My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 453 Cicadas
Actually, few boys of Chen Ling's generation bothered to incubate turtle eggs when they were young. They would just pick them up and eat them. Only Chen Ling was playful and liked to tinker around, so he would try to incubate turtle eggs.

I want to hatch a brood of baby turtles to keep as pets.

He recalled that after finding turtle eggs, it took him several years to figure out how to hatch the baby turtles.

Because some turtle eggs are unfertilized, they are inherently defective or bad eggs.

After he gradually learned to distinguish them, he would pick out some and eat them, and keep the others to play with.

The remaining natural hatching rate is extremely high.

It's not like he told Komori and the others that every turtle egg could be guaranteed to hatch. What could he do if the eggs weren't fertilized?
The reason I brought this up with these kids is because he's been tinkering with these things in his spare time lately.

They did it both inside the cave and outside.

Of course, the main focus is still inside the cave.

The other night, before we went to the zoo, I spent half the night looking at watermelons with Wang Jusheng and the others.

At that time, Wang Jusheng gave Rui Rui two wheat field turtles, and Rui Rui and Wang Zhenzhen also caught a few more in the melon field.

After the turtles were brought back, they started laying eggs one after another.

At the time, Chen Ling and his group were in the city, while Wang Cunye and Gao Xiulan were at home. After seeing the turtles lay eggs, they started collecting them.

I've collected a whole straw hat.

After Chen Ling and the others returned, Chen Ling placed the turtle eggs in a small stone trough, covered them with sand, and watered them, waiting for them to hatch.

Wang Zhenzhen and Rui Rui also participated enthusiastically, looking forward to it.

However, during this time, Chen Ling saw that the two of them cherished the turtle eggs very much, so under the pretext of removing the unfertilized eggs, he took a small half of them and put them into the cave.

Hatching is done using the same method.

This was partly to let them breed and evolve into new species by throwing them into the cave, and partly to see if Chen Ling could make some pictures, words, or marks appear on the backs of these little turtles according to his wishes in the cave, a place where he possessed magical powers.

Not only are they fun to keep, but they can also make money.

This inspiration came from the turtle that Wang Jusheng caught.

But it's a pity...

After the turtle eggs were placed into the cave, some minor, positive changes occurred because it was their first time entering the cave, which could be considered a mutation.

However, they were unable to bring Chen Ling's "ingenious ideas" to fruition.

At present.

This means that the incubation period for wheat field turtles, which was originally about two months, has been shortened to just over half a month.

Overall, it wasn't a complete loss.

Hopefully, future changes will see a greater variety of turtle species, similar to the emergence of bees.

Back at the farm, Wang Susu was pickling salted eggs under the grape trellis, while Gao Xiulan sat nearby weaving a mat.

"Lingzi is back? Your dad said you went to Nanshan to gather herbs. I was just telling Susu that I didn't know if you would be able to come back for lunch."

"No one in the village has time to dig for medicinal herbs this year. The valuable herbs are in the north mountain, and no one goes to the south mountain. The herbs commonly used in pharmacies are everywhere. I can just pick a little bit and that will be enough for this trip."

Chen Ling walked over and put down the bamboo basket, letting the two of them look at it.

"That's true. There are a lot of outsiders coming to the village this year, which brings in more income. A few days ago, Teacher Zhao was recruiting workers to dig ditches. There are also jackals in the mountains, so no one goes there. The herbs are growing like crazy..."

Gao Xiulan smiled and said, "Perfect timing. While we're drying the medicinal herbs, let's pick the green beans on the trellis in the backyard this afternoon, wash them, and dry them. Otherwise, if so many green beans grow at once, they'll get too old in just a few days."

Now that it's peak growing season for green beans, we can pick more than 10 to 20 kilograms a day, which is far more than we can eat ourselves.

No one in the village wanted it.

In the summer, who doesn't need vegetables? There's more than enough to eat from the garden.

Green beans, cucumbers, loofahs... none of these are rare.

Especially green beans; these grow on vines and become too old to eat after three to five days.

Why not take advantage of the good weather and pick them all? They can be dried into green beans or pickled into salted vegetables; at least they won't go to waste.

"Okay, then I'll go catch a few fish and cook a couple of dishes for lunch."

Chen Ling responded, turned around, picked up the newly woven net, and scooped up a red-lipped barb and some fine-scaled salmon.

Then they cut open the abdomen and cleaned it thoroughly.

Today we're steaming the red-lipped fish. First, spread lard evenly on it, then spread soy sauce and salt on top.

Mix soy sauce and vinegar in a bowl, then add some Sichuan peppercorn oil.

After boiling the water, put the bowl containing the fish into it, and also put the bowl of sauce into it to steam together.

Time it precisely and then turn off the engine.

Let it sit for a while after turning off the heat.

Pour the sauce over the fish.

The steamed red-lipped fish is now ready.

For small-scaled fish, it's even simpler; just boil them into fish soup.

Add some cold dishes as well.

Two meat dishes and one vegetable dish are enough.

Summer lunches should be light so they don't feel greasy.

Both of these fish are delicious no matter how they are cooked.

Every time I make it, the whole family eats it all up.

It's delicious, but these two kinds of fish are too expensive.

Even though they raise quite a few at home, they're reluctant to eat them.

If Chen Ling hadn't occasionally brought it out to eat under the pretext of nourishing Wang Susu's body, no one else in the family would have touched it.

……

After lunch, I took a short nap.

After checking on the little turtles in the cave, Chen Ling went to the backyard to pick green beans.

The backyard wall is now covered in greenery, with bamboo poles leaning against it, crawling with loofah, gourd, and string bean plants. The loofah flowers are yellow, the gourd flowers are white, and the string bean flowers are pinkish-purple... Butterflies and bees flit among the flowers, creating a lively scene.

Under the wooden frame, the mother hen led a group of chicks to dig for food in the soil. No one knew what good thing they had dug up, but she clucked softly, which immediately attracted the chicks to scramble for it.

Chen Ling stomped his foot, carrying the bamboo basket, but the dogs weren't afraid. They only scurried away in a panic, yelping, after the two dogs came over to chase them away. "Why do you keep running home? There are so many bugs to eat outside, and there aren't many bugs at home."

Chen Ling had the dogs chase them all away.

Then I put down the basket and started picking green beans.

After working for more than half an hour, we picked a large bamboo basket full of green beans.

Chen Ling filled two buckets with water and then poured the green beans into a basin to rinse them.

This step is mainly for pest control. Our own green beans have not been sprayed with pesticides and are pure natural green food, which means that it is inevitable that they will have wormholes and get infested with insects.

During the rinsing process in water, the insects hidden inside the green beans will be unable to breathe and will crawl out through the insect holes in the beans.

Otherwise, a simple wash won't be enough to get them out.

It wouldn't be good if you found a bug in your food.

The rinsing took another half hour. Chen Ling boiled a pot of water in the kitchen, keeping some fresh water for stir-frying in the evening. She threw the rest into the big pot, boiled it for three to five minutes, and then strung a rope over the wooden house in the front yard to start drying it.

While she was busy, Gao Xiulan brought Wang Zhenzhen back.

As soon as the girl entered the house, she went to look at the silkworm cocoons and turtle eggs on her wooden house. Then she told Chen Ling not to forget that he was going out to catch cicada nymphs tonight.

We need to make dinner early.

Then they rushed off to prepare buckets, shovels, and other tools for catching cicadas, their excitement was indescribable.

A short while later, Wang Cunye returned with Rui Rui from herding sheep, and good heavens, the house erupted in another round of squeaking and commotion.

I didn't feel tired at all after playing all day; I had so much energy.

If they're not tired, that's fine. Just keep taking them out to play. They'll behave when they're tired.

So, after having an early meal, shortly after sunset and before it got too dark, Chen Ling took the two little ones, gathered all the tools for catching cicada nymphs, and went out together.

First, we rushed to the threshing ground to wait for Liu Nier and her group to arrive.

"Uncle Fugui, let me test you. Do you know which trees cicada nymphs like to climb?"

After Liu Ni'er arrived, she tilted her little head and showed off to Chen Ling.

"Oh, you're testing me? Aren't they mostly found on willow and elm trees?"

"No, you're wrong. Cicada nymphs love willow trees the most. Elm trees can't compare to willow trees. We used to be able to find more than ten or twenty cicada nymphs on a single willow tree by the river."

"Wow, you've even done research in this area."

The boy chuckled and glanced at Wang Zhenzhen: "My aunt said that her essay about crows and cuckoos was praised by the teacher. I thought about it and since I know about cicada nymphs, I decided to write about that."

"Wow, you're pretty clever, kid."

The cicada nymph is the larva of a cicada.

These days, there are many, not only under trees, but also near riverbanks.

They prefer willows, followed by elms, then poplars. Jujube and walnut trees have less sap, and trees with harder wood have less sap.

You'll gradually learn these things after playing with a lot of toy toys.

This is the season when cicadas emerge from the ground. Every night, cicada nymphs emerge densely from underground. From six or seven in the evening, before it gets completely dark, until three or four in the morning, cicada nymphs are still crawling out.

Especially between 10 pm and 11 or 12 pm, cicada nymphs swarm out like they're going to a market.

After all the children arrived, Chen Ling led them to the woods behind the local temple to look for cicada nymphs.

Many villagers here like to bring their beds out and sleep under the trees in the summer.

Cicada nymphs often crawl onto the bed.

Sometimes I wake up in the morning to find a cicada nymph crawling on the sheets, mat, or bed leg. It has just molted and become a cicada, and hasn't flown away yet.

He was caught on the spot and thrown to his death, then fed to the chickens.

"Wow, look! There are so many holes under this old willow tree. We should have come out to catch them a few days ago..."

After passing the local temple and descending into the woods of Dakeng, Wang Zhenzhen discovered a dense layer of small holes under a large willow tree, at least twenty or thirty of them, as if someone had poked them out with an iron rod.

This is the little hole that the cicada nymph crawled out of.

The soil here is particularly suitable for cicadas to thrive; it's quite common to see twenty or thirty cicada nymphs crawling on a single willow tree.

"I told you, there are the most under the willow tree. Uncle Fugui, don't move, there's one right under your feet..."

As Liu Nier was speaking, she suddenly noticed a small hole the size of a soybean next to Chen Ling's feet, and quickly called out to him not to move.

At this time of year, many cicada nymphs have crawled to the surface, but haven't yet ventured out.

It's just missing a thin layer of soil. There's often a small hole the size of a soybean on top, and you can clearly see that the soil layer around the hole is very thin.

This is an obvious characteristic.

They will sprout from the ground as soon as it gets dark.

A few cicada nymphs are quite timid. Once they sense any movement outside their burrows, they will immediately retreat back inside and hide deep within.

They will slowly crawl out of the hole once there is no more movement.

Chen Ling stopped in his tracks. He saw Liu Nier gently pry open the small hole with her hand, insert a finger, and take advantage of the moment when the cicada nymph's pincers were about to pinch his hand. She hooked the pincers and pulled it up, easily pulling the cicada nymph out.

Seeing this, Rui Rui squatted down with great curiosity, staring at it intently.

Chen Ling glanced around and quickly spotted another one behind him. He could even see the cicada nymph's head and two dark eyes inside the hole. "Look, there's another one over here. Let your brother Liu Ni teach you how to catch it. Be careful not to hurt your hand."

The other children were also very excited, squatting on the ground and constantly searching for the cicada nymphs that were crawling out.

"There are so many here, I'm sure I can catch a hundred tonight."

"What's that compared to what I could catch? I could catch ten thousand."

"..."

"Uncle Fugui, why are you filling that little bucket with water?"

As they continued to grab the bucket, some of the little kids noticed that Chen Ling's bucket was only half full of water. They were all carrying things like canned food or wine boxes, and none of them were carrying water.

"This is to prevent them from molting. I don't like eating young cicadas, so I add some salt water and they won't molt."

Chen Ling smiled and replied.

Many locals quite like the freshly molted, white, tender cicadas, but he doesn't like eating those; he prefers the cicada nymphs that haven't molted yet.

Once deep-fried, the outer shell turns a beautiful golden brown, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, making it both fragrant and crunchy.

(End of this chapter)