My 1995 Small Farm.

"Lingzi, Jiajia and her mother are going back soon. Since you don't have anything to do today, don't wander around in the mountains. Go to the oil mill in the county to press some walnut oil."

"Make a lot more, for our own consumption, and also for Jiajia to take some home."

Back home, Chen Ling ate breakfast and was about to take Afu and Ashou for a walk in the mountains to scare away the restless wild animals.

His mother-in-law called him to a stop.

Chen Ling was taken aback: "Huh? Jiajia is leaving already? You've only been here for less than a month!"

"Yes, Master. My dad said he has something to take care of and we need to go back as soon as possible. My mom said she's leaving in the next couple of days."

Shen Jiayi buried herself in picking goose droppings. Some of the droppings contained bits of grain, which could be saved to feed chickens and ducks in winter so they would lay eggs more frequently.

The remaining wheat seedlings and grass leaves are what we feed the livestock.

"This guy, your return was too sudden. I, as your teacher, haven't even taught you how to cook yet..."

Chen Ling really liked this apprentice. Of course, this liking was very pure; it was the kind of affection he had for his apprentice, like a younger sister. There was no way around it; that's just how only children are sometimes.

Besides, Chen Ling lost his mother at a very young age.

So, sometimes he likes his home to be lively, and sometimes he likes it to be quiet.

This feeling is strange and can be incomprehensible to some people, leading to misunderstandings.

"Hehe, I've already told my mom we'll come again before the New Year. I'm just glad you don't find us bothersome, Master!"

"How could that be? You'd be more than welcome! Don't even mention me, look at your Grandma Xiulan and your Sister Susu, how much they like you... You must come before the New Year, it's the time to hold a banquet for Kang Kang and Lele then, I'll invite you all over..."

Chen Ling laughed and thought to himself that he should hurry up and hunt a couple of wild geese in the next couple of days to satisfy his family's cravings and to give his apprentice a farewell dinner.

"Mom, I'll go outside and tidy up Ah Fu and Ah Shou's nest first, then I'll go press the oil."

“Go ahead, there’s no rush. I’m just worried that once you’re in the mountains you’ll wander too far and get carried away with the tiger and lose track of time.”

"No, they won't. Afu and Ashou just came back these past two days. I'm worried they'll run around wildly after they've just returned. Even if they go to the mountains, they'll just wander around."

Don't be fooled by how Afu and Ashou are now clinging to him, following him wherever he goes. Chen Ling is worried that they might become as disobedient as Little Green Horse and Ertuzi, and that once they've been in the mountains and seen blood, their minds might wander.

"By the way, the little water buffalo you bought, and those puppies, just arrived home. Can you feed them yet?"

"Mom, you don't need to worry about them. I'll just give them some water first."

Chen Ling left a message, called over Afu and Ashou, who were wandering around the yard, sniffing around with their eyes half-closed, sometimes drinking water from the fish tank, sometimes picking a few leaves from under the grape trellis, and then went to deal with the tiger's den outside the wall.

Outside, the little buffalo was sleeping on a haystack in the pen.

The little guy didn't get much rest after a night of rocking on the boat, and then walked such a long way after getting off the boat.

Walking back from Tenghe Township, I was exhausted and sleepy.

However, just like cats and dogs when they are young, this little guy becomes very clingy once he recognizes his owner.

Seeing Chen Ling pass by, he hurriedly opened his eyes, stood up, walked to the edge of the livestock pen, tilted his head back, and stuck out his tongue to lick Chen Ling's hand.

The calf's fur was clean, and it looked brand new all over. Its eyes were bright and shiny black, and its nose was also black, making it look very cute and adorable.

Chen Ling patted its head and walked towards the back of his own estate.

The tiger's den, built outside the wall, was connected to the area inside the wall.

There is a hole that Ah Fu and Ah Shou can crawl into.

But it hasn't been cleaned for almost two months, it's filthy inside, and it's attracted a lot of woodlice.

It definitely needs to be cleaned up.

This way, Afu and Ashou will be more comfortable living here.

After cleaning up, I heard little children shouting in the wheat field in the distance.

Chen Ling walked out of the orchard and looked around. It was Xiao Sen and the others who were a little younger and not yet of school age.

With nothing else to do, I came out with the adults to collect goose droppings.

At that moment, they must have discovered something, because they all started shouting and running towards the woods behind the local temple.

"Aren't the egrets and green-clad villagers living behind the Earth God Temple? Haven't they caused enough trouble yet?"

"Could it be that some other wild creature has run in again?"

Chen Ling knew these mischievous monkeys very well. He knew that they generally dared not go to Qingzhuang and the egrets during the day. These two types of birds were quite fierce and their pecking was very painful. Their sharp and long beaks could peck their hands and arms until the skin was torn and bleeding.

It's scarier than a goose.

If you're chased and can't run away, you'll get pecked on the butt, and you won't be able to sit for days; even sleeping will be painful.

Seeing the group of children making a ruckus, Chen Ling thought, "I'll go check on them later. As long as it's not a poisonous worm, they'll be fine."

After cleaning up the tiger den and sweeping away all the fallen leaves around it, Chen Ling noticed that the two tigers were still full of energy, crawling in and out of the den and playing around with the little blue horse that had come over to join in the fun. So Chen Ling told them to stop.

They were taken to the iron cages in the livestock pen.

Tell them to stay put and that you'll be back soon.

He went home, drove the tractor out, and loaded all the walnuts piled up in the family warehouse and those drying in the village yards onto the truck bed.

It filled more than half of the truck bed.

Some of these walnuts were picked up randomly from the mountains, while others were given to them by the villagers.

This year, Chen Ling found a way for them to sell wild fruits, and although the villagers didn't say it, they knew they remembered his kindness.

These canneries don't accept walnuts, so they'll send some to Chen Ling's family whenever they happen to see them, along with wild yams and the like...

The number of times they gave it was actually not that many.

I didn't feel anything special, but I've accumulated such a huge pile.

No wonder my mother-in-law was urging me to have the oil pressed.

In those days, walnuts, when pressed for oil, naturally yielded less oil than peanuts or soybeans. The claim in later generations that they had a higher oil yield is an exaggeration…

However, we can't eat all these walnuts, and they're not easy to sell, so let's make them into oil instead.

It just so happens that Wang Qingzhong uses a lot of oil when making spicy strips.

The oil residue left after pressing oil can be cooked and used to fatten livestock; it has many uses.

"Hey you guys, what are you doing? Watch out, there might be poisonous worms in the grass."

"Uncle Fugui, it's a fox den. There are too many egrets here, which has attracted foxes."

"Oh, foxes, you guys play then."

It's not surprising that foxes can be found where there are many birds. Chen Ling once saw a large fox with three cubs, biting each other's tails on a cliff, preparing to raid the egret's nest at night.

"Grandpa, why don't you take the tiger to the mountains to hunt wolves?"

"If we don't fight them now, we'll wait until it gets dark tonight and then Grandpa will wipe them all out, haha."

Chen Ling smiled and waved to the children, then drove his tractor around the road outside the village, heading towards the county town.

As for Rui Rui, she said she missed him on the phone, but she hasn't seen him yet.

According to Gao Xiulan, he went to Chen Xiaoer's house early in the morning to eat big meat buns, accompanied by Heiwa and Xiaojin. Wang Cunye dropped him off there and then left him there, going to herd cattle in Laohewan by himself.

Chen Ling drove the tractor and glanced at the old river bend. He only saw a group of packhorses and white calves sunbathing, but he didn't see the old man anywhere.

I guess he's out fishing and playing chess with Zhao Yubao again.

After hauling half a cart of walnuts to the oil mill in the county town, they didn't go anywhere else but went to Liu Xingeng's place.

As a result, the oil production was naturally far from ideal.

In addition, it's pressed with the shell on, not the kind where the shell is peeled and then fried.

Wild walnuts have thick shells.

If the oil content is 20%, that's considered a lot.

Simply put, a pound of walnuts yields less than two ounces of oil. This doesn't matter to Chen Ling, since they were all picked up from the mountains anyway.

They don't even throw away the residue left after pressing oil.

Even if the oil extraction is incomplete, it's still used to feed your own livestock, so it's not considered a waste.

The last half-cartload of walnuts yielded two and a half jugs of oil, but two sacks of residue were left over.

When Chen Ling left, he also bought a large jug of sesame oil.

Many people in the village grow sesame, especially on slopes, or in small, narrow plots of land such as depressions and ditches that are inconvenient to cultivate.

Many of them grow sorghum, beans, or sesame.

"Sigh, I've never grown sesame before. Maybe I should go back and plant some to try and see if the sesame oil I make tastes good."

That's simple. Just go back to the mountains and ripen them a bit, then press them for oil.

However, you definitely can't go to Liu Xingeng's place. Just go to the township or Huangni Town and find an oil mill you don't know well.

Just think, after pressing the oil, we'll need to make some sweet potato starch in a couple of days.

We can get it done all at once then.

"Huh? What's wrong with these two Japanese devils? Are they sick? Or were they attacked?"

Just as Chen Ling started the tractor to leave, he suddenly saw Li Zhongyi and Chishima Miyoko coming out of the old hospital in the distance.

The two looked sickly, their faces pale.

Li Zhongyi's arm appears to be in a cast.

"Forget it, it's none of my business anyway. It's normal for the Japanese to get beaten up."

Chen Ling got on the tractor, put it in gear, and drove off.

The weather has been really nice lately, with sunny days almost every day.

The autumn sky is a deep blue, appearing vast and profound.

A flock of geese flew overhead, their cries drifting across the sky.

Its two wings flapped vigorously like fans, its long neck held its head high, and its webbed feet were curled up on its abdomen.

Some of them will stay locally, while others will not.

It's quite strange that so many geese don't stop in such an attractive environment.

Chen Ling looked up and figured that it was impossible to shoot it from such a high altitude.

Either wait for Er Tuzi, or wait until tonight.

At night, geese fly low, and some hide in the reeds by the water or come out to find food, making them easier to catch.

Many elderly people know that geese usually land in the morning or when the sun is about to set.

There are fewer people around at this time, so they can find food to their heart's content.

The easiest food to find this season is wheat sprouts.

Moreover, winter wheat, before it has reached the jointing stage and the stalks have fully emerged, will not be significantly affected if it is eaten by eating some leaves, as long as it is not uprooted like sheep eating grass.

Because geese have flown a long way, they are incredibly fierce when they land and eat wheat seedlings. Their mealtime is also quite long. While eating wheat leaves, they also defecate in the wheat field.

The gap between early morning and dusk is also a good time to catch wild geese.

When we arrived at the village, there were no longer any people collecting goose droppings in the wheat fields.

However, a large group of people gathered around the land temple, including adults, children, and Erhei with a pack of dogs.

Rui Rui was also there, riding on Heiwa's back, following beside Wang Cunye, grabbing Heiwa's big ears and shaking them back and forth.

Upon hearing the sound of the tractor, many people looked toward the road.

"Daddy! Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"

When Rui Rui saw Chen Ling, his eyes lit up. He slid off Heiwa and hurriedly ran towards the road.

Seeing his son like this, Chen Ling was instantly filled with joy. He quickly parked the tractor next to the threshing ground, jumped off, and strode over.

He picked the little guy up in one swift motion: "You little rascal, you missed your dad, didn't you?"

As soon as Rui Rui was picked up, he smelled his father's scent and saw his father's familiar smiling face, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Seeing that the sturdy little brat was about to cry, Chen Ling quickly reached out and tickled him, which made him laugh again, and he squealed and cried in Chen Ling's arms.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

"Look, they're looking at foxes. Xiao Sen and the others are going to take the dogs to raid fox dens and catch fox cubs... Xiao Jin ran over and barked fiercely, scaring the group of kids so much that they stopped making a fuss."

When I came over, I saw it was the fox that often came to our house.

As soon as Wang Cunye started talking, the other villagers chimed in with their own opinions.

People were saying things like, "Why is Xiao Jin so protective of the fox? Could she have gotten together with the fox?"

Chen Ling laughed and scolded them for talking nonsense, warning them to be careful that Xiao Jin might bite their butts later.

Wang Cunye also said that they were being irresponsible; the fox was fine, but Xiao Jin was in the woods and wouldn't let anyone in.

Right now, this group of people is talking about mating pigs.

Winter is just around the corner, and it's time to breed the sows.

They had just finished picking all the wild fruits in the surrounding mountains, but there were still plenty left in the deep forests. However, they didn't want to go there again. It would be a long and arduous journey, requiring them to get up early and work late, and they would also be at great risk, as they might encounter wolves, tigers, or leopards.

Therefore, the villagers have had some free time these past two days.

Then you'll have time to take care of the livestock.

"Fugui, do you even know how to breed pigs? If not, you can come this year!"

"You son of a bitch, Lishan, don't think you're the older brother just because you say that again. I'm not afraid to kick you."

Chen Ling laughed and cursed, then pretended to kick him.

"Look, look, you're getting impatient. You're the one who's thinking the wrong thing. I'm asking you seriously." Wang Lishan chuckled. That's just how he is. He likes to joke around with people he knows well, not just men, but also his familiar wives.

A group of people burst into laughter.

"It's true, we really found a big breeding boar. Look at that huge lump of egg-shaped meatballs, it's quite large. I wonder if it'll be suitable?"

"How many years have you been raising pigs? Do you need to ask me?"

"You're a veterinarian, right? Not only are you educated, but you also raise better animals than others. Who else should I ask if not you?"

As soon as he said this, everyone agreed, saying that the chicks hatched from his eggs in early autumn grew up to be better than those from other families.

We're all from the same village, so just tell me what's going on.

"Goodness, they actually got me pregnant and postpartum care for sows?"

Chen Ling was both amused and exasperated: "If you're going to pair with a dog, a cow, or a horse, I might know a little bit about that, but pairing with a pig is out of the question."

"No way! Breeding with that big boar costs fifty yuan per family, that's expensive. It used to only cost twenty yuan. I'm just worried about the money..."

"So you're saying you're not planning to keep the pigs for slaughter after the New Year, but only for breeding?"

"No, no, even castrated pigs are still slaughtered and eaten."

"Quick, quick, give us some advice! We're not very knowledgeable, and we're afraid of getting ripped off... They say it's a foreign pig, but we don't know if those foreign pigs are any good..."

But Chen Ling knew nothing about breeding pigs; he truly didn't understand because he had never even considered raising pigs.

I could only say that I would ask around for them when I got to the village another day.

Guo Baolai has been castrating pigs for years, so he should know the market price. (End of Chapter)