight; I'll sleep on the way."

The little girl's words drew another round of laughter. She was friendly with everyone, and the villagers loved to tease her.

"Fugui, I heard that your wheat yielded a thousand catties per mu this year, right?"

"Haha, almost, almost."

"Then we'll have to get some new wheat seeds for us this fall."

"That's hard to say, we have plenty of wheat left at home."

As they walked toward the reservoir, a few small figures carrying torches met up with them in a whisper.

It was Liu Ni'er and a few others.

"Oh, Uncle Fugui, Aunt Susu, you're out too."

"Yeah, where did you guys go?"

"We went to the reservoir to catch baby crickets. There are so many crickets this year, and lots of bird eggs too."

"Yes, yes, we thought you were going out to see the big tiger tomorrow, so we didn't go out to play with your aunt."

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhenzhen quickly stepped forward and said, "Let me see how many bastards you've caught."

Ma Ga Zi is a type of bird.

They like to tie reed leaves together and hide them in the swaying air to build their nests.

This is their breeding season, and the eggs and chicks they lay are among the spoils that children compete to acquire. When they go out to catch fish or set fish traps at night, the banks of the reeds are often filled with the joyful sounds of their playful antics, as they are raiding bird nests.

Chen Ling often did this when he was a child.

I only learned later when I grew up that the Ma Ga Zi was called a reed warbler.

"Hehe, we picked up two eggs from each of the macaques' nests, and we collected a whole basketful, maybe even a hundred... But we only caught a few of the little macaques to keep as pets."

"Auntie, where are you going?"

"Let's go catch fish! We're going to set two more traps. Have you set them yet?"

"There haven't been any these past few days. My mom said we can't put cages in the reservoir anymore. There's a turtle king there. She told us to go to the old river bend to put them in."

"Yes, yes, Auntie, let's go fishing at Laohewan in the future."

"Okay, let's go to Laohewan. We'll go to Laohewan later too, and while we're there, we'll stop by Jusheng's watermelon patch to eat some watermelon, haha."

They were all talking at once, and soon the shouts of adults came from the village. They raised their torches, responded loudly, and scattered in a panic.

Seeing this, Wang Susu asked, "Shall we go to the old river bend or the reservoir?"

"Old River Bay is fine. Let's go check out Jusheng's melon patch and take a couple of watermelons from them."

Chen Ling smiled.

"Brother Ling, is this the family that delivered the watermelons to the farm before?" Wang Siyi asked.

"Yes, it's their house..."

During the Dragon Boat Festival, after delivering beef to Xiao Mianyang, Wang Jusheng delivered a donkey cartload of watermelons.

They were worried that with so many people coming and going at their house, there wouldn't be enough watermelons for them.

Chen Ling didn't stand on ceremony.

This year, growing melons in the village is more profitable than growing wheat.

The main reason for the large number of visitors is the Dragon Boat Festival. Many people treat the melon fields like a fruit picking garden, going in groups to pick watermelons, choosing them themselves, and then buying them right there in the field after finding a satisfactory one.

Some people cut the meat open on the spot and ate it right there by the river, which was very pleasant.

This way, they don't have to go through the trouble of transporting the melons themselves after selling them. They can earn money right here in the melon field, which is very convenient.

Even so, each household still had a small portion of their watermelons unsold.

It mainly consists of the watermelons that tourists pick and choose from.

They're either undergrown or of poor quality, too ugly.

People couldn't bear to leave them in the ground to rot.

So I still go to the melon field to check on the watermelons every night.

We'll start selling them after a while.

Chen Ling and his group left the village and started walking on the dirt road leading to the old river bend.

From the distant melon field came the sound of dogs barking, and people were holding torches and waving them around.

I don't know what I'm doing.

Soon after, a black mongrel ran over and wagged its tail at them.

He then whined at Heiwa, vigorously swaying his bottom as he moved closer.

Chen Ling took a look and recognized it as Wang Laishun's dog. Without a doubt, Wang Jusheng must also be in the melon field.

Other dogs guarding the melons are all leashed, but this dog is running around freely.

We walked a little further on.

Then Wang Jusheng's voice came over.

Upon closer listening, one could hear Wang Xuecheng from Wang Jukun's family and Wang Wenchao from Er Maolu's family.

"Brother Jusheng, what are you doing? Why are you shouting like that? Is something stealing your melons?"

"Ah? It's Fugui! Come quick, come quick! We're catching turtles! Lots of turtles ran into the melon patch last night..."

Wang Jusheng's excited voice rang out.

"What's so great about catching turtles? You might as well set up some cages to catch soft-shelled turtles."

Chen Ling responded with a sentence.

"Uncle Fugui, these aren't ordinary turtles, they're wheat field turtles, the kind we used to catch in wheat fields when we were kids. They've reappeared this year, there are so many of them."

Wang Wenchao was also shouting.

"Holy crap, there are wheat field turtles again?"

Chen Ling was taken aback for a moment, then ran over in delight.

Catching turtles in the wheat fields during my childhood is a vivid memory.

Unfortunately, due to the use of pesticides in recent years, I haven't seen them for a long time.

When he ran up to him, Wang Jusheng and the other two greeted him with smiles. Wang Wenchao, holding a torch in one hand and a tin bucket in the other, showed off, saying, "Uncle Fugui, look at this! It was the first one to crawl into Uncle Jusheng's thatched hut. There's a yellow, crooked mark on its back."

"What? There are words printed on them?"

It's rare to see writing on a turtle's shell. Chen Ling peered into the bucket by the light of the torch and saw a turtle the size of a bowl with a slanted, somewhat twisted yellow mark on its dark brown shell.

"Oh, I thought there was some kind of character. At most, it's just like the Arabic numeral '7'. It can't be any other character, let alone Chinese characters. It's completely unrelated."

Chen Ling thought there were some complicated graphics or text on it, so he made a fuss over nothing.

Wang Jusheng laughed and said, "Haha, I told you so. After you finished learning, you asked me to exchange money with you, saying you like these rare things... I said that's definitely not going to work. It's far inferior to the red eels you caught a couple of years ago. You definitely wouldn't be interested."

Wang Wenchao and Wang Xuecheng chuckled.

Chen Ling suddenly had an idea and said jokingly, "What's there to like or dislike? If you ask me, you should keep this turtle, Brother Jusheng. Maybe you can actually make money from it in the future."

"Why keep it? Take it back and let Rui Rui play with it."

When Wang Jusheng saw Rui Rui riding his dog and running over with Wang Zhenzhen, he laughed and said, "Rui Rui, come here quickly, look, Uncle caught a turtle for you, do you want it?"

The two children, one big and one small, happily gathered around Wang Jusheng to take a look.

Chen Ling shouldn't say too much to Wang Jusheng right now...

He walked to the side, turned on his flashlight, and stood on the edge of the field with Wang Wenchao, talking to each other. He shone the flashlight into the melon field and could see that there were indeed turtles crawling in the field, but not as many as some people had said.

(End of this chapter)