My 1995 Small Farm.

"A rabbit swimming?"

Chen Ling was taken aback at first, but upon closer inspection, he saw a yellowish-brown hare kicking its hind legs rapidly across the river, splashing water in circles as it swam westward.

Because the east was full of formidable 'monsters,' it had no choice but to flee to the west.

"Sister-in-law Xiufen said that seeing the divine rabbit crossing the river is a good omen, and it means good luck is coming!"

Wang Susu said excitedly.

Chen Ling was speechless upon hearing this explanation.

When my daughter-in-law first received Xiufen's medical book, she said it sounded mysterious and unsettling.

Now they've actually started believing that rabbit swimming story again.

There's no way around it, sometimes women just believe in this.

This rabbit is the same; if you don't scare it, it'll be stupid enough to jump into the river.

He and Zhao Dahai and a few others had not only seen rabbits swimming during heavy summer rains, but they had also heard rabbits call out.

It was nothing more than thunder and heavy rain flooding the rabbit burrow, which startled them and caused them to react defensively.

While Chen Ling was speechless, Wang Susu had already pulled her son to her side: "Rui Rui, you're not allowed to scare the rabbit anymore."

Rui Rui was still struggling, shouting for Jin Jin to go too, trying to get Xiao Jin to rush into the river as well.

Xiao Jin isn't as simple-minded as Heiwa.

Although it is affectionate towards children and dotes on its young owner, it will not listen to his unreasonable commands.

Suddenly, Rui Rui stopped struggling.

He looked into the distance and shouted, "Dad, a tiger!"

Chen Ling turned his head and saw that it was Afu and Ashou running over from the foot of the mountain in the distance.

It looks like they've had their fill of fun and food in the mountains.

"You little rascal, you can see pretty far."

"He has a very sharp eye. Sister Dujuan's hat had a small button that was missing. We searched for a long time but couldn't find it, but he spotted it at a glance."

"Hey, where's the rabbit? It disappeared in the blink of an eye!"

The young wife was still thinking about the swimming rabbit.

……

Farmers have few idle months, and even in early winter, they are never idle.

Planting trees, gathering firewood, and storing fodder for livestock to get through the winter.

Or perhaps it's basket weaving, cloth weaving, mat weaving, broom binding... which can continue from early winter until February of the following year.

That's how a year's worth of farm tools came about.

Although Chen Ling and his wife were enjoying their leisure time, they hadn't forgotten about making reed mats.

Reed mats have many uses.

It's used for livestock sheds, vegetable cellars, and we'll need it to build greenhouses in a few days.

The family of three stayed on the riverbank, herding their livestock while observing which reeds grew best and which were easier to cut due to the shallow water.

Wang Susu was indeed bored from being at home for so long.

At first, I thought Rui Rui was being mischievous and troublesome, always causing trouble for A Fu, A Shou, and the two dogs.

But soon, without Rui Rui's prompting, the little green horse, that big troublemaker, provoked Afu, Ashou, and the two big dogs to jump into the river and surround and hunt down this rogue horse.

This amused Wang Susu, and together with Rui Rui, the mother and son shouted and cheered for Heiwa and Xiaojin.

Her face finally regained the playfulness and liveliness she had before giving birth.

The little blue horse felt resentful and sad when it realized that no one supported it.

He lost all interest in playing in the river, and sullenly ran back to the bank, lay down in front of Chen Ling, closed his eyes, and kicked out with all four legs straight...

It's as if it's saying, "No one is helping me, I'm so sad."

Chen Ling knew all too well what kind of temperament this little blue horse had. Even though it was a mare, it had a tomboyish personality and was quite mischievous, full of naughty ideas.

But I still pretended to comfort it.

Then, after it stood up, I pushed it forcefully into the river.

Ordinary people wouldn't have that kind of strength; only Chen Ling could.

The little blue horse was caught off guard, but when Chen Ling pushed it into the water, it felt that it had gained its master's favor. Instead of being angry, it bared its big white teeth, shook its head and mane, and proudly showed off to Afu, Ashou and the two dogs. It looked so smug that its tail was almost wagging in the air.

Afu and Ashou couldn't stand it either, letting out a series of panicked cries like cats, and wading through the water to Chen Ling's side, wanting him to play with them too.

Seeing this, Rui Rui quickly ran over, stretched out her little arms and stomped her feet to scare them away.

Afu and Ashou aren't afraid of others, but they are really afraid of this little baby.

They immediately stopped in their tracks, too afraid to come ashore, and looked up at Chen Ling with pleading eyes, their cries becoming even more pitiful.

In no time, the riverbank became a lively scene.

The family of three had a great time, accompanied by a tiger, a dog, and a large herd of goats and pack horses.

As a result, the villagers who raise cattle no longer dare to graze their cattle on the riverbank.

It was precisely because of this that no one bothered them.

This, on the contrary, made the family of three even more eye-catching.

Moreover, there aren't many tall crops in the fields during this season, so people can see them as soon as they walk to the village entrance near the reservoir dam.

Today, it just so happens that Professor He Jiawen from Capital Normal University is here with his colleagues for an inspection.

My colleagues were filled with curiosity about this small mountain village.

They all agreed that it was better to do it sooner rather than later, so they immediately canceled two weeks of classes and came as a group.

They traveled by boat and by horse-drawn carriage carrying wild fruits, enduring a long and dusty journey.

I can't even sleep soundly.

In short, the arduous journeys these days are exhausting, leaving everyone feeling listless.

However, once they disembarked from the boat and boarded horse-drawn or donkey carts, listening to the stories told by the mountain people who brought them wild fruits, they immediately lost all their drowsiness and became full of energy.

Listening to their stories about Chenwangzhuang and Chen Ling, I always felt like I was listening to a folk tale with a strong fantasy element.

However, by sheer coincidence, they got off the carriage at the dam just as they arrived at the village entrance.

I could see a scene on the riverbank of the old river bend from afar.

For a moment, everyone except He Jiawen was dumbfounded.

Let's not even talk about livestock and poultry; there's nothing special about them.

The key point is that those two big tigers were actually playing around with people so obediently.

The distance was still a bit far. They couldn't see clearly, but it looked like two tigers were being chased by a child with a dog.

They were shouting and running energetically along the riverbank.

"Old He, this...this, this..."

One of the teachers turned to look at He Jiawen, his lips trembling as he stammered "this" for a long time, but couldn't come up with a coherent answer.

These days are different from later generations.

In later zoos, tigers and lions, after spending a long time with humans, will exhibit some clingy and affectionate behaviors.

But right now...

You're overthinking it.

Even zoos still primarily focus on animal training.

In many cases, they even have to perform and make appearances on their own to earn their own food expenses.

The relationship between humans and these kinds of wild beasts has always been tense.

Therefore, when outsiders see Chen Ling's family for the first time, they will naturally feel surprised.

"Come on, come on, come on, hurry up, Lao He, let's go closer and take a look over there. This young man seems to have some special skills. He has so many pets, and they are all so obedient."

"What pets? Most of them are raised for meat. He likes fried quail, so he raised wild quail and bred a bunch of them. He likes local yellow beef, so he raised a few cows. And... have you forgotten the story I told you about this kid leading people to catch geese at night?"

"Huh? He's been raised for so long and he's been so obedient, how could he bear to kill him?"

He Jiawen was taken aback by the question at first, then wanted to say something, but felt that he couldn't describe it, so he could only shake his head: "...Tsk, you don't understand, it's hard to explain to you in a few words. Anyway, the food they eat is different from the animals that are actually raised for companionship. You'll understand after living in the village for a while."

What he actually meant was that Chen Lingyang treated them as family members, and they were all very intelligent and understanding.

But I still feel that these two words are not enough to describe it.

In short, they are different from animals raised for meat, and very different.

The colleagues felt they were being treated perfunctorily.

But he was anxious to go to the old river bend to check on Chen Ling and the tiger, so he didn't bother to ask any more questions.

However, following the dam downwards and westwards, along the edge of the village all the way to the southwest corner of the village entrance outside Er Mao Donkey's house.

They felt they didn't have enough eyes to see everything.

Looking north, beyond vast wheat fields and two steep slopes, the distant hillsides were dotted with yellow flowers, like a carpet of golden sand.

They are all seasoned experts who have studied plants and animals for many years. Even though they don't often come to the countryside, they know all kinds of plants and animals there like the back of their hand.

You don't need to get close to know that the yellow flowers are wild chrysanthemums.

"Given their climate, how come there are still wild chrysanthemums growing so vigorously?"

"You don't know this, if you come early you can see bellflowers. When you go into the mountains, many hillsides are covered in a beautiful blue, which is much prettier than these chrysanthemums."

"Oh, right, we also heard a story about bellflower and ginseng, told by Brother Chen's father-in-law. It was quite interesting."

He Jiawen began to tell the story with a smile.

The other teachers listened while glancing around.

This is an ordinary mountain village, but it is full of vitality.

When you come from the dam on the east side, you can see ponds scattered in the fields, but on the west side, there are no ponds along the fields, but you can see stunning mountain scenery in the distance.

The colors of the mountains and forests are layered, from the golden yellow at the foot of the mountain, to the fiery red on the mountainside, to the half-yellow and half-green above the mountainside, and finally to the emerald green at the top of the mountain...

The colors are distinct yet perfectly harmonious.

The mountain is often windy, which makes it even more beautiful.

The fallen leaves drifted down, scattering and slanting from the branches.

The scene was simply picturesque.

Almost no matter which direction you look, you can see a different and beautiful view.

It makes one admire it.

He Jiawen saw that his colleagues were stunned.

He wasn't even from this village, but for some reason, he suddenly felt a little proud.

With a smile, she said, "It's a pity you didn't come in the autumn. It's even more beautiful then. According to the locals, the colors of the autumn leaves are different in the morning, noon and evening. The mountain scenery changes three times a day, and sometimes even more than three times."

Back then, when the autumn wind blew, unlike now, large clumps of leaves would fall. At that time, the leaves swayed and the colors of the entire mountain became a river of natural pigments.

Flowing with the wind, so vibrant and colorful!

As he finished speaking, he clicked his tongue again and said, "Never mind, you haven't been here before. You can't understand how beautiful it is just by talking about it."

This statement immediately provoked outrage among his colleagues, who felt he was deliberately showing off.

Just what to say.

I heard a commotion behind me.

"So what if you're the Party Secretary? What's so great about being the Party Secretary?"
You don't care about things you should be concerned with, and you meddle in things you shouldn't be concerned with. Tell me, what did my tree do to you?

The boss ordered me to cut? The boss is a load of rubbish.

You're not even as good as the dogs fed by rich people!

It was a man from a family at the village entrance who was pointing at Wang Laishun's nose and cursing.

Wang Laishun, his face dark, retorted a few times, and the man raised his fist to strike.

People from the Wang family went up to stop them.

The man turned around and started touching the bricks.

The teachers were completely bewildered: "What's going on? Are the villagers fighting with their village secretary?"

He Jiawen also frowned.

Just then, several barks came from the distant slope, and a black dog with white fur on its chest led a pack of large, wolf-like dogs charging towards them.

It ran while barking loudly.

When their pack of dogs came out...

There's also some activity coming from Laohewan.

First, two more robust and imposing dogs rushed out of the river, jumped onto a large rock near the riverbank, and looked around to assess the situation.

Next came a blue horse and two tigers.

Two tigers are a bit safer.

That blue horse was a good one; after rushing out of the river, it galloped towards this place without stopping.

The more its male owner shouted from behind, the faster it ran.

This scene left all the teachers speechless: 'What... what's going on in this village?!' (End of Chapter)