My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 64 Han Chuang
in the afternoon.

Around two o'clock, Chen Ling finished planting the saplings.

He put down his hoe, dusted off his hands, and was about to urinate when a small white calf grazing nearby suddenly mooed and ran over to hide behind him. Its pair of dark, round eyes stared in the direction of the graveyard, filled with tension and fear.

"You're really brave, just like a girl. You can be so scared in broad daylight."

Seeing its appearance, Chen Ling couldn't help but laugh. He reached out and patted its head, then looked over there.

The bushes in the cemetery swayed gently, and a gray figure flashed by. Chen Ling couldn't see it clearly, but he felt that it was about the size of a mongrel.

"What the hell is this?"

Chen Ling frowned, stood on tiptoe to look, but in the blink of an eye, he had already disappeared.

With doubts in my mind, I went into the cemetery and searched around, but I couldn't find it.

I wonder where that thing went; it really slipped away quickly.

However, as Chen Ling walked out, he found a large hole next to a grave. There were some gray hairs near the entrance of the hole, which were coarse and hard.

Chen Ling picked up two hairs and examined them, but couldn't identify what kind of creature they were from.

But something that could scare the calf so badly couldn't possibly be a rabbit.

"Never mind, let's go home and have dinner."

Suppressing his doubts, Chen Ling left the cemetery, hitched up the oxcart, and headed home.

Halfway there, we encountered Wang Laishun tending to rapeseed seedlings in the field.

His family planted rapeseed late this year, and the land was redistributed, so they didn't manage it as much.

Sure enough, after a few rains, the rapeseed seedlings grew so densely that they formed a clump, and each seedling was very thin and small, so we had to come to the field to thin them out.

When they saw Chen Ling driving the oxcart over, they quickly stopped him and gave him two large bundles of money before letting him go.

Chen Ling was quite helpless in the end.

They couldn't even finish all the food at home, yet they still crammed it into their car.

Oh well, let's just treat it as something new.

When stir-frying rapeseed seedlings, they taste similar to fresh, tender bok choy, and the flavor is acceptable.

Chen Ling ate this often when he was a child.

In my past life, when I was in college, I learned a skill from my classmates in the north: making savory dishes with rapeseed sprouts, served with minced garlic and vinegar, which tasted even better than stir-fries.

Chen Ling liked it after just one bite.

"Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I've had salty food. I'll have to make some when I get back."

He thought to himself.

When I got home, the grandfather clock in the house struck two o'clock.

Wang Susu was spinning thread in the yard when she saw him come back so late. She asked about the saplings and learned that he had hauled them to the field and planted them all by himself. She stared at him for a while, seemingly surprised by his enthusiasm.

Then he sighed with a touch of melancholy:

"Ah Ling, after we plant the saplings, let's take a break, okay?"

When Wang Susu said this, her tone carried a hint of pleading.

It felt like I was back in the days when I was facing Chen Ling.

Indeed, Chen Ling has changed a lot in some ways over the past two months. For example, his temper has improved, he no longer dislikes her, and he is more gentle and considerate towards her, which is what she wants to see.

But in some ways, he is no different from before. For example, he is still lazy, loves to enjoy life, loves to eat and drink, and still spends money extravagantly, just like before.

It's just that instead of spending money to aimlessly wander around the county town, it has turned into spending money to buy other things.

Buying plows, harrows, cattle, and fruit tree saplings—this whole process adds up to a considerable sum…

Although she didn't object, it would take at least two years for the fruit trees to bear fruit, and whether they could be sold for money or how well they would sell was still unknown.

They don't have any source of income, and if they keep spending money like this, they'll squander their savings in no time.

So she's been quite worried lately, but she was afraid of upsetting Chen Ling if she brought it up rashly, so she held back until now before finally asking.

Chen Ling was slightly taken aback after hearing this, but then he understood and nodded: "Okay, let's stop for a while after we finish planting."

He understood why Wang Susu would suddenly say that.

To avoid arousing Wang Susu's suspicion, he had taken the money from home to buy fruit tree seedlings and also paid a deposit for the money from selling medicinal herbs.

The family's money suddenly decreased by almost half.

Given Wang Susu's personality, even if she kept it to herself, she would inevitably have these concerns.

This is human nature.

However, he cannot tell Wang Susu about his current source of income. He will gradually let her accept it once the store in the county town is opened.

Naturally, I agreed immediately.

Wang Susu breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw that he agreed. She glanced at him cautiously and, seeing that there was no sign of his displeasure, she stood up and said, "A-Ling, go wash your hands. The food has been keeping warm on the stove. I'll go get it."

Chen Ling then realized that he hadn't eaten lunch.

He quickly agreed and went to wash his hands and change his clothes.

After dinner, Chen Ling basked in the warm spring sunshine, smelled the fresh scent of grass and trees carried on the breeze, and read a book in the courtyard for a while.

Perhaps it was too comfortable, because before long, he drifted off to sleep in the yard.

Wang Susu, who was spinning thread nearby, couldn't help but smile when she saw this scene.

She couldn't help but sigh again in her heart. Although Ah Ling was getting better and better to her, he just couldn't get rid of that lazy streak in his bones.

However, being lazy and gluttonous isn't all bad. At least she didn't know before that Chen Ling could cook so well.

Chen Ling was asleep, unaware that Wang Susu would mistake some of his features from the future for his old bad habits.

Indeed, people from an era of abundant material resources often appear to be no different from people of this era in terms of their behavior, which seems to them as lazy and gluttonous.

People in later generations will never deprive themselves of food and drink, no matter what. Even without money, they can still create new and interesting dishes. It's okay to be poor, but you can't let your mouth suffer from poverty.

Otherwise, outsiders wouldn't have any direct experience of the changes he's undergone during this period, and Wang Susu would probably have become suspicious.

Before I knew it, another day had passed.

……

The first day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, a Sunday.

The couple, Chen Ling and his wife, had already completed the planting of all 1,200 fruit tree saplings two days prior.

Afterwards, Chen Ling used the excuse of preventing pests and diseases to carry a sprayer and spray the diluted Dongtianxi water in the field twice.

In less than half a day, all the fruit tree seedlings sprouted tender buds.

Seeing this, Chen Ling stopped worrying about it and drove the oxcart to the county town early that morning.

I'm going to deliver peanuts to the oil mill owner I arranged to meet last week.

After arriving in the county town, not only did they send him two thousand catties, but Liu Xingeng also sent two thousand catties.

After eight round trips, I earned another four thousand yuan.

It was just past noon, so Chen Ling found a restaurant nearby and had a simple meal.

After filling his stomach, he was about to return to the newly rented courtyard in the south of the city when a loud voice came from beside him.

"Lingzi!"

Turning my head, I saw a tall, strong young man carrying a large bowl rushing over from a street stall.

As he ran, he kept slurping the noodles in his bowl. He ran more than ten steps before spilling a single drop of broth.

"I haven't seen you for two months, where have you been?"

This man is called Han Chuang. He is a tall man, 1.9 meters tall, dark-skinned and strong. He is a regular at game arcades and video arcades and is very familiar with Chen Ling.

"Wow, wow, wow, I even caught a bullock cart! I didn't even recognize it at first glance..."

Han Chuang has a problem: he stutters when he gets anxious.

"Long time no see, Chuangzi. I've come to the city on some business."

Chen Ling patted his broad arm and asked with a smile, "What are you doing here?"

"Hehe, I came over and watched some videotapes."

Han Chuang winked at him, revealing a smile that any man would understand.

As he spoke, he finished all the noodles in the large bowl, wiped his mouth a couple of times, and put the bowl on the long table of the stall.

"Let's go to the Cultural Palace later. I recently learned a powerful move, let's practice it together..."

The Workers' Cultural Palace in the south of the city is mainly a theater.

But on the outer floors, there are also things like arcade machines and billiard halls.

As a wildly popular game console in recent years, it has become the top choice for entertainment for everyone from elementary school students to young men.

Since one yuan could buy ten game tokens and play for a long time, this thing quickly became popular. Chen Ling was so obsessed with it that he would never stop playing until dark.

"Let's do it another day. I have things to do today, so I won't play. But I'm also going to the south of the city, so I can give you a ride there on my way."

Chen Ling waved the whip and said.

Having experienced the world of online games in later generations, Chen Ling had little interest in modern game consoles.

If you have nothing to do, it's fine to reminisce about the past.

The key is that I still need to tidy up the small courtyard in the south of the city today. I have more important things to do, so I'll pass.

(End of this chapter)