My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 474 Freight Station

"Is it really a leopard? If it really is a leopard, we'd better be careful. It's a minor issue if it harms chickens and ducks, but it would be bad if it hurts people."

The village hasn't seen a leopard for almost twenty years now. In fact, when there were more of these creatures, they were rarely seen on ordinary days, and even less so during the day.

Compared to wolves, wild boars, and badgers, they are not as harmful, and their fearsome reputation is not as widespread as that of wolves.

But there's one interesting point.

This thing remembers both kindness and grudges.

Unlike jackals who only hold grudges.

The story goes that the leopards were grateful because one year an old hunter from Chenwangzhuang found two injured leopard cubs, healed their wounds, raised them to adulthood, and then released them.

After all, these things eat meat, and not everyone can afford to raise them.

Unexpectedly, after releasing them, the following winter, heavy snow blocked the mountains, and the family suffered a famine with nothing to eat. However, the old hunter would find rabbits and pheasants in front of his house every few days. Later, he learned that the leopard had brought them.

The idea of ​​repaying a debt of gratitude sounds a bit mystical.

The leopard's vengeful nature is also unusual compared to other wild animals.

They are male leopards, known for their vengeful nature and tendency to harm people, especially in the mountains.

The leopards that repay kindness are all female.

But then again.

The female leopard, also known as the grass leopard, is quite small.

In the past, when people walked at night, they were afraid of attracting male leopards, so they would basically kill any leopard they encountered.

Because male leopards are scary.

They often hurt people for various reasons.

For example, they might become irritable during their heat cycle, or accidentally wander into someone else's territory—these are just some of the unexpected things that can happen.

Moreover, this guy is in the tree, completely silent, making it impossible to guard against.

Even experienced hunters are afraid.

so……

The personalities of male and female leopards are quite interesting.

The timid and gentle female leopard is grateful but never receives a good reward; she is often beaten to death.

The male leopard had a violent temper, but people dared not provoke it.

Fortunately, people don't have much contact with them, otherwise, this one characteristic alone would probably lead to many grudges and feuds.

"Yes, Uncle Fugui's family has a little leopard cub. This leopard cub is probably after the little leopard cub."

"No, if they're after the little leopard, then this must be a grass leopard. It wouldn't grow that big."

"What are you talking about? They say male leopards hold grudges, but they didn't say male leopards abandon their cubs. Why can't it be a male leopard?"

"Hey, Dazhi, why are you arguing with a baby? Who cares if it's male or female?"

"That's what I mean, I don't care if it's male or female, I just want to see if Fugui will let that little leopard go, and if it grows up to repay his kindness?"

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions revealed a desire to see some fun, and they clapped and cheered, saying, "Yes, it's something from the old days, we don't know if it's true or not, but wealth and fortune are right in front of us!"

If there really is something to repay a debt of gratitude, then Zhao Yubao should write a good article to record it.

Hearing their lively conversation, Chen Ling went home and brought out the little leopard.

The little leopard hadn't shed its puppy fur yet, and was about the size of a regular house cat, with a chubby body, fluffy ears, and big, dark eyes. It timidly huddled in Chen Ling's arms, its face full of resistance, looking much cuter than a tiger cub.

When Chen Ling put it down, it would hide behind him or crawl under the chair.

"So this is a leopard. Not bad, not bad at all. It has a tiger-like head and a cute face. It's much better looking than a mountain weasel."

"Haha, it's beautiful, but this little leopard is too timid."

"Yes, but it's rare to see a little creature that doesn't get close to the rich."

The villagers found it fascinating, and adults and children alike kept trying to reach out and touch it.

The more you try to touch it, the faster the little leopard runs away.

While dodging, it made whimpering sounds.

Even Zhao Yubao liked it after seeing it.

"Why don't you let Fugui go? Let me raise him. I don't have much to do every day."

Before Chen Ling could speak, Old Man Zhong, who had caught up from behind, said rudely, "You're kidding me. You think this wild thing is easy to raise? If it weren't for Fu Gui raising it, it would have died long ago."

My lynx used to bring home small creatures like wolf cubs, as well as wild rabbits and wildcats. Needless to say, they were all incredibly difficult to raise.

Some of them died overnight when brought home.

It's very wild and has a bad temper; it simply won't eat what you feed it.

Even the lynx and Professor Han, who frequently deal with wild animals, were helpless.

Unless it's like in a zoo, where they come into contact with people from birth, it's not really feasible.

Chen Ling's skill is truly unique.

Now many people in the village suspect that his father, Chen Juncai, may have secretly left him some kind of family heirloom.

After all, Chen Ling's family was a wealthy family in the past, and they had many debtors who used various means to pay off their debts.

"Uncle Zhong is right. Even wild leopards are hard to raise, let alone these leopards. Uncle Zhao, if you want to raise them, you might as well take two kittens with you."

Chen Ling smiled and pointed to the two earthen caves.

Zhao Yubao was taken aback for a moment, then quickly broke into a wide smile: "That works too, that works too! Let's take two cats and let them go back and catch mice..."

"Oh, right, catching mice, I'll take two home with me too."

Upon hearing this, Old Zhong became interested and quickly asked Chen Ling if the child could be raised successfully if taken home now.

"Of course we can raise them. It's been almost two months. If we can't raise them now, it's all over."

"That's fine, that's fine."

"Hey, by the way, Fugui, do you think they can still dig burrows, like the civets?"

"I don't know. I had an aunt who kept five little civets. They didn't know how to do anything. Later they learned to catch mice and eat birds."

As Chen Ling spoke, he led them to two cat holes, and each of them picked out two kittens, put them in a basket, and took them home.

At midday, Chen Ling's farm is the coolest place.

After this period, the people rushing to the dinner party will gradually disperse.

The crowd hadn't even cleared out yet when Little Sheep came looking for Chen Ling. The kid was so excited as soon as he got off the bike that his voice cracked when he called out to Chen Ling.

His strange voice made everyone wonder what was wrong with him.

Then he told me that his parents had recently stopped objecting to his relationship with Sannier, and were even planning to pay him to take over Sun Yanhong's freight station so he could work for Chen Ling. After all, Sun Yanhong had long since stopped caring about the money from the freight station.

The little lamb came to Chen Ling to ask him to invest in her business.

His family is not short of money, and his approach to Chen Ling to invest is a gesture of goodwill.

It is said that Chen Ling has a lot of good stuff here, but it doesn't fetch a good price in this remote mountain village.

They'll definitely need to be shipped out to get a good price later.

After becoming a shareholder, the freight station became one of their own, which brought many benefits.

Chen Ling understood, but did not agree.

He just told him to work hard on his own, saying he had high hopes for the kid.

If Sannier really changes and stops causing trouble, this kid has a bright future.

"Uncle Fugui, putting everything else aside, you should at least go to the opening ceremony."

"Yes, I'll definitely be there for the opening."

Having received Chen Ling's reply, the little lamb left with a happy expression.

Wang Susu later said that the boy was not bad, knowing that he cared about Chen Ling.

Gao Xiulan, however, had some complaints, saying that Chen Ling knew so many profitable businesses, why didn't they keep them for their own family instead of pushing them all onto others?
"Mom, after all this time, don't you know what kind of person A-Ling is? He just likes to be a hands-off boss. He's too lazy to touch anything except what he likes to do."

Gao Xiulan thought about it and realized that her son-in-law wasn't exactly lazy, but he just didn't want to put any effort into doing business.

Offering suggestions is fine, but getting him to put in the effort to implement them is difficult.

Chen Ling laughed and said, "Mother, you don't know, I'm just a theorist. I can only talk the talk, but if I actually did it, I might lose all my money."

Gao Xiulan didn't believe this at all.

He makes more money than anyone else by tinkering with those strange and unusual things.

She and Wang Cunye used to worry at night that their daughter and son-in-law would lose money raising animals on some shabby farm, but they no longer think that way.

It's just that I watch Chen Ling send out profitable deals all day long.

The two elderly people couldn't help but feel a little sorry for them.

"Meow~"

The family's kitten started meowing fiercely from the roof.

It had just returned from foraging for food and saw the little clouded leopard lying next to Wang Susu. It was immediately enraged and started barking loudly while still on the roof.

"Good heavens, here comes the vying for favor."

Seeing this, Chen Ling nudged the little clouded leopard with his toe.

The little guy hid behind Wang Susu's legs, staring intently at the food on the table, his eyes unwavering.

He didn't act timid and fearful at all in front of the villagers.

"Haha, this little leopard likes Susu, and the little kitten likes her too. Neither of them likes to follow you. Isn't that strange?"

Gao Xiulan smiled.

Don't know what's going on.

Is it because Wang Susu is pregnant?
Or is it because the milky scent of a nursing baby still lingers on her body?
Anyway, this little clouded leopard is very wary of others and won't let anyone touch it; it's only close to Wang Susu.

The little creatures I used to bring home all loved to circle around Chen Ling.

Such an exception was rare and made the whole family quite curious.

"Cat Cat."

Rui Rui raised his arm and waved to the kitten, then grabbed a fish tail from the table and threw it far away, urging the kitten to come down and eat.

The kitten then hurriedly jumped onto the tree, turned upside down, and climbed down backwards.

It came running over, meowing, and started eating the fish by the tail.

Seeing this, Rui Rui pulled out a small, chubby pigeon toy from under the chair. It was similar to a little white elephant. If you pulled the string on its bottom, it would run forward.

Moreover, when this chubby little pigeon runs, its two little wings flap constantly, which is quite amusing.

In Rui Rui's heart, it is second only to the little white elephant in terms of affection.

Seeing the kitten happily eating, Rui Rui took out the toy pigeon, aimed it at the kitten, pulled the string, and the pigeon flapped its wings and rushed towards the kitten.

Seeing the kitten squealing and meowing, they were frightened and ran away.

The little baby clapped his hands excitedly and screamed, laughing so hard his eyes disappeared.

"Rui Rui, can't you even eat in peace?"

Wang Susu, with a stern face, grabbed him and pulled him over, pressing him down on the small bamboo chair.

He sat down, his big, dark eyes looking at Wang Susu, then at Chen Ling, before frowning and pointing at Chen Ling, asking in confusion, "Daddy~"

At this moment, Chen Ling was feeding the little clouded leopard goat milk.

The little one means that Daddy didn't eat properly either, so why don't you scold him?

Chen Ling immediately laughed: "Well, so you've learned to be defiant now, huh? I don't know where you learned that from, you're so young and already so unruly?"

"Rui Rui, sit down and eat. You can play after you finish eating. Look, your dad ate his food before feeding the leopard. Have you finished eating?"

Gao Xiulan tried to reason with him.

Wang Susu also said, "Finish your meal first before you go play, otherwise Mom will spank you."

He turned his eyes, glanced in the direction of the kitten, and called out, "Little Pigeon."

She got up, toddled over with her short legs, picked up the little fat pigeon toy, ran back to sit down, and only then did she obediently continue eating.

The three adults were speechless. This brat always plays while eating, his mind is never on his food.

After finally finishing dinner and washing the dishes, the family went out. Wang Susu and her son went to chat with people and cool off, while Chen Ling and his son followed the adults and children in the village to look for cicada nymphs and also went to the river to set up traps and eel hooks.

Wang Cunye and Wang Zhenzhen are not at home; they will be gone for at least half a month.

With two fewer people at home, it did feel less lively. Wang Susu and her daughter were bored and wanted to talk to someone.

So these past few days I've often gone to the village to find people to sit and chat with. We don't need electric lights at night, we just sit at the threshing ground at the village entrance, with palm-leaf fans, tea, and we chat about everything under the sun, which is very pleasant.

When you're having a good time chatting, it's easy to lose track of time.

For Chen Ling and his friends, catching cicadas and fish on summer nights is an addictive activity.

Once you get addicted, it's too late to go back.

Perhaps sensing that no one was left at the farm, the wild creatures in the mountains became bolder.

Around 10 p.m., when Chen Ling and his family returned home happily, they saw a yard full of large cats with bright green eyes confronting the family's dogs as soon as they entered the courtyard.

(End of this chapter)