My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 524 The Big Hole in the Cornfield
the next day.

It's time to water the fields.

Chen Ling got up very early and rushed back.

I dug a water diversion ditch with my brother-in-law.

It hasn't rained much lately, so there are fewer mushrooms in the mountains, and Wang Qingwen is too lazy to go today.

I stayed home and watered the corn with my brother-in-law.

Fortunately, there has been no drought in the past two years. The ditches and streams near the farm are full of water, and there are many springs in the mountains with a considerable flow of water.

There is no shortage of water for irrigation.

otherwise.

The area at the foot of the mountain north of the village is far from the reservoir. There are no stone irrigation ditches leading to the fields, so they have to use wells to pump groundwater. They have to dig a ditch all the way from the land temple to bring the water over, which is very troublesome.

“Fugui, I told you you would get up early and get to work while it’s cool, but your sister-in-law didn’t believe you. She said you were too drunk to get up… Hehe, we’ll lend you a hand.”

Chen Ling and his wife were digging a ditch when Wang Jusheng and his wife arrived, carrying shovels, wearing black rubber boots and straw hats, with their daughter and son.

It's still early, and the party ended late last night; the two little ones behind them are still yawning as they walk.

When I saw him, I would vaguely call him Uncle Fugui.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Go back to what you were doing. I heard from Boming that pickled vegetables are selling well right now."

Chen Ling said helplessly.

"It's alright, it won't make a difference to take a day or two. You're short-handed here, and it'll be exhausting for just the two of you to work on twenty acres of land."

Wang Jusheng chuckled.

Zhang Qiaoling laughed and said, "Yes, we may not be good at much else, but we're quite strong."

Chen Ling waved his hand: "I didn't plan to finish watering it in one day. I'll just water it in the morning and evening when it's cool."

She then looked at Dandan and Datou: "It's still early, just past five o'clock. Why wake the kids up? Look at Datou, he's still rubbing his eyes. Come and go to my house for a nap. Our sofa is so soft."

Big Head, still a three-year-old toddler, tilted his head up and asked, "Uncle, is Rui Rui awake?"

"Rui Rui hasn't come back yet; he's still in the county town."

"what?"

The little guy was a bit confused.

"What's wrong?"

Chen Ling asked with a smile.

Dandan then smiled shyly and said, "Uncle, we wanted to come and help you look after Rui Rui."

"Oh, is that so? What a good child."

Chen Ling smiled and patted the two little heads, one tall and one short: "Go outside and sleep for a while. Come and call us when dinner is ready, okay?"

"it is good."

The two little ones nodded obediently and walked into the farm hand in hand.

Wang Jusheng chuckled and said, "You, as the uncle, really know how to dote on the child. When I see you, even I, as the father, don't feel close to you anymore."

"It's right that you don't kiss them. You don't know how to play with the kids, all you do is scold them. How can they be close to you?"

Zhang Qiaoling snorted and impatiently urged, "Alright, alright, stop talking. You're here to work, not to gossip. Take advantage of the cool weather and do as much as you can."

Look at Fugui, as he was talking, he dug a really long ditch.

Is this how you act when you're helping someone out?

As he spoke, he picked up a shovel and started digging a ditch opposite Chen Ling.

"Fine, I won't tell you then."

Wang Jusheng muttered something, gave Chen Ling and the other man a helpless, bitter smile, and quickly lowered his head to get back to work.

He had always been tolerant of his mother and brother's affairs, so it's understandable that Zhang Qiaoling was upset that things had escalated to this point.

Chen Ling quickly laughed and said, "Haha, sister-in-law is so decisive. With your skill, these twenty acres of land are no big deal."

Wang Qingwen also gave a thumbs up: "Sister-in-law, you can tell you're an expert. I'm good at digging ditches, but watering is a real pain. We don't have such large plots of land in the mountains where we live. We basically rely on the weather for our livelihood. You and Jusheng will have to keep an eye on things for me later."

Lingzi works so fast, she won't be able to look after me for a while.

“No problem, I’ll help Brother Qingwen repair the furrows and build the dikes later.”

The furrows are for channeling water into the farmland. If the land is not irrigated, lush weeds will grow in them.

Before watering the crops, remove the debris, clear it to one side, and repair the furrows.

Because there are many wild grasses in this season, and they are deeply rooted, they can be described as abundant and robust.

This job is not easy.

In addition, dikes must be built in each row of crops.

As the name suggests, this weir, like a dam, is used to block water.

Although their land is large, the farmland is sloping, unlike plains where there are large areas of flat land.

Therefore, weirs need to be built to block water in places with slopes.

Just like the row of earthen embankments that block the water around the terraced fields.

This embankment was built after the wheat and corn harvest. Now that the corn has grown tall, we build embankments for each row of corn we water, making repairs and maintenance as needed.

Otherwise, water cannot be retained in sloping areas and will accumulate in low-lying areas, flooding the crops there.

"Okay, this is really my first time doing this kind of work."

Wang Qingwen smiled.

That's what he said, but in reality, very few people of his generation are unable to do farm work. Even if there isn't much farmland in the mountains, they aren't people who are lazy and ignorant of farming. They can learn quickly with just a little instruction.

More people working together means the work is much faster.

The four of them dug for a while and quickly finished the ditch. All that was left was to go into the cornfield and build furrows.

This division of labor is fine.

Wang Qingwen and Zhang Qiaoling shoveled along the furrow.

Chen Ling and Wang Jusheng worked together to divert water for irrigation and repair the embankment.

In other words, diverting water and building dikes are no easier than building furrows and weeding, and require more experienced workers.

"Hey, we just finished digging the ditch and Xian's family came over. If the water can flow faster, we can finish it in a day."

Just as they were about to head into the cornfield, they saw Wang Lixian and his family, fully equipped with shovels, straw hats, and rubber boots, arriving.

Of course, not all of them came; apart from Da Ni'er and Liu Ni'er, the others weren't home.

So there are four people.

But of these four people, three are excellent workers, so what more needs to be said?

"Yes, once Xian Ge's family comes over, we can dig two ditches on the east and west sides and water the plants from both sides at the same time."

This way, watering the land will be much faster.

Wang Lixian didn't say much. After asking Chen Ling's opinion, he walked to the foot of the western mountain, where his family dug a ditch to divert water.

Then proceed simultaneously from both the east and west sides.

Later, other people from the village came over, such as Chen Baoshuan and Wang Wenchao. These two listened to whatever Chen Ling said and made a lot of money following Chen Ling. Knowing that Chen Ling's family was in a situation where there were too few people to take care of them, they came over to check on them.

However, watering the land doesn't require many people.

Seeing that the Wang Jusheng and Wang Lixian families were there, they exchanged a few words, watched Zhao Yubao herding sheep for a while, and saw the old ladies from the Zhao and Zhong families helping Su Li collect eggs on the mountain. There was nothing else to help with, so they all went home. They ate breakfast around eight in the morning.

It got hot in the cornfield.

This kind of heat is stifling and suffocating.

Some people who don't understand rural areas might think that in the fields, there are flowers, trees, and crops everywhere, a place full of greenery, and corn is not wheat, so tall corn can provide shade and should be very cool, right?
That's not the case.

Although the corn is tall, the cornfield is too dense.

It provides shade from the sun and also blocks the wind.

It's so airtight that not even a wisp of wind can get through.

Watering the cornfield.

If a mountain breeze blows, you will only hear the sound of corn stalks swaying, but you will not feel a trace of coolness.

Simply because the wind was blowing from above.

People can crawl inside, but they can't enjoy it.

Of course, this applies to adults.

Those little kids don't care about any of that.

At this time of year, in the cornfield, a wide furrow runs through the tall, dark green corn stalks, with murky water flowing slowly through it before flowing into the rows of cornfields through the bend at the front of the furrow.

It's called a bend in the road, but the front of the furrow was blocked with soil, and then a gap was dug in the embankment of a cornfield that needed irrigation.

The gap in this embankment is where water is diverted for irrigation.

Whenever a cornfield is flooded, the soil blocking the bend in the road is shoveled away with a shovel, and then this shoveled soil is used to block the gap in the irrigation embankment, so that the water in the furrow can continue to flow forward.

The adults were drawing water and doing their work like this.

The little kids, however, found it amusing.

They eagerly launched paper boats onto the flowing water in the ditch, or chased after small animals startled by the current.

For example, a field mouse, soaking wet, has nowhere to run during a flood and can only wait to be caught by children.

Wild rabbits, civets, pheasants, and a bunch of random snakes also thrashed and jumped around everywhere after the water flowed by.

This attracted the group of mischievous monkeys, who chased after them relentlessly.

Of course, most of them can't be caught.

But as long as they could catch them, they all became the food of these little kids. They would just find a spot, build a makeshift stove with stones, roast them, and eat them while playing.

The adults were too lazy to care about them.

They just chatted amongst themselves to relieve the stuffiness and boredom.

“I’m telling you, Fugui, look at Da Ni’er, she’s not getting any younger. If she keeps going like this, she’ll be an old maid. Do you have any ideas? Help Xian’s family talk to them and find Da Ni’er a husband.”

While watering the ground and chatting, Zhang Qiaoling said softly.

"Come on, sister-in-law, you think too highly of me. How could I possibly have that kind of ability? To be a matchmaker for someone else."

Chen Ling shook his head, speechless.

"I meant for you to ask around and see if there are any good families out there?"

"Fugui, don't pay attention to her. Her wife is being unreasonable. It would be bad if Xian-ge heard her say that. Since Xian-ge didn't ask us for help, we shouldn't get involved."

Wang Lixian's eldest daughter is mute, making it difficult for her to find a husband, especially as she gets older.

Zhang Qiaoling felt that the three families were close, and the conversation had come up in casual conversation. She thought that Chen Ling knew many people and had more ideas than others, so she thought that resolving this matter would be a great thing.

It was just a casual chat, nothing more.

Upon hearing this, Wang Jusheng's expression changed. How could he get involved in this matter? No matter how good the relationship was, he couldn't rashly ask or meddle in such family matters.

Zhang Qiaoling thought about it and realized she had been too presumptuous. She smiled sheepishly and said, "Let's not talk about that. After Fugui moved to the outskirts of the village, he came back to the village less often."

You wouldn't believe it, but the old lady's two sons from the house across the street have come back.

They've been having a huge fight lately, much bigger than Dongmei and her husband used to.

"When you go back to the village, if the old lady asks to borrow something or comes to your house to do something, try to ignore her if you can."

"Yes, your sister-in-law is right. The matter in Wang Er's family is much more troublesome than the matter between Chunyuan and Dongmei. Even if she asks you to help, you shouldn't get involved."

Hearing the couple say this, Wang Qingwen suddenly asked curiously, "Didn't I hear that Wang Chunyuan's parents were moving back from the county town? How come it's about the neighbors behind us again?"

"What the hell? Those two old geezers are coming back too? My goodness, what? They're not living in the village anymore, so I don't think I know anything about it!"

Chen Ling suddenly felt incredibly ignorant.

"Hahaha, it's mainly because Aunt Xiulan hasn't been around lately, otherwise you definitely would know about this."

Wang Jusheng laughed and said to Wang Qingwen, "These are all things from the old days. Brother Qingwen, you're not from our village, so you don't know the inside story. In short, it's all nonsense and very annoying."

It's best to stay far away from these two families.

These two families, along with Chen Erzhu's father, used to be in charge of the village. While they might not have been the most notable bullies in the village, they were certainly tyrannical, always finding ways to embezzle money. They would oppress one person today and isolate another tomorrow, which made them very unpopular.

Later, Wang Ershenzi's husband died early, and Chen Erzhu and Wang Chunyuan's parents moved to the county town, too ashamed to return to the village.

Actually, Wang Ershen's two sons also moved to the county town.

I don't know what's going on this year, but one after another, like mice moving house, they've come back, biting each other's tails.

As they were talking, Liu Nier suddenly shouted from outside.

"Uncle Fugui, Uncle Fugui, come quick, come quick! My dad found a big hole over there, and water is gushing out, so we can't irrigate the fields."

"Just plug the hole. It's normal for wild things to dig holes in the fields."

"We can't plug it. That hole is huge. Do you want to go take a look?"

"Yes, Uncle Fugui, that hole has cracked open, and it's really deep inside. I wonder if it's a badger's den."

"It's not a badger's den, it's a fox's den."

The other group of children were already shouting and guessing what kind of thing had left the hole.

"Okay, I'll go over and see what it was that was left behind?"

Chen Ling carried a shovel as he walked out of the cornfield.

Then they went around to the place where Wang Lixian and his group were irrigating their fields to the west.

Wearing rubber boots, I waded into the water and saw Wang Lixian's family standing in front of a large hole. The turbid river water was rushing into it, and I could hear a series of ethereal echoes. The hole seemed to be very deep.

Upon seeing Chen Ling approach.

Wang Lixian said, "I don't know what dug the hole. Come and take a look. There's a lot of grain stored in here. Judging from the situation, I estimate it's over a hundred jin."

"What? They even stored up grain?"

Chen Ling was a little stunned: "Could this be a ground rat's hole?"

Field mice, also known as voles, have the habit of storing food in their burrows. They can even categorize and build their own granaries for corn, wheat, sorghum, and soybeans.

Some are large rat holes.

They could even dig out two or three hundred catties of grain.

So when Chen Ling heard Wang Lixian say this, he immediately thought of field mice.

"It's not a ground rat, how could it be a ground rat?"

Wang Lixian shook his head: "I filled it with a few shovels of soil, but alas, it didn't work at all, it couldn't be blocked... Looking inside, it felt like a calf could squeeze in, do you think there could be a rat the size of a calf?"

"Then it would be a rat demon!"

(End of this chapter)