My 1995 Small Farm.

As Chen Ling rode closer, there was a 'crack' sound.

A black bear on a persimmon tree broke off a branch, and with a rustling sound, it fell to the ground next to the temple.

As soon as the black bear landed, Chen Ling realized that it was a small black bear less than a meter long.

When he was climbing the tree, it looked like a huge lump, but after he fell down, he looked at it from his horse and it didn't seem so big anymore.

Judging from his weight, he probably weighs around 80 or 90 pounds.

Its whole body was covered in yellowish persimmon paste.

Perhaps stunned by the fall, the little black bear looked up at Chen Ling riding on a tall horse in a daze, and even rubbed the leaves next to its eyes with its paw, just like it was rubbing its eyes.

Seeing the little bear's adorable appearance, Chen Ling couldn't help but burst out laughing.

His laughter startled the little black bear awake. It jumped up and roared as it ran toward the big black bear.

At this moment, the big black bear was being driven by the crowd. It had probably been hit a few times and its fur had stood on end. It was angry and its eyes were red. It stood up on its hind legs, roared, and stretched out its paws to pounce into the crowd.

At this critical moment, they heard the panicked cries of the little black bear.

Like a mother protecting her cub, the big black bear, upon hearing its cries, was so protective of its young that it forgot all about attacking people and turned to run back towards the temple.

He ran and shouted at the same time.

The little black bear was initially frightened by Chen Ling and the little green horse.

Hearing the mother bear's cry, it immediately felt reassured and rushed towards its mother.

The two, one big and one small, bumped into each other.

After they bumped into each other, the angry black bear saw that the child was unharmed and pounced on Chen Ling and the little green horse.

It stood upright, claws outstretched, mouth agape, eyes fierce, its appearance extremely frightening.

They clearly regarded the man and the horse as the culprits who bullied their child.

Those around were terrified when they saw this.

They all shouted for Chen Ling to get out of the way.

"Damn, I was just passing by."

Chen Ling was also furious.

Is it wrong to come and join the fun?
This bear has such a bad temper.

Big bear has a bad temper.

Little Blue Horse isn't much better off.

Seeing the big bear pounce on him, Chen Ling couldn't stand it. His first instinct was to reach behind him and pull out his gun.

He reacts quickly and shoots fast, so he'll definitely be able to handle it.

Unexpectedly, as soon as it touched the gun, the little blue horse's fiery temper flared up, neighing loudly and raising its front hooves high.

With its mane flying and its eyes blazing with arrogance, it actually stepped towards the big black bear.

Good heavens, when it goes berserk, it's really something else.

That force was terrifying.

The bear had barely pounced when it was kicked five or six meters away, rolling away on its back.

Even Chen Ling, the host, was stunned.

Damn it, he just got his hands on a gun and this happened, it almost scared the life out of him.

But thinking about it, it makes sense; Little Green Horse has that short temper.

Back in the mule and horse market, when a big white horse wanted to mate with it, it couldn't stand it and kicked the big white horse on the top of the head with one hoof.

It was sent to its final resting place on the spot.

But in the current scene, kicking a big bear flying is far more shocking than kicking a horse to death.

Kicking a horse to death can be seen as a fight between people of the same kind.

One could also say that this horse has a fiery temper.

But it can kick a ferocious bear flying...

This cannot be described simply as having a fiery temper.

That's even fiercer than a bear!

Seeing the big black bear scramble to its feet, looking at the little green horse and Chen Ling with a face full of fear, it retreated while crying out in panic.

The little black bear not far from it was even more terrified; it wet itself in fear and turned and ran away at the sound of the big bear's roar.

The big bear and the little bear fled in terror to the hillside.

The crowd gasped in disbelief, as if they had seen a ghost.

“Uncle Lao Gen, look, the one riding the horse is Fu Gui.”

After a while, someone in the crowd spoke; it was Guo Baolai, the shoe repairman from the village.

He was talking to Zhang Tiegen, the old man who sold candy.

"I saw it, I saw it."

Zhang Tiegen was short, so he stood on tiptoe and looked around, responding repeatedly.

At this moment, Chen Ling didn't care about looking over there; he was bending down and looking at the little blue horse with surprise in his eyes.

He should have kept quiet; the moment he looked, Little Green Horse got even more excited.

With its big white teeth bared and its head held high, it took off chasing the black bear mother and cub up the hillside.

"Holy crap!"

The little blue horse suddenly charged forward, and Chen Ling almost fell off.

Enraged, he cracked his whip and began to curse.

"Where's the bear? Where's the big bear?"

Just then, several men ran over with guns.

"You're too late, the bear has run away."

"They ran away already? These two bears aren't fierce at all. I thought they were going to attack someone."

"It's not that it wasn't fierce; it did try to pounce on people, but the horses over there scared it away."

"What did you say? The horse scared the bear away?"

"Who would fool you? Look at the hillside, that horse is fierce, it chased after us again..."

The group turned around and, sure enough, saw a magnificent blue horse carrying a young man with a gun on his back charging up the hillside behind the local temple.

On the hillside, two black bears, one large and one small, were running desperately into the forest above.

They were scrambling and crawling, completely panicked and not knowing where to go.

The mountain behind this land temple used to be a fairly large orchard.

This orchard doesn't belong to an individual; it belongs to the village collective, so it has been somewhat abandoned in recent years.

Most of the fruit trees were also uprooted, and it is said that a breeding farm will be built this winter.

Many parts of the hillside are bare, with no tall trees to block the view except for various weeds.

The little blue horse ran around happily on it.

Chen Ling tightened the reins, his body rising and falling with the little blue horse's charge up the hillside. As the two black bears drew closer, a surge of joy filled his heart: "Could it be that I can catch two bears today?"

Just as they were having a good time, the big bear and the little bear suddenly changed direction and darted off diagonally into the ravine on the side of the mountain.

The little blue horse knew it couldn't catch up there, so it stopped, slowly circled around, and then charged down the mountain.

Chen Ling felt even worse now.

Enraged, he whipped the whip wildly.

After reaching the foot of the mountain, they tied the bad horse to a persimmon tree next to the local temple and gave it another beating.

"Damn it, you show-off, did you think I'd let you chase me? You just ran up the mountain, how could you possibly catch up with that? You even jolted me twice, I almost threw up my lunch."

After a flurry of blows, it finally calmed down.

This horse is just like Heiwa before, a cheapskate.

We have no choice but to fight.

Moreover, it made Chen Ling tough and resilient.

They have to be hit hard to learn their lesson.

Otherwise, they'll relapse into their old habits after a while.

To put it simply, they're just like mischievous little kids.

He's mischievous, playful, and doesn't learn his lesson easily. He's here, angrily scolding the horse.

To outsiders, however, he seemed very imposing.

They actually managed to chase the bear away.

Just then, as he was disciplining the horse, an eagle descended from the sky, leaving everyone speechless with astonishment.

"My goodness, why are there eagles following us in the sky? Who is this person?"

"Hey, it's so obvious, can't you recognize him? It's Chen Fugui from Chenwangzhuang."

The crowd and the wedding procession became lively with everyone chatting amongst themselves.

Soon, Zhang Tiegen, Guo Baolai, and several villagers who knew Chen Ling came forward, as did the wedding steward who offered him cigarettes and spoke to him.

They invited him to come over to their home for a chat and some tea.

Chen Ling wanted to say that he had other things to do, but after being dragged around by the little blue horse, he figured he might as well have some tea.

Moreover, these two bears disrupted the wedding procession, and they themselves were indirectly involved.

It would be better to come to my house for a visit.

They get married in the mountains here, which is slightly different from later generations.

In later generations, most wedding ceremonies were held at noon.

At that time, due to extremely inconvenient transportation, couples who lived far apart, such as Chen Ling and Wang Susu, were often separated by great distances.

There's no way to do it at noon.

Of course, most couples don't live as far apart as they do, but they're not exactly close either.

Therefore, the wedding ceremony is always held in the evening.

This is actually in accordance with the old rules.

After all, the word "marriage" in Chinese evolved from the word "dusk" in the twilight.

After the ceremony and the toasts, they were immediately led to the bridal chamber. How wonderful!

That's how this family in the village is.

It was already late afternoon when the groom finally led the wedding procession back with the bride.

Chen Ling and several acquaintances led their horses and followed the group to the house.

I gave a ten-yuan gift before sitting down.

"Which side of the family are you related to, young man? What's your name?"

Seeing that Chen Ling gave the money without saying a word, and then turned to go to the table outside to pour himself some water, the two old men who were keeping track of the money hurriedly asked him what was going on.

"Haha, this is Fugui, Chen Fugui. He was just passing by when a bear stopped him. He came over for a cup of hot tea."

Zhang Tiegen and Guo Baolai introduced it with smiles.

They came as fellow villagers.

They're not particularly close; they're just here to celebrate. You can come for a meal without having to pay a gift.

"Oh my, this is Chen Fugui. He has such a lucky face. Even when something happens to him, he's still quite fortunate."

"Wait, didn't you just say a bear was blocking the road?"

"Yes, there were two bears, one big and one small, who ran down the mountain from the old orchard. They were very fierce."

"..."

"The rich man was powerful, and his horse was powerful too. It scared away two bears and chased them up the mountain, almost catching them. It's a pity he didn't shoot them."

Guo Baolai is quite the talker; once he sits down, he launches into a long, uninterrupted monologue.

"If you can kill a bear, then kill it, and no one will say anything. If you can't kill it, just chase it away. Don't catch it."

At this point, the old man who kept the gift list spoke with a serious expression.

“There are fewer bears these days. In the past, you could only encounter one or two a year. Tiegen used to be a peddler, so he must know about Niu Laosan’s family in Niutou Village.”

"Yes, I know, he's talking about Niu Laosan's father."

Zhang Tiegen wiped his distinctive vitiligo face and nodded.

Niu Laosan, who sells beef, is famous throughout Changle Township.

First, he's the only one in the entire Changle Township selling beef; second, he's unfilial, constantly battling wits with his equally eccentric mother, making for a spectacle for everyone.

But few people know this.

His father used to be a capable man.

Where could Niu Laosan's father be?
This old man has really gotten good at hunting.

Back when we ate from the same pot, besides earning work points in the team, the only things we could keep were what we got from hunting and gathering herbs.

This is also the only two means of survival for mountain people with limited arable land, besides relying on growing grain.

After the household responsibility system was implemented.

They mostly gathered medicinal herbs, and fewer and fewer hunters went hunting.

Niu Laosan's father also retired from the butchering business and started a butcher shop.

One winter, after selling meat at the market and returning to the mountain, I saw a black dot moving in the snow from afar.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a small black bear cub.

So he packed it in a basket and carried it home.

They then sold the bear cub to the provincial zoo.

From then on, every night the mother bear would stand on the hill behind his house and howl, her voice piercingly mournful.

The cries continued every night, disturbing the family's peace and quiet, and even causing complaints from other villagers.

So he contacted a friend in the county's armed forces department, a hunting enthusiast, and they conspired to hunt the bear.

They found several hunting partners and divided the work among them. The one from the armed forces department was a good shot and was assigned to "the crossroads".

Niu Laosan's father, who took away the little black bear, was assigned to be a mountain chaser, which means a chaser who drives prey on the mountain toward "Jiaokou".

But the black bear seemed to have a sixth sense; instead of heading towards the "intersection," it came straight at Old Man Niu. Caught off guard, the bear and Old Man Niu began to fight.

After screaming and calling for help, the old man was on the verge of death when hunters from nearby mountains arrived. He later died.

This matter involved a life and caused a great stir. The friend in the county's armed forces department was also dismissed from his post.

"Look at Old Man Niu, what a capable man he is. He used to be a very good hunter, and his hunting dogs were also excellent. Let's see how things turn out..."

Sigh, no, sometimes you have to believe in fate.

Believe in this thing called karma.

If you don't believe me, then you should obediently follow the rules of the mountains and not provoke them.

"Them? Who are they?" Guo Baolai was taken aback, thinking that he was talking nonsense.

"Haven't you heard? Don't mess with anything in the mountains that has cubs. If you catch one, release it."

"Old Niu is supposed to be an old hunter, but he doesn't even follow the rules anymore. Now he's in trouble."

Indeed, not all hunters follow the rules obediently.

People are inherently different.

Some people, unless they have experienced a lot and are lucky enough to survive, learn from their mistakes, and develop a sense of awe, will eventually have no choice but to follow the rules.

Otherwise, this type of person will never change.

“Yes, we live off the land and the water. As people from the mountains, we still have to abide by some rules,” Chen Ling replied.

People brought this up out of kindness, just to remind him, and he understood.

'Sigh, the black bear is back too. I wonder if the restless wolves in the mountains back home are related to the bear?'

To be honest, bears aren't anything rare here.

In the past, they were extremely common, just like wolves.

Who knows, we might bump into each other on the street sometime.

In recent years, after being shot so fiercely, he retreated to the depths of the Qinling Mountains.

The black bears of the Qinling Mountains live high in the forests, and they rarely come down from the mountains unless people provoke them.

They hibernate during the winter when food is scarce.

In winter, when wolves can't find food, they will come down from the mountains and break into villages.

They won't.

However, it's hard to say about other seasons. Bears are greedy and have a keen sense of smell; they can smell things from miles away even against the wind. Sometimes they even come down the mountain to steal corn.