My 1995 Small Farm.

The two old men enjoyed sitting and chatting with Wang Cunye.

I think Chen Ling, my father-in-law, is not only good-tempered, but also an excellent storyteller.

They often use the simplest and most plain language to tell very moving stories, and they can suddenly utter a sentence that is both artistic and philosophical, which is highly appreciated by Zhao Yubao.

Sometimes it even drives the old man crazy with envy.

I often wonder if this is what they mean by the ultimate simplicity, or returning to one's true nature.
So he often pestered Wang Cunye to tell him those bizarre stories.

Wang Cunye has been back in Fenglei Town for several days now.

They really miss it.

She often reminisces about herding sheep with him.

"What kind of look is that?"

Seeing Chen Ling's speechless expression, Zhao Yubao snorted, "You little brat, you don't know what people in the village are saying about you now, do you? They all say you're a village bully, and that you're like a wolf in the mountains, someone not to be messed with..."

"Uncle Zhao, don't listen to their nonsense."

Chen Ling had also heard his mother-in-law talk about this in the morning. "But a village bully is a village bully, but I don't recognize this wolf. In our area, this wolf is not just used to scare little kids, but also has a lot of educational value."

Bringing this up at this critical juncture is to say that the old man's actions were unethical and that he failed to set a good example for future generations.

What does it matter if people say I'm a village bully?

"Oh my, there's a story behind this! Tell me, tell me quickly!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yubao and the other man perked up and hurriedly urged Chen Ling to tell the story of the wolf.

"There's not much to say, it's just a folk tale. It was in the magazine I subscribed to recently, I'll just take it out for you to see."

Chen Ling was too lazy to talk about this. It was broad daylight and there wasn't much of an atmosphere, so he simply took out the magazine from inside the house and let the two old men read it.

Above are 'wolves, cats, and monkeys,' all sorts of mountain spirits and monsters.

There's even a local rhyme: "Pull up brambles, pull up brambles, pull them into the mountains to feed the wolves."

It's all written on it.

A thorn mat is a mat woven from thorn branches. If woven large, it can be used to build a house; if woven small, it can be pulled along the ground.

The story is about a family in the area where the daughter-in-law disliked her elderly parents for not doing any work and wasting food.

She encouraged her husband to trick the two elderly people into going to the mountain temple to pray for blessings and longevity. In reality, they were dragged into the mountains with thorny branches and fed to wolves.

When their son found out, he didn't cry or make a fuss; he just dragged the bramble around and played with it every day after school.

Out of curiosity, the couple scolded him, saying, "You don't study the Four Books and Five Classics, what's so fun about dragging a thorny fence around all day?"

The son replied: I'm too young to weave a bramble fence. After school, when I have nothing to do, I practice pulling the bramble fence. When you two are older, you can also use a bramble fence to pull the fence into the mountains.

The couple blushed and became furious upon hearing this. They hurriedly found their parents-in-law, apologized respectfully, and became very filial to them.

There's also a saying: 'The son weaves a thorny fence, the father lives longer; but it's actually the daughter-in-law who's trying to harm him. Don't even mention the old cat sleeping on the roof; it's a tradition passed down from generation to generation…'

"Hey, this is a good story."

Zhao Yubao and his companion exclaimed in admiration, flipping through the magazine repeatedly, clearly delighted: "There's no shortage of good stories in folk tales; it's truly a treasure!"

Old Zhong pointed to the end of a page and said, "Hey, there's an explanation of 'wolf' here."

"Wolf Ba Zi" is a term used to describe mountain spirits and monsters. It refers to an old wolf that has become a spirit and can walk upright like a human. On summer nights, when villagers are enjoying the cool air in their courtyards, the wolf Ba Zi will come down the mountain, grab them, and take them away.

Another version says that there is a type of wolf in the wolf pack that is much smaller than a regular wolf, but is intelligent, wise, and extremely perceptive of human nature.

If someone sneaks into the sheep flock on the hillside to steal sheep and is discovered by the shepherd, they can be whipped.

He would bare his teeth with each lash.

He lay prone on the ground without flinching.

They will only run away when the shepherd stops hitting them.

I've heard that this is because wolves are intelligent and know that if you do something wrong, you should never retaliate, which is why they behave this strangely.

But in the end, it's still a wolf.

Wolf-like creatures are more ferocious and agile than ordinary wolves. Although they are smaller in size, they are more dangerous than ordinary wolves.

They can even hold grudges for a lifetime.

The children seek revenge for the grudges of their fathers.

"This thing is quite interesting."

"Yes, actually, the wolf is a legend and a drama, but the real scary one is the cat monkey. My great-uncle told me that the cat monkey carried people on its back in the middle of the night, and it happened before."

"Oh my, this sounds scary. Is it in a book? Let me check."

They were engrossed in reading magazines upstairs, but Rui Rui quickly got bored and climbed down the stairs by herself.

The little one has short legs and can't go downstairs at all.

They climb up incredibly fast, going up and down stairs in a flash.

However, Heiwa and Xiaojin followed closely behind him as he went downstairs, supporting him from both sides. They did this every day, so there was nothing to worry about.

The women downstairs became interested in the grass beads and started chattering as they threaded needles through the curtain.

When Rui Rui saw this, she helped Heiwa stand up, clapped her little hands, and ran to Wang Susu's side. She stuck out her little bottom in front of the pot full of grass beads and blinked her big, dark eyes as she watched them busy.

A short while later, Zhao Dahai came running back in a flurry, carrying several fluffy little moorhens in his vest. They were all black and quite beautiful. He asked Wang Qingwen to find something for him to put them in.

The little rascal's eyes lit up immediately, and he quickly shouted upstairs, "Dad, Little One! Little One!"

He couldn't pronounce the word "chicken" correctly; he just broke it down into two characters in a childish voice.

When Chen Ling first heard this, he had no idea what the man was shouting about.

Fortunately, Zhao Dahai quickly followed up by shouting, "Dad, Uncle Zhong, come down with Fugui! The chicks have hatched outside, and there are so many running around in the grass. They're easy to catch."

Rui Rui was so anxious that he kept jumping around, chirping "Little chick, little chick" incessantly.

He wanted Chen Ling to take him out to catch it.

At this time of year, the chicks, ducklings, and goslings have all grown up, and there are very few birds raising their young.

It's rare to see such cute little gadgets anymore.

The brat was in a hurry to catch it. Seeing his son so eager to go upstairs again, Chen Ling turned around and said to the people below, "Alright, alright, stop shouting. It won't work anyway. Dad will come down with the two grandpas."

So the group of people took the cages and went out to catch the little moorhens.

In fact, not only do baby moorhens hatch this season, but also various water birds such as baby wild ducks and little reed warblers.

But Chen Ling's family still has a lot of small chicks.

When I went outside, wow, there were little black moorhens running around everywhere in the tall grass.

They have large claws and long, thick snouts...

They all got separated from the mother rail.

At first glance, it looks rather strange compared to a chick.

However, after looking at it for a while, it becomes more pleasing to the eye and even seems cute.

Seeing Chen Ling and the others come out, Zhao Gang pointed to the dogs running around in the orchard and said, "Erhei catches the most. This dog catches the chicks without hurting them. It's a pity that it's not familiar with me and won't give them to me after catching them."

The lynx laughed from the side, "Haha, yeah, they're all for me and the ocean."

"Fugui, can we catch this little moorhen?"

"You can catch them, just catch a couple to keep as pets, and release them when you don't want to feed them anymore."

Chen Ling knew how many rails were around him; they were hatching eggs one brood after another. He wasn't deliberately harming them; he was just catching them for fun, so it didn't bother him at all.

"Don't underestimate this little thing. It eats much more than a chick. You have to catch insects and small fish to feed it. It needs to be fed several times a day. It eats a lot and poops a lot. If you keep it at home, it will smell very bad."

He used to keep them as pets.

This was to be told to Zhao Dahai and the two old men.

It's dirty and smelly; it's better to raise chicks and ducks.

Unexpectedly, the little rascal beside him couldn't wait any longer, frowning and anxiously shaking his arm: "Daddy, Daddy~"

"Okay, arrest, arrest, arrest now."

Helpless, Chen Ling stopped Erhei and his pack of puppies from doing anything and took out a chicken-catching net.

One end is a bamboo pole, and the other end is a net.

They took their son and drove him into the grass.

These little moorhens have similar habits to chicks and ducklings.

When they are driven away, they don't scatter and run away, but rather, if one runs in a certain direction, the whole group follows and runs in that direction.

So when Chen Ling arrived and saw a group of dark little moorhens running out of the grass, he quickly used a chicken net to catch them all.

Only three or four of them managed to escape.

Compared to the clumsy and slow-moving domestic chicks and ducks, these little moorhens are incredibly fast.

Chen Ling's skills are already quite good.

Rui Rui shouted excitedly, "So tiny! So tiny!"

Then he ran over and reached out to lift the chicken net.

When the lid was lifted, all the little moorhens had fled.

"You brat, what's the rush!"

Seeing this, Chen Ling threw away the chicken net and, along with Zhao Dahai and the others, chased after the little moorhens that had run into the grass.

"Haha, I feel like it's more fun to catch them myself!"

After Zhao Dahai and Shanmao caught two of them, they excitedly yelled.

Catching chickens with a net is nowhere near as satisfying as catching them yourself.

Even Erhei and his gang of puppies wouldn't let him help.

The two old men, Zhao Yubao and his wife, weren't very interested in this.

He simply tucked half a pencil between his ears and scribbled in a small notebook.

The above is what Chen Ling had told him before, such as "moorhen and osprey," and what his father-in-law had told him, such as "the legend of ginseng and bellflower."

And today's 'beaded curtain of grass beads', and Chen Ling's fish, 'little fish that can glow'.

Old Zhong found the scene of them catching baby chicks with their children amusing, and sketched it out simply on the ground with a twig.

It looks like he's planning to go back and draw it.

A group of adults led the children to catch some small water chickens, and then put them all into a bamboo cage for Rui Rui.

Let him go play.

After the excitement subsided, Zhao Gang took Shanmao and Zhao Dahai fishing. He was quite interested in Shanmao after learning that he had opened a dog farm, and they quickly became acquainted.

Zhao Yubao and his companion also carried the straw mats home.

Not only is the countryside fun, but it also broadens my rigid thinking in my old age, giving me a lot of interesting ideas one after another.

They caught the little chicks but didn't even have time to play with them, leaving the two old ladies behind as they couldn't wait to go back and create.

Chen Ling watched as her son played with the chicks in the cage, while she sat by the stone pavilion feeding the pigeons.

Thinking to myself that I didn't have much to do lately, and that I had finished weaving the fishing net, I would find another opportunity to go and explore the strange fish deep in the reservoir tonight.

Just as he was pondering how to deal with that old rival...

Unexpectedly, an uninvited guest arrived.

It turned out that Wang Laishun had come to see him.

He figured that after all this commotion, the old man's relationship with him was probably strained, and they wouldn't see each other for a long time.

Even if something happens, he'll definitely ask someone else to come to his house and call him.

This is the usual situation in villages. When conflicts arise, there will definitely be a mediator to mediate and coordinate. This is a common occurrence.

Unexpectedly, just a few days later, they came knocking on our door.

(Book Recommendation: Making a Living in the Mountains in 1994)