My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 587
Take a closer look.

Good heavens, the crabs have come down the mountain!

In the northwest corner of the back mountain, in the stream connecting to the inlet of the ditch, crabs of all sizes formed a winding line, crawling sideways and quickly moving towards the orchard.

This ditch existed before, but Chen Ling hadn't specifically diverted the water down there; it was just a small section that had naturally formed over a long period of rainwater erosion.

When the rain gets heavy, the water from the mountain flows out here and into the small streams below.

But the stream was stagnant and smelly back then; even if there were fish, there were no crabs.

Not to mention the crabs that came down from the mountain.

Chen Ling had seen crabs climb trees and come ashore many times. This was after heavy rains when the river swelled, and they would climb to higher ground to avoid the water. Or, when heavy rains were about to fall and the water was low in oxygen, they would climb onto reeds and trees along the riverbank.

But he had only ever heard of "crabs coming down the mountain" since he was a child, and had never actually seen it.

Especially when you look up, the ranks of crab soldiers almost completely fill the ditch above, forming a long, winding line that is truly orderly and spectacular.

Compared to the shrimp and crabs I saw at the reservoir, this was even more peculiar.

"Great, great! It's so much better when there are lots of fish, shrimp, and crabs. You can encounter all sorts of amazing sights."

Chen Ling clapped his hands with delight, picked up the bucket, and hurried home to get his camera.

This spectacular sight is absolutely not to be missed.

There's a kind of excitement like a paparazzi reporter getting firsthand footage.

There is also a sense of novelty and surprise in witnessing firsthand the legends told by the elderly.

There's a story behind the crab coming down the mountain.

The elderly often say that one is "up and down" or "unsettled."

The saying "seven up, eight down" means that during and before the seventh month of the lunar calendar, fish mostly stay on the surface of the water, while after the eighth month, as the weather gradually cools down, fish mostly stay at the bottom of the water.

Moreover, before the seventh month of the lunar calendar, many fish like to swim upstream, so there are more fish in the upper reaches of the water. After the eighth month, they swim downstream, so there are more fish in the lower reaches of the water.

Although this mostly refers to fish, many things in the water are the same.

The same applies to crabs.

Crabs prefer to live in streams and rivers before the seventh month of the lunar calendar, but after the eighth month of the lunar calendar, they migrate downstream to larger rivers.

Many elderly people have seen this and describe it as crabs coming down from the mountain.

While taking photos with great enthusiasm, Chen Ling picked up a bucket to collect the fish. After collecting half a bucket, he still felt it wasn't enough, so he took out a fish trap and a chicken coop and used stones to block the outlet of the stream.

In this situation, there's no need to even use bait; they'll willingly walk into the trap, lining up to go inside.

Then look down at the stream on the west side of the mountain wall. The slope is steep, and the stream flows down from top to bottom. When the water is low, it flows down the bottom of the gully. When the water is high, it is like a series of small waterfalls. The clear water rushes down from the height, but no crabs come down.

"Well, there's been a lot of rain since autumn started, so I haven't been up in the mountains much yet. I'd like to see where all these crabs came from."

After glancing up twice, Chen Ling hung the camera around his neck, picked up the bucket, and headed up the mountain.

When they got to the back of the mountain, they found that there was nothing wrong with the stream, and the crab had crawled over from the lake in the mountains.

They only detoured because the western mountains were too steep and the streams were too turbulent.

That makes it seem like there's more.

Upon closer inspection, Chen Ling realized that the crab team was indeed quite large.

Even a large flock of egrets, along with red-crowned cranes, white cranes, and gray cranes, with their long legs, led their chicks and little egrets, guarding the stream and constantly pecking at food.

The team's size hasn't suffered much damage either.

"Wow, what a beautiful sight! This autumn scene, with the cranes and egrets catching crabs, is even more beautiful than the scenes that were specially filmed here for period dramas."

Chen Ling's eyes lit up when he saw this, and he picked up his camera and started taking pictures.

Especially the sight of the little cranes and egrets in the frame, fighting over crabs and running around by the stream, splashing water everywhere they go, is truly beautiful and moving.

Moreover, the crab line was so long, stretching up and down the mountain, so far away, it's extremely rare.

You'll definitely regret it if you don't take a picture.

"Tsk tsk, birds love to eat these fat crabs too."

After taking the photos, Chen Ling also saw a large flock of magpies hopping around catching crabs at the edge of a forest some distance away from the flock of cranes and herons.

He was speechless for a moment and said, "You guys are everywhere. I would call you the undisputed protagonists of Wuyun Mountain."

The rain wasn't heavy last night.

However, there were also places on the mountain where water had accumulated. Chen Ling went closer to take a look and found that the puddles were quite deep, probably formed by the continuous accumulation of water after several rains.

In some places it's already quite deep.

Chen Ling put down the bucket and took out the net that had been thrown into the cave.

With this net cast...

Good heavens, not only are there crabs, small fish and shrimp, but there's also a whole nest of big fish!

Eels, loaches, crucian carp, and even turtles the size of a palm.

This wasn't a field turtle, it was a grass turtle. It was very active and quite strong. Chen Ling pulled it out of the net, and with a kick of its hind legs, the turtle slipped between his fingers.

Even if you fall to the ground and end up on your back, you're not afraid. You stretch your neck, push yourself up, and flip yourself over. Using all four legs, you crawl incredibly fast.

In the blink of an eye, it disappeared into a crevice in the rocks next to the big tree.

Chen Ling was too lazy to catch any more. He looked at the net and, not seeing any good fish, poured them all into another stream to the east.

Let them drift downstream with the current and into their own ditch.

The net has been set at the stream outlet in the northwest corner, but not at this one, so they won't get caught in it.

To prevent the water in this puddle from drying up and killing the fish and shrimp.

Then we headed towards the mountain lake.

They deliberately chose to go to places with fewer birds.

Before even reaching the lake, we spotted many beautifully patterned loaches and small loaches swimming downstream with the crab army.

"Hey, these little things are cute too, they look like clownfish."

Chen Ling flipped over the stone, blocked one with his hand, and looked at it carefully. His eyes lit up with joy, and he quickly grabbed a few more and threw them into the bucket.

In the past, people caught fish simply to eat them and rarely paid attention to their appearance.

Even if some fish have very beautiful colors.

He only cares about whether it tastes good or not.

Now that he has an aquarium, he has gradually begun to appreciate all sorts of strange and wonderful little fish.

Moreover, this small loach is also a bottom-dwelling fish, and like the yellow catfish, it likes to poke through seams.

This is exactly what Chen Ling in the jar lacks.

"Hey, this is so much fun. Once they're big enough to swim around in the tank and don't look nice anymore, we can just take them out and eat them."

Think about the fish you keep in your tank now. Except for koi and goldfish, and turtles, which you can't eat, all the other fish are edible.

The taste is pretty good.

"Hehe, that's how it should be, combining aesthetic appeal with edibility."

The lynx no longer wants to raise fish and has to find someone to sell them.

He doesn't need to; he can just pick it out and eat it himself.

"Hmm, let's catch some big crabs first, and look for fish while we're doing that."

Chen Ling muttered to himself.

He came up the mountain today without letting anyone come with him—no dogs, no eagles, no weasels.

Sometimes it's rare to have time to be alone.

At this time, it's easy to get absorbed in anything, whether you're playing or doing something else.

For men, sometimes enjoying themselves alone, undisturbed, is a pleasure.

Let's catch crabs.

Pick the biggest ones.

Around the Mid-Autumn Festival, around the 15th of August, crabs are at their fattest.

The farm's unique environment, even if it hasn't been around for long enough to develop its own distinctive crab breed, ensures that these large, plump crabs are absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, Susu is pregnant and definitely won't be able to eat these crabs this year.

But it doesn't matter, I brought beef and roast chicken, and I'll just make a couple of pig's trotters that she likes later.

"Yes, we need to keep some in the cave, some in the fish tank, and then find an opportunity to cook crabs after she finishes her confinement period... We'll talk about the crabs in the tank then."

Chen Ling caught crabs by himself, his mind preoccupied with other things, and he became completely absorbed in the task.

Actually, there are crabs in Dongtian.

But there aren't as many as outside.

They can't reproduce on their own; most of the baby crabs will be eaten by fish, shrimp, turtles, and other marine creatures.

Only these things can dig holes and climb reeds and ashore; otherwise, they would have been eaten long ago.

This is because when shrimp and crabs molt, their smell is extremely attractive to aquatic creatures.

The fish in the cave are especially ferocious, and most shrimp and crabs have a hard time molting.

Therefore, even if it exists, it won't become rampant.

"We still need to set aside a separate place to raise crabs, just for our own consumption."

In the past two years, Chen Ling has occasionally eaten small crabs and shrimp as a snack with his drinks, but he hasn't eaten large crabs much.

In previous years, people would have been busy watching the greenery or hunting with their dogs at this time of year.

My mind is no longer on this.

Seeing these big, fat crabs this year, I can't help but be captivated by them.

You have to eat good food.

Otherwise it would be a complete waste.

These are large crabs weighing three or four ounces each, so they are definitely no worse than the so-called Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs.

Furthermore, in terms of species, there is no difference between Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs and the crabs here; they both belong to the same species, the Chinese mitten crab.

In other words, the crabs here have not undergone breed optimization and selection.

It is still a wild crab.

But Chen Ling believes that the crabs that grow in the waters surrounding the farm are definitely of the same quality as those from Yangcheng Lake.

In a short time, they caught more than half a bucket of crabs, all of them large.

Steamed, braised, or chopped into pieces and deep-fried, it would definitely taste delicious.

Chen Ling looked at the crabs crawling around in the bucket and couldn't help but drool.

But after returning home from the mountain, he held back. Crabs are troublesome to prepare, so he decided to soak them in clean water first and then take them back to the county town to cook them.

"Dad, the crabs have come down the mountain. I've set nets and chicken traps at the outlet of the ditch behind the mountain. Remember to collect them."

The father-in-law was still herding sheep and chasing grasshoppers with a few puppies in the grass when he heard this, and replied, "There are crabs? That's great, the two of us will fry crabs for lunch."

"I won't eat lunch in the village; I have to go back to the county town."

Chen Ling said, "Dad, release the small crabs and keep the big ones. I'll cook a big pot of them when I get back tonight. Don't cook lunchtime either; I've saved some beef and steamed buns."

“Alright, that’s perfect. I can take the puppy up the hill to play for a while. Li Xian’s family is busy working down the hill today. I’ll let this little yellow dog get to know people.”

If a puppy this small still has its mother around, it will be very late in recognizing its owner.

Or perhaps they don't yet have a concept of venerating a master.

However, it's always better to get to know people better.

Wang Lixian often came over to tease the little yellow dog he had chosen, or Liu Nier would catch a bird or something, cut it into pieces, and feed it to him.

The village kids are very wild; if they catch a bird, they'll cut it open and pull out its intestines with their bare hands.

After feeding the dog, with his hands covered in mud, he still wiped the snot that had dripped to his mouth.

But the puppies still like to eat this.

Wang Cunye sometimes didn't like to feed them too much; if they were fed too much, he would find it less enjoyable to herd sheep with his dogs.

The puppy, now that its belly is full, stops chasing grasshoppers, frogs, and birds, which takes away a lot of the fun.

Chen Ling knew what the old man was thinking, so he thought that after Zhao Gang brought the puppies over, the puppies would stay for a while so that the old man could keep them at home and play with them.

Then, I went back and soaked the crab bucket in clean water.

He carried the fish bucket to the central hall of the wooden building to feed the fish.

The main hall has been kept open every day lately, letting the sunlight in during the day. The huge aquarium, with its fish and shrimp moving around, looks beautiful and pleasing to the eye.

It's only been a few days, and the fish inside are already unafraid of people.

Chen Ling used a net to scoop a spoonful of small fish and shrimp into the tank. Goodness, it was like boiling water inside. The fish, big and small, were scrambling to the surface like they were tearing their heads apart.

Some of the fish even banged against the tank walls, making a cracking sound.

These fish, besides wild fish, even the koi and goldfish, are all raised in outdoor ponds. Except for the red-lipped barbs which are not active, the other fish eat almost anything and have a very varied diet.

The two pig-nosed turtles are still a little unaccustomed to it.

Supporting itself on its two turtle-like forelegs, it hid in a corner, motionless.

However, after being kept in the cave for one night, their blemishes and head ailments disappeared, and they became healthy overall.

But it's not pretty enough yet; it needs to be cared for for a while longer.

Chen Ling disliked that they didn't move.

Are they not as active as crabs and shrimp?

After feeding them a few spoonfuls of fish and shrimp, I saw that the fish and shrimp were full and satisfied. Many of them were broken in two or covered in wounds, and they hurriedly hid along the corners of the aquarium walls.

Chen Ling stopped feeding them and hid to the side, waiting for the two pig-nosed turtles, one black and one gray, to react.

Sure enough, after the people left, they became bolder and first went with the crabs and shrimp to pick up some leftover scraps.

As they ate, they gradually became bolder.

It swims around in the tank like a sea turtle, trying to catch the small fish with injuries.

The smell of a fish with wounds is very appealing.

However, after eating these injured fish, they were still not satisfied and chased after some small fish to eat.

Chen Ling was finding it amusing, and didn't pay any attention to them eating fish.

The more I looked, the more engrossed I became.

Not only turtles, but also crabs, shrimps and clams are all very interesting.

Clams can have parasites.

Even with good water quality at the farm, it's still not unavoidable.

He had kept them in clean water for several days before selecting a few to put in.

Unexpectedly, after being thrown in, these few animals, which didn't have many parasites, started laying eggs, and I sprayed a lot of larvae.

Fortunately, Chen Ling had put a lot of bitterlings in the jar.

The bitterling is also interesting; it has a symbiotic relationship with freshwater mussels.

When the female fish lays its eggs, it does so inside the mussel.

When freshwater mussels lay their eggs, they spray out larvae onto the gills of bitterlings, where they parasitize them.

This thing is called a scabies mites, and it's quite harmful to other fish.

But bitterlings don't have much of a problem. When they lay their eggs, they come into contact with freshwater mussels, and the scabies mites all get hooked onto them.

It will not harm other fish.

Chen Ling has good eyesight, and the fish tank is very bright with sunlight shining on it.

Therefore, you can clearly see the interaction between fish and shrimp, the spawning of bitterlings, and the squirting of eggs by river mussels.

He became more and more engrossed in watching it.

It was almost noon when Wang Cunye called him back to the county town, telling him to hurry back or they wouldn't be able to cook his lunch there.

Only then did he dare to move.

(End of this chapter)