My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 451 Smoking the House

I spent eight days in the city and one day traveling.

There have been quite a few changes at home during this time. The roads in the county have been repaired, but they are not yet open to traffic.

Over by Zhao Yubao's side, the river channel has also been dug, encircling the village and flowing into the large pond; it's very beautiful.

The bridge hasn't been built in front of their door yet.

Next, the villagers need to plant corn, but there's no time to prepare.

I'll have to wait until I'm done with this busy period.

This year, when we planted corn, many families came to Chen Ling's house to exchange seeds.

In the countryside, people wouldn't spend money to buy grain seeds in exchange for other crops.

It's not appropriate to collect money from fellow villagers.

That is, exchanging seeds of equal weight.

Of course, if your own seeds are rather shriveled and unsightly, then you should give more to make them look better.

After all, they were hoping to get a high yield by planting other people's seeds.

There's another difference this year.

It's time to pay the grain tax.

The reason we didn't pay for the past two years was because of flooding in the surrounding area.

The harvest was lost, and no one handed over any grain.

But there's no rush now; we can hand them in together after the autumn harvest.

In fact, in the north, grain was usually handed over to the government in the winter months.

But it's not possible in the mountains, where heavy snow can easily block the mountain passes after snowfall in the twelfth lunar month.

This point still needs to be taken into account.

……

"what!"

Chen Ling stretched and yawned: "It's so comfortable at home."

After planting the corn, Chen Ling unusually slept in today.

Not only did she wake up late, but Wang Susu also got up to make breakfast.

Wang Susu didn't cook as many dishes as him; she just made porridge, made a few egg pancakes, and the pickled vegetables were ready-made, so she just ate them with salted duck eggs.

Wang Susu served him a bowl of porridge and said with a smile, "What's so comfortable about that? You've been busy for just two days since you came back, and I haven't seen you slack off or rest. You've been working hard in the fields, sweating and toiling away."

"Sigh, you don't understand. There's no place like home. The city is nice, but it's still a bit stifling for me. I can't relax and unwind. But when I come home, I can do some work and work up a sweat, have a few drinks in the evening, and get a good night's sleep. I feel so at ease."

Chen Ling walked into the kitchen, shaking his head, and kicked over a small stool to sit down.

Actually, it's because the farm is so cool here. Resting here in the sweltering summer heat is truly relaxing and comfortable. On some cooler nights, you even need to cover yourself with a light blanket.

Wang Susu thought for a moment, "That makes sense. There are mosquitoes upstairs in the city, but we haven't seen any mosquitoes at our farm this summer. All that effort I put into preparing the mosquito net for Rui Rui was for nothing."

"Of course! Look at how many birds, frogs, and toads are outside. It would be strange if there were mosquitoes there."

Chen Ling certainly couldn't say that he had planted those powerful mosquito-repelling plants, but it was indeed due to the influence of birds and frogs that there were far fewer mosquitoes than in previous years, even if they didn't approach the farm.

They all became food for birds and frogs.

As he spoke, he finished a large bowl of white rice porridge. Perhaps it was because he had been working hard these past two days, but Chen Ling had an unusually good appetite. He finished three large bowls of white porridge and ate seven or eight egg pancakes before he finally felt full.

However, he didn't eat any more. He wiped his hands and called his two big dogs to go to the village.

Since returning from the city, I've been busy planting corn and haven't had much time to visit Zhao Yubao. But he comes over every day to relax in the cool air and have a meal.

So, since he had some free time today, Chen Ling went over for a stroll.

May is more than halfway over, and the weather is getting hotter and hotter.

But the fields were bustling in the morning, with people everywhere planting corn. Men, women, and children, wearing straw hats and towels, carrying shovels, were busy in the stubble fields after the wheat had been harvested.

Whether adults or children, everyone held a shovel, big or small, and used their feet to step on the shovel to dig a small hole in the field. They pushed the shovel with their hands to create gaps in the hole, scattered three or five corn kernels, and then pulled out the shovel and stepped forward.

The pit behind where the corn seeds were scattered had clearly been trampled and compacted underfoot.

The more experienced the farmer, the faster and more efficient they are.

As Chen Ling walked along the country path, the scene before him seemed like a landscape painting.

"Uncle Laiyun, are you busy?"

Going downhill, you reach Wang Laiyun's fields. Just then, the old man came from the west side of the field, huffing and puffing as he carried corn, one step at a time.

"Oh, Fugui has finished harvesting the corn, huh? Now he has time to wander around."

"Haha, I just finished working yesterday evening."

"...Tsk tsk tsk, that's incredible! You've been so capable these past two years. Twenty acres of land, and you've planted corn faster than you can sow it. My family hasn't even finished tending to our ten acres yet."

When planting corn, it's done according to the wheat rows, that is, according to the stubble after the wheat harvest, between two rows of stubble. It's not like scattering rapeseed in the field with a basin.

Naturally, it will be much slower.

"Hey, I was just messing around with it, just trying to get it done quickly, otherwise if it rains heavily later, it will delay things."

Chen Ling waved his hand, indicating that it was not worth mentioning.

Actually, after returning from the city, he was in a good mood and had a lot of energy to spare. Even under the blazing sun, he wasn't afraid and worked continuously, and he worked incredibly fast and hard.

With great strength and stamina, and a willingness to exert effort and sweat, one can naturally finish their work quickly.

Other families only go to the fields in the cool mornings and evenings.

Of course, this kind of work takes quite a while.

The mornings in the mountains are very cool, and almost every household in the village goes to the fields at five o'clock in the morning and works until nine o'clock in the morning. They work for another two hours at dusk, so the working time is no shorter than at other times.

But even that can't compare to Chen Ling working from morning till night.

"Haha, only someone like you would say that. If other families earned that much money in a year, who would be willing to work in the fields?"

Wang Laiyun smiled and took a breath, then turned a corner at the edge of the field and continued his arduous journey westward, his steps uneven.

Wang Laishun's two sons and daughters-in-law followed closely from the west, greeting Chen Ling with smiles.

Further ahead are Wang Lixian's family's fields.

The whole family was busy, but at this moment, Erni'er, heavily pregnant, rushed over and called them back for dinner.

"Uncle Fugui, are you free tonight? We'd like to ask you to catch cicada nymphs..."

Liu Ni'er called out from afar.

Chen Ling was taken aback, and then realized that the cicadas had been chirping for quite some time.

He nodded and smiled, "Okay, you guys eat dinner early tonight, and we'll meet at the threshing ground after you've eaten."

Although their own orchard was good, it was barren land three years ago, without any trees or conditions for cicadas to grow and reproduce. So even though Chen Ling had been nourishing it with spiritual water for the past two years, it was diluted spiritual water. It attracted many cicadas, but they couldn't hatch cicada nymphs in a short time. So if they wanted to catch cicada nymphs, they still had to go outside to find them.

"Fugui, I also have some things to take care of here..."

Wang Lixian wiped his sweat as he walked out of the field, and the group walked together toward the village, talking as they went.

"I opened my greenhouse, didn't I? I've been growing crops there for two years, and I wanted to fertilize it. Could I use some of your quail manure?"

Chen Ling's other belongings, such as cattle, horses, and sheep, are left lying around all day, so they don't accumulate much manure.

Quails, on the other hand, always fly around wildly. We don't let them out all day; they're all kept in captivity. Plus, we incubate ten broods a year, so the scale is quite large now.

The quail droppings are cleaned up promptly every day and piled up near the vegetable garden; there's quite a large pile of them now.

Wang Lixian, who frequently visited Chen Ling's home, naturally knew about it.

"Quail droppings? I don't need them. You can take them all. I've already piled them up there, they're ready."

Chen Ling smiled and said, "Brother Xian, it seems you still want to grow vegetables in greenhouses this year."

After all, mushrooms grown in greenhouses don't need fertilizer.

"Well, I was thinking of growing vegetables. Bo Ming said that last year a lot of mushrooms were grown, and many places couldn't sell them. Vegetables are better. Even in our small county, winter greens sell well."

When Wang Lixian talked about this, a smile appeared on his sun-darkened face: "Also, quite a few people in our village have built greenhouses to grow vegetables this year. If I don't put in some effort and try to grow the vegetables better, won't I fall behind them?"

"Haha, that's true, that's true. You were the first person in our village to try something new, the leader. We can't let anyone else surpass you."

"What leader? When it comes to leaders, you should be the leader in our village, our township, and our county... Now the county has heard that you raise cattle. There are a lot of cattle raising this year. In a small village of about ten households, every family has yellow cattle."

"Oh, right, there's something I haven't told you yet. The villagers who used to raise ornamental fish like you are now planning to switch to raising domestic fish and crayfish in their ponds. Besides your family, only Grandpa Zhao's family and his family raise ornamental fish."

It's understandable that the village has stopped raising ornamental fish and switched to raising other aquatic products and crayfish; raising ornamental fish is still a bit troublesome.

However, Chen Ling did not expect that Zhao Yubao's two families would follow suit and support him. Of course, they were just playing around.

Chatting and laughing with Wang Lixian's family, Chen Ling parted ways at the elementary school, turned a corner, and walked along the Dayantang Pond.

A grassy, ​​tree-covered hillside came into view.

This earthen hillside stretches for a long time, from the east to the west of the village, but it becomes quite gentle within the village itself.

Moreover, in spring and summer, the vegetation is lush and green, and walking here on a hot summer day immediately gives people a refreshing and cool feeling.

This year, a small river has also appeared in front of this grassy slope.

Two more thatched huts have appeared on the hillside across the stream, with several large trees behind them and a small courtyard enclosed by a fence.

The small courtyard also has two vegetable gardens where chickens and ducks are raised.

Chen Ling stood by the river, looked around, and felt that the grassy slope in the village had been transformed into a much prettier place. Overjoyed, he cheered like a young boy, took a step back, and then suddenly accelerated, nimbly leaping across the river to the other side.

His actions startled the people on the slope, and the cattle and sheep started bleating wildly.

"Good heavens, I thought I'd fallen into the river! Lingzi, what are you doing jumping around like that, you're such a grown man?"

The grass was too tall, and Chen Ling didn't see anyone sitting on the slope. It turned out to be his father-in-law herding sheep with Rui Rui.

Several old men sat under the shade of a tree, playing cards with tinder on fire. Zhao Yubao was also brewing a pot of tea, looking extremely content.

Rui Rui and two other children of similar age were intently digging into ant nests with sticks.

Chen Ling walked over and grinned: "Hey, isn't this Shuiwazi and Yubin's little kid? He can run around in the fields now, and he can talk yet?"

"No way, he's only one year old, what can he say? Compared to Rui Rui, he's way dumber than a baby."

Old Niwai chuckled and said with disdain.

Chen Guoxing followed up, saying, "You can't blame the maternal grandmother for the child being slow. When you, as the grandfather, can afford to eat and drink like a rich man, your grandson will definitely be as smart as Rui Rui."

Chen Guoxing is the brother of village doctor Chen Guoping. The brothers are almost identical. However, Chen Guoxing had been ill a few years ago and has aged rapidly in the past three or four years.

This year, thanks to the influence of the turtle, everyone has seen a lot of extra income, and their complexion has improved somewhat.

She even has the energy to argue with people now.

"By the way, Fugui, I heard from everyone that your fumigation kept bugs away from newly built houses. Could you please make some of your fumigation for us too?"

Zhao Yubao poured him a cup of tea and said, "This thatched hut is comfortable to live in, but it attracts a lot of bugs. I don't know how many I step on every day. My shoes are covered with dead bugs. If it weren't for your father-in-law giving me two fire ropes to light every night to fumigate the house, they might have crawled onto the bed."

While playing cards, Old Zhong nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, especially grasshoppers and crickets. At night, as soon as they see the light, those guys fly into the house like crazy. It's a little better during the day when there are chicks and ducks running around, but at night the chickens and ducks also need to sleep."

The two residences they designed are not only picturesque but also full of style.

But the hillside was covered with waist-high weeds, and the insects inside were no joke.

"That's true. I was just about to go to the mountains to dig up some medicinal herbs, and I'll also pick some spices to make incense and repel insects along the way."

Chen Ling thought for a moment, then said to Wang Cunye, "Dad, don't your insect repellent powder work here?"

"Oh, it's no use. There are so many bugs in this grass. What good is the medicine powder? My medicine powder is half insect repellent and half insect killer. After killing the bugs, the medicine is no longer effective and won't last more than a few days. I still have to use your incense. Once you light it, even scorpions and centipedes won't dare to enter the house, let alone woodlice."

Wang Cunye said this without even looking up while playing cards.

In the countryside, people usually use mugwort and wormwood to fumigate houses, or they might use some pine and cypress trees.

This can repel insects, but the effect is not very obvious and the duration is short.

Wang Cunye was quite surprised by Chen Ling's spice. He took it out during the Dragon Boat Festival, used it to fumigate the air, and it's still effective now.

……

The farm doesn't attract insects, and neither do the houses in the village. Over time, the family naturally started to find it strange.

So Chen Ling took advantage of this year's Dragon Boat Festival to bring out some spices he had come up with himself to repel insects.

Wang Cunye, who had long dealt with medicinal herbs, looked at it but still couldn't figure out what that pitch-black thing was.

But it really works well. It smells quite nice, not pungent at all. After fuming the house, it doesn't attract any bugs at all.

"Alright then, I'll go for a walk in the mountains now and pick some herbs to make spices."

"Go to Nanshan, but don't go to Beishan or Xishan."

"I know."

Chen Ling patted his son's head and then turned back.

"Hey, don't go! Have a couple of cups of tea first, it's not nine o'clock yet."

Seeing how anxious he was, Zhao Yubao quickly stopped him.

Chen Ling waved his hand and stepped across the river again: "Go early and come back early, now is the perfect time."

"Hey, what's going on? He comes and goes as soon as he arrives, like I'm ordering him around."

Zhao Yubao slapped his thigh.

Wang Cunye pulled him down to sit and laughed, "Haha, don't mind him. He's been in the city for seven or eight days and is getting restless. He can't stay still these days."

He was often at home and knew that Chen Ling had wanted to go to the mountains for a long time.

Furthermore, the pharmacies are indeed running out of many medicinal herbs.

(End of this chapter)