My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 90 Castrated Sheep
"Come on, if you ask me, you're just lazy."

"Other markets bring their vegetables in big trucks. How can you compare to them making two trips? How much have you sold?"

"I'm not trying to be mean, but during the few days I was on duty recently, I saw quite a few people loitering around here, asking when your vegetable stall opens, and some even asking if you're ever coming at all."

"Think about it, aren't these all business opportunities delivered to your door? If you were more diligent and made more deliveries, wouldn't you earn more money than you are now?"

In fact, Liang Jinke's words make sense.

What he didn't know was that Chen Ling didn't care about this small amount of money.

The initial intention of opening this store was not for money.

However, this was not easy to explain, so Chen Ling could only say that the quality of the vegetables he sold was relatively high, but the yield was very low, and he couldn't wholesale more even if he wanted to.

"Is that so? But speaking of which, the vegetables you're selling are really quite good..."

"The green beans you gave me last time, I cooked two meals with them after taking them home, and the kids and adults alike fought over them. I thought we hadn't eaten green beans at home for more than half a year, and I thought they were a novelty. It turns out that the vegetables you sell are good."

"No wonder you have so many repeat customers!"

Liang Jinke laughed as he said this.

Chen Ling smiled and pulled the small stool he had brought over to him so he could sit down.

"I can't sit here anymore, I have to go and switch shifts with someone else."

"Well, I just saw that you weren't doing your job properly, and you've started acting like a teacher again. I've been holding back for the past few days, wanting to give you a good scolding."

"I just happened to see your gate was open today, so I couldn't resist coming over."

Liang Jinke waved his hand, then pushed the cart and walked out the door.

Chen Ling saw him out and wanted to give him some more peanuts, but the old man refused to accept them no matter what.

"Alright, it's getting late, you should go home now. If there's any commotion here, I'll keep an eye on things for you while I'm on duty."

After seeing Liang Jinke off, Chen Ling didn't deliver any more peanuts to the oil mill. He simply tidied up the yard, locked the door, and drove the oxcart home.

On his way home, he encountered many people from the same village returning from the market. However, Chen Ling had nothing in his car except a basket of zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), so everyone assumed he had also gone to the market. They simply greeted him and exchanged a few words with him.

However, the children who had gone to the market with him were very happy to see him. They had already become familiar with Chen Ling, and despite their families' objections, they skipped and jumped over, climbed onto the oxcart, and laughed and joked all the way home.

Once home, after giving Wang Susu the money from selling the medicinal herbs, Chen Ling took the zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) and lifted the cloth covering the basket.

"Susu, look, these are zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) given to me by two friends in the county. I'll go steam them now, and we'll taste them later."

"Huh? Why did you give so much? I was thinking of making some for us in a couple of days."

Wang Susu was quite surprised to see the basket overflowing with zongzi (sticky rice dumplings).

"I also think it's too much, but since they insisted on giving it to me, it wouldn't be right for me to refuse."

Chen Ling smiled and said, "Let's eat first. Let's eat more these few days, and then we'll make more for the Dragon Boat Festival."

"Well, I'll steam them myself. You can put the rest in the well."

As Wang Susu spoke, she picked out seven or eight zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) and said to Chen Ling.

It's getting hotter and hotter now, so we can't leave the zongzi outside, and we can't leave them inside either, otherwise they'll go bad overnight.

There was no other way but to put it in the well.

In rural areas, there are not many ways to preserve food. When the temperature is low, it's fine, but when the temperature is high and there is no refrigerator, the only option is to put easily perishable food in baskets or buckets, tie ropes to them, and lower them into the well. This can also play a good role in refrigeration and preservation.

The lamb chops and mutton that Wang Jusheng's family brought a few days ago were preserved in this way. Because they gave so much, it took the young couple two or three days to finish it, even with their current appetite.

Soon, the zongzi were ready.

This zongzi was made by Liang Hongyu according to the style of zongzi from the capital. It's a large, four-cornered zongzi from the north, and it's a sweet zongzi with peanuts and red dates inside.

However, the taste was not bad. Chen Ling ate four in one go to satisfy his craving, but he was still not full, so he made two more bowls of noodles and simply stir-fried two eggs with wild garlic. Only then was he barely full.

The next day was the 25th day of the fourth lunar month, and there were only ten days left until the Dragon Boat Festival.

Chen Ling's family ate zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) early, but other families in the village were still busy with farm work.

A southerly wind rises at night, and the wheat fields turn golden. With the arrival of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, it's wheat harvest time once again.

Compared to the north, it's about a month earlier.

This is the busiest time of the year.

Even if we don't plant wheat, but plant other crops, it will be harvest time soon.

For example, rapeseed, and watermelon.

The rapeseed is doing relatively well, but the watermelons are almost ripe, and the watermelon fields need constant human intervention.

Wang Lixian stopped going to work at Erzhu's place a few days ago. He built a straw shed in the melon field early in the morning and took his dog to guard it at night.

It serves to prevent people from stealing, and also to prevent other things from sneaking into the fields at night to eat.

However, early this morning, Wang Lixian came to our door and asked Chen Ling to come over and help with a small matter.

Chen Ling asked and learned that they wanted to castrate sheep.

Wang Lixian had a bad back, and the ram was hot-tempered and strong, so he couldn't hold it down at all, and had no choice but to come to Chen Ling.

Chen Ling happened to have gone to the county town yesterday, so he was free again and had nothing to do at home. Without saying a word, he went with her.

"Brother Xian, if you don't want to keep the sheep for breeding, why didn't you castrate them when they were young?"

“I had thought about castrating them before, but this sheep was brought back from my parents’ home before the Lunar New Year by your sister-in-law. It was December then, and it was cold and there wasn’t much to feed them. I was afraid they wouldn’t survive if they were castrated, so I didn’t do it. After spring came, I was either busy planting melons or working at Erzhu’s place, so I forgot about it.”

“These days the rams have started to want to mate, they’re getting restless every day, making things unsettling for everyone. That’s when I remembered that the rams haven’t been castrated yet.”

Wang Lixian sighed and said.

That's how rams are. If you don't want to keep them for breeding, you have to castrate them when they're four or five months old. Otherwise, once they're fully developed, they'll only think about mating with ewes all day long. If they can't, they'll keep jumping out of the pen and trying to mate with other ewes in the village.

If you just ignore it and let it run its course, you won't gain weight.

Castrate the sheep directly, cut off its root, and it will stop thinking about that matter.

After being castrated, the rams are free from worldly desires and attachments, eating and sleeping, and gaining weight quickly.

Moreover, the gamey smell of the meat won't be as strong.

……

Wang Lixian's home is also a traditional old-fashioned earthen courtyard in a mountain village, with yellow mud walls, black tile roofs, low courtyard walls, and a small gatehouse at the entrance.

It's also a long, narrow courtyard, but it's divided into north and south sections.

Wang Lixian's family lived to the north, while Wang Lixian's mother lived to the south. Chickens, ducks, dogs, and sheep were also kept in the south yard.

As Chen Ling entered the courtyard, he saw a very large old jujube tree in the center of the courtyard, and a tall locust tree in the south, covered with white locust flowers, whose refreshing fragrance could be smelled from afar.

Just a couple of gentle sniffs and your mouth and nose are filled with the fragrance of flowers.

At this moment, Liu Yuzhi and Dani'er were having breakfast at the table in the yard.

Liu Ni'er, on the other hand, was sitting on a thick branch of the old jujube tree, holding a piece of pickled vegetable, taking big bites of steamed bun, and swinging her legs restlessly as she ate.

His eyes lit up when he saw Chen Ling come in. He mumbled "Uncle Fugui" and then, with the steamed bun in his mouth, jumped down from the tree.

"You're not eating properly, hurry up and finish your food so you can go to school."

Wang Lixian walked over and kicked Liu Nier in the butt.

"No, I want to see the castrated sheep before I go!"

Liu Ni patted her bottom and shouted, sticking out her neck.

This kid's used to getting beaten up; he's really tough.

However, seeing that Wang Lixian was about to glare at him again, he was still a little scared, so he quickly hid behind Chen Ling, poked his head out and shouted, "Don't worry, Da, I'll run there later, I definitely won't be late."

(End of this chapter)