My 1995 Small Farm.

"Good heavens, it really is! How come so many cranes are flying over from the sky!"

"Listen, listen, they're making a cawing sound as they fly; they're flying over to the other side of the mountain."

"Yes, yes, I just wonder if these later cranes have built their nests over the lake that Fugui contracted. There are more and more cranes here, which is a great thing!"

"Great news, great news! This must have been attracted by the cranes here. It seems that this place is truly a blessed land!"

"I was worried because the Turtle King wasn't showing up, but who knew so many cranes would fly over? This is great."

A group of people were discussing it animatedly. Just now, those young people were just bored and wanted to set off a couple of firecrackers for fun.

Seeing so many red-crowned cranes flying over right now is enough to make me so happy I want to set off firecrackers in celebration.

It wasn't just the young people; many older people also came out.

They stood on tiptoe, stretched their necks, looked up at the sky, and started making a lively commotion.

After the flock of red-crowned cranes flew across the sky and disappeared from sight, another round of heated discussion broke out.

"Come on, let's set off the firecrackers! It's a good thing to see so many cranes during a funeral at home."

Wang Laifu's eldest son, Wang Jujie, said the same thing.

There's an old saying that someone has passed away peacefully, and some families will specially make a paper crane to represent their deceased relative's death.

Now it's for real.

And it happened to be flying west.

It's nowhere near as good as a paper crane.

So they dragged out a whole plate of firecrackers.

Seeing this, Chen Ling opened the cigarettes in his pocket, and the group lit them, arranged the firecrackers, and set them off with a series of bangs.

Mixed with the sound of cannon fire.

The loudspeaker makers and other instrument makers also came and joined in, playing various kinds of instruments.

It was quite a lively scene.

Wow, so many cranes have flown in!

This is truly a rare and spectacular sight.

Even the already faint sadness in Wang Laifu's family was dispelled.

I don't know if it's a coincidence.

After the cranes flew by and the sounds of cannons and band music subsided, a large black butterfly suddenly flew into the white mourning tent.

It flew around the mourning hall and stayed there for a long time before leaving.

This surprised many people.

It's just that it's not appropriate to talk carelessly in a mourning hall, otherwise the discussion would probably be even more heated than when we saw the cranes before.

Of course, some people don't care about this.

For example, Wang Laifu's family.

When his wife, Aunt Wang, found out, she laughed with all the wives and mothers in the family, saying, "I heard that the village used to say that our Laifu was a child prodigy and a star of literature... Now I know that our Laifu was really extraordinary. After he passed away, there were cranes flying by and butterflies flying by."

"If it weren't for the bad timing, I might have become a high-ranking official if I had passed the exam."

As soon as she said that, all the wives and mothers in the house burst into laughter.

Some women are rather silly and say that the black butterfly might be your Laifu in disguise, that it died but couldn't bear to leave, and that it will hear you and come looking for you at night.

Aunt Wang's face changed. "Go away, what nonsense are you talking about? The presence of cranes is a good omen."

I also blame myself for saying that one thing earlier.

He didn't enjoy the good life with Wang Laifu while he was alive, so it's pointless to make up for it with that one sentence.

Chen Ling knew that it was not surprising that other red-crowned cranes had been attracted to the area.

The weather has been good lately, with geese flying by day and night, and it's normal to see red-crowned cranes passing by as well.

Otherwise, those who photograph red-crowned cranes wouldn't choose this time of year to come to the mountains.

The weather was good, making it easy to take photos, and there were also many migratory birds flying south.

Even if you don't get to photograph the red-crowned cranes, you can still gain something else.

I saw another flock of geese flying overhead.

Chen Ling was thinking that if he was going to keep watch here tonight, he should take a few people to look around, and also get up early in the morning to go there.

He really didn't believe it.

After collecting so much goose droppings these past few days, how could I not catch a single goose?
However, we need to prepare the dinner and the meat dishes for the night watch first.

Dinner will mainly consist of pickled fish.

Or else, I'll make a hot pot of mixed fish.

If we can't finish it, we can make flatbread or steamed buns to eat with it tomorrow; that would be delicious too.

As for the meat dishes for the night watch, the pig's head was prepared in advance.

Those who usually keep watch at night have to stay until the latter half of the night, or even until dawn.

When we're bored, a few of us sit together, have a few drinks, play cards, and the night passes by in no time.

At this point, it's definitely necessary to prepare some hearty dishes to go with the drinks.

A pig's head would be just right.

If it's cooked well, it'll smell even better than pork ribs.

Moreover, it's cheap, mainly because pig heads are difficult to process, and many slaughterhouses sell them for only two or three yuan each.

This is a true story.

It happens quite often.

Especially when it's hot.

A big pig's head costs two yuan, or even one yuan, in those days that's no exaggeration...

Wang Laifu's two sons knew that Chen Ling was saving them money on cooking, and they were very grateful to Chen Ling.

It's not that they're being stingy.

The main problem is that their father, Wang Laifu, rarely left the house and never saved any money. Chen Ling, on the other hand, comes from a wealthy family and works as a cook, even trying to save them money.

The dishes they cooked were delicious, making them feel both proud and satisfied.

Now they only hate that they were influenced by Wang Laifu. The two brothers also feel inferior. If they had been more open-minded in the past and interacted more with Chen Ling, they would have been successful in everything they did in the future.

They didn't even have to worry about finding wives.

It's a pity that with such a father, even when others invite people to dinner and drinks, they can't bring them home.

It's really hard to explain in a few words.

“Fugui, you still have kids at home. If you have something to do this afternoon, go back and rest. We'll take care of the pig’s head and the loach.”

When the two brothers saw Chen Ling efficiently finish preparing the small fish and was about to catch the loach and catfish, they quickly came over and said something.

Leaving aside loach and catfish, the pig's head is the most difficult to prepare.

"Okay, I'll go back and take a look. I just saw Rui Rui running around with the dog on the slope."

Chen Ling smiled and nodded.

Chen Baoliang hurriedly asked, "Fugui, do we need to buy anything else? Do we need to buy groceries for tomorrow? If so, I'll go buy them right away."

"No need," Chen Ling said. "I'll just make some thin porridge tomorrow morning and have some pickled vegetables with it. I'll use the pickled vegetables from Jusheng's place. Let's keep breakfast light."

“Okay, okay, this is good. Jusheng also said he wanted to bring two jars of pickled vegetables over, his pickled vegetables are delicious.”

After setting breakfast for tomorrow morning, Chen Ling was completely free to do nothing. He only needed to come back at four o'clock in the afternoon to cook dinner.

Dinner for weddings and funerals is usually served early, around 6 p.m.

In this season, some people even start as early as 5 a.m.

When Chen Ling returned home, his father-in-law wasn't there, nor was Rui Rui. His mother-in-law was spinning thread on a spinning wheel; winter was approaching, and they needed to start making cotton-padded trousers and boots.

Wang Susu and Du Juan were knitting sweaters together, mainly teaching Du Juan how to knit.

Ah Fu and Ah Shou lay down nearby, basking in the afternoon sun with their eyes closed, resting.

He didn't open his eyes when he heard Chen Ling had returned.

But when Chen Ling walked over, the two creatures stretched out their front paws, as if they were about to trip him up.

Chen Ling was caught off guard and was startled.

He immediately glared at her and scolded, "Good heavens, Little Blue Horse is being naughty. You two deserve a beating, don't you?"

Seeing that their wicked scheme had succeeded, Afu and Ashou opened their eyes, opened their mouths wide, and quickly wagged their tails, letting out a silent laugh.

"Haha, they even know how to tease you," Du Juan said, finding it amusing.

"Sigh, all cats are like this. The little leopard often hides on purpose, and then jumps out to scare me when I walk by."

Wang Susu sighed and said, "He's never home, but that little leopard listens to me."

Gao Xiulan said, "That little leopard is quite nice, but I'm afraid of Rui Rui and Ling Zi."

Wang Susu smiled helplessly: "There's nothing we can do about it. Rui Rui and the little leopard have never gotten along since they were little."

"Speaking of the little leopard, your little tabby cat is also beautiful. It belongs to Uncle Zhao and is as good-looking as the two my father-in-law keeps. I'd like to adopt a kitten too."

"Du Juan said."

"The kitten comes back every few days. You don't see it at night, but you might see it sunbathing somewhere during the day."

As Wang Susu spoke, she looked around. Instead of hugging Chen Ling, Afu and Ashou got up and moved closer to Wang Susu, like big cats, lying across her and purring loudly.

I deliberately blocked her view so she wouldn't look around.

"Oh dear, you're always making a fuss." Wang Susu patted Afu and gave it a nudge.

Many animals are quite intelligent, and they have a special affinity for pregnant women.

That's how it is with Afu and Ashou.

Although he saw Du Juan relatively infrequently, he was very gentle when he was with the two of them.

"You want a kitten? My little tabby cat probably isn't good enough. You'll have to catch one from the wild leopard's den outside." Wang Susu pushed Afu away, and Ashou came closer, sticking out his tongue and grinning like a big dog shaped like a tiger.

"Yes, those two dens of civets outside are probably pregnant again soon."

Chen Ling said, "That day I had just brought Afu, Ashou and the little water buffalo back, and in the morning I saw that the yellow cat's belly was swollen again."

“That’s great! I’ve noticed that the kittens bred by these two stray cats and the house cat are all quite cute,” Du Juan said.

Many artists love cats, and she is one of them.

"Yes, the females we raise at home are mostly welcomed in the mountains. Pigs, dogs, and cats are not only safe in the mountains, but they all live well."

Chen Ling smiled. The more people live in the mountains, the more of these kinds of things they have seen.

Dogs and wolves, domestic pigs and wild boars, domestic cats and wild cats—after running away, they often interbreed with wild animals; the number of such pairings is simply overwhelming.

"Hey, what's going on?"

Du Juan looked puzzled, then smiled and said, "Fu Gui, why don't you take a look? The National Animal Husbandry Journal keeps urging you to write articles, and you can get a professional title later."

Then he looked at Wang Susu and asked, "Susu, do you think 'Teacher Chen' sounds better, or 'Professor Chen' sounds better?"

Wang Susu glanced at Chen Ling with a pout and said, "Come on, Professor Chen? We're both so uneducated. I only have a junior high school diploma, and he only has a high school diploma. Neither of us went to university."

"Fugui, did you hear that? Hurry up and work hard to prove yourself to Susu."

"Forget it, I don't have the energy for it. I haven't even finished the children's story that Uncle Zhong asked me to write, how could I have the mind to write a thesis?"

Chen Ling sat down, grabbed a handful of peanuts and started cracking them open: "But what you said is really worth studying. In professional terms, it's about the rewilding of livestock and the domestication of wild animals. It's just that this is a big topic, so we still need to think about it and go out into the mountains more often."

"By the way, speaking of which, did you see the red-crowned cranes flying in the sky? A huge flock, at least twenty of them."

"No, how could there be so many? There are only three pairs of cranes living in the lake here, plus the four cygnets that have grown up, that makes ten."

"Yes, it probably attracted the red-crowned cranes that were passing by. Bird bait can attract birds, pheasant bait can attract pheasants, and the red-crowned cranes attracted a group of their own kind to keep them company. What's so strange about that?"

Chen Ling stood up and said, "Rui Rui isn't home right now, so I'll take Afu and Ashou for a walk in the mountains."

Then he tied his leg wraps, took out his gun, and found a net for trapping chickens.

The environment around the mountain lake is good, the lake is wide, and there are few people. It attracts not only red-crowned cranes but also other birds.

Chen Ling thought to himself that the geese could never be seen landing anywhere. With the sun shining so brightly this afternoon, the geese might land over the lake in the mountains.

If we encounter them, we can hunt two back. (End of Chapter)