Chapter 62: The Reservoir

Returning to the front courtyard to have lunch, by two o'clock in the afternoon, there was still no sign of the sun, and the thick fog had not yet dispersed.

Chen Ling drove his oxcart out from the back courtyard and waited by the reservoir dam for over half an hour.

Sure enough, the sapling delivery hadn't arrived, so he stopped waiting, turned the oxcart around, and headed toward his own fields.

Taking advantage of the heavy fog, there were virtually no people in the fields or heading up the mountain.

He planted a few more acres of peanuts and vegetables. Once harvested, this would also indirectly improve the soil quality.

By evening, the Blessed Land had gained over seven thousand more pounds of peanuts, along with bundles of vegetables piled inside the thatched cottage.

These vegetables were not for his family's consumption; Chen Ling planned to sell them along the way when he delivered peanuts to the oil press.

After all, for his family's daily needs, the vegetables growing inside the Blessed Land were already more than enough.

After tidying up inside the Blessed Land, Chen Ling drove the oxcart back home.

As he passed the village pond, he noticed his two puppies and a pack of local village dogs surrounding a two-meter-long rat snake by the edge of the water.

The snake's thick body was wet and covered in mud, apparently having slithered out from the pond. Irritated beyond measure by the dogs, it darted its forked tongue out and made a hissing sound, looking extremely angry. However, tangled up with a whole pack of dogs, it could not escape.

Seeing this, Chen Ling stopped the oxcart and watched with great interest.

Today was a very foggy day. Since it was the puppies' first time experiencing such weather, they had been in high spirits since early morning, running wild with the local dogs.

They had returned only briefly at noon for a quick meal before heading out again, roaming through the alleys of the village under the blanket of white fog and having an absolute blast.

And now, they had started a fight with a snake; running into them was truly bad luck for this rat snake.

"Woof, woof, woof..."

Spotting Chen Ling approaching, the two puppies immediately wanted to show off. They leaped out from the pack of dogs, lunging fiercely to attack the rat snake's belly.

Having already been provoked by the group of dogs, the rat snake was naturally not about to give in. It raised its head, darted its tongue, and counterattacked, even wrapping itself around one of Xiaojin's legs.

Yet how could ordinary dogs compare to these two? No matter how much the snake resisted, it was futile. Within a few clashes, it was bitten to death, rolling over with its belly exposed to the sky, motionless.

Then Xiaojin grabbed the snake by the neck, dragged it right in front of Chen Ling, and together with Heiwawa, barked provokingly and boastfully at the little white calf.

"Running wild outside all day and still not behaving, do you two want a beating?"

"Why aren't you hurrying home..."

Chen Ling glared at the two little creatures, picked up the rat snake, and tossed it onto the flatbed cart.

Rat snakes were extremely common in mountain villages, especially during spring and summer. They frequently visited households to hunt mice or prey on small swallows nesting under eaves.

Sometimes they would even build their nests in roof beams or wall crevices, laying a whole brood at once.

When country folks encountered such a creature, it generally ended up as meat on the dining table. Whether pan-fried, deep-fried, stewed, or boiled, it was delicious.

Not only did it satisfy culinary cravings, but it also had the effect of clearing heat and reducing internal fire.

Back home, Wang Susu quickly skinned the rat snake, removed the gall bladder, tied off the bile duct with a string, and hung it alongside the snake skin under the eaves, leaving the snake meat soaking in a basin of water.

Chen Ling went to fetch two pieces of sealwort. During his last trip into the mountain, he had harvested a considerable amount of sealwort and Gastrodia elata, which were still drying on bamboo trays.

Under the guise of heading to the back courtyard, Chen Ling actually retrieved sealwort from the Blessed Land.

Back when he first harvested them, he had planted a couple of pieces of sealwort and Gastrodia elata in the woods right in front of the thatched cottage in the Blessed Land, and by now they had multiplied under the trees into a large patch.

Consequently, Chen Ling cooked a large pot of snake soup for dinner, adding two pieces of sealwort to simmer. The snake meat became tender, smooth, and fragrant. He fed a bowl to the two puppies, and the couple happily enjoyed the rest.

The large pot of delicious snake meat was devoured down to the last drop, leaving not even the soup behind.

As night fell, the young couple spent a wonderful evening together.

...

The next day dawned with a clear blue sky, devoid of a single cloud.

The sky was a deep, vibrant blue, possessing a special captivating quality that made one unable to resist looking up and gazing into it.

With nothing to do today, Chen Ling moved a lounge chair into the courtyard, lying back to read a novel.

It was *Ode to Gallantry*.

Whenever Chen Ling read Jin Yong's other novels, he always read the books before watching the television adaptations.

Only with *Ode to Gallantry* had he watched the TV series first and read the novel afterward.

So much so that as he read the book now, the face of the protagonist in his mind was that of actor Gao Jian.

Unfortunately, that version of the *Ode to Gallantry* television series would not be filmed for a few more years.

As he lay in the lounge chair reading, Wang Susu sat quietly beside him, sewing new clothes for the spring. Her slender, fair fingers threaded the needle with utmost dexterity.

From time to time, she would cast gentle, moist almond-eyed glances at his way, a sweet smile lingering at the corners of her lips.

Indeed, Wang Susu looked even prettier today than usual, exuding a pure yet uniquely captivating charm. Her face was flushed with a natural rosy glow, resembling a delicate flower blooming in the spring breeze.

Her eyes were like water, her eyebrows like spring mountains, and every single expression radiated a charm that was utterly intoxicating.

Bathed in the warm spring sunshine, the two of them quietly savored an inexpressible tenderness.

Just as it was approaching noon, the village committee's loudspeaker suddenly blared.

It announced that the people from the forestry seed station had arrived and asked Chen Ling to go to the reservoir dam to pick up his fruit tree saplings.

"They're way too early today, a full three hours ahead of schedule..."

Chen Ling got up, put his book down, and stretched lazily.

"Well, after all, yesterday's heavy fog delayed things," Wang Susu said as she stood up too. "I'll go with you."

"No need, stay home and cook lunch. I'll go and be right back."

Chen Ling went inside to change into yesterday's old clothes and drove the oxcart out.

Arriving at the reservoir dam, two young men from the forestry seed station were standing there, chatting while watching people fish in the reservoir below using nets.

Seeing Chen Ling drive up in his oxcart, they walked over and helped him load the saplings onto the cart.

"Sorry about that, big brother. Yesterday's heavy fog prevented us from coming over. These top twenty fig saplings are a complimentary extra."

Once the loading was finished, the two young men expressed their apologies to Chen Ling.

"No problem at all. Have you two had lunch? Why don't you come to my house for a bite before heading back?"

Chen Ling handed them the payment for the five hundred saplings and said with a smile.

The two young men repeatedly declined, adding that they would try their best to arrive promptly at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon to save him any trouble, and then drove away in their vehicle.

"Fugui, are you planning to grow fruit trees this year?"

At that moment, Wang Lixian and a group of people carrying large bamboo baskets filled with fish came up to the reservoir dam.

They greeted him upon seeing him.

"Ah, it's Brother Xian. I couldn't see clearly just now because of my straw hat. Are you folks heading back to cook lunch?"

Chen Ling glanced at the bamboo baskets behind them, noticing they contained fish, shrimp, and freshwater mussels.

"Yeah, nobody wants the fish and shrimp in the reservoir anyway, so we come and scoop some up every day to cook dishes. Er-zhu, that rascal, just wants to save some money."

Wang Lixian replied.

The few men behind him chuckled, remarking that Er-zhu put on a facade of generosity, yet yesterday during the heavy fog, he had promised an extra five yuan without hesitation.

Naturally, they were merely echoing Wang Lixian's words rather than speaking to Chen Ling directly.

None of them had any friendly interactions with Chen Ling, and a few of the laborers had even crossed paths with him previously, so naturally, they wouldn't initiate a conversation with him.

Chen Ling didn't mind and remarked, "These fish don't look very impressive in size, nowhere near as big as the two Brother Xian gave me the other day."

"True, the big fish in the reservoir are getting fewer and fewer. Three years ago, or whenever it was, some out-of-towner came here to do some kind of survey and ended up releasing those damned crayfish into the reservoir. Now the place is crawling with those things, and there are far fewer fish than before, let alone big ones," Wang Lixian said angrily.

Chen Wangzhuang Reservoir covered an area of over a thousand acres, originally constructed for water conservancy in the 1950s and 1960s. Initially, it was used primarily for irrigation, supplying water to farmland across the northern, southern, and western directions through the river bend at the southern foot of the mountain.

Later on, it was contracted out by county officials until the late 1980s.

Since then, the reservoir had been largely neglected, transforming almost into a wild reservoir where anyone who wanted fish could simply come and cast a net.

Chen Ling didn't care much about the reservoir itself, but hearing about crayfish made his mouth water slightly: "There are so many crayfish, and nobody in our village eats them?"

Wang Lixian shook his head decisively upon hearing this: "Those things don't taste good; they're bitter."