sbdcsierra Chapter 45
Chapter 45
When the bus arrived at Baiyang Town, he got off and walked along the dirt road towards the village with a cloth bag on his back.
From the town to Lutang Village, the cornfields on both sides of the road have been turned into a golden expanse.
Some of the earlier ones have already started to be picked, and the dry corn stalks are making a loud noise in the wind.
After walking about halfway, Chen Zheng stopped in his tracks when he passed a wild forest.
It was a grove of mixed trees, growing on a dirt slope by the roadside.
There were a few crooked oak trees in the woods, as well as some wild brambles and low shrubs.
This forest is usually inconspicuous, but today Chen Zheng noticed something.
On the trunk of an old oak tree, there were several clumps of grayish-brown things growing.
He put down the cloth bag, walked over, squatted down, and examined it closely.
It's a wild tree tongue, not very big, but in perfect condition.
The cap has concentric rings of veins, with the edges slightly curled up.
Tree tongue is a plant that is sold in Chinese medicine shops. Its effects include strengthening the stomach and aiding digestion, as well as calming the mind and stabilizing the spirit.
The last time I got medicine for his mother, the old man at the pharmacy mentioned it.
They say wild ones have better medicinal effects than cultivated ones, but it's rare to find one that looks good.
Chen Zheng didn't rush to pick them.
He remembered that Teacher Zhao had mentioned that collecting herbs, like fishing, also had its own set of rules.
If some herbs are not processed after being picked, their medicinal effects will quickly dissipate.
If you pick the wrong herbs and mix them with weeds, it can actually make things worse.
He carefully examined the growth of the tree tongue and noted its location and characteristics in his notebook.
I plan to ask the old man at the pharmacy next time I go to the county, and come back to collect the herbs after confirming.
It was already past four o'clock in the afternoon when we got back to the village entrance.
Wang Laoliu did not rest in the shade under the tree.
He hasn't squatted at the village entrance since the land management office came.
A few old men were sitting on the stone benches as usual when they saw Chen Zheng return.
An old man took the pipe out of his mouth and greeted him, saying that Zhengwazi was back.
I heard that he got some kind of certificate in the county.
Chen Zheng responded and hurried home.
The gate to the courtyard was open.
Chen Rong squatted by the water vat, holding the eel trap that Chen Feng had dismantled and rewoven.
I'm demonstrating to him how to braid the barbs at the funnel opening.
Chen Feng lay beside him, chin resting on his arm, watching intently.
The black cat crouched on the edge of the water tank, its tail drooping down and swishing back and forth.
"elder brother!"
Chen Feng saw him first, scrambled to his feet, ran over, and held the newly woven eel trap in front of him.
"Look, look, I've re-woven it! The funnel opening is half the size, and I've added five barbs!"
Rong-ge said this time it's about time!
Chen Zheng took the eel basket and examined it from all angles; it was indeed much better than the last one.
Although the gaps between the bamboo strips are not yet uniform, the size of the funnel opening is correct, and the barbs are woven quite sharply.
He returned the eel trap to Chen Feng: "You've made great progress. You can take it with you and try setting it up."
Chen Feng beamed with joy, grabbed the eel cage, and ran back to the yard, placing it alongside the ones Chen Laosan had woven.
Looking at them from left to right, it's as if they're comparing which ones are the most beautiful.
Chen Rong stood up and wiped the bamboo shavings off his hands on his pants.
He looked at Chen Zheng, a slight smile playing on his lips: "You're back."
Just three words, but his eyes were full of meaning.
"You're back. How's the fishpond been these past few days?"
"Feed twice a day, morning and evening, water color is normal, no fish died."
Two days ago, a batch of fish fry were surfacing for air. I opened the water inlet for half a day and added fresh water, and they were fine by the afternoon.
Chen Zheng mentally reviewed the message Chen Rong had given him.
The fish fry surfacing indicates that the dissolved oxygen level in the water has temporarily decreased.
It's possible that the recent warmer weather and rising water temperature have accelerated the fermentation of manure at the bottom of the water, consuming oxygen.
Changing the water is the right thing to do.
Zhou Haiming once said in a training course that changing the water is the most direct and effective way to increase oxygen levels, and it works better than any medicine.
"Rongzi, you did the right thing."
When the water temperature rises, the dissolved oxygen level decreases. In the future, if this happens, simply turn on the inlet and flush the water until the fish stop surfacing.
Chen Rong nodded and made a mental note of this knowledge point.
Zhang Cuihua poked her head out of the kitchen, and a smile immediately bloomed on her face.
They said they'd be making dumplings tonight; they've worked hard, so they deserve a good meal.
Chen Zheng responded and put down the cloth bag to help Zhang Cuihua peel garlic.
Over the next few days, Chen Zheng devoted all his attention to the fishpond.
In a few days, it will be the beginning of autumn.
After the start of autumn, the autumn chill deepens, and the water temperature drops day by day.
According to the training course, fish will have a slower metabolism and eat less when the water temperature drops.
The amount of feed should be reduced accordingly.
How much to lose, when to lose it, and to what extent—these are all tasks that require both breadth and detail.
He first measured the depth of the fishpond again.
Using the thin bamboo pole that Chen Rong had polished countless times, he inserted it into different locations to measure the distribution of water depth.
The silt in the deep water area is about two inches thicker than when it was first dug.
The water level has dropped by about three inches overall, with the deepest parts still a little over two meters deep, barely meeting the minimum requirements for winter.
He drew a map of the fishpond's water depth in his notebook, marking the areas that needed water replenishment.
With the arrival of the Autumnal Equinox, the temperature difference between day and night widens.
A thin mist rose on the pond early in the morning, which was not dissipated by the sun until eight or nine o'clock in the morning.
While the weather was still relatively warm, Chen Zheng inspected the pond embankment again.
The rammed earth embankment, which is two meters wide and one and a half meters high, has stabilized over this period of time without any settlement or leakage.
However, in a small section near the water outlet, the turf was not growing well, and some of the soil was exposed.
He used a hoe to compact that section again, and then moved some turf from elsewhere to lay on top.
"Brother, will the transplanted turf survive?" Chen Rong asked, following behind, carrying a hoe.
"It will survive. Grass, as long as the roots aren't damaged, will thrive wherever you transplant it. It's easier to raise than fish."
This conversation was overheard by Baldy Liu, who was passing by.
He was carrying a basin of washed fish back from the lake when he happened to pass by the pond embankment.
Hearing Chen Zheng talking to Chen Rong, he couldn't help but stop and say, "Zhengwa, what you say is true."
Raising fish can be difficult, but it can also be easy. Once you've got the water quality right, the rest is just a matter of worrying about it.
Chen Zheng straightened up and greeted Liu the Bald.
He noticed the fish in Liu the Bald's basin, a few palm-sized crucian carp, of mediocre quality, with somewhat dry scales.
Baldy Liu said the fish was caught in East Bay.
The lake water temperature has been fluctuating a lot these past few days, so the fish we catch aren't very fresh, and there's still mud on their gills.
They asked Chen Zheng what to do.
Chen Zheng squatted down, picked up a fish and looked at it. He pried open the gill cover and saw that the gill filaments were dark and had some slightly black spots.
"Uncle Liu, this is because the humus in the silt has been absorbed into the gills."
Put the fish in a clean water tank for two days to let it purge itself before selling it.
Baldy Liu nodded, holding the basin, and suddenly said:
"Zhengwa, my aunt mentioned Jiawang's matter to him, and that kid was so excited he couldn't sleep all night!"
Sister Deng told Jiawang about the training course, so it seems Jiawang already knows about the auditing students.
After Liu the Bald left, Chen Zheng smiled and continued laying the turf.
After the embankment was repaired, he walked to the water inlet, squatted down, and checked the water quality.
According to Zhou Haiming's method of measuring transparency.
He had Chen Rong whittle a thin bamboo pole, tie a palm-sized piece of white wood to its end, and slowly sink it into the water.
As the bamboo pole descended section by section, the outline of the white wooden plank became increasingly blurred in the water.
When the white wooden board was completely obscured, he measured the depth of the bamboo pole in the water.
Thirty-five centimeters.
"Just right." Chen Zheng pulled out the bamboo pole and wrote down the data in his notebook.
"A transparency level between 30 and 40 is ideal. Our pond is currently at 35."
Chen Rong, watching from the side, asked, "Brother, does the transparency change in winter?"
That's a good question.
Chen Zheng leaned the bamboo pole against the bank of the pond, turned around and looked at Chen Rong: "The transparency usually increases in winter."
Because the water temperature is low, algae reproduce slowly, there are fewer plankton in the water, and the water becomes clearer.
But water that's too clear isn't good either, because it means the water is too barren and the fish have nothing to eat.
Therefore, fertilization should not be completely stopped in winter. A small amount should be added as needed to maintain a certain level of fertilization in the water.
Chen Rong nodded thoughtfully, picked up the bamboo pole, and tested it again himself.
As evening fell, Zhang Jianguo arrived carrying a shovel.
He had just returned from the fields.
He said he was helping to repair the drainage ditch in his family's vegetable garden, and he worked all afternoon, his face and head covered in sweat.
"Ah Zheng, my dad said the autumn flood season might be late this year. It's been raining for several days in a row upstream of Baiyang Lake, and the water level has risen."
The drainage outlet of your new pond is not located on high ground.
If there's continuous heavy rain, we need to open the sluice gates halfway in advance to let the water escape and prevent it from overflowing the dikes.
Chen Zheng felt a pang of anxiety and went with Zhang Jianguo to check the water outlet.
Although the gate of the cement pipe is sturdy, the gap between the gate and the pipe opening is partially blocked by silt and aquatic plants.
The slide is stiff and difficult to pull.
The two men squatted at the water outlet for a while, scraping the silt out of the chute with shovels.
They rinsed it with water several more times until the sluice gate opened and closed smoothly before stopping.
"Starting tomorrow, the sluice gates will be opened halfway. That way, even if it rains heavily at night, the water can be drained in time."
Chen Zheng shone a flashlight on the water flow at the outlet. "Although the autumn flood comes late, it can come suddenly, so we can't be careless."
As the two were talking, Liu Jiawang came over with his notebook.
He was wearing a clean blue shirt today, his hair had been cut, and the adhesive bandage on his glasses had been changed.
His overall demeanor was completely different from before.
He handed Chen Zheng a brown paper envelope: "Zheng, this is a letter of introduction written for me by my aunt."
The document contained her address and phone number, and told me to go to the county's No. 1 Middle School next Monday for a trial period as an auditor.
I've thought about it a lot and would like to ask you to take a look at this letter and see if there's anything inappropriate.
Chen Zheng took the letter and unfolded it. He saw that Sister Deng's handwriting was the same as the last note, forceful and messy.
But the important thing is the sentiment behind it.
The letter stated that Liu Jiawang was of good character, eager to learn and make progress, and recommended that he audit classes at the county's No. 1 Middle School.
She was responsible for the students' food and lodging during the auditing period, and the school was asked to investigate.
After reading it, Chen Zheng carefully folded the letter and returned it to Liu Jiawang: "It's very well written. I'll take it to you on Monday."
Liu Jiawang rubbed his hands together, his eyes darting back and forth behind his glasses, looking somewhat uneasy.
But more than anything, it was an overwhelming sense of excitement.
The next day, after breakfast, Chen Zheng called Chen Rong and they loaded the two baskets of feed that had been prepared in the yard onto the cart.
After feeding the fish in the pond, he walked around the pond embankment again.
The condition of the inlet screen was checked, and the aquatic plants and fallen leaves tangled in the mesh were cleaned.
Several wild goji berry bushes by the pond are already laden with bright red berries.
They looked like clusters of tiny flames in the autumn sunlight.
He casually picked a handful and put them in his pocket, intending to make tea when he got back.
The wind over Baiyang Lake gradually changed direction, from a southerly wind to a northwesterly wind, which felt cool.
The reeds in the marshland were all white, looking like snow from a distance.
Wild ducks flew up from the reeds and flew south in a line.
The swallows have also decreased; only a few remain perched on the branches of the old locust tree at the village entrance, calling out from time to time.
Chen Zheng knew that autumn was coming soon.
Before it got too cold, he decided to go into the mountains.
He had been thinking about going into the mountains for quite some time.
The training course is over, the exchange meeting is over, and the fishpond has stabilized.
He had to make a trip before the mountain was officially closed.
He's had this idea for a long time.
Lin Xiaoyun's father once said that wild Codonopsis pilosula from the deep mountains has much better medicinal effects and is much more expensive than artificially cultivated Codonopsis pilosula.
Last time I got medicine at the county pharmacy, the old shopkeeper specifically mentioned it.
It is said that a single wild ginseng root can sell for several yuan, and a good quality one can sell for over ten yuan.
If we can find wild ginseng in the mountains, it won't just be effective for his mother.
Those of average appearance can be sold to the county pharmacy, earning an extra income.
A deeper reason is that the mountains in 1984 were different from those decades later.
There are still wild animals, old forests, and untouched herb groves in the mountains.
In a few years, the policy of closing mountains for afforestation will be tightened, and many places will no longer be open to visitors.
Later on, wild medicinal herbs were all dug up, and mountain products became worthless.
While the mountain gate is still open, he needs to go in first and survey the terrain.
On the evening before departure, Chen Zheng was in the yard preparing the things he would need for the mountain trip.
A wood-chopping knife, a roll of hemp rope, several cloth bags, a pot of cold tea, and flatbread wrapped in several layers of oil paper.
He knew very well that going deep into the mountains was different from cutting reeds by Baiyang Lake.
The temperature difference in the mountains is greater than that on the lake, and wild animals, cliffs, and dark ravines are all deadly.
He answered Chen Rong's questions while tidying up.
"The most important thing is what to do when you encounter wild animals."
It's getting cold, and everything in the mountains is busy fattening up; they're quite fierce.
If you're face-to-face with it, the first thing you can't do is run, because if you run, it will chase you.
Secondly, you can't squat down; if you squat, it will think you're going to pounce.
You need to stand up straight, open your clothes, and make yourself look bigger than it.
Chen Rong squatted down beside him, helping to wrap thin hemp rope around the wooden handle of the wood-chopping knife to prevent slipping. He looked up and asked:
"What if it's a wild boar?"
"The same goes for wild boars. But don't provoke them unless you're absolutely sure you can handle it."
Wild boars have thick skin and tough flesh; even a machete can't cut through them.
If it charges at you, you have to dodge to the side. It has a lot of momentum and can't turn around. If you move aside, it will pass you by.
If you really want to fight it head-on, use a machete to cut its nose and the base of its ears, but don't cut its back.
The wild boar's back was covered in a mixture of pine resin and mud, like armor.
Chen Feng, who was playing with the eel trap nearby, heard the noise and rushed over, pestering his brother to go into the mountains together.
Chen Zheng's words, "It's not safe in the deep mountains and forests. You stay home and help Rong Ge take care of the fishpond," shut him down.
She could only squat to the side, pouting.
Chen Zheng got up before the fog had lifted in the early morning.
He put on that thick blue cotton-padded jacket, with the cuffs tied tightly with thin hemp rope.
The trouser legs were also wrapped twice with leggings to prevent snakes and insects from crawling into them.
On his feet were those liberation shoes, with deep grooves burned into the soles with hot irons to increase slip resistance.
The machete was tucked behind his waist, the hemp rope was slung over his shoulder, and the cloth bag was folded and tucked into his bosom.
Once outside, walk west along the dirt road.
The morning mist shrouded the surface of Baiyang Lake, creating a vast expanse of white, with only a blurry silhouette visible in the distance as the reeds lay in the distance.
He walked about three miles west, leaving the lakeside and beginning his journey into the foothills.
He had been to this area of low hills before, and had cut bamboo poles with Zhang Jianguo and Chen Rong.
The mountain is covered with Masson pine and fir trees, which are not very dense, and the understory shrubs are not very deep.
But he doesn't plan to stop in the foothills now.
The foothills had long been thoroughly searched by herb gatherers.
To find something good, you'll have to go at least two more hours deeper into the mountains.
The mountain road was much colder than the lakeside.
The further you go in, the taller and denser the trees become, and the pine and fir trees are gradually replaced by oak, Chinese oak and wild walnut trees.
The light under the trees suddenly dimmed.
The shrubs were waist-high, and the ground was covered with decaying leaves, making it soft and spongy underfoot.
Every step you take leaves a hole, making it more difficult to walk than on flat ground.
A mountain partridge called from afar, its call echoing across a mountain ridge.
Occasionally, you can see marks on the tree trunks where some animal has rubbed against them, with the bark peeling off to reveal the stark white wood stubble.
After walking for most of the hour, he stopped on a sunny hillside.
A south-facing slope with ample sunlight, thick soil, and loose soil texture is the ideal environment for Codonopsis pilosula to grow.
He squatted down, used a machete to part the grass, and carefully searched for the ginseng vines.
Lin Xiaoyun's father had described the characteristics of wild ginseng to her.
The vines are slender and climb on shrubs. The leaves are opposite and the flowers are small and yellowish-green. The roots penetrate deep into the soil.
After searching for half an hour, I didn't find any Codonopsis pilosula, but I did find a few clumps of wild Adenophora stricta.
Adenophora stricta belongs to the same family but a different genus as Codonopsis pilosula. Its rhizome is thinner than that of Codonopsis pilosula, and its medicinal effects are somewhat weaker, but it can still be used.
Last time at the pharmacy,
The old shopkeeper once said that although sand ginseng is not as valuable as codonopsis, once cleaned, dried, and used to make soup to cleanse the lungs, it is much better than artificially cultivated sand ginseng.
He loosened the soil around the sand ginseng.
Using my fingers, I slowly dug down along the direction of the rootstock, and it took more than an hour to dig out three complete rootstocks.
There were many stones in the soil, and I encountered them several times while digging.
They had to try digging from a different direction, their fingers digging into the stone, their fingernails full of mud.
The rhizomes of the three sand ginseng plants were all quite long, with the longest one being as thick as a little finger.
He carefully wrapped it in damp leaves and put it into the cloth bag he carried with him.
We continued deeper into the mountains.
After crossing a mountain ridge, the forest became even denser, and the sky was almost completely obscured overhead.
The air was thick with the scent of pine needles, mixed with the sweet aroma of decaying dead leaves.
When you step on the decaying leaves, you sometimes sink half a foot deep, and when you pull them out, you bring up a clump of black soil.
After walking for about half an hour, he found something good under a shady stone wall.
A large area of wild Polygonum multiflorum.
The vines of Polygonum multiflorum hang down from the stone wall; the leaves are turning yellow, but the vines are still very resilient.
This indicates that the underground tubers are quite large.
He tucked the machete back into his waistband, squatted down, and began digging.
The tuberous roots of Polygonum multiflorum penetrate deeper into the soil than those of Adenophora stricta, with the thickest main root reaching over a foot in length.
He whittled a sharp wooden stick with a machete and loosened the soil around the tuber, circle by circle.
It took almost an hour to dig out the three largest pieces.
The largest is the size of an adult male's fist, with a dark brown outer skin and a pale yellow cross-section; it feels very solid in the hand.
He didn't dig up all the He Shou Wu plants at once; he left a few small ones, covered their roots with soil, and made a mark that only he could recognize.
He understood the rules of the deep mountains.
Good things should not be completely eradicated; they should be enjoyed gradually and continuously.
Around noon, he stopped to rest under an old pine tree.
He took out a flatbread, ate a few bites, and then gulped down some cold tea while chewing on the dry food.
The sound of the pine trees swept overhead, wave after wave.
He squinted at the distant, continuous mountain ridgeline.
Suddenly, I noticed a clump of brown things growing in the pile of dead branches at the base of the pine tree.
It is a wild matsutake mushroom, also known as matsutake fungus.
Grandpa Guo specifically mentioned it when he talked about mountain products at the last trade fair.
It is said that pine mushrooms grow in piles of dead branches near the roots of pine trees, and have thick, fleshy flesh that makes for a very delicious soup.
After drying, they can sell for more than ten yuan per kilogram, and those with good quality are even more expensive.
He stuffed the remaining flatbreads back into the cloth bag and squatted down.
Gently part the dead branches with a machete and pick the pine mushrooms one by one.
He hadn't brought a bamboo basket specifically for holding mushrooms, so he thought for a moment, took off his coat and spread it on the ground, then arranged the pine mushrooms on his clothes.
Then tie it into a small bundle using thin vines.
The movements were very gentle, for fear of damaging the appearance of the mushroom cap.
I picked about twenty flowers in one afternoon, all of uniform size.
It's about time to head back.
Darkness comes early in the deep mountains; the sun begins to set after 3 p.m., and it gets dark even faster in the forest.
He summarized his gains for the day.
Three ginseng roots, three pieces of fleeceflower root, and about twenty pine mushrooms.
Although we didn't find any wild ginseng, the harvest has already exceeded our expectations.
Just as he finished tying up the last bag and was about to descend the mountain, a low snoring sound suddenly came from the forest.
He stopped abruptly, gripping the wooden handle of the wood-chopping knife tightly.
The sound was coming from the bottom of the slope, less than thirty meters away from him.
He slowly crouched down, held his breath, and peered down through the gaps in the bushes.
A wild boar emerged from the ground, its dark brown bristles standing on end, its shoulder blades high, and its snout covered in mud.
It is using its crescent-shaped tusks to dig up the tubers underground and eat them.
Chen Zheng slowly squatted down.
Wild boars have poor eyesight, but their sense of smell and hearing are extremely keen, so he has to stay downwind.
His hand holding the machete was very steady, but his joints were a little cold.
I remember hearing from a fellow worker from Northeast China on a construction site in my past life that wild boars, when they get angry, are more troublesome than bears.
A bear can't catch a person fast, but a wild boar can outrun a person when it charges.
You can't run away, or it will chase you; its fangs can break small trees.
The wild boar rooted around for a while, then suddenly stopped snoring.
It raised its head, its nose twitching twice in the wind, pointing directly at where Chen Zheng was hiding.
Chen Zheng held his breath and remained completely still.
A few seconds later, the wild boar lowered its head again and continued to root around the grass.
After a long while, they slowly walked into the woods.
Only after the wild boar had completely disappeared into the depths of the dense forest did Chen Zheng slowly stand up and loosen his grip on the machete.
He looked at the sky; the clouds behind the distant mountains had already turned orange-red, and darkness was falling quickly in the mountains.
He didn't dare to dawdle and quickly walked out of the mountain following the marks he had left behind.
The light in the mountains gradually dimmed, and the birdsong became sparse, turning into the deep rumble of the pine trees.
There is another kind of silence that sends chills down your spine.
A thin layer of moisture gradually condensed on the machete.
He finally emerged from the mountain before nightfall.
Back on the village road, I could see a group of people gathered under the old locust tree at the village entrance.
The atmosphere was off, unlike their usual relaxed demeanor while enjoying the cool air.
Chen Laosan was also in the crowd, a pipe dangling from his mouth, with Zhang Jianguo's father, Zhang Laohan, standing next to him.
Old Zhang was holding an empty sack. His expression wasn't exactly angry, but it was certainly not pleasant.
"What's going on?" Chen Zheng strode into the crowd and took the machete off his waist.
Zhang Laohan said that last night someone threw half a soybean cake mixed with pesticide into Zhang Jianguo's pigsty.
When I woke up this morning, I found that a spotted sow was unable to stand up and was foaming at the mouth. She died in her pen before noon.
These conversations made Chen Zheng's heart sink.
Zhang Jianguo's two pigs are known as the strongest pigs in Lutang Village, one black and one spotted.
At the beginning of the year, I also helped several families raise their sows and piglets.
Especially that spotted sow, which Zhang Laohan raised for almost two years after it was weaned.
They were fed only vegetable leaves, rice bran, and soybean cake residue brought back from the oil mill; they were very clean and never got sick.
Soybean cakes mixed with pesticides.
This is poisoning.
"Who did this?" Chen Zheng squatted down, opened the sack, and looked inside.
Old Zhang wrapped the remaining half of the soybean cake in oil paper and put it in a burlap sack.
It smells like pesticide, very strong, the kind used in cornfields.
This stuff is sold at the supply and marketing cooperative; almost every household in the village that grows corn has it, but you can't trace its source.
Zhang Laohan is a well-known upright man in Lutang Village.
From driving carts in the production team to contracting land and raising pigs to individual households, he never argued with anyone.
Who would retaliate against his family?
Chen Zheng stood up, returned the sack to Zhang Laohan, and glanced at the back of the crowd.
A pair of dusty gray cloth shoes shrank back under the courtyard wall behind the old locust tree.
He recognized the cloth shoes.
The uppers were made of old canvas, and the soles were made of tire treads nailed together, making a clattering sound when you walked.
These are the shoes of Wang Laoliu's wife.
"Dad, where's Jianguo?" Chen Zheng asked.
Old Chen tapped his pipe against the tree root.
"She's sulking at home. Your Aunt Zhang is heartbroken and insists on going to the brigade cadres to demand an explanation."
I said that the brigade cadres are now called the village committee, and they don't handle pigsty matters anymore.
She wanted to call the police, but could the police station handle a dead pig?
Chen Zheng told Chen Rong to go home and put down the mountain goods, then turned and walked towards Zhang Jian's house.
His pigsty was made of red bricks and was usually kept clean.
We shovel pig manure every day and pile it up in the manure pit behind the yard.
The cesspool is still steaming today, but the pen is half empty.
The black sow huddled in the corner, making low grunts, her eyes filled with fear.
The sow lay on the ground, her body stiff, with traces of dried white foam around her mouth.
Zhang Jianguo squatted at the entrance of the pigsty, his chin resting on his knees.
Hearing footsteps, she looked up, her eyes red.
"Ah Zheng, can you smell it?"
Chen Zheng squatted down and smelled the crumbs of the half-eaten bean cake.
It has a pungent, strong pesticide smell that irritates the throat if you get too close.
This pesticide can be easily bought at the supply and marketing cooperative. One capful is mixed with a bucket of water and sprayed on cornfields to kill insects.
Everyone has one or two bottles in their fields.
"The smell is so strong, it wasn't added secretly."
Chen Zheng stood up, put the bean cake crumbs back, and patted the crumbs off his hands.
"He's telling you openly; he wants you to know."
Zhang Jianguo's face turned pale.
He stood up, grabbed a shovel from the corner of the wall, and was about to rush out when Chen Zheng grabbed his arm.
"If you rush out now, who will you find? Whoever you find will ask you, 'Did you see me do it?'"
Your sow is dead; it's worth a few dozen yuan.
If you cripple him, you'll face a lawsuit.
"Jianguo, this isn't a good deal for you."
Zhang Jianguo gripped the shovel, his teeth grinding together, but he gradually calmed down.
"Tell me, how do you plan to avenge this?"
"Revenge must be taken, but not openly."
Zhang Jianguo slowly put down the shovel and leaned it against the wall of the pigsty.
He squatted back down, held his head in his hands, and rubbed his face vigorously.
"Tell me, how do you want to do it?"
"Wang Laoliu's family grows corn. What are cornfields afraid of? Insects, wild boars, and water shortages."
What I fear most is the wind.
Corn stalks are tall, but roots are shallow; a strong wind can knock down a whole patch of them.
It fell over and couldn't be propped up; the ears of grain rotted in the mud.
In half a month, it will be the most crucial time before the autumn harvest. If you go to his field and cause trouble, you'll end up like him.
You can't do illegal things. But who can say for sure when God will help you?