Chapter 61: The Thick Fog

The rain had fallen for the better part of the night.

It wasn't until around four or five in the morning that the sound of rain outside the window gradually subsided.

Consequently, waking up in the morning, everything was veiled in a thick, hazy white mist.

The entire small mountain basin where Chenwangzhuang was located was shrouded in a heavy fog.

You couldn't see a person five paces away.

After having breakfast and finding himself with nothing to do, Chen Ling went to Wang Lixian's house and borrowed a flatbed cart.

This way, when the people from the forestry seed station delivered the fruit tree saplings, he would have an ox to pull them.

Wang Lixian's flatbed cart had seen quite a few years. Since his family didn't keep livestock and rarely used the cart, it looked even more dilapidated.

There was simply no comparing it to Wang Laishun's cart.

However, Chen Ling found dealing with Wang Laishun's shrew of a wife thoroughly irritating, so he couldn't be bothered to go over there to borrow one.

On his way back after borrowing the cart,

he ran into a bustling crowd hurrying toward the edge of the village, all heading out to help Chen Erzhuz build his greenhouse sheds.

The heavy rain last night had caused the greenhouse frames, which hadn't been completely secured yesterday, to collapse, forcing them to start all over again.

Such a massive mess was quite a troublesome ordeal.

Therefore, early in the morning, Chen Erzhuz had used the village committee's loudspeaker to shout out several times, urging people to head over a bit earlier after finishing their meals. He announced that because the fog was so heavy today, it would be harder work than before, and he would pay the villagers extra wages.

Sure enough, upon hearing about the extra money, everyone arrived quite early.

Regardless of the heavy fog, everyone figured that since the pay was higher, they had to brave the mist and get to work.

"Uncle Sangui, heading to work?"

Chen Ling parked the flatbed cart by the side of the road to make way for the group.

However, upon catching sight of an old man walking at the tail end of the crowd, his eyes lit up and he hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.

"Who's that?"

The fog was quite thick, and the old man had some trouble making out people's faces.

"It's me, Fugui."

"Oh, it's Fugui. Are you heading to work too? How come I haven't seen you around these past few days..."

Chen Sanhai was tall and thin. His attire, though plain, was extremely neat and tidy, unlike the other disheveled old men in the village.

Aside from being impeccably clean, the old man's most notable trait was that he walked at an extremely fast pace while speaking very slowly.

Meeting him just once and exchanging a few words left a deep impression on anyone.

One had to admit, though, that this old man's carpentry skills were truly exquisite. People from several neighboring villages and even the county seat would come seeking his services.

He had built a sterling reputation for himself twenty years ago.

"I'm not working at Erzhuz's place. I've still got endless chores in the fields; I don't have the time to go labor for him."

Chen Ling offered an explanation before continuing, "Uncle Sangui, in a few days when things settle down, build me an ox cart, will you?"

"An ox cart?"

"Ah, right, almost forgot! You rascal bought a little white ox from the market a while back!"

Chen Sanhai chuckled.

His granddaughter often went over to play at Chen Ling's house. When she stayed for meals there, she would recount various amusing anecdotes to him, so he naturally knew about it.

"That's easy enough. Just an ox cart—I'll whip one up for you in no time."

"Let's make it this Sunday. Once it's finished, I'll have Xizi run over and call you."

Though the old man spoke at a very leisurely pace, he was a decisive person of action who got things done with remarkable efficiency.

Delighted by this, Chen Ling gave Chen Sanhai a thumbs-up and showered him with praise.

He truly was a veteran master carpenter.

"Any specific requirements for the timber and the size?"

Chen Sanhai asked.

"No particular requirements for the timber, but let's make it a bit on the larger side. As for the rest, Uncle Sangui, just use your judgment."

Chen Ling didn't elaborate further, leaving the old man to craft it based on his wealth of experience.

"Alright then. Nothing else, so I'll be off to work."

"Take care, Uncle Sangui."

...

After Chen Sanhai left with the group of people, Chen Ling pushed the flatbed cart back home and parked it in the backyard.

It was an overcast day.

The thick fog lingered even around ten o'clock.

Having agreed on a time yesterday with the folks from the forestry seed station, who said the fruit tree saplings would arrive by two o'clock in the afternoon,

Chen Ling was in no particular rush.

After cleaning up the cow dung in the backyard, he scrubbed down several large water vats that had been turned upside down in the yard.

He filled them with water, retrieved some fish from the heaven-earth realm, and released them inside.

This way, whenever he wanted to eat fish in the future, it would be convenient to grab some.

The fish in the realm had already bred two generations, and the previous batch of fry had all grown into medium-sized fish.

They would be just right for making the mixed fish casserole that Wang Susu loved so much.

Consequently, most of the fish placed in the large water vats were of this neither-too-big-nor-too-small variety.

"I'll keep them in here for now. Once the soft-shelled turtle eggs hatch, I'll release a couple of turtles into the wild too, so we can eat them whenever we want."

The soft-shelled turtles in the realm had laid eggs some time ago. In fact, just a couple of days after Chen Ling introduced those male turtles into the realm, they had already mated with the females.

Combined with the realm's ideal environment and the mysterious substances beneficial to their growth,

they had laid eggs very quickly.

Chen Ling counted them; there were twenty-two in total.

Leaving them be for the moment, he fetched some aquatic weeds from the realm, placed them into the water vat, and then grabbed several coils of iron wire rope along with a wooden ladder and entered the realm.

The vegetables in the realm were growing more and more luxuriantly. The tomato and eggplant plants had almost grown into individual "little trees," laden with fruit so heavy that a single day without picking would cause the branches to droop downward.

There was simply too much to eat, and it wasn't easy to sell them off.

After all, one couldn't always run into a Beijing family like Liu Yinhuan's who were willing to pay high prices without hesitation.

With no other choice, Chen Ling planned to use iron wire rope to suspend the branches, or prop them up using wooden sticks braced against stones or bricks to keep them from sagging.

This method worked remarkably well for tomatoes and eggplants.

For crops like cucumbers and green beans that possessed vines and liked to climb, it was even simpler: just tie a piece of iron wire rope between two large trees, and the plants would climb up all by themselves.

This saved Chen Ling a great deal of worry.

After tidying up the realm all morning, the small vegetable garden behind the thatched cottage looked much neater.

"It's so much more pleasing to the eye like this. Otherwise, leaving such a celestial paradise all cluttered up would truly be an eyesore..."

Chen Ling muttered to himself with satisfaction, leaning on his hoe to admire the view for a moment before stepping out of the realm.

By now it was nearly twelve o'clock noon, and the heavy fog still hadn't dispersed, though it had thinned out slightly.

It had changed from not being able to see anyone past five paces to not being able to see anyone past ten paces.

Not much of an improvement.

After all, their location was a basin nestled within mountains with low overall terrain. On windless, sunless days, once fog formed, it was notoriously difficult to clear.

"At this rate, the saplings probably won't be delivered by two o'clock this afternoon."

Chen Ling looked around and thought, "Let's hope tomorrow brings good weather."

With that, he put away the wooden ladder and the leftover wire rope, and prepared to head back to the front yard to cook lunch.

Before he could even step out the door, however, two small yellow creatures leapt down from the tree in front of the courtyard gate, blocking his path.

Chen Ling took one look and burst out laughing, a mix of amusement and exasperation: "Why are the two of you back again?"

The visitors were none of the others than those two weasels from earlier.

These two little fellows were one fat and one thin. The fat one was the one that had nearly been poisoned to death before recovering later; it kept hiding behind the thin one, stealing glances at Chen Ling with its bean-sized eyes, wanting to approach him yet feeling somewhat afraid.

As for the thin one, it had once again scavenged an egg from somewhere. It was about the size of a chicken egg, its green shell tinged with pale gray, looking nothing like poultry eggs.

It gently placed the egg right in front of him, let out a low cry,

and then turned around, ready to lead the plump weasel away.

"Hold on, don't leave just yet!"

Chen Ling called out to stop the two weasels, then unhooked a water gourd from the wall, filled it with some stream water from the realm, and set it down in front of the two little creatures.

"Since you know what's good for you, I won't treat you unfairly. Drink up."

The thin weasel was startled at first, but upon catching an unusual scent, a look of sudden excitement welled up in its tiny eyes.

It squeaked at the fat one, and the pair trotted over to the water gourd together, quickly drinking the realm's stream water clean.

After finishing, the two weasels grew exceptionally excited, darting back and forth around Chen Ling like a pair of frolicking dogs.

They even weaved back and forth between his legs, rubbing and licking his palms to express their fondness.

This time, even the fat one lost its fear of him.

Finally, following the lead of the thin weasel, both stood up on their hind legs, cupped their paws together and bowed to Chen Ling in unison, before darting up the courtyard wall and vanishing from his sight.

A short while later, Chen Ling withdrew his gaze, frowning slightly as he recalled the somewhat bloated and plump body of the fatter weasel, and a bizarre thought suddenly popped into his mind.

"Could that little foodie be a pregnant mother weasel?"

If that were true, it would explain why the thin one had been so nervous and worried, bowing and begging for mercy on its behalf earlier.