My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 49 The Great Immortal
Chen Ling laughed when he heard this, "You really don't need to worry about that."

“I went to the fields early this morning and saw that the trees that used to be half dead have sprouted new buds this year. They have grown a lot of new branches and tender leaves and are growing very well.”

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have thought of planting fruit trees, would I?"

"Huh? Really?"

Wang Susu was immediately overjoyed, her eyes sparkling, completely unable to believe it.

After all, the last time we turned the soil, it was early spring, the trees were still bare, and the grass in the ground had just started to sprout.

It's impossible to tell what those trees actually look like.

Chen Ling waved away the buzzing bees in front of him and replied, "Of course it's true. I'll take you to the fields this afternoon and you'll see."

"Okay."

Wang Susu nodded with a smile, then asked, "Are you going out this morning?"

"If we don't go out, we'll go to Uncle Sangui's house and see if he can get us an oxcart these next few days."

Chen Ling said.

Uncle Sangui is the same Chen Sangui who adopted Xizi.

He is the village's old carpenter. Although he is almost seventy years old, his hands are more steady than those of a young man, and he does carpentry work quite well.

When Chen Ling and Wang Susu got married, the wedding bed, wardrobe, cabinet, and even the chest of drawers in the room were all made by Chen Sangui.

Not only is the workmanship exquisite, but the quality is also good.

Chen Ling knew this, and when he was thinking about hailing an oxcart, he remembered this old man.

"Oh, do you have any money on you?"

Wang Susu asked.

“I have it with me. I have plenty of money on me, so you don’t need to worry.”

Chen Ling smiled at her: "Besides, there's no rush to give him the money now. We can give it to him after we get the oxcart out."

Wang Susu thought about it and agreed, so she didn't say anything more.

Chen Ling then went out and headed towards Chen Sangui's house.

Chen Sangui's house was located in the northeast corner of the village; it was the last house on the far side.

The wall is made of yellow mud, and to the north is a small slope covered with miscellaneous trees, making it easy to spot.

But when Chen Ling arrived at his house, he found that the old man was not home today. He knocked on the door and heard a dog barking inside, but no one answered.

After a while, a woman who lived nearby came out and said that Chen Sangui had gone to help Erzhu's family build a greenhouse.

Chen Ling then realized what was happening and asked around, only to learn that all the men from the surrounding families had gone.

"This guy even called in the Sixth Brigade."

Chen Ling couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration.

Chenwangzhuang used to be divided into seven production brigades. Even though it is now under the village committee system, the farmland is still actually divided according to the production brigades.

Chen Ling's family used to have farmland in the southwest, which is now the place where Erzhugao greenhouse is located, belonging to the Seventh Brigade.

The wasteland at the foot of the mountain is in the northwest corner. This land was reclaimed by Erzhu's father, and later a lime factory was built there, so it was never counted as arable land.

It doesn't belong to any brigade.

"The Seventh Brigade plus the Sixth Brigade, there are at least a hundred men in total. If they work for a month or two, they can make 30,000 yuan."

"That son of a bitch Erzhu, he's become so arrogant just because he's hooked up with a rich woman."

Chen Ling muttered to himself as he walked home.

He thought that if Chen Sangui started working at the Erzhu greenhouse, he definitely wouldn't be able to help him with the oxcart in the short term.

It seems we'll only have to wait a little over a month.

When I got home, I saw the yard full of bees and butterflies, flying around the crabapple blossoms.

When Chen Ling went out earlier, there were only a few bees, but now there is a swarm, and they look like wild bees.

This is very common in the mountains.

Of course, there were quite a few butterflies, but they were all white and yellow, which didn't look very pretty.

"Huh? Ah Ling, you're back so soon?" Wang Susu was sitting under the grape trellis weaving a medicine basket when she saw him return, and she was quite surprised.

"Yes, Uncle Sangui isn't home; he's gone to work for Erzhu."

Chen Ling responded.

I looked at the newly sprouted leaves on the grapevines, and then at the bees and butterflies that filled the yard.

He wondered, "Why are there so many bees and butterflies on this crabapple blossom today?"

Wang Susu also looked up and said, "It's getting warmer, so it's normal for bees and butterflies to be around. Look at the ground, the ants are crawling everywhere."

Chen Ling saw that it was indeed true, so he walked under the jujube tree, found an ant nest, picked up a few ants, and threw them into the cave.

Then he walked over to the crabapple blossoms, quickly catching a few bees and butterflies and releasing them into the grotto.

"Ah Ling, what are you doing? Why are you acting like a child?"

Seeing him catching bees and butterflies, Wang Susu couldn't help but smile.

"Haha, this is so much fun!"

Chen Ling laughed along with him.

Actually, he just wanted to put these things into the cave and do a small experiment.

The young couple were talking when they suddenly heard a dog barking outside, and it was barking quite urgently.

"What are you yelling about? Go away, all of you, get out of the way!"

It was Old Mrs. Wang's voice.

The dog stopped barking immediately after being scolded.

"Have our two puppies run away again?"

Chen Ling recognized the dog barking and looked around for Heiwa and Xiaojin, but couldn't find them.

Wang Susu also got up and looked around. She immediately frowned and said, "These two little things were just lying at my feet a moment ago, and they disappeared in the blink of an eye. They must have run away."

"I'll go out and see what's going on?"

Chen Ling started walking out as he spoke.

"It's alright, A-Ling, don't worry. Aunt Wang isn't like Dongmei..."

Wang Susu followed behind him, talking as they walked.

However, as soon as the young couple reached the door, the dogs, which had been quiet for a while, started barking again. It wasn't just Heiwa and Xiaojin barking; it was several dogs from the neighborhood barking together.

Chen Ling immediately quickened his pace and went out to see that Old Mrs. Wang, who lived behind Qin Dongmei's house, had also come out.

He muttered to himself, "What's wrong with these dogs today? Why are they barking like that?"

When the old woman looked in the direction the dog was barking, she was stunned.

Behind his house, where there was a pile of coal ash, five or six dogs were jumping and barking around the pile.

Chen Ling and his wife then noticed something was wrong and hurried over to check.

Upon closer inspection, I saw two small yellow creatures near the cinder pile next to the courtyard wall. One of them was lying motionless on the ground, seemingly dead.

The other one was darting around, baring its teeth at the other dogs, looking quite fierce.

"Oh my god!"

When Old Mrs. Wang saw the two blond-haired creatures, her vision blurred and she almost fainted.

"This is... a weasel?"

Wang Susu asked.

Chen Ling nodded: "It is indeed a weasel."

Grandma Wang didn't even bother to greet the two men. She rushed over and shooed the dogs aside. Looking at the dead weasel and then at the live one, she said with a mournful face, "Heavens above, this is a huge grudge we've made."

When Heiwa and Xiaojin from the pack saw Chen Ling and Wang Susu approaching, they immediately rushed forward excitedly to pick up the dead weasel, hoping to claim credit and a reward.

Grandma Wang was so frightened that her face turned pale. She hurriedly scolded the two puppies and chased them away. Then she bowed and kowtowed to the live weasel by the wall.

"Great Immortal, Great Immortal, please forgive our rudeness. The village dog was ignorant and offended you. Please don't take it to heart. I will burn incense and kowtow to you tonight..."

(End of this chapter)