My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 52 Poisons
I was just talking about animal traps, and after walking only a few steps, I actually spotted one.

The clip was badly rusted and was placed among several dogwood trees.

If the white ox hadn't gone to eat the dogwood flowers, Chen Ling wouldn't have noticed.

"See this? If you get caught in this thing, your skinny legs will be ruined."

Chen Ling pointed to the animal traps under several dogwood trees, trying to scare the two little guys, Heiwa and Xiaojin.

The two little guys, not understanding what was going on, just wagged their tails and tilted their heads to look at him, looking puzzled.

Seeing this, Chen Ling picked up a dry twig and poked it into the trap. With a "snap," the twig snapped instantly.

This startled both the dog and the cow.

The two puppies were all bristling and barked loudly at the animal trap.

"Well, now you know how dangerous it is, right?"

Chen Ling smiled, led the cow, and continued walking forward with Wang Susu.

Upon entering the mountains, there are many brambles, Chinese locust trees, and dogwoods.

Cornus officinalis, also known as jujube, is a medicinal herb. It is easily identifiable by its yellow flowers, green leaves, and red fruit.

However, it has only just begun to bloom, and the fruit will not be fully ripe until August or September of the lunar calendar.

It has little medicinal value at this time of year.

Once inside the forest, the young couple walked slowly.

Because of the two rain showers a few days ago, we could see a few mushrooms scattered along the way.

However, there are still too few to be worth picking.

However, when we passed by a small bamboo grove, bamboo shoots were sprouting up densely.

Chen Ling looked on with envy and said to Wang Susu, "Even if it's not for gathering herbs, I'll go up the mountain again tomorrow just for these bamboo shoots."

"Susu, you don't know, last time I cooked at Jusheng's house, he had a big piece of cured meat. Unfortunately, the dried bamboo shoots were from last year and were a bit damp, so the dish didn't turn out quite right."

"If you use such fresh and tender spring bamboo shoots, I guarantee they'll swallow their tongues from the aroma."

Wang Susu couldn't help but smile: "I think you're just eyeing the cured meat from Jusheng's house."

"Hey, what are you saying..."

"They make so much cured meat, don't they want to eat it?"

Chen Ling said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Pfft."

Wang Susu couldn't help but laugh: "If Brother Jusheng hears this, even if he doesn't say it, he'll still find time to mooch a couple more meals from us."

Chen Ling smiled, and was about to say something when Wang Susu suddenly grabbed him.

"Oops, watch your step..."

Chen Ling looked down and saw a grayish-brown scorpion, more than a finger long, lying outside a crevice in the rocks not far from his feet.

After taking a closer look, he said to Wang Susu, "It's okay, this isn't a scorpion, it's just a scorpion's shed shell."

Wang Susu finally saw it clearly and breathed a sigh of relief. She gently patted her chest and said, "I was stung by a scorpion once when I was a child. Ever since then, I've been terrified of these things. I can't help but feel palpitations whenever I see one."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ling quickly grabbed her hand to comfort her.

But after walking a while, Chen Ling noticed that there was a scorpion's molted shell every few steps.

Needless to say, there must be quite a few scorpions around here.

Chen Ling picked up a shell, glanced at it, and said to Wang Susu, "Don't come here alone in the future. You can tell from the shells on the ground that there are a lot of scorpions here."

Wang Susu nodded with lingering fear: "I've never entered the mountains from here before. I always go up the mountain from the south, from where our family used to farmland. I've never seen a scorpion before."

Venomous insects like scorpions become active after the Awakening of Insects (Jingzhe). Once the weather warms up and food is plentiful, they grow very quickly, and most of them molt at this time.

The mountains to the south are shady and don't get as much sunlight as the mountains to the north, so the temperature is lower, which is not a suitable environment for scorpions to grow.

Even if they do exist, there aren't many, and they're rarely active during the day, making them hard to encounter.

As Chen Ling and his companion walked and talked, Heiwa and Xiaojin, the two little creatures, ate all the scorpion shells on the ground.

It wasn't that I thought it tasted good; I just saw Chen Ling holding one in his hand and got curious, so I wanted to try it.

A one-month-old puppy is at its most active and energetic stage.

It quickly lost interest in the scorpion shell and darted among the trees, soon barking at a spot. "Oh, it's a snake!"

Wang Susu was the first to walk up and exclaimed excitedly.

She is afraid of scorpions, but not snakes.

In the village where she grew up, many families kept snakes, and she was not only unafraid of them but also quite fond of them.

Of course, I do keep scorpions as pets, but after being stung once, it became a childhood trauma, and I'm terrified of them.

"Susu, don't come any closer..."

Chen Ling hurriedly led the ox over and saw a black and gray patterned snake coiled on a rock under a big tree, flicking its tongue.

Although it wasn't very big, you could tell it was a venomous creature just by looking at its triangular head.

Chen Ling gasped and hurriedly pulled Wang Susu back.

Just now there was a scorpion, and now a venomous snake. Is it really this unfriendly on our first trip into the mountains?

"It's alright, Ah Ling, don't be afraid, I won't let it bite us..."

Wang Susu smiled slightly at him, then tiptoed closer.

Chen Ling was stunned for two seconds. When he looked over again, he wanted to speak up to stop her, but he saw that his wife had already grabbed the venomous snake in her hand.

Holding the snake's head, she let it hiss and wriggle as it struggled, even looking up at Chen Ling with a sweet smile.

Chen Ling was immediately dumbfounded.

I can't understand why the young wife, who was terrified at the sight of a scorpion shell, suddenly became so fierce and aggressive when she encountered a snake.

"It's just a small snake, not very venomous. Ah Ling, don't be afraid, come and see, there's something good here..."

Wang Susu shouted with a smile.

"You're so afraid of scorpions, how come you're not afraid of snakes at all?"

Chen Ling asked curiously.

Wang Susu immediately glared at him unhappily: "Hmph, because my family raises snakes! Have you forgotten the wine my mother gave you at our wedding? It was all soaked in snake gall!"

Chen Ling suddenly realized that he vaguely remembered that jar of wine, which had been stored in the cellar in the backyard and he had never drunk it.

"Never mind that for now, come here quickly, there's something good here."

Hearing Wang Susu urging him, Chen Ling went over and looked around.

"What good stuff? Where is it?"

"Oh dear, Ah Ling, how come you don't even recognize Gastrodia elata?"

"Those things under the tree not far from where that snake was just now..."

Wang Susu glared at him and gestured with her toes for him to look in that direction.

"Oh? This is Gastrodia elata? I really didn't know that."

Chen Ling walked over and looked at it for a moment. "Hey, look at this bare stalk, I thought it was a weed."

Then he turned to Wang Susu and asked, "Should we dig now? Or come back tomorrow?"

"Let's do it tomorrow. There's still a lot of gastrodia elata here, and we can't take it back without a medicine basket."

Wang Susu replied.

At this moment, she used a tree branch to press the snake's head to the ground. When Heiwa saw this, he rushed over and bit the snake's head. Xiaojin followed and bit the snake's tail. With a strong tear, they easily tore the snake in two.

When Wang Susu saw this, she couldn't help but be amazed by the sharp teeth of the two puppies. Their baby teeth hadn't even fallen out yet, and they were already so sharp. What would they be like when they grew up?

"Spit it out! You can't eat this yet..."

When Wang Susu saw them put the snake in their mouths, she thought they were going to eat it, so she quickly stopped them.

Unexpectedly, the two little creatures dodged her outstretched hand and trotted over to Chen Ling, placing the two halves of the snake's body in front of him.

She wagged her tail and looked at him ingratiatingly.

Wang Susu was both angry and amused. She got up and patted the little head.

"You two ungrateful little brats, all you know how to do is fawn over Ah Ling."

(End of this chapter)